Chapter 32: Traversing The Terrains (1/2)
Eleven massive carriages were being pulled by five equally large bull like creatures as they galloped through the plains in a particular direction. In one of such carriages, Tyler sat with some of the other ogres. They had been traveling for over three hours now, yet the ogres had been staring at him the entire time. It was getting uncomfortable and he couldn't take it anymore. ”Is there something on my face?” He asked with a faint smile.
”Ah... Err... no, my apologies, it's just, we usually don't interact with many demons especially one as strong as you, well, apart from the captain i mean.”
”Mmm, I see.” He said awkwardly, he was glad they thought of him as a demon, this meant he hadn't been fooling himself and they knew all along, he then picked up on a word the ogre had said and muttered. ”Captain?”
”Oh right, yeah, Lord Cronoff is the captain of the guards.” One of the ogres spoke to him, he was obviously a member of the guard to call Albert captain, then again, perhaps everyone in town called him that. ”Lord?” Tyler questioned. ”I guess you wouldn't know, captain Albert was ones a demon noble, an Earl no less, it was only about 5 years ago his region was conquered by the combined force of three noble families.”
”I see...”
”Oh, um Lord, may I ask for your name?” It was the first time Tyler had been so bluntly asked his name, for some reason no one ever bother to ask the obvious question, they always found clever ways to address him without making it obvious, this was actually quite strange to begin with. It was common courtesy when meeting someone for the first time to exchange names, or was this just for humans, the reason they didn't ask him his name hadn't really bothered him much as he hadn't thought he would spend so much time with these people.
Since no one asked for his name he wouldn't foolishly offer it to them. The ogre asking his name had been very blunt about it, he had no idea if people where just scared about asking for his name or it was just their culture, so was this guy the bravest ogre alive or was he just an idiot.
Looking at his simple looking face Tyler concluded he was an idiot, a big one at that. He didn't panic though, he had already thought about this for a long time and had decided to come up with a fake demon like name, especially after hearing the normal names of the demons and ogres he had seen, he had masterfully crafted a name for himself. ”You can just call me Ty”(pronounced tai). Tyler said confidently, very proud of his naming prowess. The ogre broke into a big smile that confirmed to Ty, he really was an idiot.
He was tall and well built, unlike most ogres he had seen so far his pale red skin was a little darker than others and his grey eyes projected the image of a child. He had short spiky red hair and two dark horns on his head. He carried a battle axe by his side and an abnormally large shield on his back.
He pounded his chest and proudly pronounced. ”Ah, Lord Ty, please call me Hart, I am Hart Balford, think of me as your shield for now, i promise no monster will get near you untill we get to our destination. Mwahahaha...” The others around him just shook their heads. Tyler could notice now that the people on the carriage sat in groups, they all wanted to be around people they were closer with, as they chatted away during their long journey.
Hart sat next to three other people, they sat directly opposite him, there were two males and one female, although the girl seemed a little bit depressed. He remembered seeing her crying a lot last night, even during their feast. He figured she must have lost someone very close to her, the other two guys were also a little down and only Hart looked cheerful, Tyler could tell he carried the same heavy heart as the rest of them, he must've been trying his best to lighten their moods. 'I guess he wasn't a complete idiot after all.' They all introduced themselves to him, the big guy was named Talen, with Jarret sitting next to him and then Kela.
Tyler had seen Jarret before, he was supposed to be driving one of the carriages but had given up his post to someone else when the beast girl Nadine had annoyed him. Talen carried the exact same shield as Hart, he had long back hair tied up in a ponytail and black pupils. His frame was wider than Hart and he was a bit taller too, he had a single horn on his head and a scar the shape of a two parallel lines across his left checks. He had a quiet disposition and Tyler couldn't remember if he had seen him speak the entire night.
Jarret on the other hand was vastly different than the two. He was tall, a little thin but not skinny, his body beneath his clothes was a solid steel. His black hair was sloppily cut and thus looked uneven. It looked quite messy. His black eyes stared keenly at Ty, though there was no intensity only reverence, which also made Ty uncomfortable.
He carried a sword on his waist that defer from others, it was similar to a katana but the hilt was completely different. The girl was quite pretty but she didn't seem to pay Ty any attention, she looked like a skilled warrior and also had a sword by her side.
.
During the next few hours they encountered multiple monsters on the road, there were a few strong ones here and there, but nothing the others couldn't handle. It had taken Tyler and Liz a little over 3 hours to get to the settlement but apparently it would take them a full day to get to the castle. If the carriages had been pulled by ordinary horses, it would take almost 3 full days to get there.
They had forgo any sorts of breaks in other to make it in time. Tyler had thought about running ahead with Erin and Liz in other to make in time but had heard that Erin didn't have the physiques of Tier 5 or 6 and wouldn't be able to handle such speeds, although if she really wanted to she could match such speeds with water movement, but such a long distance would leave her with little to no Mana left to heal Rain.