Chapter 525: Sudden Departure
The next morning, Yuan and his wives were having breakfast in the dining hall while Miss Zara and Little Zoe were serving the other guests at the inn.
Miss Zara approached their table and asked, “Do you need anything? Some bread?”
“We’re already full, Miss Zara, but thank you,” Yuan replied with a smile, taking a sip of water after finishing his meal.
“I see…” Miss Zara smiled. Then she asked, “By the way, what’s your plan for today? Are you going to rest, or are you planning on taking a mission from the Hunter Association?”
“We don’t have any specific plans,” Yuan paused for a moment before continuing, “However, we need to be somewhere, and it’s very important. We’ll have to leave for a few days, maybe even a month—I’m not sure how long it will take.”
“Somewhere? Where exactly? Can you tell me?” Miss Zara asked, her curiosity piqued, and with a hint of concern in her voice.
“The Roth City, also known as the City of Business within the Windfall Kingdom. Our business isn’t in the city itself, but at the ancient ruin near it,” Yuan replied. Since she had been taking good care of them, and was very kind, Yuan didn’t see any harm in telling her the truth.
More importantly, he didn’t want to lie to her about where they were going, as that would only worry her, which he wanted to avoid. Besides, Miss Zara was a very trustworthy person.
“The Roth City? Isn’t that too far from here? It’ll probably take you more than three weeks to get there by carriage,” Miss Zara said, her expression surprised; she hadn’t expected their destination to be an ancient ruin near the City of Business.
“Well, we have other means of transportation, so you don’t need to worry about that, Miss Zara,” Yuan replied.
“Well, I know you’re not mages, but you have incomprehensible powers at your disposal, so I won’t ask about your means of transportation,” Miss Zara said with a knowing smile, causing Yuan and his wives to raise their brows slightly.
‘Does she know we can fly? Now that I think about it, she might have seen Rose flying with her sword…’ Yuan was initially surprised but quickly connected the dots, realizing how she might have discovered their secret.
‘Well, since it’s her, there’s no need for us to hide it. She’s a kind woman,’ Yuan thought with a smile.
“Did I hear that right, Big Brother Yuan? You’re leaving?” Suddenly, Little Zoe appeared before them with a sad look on her face.
Yuan turned to her with a warm smile. She looked adorable in the maid outfit her mother had made for her.
“Well, we’re leaving for a few days. It might take a week or even a month to come back,” Yuan replied, still smiling.
“But don’t worry, we’ll try our best to return as quickly as possible, okay?”
“Un, it’s a promise then?” she asked, her expression reluctant; she didn’t want them to leave.
“It’s a promise.” Yuan nodded with a smile and kissed the little girl on her cheek, making her giggle softly.
Lily watched this with a slightly envious expression. She was supposed to be Little Zoe’s favorite, yet the girl was clinging to Yuan instead of her. It made her feel a bit jealous.
Lily then looked at Little Zoe with a cold gaze and spoke in a frosty tone, “Well, well, would you look at that… Little Zoe, it appears you’ve forgotten about me now that you have Big Brother Yuan, haven’t you?”
“Fufu~ It seems you no longer love me, do you?” Lily said with a cold smile, sending a shiver down Little Zoe’s spine.
Little Zoe immediately stepped back from Yuan, swallowing nervously. She looked at Lily and tried her best to force a bright smile.
‘It seems I’m in trouble. Big Sister Lily looks very angry that I neglected her… This is bad!’ Little Zoe cried inwardly in frustration.
‘I need to quickly find a way to calm her down, or she won’t train with me later,’ Little Zoe thought, glancing at Lily’s cold expression and bone-chilling smile.
“How could that be, Big Sister Lily? You’re misunderstanding something,” Little Zoe quickly approached Lily, hugged her tightly, and rubbed her cheeks against hers. “I love you the most, Big Sister Lily. How could I possibly forget about you? Besides, you’re the only one teaching me swordsmanship.”
Little Zoe tried to butter up Lily, hoping to convince her that she loved her the most. Her plan seemed to be working, as Lily’s cold expression began to soften, and eventually, a sweet smile appeared on her face.
‘Thankfully, I managed to calm down Big Sister Lily… For a moment, I thought I was going to die today… Big Sister Lily can be really scary sometimes,’ Little Zoe thought, releasing a sigh of relief as she noticed the change in Lily’s expression.
“Well, since you’re being so sincere, I’ll let it slide this time, but there won’t be any forgiveness next time,” Lily said to the little girl with a pout, pretending to be reluctant to forgive her.
Yuan, his wives, and Miss Zara couldn’t help but chuckle at their interaction. Despite her childish appearance, Little Zoe seemed to be quite clever and had numerous tricks up her sleeve.
