Chapter 1 - Part 1
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The procession moved non-stop for two days and arrived at Rendinium. Lelia was stunned, and not sure what was happening around her.
To be honest… She did not feel like a child, but like a precious lady.
Unsurprisingly, the knights did not let Lelia run any errands for them.
Rather, they gave her food, clothes to change into and even stroked her hair. They even let her ride in the carriage, because it was so spacious.
It was not one of the wagons, but the best carriage that the old knight, who saved Lelia, was riding in. She did not ride in the luggage compartment, but sat inside the carriage with the old man.
‘Are they going to sell me at Rendinium after being so nice to me?’
She was told that there were some who were secretly selling illegal young slaves.
‘But Rendinium, the city of knights, is as safe as the capital. So there should be no slave trade.’
The carriage entered Rendinium and was heading towards the downtown area of the city.
Lelia stared out of the carriage with anxious eyes. The old man, who was sitting opposite her, asked; “Are you worried about anything?”
“… No.”
“You have a very frightened face.”
“…”
Lelia looked at the old knight with skeptical eyes.
[Aren’t you really going to sell me?]
No matter how chivalrous a city is, there are always people who are willing to do illegal things.
She was told that the younger the slave, the more expensive they are to buy. Since they have a longer life as a worker.
Lelia remembered the magic potions she had made in her spare time over the past two days.
[Because I made anesthetics and flame throwers instead of sleeping gas… I should be able to run away in case of an emergency.)
Inwardly, she vowed to do so and hugged her bag tightly. The old man looked curious about what was in the bag.
The knights who cared for her were also curious, but she never showed them her bag.
None of the knights forced her to show what was in her bag. In that sense, these knights were great adults who knew how to be considerate to a young child.
[Assuming you don’t sell me.]
Come to think of it, she still didn’t know which family the knights were from.
She saw the emblem of the family, but Lelia did not know much about the Aurarian nobles. So she was still in the dark.
As they entered the city, the carriage began to slow down and eventually stopped in front of a building.
Lelia poked her head out of the carriage window. The building was painted with a symbol that represents the temple.
It was a marking she grew sick of seeing when she was living in the temple.
After Lelia stared at it for a while, the old nobleman said to her;
“We stopped by the city to get treatment because I have a knight who has been injured. There’s a priest from the central temple here.”
“…Yeah.”
If it was an injured knight, it seemed to be the huge knight with a splint on his ankle that she saw when she first hid in the wagon.
“I’m here because we don’t get along well with the believers of the capital, and I’ve heard that we’ll never get treatment there.”
“…”
“It won’t take long. If we show them our family emblem the priest will heal the knight right away. When he’s healed, we will stay in this city for a few days and then leave.”
“…Yeah.”
Lelia nodded her head. After waiting for a while, she saw the healed knight coming out at a brisk pace.
The reason why the Five Empires could not rebel against the temple was not only because of their oath.
The priests had tremendous healing power. The power of light was stronger than the healing magic that wizards performed.
The five empires had to respect the Kreutzism religion in order to have priests dispatched to their major cities.
The carriage started moving again and eventually arrived in front of an inn.
Lelia kept her eyes on the old knight during the days they stayed in the city. During that time she stopped doubting the knights and thinking that they might sell her to slave traders.
After a few days, Lelia was able to leave the city unharmed.
[I was just being suspicious.]
Lelia looked embarrassed as she stared out her window at the city of Rendinium as it receded away.
The old knight laughed seeing Lelia like that.
Lelia was again riding in the old knight’s luxurious carriage.
“We’re going to my estate now. The road will be a little more difficult as it’s very far from here.”
“… Where are you from?”
Lelia raised the question she had been curious about this whole time. The old knight smiled and asked;
“Have you seen the map of Auraria?”
Lelia shook her head. She had seen a map of the continent of Dracanea in the temple, but she had never seen a map detailing only the Aurarian Empire.
“Hmm…”
At those words, the old knight pondered for a moment. He seemed to be struggling with how to explain it.
Waiting for his reply, Lelia looked down at the robes she was wearing.
Her brown robes were new ones that Sir Tess had bought for her while they were staying in Rendinium.
It was a very light and soft material.
No matter how much she thought about it, all of these knights had good personalities.
She has never seen such kind adults in her life.
[It was good that I escaped from the Imperial Palace.]
Lelia nodded her head, feeling proud of her choice. She also felt sorry for the fact that she had doubted herself, and thought that she had to do better in the future.
There was one more good thing that happened.
While she was staying at the inn in Rendinium, she found a new ingredient in the alchemy lottery.
It was just last evening, the last night she slept at the inn.
She awoke when she heard a sound.
In the bed next to her was a snoring Sir Tess. Lelia touched her necklace, worried the sound of it ringing would wake Sir Tess.
Fortunately the sound seemed to be audible only to Lelia’s ears.
When she turned on the game screen, the alchemy lottery was shaking and had a floating speech bubble above it.
[Oh! Σ(ʘoʘ/)/ A new ingredient is nearby!]
[System: Found a new alchemy material, ‘Shards of dust in the corner’!]
A golden dragon appeared when the system text popped up and it began to move around to collect items.
[What’s up with the name of the material… ?]
Lelia furrowed her brow. She looked closely, but it was one of many ingredients that were required for her new recipes.
[Oh… !]
The ‘alchemy lottery’ game was a system where after you find an ingredient for the first time, the dragons collect them on their own afterwards.
Players used to say; “It’s difficult to find, but easy to collect.”
She felt fortunate to have found a frequently used ingredient first. With a warm feeling in her heart, Lelia fell asleep again.
Life with the knights was very peaceful. First of all, the knights have huge appetites so they ate a lot.
Thanks to that, Lelia was always able to eat as much food as she did when she was at the temple.
At night, she was full and was able to fall asleep quickly.
Recalling the memory of the previous night when she slept so well, Lelia touched the tip of her necklace with a proud heart.
It was important for her to gather more ingredients to properly use this necklace.
That was when a small commotion broke out outside the carriage.
“What’s going on?”
Asked the knight who was escorting the carriage.
“There is a checkpoint ahead.”
At that, the old knight said, “Hmm…” and touched his chin.
In contrast, Lelia’s expression turned pale.
[It’s a checkpoint? Maybe…]
Lelia grasped her fingers anxiously.
As they moved towards the outskirts of the city, they were approaching the exit gates of Rendinium. If there’s a checkpoint…
[If it’s known that I’m gone…]
Emperor Perseus might have noticed her absence and was trying to find her.
She heard a knock on the carriage window.
Lelia was so startled and almost screamed in surprise. Lelia clamped her mouth shut and trembled. The old knight squinted his eyes and watched her.
The carriage window was opened and the escort knight began speaking to the old knight in a low voice.