Chapter 43

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Lígoton was two days travel from Cassadinia. Unfortunately, the MAFT they were driving didn't have enough liquid spirit crystals to last for two whole days. They ended up ditching the car about twenty kilometers out and walked the rest of the way. By the time they arrived in Lígoton, it was already late afternoon.

While the city didn't look that different from the last time they had been there, Caspian immediately noticed the Peacekeepers who were guarding the entrance. They could have gone around and entered from the side. However, that would have looked suspicious, and there was a chance there were more guarding the perimeter.

"It's a good thing Elincia has such a strong bond with Loki," Caspian said. "If she didn't, then maintaining three illusions like this would be impossible."

Caspian, Elincia, and Sylvia were disguised once more. Elincia had changed from a strawberry blond to a woman with dark hair and green eyes. Meanwhile, Sylvia held the appearance of an 18 year-old girl with blonde hair and brown eyes. Caspian's red hair had been changed to blond and his eyes were also brown, making him and Sylvia look like siblings.

The only unfortunate thing was that they did not have any extra clothes to change into. Because they had been forced to leave Cassadinia in such a hurry, they only had the clothes on their backs. Of course, this was a small matter. The chances of someone somehow putting two and two together and coming up with four based solely on their outfits were slim. Even so, it was something that Caspian worried about.

"How long will these disguises last?" asked Christo.

"They will last indefinitely," Elincia said. "The gate I need to keep open for Loki to use this spell isn't very large. That said, the amount of mana I have to use in order to keep it open has cut my reserves by half. If we get into trouble, I won't be able to do any full summonings."

As she spoke, Elincia carressed her bow and the quiver on her back. They were the only items she had been able to take with her. While she couldn't do a full summon, she could ask the spirits to enchant her arrows if need be.

"Steel yourselves," Sylvia suddenly warned everyone. "We've arrived."

"Hold it!"

As if her words were prophetic, their group finally arrived close to Lígoton's main entrance, but they were stopped by the two Peacekeepers, who walked over to them with leery eyes. Caspian had to resist a snarl that wanted to escape when he saw how one of them looked at Elincia. Fortunately, he kept himself to just looking... for now.

"What are you five here for? Business?" asked the man on the left.

"We're just passing through," Sylvia said in that imperious tone of her. Caspian almost palmed his face. "I hope you would not trouble a mere group of travelers. As Peacekeepers, it is your duty to help those who are in need."

"What was that?!" the other man asked.

Grimacing, Caspian slung an arm around Sylvia's shoulder. She sent him a sharp look, but he ignored it.

"I apologize for my sister's behavior," Caspian said with a strained smile. "She has a very high amount of respect for authority figures, but whenever someone doesn't act like her idealized idea of what an authority figure is, she gets a little crazy. That said, she is correct in that we're travelers. We're currently passing through to visit some relatives."

"And you decided to walk?" the one on the left asked.

Caspian shook his head. "We had a MAFT, but it couldn't withstand the journey."

At the word MAFT, the two Peacekeepers felt their eyes light up. Magical Automated Four-wheeled Transports were high-end magictech used primarily by nobles. Very few people outside of nobles could even afford one. In most cases, someone like Commander Klein would have never been able to buy one, but likely his wife had managed to get Crystal Vines to help surprise him with that one.

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