As the carriage passed from between the trees, the world outside went completely dark for a split second, and I felt a slight push as we appeared in a new terrain, far from the academy.
The scenery changed in just a few hours of our travel.
The weather was getting cold as we moved forward. Because Krell was a dukedom of north.
Ailsa didn't say a word, sitting in the corner of the carriage, she was immersed in the book that had conducts and history of her house.
She really was trying her best to be a good heir.
And I just had my eyes closed, meditating throughout the journey. It's been two days since my core was ripped out.
My senses had improved, my physique and mental powers were amplified by many folds, I could bring forth the fire of my aura, but I still wasn't able to create a single projection of a knife, forget about a sword.
Our carriage stopped because the sun had set, but we were still far from the Dukedom of Krells.
"My lady, Professor, we've decided to set up a camp here. Wolves need a few hours of rest before continuing forward," Drako said, knocking on the door of the carriage.
"I understand, Ser Drako," Ailsa replied and opened the doors.
I also stepped out, feeling the cold and fresh breeze. This felt lovely.
Knights fed forage to their horses. Drivers were feeding the wolves, and had a bucket of water for them to drink from.
Drako had already set a campfire, taking out the baskets of seasoned meat from the carriage storage. And he started cooking the meat on the fire.
Ailsa, too, sat with him, watching the meat cook.
Walking towards them, I sat on the stone slab watching the meat cook too.
'Hmm…this might be the most interesting thing,' I thought.
I mean…it's not daily you witness cooking with a wooden campfire. It looked perfect. That sizzling sound as it burned to precision, it was perfect.
"How old are you, Professor Rile, if I may ask?" Drako spoke.
"I turned twenty-five this year, Ser Drako," I replied.
He nodded and continued, "I will turn thirty-nine this year, and I always used to feel that I, too, was a genius, Professor Rile."
"But then I met you…Emanant at twenty-five, I admire you, Professor," he said, his eyes were constantly observing the meat. Lost in thought.
"I appreciate your words, Ser Drako," I said. And I really did appreciate him. He could've taken my actions of listening to their talk earlier without alerting them as some kind of mockery. But Drako was true to his heart. He didn't feel like that. He knew it wasn't intentional.
"Admiration is a mirror, Ser Drako. It reflects as much of the beholder as of the beheld. Perhaps what you see in me is what has always lived within you." I continued, but my voice was calm.
Drako smiled. "Wisdom. I have gathered it. Though often through failure more than triumph,"
"If I am emanant at twenty-five, it is only because I have yet to stumble as many times as you. In that, Ser Drako, you may already stand ahead of me." I replied as he flipped the meat, and Ailsa listened to our words quietly.
"Tell me…what do you see when you look at me, Ser Drako?" I asked, looking at him.
"Am I a good guy or an evil man?" I asked as he stared into my eyes.
'It isn't just about being Ymir and holding the weight of his past. But I myself wasn't a good guy either. I have betrayed many expectations. I lived for myself, and even in my death, I don't think I would have thought about someone else. Not like I remember that moment,'
"What do you think of yourself, Professor?" He asked, following my question.
"I don't know," I said.
"Then you're not an evil man," he replied.
"Why do you think so?" I asked.
"If you had said you think of yourself as a good guy, that would mean you're trying to mask your deeds by the thought of doing good for society or yourself or anyone," Droke spoke.
"If you had said that you're an evil man, then that meant you know you did something wrong, and you're bold enough to admit your sins in front of someone you just met," he continued.
"Only a good guy wouldn't be sure of himself, feeling what he did could've harmed others, regretting over sins he didn't commit, that's someone who doesn't know if he's good or evil," Drako spoke, as he cut the meat and handed one serving to Ailsa on a leaf plate, and another to me.
"So don't dwell too much on your past, Professor, think about the future, that's all I can say to you. Unlike me, you're young, unmarried, and have a life full of responsibilities ahead," he said.
I didn't know what to say. I guess I really should've listened to my friend in a past life and get a counselling.
"Taste's good…" I mumbled, eating the sizzling and seasoned meat. It really was tasty.
Drako nodded, and we made it through the night in peace.
We resumed our journey before the sunrise, Ailsa started reading her book again, and I got immersed in my meditation.
Perhaps it was my first sleep without a core last night, I felt even more rejuvenated, I could feel a lot more aura in my body.
In just a few hours, the terrain changed again.
Snow mountains were visible out of the carriage. And we were about enter the jungles outside the border of the Krell Dukedom.
