70 Argentum Merchant Caravan (1/2)
Around noon, Greyson could finally hear the thundering echo of multiple carriages coming his way. Looking in through the gate, he spotted 10 large carriages along with one expensive looking passenger carriage. The carriages were surrounded by 10 guards on horseback and followed by around 50 foot soldiers. The imposing sight shocked Greyson as he thought it was no wonder his teacher said they would be attacked. Although everything looked well-guarded, they also looked filled with important and expensive goods that warrant so much guarding. Stronger and well-established bandit groups could outnumber this amount of soldiers if they wanted to attack. However, this was what he was hoping for so that he could train and continue getting used to his new abilities. Practicing them by himself or with his teacher were not the same as actual real-life fighting where his life could be in danger.
At the very front of the caravan was a young woman in armor. Valiant and charming, the grey-haired woman exuded a soldier's aura around her. She had spotted Greyson who seemed to watching them remembering that there was supposed to be a student joining them to travel to the Beast Empire. Actually looking at him, though, she was incredibly shocked. How could he look so much like her mother?! The hands holding the horse's reins began shaking as her eyes would not leave the young boy's face.
Feeling such a meaningful stare, Greyson also shifted his eyes towards the woman at the front. It was Eden Ley! He could recognize her features from the auction, even though five years had gone by. Eden still gave off the same strong atmosphere as she had at the auction, which was rare in girls who were normally taught to be ladylike. He saw an odd excitement and surprise as she looked at him. Furrowing his brows, he was not sure how to respond to such a stare. Remembering how Luca Argentum stared at him as well, he felt put off by the family. What was with all of them?
Next to Eden was her old maid, Anne, traveling on foot. Noticing Eden's surprise, she also looked over at Greyson and felt the same excitement. However, she quickly got control over herself and whispered over to her master.
”Milady, a lot of beautiful elves have similar features. Do not be too excited. We can slowly ask some questions and get a feel for this young elf. Remember the last time, milady got so excited that you explained the entire situation to someone before confirming their identity and they used us. Even we are not if the seventh highness positive inherited a dragon bloodline like you or an elf-bloodline. Let us not make early assumptions.” Careful due to past experiences, Anne did not want to see her kind master to be used by another again. That evil boy had long been killed after Anne found out. Eden wanted to spare him, but Anne would not allow the ungrateful animal to live. She knew best how much Eden longed to find her family and someone using those feelings and hurting her so deeply was something that Anne could not allow.
Hearing Anne's advice, Eden awoke from her trance and hardened her gaze. That's right. She could not allow herself to be taken advantage of again. Calming herself down, her eyes looked towards different area and no longer stared at Greyson. Seeing the woman's eyes leave him, Greyson let out a sigh of relief. Maybe it was just a momentary fascination. The caravan continued moving forward until Eden signaled for them to halt in front of Greyson.
”Are you the student who is joining us on this journey?” Keeping her voice as even and neutral as possible, Eden made sure to not give away any excitement.
”If you guys are the Argentum family's caravan, then, yes, that would be me.” Greyson responded.
”Name?”
”Greyson.”
”No last name?”
”No, I am a commoner and have no last name.”
”I see. Well, you can follow along my maid Anne.” Eyes slightly lighting up when she heard his answer, Eden had him stay close to her so she could continue her conversation nonchalantly. Nodding his assent, Greyson greeted Anne who gave him an examining glance in return but said nothing. Slightly confused by the harsh greeting, he assumed she was just not friendly. The rest of the caravan and soldiers paid him no mind, although there were a lot who gave him disdainful glares. Suddenly, Greyson regretted not coming out with his disguise spell activated. He had a feeling that this trip was going to be a lot more annoying with his mixed blood identity out in the open.
...
To his disappointment, Greyson could not have been more correct. Traveling with this caravan, he became the target of the stupidest pranks for the past 2 weeks. When he went to bathe with river water, his clothes would disappear. The food given to him was always leftovers, filled with worms, or not fully cooked. Sometimes they did not even give him any food. Eden also had not spoken to him at all since the start of the trip, so he could not really find anyone to complain to. He ended up hiding his clothes in his spatial ring and hunting for his own food. Honestly, he could not tell if he was youngest or if these immature soldiers were. The worst was when bandits attack the caravan. The soldiers would purposefully leave openings so that the bandits would attack Greyson. No matter how many he was surrounded by, none of the soldiers would assist him. They thought that this would injure or kill him, but they were unaware that training himself was the biggest reason he traveled with them. His only issue was that he was getting bored with a bunch of small fry bandits who he could beat away with one spell. Sometimes he would step in to help the other soldiers when he saw they were having trouble. However, seeing them continue with their stupid pranks, he decided he would stop helping them. Such a thankless task was not worth his effort. Greyson's prowess in battle soon won the fear of the soldiers who realized they were no match for him.Maybe because they feared his power, they resorted to petty pranks without ever trying to actually physically hurt him.
”Here, your food.” An older soldier roughly handed him strips of jerky and a stale piece of bread with mold growing on it. Accepting without making any fuss, Greyson just sighed. Once the soldier was out of sight, he quickly tossed the gross stuff onto the ground and pulled out some edible fruit he found while scavenging around the forest. Kept cold and fresh within the spatial ring, the fruit were juicy and refreshing as he bit into them. He thought of cooking food himself, but the scent would travel over to soldiers and they would come bothering him and ruining his food. Thus, finding and picking fruit became the best option. Finishing his meal, Greyson got up and dusted off his clothes before getting ready to look around the forest. The past two weeks the caravan had been attacked quite a number of times which slowed down their movement, however, they were still only about a day's journey from leaving the Snow Country to the bordering Maple Country.