With that, the group quickly covered the three corpses in a thick layer of snow. With their combined effort, they quickly erased all traces of the battle to the best of their abilities, to make it harder for anyone to figure out what happened.
That naturally took a few minutes as there were many empty spots and burnt areas from all the destruction.
“Fuuh, that should be it. This place looks… More or less how it was before.” Dusting his hands, Arthur stared at the result of their work with a satisfied expression. Although there were some small details left that they couldn’t do much about like the cracks and the craters, he believed that their work was as good as it could be.
“How long do you think it will take before anyone would realize their disappearance?” Emmy asked.
“Hopefully long enough for us to be completely out of the scope of suspicion,” Isla replied as she stomped the ice to make it even and then turned around.
“Now, the question is, should we take the horses or not?” Danny asked as he approached one of the horses and rubbed its head. He was surprised these animals didn’t panic when they saw their owners fall dead.
‘Perhaps they aren’t really their masters and they simply rented them or bought them recently.’ He thought to himself.
“We should take the horses till we get close to the capital, then we continue on foot to erase any suspicion,” Arthur said. “100 Kilometers is a lot to go on foot so we need to make use of the horses if we want to reach our destination today.” He said.
The others nodded their heads in agreement. They knew how important it was to actually reach the capital today. Tomorrow was the first day of the academy and they were bound to get very busy for the next several days at least before things finally settle down again.
They had to reach the capital today or it would be a headache to make it tomorrow.
“Ok, so, how do we go about doing this? There are 7 of us and only three horses.”
Isla looked around her before she said. “Herculia and Emmy will get on one horse. Danny, Finlay, and Serko will get on the second horse. Arthur, you’re with me.”
“What?” Danny blurted out without realizing it.
Everyone looked at him weirdly so he coughed and looked at Isla. “Mm, Isla… Shouldn’t Arthur go with the kids? I mean, he’s better than me in taking care of them.”
Hearing that Isla and Arthur will get on the same horse didn’t sit well with Danny at all. He knew why he felt that way, but he didn’t want to think about it. There was simply no way he could accept that.
However, Isla shook her head. “I need you with them in case we end up being attacked. Using Shadow Step, you can get them out of trouble really quickly.”
Danny’s ability ‘Shadow Step’ allows him to transport himself a small distance away instantly. His ability can carry two other people with him after he leveled it up several times. It was very useful for instant escape.
“But…” Danny tried to argue but then realized that he had nothing to say against her logic. Isla was indeed right, if there was a need to get the two dwarves out of trouble, he had the perfect ability for that.
‘Why do I have such a dumb ability?! Goddamit!’ He cursed inwardly.
“I… Understand…” He said with a difficult tone.
Meanwhile, Arthur watched the colorful expressions that appeared on Danny’s face with a small smirk. ‘Hey, I might be stupid but… Isn’t he jealous? He looks really jealous actually. Oh, he’s glaring at me now. Yup, he is very jealous.’
Arthur had noticed already that Danny looked at Isla in a different way than he looked at everyone else. He was aware that the boy carried some special feelings toward her and it was basically all over his face. But, it didn’t seem like Isla shared the same feelings as he did or at least she was very good at hiding them.
‘Ah, teenage love… Good old days.’ He shook his head with a smile.
“Arthur?”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m coming.” Arthur looked up and walked toward the horse. Isla sat at the front and tapped the area behind her. So, he jumped on top of the horse and positioned himself a little farther away from Isla for decency.
He didn’t want to carelessly touch her and be labeled a creep very quickly. However, Isla broke his expectations again.
“Put your hands on my shoulder, we’re going to move fast.” She said coldly.
“…”
*GLARE*
‘He’s glaring daggers at me isn’t he?’ Arthur gulped as he peeked over his shoulder and there Danny was murdering him with his eyes. ‘It’s really not my fault here, my brother. Well, I’m not going to complain either.’
Saying that, Arthur put his hands on Isla’s shoulder very gently. He could feel the softness of her skin on his hands even through the clothes. It was really pleasant. ‘I don’t know how shoulders could feel nice to the touch, but here I am.’
“Are you ready?” Isla asked, unaware of what Arthur was thinking.
“Yes.”
“… Yes.”
“Ok, let’s go then.”
With that, the group started moving again at top speed, leaving behind small traces in the snow. They knew that this could trail back to them, but there was nothing they could really do about it.
They can’t really erase those footsteps at the speed they are moving. Like the wind, they stormed through the snowy region, crossing large distances in a short period of time.
‘At this pace, we can definitely make it to the capital by the end of the day.’ Arthur thought to himself as he looked ahead of them.
“Fuuh, cold air… I love this.” Arthur muttered as he released his hands from Isla’s shoulders and opened them wide.
“Hm?” Isla looked over her shoulder at him. “What are you doing?”
“Enjoying the beautiful weather. Don’t mind me.” He smiled with his eyes closed.
“…” Isla blinked as she stared at the blissful grin on Arthur’s face. Nobody could read her mind at that moment. Then, she turned around. A second later, Isla suddenly made a small turn to the left.
“Woah!” Arthur’s eyes opened widely when he realized that he was about to fall due to the sudden change in his balance. Instinctively, he grabbed into Isla’s shoulders again.
“… What happened?” He asked.
“A small rock. That’s why I told you to keep your hands on my shoulders.” Isla pretended as if she did nothing and replied with a casual tone. “If you don’t want to fall then don’t open your arms.”
“… Damn, ok I won’t let them go then,” Arthur replied.
Unbeknownst to him, Isla’s lips curved for a split second before they returned to normal as if nothing happened. She didn’t know why she did that or why her mind accepted it, but after doing it she felt satisfied.
‘What is really wrong with me these days?’ She sighed inwardly. She was definitely acting a little different from usual. But, she didn’t hate this subtle change, weirdly enough.
The person who liked consistency the most was open to a change for once.
A//N: Don’t forget to give the book some golden tickets for good luck! :3
