Chapter 144: The perils of the journey (1/2)

”Do you really believe it will be that simple? To migrate the entire population of a huge country?” Sitra suddenly asked instead of answering Layn's question. But in a sense, her question could be taken as an answer on its own.

”Isn't that what Castor spoke about?” Layn countered with a smile, only to shake his head and then look down. ”No, it's impossible for such an insanely huge endeavor to happen overnight. But that begs an even better question,” Layn said as he raised his eyes and looked right at Sitra's face.

”If you can't protect your southern holdings now, how do you intend to protect them while moving population down south at the same time?” Layn struck right into the most important problem of any operation of this size.

The logistic of it all.

Sitra admitted that her country couldn't sustain any more significant force at the steppe just a moment earlier. As such, it was clear that it wasn't capable of enduring the burden of migrating its population through this dangerous area either.

”Why should I care?” Rather than answering the question, Sitra shook her arms. ”It's not up to me to figure out details like that.” She shook her shoulders to show how little she cared. ”That's what nobles and the top brass are for. They are the ones that need to figure it out.”

This entire conversation happened before the entire camp went to sleep. Or rather, before the three of Layn's escorts agreed to give him one more night for rest before he would also need to pick up the duty of the night watch.

Thanks to this privilege, Layn could come back to his full strenght, as long as one only meant his physical state. No monsters appeared near their group, nor had he any magic stones to dustify and use to suck the mana out of thin air. As such, Layn was stuck with just the little energy to sustain his translation spell.

But even this simple arcana of his was chipping away at the little mana his body could naturally produce from the atmosphere. So, just in order to focus his body on the task of producing energy, Layn had no other choice but to purse his lips, close his eyes and silence his entire self.

All to bring this passive production of energy that he could do to the point where it would at least cover the mana cost of his translation spell.

Even with this little inconvenience, the group continued to travel forward. Reaching the place where Castor's unit first encountered Layn's lifeless body took them an entire day.

”So? Where do we go now?” Sitra asked when she finally stood up from the ground. By using some kind of means that Layn had no idea about, she was somehow capable of deducing the place where Castor's group camped just a few days earlier.

Or rather than deduce, confirm that they actually arrived at the right spot.

”Can you find the place where you found me?” Layn inquired as the anxiety started to build up in his mind. 'I fought in the night, so I can't even judge the direction I was blasted off to by where the sun was. And little to say,' Layn thought as he raised his head to the blue sky, 'I know nothing about the stars of this strange place.'

For a short moment, Layn believed that he never actually left the world that he was born in. Sadly, there was just too many factors disqualifying such a theory.

First, the stars. While there was a chance that Layn moved so far back into the past that the constellations above changed completely, it was an explanation that the archmage didn't want to endorse.

But on the topic of stars, there was something that Layn couldn't ignore. While many other factors were influencing it, it was a fact that the ancient world's night sky was different from what he saw back in the desert. In fact, the sky above the Slavian's fortress also appeared to be different than what Layn saw back at his camp!

Sadly for Layn's initial hopes, the stars were only the beginning. From tribes that only survived in mythology, through tribes that didn't mark their presence at all, all the way to new magic...

It seemed as if everything in the world was scheming together to make sure Layn would abandon all hope that the desert, Slavian world, and the ancient world he knew off laid all in a single planet. Or rather, they were all from the same world.

”Give me a moment... But what am I supposed to look out for?” Sitra climbed back up on her saddle before posing a relatively basic question.