Chapter 813

Chapter 54: Encounter (Mid)

However, before I had gone far, someone lit a torch and came over from the direction of the Seafire camp.

In spring, Silgaya’s nights fell quickly. In an instant, dusk arrived, the sky darkened, and the pine forest was shrouded in mist. As the sunset faded, the bright moonlight poured through the gaps between the branches and pine needles, casting a silvery hue on the thin fog.

I originally planned to walk slightly to the left, exit the pine forest, follow the river, and head straight for the foot of the mountain ahead, approaching the camp near the foothills. I intended to fly up a mountain peak to observe closely, but I hadn’t walked more than three hundred meters when people came from the camp’s direction. From two hundred meters away, I saw the light of the torches weaving through the mist and heard faint voices.

“What’s going on? It’s already dark, and we still have to patrol the forest.”

“Everyone be careful. They say there are silver wolves in this pine forest. Don’t take them lightly.”

“Silver wolves? Ha! When did the Second Knight Order ever fear those things?”

“Of course, one or two aren’t scary, but they usually appear in packs. Don’t you know why the convoy chose to go around the pine forest and take the longer route along the river?”

Second Knight Order?

They’re not a merchant caravan; they’re part of the Second Knight Order. What are they doing here? A convoy?

Are they escorting goods?

I stopped walking, lifted my head, and looked up at a thick branch overhead. With a light tap, I jumped up, crouching between the branches to gain a higher vantage point. I then pressed down on my hood, hiding my small body among the dense pine leaves, and listened carefully.

“I’m not worried about the silver wolves. There are several of us, and we’re not alone. If they show up, we can just kill a few for some fresh meat. Remember, silver wolf pelts are valuable, right? But what’s really going on over there?”

“No idea.”

“We’re about to find out.”

It seemed like a patrol team. There were quite a few of them, with torches forming a line through the pine forest. At least twenty of them were heading in the direction where I had inadvertently caused a disturbance to confirm what was happening.

Sure enough.

These people sensed something amiss. A meteor? A shooting star?

“Really?”

“Could it be some passing Pope Knight hunting game?”

“But let’s hope it’s not something dangerous.”

“Ugh, can’t we just rest for the night? The boss is really something, making us all go check it out so far away.”

“Why do we have to get involved? Even if the whole pine forest explodes, it won’t affect our cargo run. If we go check it out, who knows what might happen? We’re almost at the Silent Fortress. Let’s not cause any trouble. Besides, we don’t want any problems.”

“He’s always worrying unnecessarily.”

“But we’re the ones running around.”

“And if anything happens to our cargo, no one will be able to take responsibility. Ugh, maybe drinking made me less clear-headed.”

Gradually, the voices faded away with the light of the torches.

They left.

I stayed on the tree for a while longer, watching them disappear until the torchlight was obscured by the mist. Then, I jumped down from the branch.

These people are headed to the Silent Fortress.

And based on what they said, they’re transporting goods there?

What kind of goods would require the Church’s Second Knight Order to be responsible for their transport? Could it be…

what Reckert mentioned?

I instinctively thought of this but immediately dismissed it: If the goods were being transported from Woodward Forest to the Silent Fortress, they should have come from the north. This place is on the south side of the castle.

These people, like me, are heading to the Silent Fortress from the south. So, they couldn’t possibly be from Woodward Forest. It doesn’t make sense for them to take such a long detour to come here.

But apart from that, whatever requires such importance and the involvement of so many Church knights must be significant.

I thought about it and decided not to take a detour. I would proceed straight.

I walked toward the direction of the mountain foot. No matter what.

They would always have salt, right?

Before long, the surrounding pine trees started to become sparse. Through the gaps in the tree trunks ahead, I could already see the land beyond the pine forest, and the light from the campfires grew clearer. I stopped here, not daring to walk out of the pine forest. I found a large rock nearby, climbed up, and hid myself using the slope. This spot offered one of the best views around.

Crouching on top of the rock, I looked towards the foot of the mountain dozens of meters away. Oh,

That was indeed a caravan.

In front of me, a crooked yellow earth path ran across the mountain foot. The path extended from the river on the right side of the pine forest. Although it was narrow, it could accommodate two rhinoceros carts side by side, leading straight to the back of the ridge.

This was a circular mountain road. I guessed that following it would lead directly to the Silent Fortress.

On the side facing the mountain, about a hundred meters away from me, there was a bald, flat piece of land where the campsite was set up. There were seven campfires, and many people were gathered around them. They wore the armor of Church Knights, holding cups and water bottles as they chatted loudly, making a buzzing sound. It seemed they were drinking, and some were roasting something to eat.

To the left of the campfires, at least twenty tents were crowded in a small area. Most were the white military tents unique to the Church, but there was also one gray, pointed tent.

So they had accompanying merchants?

No, it didn’t seem like merchants.

Immediately after, I noticed a fire pit near the gray tent. Five or six ragged half-grown children and a woman in her thirties were gathered there, roasting potatoes. When I looked over, the woman was pulling blackened potatoes out of the fire with a branch, blowing on them before distributing them to the eager children.

Refugees

The woman and the children must be refugees from the Southern Territory. Were they traveling with the caravan to the Silent Fortress?

Ah,

Suddenly, I remembered the document I had secretly read about refugee resettlement in the barracks of the Second Knight Order in Aletheon City.

Could these women and children be refugees who met the criteria for being sent to the Silent Fortress? It seemed likely.

They might have encountered them halfway and decided to take them along after learning their situation, or perhaps they had been selected earlier, taking advantage of the opportunity when the knight order was escorting goods to the Silent Fortress.

In the pitch-black night, I frowned slightly, biting my finger as I thought. Then, I shifted my gaze from the refugees to the rhinoceros beasts tied outside the camp and the wagons parked beside them. There were quite a few rhinoceros beasts, but only two wagons, loaded with some crates.

The crates weren’t large, and there weren’t many of them, covered with white cloth, giving a heavy impression.

After the rain, the roads were still muddy in some places. I noticed that the wheels of the two wagons were deeply embedded in the mud, leaving clear tracks. Moreover, there were three rhinoceros beasts pulling the carts.

What could be so heavy?

Metal?

I asked myself, but then immediately realized another thing. Besides the refugees, most of the others in the caravan were Church Knights.

Could I still show myself openly and ask them for salt? Hmm,

I felt troubled, tilting my head slightly, thinking for a while, and then suddenly brightening up. Why not just steal a little?

Wait until late at night when they’re all drunk and lose their guard… yes, I feel this could work. First, find some game; tonight, I can enjoy some salt-roasted meat.

Forget it,

Just do it.

Huh?

Suddenly, as I was looking for someone who had salt, planning to pick a target in advance, my gaze inadvertently swept over the campfire where the refugee woman and children were. Then I noticed—

Was there an extra person there?