Chương 55: A Stranger on the Road

The eastern road became narrower after Raven's Rest. For the first few hours, Leo followed the remains of an old imperial highway, where worn stone markers occasionally emerged from the grass. By afternoon, even those disappeared. The road had not been maintained for years. Grass grew through the cracks, tree roots had pushed sections of stone upward, and in several places the path had almost vanished beneath layers of mud. Leo preferred it that way. There were fewer travelers. Fewer questions.

And fewer reasons for anyone to remember his face. He walked until the sun began to disappear behind the western mountains. Then he heard horses. Leo stopped. Three riders appeared around the bend. Two men and a woman. They were not soldiers. Their clothes were practical rather than uniformed, and the packs attached to their horses suggested a long journey. The woman noticed Leo first. She slowed her horse. The two men followed. One of them looked at Leo's sword. Then at his cloak.

Then at the mask hanging from his belt. His expression changed.

"You're the one from Raven's Rest." Leo said nothing. The man dismounted.

"I heard about what happened."

"Then you heard enough." The man's eyes narrowed.

"You're not very talkative."

"I don't have anything to say." The woman glanced toward the road ahead.

"We're heading east. The bridge at the next valley was destroyed yesterday." Leo looked at her.

"Destroyed?" She nodded.

"A landslide." One of the men laughed.

"That's what the locals are saying." The woman gave him an annoyed look.

"You think otherwise?"

"I think nothing happens naturally anymore." Leo studied them. The man's hand rested close to the dagger at his waist. Not a bandit. Not a soldier. Too alert for an ordinary merchant. Leo looked toward the horizon.

"Is there another route?"

"There is," the woman answered.

"But it takes two days longer."

"That works." The man looked at him.

"You're going alone?"

"Yes."

"Why?" Leo continued walking.

"Because I want to." The three travelers exchanged glances. Then the woman smiled slightly.

"Fair enough." She urged her horse forward.

"We'll see you at the next crossroads." This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. Leo kept walking. He expected that to be the end of it. It wasn't. Night fell before he reached the crossroads. Leo found the three travelers already there. They had made camp beside a ruined stone structure that appeared to have once been a roadside station. A small fire burned between them. The woman looked up.

"You're slower than I expected." Leo stopped several meters away.

"You waited?"

"We needed someone who knows the eastern road."

"You have maps."

"Maps don't tell you which bridges are actually standing." Leo looked at the road behind him. Then at the ruined station. He considered continuing. His body still hadn't fully recovered. Walking through the night would accomplish little. He approached the fire. The woman moved a little to the side.

"You can sit." Leo sat opposite them. Nobody asked about his identity. That was the first thing he appreciated. After a few minutes, the man who had spoken earlier finally introduced himself.

"I'm Rowan." He pointed toward the woman.

"That's Serah." Then toward the other man.

"Darin." Leo nodded. They waited. He didn't introduce himself. Rowan raised an eyebrow.

"Nothing?"

"You already know my name."

"We know the name people are giving you." Leo looked at him. Rowan smiled.

"The Heavenly Demon." The fire crackled. Leo remained expressionless. Serah sighed.

"Don't start."

"I didn't start anything."

"You were about to." Rowan laughed. Leo watched them quietly. They were different from the people at the academy. They didn't know him. They didn't expect anything from him. They had their own destination, their own arguments, and their own reasons for being on the road. For the first time in a while, Leo found that refreshing. Serah reached into her pack and removed a map. She spread it across the ground.

"We're going to the city of Velaris." Leo glanced at the map. Velaris was several hundred kilometers east. Beyond it were the Red Plains. Beyond those, the eastern mountain range. And beyond the mountains— regions that had barely been mapped. Leo's eyes remained on the map.

"How long?"

"To Velaris?"

"Yes."

"About twelve days if the roads remain clear." Leo nodded. He had intended to travel farther east anyway. Serah noticed his interest.

"You're going that way too?"

"Yes."

"Then we may be traveling together."

"For how long?" She shrugged.

