Small villain's Viewpoint

Chapter 17

 Unfamiliar Road

Despite their doubts, the raiders and Julian were forced to follow Julius, all afraid of his temper. For the first time, Ling Chen was thankful of the former's reputation, added by Ruiz's insistent persuasion, no one could say no with the two of them. Since he was a known scum, no one dared to opposed him. Following his guidance, the group prepared to travel towards the swamp. Although Julius was quite thankful, but he really wish that Ruiz could drop that annoying grin, the guy hasn't let off ever since the start of the meeting. But he really did supported the priest's plans, so Julius ignored the latter's stupid smile.

Standing in front of his carriage, Julius was debating if he should just let that pest be caught by Julian's knight. Inside, that asshole was sleeping leisurely in one of his sofa. Tssk. If he got caught, I'll say that this guy threaten me, grumbling, Julius immediately went to sleep. He did not notice the strange look Michael had, he really wasn't sleeping at all.

In the morning, the group began their journey. From here on, danger will be a usual phenomenon. Upon arriving, they were greeted by a gloomy swamp, the air around it was quite rancid. Julius went up, he began inspecting the willow trees around the swamp.

"Do you really think he  knew a shortcut?"

"Not really. He must be joking when he said that"

"I've been taking this same path for 10 years, there is no such place in this disgusting swamp"

"Must be nice to be a noble's son, he sure could waste people's time and still won't be blamed for doing so"

The others began whispering, all obviously disapprove of treading this path. If they took the usual path, it would only take them at least half a day to do so. "Your brother is quite interesting, he seems to be unfazed by these fools. In the past, he'd be fuming in anger already",Ruiz remarked, he was amused by the current Julius. Although it was the same person, but both his actions and attitude had a huge disparity, just what really happened?

While the others doubted him, the person in question remains unperturbed by the noise. Checking each tree, Julius was sure that the mark should be in one of these trees.
The novel said that a mark of serpent was ingrave in an old willow tree, right where the stench of a dead corpse was strong.

Smiling, Julius finally found it. A serpent, just below an old willow tree, beside it was the swamp itself. Knocking three times, the ground shook, unearthing an old tunnel below the roots of the tree. The others were surprised, not only because there really was a path there, but because someone really knew that the tunnel really existed!

"Hurry, this tunnel will closed immediately. Porters, carry the luggages. The raiders should drag their tools with the knights", he commanded, before entering. The others gawked, all the raiders who doubted him were shocked, this is the first time they had seen such a path.

On the other side, the group found themselves inside a dense forest, the mist greatly obscuring their vision. The mages hurries to clear the mist, chanting various wind spells. To their surprised, the mist wasn't cleared at all, rather, it was even thickening. "Don't use spells. Trackers, use torches and walk in a straight line. Follow the light, and don't make a noise, it'll attract the beast inside the forest", the knights followed suit, afraid of making a ruckus. If the beasts really attack them, they would be at a disadvantage, their sight was hindered after all.

Unlike the nervous knights, Julius was more at ease as the mist surrounds them. If he hadn't read the novel, he will probably  be afraid. After all, no one wants to fight in such condition. Contrary to the folk's belief, the mist actually protects the people from the beasts. Those monsters who reside in this region were beast who sleeps all day and had poor eyesight. As long as they don't disturb them, the people could safely pass this place unscathed.

After a whole hour of walking, the group finally found a clear path. Behind that gloomy forest was actually a wide grassland, free of monsters! The raiders couldn't believe it. They had been going to and fro Silica, and each travel was hard, it also consumed a lot of their resources.Who knew that there was actually a fast and easy way to travel? Just what was the purpose of all the hard work they had been doing for?

"Brother, this is astonishing. I did not expect that we could travel safely like this", Julian was the happiest. Not only they did save time and resources, his men were all  uninjured. Looks like this raid is off with a great start. "Brother?", Julian searched for his brother, but Julius seems to have vanish from thin air.

Unlike the rest of the party, Julius was the only who got lost in the forest. Wandering in an inconspicuous garden, the priest perfectly knew who summoned him. It looks like he really did not escape the witch's sight. "Oh my, it looks like I have a visitor here?", A charming voice chuckled, it was quite a bewitching sound.

____________________________________

Thanks for reading......