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

”I don't know...” Layn took a while to think about this surprisingly hard question. ”A depression in the ground? Cave-in? A carved mark in the ground?” Layn guessed while rubbing his chin. ”You know, I wasn't particularly awake when I dropped to the ground, so I can't really tell if it was a soft or a hard landing,” Layn added, clearly trouble by his own lack of ability to solve the problem.

”I under...” Sitra started, only to cut her words mid-sentence. ”Wait, is that it?” she suddenly asked, pushing her arm in a certain direction.

From Layn's point of view, she was pointing at just more grass amongst the sea of it. Even after a prolonged effort, he couldn't see anything special about the direction she pointed her hand at.

”What do you mean?” Layn had no other choice but to ask after his efforts turned futile.

”Don't try to look for the ravines. Look at the grass,” Sitra gave her advice, yet when Layn's grimace of confusion only deepened, she struck the sides of her horse to get a bit closer to the man. ”Look,” she repeated, forcing the archmage to look across her own arm.

And surely enough, once pointed out in such a direct way, Layn finally noticed the peculiarity. Some distance away from their position, the otherwise even grass was slightly lower. Not because it was cut, but because something forcefully bent it with such force that even the few days that passed since the event weren't enough for the grass to properly recover.

”And now we know where we should go now,” Layn announced with a smile. While the scar on the sea of grass was barely noticeable, one could easily see its pattern. Stretching in a long line, it laid more or less on a north-south axis with a slight inclination towards the east.

Once the group got their direction, the main reason for their stoppage was finally resolved. Yet, while initially rejoicing, Layn's mood continued to suffer hit after hit with each hour passing.

Soon, the day came to an end, forcing the group to take a stop and set up a primitive camp. While they didn't encounter any monsters so far, it would be foolish to assume that the same trend would stay forever.

After all, if such an assumption were to be proven wrong, it would only happen in the absolutely worst way possible.

Yet, as one day of the journey turned into two days and two days extended into three, the shadow of doubt cast over the group. With Layn still keeping up his act of staying silent and focused, neither Sitra nor the two other escorts of his managed to keep their morale high.

”Isn't it annoying?” Layn suddenly spoke up when he felt that the group wasn't that far from just giving up.

”What is?” Sitra asked in an annoyed tone. Even though Layn spoke very little over the past three days, hearing him wasn't something she wished. Or rather, hearing him complain was something that she couldn't stomach.

”You know, whenever you read accounts of great adventures of heroes long gone, you can just skim through their perilous journey in a moment. A day has passed, they took a week to reach the next city, the army marched for two months before reaching the battlefield...” Layn started to recount the few stories he used to love as a small kid.

”Yeah? And what about it?” Sitra asked, clearly trying to avoid talking herself. From the look on her face, she believed Layn's words were nothing more but a desperate attempt at warding off the boredom of the long journey.

”Wouldn't it be fun to just say: we took three days to reach the camp?” Layn sighed. ”Certainly, it's easier to say that rather than to actually travel for that long. After all, one someone hears it, they will be spared all the pains of camping without a proper bed, without a blanket to ward off the cold of the night...” Layn continued his ramble, not bothered by the measly reaction of his companions.

”What the hell are you talking about?” Sitra finally snapped, unable to listen to Layn's random rambling anymore.

”I mean, it took us three days to reach the camp. Not that bad, isn't it?” Layn suddenly announced before stretching his arm in the distance. ”Look, can you see the blueness?” he asked before looking in the direction he was pointing at himself.

”Wait, what?” Sitra finally snapped out of her passive state, glancing over in the direction Layn pointed his hand at. ”Huh? Is that a sea?” she asked, suddenly reinvigorated by the unexpected yet pleasant news.

”You wish,” Layn smirked before correcting the girl. ”It's a sweet-water lake. And the camp with my people is set right at its coast!”