"That’s right, you’ve been cooped up in this little place called Carterburg for long enough; it’s about time you visit the Central Administrative Province and see the world," he said. "Although those nobles in the North can be terribly rigid, at least they are legitimate."
As he muttered to himself, Old Hoffman took out a small pouch from the drawer and tossed it over.
Malin caught it; it was a bit heavy, easily weighing 20 pounds.
"By the way, since you’re heading that way, hand over what you have to the Bishop of the Church of the Goddess of Harvest in Pamir City. Tell him it’s what I owe him, and he’ll understand," Hoffman instructed.
"Okay," Malin nodded without hesitation.
"Aren’t you even a little curious?" Old Hoffman asked.
"Curiosity killed the cat, and it’s the same for humans," Malin replied with a raise of his eyebrows. "Right, I’m taking Faye, Jessica, and my sister Maya with me."
"No problem, but take this with you." Old Hoffman placed several emblems on the table. "These emblems can bind you together. If any of you gets into trouble or is attacked, these emblems will shatter and send back your last coordinates to me. Then, I’ll bring people and horses over there and turn the place upside down."
Malin nodded, picked up the emblems, and said, "Then I’ll be off, tutor."
"Go on, go see the world outside," encouraged Hoffman. "Remember, nothing good lasts forever, so have fun out there."
Since Old Hoffman said so, Malin comfortably took the girls along with the luggage they had prepared, and joined the team composed of Logan and Miriam, progressing toward the Central Administrative Province.
The families of the Mimi clan and Logan supported the movements of these two children this time, with four carriages and a freight wagon following them throughout the journey. If not for the fact that this was Miriam’s coming-of-age ceremony as an apprentice, both families could have been prepared to produce at least a team of private knights.
Originally, they were quite worried, but after hearing that Malin was lending a hand for free, they finally felt at ease, and that’s when Malin realized—he had already made quite a name for himself among the noble families of Carterburg.
Then Malin heard from Logan that his name was already advancing in the direction of stopping children’s night terrors. Logan had heard senior students more than once using tales of Malin to scare their younger siblings, and apparently, it was quite effective.
This made Malin very unhappy. He decided that once he returned, he would continue the daily noon training battles to fully impart the love of twig-swordplay, iron fists, and flying kicks through re-education.
Oh, by the way, Twiggy had recently gotten a new name—Fio.
Maya had come up with it after Twiggy had managed to transform itself into an elemental creature. That day, Maya had seen Twiggy turn into a fairy and thought to name it.
Although Twiggy couldn’t speak, it only needed to perch on Malin’s head. As for Milani, it had to make do with settling on Maya’s head.
And the reason for that? Well, Milani simply couldn’t beat Fio.
Malin didn’t meddle in the grudges between these two little rascals; whoever had the bigger fists got to sit atop his head.
After all, it’s survival of the fittest, but Milani got an extra fruit every day now, so the little squirrel had no complaints.
After all, a head is a head, no matter whose it is.
Traveling from Carterburg to Pamir Plains took a week, a speed that piqued Malin’s curiosity until he learned that the infrastructure between the main cities within the union of Sydney was well developed. There was a main thoroughfare leading from Carterburg to the Central Administrative Province. The section within the bounds of Carterburg was maintained by the funds provided by the local nobles and merchants of the area, and every district’s roads were likewise maintained.
There were even small villages between cities serving as stopping points.
For their first night, Malin’s group rested on the way from Carterburg to Higdite City, which lay midway. Higdite City is the largest city in all three provinces of the Western region and the capital of the province where Carterburg is located.
It’s said to be a very large city, and also the stronghold of the Karna family.
As for why the Karna family would reside in Carterburg, according to Faye, Carterburg has a better environment, fresher air, and, most importantly, the sea and sea breeze often carries away many unnecessary troubles.
And then Malin thought of old Paris and London... Oh God, could they not enter the city?
With trepidation toward the unknown, Malin checked the inn’s parking space once more, making sure the mercenary squad responsible for security was dutifully in place. After confirming their vigilance, Malin allowed Fio to give their Dwarven healer a Healing Spell—they had a Dwarven shield guard who was shot in the knee with an arrow before the mission. Although he could walk now, the wound had not fully healed. Considering the mercenaries were recommended by the elf who had fought against Chaos with Malin, Malin agreed to their request to bring along the Dwarven guard and performed a Sacred Rite healing on him daily.
This left the mercenaries profoundly grateful—Sacred Rites for healing mercenaries normally cost money, but now they were getting it for free from Malin. Their team’s Healer had also confirmed that, although Fio’s Healing Spell appeared to treat minor injuries, the healing outcome was on par with the treatment of severe wounds.
After the first healing session yesterday and today’s second one, the Dwarf’s knee was already pain-free. To put it in his words, he could now climb the Hasami Fortress just like a goat, hopping all the way up.