The sky was turning pale with the first light of dawn.
In the caravan camp, the campfire had burned down to embers, and a wisp of smoke mixed with morning mist rose faintly.
The guards were quickly dismantling the tents.
The horses stamped their hooves lively, snorting white mist.
After drinking the water that Liyakade and the others had brought back last night, the horses seemed to have regained their vitality.
The people still hadn’t slept enough, so after boarding the carriage, they continued sleeping on the seats.
Alice, however, had never woken up.
She hadn’t slept at all last night, having waited for Liyakade, and then exhausted all her magic power.
When it was time to depart, Liyakade and Field didn’t directly wake Alice; instead, Liyakade picked Alice up and put her into the carriage.
“Pack up and leave immediately! We must reach the mountain pass entrance by noon!”
Graham walked to the center of the camp, loudly urging the guards who were packing up.
The two carriages already parked in the middle of the line were somewhat conspicuous.
Some travelers were puzzled, but they didn’t pay too much attention—they probably just thought the caravan head had rearranged the formation.
The women who had already boarded the carriages could faintly hear the commotion outside.
They seemed a bit uneasy and timid.
They hadn’t seen other people for so long that they had somewhat forgotten how to interact with others.
Hearing the bustling sounds of daily life actually made them feel uncomfortable.
Among them, except for Mi La, either they had no magic power, or they had magic but very low levels, basically not exceeding LV.10.
They had been on the run from the bandit stronghold all night without much rest.
Now that they were in a safe and comfortable environment, all the women felt the carriage was like a warm cradle to them.
Letting down their guard, they finally lay down on the carriage seats and slowly fell asleep.
The wheels rolled over the frost-covered withered grass.
At Graham’s command, the caravan immediately moved forward like a waking serpent, slowly sliding into the mountain path shrouded in morning light.
Although the water source crisis had been resolved, undercurrents still churned within the caravan.
Everyone had their own thoughts and goals.
Vidar had already learned that Liyakade and the others had found water, and Rex’s sneak attack on Natalia last night had also failed.
These two pieces of bad news made Vidar extremely angry.
Sitting in the carriage, he was grinding his teeth in frustration.
The Purple Vine Grass, which had always worked a hundred times before, had failed when used on Liyakade and her group.
He had also lost several of his Dark Guards.
His face dark, he clenched his fists and continued to think about how to harm Liyakade and the others.
However, what Vidar didn’t know was that Liyakade and the others had long known that the poisoner was him, and also knew that the poison he used was Purple Vine Grass.
Vidar didn’t even know that his own subordinates had been controlled by Liyakade.
What Liyakade and the others were thinking was just to let the line out, catch the big fish—later, they would round up everyone connected to Vidar.
And now, Liyakade and Field were discussing matters concerning Vidar.
“Natalia was still attacked last night?”
Liyakade frowned.
She hadn’t expected Vidar to be so restless—even after several of his Dark Guards were killed, he still dared to act so quickly against someone close to her.
Did he really think they hadn’t noticed?
This was indeed Liyakade’s oversight.
In the heat of the moment, she had only implanted the command that they could not harm herself into the Dark Guards’ minds.
She should have been more thorough and made it so that these Dark Guards could not harm anyone connected to her.
Fortunately, Alice had foresight and anticipated that Vidar might target Natalia, so she had replenished the cross with pure Light Element, thus preventing the innocent Natalia from being involved.
“Since Vidar wants to drag even Natalia into this, he definitely won’t avoid the conflict. I expect he’ll strike again soon. Liyakade, should we continue to tolerate him?”
Field discussed with Liyakade their attitude toward Vidar.
Although they already knew Vidar’s moves and had countermeasures, being constantly disrupted by him without restraint would inevitably add many unnecessary troubles to this journey.
Therefore, Field was considering bringing him to justice now.
The two did not exclude Mi La from their discussion.
On the carriage they were riding, Field and Mi La sat on one side, Liyakade sat on the other, while Alice lay on the seat, pillowing her head on Liyakade’s lap.
Since they had already decided to let Mi La stay with them, Mi La was one of them now, so naturally they wouldn’t hide these matters from her.
Mi La already knew about Liyakade and Alice’s identities.
Of the three present, the only one Mi La didn’t know was Field’s identity as a princess.
Liyakade had asked Mi La to temporarily call Field “Feide.”
As for Field’s true identity, they would tell Mi La when the time was right.
“Sigh, let him be for now. If we can use him to find where the Purple Vine Grass is being traded, what’s the harm in letting him be arrogant a little longer?”
“Yeah, that works too.”
In the end, the two decided to temporarily tolerate Vidar’s outrages.
As long as Vidar didn’t do something particularly excessive, Liyakade was still willing to wait.
Of course, having made this decision, Liyakade would also step up surveillance on Vidar’s side and protection of her own people.
She would not let Vidar harm anyone on her side again.
As for Mi La, she sat obediently in the carriage listening to Liyakade and Field’s discussion.
Ever since she was saved by Liyakade, all she thought about was revenge and following Liyakade.
Now, her great revenge had been achieved.
The bandit stronghold had been destroyed by Liyakade, and not a single bandit had escaped.
Now, no matter what identity Liyakade had—whether Demon Race or Human—all that remained for Mi La was to serve Liyakade wholeheartedly.
The women rescued from the stronghold made Mi La realize that Liyakade was not a Demon Race who only knew bloodthirsty killing and cruelty, but a person who was not afraid of the strong, protected the weak, and occasionally showed a cute side.
Even though she possessed the power of the Demon Race, Mi La felt that Liyakade was not one of those evil demons.
Therefore, following and serving Liyakade was not just a transaction from their initial contract, but a heartfelt submission to Liyakade.
Thus, everything Liyakade entrusted to her, Mi La would keep secret—not a single word would ever be leaked.
As for Walter, who had caused them trouble earlier, he was also surprised to learn that they had successfully found water.
He hadn’t expected that Field’s group could actually do it.
It seemed that their strength was indeed not to be underestimated.
However, ever since he was publicly humiliated last time, Walter had temporarily lost the urge to provoke them.
Although he still wanted to see Field and the others embarrass themselves, he certainly wouldn’t cause trouble himself anymore.
Besides that, there was another person who also wanted to follow Liyakade.
That was Ni Li, one of the women rescued from the bandit stronghold.
Whether it was Liyakade’s formidable strength or her patience and compassion toward the weak, all of these made Ni Li admire and yearn to be with her.
She was determined to follow Liyakade, even if Liyakade had said that she wouldn’t allow them to follow.
Ni Li would still try.
She was different from the others.
The others might just have nowhere to go and only wanted to depend on someone, which was why they wanted to follow Liyakade.
But she had genuinely felt Liyakade’s noble qualities, and that was why she wanted to follow.
Ni Li believed that these two were completely different.
Therefore, she had to gain Liyakade’s recognition before they reached the next town!