TBATE - Making A Much Lighter Path

Chapter 31 - Trash Talk

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"We should stop here for the night."

The female lance descended into the mountains as Lance Olfred and the stone knight carrying me followed shortly after.

We landed in a small clearing on the edge of the Grand Mountains facing the Beast Glades. I was still chained together so I sat leaning against a tree, watching Olfred erect a campsite out of the earth.

"Hold still, Arthur Leywin." Without waiting for me to respond, the female lance clamped an artifact over my sternum. Instantly, I felt mana drain out of my core as the device sunk deeper into my skin.

"Ugh. My magic won't help me escape from you guys, so why the sudden precaution?" I asked through gritted teeth. The sensation of your mana being forcibly contained wasn't a pleasant feeling.

"There are other ways you can make trouble," she replied tersely before taking the sleeping Sylvie and retreated into one of the stone huts that Olfred had conjured.

"How could I even..." I muttered under my breath, annoyed.

"It's because we're so close to the Beast Glades." I turned my head towards Olfred, who took a seat on the ground next to me as he let out a sigh.

"You guys are the Lances, though. Are you saying that there are mana beasts that even you guys aren't capable of beating?" I asked, although I knew the truth already.

"I haven't met one so far, but the Beast Glades hold many mysteries that even the Lances have to be wary of, especially at night, when the more powerful beasts roam. Despite our powers, boy, we're still humans, so we can still die.

With all of the strange events coming happening these days, one can never be too careful." There was a brief silence that was only accompanied by the low howling winds.

"What am I doing, telling all of this to a little kid," he sighed.

I just shook my head. "Probably because you've been stuck with miserable company for the past few days."

I was surprised when the old lance erupted into a fit of laughter. "You're right about that, boy. Let me tell you, spending time with Varay and Barion together is more stress-inducing than any SS-class mana beast I've ever fought."

He said playfully, but changed his expression in an instant.

"Let me ask you this, boy. I'm curious as to how you became such a capable mage at your young age."

"How do you know I'm capable? You've never seen me fight" I smirked.

Olfred let out a light scoff. "Who do you think you're fooling? You managed to dodge Bairon twice, and it even seems as if you teleported the first time you dodged. And what the heck was that white haired form of yours? Your mana presence spiked more than three times after you transformed into it. And while i'm at it. How is it possible for a quadra elemental to exist? There wasn't even a case of a tri-elemental mage existing through the entirety of Dicathen's long history, let alone a quadra?"

We spent a bit more time talking to each other, but, while Olfred seemed amiable, he was also very guarded. I wasn't able to pry out any sort of information from him except those that I could find out on my own.

He conversed professionally without revealing anything crucial, as did I.

I must've fallen asleep at some point because I was rudely awakened as a stone knight picked me up like a sack of rice.

"oh come on."

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"We are here," she said.

I looked around in the sky but it was blatantly obvious that the only thing around us were the birds dumb enough to venture close to flying humans.