"My Lord, we haven't finished packing yet," Dolare said in a hurry upon seeing Horan command everyone to set off immediately. But, noticing the other party ignore his words, Dolare became flustered, almost shouting in response, "My Lord, we'll lose a lot of money if we don't pack up all the purchased goods…"
"Is money or your life more important for you?" Horan glared at him, startling him.
"M-My life, sir." Dolare stammered in response, failing to understand just why Horan was behaving in this way, especially since he was a Pseudo-Saint.
In their world, the strongest active among all races was only a Pseudo-Saint. This meant that Horan Fawnker didn't have anything to worry about, especially since in terms of Pseudo-Saints alone, he was the strongest, possessing the best combination of elements as a Warrior and a Mage under his disposal.
Therefore, it was hard for him to imagine that the mighty Horan was at a disadvantage. Of course, if he became aware of what Horan had faced in the recent few hours, his opinion would change.
"Then, get moving. If we stay here any longer, we'll die." Horan said, brushing past him as he urged everyone to hurry, staring at Compass Carburettor to ask, "Will you be able to use that ability to teleport us?"
"Sorry, I cannot bring us to a place I haven't been to before." Compass Carburettor shook his head, "Besides, I don't have enough energy to do so. My Pseudo-Relic takes a lot of time to charge itself."
"Dammit!" Horan cursed in response before saying, "Alright, tell me once it's charged up. The faster we get to Forkuna City, the safer it is for us."
"Yes," Compass Carburettor nodded respectfully as he made some preparations of his own. Of course, Horan wasn't privy to as much information as he thought.
After all, Compass Carburettor purposefully antagonised Horan from time to time whenever he revealed his true powers. And as a prideful individual, it was easy for Horan to be offended at such an action, displaying negative intent towards Compass Carburettor.
That was enough for his memories—related to the incident—to be wiped out. Using this, Compass Carburettor kept both Horan and Gehera in the dark, maintaining the image of an experienced traveller with a weak Pseudo-Relic.
After asking questions regarding Yaka enough times, getting parts of his memory wiped out every time, Horan felt a severe headache. Amounting it to the stress he was feeling from the current situation, he decided to stop thinking about it, taking things at face value.
The scary thing was that he couldn't display any ounce of negativity towards Compass Carburettor, or his related memories would be wiped out.
This was also one of the reasons Slayer refrained from targeting him, realising that he would suffer too much loss from the conflict, especially since killing Compass Carburettor wouldn't mean the death of the Main Character.
Within an hour, the caravan moved out of Tentuna City, moving southeast.
Seated in the carriage meant for him, Compass Carburettor stared out, noticing quite a few people too seemed to share the same view as them, departing for Forkuna City, feeling that it would be the safest place in times of war.
After all, the capital city was protected by the Guardian Saint. And given his title as the strongest Saint in the region, the city under his protection was indeed the safest.
Clat-kata-kat! Clat-kata-kat!
The sounds of the horse's hooves slamming into the road resounded, mixed amid the nervous murmurs of the travelling people. There was a strange silence in the air, eerie as if war might erupt at any moment.
[Dad, what's with this tension in the air? Am I the only one feeling it?]
[No, I feel the same. Be ready, something will happen next.]
Compass Carburettor and Stencil exchanged words in a hurry, tensed as the both of them weren't in an optimal state.
[Dad, shall we return to the System World?]
[Do you have enough Mental Energy?]
[I can barely scrape it.]
[Then, don't bother.]
Stencil stared at him in confusion, wondering why he told her to refrain from escaping to the System World when it was a statement he had been stressing on all along. Seeing her confusion, he spoke…
[Heading into another world in such a state is dangerous. We don't know what might be happening there. And if we encounter some danger there, then we're done for. Instead, we'll try to survive here. At least, the Xetuka Kingdom still has all its Saints. So, we can rely on them for the time being until we recover our strength.]
He might have only clashed with Slayer for a second, but he truly expended all his Mental Energy during that time, especially since he had created a Money-Making Coin and also used the power of Lore to create another Main Character.
That process not only shaved off his Mental Energy reserves but also his luck and fate. So at present, he was in a vulnerable state, not able to do much.
Therefore, it was better to play it safe than take risks unnecessarily. At least, thanks to his Anthozoa, he was able to fight even without any Mental Energy.
Stencil's eyes lit up as she noticed that her father had already brought out Anthozoa, making it suck the air to create bullets nonstop. Moreover, it seemed he was doing the same by breathing too, multi-tasking to store as many bullets as possible within him.
Neigh!
One of the horses suddenly collapsed to the ground, shivering from fear for some reason. The coach driver stared in shock at the scene when immediately, a rash broke out on his body, causing him to scratch himself until his skin peeled off, knocking him out unconscious.
One after another, the horses fell to the ground, unable to move in fear.
Seated in the most luxurious carriage was Horan, sensing wisps of mana slam everywhere on the ground, being hurled from far away as he observed that they were all curses.
His eyes shot open as he extended his hand, grabbing hold of the spear taken out by the Porter standing beside him always, getting up as he said, "It seems I cannot avoid it anymore."
