Chapter 51: The Unknown Object
After saying goodbye to Vanessa, even though she refused out of mere formality when they wanted to give her five kilos of fresh Lv2 wild boar meat, she was actually radiant, barely able to hide her smile.
It seemed like fate.
As soon as they left the village with the carriage, with Luan driving, a light drizzle fell from the sky, the air carrying a cold and damp sensation.
Even in the carriage driving area, there was a mirrored glass canopy, protecting him from the rain.
Catharina chose to stay by his side instead of the inside, which was better protected from the wind and warm.
"You know you can stay inside the carriage, right?"
Hearing him say that, she simply smiled.
"I know, but I prefer to stay here with you."
Her voice was warm and captivating.
She rested her head on his shoulder, closing her eyes.
Without making any sudden movements, Luan continued to drive the carriage without insisting further that she go inside.
## --
Two months later, border with Ghost Empire.
"Don’t let them escape!!"
"Catch them?!"
It was almost night on a sunny day.
The sky was ridiculously orange at that moment.
On a dirt road, side by side, a black and white horse ran very fast while pulling a double carriage.
"Haaa!"
A shout echoed.
At the sound of this voice, along with the shaking of the reins, the two horses sped up even more.
"They are catching up to us!"
Looking from the right side of the carriage, Catharina managed to see the group of men mounted on horses as they galloped after them.
"They just don’t stop coming..."
Luan sighed.
It wasn’t the first time a group of bandits tried to loot them.
The closer they got to the Ghost Empire, the greater the number of bandits they encountered.
Now, they were fleeing precisely from another group of bandits with all of them being Lv2.
"Ihahhh!"
Shaking the reins again, Luan then said: "Catharina, take control in my place."
"You’re going to do that again?" It wasn’t exactly a question, it was more of a statement.
"Yes." He passed the control of the reins to her.
From the back of the carriage, he grabbed a bow and a quiver.
Placing the strap of the quiver over his shoulder with the arrows on the back of his back, he held the bow with his left hand.
Standing up, he moved around the carriage, extending his right hand to the canopy, he propelled himself, spinning in the air, landing precisely on top of the carriage.
"Up there, shoot him!"
One of them shouted from atop the horse.
Taking their hands off the reins, some of them threw sharp knives and pointed objects.
Luan’s feet practically danced on top of the carriage, dodging with great ease.
At the same time that he dodged, Luan took an arrow from the quiver and drew the bow.
His eyes narrowed.
"Stay alert!"
Their leader noticed it.
Of course, the rest did too.
A sinister smile adorned Luan’s lips.
Without hesitation, he fired the first arrow.
"Whinny!"
The arrow shot went against the wind causing a terrible whistle, soon it found its target!
Right on the left shoulder of one of the horses, the arrow pierced and the horse neighed, knocking down the two bandits riding it.
"Carter, Andrey!!"
"You bastard...!"
"I will kill you!!!"
"You bastard, son of a bitch!!"
"Piece of shit scum!!"
The bandits’ shouts became more vulgar and threatening.
Pulling the second arrow, he released the string.
*Whoosh!*
The whistle of the arrow echoed once more, however, this time, the bandits were more alert, managing to dodge in time, losing speed.
Luan continued firing arrows, but at some point, while they were more than 100 meters away from the carriage, his shots no longer made sense to them, in fact he was aiming at the trees around, seeming to lose the precise aim from before.
"Be careful, he is–"
The words of the leader of the bandit group stopped abruptly.
Suddenly, his head simply flew into the air, spinning nonstop while the horse continued forward with his headless body.
"Boss!!!"
"Whinny!"
The moment the body was without the head, it didn’t take long to stop its previous actions and start sliding to the side. The horse seemed to feel this and let out a loud neigh, darting forward even faster while jumping like a mad bull.
It was then that the body of the bandit leader fell, being trampled by the horses of the bandits behind him.
"Ahhhhhhhh!"
Another scream echoed.
This time, it was another bandit who was left hanging in the air by a kind of ultrathin thread, practically invisible in the abdomen area.
Luckily, he loosened his legs, thus, instead of being cut in half, when it reached the bones, it stopped cutting him, but it hurt like hell!
"Help me!!" He cried for help.
The faces of the rest of the bandits turned pale.
"Hyahhhh!"
One by one they pulled the reins of their horses, stopping, not daring to continue advancing.
However, the moment they stopped, they saw that the boy who was previously on top of the carriage had changed to a girl with a veil.
Until then, it didn’t seem like anything special, however, that was the beginning of a new nightmare!
*Whoosh!*
Faster and more precise, arrows struck their horses and bodies.
They did everything they could to protect themselves, but it was already too late...
In a short time, all of them were turned into porcupines with arrows embedded in their bodies.
"So cruel..." One of them lost focus in his eyes, full of complaints.
...
Luan and Catharina stopped the carriage, soon they made their way back to where the dead bandits were.
The scene before their eyes was brutal, but they did not show the slightest bit of regret for what they had done.
Luan got down from the carriage.
He turned to Catharina. She looked back.
He said: "Search the horses, I will search them."
"Mm." She simply nodded.
Luan waved his hand in the air, soon all the invisible threads loosened.
The hanging body of one of them fell to the ground with a dull "thud".
Their subsequent movements were with great naturalness, like a factory worker who did the same thing every day.
In a few minutes, they took everything of value from this group of bandits, forming a small pile of treasures, gold, silver and bronze coins.
"Not bad~ It was a good harvest once again~" Luan hummed happily.
"Luan, look at what this is..." Catharina brought to him an object with a strange shape.
"Let me see..." He accepted the object that was in her hand.
"Huh?"
Even having read many books, nothing came to his mind.
The object had an almost spherical shape the size of a baseball in a burnt-yellow color with some drawings and letters.
"What are these things supposed to mean?"
As he turned it in his hand, a gear sound echoed.
He got startled!
"Ahhh..."
Because of that, he almost let the object fall to the ground...
"Are you okay?" Catharina got worried.
"Yes..." He replied, embarrassed.
But then, something happened that made him fall silent, looking at the object in his hand.
"It can’t be..."