The Antagonist's Full Moon

23. Alternative Route

Frode began to order the two oxins before him to walk. The four-legged animal began to step.

Journey began. The guards on the city border wall could be passed through without any significant difficulty. Without much talking, Liv shows the contents of the cart, purely for trade. The guards believed, and they were allowed to continue on the journey.

The wooden wheeled wagon began to walk on the ground full of gravel and rocks. The streets in the countryside are clearly not as smooth as in the city. With all the shaking, the pain began to strike Dean's hip. He began to complain, "Can't his path be a little more refined?!"

"All the streets in the village are like this, Dean. Why don't you just write it all over the place!" sahut Frode's. Dean murmured in annoyance and said, "I swear, I'll go home and make all the village streets as smooth as in the city!"

"If it could be like that, why did you make the road surface rough from the start?" ask Liv curious. His curiosity was always so great, just like when Melian read him a textbook. Liv always asks about this and that until Melian is overwhelmed.

"Because the country roads in my world are like this," Dean replied as he looked down at the street. "In contrast, every wheel of a vehicle has a layer of rubber tires to minimize shock."

"Why don't you coat an oxin wagon wheel with rubber tires like that?"

"Because of the creation of tires using technology" Dean said. Frode was in conversation. "In this world, technology is created by extinct humans, right?"

Dean nodded. "Technology has humans, while elves have magic. Usually the driver will minimize shock with magic. But because ... ." Dean glanced at Frode.

The old man laughed a little. "Yes, yes, I'm guilty. From the beginning my magic power was not very big, and I was old. I still can't use magic all the time. I promise, once in a while I will refine our journey if my magic energy has accumulated a lot."

"That's it. I'll also get used to-aww!" Dean complained at the huge shock that their wagon had just passed through. Frode looked over his shoulder at the cabin, grimacing and apologizing to Dean. The human man was upset.

At the end of the road, the path is divided into two, namely left and right. Themaris was in the southern part of the kingdom. Frode had to take a left to get there. However, the turn to the left was filled with royal officers who were patrolling.

Liv looked forward, over Frode's shoulder. "What's this about? Another check?"

Frode shrugged his shoulders. "Of course, obviously, I've never seen such a big item checker."

"Maybe, can we ask him?" liv's Proposal. Frode nodded and said, "Alright."

Frode continued to advance towards the left lane. In addition to the wagon he was driving, there were also several lizardan carriages lining up in front to be able to pass the same route.

Some officers patrolled around and gave a hand gesture signal to turn around. The drivers of the lizardan chariot looked disappointed as they passed Frode's wagon.

"What's this?" frode asked an approaching officer, replying by pointing forward.

"The road near the main bridge was covered in an avalanche of hills. The height of the lump of soil reached two meters," explained the officer.

Frode looked uneasily at the path before him. He unrolled the map of Legolas Kingdom. To get to Themaris, the cart must pass through the cities of Nygaard and Tranum. From the capital city to Themaris can be reached in four days, when passing the main bridge on the left lane.

But now the line is closed.

"So, what if I want to go to Themaris?" ask Frode again. The officer looked at the map Frode was holding, and pointed to the northern region listed there.

"You can choose the northern route, passing through Eetelbum, Hartvig, Erling, and Eskildsen. Another option, you can wait until this line reopens."

"Rather, how long has the avalanche been removed?"

Dean who listened in from behind whispered, "We won't have time to wait for more than two weeks."

Frode peeked out from behind his shoulders, then replied with a nod. Then he spoke to the officer again. "All right, we'll just turn around. Thanks for the info!"

Frode turned his cart back to the intersection, away from the officers, following other ground vehicles that had to change their route.

"Are we going north?" liv asked, he checked the map that Dean was holding.

The man shook his head and said, "We only have ten days to get to Lileathhof temple. I had predicted, if we pass south, we will reach Themaris in about four days, then explore the cave there in one day. Then, we will continue our journey and arrive at Lileathhof temple two days later."

"So, if it goes south, it only takes a week?"

"really. But if it goes north .. we won't have time. The total travel time will be eleven days. That's even if without any constraints at all."

"Is there no other way?" ask Frode this time. "Ah, if only, we could drive a hawker ... ."

Frode pointed at a large bird passing over their wagon, carrying passengers. It was clearly impossible for the three of them to climb the bird. Never mind having, the rent alone is much more expensive than lizardan.

"No need to hawker, Uncle. Had one of us been able to use such a great amount of magic power, we could have just flown this wagon!"

Liv said pointing at a lizardan carriage starting to drift and pass through the avalanche. However, in order to do that, it took an enormous amount of magic power and good control. Only a handful of nobles can do that.

"If there were Melian! He could fly this wagon easily!" Liv clucking.

"Already, already! Free-smarting. We better figure out an alternative route!" exclaim Dean. The man scrunched his temple. He thinks hard. His eyes were fixed on the forest symbol on the map.

"There's another way, and it only takes five days to get to Themaris. Tracing the cave, one day. Then, from there to the temple about three days. So, about nine days. There is still time to catch up with the new moon. But ... ."

"Why Dean?"

"This path is rarely passed by citizens" he said briefly.

Liv frowned and asked, "Which path?"

Dean pointed to the forested area between the towns of Hartvig and Tranum. "Through this forest."

"This is, right, a forest full of wild animals!" exclaim Frode.

Liv gasps. "Nitville forest?!"

Dean sighed. Of course he knew the horrors of the area. Nitville is a forest filled with wild animals that are very aggressive and eat elves, as well as humans. That's the narrative Dean wrote in his novel.

***