Ch.138137. Journey (6)

# 137. Journey (6)

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The cheerful chirping of birds announcing the start of a day echoed through the cave.

She woke up to the sound and immediately checked her surroundings.

“Seems like nothing happened.”

Everything around her remained exactly as it had been yesterday, and he was still sleeping soundly beside her.

Normally, she would have just left him be, but given the current situation, waking him up was the right thing to do.

She gently shook Albert’s body and said:

“Wake up, it’s morning.”

***

That voice—so familiar, yet one I wanted to keep hearing forever.

It even sounded slightly husky.

I woke up to that voice.

“Yawn…”

As always, it was a tired morning, but today it felt less so.

Was it because she woke me up? Or because I heard her voice first thing in the morning?

Whatever the reason, it was a good morning indeed.

“Good morning.”

After that greeting, I leaned toward her soft cheek.

-Smooch!-

She was flustered by the sudden intimacy. Looking at her, I said:

“It really is a good morning.”

“W-why so suddenly?”

“We kissed yesterday too, why are you so shy?”

Of course, despite my words, her reaction was incredibly endearing.

So much so that I wished we could stay like this forever.

“I’m still not used to it…”

“Then don’t get used to it.”

“What…?”

She stared at me with a blank expression as I got up from my stiff position.

Then, extending my hand to her, I said:

“Just stay that way, I prefer it like that.”

While it might be nice in its own way if she became comfortable enough to initiate skinship, this was definitely more to my taste.

She took my hand and responded to my request:

“I don’t know if that’s possible, but I’ll try.”

“That’s enough for me.”

Afterward, we gathered our unpacked belongings and started walking toward our destination again.

The relatively cool morning was pleasant, but as noon approached, the sunlight became increasingly intense.

However, thanks to her [Bitter Cold], despite being under the sun, we weren’t particularly hot—rather, the temperature was just right for activity.

“Is it okay to keep that on all the time? It’s nice and cool, but…”

“Don’t worry about that. I have magic to spare. And here, it regenerates much faster than usual.”

“That’s good to hear.”

I had been concerned since we still had a long way to go.

But seeing her speak so confidently, it seemed there was truly nothing to worry about.

“By the way… when will we arrive? It feels like we’ve been walking a lot since yesterday.”

“We’re still far away, very far.”

“How much progress have we made?”

To be honest, we hadn’t even reached a quarter of the way.

This forest was vast, and the Persian Kingdom was that far away.

“About 15 percent, I’d say?”

“Not even a quarter of the way…”

“We’ll get there eventually. At this rate, it’ll take about 4 to 5 days.”

Just a week at most, or 5 days if we moved quickly.

Of course, the fact that it was only our second day was an issue, but it wasn’t terribly far away, so I didn’t make much of it.

Time was something we had plenty of, so there was no rush.

“It takes quite a while. If it’s that long, shouldn’t we try to find the main group?”

“Do you know where they are?”

“Good point…”

“We’ll meet them along the way anyway, and we can progress without necessarily joining up with them.”

I wasn’t worried about them given their impressive member composition, and we were safe thanks to her detection abilities.

“They won’t face any danger, and if we encounter any, we can just run away.”

“I hope… nothing happens to them either?”

Ironically, she was worried about them rather than us.

She was concerned when there was no need to be.

“They’re probably thinking the same about us, especially His Imperial Majesty.”

“I’m making him worry again…”

“Even though we’re not really in danger.”

He was certainly an icon of overprotection, so no matter how skilled she was, he would be worried.

And not just about safety, but in other ways too.

‘This could be trouble if I’m not careful…’

If yesterday’s events reached the Emperor’s ears, serious consequences could follow.

“I might be in danger.”

“Huh? Oh… are you talking about yesterday?”

When I nodded in response to her question, she smiled and said:

“That’s obviously a secret.”

“That’s a relief.”

“I can’t imagine what Riel would say if she found out…”

Both of us were worrying about our futures in our own ways.

The good news was that if we kept quiet, nothing would happen.

‘Probably…’

***

On the third day since Albert and she went missing.

Today too, they were traversing through the forest.

Three days of continuous walking, along with training sessions conducted during breaks.

Exhausted from the grueling schedule, Leo asked his teacher:

“Teacher… when will we arrive?”

“We’re about halfway there now.”

“Halfway?!”

