Chương 1272: [1188] - Y06.088 - Trouble in Floria V

'Man, I don't know how I did it either, so don't give me that look,' Adam replied with his eyes, making the smart choice not to speak a single word, at least for the next half hour. He sat within the carriage, his arms crossed, his back straight, his eyes firmly fixated upon a knot within the wood, and what fine wood it was, he was certain, though he wasn't going to ask Jurot or Laygak about it.

'I assume the chest of gold helped,' Dunes joked back with his eyes, causing the half elf's face to twitch as he tried not to break. As the carriages travelled along the road, the figures within each of the carriages thought about what had happened. Tanagek slipped Chosen a silver piece, having bet they would have fought, and the Florians would have fallen back. Chosen, on the other hand, had bet the half elf would have talked his way through, and Tanagek had offered him ten to one odds for a single copper.

Even Chosen was surprised the half elf had managed to smooth things through with his words, for he recalled the story of the last time he had been surrounded by a hundred soldiers.

'Why did he not do this last time?' Chosen thought, though he supposed it was because Alex was a Blood Mage that the Marquise coveted might have been the reason why, but even that seemed wrong. Bael yawned, glancing out of the window, towards the trees which passed them by. He had half expected to blast the soldiers with his lightning, but after he caught the Commander's eye, the Commander lost all thoughts of wanting to fight, recalling something as their eyes met.

Ashmir glanced aside towards Mork and Tork, who spoke in hushed whispers between one another, though their voices carried to the rest of those within the carriage.

"I suppose we're prisoners then," Tork grumbled quietly.

"In a certain sense," Mork replied.

"Shoulda fought our way out."

"No need for that, this time…" Tork smirked, catching his brother's eye.

"This time?"

"We're escorting the girl, aren't we?" Tork's smile quickly dropped.

"Ah, right. Forgot about that."

"Don't forget that! It's the most important thing!"

"She keeps talking about how she wants to kill, I keep forgetting she's just a girl." Mork supposed he couldn't blame his brother, not when even that girl, from a family that was on the decline, spoke of eagerly wanting to slaughter too.

'You Iyrmen are…' The Commander led the way back to the fort, though even he was lost within his thoughts, trusting his soldiers to keep an eye out.

'That Aswadian… is he not…' Bael, who was most likely a dragon in disguise. The Aswadian, who was most likely Lion King Ashmir from Aswadasad. Just one of those figures would have caused the Commander to pause, but both of them together? Plus there was the matter of the Iyrman child. If the Commander had caused too much trouble, he'd find even his head on a spike, if he was lucky. The group gathered at the fort, with the Commander thinking about how to progress forward.

They remained within their carriages, thankfully, since he was certain he'd need to get to the next outpost today, for the quicker they were in Gold Port, the quicker he could return back to the simple duty of watching over the border for a secret attack by the Aldish, which was much easier to deal with than dealing with the Iyrmen.

'He promised not to cause trouble…' Commander Alexander Silversky leaned his head back, closing his eyes as he thought about the foolishness which had entered his mind. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

"Sir?" one of his retainers asked, puzzled by the number of soldiers leaving. There were only twenty of them, each mounted upon horseback, but they were still outnumbered by those within the carriages.

"The Iyrmen have given their word to behave," Commander Silversky replied simply, and with that, they made their way forward. They could clear a large number of miles, even reaching the Order if they wished, but there was the matter of dealing with all the various outposts on the way, and unfortunately, the politics of the situation were difficult.

'As long as he stays within the carriage, it should be fine.' The Commander realised how troublesome this was going to be as Adam stepped towards the Commander of the next outpost, that which had been quickly formed over the last season, and would soon become permanent. It held only a single company of soldiers, but it was still considered a military outpost, and therefore would be interested in the half elf's situation. Yet, somehow…

"It's so amazing to see how hard Floria is working," Adam said, handing over the chest to the Commander, a young woman who was eyeing up the half elf peculiarly, since certainly he should have been hiding in the carriage to allow her to search them to nitpick. She opened up the chest, taking a peek to see all the silver within, as well as the single stack of gold, quickly snapping the lid shut.

