In order to reach Zieden from Odine, I needed to pass through a number of cities, or rather city-states. The advantage of this route was that the military would be unlikely to guess my path. I had learned in my time working in Folka that the border between the Alliance and Zieden was heavily blockaded. For normal people, it was an impassable obstacle. The merchants had mentioned that heading overland to reach Ludoria had become impossible, forcing them to make a huge diversion south through Vilestorika.
That said, while the border between Zieden and Ludoria was also heavily guarded, it hadn’t been entirely locked down. There were probably some rather complicated reasons behind that. For example, while it was true Ludoria would be on guard against Zieden, they would still hesitate to throw their lot in with their old enemy, Vilestorika. On top of that, if the only merchants they accepted were those coming through Vilestorika and its vassal states, it would be like submitting themselves to an economic stranglehold.
So Ludoria hadn’t been openly hostile with Zieden, permitting trade to pass through their borders and weighing them against the profits gained from Vilestorika. This was all no more than my conjecture, but it sounded reasonable enough to me.
It wasn’t the smartest move, but Ludoria’s only other options were to smash through Zieden to reach the Azueda Alliance, or through Vilestorika to reach the sea. Neither of which would be easy, and would effectively come down to luck even if they threw their full weight as a nation into the endeavor. It wouldn’t be an easy decision, and it would take time for the nobles and citizenry of the country to come to an agreement.
With Ludoria remaining inactive in the conflict, both Zieden and Vilestorika would have to move cautiously, unsure of where they would throw their weight. However, the uneasy balance that created was far from peace, and would continue to distort the lives and futures of the people in all three kingdoms while it persisted. That distortion would no doubt build to a breaking point...on the other side of which would be a tremendous war.
But leaving that aside for now, what was important was the blockade halting my forward progress. Probably convinced I would head south, any party sent to pursue me would be small, only sent as insurance against a bad guess.
For me, the blockade between countries meant little. I could always slip through the border by passing through the forests that straddled it, something that wouldn’t occur to most humans. Ah, and of course if I really tried, I could shake off any human pursuit without much effort.
In short, I was traveling slowly, intentionally stringing my pursuers along. I avoided the forests, maintaining a pace westward that would allow them to catch up. When I first left Odine, I was hoping to get a chance to beat them up just to release my pent-up feelings, but now that I had had some time to cool off, I was more interested in the pursuers themselves.
Odine’s military had no idea that I was a high elf, but they must have known at the very least that I was an elf and a mage. They should have understood that ordinary soldiers would have a difficult time capturing or killing me. Whoever they sent would have to be elites. They would have to either be mages themselves, or specialists trained in the use of relics.
Of course, I was hoping for the latter. How well trained would this special unit be? What kind of relics were they using? If I could witness that, I could see the results of Kawshman’s work firsthand. I would be able to accomplish the goals I had set when I visited Odine after all.
During my trip, one night after dinner, I was heading back to my inn. A warning from the wind spirits had me grinning from ear to ear. Naturally, in anticipation of this very moment, I didn’t have a drop of alcohol in me.
A moment later, an arrow whizzed through the air. The speed of the shot was incredible.
Even the elite archers of the Great Grasslands couldn’t compare to the power of that shot. But no matter how powerful or fast it was, any arrow could be dodged if you knew the timing and trajectory. With the wind spirits to give me that information, no ordinary archer had a chance of hitting me.
As I stepped out of the path of the arrow, I saw it strike a building and shatter.