Helping Ophelia onto the horse golem, Orion did his best to keep his tongue still. She was still recovering from the entire ordeal—being ambushed, poisoned, and teleported through the void, which could apparently also poison people, but in a different way.

  It was a lot for him, so he had to imagine it was even worse for her, considering she was an actual teenage girl.

  Once they were both securely sitting on top of the construct, with Orion leading and Ophelia behind him, and Asteria had jumped onto her own steed, showing surprising athleticism, they were off.

  He only lasted a few more minutes before asking, “So, what was that about?”

  Behind him, Ophelia snorted, laughing as she shook against his back. He couldn’t see his mother’s face since she was riding ahead, but he could see her shoulder twitching and knew she was sharing the girl’s mirth.

  “That was very tactful, moonbeam,” Asteria said, turning just enough to give him a fond smile. “We can perhaps wait to interrogate the poor girl. I want us to make good time, and we can’t stop at any village for the night if we want to avoid being caught, so you’ll have time to question her later.”

  Before he could defend himself, Ophelia tapped his back to show she was fine, “It’s okay, I owe you an explanation.”

  Orion could feel her moving around, trying to get comfortable. For a moment, he feared she might fall, but luckily, the golem adjusted to the weight distribution without any trouble, plodding on through the green fields of early spring.

  “My father is a merchant at Leviathan Watch. Well, one wealthy enough to be treated as a noble in most circles, but still a merchant.” She began, adopting the tone of someone recounting a rehearsed story. “A few months ago, he came across an opportunity to sell a large quantity of weapons he had in stock for years. The buyer seemed legit, and he was introduced through a long-standing contract.”

  Nothing specific in her story stood out as impossible so far, and yet Orion couldn’t shake the feeling that she wasn’t being truthful. Still, he stayed quiet, knowing that the important bits were coming.

  “At first, everything went smoothly. The buyer paid in real gold, and quickly at that. Our inventory ran out within a couple of weeks as they continued to buy more and more weapons. Unfortunately, it soon became apparent that this buyer was affiliated with a mercenary group working for the Greenwood Enclave. We didn’t discover who leaked this information, but within a day, I was sent away as the Ebony Gauntlet’s people started nosing around. I have been on the run for the past few weeks, trying to reach Valderun to see my grandfather, who serves as a ranking minister to the High Council.

  By the time she finished, Ophelia sounded exhausted, as if the mere act of retelling this story drained her of energy. If that was true, Orion could see why she felt this way. It certainly seemed believable.

  There’s just something that doesn’t add up. First, why would she have been in Silverpeak if that were the case? Sure, traveling near the eastern coast by boat could have kept them safe for a while, but the trip from Leviathan Watch in the northeast to Valderun by road is much faster than this entire circumnavigation they apparently undertook. And that’s not even mentioning that the actually dangerous part of the journey, taking the Belt waterways to Valderun, is still unavoidable this way.

  Technically, it made sense to take such a roundabout path if they wanted to avoid notice and slip away from their pursuers, but what made sense on Earth simply clashed with this world’s logic.

  Divination magic was real and not just confined to the Sanctum. If Ophelia’s family had a reliable way to stay safe—like that grandfather who could seemingly shield them in Valderun—they should have gone for it as quickly as possible.

  There is another option. That she is bait.

  It wasn’t a pleasant thought, and Orion knew all too well that some parents simply didn’t care about their children. But while Ophelia sounded tired and distraught over the circumstances that brought her here, she didn’t seem betrayed, so he doubted that was the case.

  And the final nail in the coffin was her class. Golden Spoon at C-rank didn’t sound like the kind of class that just about any daughter of a rich merchant could achieve.

  Curiously, Orion urged his horse golem to go a bit faster, catching up with his mother’s, and found her deep in thought. When she turned and met his eyes, a flash of mutual understanding passed through them, and he knew she had seen the same inconsistencies he had.

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  Still, the facts of the matter were that Ophelia was an innocent girl who had been attacked by bandits and rogues, and they had decided to protect her until they could reach their destination.

  Whether she was peddling a cover story or was telling the truth and was just a bad storyteller, it didn’t really matter in the end.

  After a moment, Asteria signaled for him to keep talking with a nod toward Ophelia.

  “Thank you for telling us,” he remembered to say after a moment. “We’ll do our best to get you to your grandfather, since we’re also headed to Valderun.”

  Ophelia relaxed slightly behind him, indicating she had been waiting for some sort of response.

  In the far distance, next to a small thicket, Orion saw smoke rising in the air, and for a moment, he worried someone else had been attacked. But Asteria quickly dismissed that idea. “Ah, we’re close to Waynewood. They produce charcoal there, so smoke is always rising. There’s even an old story about a witch realizing the town had been captured by enemies because there was no smoke.”

  Orion smiled, amused. “Will we stop there, then? If it’s still part of the Sanctum’s territory, we might get help from the local witches.”

