Chapter 60: Order Estimation

After that, Julian and his group didn’t encounter any more trouble or problems. However, after they returned to the inn, Caster came to secretly find Julian, saying that the group they were escorting had something they hoped to discuss with Julian in person. But Julian didn’t agree to their request. He certainly understood what those fools were thinking. Caster and the others knew his identity, so they must have thought they had gained powerful help. In their view, as long as Julian and Ophariel stood up for them, they could rightfully return to the Zach family and obtain the position of patriarch. They were dreaming, but Julian had no such intention at all, so naturally he wouldn’t waste time dealing with them.

But this didn’t mean they didn’t want to deal with him.

Early the next morning, Julian and his group left this border town and continued towards their destination. He was certainly very clear that those nobles had no intention of letting him go, but seeing that Julian was heading into the Zach family’s territory, there was no need to rush. After all, their power was mostly in the interior regions rather than in border towns like this, so since Julian was coming, they just needed to wait patiently. Moreover, it was a good opportunity to gather more information about these two people during this time.

The road from the border city to the interior plains wasn’t as smooth as everyone had imagined. Not every lord understood the principle of “to get rich, first build roads” like Julian did, so the quality of the roads couldn’t compare to Twilight Forest, making the journey quite miserable for everyone, especially Ophariel. Even in her previous life, she had only moved around in cities near the kingdom’s center where the infrastructure was very good, so she hadn’t imagined there were such difficult roads in this world. Although the road conditions in Twilight Forest were equally poor before, that place was far from cities, in a remote area, so it was normal not to have development. But Ophariel hadn’t expected that the construction within this territory would be so poor. Along this journey, the poor princess felt like half her life was being shaken away.

“Holy Grace above, I originally thought death itself was a very painful thing,” After a day of jolting, Ophariel finally couldn’t bear it and called for the caravan to stop. According to the plan, they should have continued traveling for half the night and rested after reaching the next small town. But no one had expected the road conditions here to be so poor. Not just the princess, even Julian and Caster’s group couldn’t stand it. So they agreed with Ophariel’s suggestion. If they continued like this, even if they reached their destination, everyone’s condition probably wouldn’t be good.

“This used to be a smooth main road,” Caster looked at the road not far away with some interest. It was now covered with weeds and scattered stones, and traveling on it in a carriage was simply torture.

“I heard that after that damned country was defeated in the war, they destroyed this continental road. It seems it hasn’t been repaired for so long.”

“What if a war breaks out?” Hearing this, Ophariel, sitting by the campfire, frowned slightly. She had been admiring the beautiful night scenery of the wilderness, but after hearing Caster’s words, she immediately focused her mind.

“With road conditions like this, it’s impossible to transport troops. If something happens, even if we want to mobilize, it will take a lot of time.”

“That’s not something we need to worry about, young lady,” Caster answered with a smile, while glancing at Ophariel in front of him. From her hair color, he was certain this lady was a member of the royal family, so it wasn’t strange that she would be concerned about these things. However, he hadn’t thought much about these issues. After all, things like roads were too common, and ordinary people generally wouldn’t pay attention to them.

“Maybe the city lord there doesn’t have money to repair it. After all, repairing roads is a big thing that costs a lot of money, and there’s no return on investment. Small cities like this probably don’t even consider these issues.”

Hearing this, Julian raised an eyebrow, but he didn’t say anything. Instead, he turned his gaze to another figure emerging from the darkness. Noticing his gaze, Ophariel and Caster also stopped talking and followed his line of sight, both slightly startled.

They saw standing before them a child not yet ten years old. He was the heir of the Zach family that those attendants were guarding, the young master. Now he was walking towards everyone with a slightly restrained, shy expression, raising his head, his young face showing a somewhat uneasy expression.

“Hello, young master Zach. It’s so late, what brings you to us?” Julian asked, while involuntarily glancing at the nearby campfire. At this time, everyone had already had dinner and should be resting. What did this young master intend to do by coming alone?

“Hello… respected sir, and this beautiful lady,” The little boy, face reddened, gave a not-so-proper noble greeting to Julian and Ophariel, speaking somewhat hesitantly.

“I… I came to thank you both. Thank you for helping me. If it weren’t for you two, I’m afraid… afraid I would have been caught by those bad people.”

“Please don’t worry, young master Zach,” Faced with the boy’s words, Julian smiled and replied.

“We have an agreement between us. We will definitely deliver you safely back to your family… Please rest assured, although there may be some troubles along the way, these small troubles won’t be enough to hinder us.”

Hearing this, a flash of excitement passed through the boy’s eyes, and he smiled and nodded.

“Thank you both for your kindness. If I can return safely to my family, I will definitely repay you! So, respected sir…”

“It’s very late now,” Julian interrupted the boy’s words.

“It’s very dangerous for you to stay outside. I suggest you go back to your carriage to rest. Everyone is very tired from this journey. If there’s anything, we can talk about it tomorrow.” Saying this, Julian’s gaze moved to the young woman beside him. “Miss Ophariel, please send him back. After all, if anything happens to a child, it wouldn’t be good.”

“Of course,” Hearing Julian’s order, Ophariel nodded, then stood up and gave the boy a gentle smile.

“Then, please come with me. The night wind is cold, be careful not to catch a chill.”

“I’m very strong, sister. This little wind is nothing!” Seeing Ophariel reach out her hand, the boy also showed an excited smile. He proudly puffed out his small chest, then held Ophariel’s hand and walked towards the Zach family guards not far away.

“What an interesting child,” Julian withdrew his gaze and looked at Caster beside him.