There was not a single carriage on this road other than ours, because Krells close their borders in winter because of the winter beasts that emerge in the jungle.
However, since the moment we've entered the jungles, I felt a sense of unease. Like we were being followed.
The wolves of Krell leading the carriage were fast. Fast enough that they could drag the carriage at the speed of knights on running horses.
And these horses were fast. They were like racehorses.
There were five horses and seven wolves, along with four wheels that were clashing with the cobblestone of the road crossing through the jungle.
On concentrating, I could hear each and every sound cleanly. Twenty legs of horses, twenty-eight legs of wolves and four wheels, their breathing, and the gasps of knights on them.
But…this wasn't the only sound I was hearing now.
Ten, fifty, hundred, two-hundred, two-hundred and twenty-eight more legs to be precise.
There was a pack of fifty-seven hounds following our carriage in the silence of the jungle.
I looked outside, but I couldn't see any of them. They were fast; they weren't just following; they were running in circles around the carriage at that speed.
Moving faster wasn't going to help. You can't outrun whisperers.
"Alert the knights," I spoke calmly, looking outside. "Whisperers are here…"
Ailsa closed her book and slammed the door of the carriage with her palm, drawing Drako's attention, "Whisperers! Ser Drako," She shouted.
The driver pulled the brakes of the carriage wheels and stopped the wolves from running, as our carriage suddenly halted in the middle of the jungle.
Knights pulled out their swords and circled the carriage on their horses.
All of them exerted their auras on their body, and Drako even had his sword covered in the spirals of his aura, a perfect display of his superior rank.
Ailsa, too, pulled her sword out from the corner of the seat and unsheathed it, exiting the carriage.
'We're clearly outnumbered,' I thought.
I placed my elbow on my legs and rested my chin on my hand, observing them.
I still haven't mastered my aura, but I believe I could dodge them easily. I remembered how whisperers looked in the game. But I need a glance at them in reality to draw their pack on my perception.
Suddenly, the first seven lunged at the knights circling the carriage.
Before they could come in contact with the swords of the knight, Draco jumped from his horse and stabbed the ground with an immense force of his aura, sending a controlled shockwave that threw the hounds back.
As one fell on the ground, I took a decent look at it. A hound, with no fur. Sharp teeth drenched in saliva that was poisonous enough to kill an elephant with a single drop.
All of them had eyes that were bleeding from the corners. That meant their leader was dead, and they had been wandering around in search of prey.
But they don't stay in packs when their leader dies, unless someone deliberately controls them.
As I was thinking about them, knights hopped off their horses and killed the hounds that had stumbled with the wave.
With a sigh, I closed my eyes, but I still couldn't get a perfect image of these hounds in my head. I needed details to deal damage to all of them.
Picking up my cane, I opened the doors and got out of the carriage, patting Ailsa's shoulders. Sure, these kids had faced a B-grade beast in their test during second-year finals. But it wasn't just one, but a pack of fifty-seven hounds, all b grade and aggressive.
She was scared, but wasn't backing off either. That's commendable in itself.
Moving forward, I passed by Drako, who was getting ready for another charge as all the remaining hounds lunged forward from all directions.
There were more than ten that were running at me.
I ducked left, dodging one, and the world slowed down as I observed it.
Open pores instead of hair.
I ducked another, stepping to my right.
Marks on the neck, they were held on a leash.
I put my cane in front of me as two of the hounds grabbed it with their jaws.
Eighty-four teeth, almost double the normal hounds. They were mutated.
Yes, this was all I needed.
<<
I closed my eyes, and in a split second the world turned as if it was drawn on a canvas.
The Knights fighting the hounds, Wolves shivering in fear, the driver hiding in the storage, Ailsa screaming in rage.
All the dead hounds on the ground, those running, and those attacking were held still in that split second of canvas world.
<<
I had divided perception into phases. And right now, I believe I could only pull off the first phase.
I leaked my aura, controlling every particle of it, and imagined the lines severing the hounds drawn from my aura as ink.
<<
The world gained its colour as I stumbled back from the severe pain shot in my head. All of a sudden, the reserve of my aura was almost empty.
Hounds lunging in the air, and those fighting on the ground, all fell apart in Jaggard pieces of meat. Even their blood didn't spray in the air; they just simply fell in the motion they were in.
"Uh-" Ailsa stared at all of the flesh on the ground. Even the knights were held frozen in their position.
"What the-" She mumbled.
'I guess it was too sudden for them…felt like moments for me,' I thought.