‘Fufu~ As expected of my daughter, she’s as clever as I am… She’ll be a very intelligent woman when she grows up and learns more about the world through her own experiences,’ Miss Zara thought, smiling proudly at Little Zoe, feeling extremely happy with her daughter’s maturity despite her young age.
“I know, and it won’t happen again, don’t worry,” Little Zoe said to Lily, nodding her head.
“Good, it’s good that you understand.” Lily nodded, then her expression turned serious as she added, “However, you shouldn’t skip your sword training just because I’m not here to guide you. Each day, you should swing your sword a hundred times; this will make your hands stronger.”
“I understand, Big Sister Lily. I won’t miss my training.”
“Very good.” Lily nodded with a smile.
After that, Yuan and his wives stood up, ready to head out. But before they left, Yuan took out five talismans from his system storage. He had received these talismans from an ancient treasury but hadn’t had the chance to use them until now.
“Here, take these,” Yuan said, handing the talismans to Miss Zara. “If someone tries to hurt you, just toss one of these talismans at them. It will protect you and punish the ruffians for their crimes.”
Miss Zara quickly accepted the talismans from Yuan and examined them with curiosity, as she had never seen anything like them before. The symbols on the talismans were foreign to her.
“Use them wisely, only if your life is in danger,” Anna Grace added with a smile.
“I-I understand… I’ll use them wisely,” Miss Zara replied with a gentle smile, feeling very grateful toward Yuan and his wives.
“We’ll try to return as soon as possible… I’ll settle our bill once we’re back,” Yuan said.
With that, Yuan and his wives left the inn and headed to the backyard.
Once there, Yuan took out his massive sword from his system storage, and everyone else did the same, except for Mireya, Sylvia, Valeria, Leah, Julie, and Ava.
Anna Grace’s body suddenly glowed with golden light, and she separated into two individuals once again—Anna and Grace. They quickly retrieved their flying swords as well.
Everyone then tossed their flying swords into the air, and the swords began to levitate, defying gravity.
Yuan wrapped his arm around Valeria and Leah before jumping onto his massive flying sword. He positioned Leah at the front, hugging her waist to ensure she didn’t fall, while Valeria stood at the back, holding onto him tightly.
Anna and Grace took Mireya and Sylvia onto their flying sword. Anna held onto them tightly, ensuring they didn’t fall. Both Mireya and Sylvia felt safe, reassured by Anna and Grace’s secure hold.
Emma held onto Julie’s waist and jumped onto her flying sword, while Lily took Ava onto her own, holding her waist firmly before they soared into the blue sky.
Xi Meili and Rose also leapt onto their flying swords with expert precision, following Yuan and the others as they ascended.
As they soared into the beautiful, clear blue sky, Leah, Mireya, Sylvia, Julie, and Ava were momentarily mesmerized by the bird’s-eye view of the capital city. The sight was truly breathtaking—the castle and entire city looked stunning from above. They could see people going about their daily routines, while others searched for new jobs.
After enjoying the view, they all headed toward Roth City, moving swiftly through the sky—covering more than a hundred kilometers in just a minute.
The speed at which they traveled left Valeria, Mireya, Sylvia, and Leah in awe. Before they knew it, the capital city was no longer visible, and they had already traveled hundreds of kilometers.
“What incredible speed… In just a few hours, we’ve crossed thousands of kilometers. I’m completely speechless!” Mireya murmured, her voice laced with shock as she looked down at the forests and waterfalls below.
Yuan chuckled at the look on her face. “To be honest, this isn’t even our top speed. If we weren’t carrying you all, we could be traveling ten times faster.”
“However, you wouldn’t be able to handle that kind of speed yet, especially you, Sylvia, and Valeria. Also, Rose has only recently learned how to fly and doesn’t have the experience to go beyond our current speed,” Yuan explained with a smile.
“I see… It feels unreal that we can travel at such speed. Truly unbelievable!” Valeria muttered in a low voice, her tone still filled with shock.
—
After traveling for three days, with breaks to rest and recover their spiritual energy, Yuan and his wives finally entered the territory of the Roth family, the governing family of Roth City.
Yuan and his wives could sense the dense spiritual energy emanating from the ancient ruins, where the entrance to the secret realm was located.
“What dense spiritual energy… I bet if we cultivated for just a day, we could reach the Spirit Warrior realm,” Valeria mumbled in a dazed voice, clearly surprised by the intensity of the energy in the air.
“Unfortunately, we can’t do that right now. We need to enter the secret realm at the heart of the ruin. That realm is crucial for us and will be greatly beneficial to all of us,” Yuan said seriously as they headed toward the ancient ruin.