Her eyes fell to the Commander, who held the position she coveted, and then towards the Iyrmen who rode up front, and finally to the pair of Priests approaching her to ask if they could lead a prayer for the Florians. The strangeness in the air tempered the woman's behaviour, and she allowed them to stay the evening, and thankfully Adam didn't push her, deciding against asking if he could cast a spell within her fort, instead bathing within the basin the soldiers brought over for the Priests.

Even as the sun rose the next morning, and a light shower began to fall upon Floria, the half elf caused no trouble at all. Commander Silversky rode ahead, leading the carriages, unsure if everything was meant to be proceeding this smoothly. That was until he saw the walls of the next fort, which was not a simple fort. It was once known as the fort of the Order of the Floral Sun, which watched over the sprawling village around it.

The fields were large and expansive outside the fort, and the villagers each glanced towards them as they made their way towards the Order. The other outpost which had once housed two hundred soldiers, remained at the edge of the village, flying a familiar flag, white with seven pink petals spiralling to form a circular flower. The Commander had decided to make the best that the Order itself was better than the outpost, so led the group towards the large Order.

The large gates shuddered open, revealing a large number of heavily armoured figures, each staring at the Commander as well as the trio of carriages. Leading the heavily armoured figures was her. She wore full plate, emblazoned with what one might mistake was a star, but was the beautiful form of a blooming Bellflower. As she marched towards the Commander, they could feel it, the pressure exuding from the woman, who glared upon the soldiers.

Commander Silversky hopped off his horse, not wanting to offend the woman, before bowing his head lightly in respect.

"Commander Silversky," the woman greeted, shaking the Commander's arm gently.

"What do I owe the pleasure?"

"I am escorting this group to Gold Port on behalf of the King."

"On behalf of the King?" Commander Silversky inhaled deeply, bowing his head rather sheepishly, causing the woman's eyes to fall upon the carriages, especially as the doors opened and out dropped a fellow in purple. He held up a hand to try and stop her, but the woman had already reached for her blade, and the figure in purple frozen upon seeing the scene before him. Before Adam could make a joke and get himself killed, another called out to call the attention to herself.

"Bellflower Sword," the young woman said, her eyes almost a piercing glare as she stared at the woman in full plate.

'Who are you?' the Bellflower Sword, Grand Commander of the Order of the Blooming Bellflower, thought. She could vaguely recognise the young woman, and yet gave off such a grave aura. Nirot grinned wildly towards the woman, and it was then she recalled the face of the Iyrman she had fought the previous year, the Iyrman who wore a blue circle and blue diamonds, and wielded a terribly horrible blade with shark like teeth. She recalled just how terrifying that Iyrman had been, even after facing Vice Commander Hugo.

The worst part was, she didn't even know the Iyrman's name, who hadn't made much of a name for himself. A hand gripped at Adam's shoulder, and had it not been for that hand, Adam would have certainly gotten himself killed, for if looks could kill, the glare within Adam's eyes would have killed the Bellflower Sword.

"You must allow her the pleasure," Jurot said, doing his best to make sure his brother didn't ruin their cousin's fun.

"You must be his daughter?"

"I am Nirot," Nirot said, feeling the tingling fill through her body.

"It was my father, Gorot, who stopped your path."

"Could-," the woman began, only to see the way the woman's eyes twitch with excitement, ready to exchange words. She had almost fallen into the Iyrman's trap, which had been so obviously telegraphed, she had wondered how she could have possibly fallen for it so easily. She would have looked towards the source of the reason, but the young woman's eyes seemed so passionate, the Bellflower Sword could only stare into the Iyrman's eyes.

"Nirot," the reason finally called, having been unable to keep his mouth shut.

"Stop bullying the Bellflower Sword!"