229: On the Road

Riding along the road trailing after the caravans ahead of us, we used a similar formation to what we started with, with Hari, Luis and Milo all up front, while Liane, Jen and myself were trailing behind.

I think the only person more excited about this than me was Crisplet, who was currently dashing around exploring and having absolutely no trouble keeping up with the caravan as we rode.

I couldn’t help but notice one of the merchants kept trying to sneak a glance at me, but would look away any time I caught him doing so. After the events in the city, I felt a bit paranoid, feeling uneasy about it.

I shuffled Sable closer to Liane, who had been chewing on some jerky, interrupting her with a whisper.

“It might be nothing, but the merchant there keeps trying to sneak glances at me.”

Liane nodded. She then rode to the front, with Jen moving over next to me.

“Everything okay?” Jen asked.

I explained the same thing to Jen, who just gave a nod. “It’s possible he’s just trying to work out who you are, or maybe caught a glimpse of Lily in your scarf for a second and is trying to double-check.”

“I’m probably just being paranoid,” I laughed.

Jen shook her head. “No, it’s a good thing. You’re being observant. Keep that up.”

When Liane made her way back, she came up next to both of us. “Hari will stop for lunch soon.”

Just as she said that, the merchant’s head appeared at the back, then quickly moved out of sight. Liane just let out a sigh.

“You know what, let’s handle it now,” Liane said, moving towards the wagon.

There was a cloth cover over it, but she moved forward, coming right up to the back. I kept my distance just in case, as Liane took the lead.

“Paro, was it?” she said loudly.

The head showed up at the back again. He was a skinny man who seemed unusually tall, even sitting down, with his thinning brown hair, very different from most other merchants I’ve encountered.

“Uh, yes?” he said.

“We notice you keep sneaking glances at us. Could you tell us why?” Liane asked bluntly.

He looked nervous as he scratched the back of his head. “Sorry, I was just trying to work out… no, I’m sorry.”

“Spit it out,” Liane said bluntly.

“Well, I heard the new noble in the capital had a fire elemental, and well, he has a fire elemental, so I was trying to work out if he was the new noble,” Paro blurted out.

Liane softened slightly, looking behind her to Jen, who simply gave a nod. We had discussed this before. We would not be hiding, although Luis would be, going by the name of Lewie on the road, which I felt was too close to his real name, but with his drastic change in appearance, it likely wouldn’t raise suspicions.

“Yes, that’s Lord Ashmoon. As we said, we’re the Polite Company, and Lord Ashmoon is our support member. I’m his sister, Liane Ashmoon, and the big guy up front is Hari Lindberg,” Liane rattled off. I winced at being called Lord, and on the road I had no intention of having someone treat me as such, but I wasn’t going to hide my name.

“Why… Sorry, if I could be so rude, why did such an esteemed party take this job? It’s just a caravan guard,” Paro said with a slight tremor in his voice.

“That’s our business. I will say though, out here we’re just adventurers, so no formality, please. I just wanted to set the record straight, so you’d stop creeping us out,” she laughed before falling back with her horse.

I kind of dreaded their reaction when Lily inevitably showed up, but so far she had vanished and I likely wouldn’t see her until dinnertime.

Something that took a moment to get used to was the foraging ability. Now that it was passive, everywhere I looked there seemed to be a faint blue glow. Passing farmland that was still mostly covered in snow, there wasn’t anything really growing there, but below the surface I saw bulbs or some kind of root. The side of the road however, seemed clear; no lemon tea grass at all.

When we stopped for lunch that day, we simply moved the carriage off to the side of the road, Milo using his air magic to clear us a spot.

“Why are the groups sitting so far apart?” I asked, as the merchants and their drivers had their own small camp set up near the wagons, while we sat in the clearing on our own.

“This is fairly normal at the start of the journey. They don’t know us, and likely don’t fully trust us either, so they always start cautious unless you’ve worked with them before,” Hari said.

“Is that why you guys were so close with Troy and Saddie?” I asked.

Hari shook his head. “No, not at all. We’d already been on the road for a few weeks when we picked you up, so we’d already been through the awkward stage.”

I pulled out the brazier, into which Crisplet quickly dived in, giving us a burning fire.

“We told them who we are already. Well, the back one,” Jen explained.

“That was fast, but not unexpected when you said he was acting suspicious,” Hari looked over at them.

“What are we going to do when Lily arrives?” I asked curiously.

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Hari smiled. “Dealing with it now sounds like a good idea.”

Hari got up from his chair. “Trev, if you’d like to join me for a moment.”

Nodding, I got up after pulling out a small pot of stew I had prepared already, just so we’d have food already made for short lunch breaks like this.

Approaching the group, I couldn’t help but notice that Paro stiffened, as if he’d been caught in something, but Hari didn’t care or see it and continued.

“I believe you’ve already been told who we are, and I trust by now you’ve discussed among yourselves and all know it,” Hari began.

All of them nodded, even the drivers.

“Excellent, that makes this next part easier. Once we stepped outside those city gates, we are acting in the capacity of adventurers and not as nobles. We don’t want you treading on eggshells around us. We have over a month together on this road,” Hari said.

“He’s a Lord though,” Paro pointed.

“And a couple of months ago I was an orphan,” I laughed.

“How?” one of the drivers asked.