“Who have they been in contact with during this time?”

“The brothers have been watching very closely, my lord. They haven’t had contact with anyone. Those guys have been obediently following your orders, staying in their rooms and not going out much,” Caster quickly replied. To gain Julian’s trust, he had been doing his best during this time. Then, he looked again at Ophariel and the boy, the corner of his mouth curling slightly.

“Just didn’t expect that little guy to be such a natural little pervert.”

“Oh?” Hearing this, Julian was stunned for a moment.

“What do you mean?”

“It’s nothing really,” Caster smiled.

“It’s just that the brothers often see him getting handsy with the maids in the inn, touching their butts and such… Don’t know how the Zach family produced such a little pervert. He’s not even ten yet and already so mischievous. When he grows up, I guess the women in the territory will be in trouble…”

“Being lustful is a man’s nature,” Julian’s answer was quite righteous.

“Having a reaction to beautiful women is respect for their charm. Now I just hope this young master’s aesthetic taste isn’t too low… but also not too high.”

“My lord, you truly have a way with words,” Hearing the phrase “Having a reaction to beautiful women is respect for them,” Caster’s expression changed slightly. If it weren’t for considering that he needed to maintain a certain degree of humility in front of his master, he might have laughed out loud.

“What kind of women has this young master been in contact with? I hope he doesn’t get handsy with Ophariel too.”

“Well…” Unexpectedly asked this question by Julian, Caster was stunned for a moment. He carefully recalled for a while before answering.

“Just the maids responsible for cleaning the rooms. Oh, right, and last night, he also latched onto a dancer…”

“Those guys didn’t stop him?”

“Judging by how they act towards that young master, they’re both respectful and afraid of him. How would they dare to interfere?”

Caster snorted coldly, his gaze towards those people carrying a hint of disdain.

“Being ordered around by a half-grown kid without a word of complaint, I don’t know if they can still be called men, or swordsmen.”

“It’s late. You should go rest too. Pay attention to the shift changes.”

“Yes, my lord.”

Hearing this, Caster understood that there was no need for him to stay any longer. Originally, he had stuck around after dinner to try to build a good relationship with Julian and Ophariel. Although their statuses were different, they were now in the wilderness, which could be considered a relatively harmonious relationship. If he didn’t seize this opportunity, once they returned to the castle, chances to have such close contact with the two lords would be much fewer. It should be known that they were just guards of Twilight Forest and had no right to enter Twilight Castle. If he didn’t take action during this opportunity, everything would be in vain.

But now it seemed the gains were not small, so Caster didn’t say anything more and hurriedly turned to leave. He had already arranged for people to keep watch near the caravan, and now he naturally needed to go inspect and see if those guys had messed up his instructions. After all, the outskirts were still very dangerous, and if anything went wrong, it would be hard for him to explain.

Seeing Caster leave, Julian didn’t stay by the campfire any longer either. He turned and walked into the carriage. Although the space in this noble-exclusive carriage was a bit cramped, it was still very warm and comfortable. The thick walls of the carriage blocked out the cold night wind, making it a good place to rest. The only drawback was that resting in such a small compartment made it difficult to stretch out, which was a bit troublesome.

“Click.”

Returning to the carriage and sitting back on the soft, comfortable seat, Julian drew his long sword and carefully observed the black blade. As the blade left its sheath, a faint white light appeared again, and this time, it still entwined around the blade in a strange way. But unlike before, if one looked carefully, they would see that within the twisting white light, faces showing expressions of pain occasionally appeared. Under the surge of energy, they appeared and disappeared like driftwood swallowed by waves, mouths wide open, screaming, emitting wails inaudible to ordinary people.

“What a waste,” Julian looked at the soul light before him, considered for a moment, then shook his head.

“Never mind, it’s nothing. High-level souls can be found again later… It’s not like we’re short this one!”

With Julian’s words, suddenly, the white soul light swirling on the blade began to twist violently, as if struggling desperately to break free from its bonds. But its resistance lasted only for an instant before the white soul light suddenly contracted and was completely absorbed into the black long sword. With the disappearance of the soul light, Julian’s right arm holding the sword suddenly swelled up. The originally thin, slender arm now bulged like a balloon, with protruding blood vessels and muscles seeming to have a life of their own as they moved under the skin, deforming and swelling to the thickness of a bowl. Then, under Julian’s gaze, the swollen arm immediately shrank, returning to its original thin form.

“This is all we can do for now,” Julian sheathed his sword and lightly flexed the fingers of his right hand. He gently stroked the long sword, the corner of his mouth revealing a smug smile.

“I’m sorry, old friend. It seems I’ll have to trouble you a bit longer.”

Julian muttered to himself, then put away his long sword and raised his head. Just then, the carriage door opened again, and Ophariel slipped in like a graceful little soul cat, smiling at him.

“Any discoveries?” Julian’s words were abrupt, but Ophariel obviously understood his meaning.

“He was trying to find out about my background,” The young woman shook her head and sighed lightly.

“I didn’t tell him my true identity, but he has already introduced me in front of those guards…”

“Naive little kid,” Hearing this, Julian lowered his head and shrugged.

“What do you think he’s planning to do?”

“Exactly the same thing we’re planning to do to him,” Ophariel’s sapphire eyes revealed a hint of shadow.

“I think we might have trouble.”

“There will definitely be trouble, but it’s not unsolvable,” Julian snorted coldly.

“Ophariel, I’ll leave this kid to you for now. Observe our goods carefully and see how much he’s worth. If this young master doesn’t meet our expected standards, then we’ll have to look for new buyers to cooperate with.”