Chapter 26 - Are we there yet?
The remaining journey towards the village of Whistlecreek was thankfully much more uneventful than the first couple hours of the trip. The first day went by relatively quickly, even though Kat spent much of it constantly keeping an eye out the window, watching for any further ambushes. The Shielder's normally outgoing personality was further quieted down by Garside's presence, which did leave the ride somewhat more boring. It did give Scarlett some extra time to do some basic practicing with her magic, but she could only do that for so long with her current mana capacity.
She had taken the opportunity to use five of the seven skills points she had after receiving more from the ambush to upgrade her [Minor Hydrokinesis] to [Hydrokinesis], which she'd wanted to do for a while. Although she didn't have the chance to really try out the upgraded skill while traveling in the carriage.
To further pass the time Scarlett had brought out some books from her [Pouch of Holding] on the history of the Empire, the Rising Isle, the Forgotten Tower, the Everdust Barrier, and other interesting places that she knew of from the game to compare her knowledge of. She'd sent a servant to buy the books from some store in Freybrook, which is also when she'd come up with the—rather belated—idea of telling them to buy as many relevant books on matters of decorum and noble behavior as they could, 'on behalf of the ignorant Shielder in her employ'. Finding anything useful on the matter had surprisingly enough not been fruitful as of yet, but now she had a decent excuse if someone were to ask. Unfortunately, she hadn't had time to read any of those particular books yet, and she couldn't very well read them in front of others. Maybe Kat, but definitely not Garside. A miscalculation on her part.
Having spent most of the first day reading up on the history of the Graenal Empire, their carriage had reached a small township called Crowbell before night. Kat was especially happy about that as most of her baggage had been destroyed along with the first carriage—including some of her armor, which Scarlett did feel some guilt about. She would have to reimburse the woman somehow—and she'd been forced to borrow a set of Scarlett's traveling clothes that the servants had packed along. Kat's own clothes were essentially ruined from the fight, but Kat was both taller than Scarlett and had a much more toned physique so the clothing she borrowed wasn't the best fit. Add to that the injuries the Shielder was still recovering from, and she was quite excited about stopping the first night to get some real rest and get new clothes. Scarlett's shoulder had largely healed by then—after repeated uses of [Earth Pulse] from Kat throughout the day—so she didn't have as much of an issue.
After resting in that town they had started moving again the next morning. That day had been even more uneventful than the second half of the previous one. Scarlett managed to finish a book about the first emperor of the Graenal Empire—a Galrath the Great—and a few other imperial heroes, as well as start another book, by the time they reached another small town to stay for that night. It wasn't until evening on the third day of their journey through the vast forested land that was the southwestern part of the empire that they reached their destination.
The road leading directly to and from the village of Whistlecreek didn't look as if it saw much use. Grass and weeds covered much of it, with only a few trails caused by wagons and people visible through the underbrush. The village itself was located in a clearing next to a small lake that was overflowing with flora. The settlement wasn't that large — if Scarlett were to guess, the population was probably somewhere in the hundreds, definitely not the thousands at least. The majority of the buildings were simple single-floored wooden structures, which made for quite a different view than the one on the streets of Freybrook that she had started getting so used to.
As their carriage came closer and closer to the village they got a better view of the clearing it lay in. Not too far off from the heart of the village, on the opposite edge of the clearing from where they currently were, Scarlett saw several wide fields with distant figures walking around in them. They were quite large for a village this size, at least compared with many of the other places they'd passed by. Further off, above the copse of trees that surrounded the area, the ridges of part of the Whitstone Mountains towered over the small settlement, lending it some shade from the sun as it was starting to set.
Soon enough their carriage entered the bounds of the village itself and she peeked out at the buildings. There was no one outside, but she spotted some people staring at them through the windows. It didn't seem to be the most welcoming of communities. Then again, she did just arrive in a noble's carriage without prior notice. She supposed most people would be wary in a situation like this.
As they reached an area of Whistlecreek that looked the most like a village square—though it was a bit of a stretch to call it that as it was just a larger dirt area without any buildings on it—the coachman pulled the carriage to a stop. Garside looked out through the window, his brows slightly knitted. "My Lady, am I correct in taking it that you plan on staying here for a while?"
Scarlett glanced at him. "You are, yes," she said, turning her eyes outside. "I believe I spoke of business that required taking care of. This is where it is." She tried not to display too much of the inherent distaste she felt at the thought of staying at a place like this. Even in her previous life she had never been especially fond of camping and spending time outdoors. That went more than double for her now. The places that they had stayed at the previous two nights had at least been decent inns, but this place didn't even seem to have that. The largest building she'd seen was one with a stone base at the edge of this little square, and that was only about the size of a small barn. She doubted it had many amenities.