  But Asteria was already shaking her head. “No, it’s too dangerous for us and for them. The Madame in charge there won’t be able to do much against the kind of organized force that attacked the carriage anyway, so it’s best we don’t lead our enemies to them.”

  Orion nodded. A more callous person would have said that the rogues would have left the people alone once they realized they weren’t there, and that a little suffering for those strangers meant more time for them to escape.

  But he didn’t know the lay of the land well enough to make that judgment, nor did he know how merciful their pursuers would be. It was possible that the entire town would be put to the torch, and while that would surely draw the attention of someone high up at the Sanctum, the last thing he wanted was for Morliana to show up.

  They passed a few more villages over the next several hours, during which Asteria handled any issues they encountered, such as the massive mud-covered bear blocking their path—which she put to sleep by throwing a single vial at it—or their lack of food and water—which she addressed by summoning water with a snap of her fingers and digging out soft tubers and roots from the ground.

  Eventually, the sun began to dip, and the shadows grew longer. “Alright, I believe we’ve made good progress for now. We’ll resume tomorrow at first light, but for now, let’s find a place to set up camp,” she decided, and neither Orion nor Ophelia were in any condition to complain.

  Ophelia was still clearly suffering from the effects of the poisoning and the blinking. The girl sagged in her saddle, clutching Orion’s back for dear life.

  And Orion, because he was simply not used to this kind of excursion. Sure, when he’d been a kid in his previous life, he’d spent a few nights camping out once in a while, but it had been nothing this stressful or rugged.

  I’m pretty sure those times were mainly to escape debt collectors rather than to actually camp out. Even then, we had a generator, a chemical toilet nearby, and a shop close to the camp. This is very different.

  Indeed, as the sun disappeared completely behind the treeline in the distance and they dismounted from their steeds, the camp they set up was very spartan.

  Asteria quickly dug a pit with a single gesture, then filled it with logs she cut from a nearby dried-out branch, which she ignited with another snap to chase away the cold.

  Orion briefly considered casting a warming charm. He could easily do it now thanks to Morliana’s instructions, but maintaining one for a long time was still beyond him, and more importantly, he didn’t want to use magic unless absolutely necessary.

  “Do you think they are tracking us?” He asked, and Asteria shook her head even as Ophelia stiffened.

  “I haven’t felt anyone trying to divine our position, and I have an artifact capable of detecting a tier four spell. But I still wouldn’t go overboard with magic. Keeping yourself ready for anything is paramount in the wild,” she explained.

  Orion nodded, having just been thinking that.

  Their meal that night consisted of tuber soup, cooked and served in clay pots that Asteria had crafted on the spot.

  Seeing the vast number of spells his mother could cast effortlessly, and more interestingly, their variety, Orion had to revise some of his future plans. Research and protecting himself remained the top priorities, but it was clear that if he wanted to lead a comfortable life outside the Sanctum, he needed to learn more useful charms for everyday life.

  “Thank you,” Ophelia murmured once they finished eating. The girl had clearly been going through something, as she stayed quiet ever since recounting her story, and it looked like she had come to some sort of decision, judging by the determined look in her eyes.

  That was made clear quickly enough, as she scooted next to Orion and curled up under her jacket, burrowing into his side for warmth.

  Blinking, he tried to process what had just happened, only to be interrupted by his mother’s soft laughter. He turned to her, eyes wide with panic, but she simply shook her head, smiling. “Get some sleep. The nights aren’t as cold in spring, but you’ll still lose warmth. And I doubt we’ll go undisturbed for too long.”

  Sighing, Orion decided that if this was how they wanted to act, he could only adapt. It just wasn’t worth getting upset about.

  Soon enough, he lay back down, trying to get more comfortable, only for Ophelia to interpret that as permission to press herself against his side, seeking warmth.

  Closing his eyes, Orion knew this was going to be a long night.

  “Awoooooooo!”

  Well, that didn’t take long.

  His eyes snapped open as the silence of the night was broken by a long howl, transforming what was once the peaceful outskirts of a forest into a foreboding maze.

  Pulling away from Ophelia, he quickly checked his inner pockets, relieved to find several crystals where they should have been. He hadn’t yet succeeded in turning one into a proper focus, and the difference between a refracted spell and a normal one wasn’t that significant, at least with the low-quality crystals he’d managed to get and without burning them out. However, he had been making progress in developing his first computing model, and having the crystals on hand made him feel safer.

  “Are we under attack?” Ophelia whispered, looking around frantically.

  “Yeah. But I’m pretty sure it’s just monsters this time,” he replied, and it was very weird that that was enough to make her relax.

  Whoever it was that was hunting them had really scared her.

  Before they could speak further, a flash of light lit up the forest, and Orion saw dark fur and eyes as black as tar, before a burst of silver threw back the wolf.

  “Alright, up and at 'em. We have a pack of Shadow Wolves to deal with,” Asteria called.

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