“Yes, we’ve made better progress than expected.”

Only halfway.

And the comment about making good progress drove Leo to the brink of insanity.

“Haha….”

Leo’s hollow laughter.

Hearing it, Kyle asked him:

“Leo, what’s wrong? Perhaps this morning’s training wasn’t enough and you’re lacking energy…”

“No! That’s not it!”

Traumatized by the hellish training, Leo cut him off, denying his words.

But Kyle remained oblivious to Leo’s feelings.

“I’ll put in more effort for tonight’s session.”

“What…? You really don’t have to…”

At that moment, Aelin, who had been silent, interrupted Leo and joined the conversation:

“We’d appreciate that! You can make it even more intense!”

“Alright, I’ll make it as intense as possible.”

After that exchange, Kyle returned to Merlin’s side, and Leo finally expressed the anger he couldn’t show earlier:

“Hey! Are you crazy?!”

“You’re the one missing out on such a great opportunity!”

“I get that, but asking for it to be more intense is a bit much… Do you want to die during training?”

The previous training sessions had been quite challenging for Leo.

But Aelin was different.

Accustomed to tough and arduous training from before, she found it bearable.

“If you lack stamina, just push through with sheer willpower.”

“What’s with that impractical mentality…”

“That’s why you’re always behind me.”

Normally, he might have responded differently, but this time he couldn’t refute her words.

During the nearly week-long training period, he had painfully realized how incredible Aelin’s stamina was and how hard she worked.

She wasn’t at the level of those two, but she was far superior to him.

“But… what do you normally do to be like that?”

“Join our party and you’ll become like me. It’s incredibly demanding there.”

With training sessions scheduled almost daily, and members who trained on their own even on off days, it was an intense party.

Being with such people, Aelin’s stamina had improved dramatically, and she had gradually adopted their passion.

“You should join us, they’ll definitely accept you.”

“I’ll think about it…”

“You sure like to think.”

He would eventually join the party, and he probably wanted to do so all along.

And Aelin already knew this.

“And if you join, I’m your senior, so you better use formal speech with me.”

“Do you… have that kind of system?”

“Of course, and this is standard in all parties.”

“….”

Unable to believe her words, Leo looked at Riel, another member of the party.

His expression seemed to ask if it was true.

Of course, it wasn’t, but Riel wasn’t on his side.

“It’s true. When it’s just us, hierarchy is determined by when you joined the party.”

“See! I told you it’s true!”

“This is… ridiculous.”

“If you joined later, of course you should use formal speech. Don’t you know how social interactions work?”

Riel was amazed by Aelin’s shameless attitude.

Ariya and Amelia, who had been listening quietly, asked Riel a question.

In a voice soft enough for only the three of them to hear:

“Is that true?”

“Do students really do that?”

“It’s all an act and a lie.”

“Huh?”

“The hierarchy is based on age, and there’s no rule about using formal speech just because you joined later.”

Finally knowing the truth, they were as amazed as Riel had been at Aelin’s audacity.

“She’s such a good actor…”

“I know, right? But what do you guys usually do when your party members get together?”

Unlike Amelia, who had seen them train, Ariya seemed curious about this.

Riel gave her a very simple answer:

“Training.”

“Nothing else? Like going out together for fun?”

“If you suggest going out, they’d say we should use that time for more training, especially Albert. Her Imperial Highness is a bit like that too.”

Some might find it frustrating, but it was that passion that had made them so skilled.

Hearing this, Ariya seemed to understand something.

“So that’s why.”

“What?”

“When I went to the Academy before, I saw a video of the students in a survival exercise. They were incredibly good, especially those two.”

“Those two?”

The Emperor’s voice suddenly interjected.

It wasn’t clear when he had approached, but both the Emperor and Merlin had come closer and were listening to the conversation.

“When did you all get here?”

“More importantly, I’d like to know what they were good at.”

Given the situation, he seemed to become sensitive whenever such topics arose.

The Empress showed no such signs, but the Emperor was quite affected.

“I saw them fighting each other, and they were both amazing.”

“They fought each other?”

“Yes, they seemed to be on different teams in the survival exercise.”

“Do you still have that video?”

“It’s readily available on the internet.”

It was a video that had become quite popular online, but the Emperor, perhaps due to his busy schedule, hadn’t seen it yet.

So Ariya showed the video directly to the Emperor.