Before the Annual Caravan continued its journey toward the southern border of the Eileen Kingdom, Brandon assigned a few knights, valkyries, and cavalry soldiers to deal with the aftermath of the Mirare Town Dungeon Incident.

Two knights and two valkyries, accompanied by twelve soldiers, would remain in Mirare to guard the four gates—preventing anyone from entering the town and watching for suspicious individuals who might be involved, or the culprits who placed the Dungeon Core replica inside the town and turned it into a dungeon.

Another pair consisting of a knight and a valkyrie was sent to the territory of Von Envier. Since the Marquis of Mirare Town was allied with the Duke of Von Envier, it was the most logical option Brandon could think of—to ask for assistance in dealing with what remained of Mirare, now a ghost town.

Despite the pain and injuries they had suffered, and the friends and comrades they had lost, those who survived decided to continue the journey—to move forward and honor those who had died.

With their numbers reduced to four hundred, the Annual Caravan departed from Mirare Town toward the Beastkin Nation—one of the three demi-human nations allied with the Eileen Kingdom that guards the kingdom's southern border.

---

"What are you four grinning at?" Lynn grumbled irritably, glaring at her four mage students as they sat inside their carriage traveling along the southern plains road.

Her irritation didn't come from the lingering depression of failing to save the townsfolk of Mirare or those who had been captured and turned into Visages. She had managed to overcome that depression by stress-eating her stockpile of puddings and cakes—and by constantly demanding attention and pampering from Arezu.

It wasn't because of their four-day journey from Mirare Town to the border of the Beastkin Nation either, which had been unexpectedly uneventful, with no hordes or swarms of monsters—only small groups that the cavalry easily defeated.

What truly caused her irritation, souring her mood, was the impending depletion of her pudding and cake reserves.

And what made Leo, Cliff, Senna, and Casey tease her even more was the fact that Lynn had been clinging to Arezu like a kitten following its mother cat every chance she got.

Even now, as they traveled early in the morning, Lynn had passed the role of carriage driver to Beatrix just so she could sit beside Arezu inside the carriage.

"If you four don't stop acting stupid, that'll be another failing mark on your record."

—"That doesn't work anymore, Ms. Clinging-Girlfriend."—

The four mage students replied in unison, unfazed by Lynn's threat.

Failing marks no longer scared Leo, Cliff, Senna, or Casey. If there was one silver lining for the remaining mage students after the Mirare Town Dungeon Incident—despite the friends, fellow students, and instructors they lost—it was that their graduation exam during the Annual Caravan expedition had already been concluded. Those who had survived fighting the undead Visages while trapped inside the town were guaranteed to pass.

"Tsk… Say something, Mr. Arezu!"

Sensing her impending tantrum, Arezu decided to pamper Lynn again—not by taking her side, but by promising her something he assumed she wanted.

"Once we arrive at the Beastkin Nation's capital, we can buy the ingredients to make pudding and cake. It won't taste as good as the ones from Moon Pavilion, though."

"Grrr~!... That's not what I'm asking for, Mr. Obviously!"

Totally and completely obviously, Senna and Casey thought, understanding what Leo, Cliff, and even Arezu failed to grasp—that Lynn wanted Arezu to say something about her being called his Clinging-Girlfriend.

While Lynn lashed out at Arezu with weak punches that didn't hurt him in the slightest—and he simply accepted them to let her vent her stress—a warning came from the front of the cavalry leading the caravan.

"We've got a horde of wyverns incoming!"

Wyverns, or lesser dragons, were mid-level monsters. They typically had wingspans of three meters or more, depending on how much prey they had devoured. Although they couldn't breathe fire like true dragons, their ability to raid and attack from the skies made them far more difficult to deal with than other mid-level monsters such as orcs, werewolves, or chimeras.

A single wyvern could easily destroy a traveling carriage guarded by inexperienced adventurers, and a horde numbering nearly a hundred posed a serious threat even to a caravan with more than three dozen carriages.

Despite the danger, the caravan was well-prepared. With Sylvie—a gold-rank mage adventurer and holder of the title Lightning Blade—a horde of wyverns would soon be reduced to burning husks crashing to the ground. Unfortunately, the same might happen to anything caught among them.

"There's a group of bird-kin demi-humans being chased by those wyverns," Lynn said, standing on the driver's seat beside Beatrix and peeking through a spyglass that Beatrix had traded her in exchange for one of the baseball bats Arezu had crafted.

"Rather than being chased, it looks more like they're leading them away," Arezu remarked, able to see the group and the horde even without a spyglass as he stepped down from the halted carriage.

Whether they were leading them away or simply fleeing, the group of bird-kin was now an obstacle for Sylvie—who hesitated to cast her Thunderstorm mystic spell from midair, as they would be caught in the blast.

"I'm sure you know the flag code used by bird-kin, right, Mr. Country Bumpkin?" Lynn asked—clearly preparing to tease Arezu in case he didn't know, given that his supposed hometown was in the southern region of the Beastkin Nation.

Luckily for Arezu—

"Of course I know, Lynn."

"And you can ride a horse, right?"

—That, however, was something Arezu hadn't completely learned yet.

"Then let's go, Mr. Arezu."

Lynn dismounted from the carriage, unhooked one of her loyal steeds, and mounted the one named Ragwort.

Without needing an explanation, Arezu understood her plan and took her hand as she offered him a ride.

Lynn and Arezu rode past the caravan, leaving Beatrix to explain Lynn's plan to the cavalry—something she barely understood herself.

Noticing a single horse racing toward them, the leader of the bird-kin group saw the man riding behind the woman waving two makeshift flags in a specific pattern, signaling them to dive down and land immediately.

The ominous dark clouds forming ahead, above the caravan they could no longer avoid, and the elven woman floating midair all told him what the man on horseback was warning about.

He ordered his group to dive, ignoring the wyverns still chasing them. The moment they hit the ground—

—BOOOMMM!!!—

—A barrage of lightning strikes tore through the sky, followed by deafening thunderous roars and the burning remains of the wyvern horde crashing and scattering across the plains.

"You can keep kneeling and bowing to me if that's what you want," Lynn said smugly.

"Oi—was that really necessary?" Arezu sighed.

Though the bird-kin were terrified enough to stay on the ground, fearful their wings might have been clipped by lightning, they couldn't stay silent after such a remark—even from their savior.

But to their surprise—especially the leader's—the man he saw riding behind the female rider was someone he knew.

"What are you doing here, Arezu?"

Next chapter will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.