Although the first prince had made a bold statement, and the soldiers of Bianca City had been searching for the queen, it was impossible for them to inspect everybody who passed Bianca City. Besides, Roland never really entered it, so the soldiers had no idea that the queen dropped by.
Then, Roland passed another two cities and communicated with the chairmen of the Magic Towers. He was quite lucky that both of them were open to communication.
Roland talked to each of them for a couple of days and learned a lot.
The magic apprentices learned a lot too.
Due to this communication and overall traveling time, it took the team almost a month to reach Reed Village.
It was already evening at this moment. The carriages were riding on a narrow, muddy road, and the trees were wreathed by the sunset.
Andonara was rather uneasy in the carriage, probably because she was getting closer and closer to her home.
Roland was still studying the elven spells. He had been considering how to reduce the transformational losses.
Now, he had two options. The first was to reduce the energy cost by changing the effects of the nodes on the elven spells, and the second was to change the structure of his mental power.
But neither of the options was easy.
In fact, there was a third option, which was to create an alchemical device that could store elemental magic power and change its frequency.
Regretfully, Roland did not know alchemy, and he was only a beginner in enchantment.
So, he had to give up the third approach and focus his attention on the first two options, which were more likely to be successful.
When one was completely focused, it was hard for them to sense the passage of time.
It had been six hours since Roland devoted himself to magic at noon, but he maintained the same posture and expression. If he hadn’t kept himself from tumbling around inside this shaking carriage, an observer would’ve thought that he was a vivid sculpture or puppet.
The carriages came to a stop before a village.
This village was surrounded by a wooden fence that was laden with mosses. A muddy trail stretched out to the center of the village.
There was a wooden gate on the fence. Seeing the carriages, several kids in dusty, patched clothes opened the gate together.
After the carriages entered the village, Andonara spoke to the driver. “Go straight and take a right turn on the first crossroad. Then stop at the tallest and most beautiful building.”
“Got it,” the driver replied.
About ten minutes later, the carriages stopped before a white three-story building.
Before the building was a fence that had been overtaken by green vines. The yellow and white blossoms on the vines made the fence look like a beautiful wall of plants.
Hearing the carriages, a rather handsome middle-aged appeared on the second floor. Very soon, a ten-year-old boy showed up on the balcony too. They looked at the carriages with great interest.
Andonara sat down next to Roland and shook his arm gently, before she said, “We’re at Reed Village.”
Woken up, Roland was stunned for a moment, before he got out with Andonara.
Andonara saw the middle-aged man and the boy on the balcony the moment she jumped from the carriage. She smiled and waved at them.
The middle-aged man was surprised to see her. He disappeared with the boy from the balcony.
Very soon, they walked out of the building and opened the door on the fence. The middle-aged came close and looked at Andonara and then at Roland weirdly.
He didn’t say anything.
But the boy spoke to Andonara excitedly. “Cousin, you’re finally back! How long will you stay here?”
The boy was rather cute. Andonara petted him and smiled. “At least four to five days.”
Then, Andonara raised her head and looked at the middle-aged man who was standing like a pineapple tree. “Uncle, I’m back.”
“I can see that.” The middle-aged man looked at Roland and asked, “Anna, why don’t you introduce your friend to me?”
Andonara had always been addressed as Anna by her family.
The more the middle-aged man observed Roland, the more shocked he was.
He was a complex class and could cast spells, so he had a good sense of mental power.
Andonara, on the other hand, was a purely physical class as a Great Swordsman. She could barely sense mental waves.
So, the middle-aged man could detect the astonishingly magnificent magic power in Roland.
“This is the man I’ve chosen, Roland.” Andonara shyly introduced them to each other. “Roland, this is my uncle, Cage Reed.”
“Hello, Mr. Reed.”
Roland slightly bowed at him. Since the man was Andonara’s senior, he had to show the necessary respect.
“Hello, Mr. Roland.” Cage looked at Roland with an extremely odd expression, as if there were a lot of things that he wanted to say. But eventually, he simply smiled and said, “Nice to meet you.”
At this point, the boy jumped and complained, “You haven’t introduced me yet!”
Andonara patted the boy’s head and said, “This is my cousin, Kaido Reed.”
Roland smiled at the boy and said, “Hello, young Reed.”
“You’re wearing a magic robe. Are you a Mage?” Kaido looked at Roland in admiration and asked innocently, “Can you teach me magic?”
“Of course, if you want to learn,” replied Roland.
Cage shook his head and said, “Sir, just ignore him. He can’t learn magic. Or rather, nobody in my family can learn elemental magic.”
“Why?” Roland was slightly confused. He could tell that both Cage and Kaido harbored enough magic power for them to cast simple level-two spells.
“It seems to be a result of our bloodline,” said Cage with a smile.
“The Hero bloodline?” Roland subconsciously asked back.
Cage, however, frowned and looked at Andonara, as if he were blaming her.
Naturally, Roland noticed his look. He said, “It was not Andonara who told me, but someone else.”
Cage asked further, “Who was it?”
“Antis.”
Cage was silent for a while. He naturally knew who Antis was.
He was a noble too and had spent time in the capital now and then. He had met Antis often when Antis was little.
Antis was related to the royal family and had grown up together with Andonara. Cage had thought that they would become a couple, but surprisingly, Andonara showed absolutely no interest in Antis at all.
At this point, Vivian and the other magic apprentices got out of their carriages. Realizing that they were all from noble families, Cage greeted them with a smile. “Welcome to my humble abode. Please come in.”
Then, he cleared the way and invited the guests to come inside.
A middle-aged butler came out and directed everybody into the house.
The moment they entered the house, they saw an enormous painting on the wall in the hall.
In the painting, a warrior, holding a fiery blue sword and a shield that had a phoenix background, was stepping on a gigantic red demon and was about to kill it.
All the guests were drawn to the painting.
Seeing that, Cage secretly chuckled in satisfaction.
Relaxed now that she had come home, Andonara looked around and asked, “Has my father been around recently?”
“He took a merchant group to Urganda.” Cage asked the guests to take a seat and said, “That was three months ago.”
“You sit here. I’ll prepare dinner for you.” Andonara went upstairs and soon returned in regular clothes with two maids. She looked like a caring wife in her new outfit. She asked, “Roland, what do you want to eat?”
“Anything!”
“Anything” was definitely the most difficult food to make. Andonara rolled her eyes at Roland and went to the kitchen with the maids.
Roland, on the other hand, introduced the magic apprentices to Cage.
Hearing that they were traveling magic apprentices, Cage spoke with reminiscences of the past. “I worked as a mercenary for years when I was young. I still dream about it often even to this day.”
“I didn’t know you were a mercenary too,” Vivian said in surprise. “Andonara used to be a mercenary. She must’ve learned after you.”
Cage scratched his beard in satisfaction and said, “I taught her how to use a sword, but she is probably stronger now.”
Since he saw Cage in the beginning, Roland had vaguely guessed that Andonara was taught by him.
Andonara had mentioned that her father was a small noble and a merchant who traveled all the time. Whenever he left for business, he would entrust the young Andonara to his big brother in Reed Village.
So, Reed Village was Andonara’s second home.
Cage chit-chatted with them warmly for a while. When the butler came down, he asked the butler to take the magic apprentices to the guest rooms that had been cleaned up. Then, he crooked his finger at Roland.
Roland followed him to the balcony on the third floor.
Looking at the low, shabby cottages far away, Cage asked slowly, “What’s with you and Anna? Why is she hanging around with you when she’s a queen?”