"Until our roads separate." Leo looked at the map again. That answer suited him. No promises. No permanent attachment. Just a road shared for a while.

"Fine." Rowan smiled.

"That's the longest conversation we've had with you." Leo ignored him. The following morning, they left together. For the next several days, their journey was uneventful. And Leo preferred it that way. He learned that Rowan was a former caravan guard who had left his employer after a dispute over wages. Darin was a young merchant whose family traded medicinal herbs. Serah was the actual leader of the group. She knew the eastern territories well and had traveled farther than either of the men.

None of them were extraordinary. That was precisely what made them useful companions. Leo did not need everyone he met to be powerful. Sometimes, ordinary people knew things that warriors never learned. Which roads flooded after heavy rain. Which villages disliked outsiders. Which inns secretly belonged to criminal groups. Which merchants could be trusted. Which forests were safe during the day but dangerous after sunset. The world was larger than battlefields. Leo was beginning to understand that again.

On the sixth day, they reached a small trading town. The streets were crowded. Merchants from different regions filled the market. Leo noticed something immediately. The people here spoke differently. The clothing was different. Even the coins used by several merchants were unfamiliar. The farther east they traveled, the more obvious it became. The continent was not a single culture divided by borders. It was a collection of worlds that happened to share a landmass. Serah stopped near the market entrance.

"We'll stay here tonight." Leo looked around.

"Why?"

"Because Velaris is still six days away." She pointed toward the northern road.

"And that road is controlled by a mercenary company." Leo glanced in that direction.

"Dangerous?"

"Expensive." Rowan laughed.

"That's Serah's definition of dangerous." She ignored him. Leo looked toward the market. Something caught his attention. A group of people had gathered around a wooden board. A merchant was reading aloud from a newly posted notice.

"Another sighting of the masked swordsman near the western trade road." The crowd murmured. The merchant continued.

"Witnesses claim that he defeated eight armed men without killing any civilians." Someone shouted:"Is he really the Heavenly Demon?" Another voice answered:"Who knows?" A third person laughed.

"He's probably just some wandering swordsman." Leo stood at the edge of the crowd. Nobody recognized him. Nobody looked twice. That was exactly what he wanted. But then he noticed another notice beneath the first. It was much older. Its paper was worn. The writing was faded. Yet one symbol remained visible. A silver thread. Leo's expression changed slightly. The same symbol. The same people. The same organization that had appeared during the Arcane Convergence.

This time, however, the notice was not about the capital. It concerned missing caravans. Three caravans had disappeared along the eastern mountain road. No survivors. No bodies. No witnesses. Leo stared at the symbol. Serah noticed his attention.

"What is it?" Leo folded the edge of his cloak over the mask at his belt.

"Nothing." He walked away from the notice. Serah followed him with her eyes. She did not ask again. That was another thing Leo appreciated. That night, Leo stood alone on the roof of the inn. Velaris was still several days away. The stars were clear. For the first time since leaving the capital, Leo allowed himself to think about what came next. He had planned to travel. To train. To explore. To become stronger. But now there was another thread running through his journey. The people behind the Arcane Convergence.

He did not know their purpose. He did not know their leader. And he did not know how far their influence extended. He had no intention of becoming obsessed with them. He had spent too much of his previous life chasing enemies until they became the center of his existence. He would not repeat that mistake. If their path crossed his, he would deal with them. If it didn't, he would continue forward. Leo looked toward the eastern horizon. A distant mountain range cut across the darkness.

Beyond it lay territories he had never seen. Different kingdoms. Different races. Different forms of magic. And somewhere beyond those mountains was a world that had nothing to do with the academy. Leo touched the mask hanging beneath his cloak. The world believed Leo Shakespeare was dead. That was enough. From this point forward, the person walking across the continent would be someone else. A stranger. A wandering swordsman. A name whispered by people who had never seen his face. The Heavenly Demon.

Leo turned away from the city lights. He would travel east. Not because destiny demanded it. Not because someone had chosen him. But because, for once, he wanted to see what existed beyond the horizon. And he intended to discover it alone. End of Chapter 55.