65: The boy on the way

Squeak~ Squeak~

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Accompanied by the sound of the carriage wheels turning, Daisna and her maid, Norse, swayed back and forth inside.

The discomfort brought by this jolting caused Norse's face to turn slightly pale, but Daisna, beside her, didn't seem to feel a thing.

Norse watched as Daisna stared intently at the humanoid Day Crystal statue in her hand, which had been carved in her likeness.

After a moment, Norse finally felt better and teased, "Miss Daisna, if your head gets any closer, you'll merge right into the statue."

"You've been staring at it ever since the box was opened. Is Lord Howard inside that statue or something?"

Daisna's cheeks immediately flushed, and she said with a mix of anger and embarrassment, "Well now, Norse, you actually dare to tease me? See if I don't teach you a good lesson!"

With that, Daisna lunged at Norse and began tickling her all over. The overwhelmed little maid also fought back.

The pleasant and cheerful laughter from inside the carriage reached the ears of the knights protecting them, but their expressions remained calm and unmoved, showing their professional demeanor.

At that moment, Ellis Clifford, at the very front of the convoy, suddenly barked, "Who's there! Come out!"

The carriage stopped at his command. His sharp gaze fixed on a pile of weeds about a person's height on the left side of the road ahead.

The other knights were only a second behind him in noticing the movement ahead.

Clang~!

With the continuous metallic sound of swords being drawn, all the knights entered a state of high alert.

The next second, the panicked voice of a young boy rang out.

"Don't, Sir Knights, please don't attack! I'm just a commoner, I mean no harm."

Seeing the boy with a face covered in dirt scramble out of the weeds, Ellis's sharp gaze softened slightly, but his tone remained stern. "Kid, what were you doing hiding there?"

The boy lowered his head and said in a fearful tone, "I... I saw your convoy from a distance earlier. I was scared, so I thought I'd hide in the weeds and wait for you to leave before coming out."

"Is that so..." Ellis said, his tone unreadable.

Although he felt an indescribable sense of strangeness, he believed the boy somewhat, given his harmless appearance and tone.

Furthermore, in his perception, the boy truly possessed no malice or dangerous aura.

His tone softened as he said, "In that case, leave quickly."

At this point, Daisna poked her head out of the carriage and asked, "Uncle Ellis, what happened?"

Ellis turned and replied, "It's nothing, Miss Daisna. We just encountered a boy passing by."

Hearing this, Daisna gave an 'en' and asked no more, pulling her head back inside.

On the other side, the boy stammered a word of thanks. Just as he was about to turn and leave, a brown animal-hide scroll suddenly fell from his person.

Seeing this, the boy's expression changed, and he hurriedly bent down to pick up the scroll.

But this suspicious expression 'happened' to be exposed to Ellis's eyes. He shouted, "Where did you get that scroll?"

The boy, caught halfway through bending over, was immediately 'frightened' into kneeling on the ground. He said in a panic, "I picked this up in Suostai City. But since I'm illiterate and can't understand what's on it, I was planning to sell it for some money."

"Suostai City?" Ellis looked puzzled and said in a strange tone, "Even if you wanted to sell it, there's no need to travel all the way from Suostai City to here."

"This..."

Seeing the boy's hesitation, Ellis suspected, "Is it possible this wasn't picked up, but stolen?"

The boy quickly denied it. "No, it's not like that! I really did pick it up. But after I did, I was mysteriously chased by some people in black robes, so I fled here."

"Chased! People in black robes!" Ellis's expression changed, and he said urgently, "Bring that scroll here and let me see."

The boy didn't dare object. He immediately picked up the scroll, ran to Ellis, and, keeping his head low, presented the scroll with both hands.

Opening the scroll, fragmented text with more than half its content missing immediately met Ellis's eyes.

Following that, he saw a word forbidden in the kingdom: 'Wizard'. His pupils constricted violently.

But in an instant, he regained his calm expression and asked in a tone laced with danger, "Kid, are you really illiterate?"

The boy looked up, revealing a face so grimy it was hard to recognize. A look of confusion appeared in his eyes, as if he didn't know why Ellis was asking.

But he then said firmly, "I swear in the name of the holy light god, I really am illiterate."

Hearing this, the dangerous glint in Ellis's eyes instantly vanished. A gold coin appeared out of thin air in his hand, and he tossed it accurately into the boy's still-raised hand.

"I'm buying your scroll."

Looking at the gold coin in his hand, the boy immediately bit it with his teeth. After confirming it was real, he knelt and said gratefully, "Thank you, Sir Knight! Thank you, Sir Knight!"

Nodding slightly, Ellis gave a light wave of his right hand. The knights behind him sheathed their swords in unison, and the convoy continued on its way.

Watching the retreating backs of the convoy, the boy smiled mysteriously, turned, and walked quickly in the opposite direction... "Ah~!"

Inside a room on the third floor of the castle, Lister, sitting cross-legged, let out a groan of extreme satisfaction.

After the buffer period following his first absorption of a Spirit Essence Flower four days ago, he absorbed a second Spirit Essence Flower today.

The enhancement to his Spiritual Power was very strong, not much weaker than the first time.

The feeling of clarity in his brain and the flexibility and speed of his thoughts had once again improved by a level.

Amidst the joy in his heart, he whispered to himself, "Let's try condensing the 'Magic Shield' again."

As he spoke, he released the Spiritual Power from his sea of consciousness and began to mobilize the magic power being transferred into his body through the Sub-space Contract Bridge.

Once a dense surge of blue magic power was released from his body and condensed in the air, he hurriedly concentrated his Spiritual Power to shape that magic power.

At this moment, it was as if he were kneading clay, except he wasn't using physical hands, but 'hands' of Spiritual Power.

Compared to the tangible sensation of kneading clay by hand, the feeling of molding with Spiritual Power was even more wondrous.

Under the intense concentration and continuous consumption of Spiritual Power, beads of sweat gradually broke out on his forehead.

A moment later, a blue, transparent magic buckler, similar to a knight's round shield, finally condensed in front of him.

Feeling the substantial magic power within the transparent shield, Lister's face lit up with joy.

Compared to the first Magic Shield he had condensed, the energy structure of this one was much more solid.

He turned to look at Bai Ze, who was sitting on the floor with wide eyes, and said excitedly, "Bai Ze, quick, use your fire skill to—wait, no—attack my Magic Shield."

Hearing this, Bai Ze raised its thick and powerful right front paw, indicating it was no problem.

The next second, a Magic Fireball condensed in its mouth and shot toward the Magic Shield in front of Lister's body with a 'whoosh'.