37. This is a Spatial Pouch!
"By the way, is it safe to continue straight from here, Alicia?" Hilda asked after walking for a while with the other two. "Shouldn't we hide and wait for a bit? You know, just in case there are more trackers coming after us?"
Alicia stopped in her tracks and pondered for a moment before looking at Nova and asking, "What do you think, Nova?"
Without hesitation, Nova shook his head and replied, "Let's not risk it. We should hide and stay out of sight for a few hours."
Alicia nodded and looked at Hilda as she said, "We can hide until it gets bright again and go to town after making sure none of them follow us."
After agreeing to do that, the three of them looked around to figure out where to hide.
However, before they could search further for a proper hiding spot, Nova suddenly noticed something floating in the stream.
When he narrowed his eyes, he found a human body stuck against a rock.
His expression became grim when he noticed it. "There's someone over there, and judging by the appearance of it, it seems to be the merchant."
Alicia and Hilda looked towards the place where Nova was staring and noticed that it was indeed the merchant who arranged the caravan for their journey to the town.
He was lying there on a rock, motionless.
Both of the women were shocked when they saw it and turned to look at Nova, wondering what to do.
He walked ahead without waiting for them and reached the spot where the merchant was lying.
When he saw him, he checked his breath and pulse, only to find the merchant dead.
Nova closed the corpse's eyes and shook his head as he looked towards the two women who had come up behind him to see the condition of the dead man. "He is dead..."
"Dead? But how could it be? He was supposed to have many guards protecting him..." Hilda remarked in bewilderment as she gazed upon the dead merchant.
Alicia's expression turned grim as she inspected the surroundings around the dead body. "There doesn't seem to be anyone around here. But we should search for anything valuable and leave as fast as we can before someone comes searching for him."
As she said that, Nova began to search the merchant's body for any useful items or money.
While doing so, he came across a black pouch inside the merchant's inner pockets. It was the only thing the man carried apart from his clothes.
"There's nothing else." Nova stated and pulled the pouch out for the two women to see.
Upon seeing the pouch, Hilda's eyes widened in shock and disbelief as she gasped and muttered under her breath, "This is a Spatial Pouch! This is a very expensive item that is only accessible by nobles or powerful adventurers."
"Huh, you mean he shouldn't have something like that?" Alicia inquired as she came closer to look at it with interest, wondering how such items work.
Hilda nodded with a bitter smile, explaining, "These kinds of spatial pouches are very rare and are hard to acquire by someone without high status. Not everyone can afford a single one. So finding one in the possession of a common merchant is strange..."
Nova frowned when he heard her explain it to them, thinking that the merchant seemed to be someone with connections to have gotten the spatial pouch in the first place.
However, Nova soon realized something important, and he looked down at the merchant's dead body in realization, "Wait, if it's a spatial pouch and is not accessible, then that means the attackers must have been after the pouch."
The two women were surprised upon hearing his words, and they exchanged worried looks before looking at the body.
"We should hurry and leave this place then. Otherwise we may get involved in something bigger than we thought." Alicia stated as she looked around, checking to see if anyone was near.
They didn't waste time as they all rushed away from the scene in haste.
After running for a while, they stopped to catch their breath as they continued walking again after resting for a couple of minutes.
They walked for another hour before coming across a rocky area filled with large boulders.
Nova examined the surroundings before finding an ideal hiding spot among the rocks and boulders nearby.
"We can hide behind the big rocks over there." He pointed at the boulders to guide the two women and walked to the boulder that could fit all of them.
Once he reached the spot, he gestured for them to hide there so they could stay concealed until morning came.
Hilda and Alicia didn't argue with him as they followed him there without any question and crouched down behind the rocks together with him.
For about an hour, they remained silent without even talking or whispering so as not to attract the attention of any potential enemies searching for them in the forest.
Suddenly, Nova remembered something and looked towards Alicia and Hilda, breaking the silence of the surroundings. "Wait, we forgot to hide our tracks."
When Alicia heard him, her eyes widened in surprise before she became panicked and glanced around, fearing someone would come and find them.
Seeing Alicia's reaction, Hilda tried to calm her down. "Don't worry, when we were running, I made sure to erase our footprints behind with wind magic to not leave behind any traces. As long as no one searches the area with tracking skills, they won't find us here."
Upon hearing that, Alicia sighed in relief, glad to know that their safety wasn't compromised because of a minor mistake.
As for the tracking skills, they wouldn't be able to hide even if they ran away far enough since a skilled tracker can use his or her powers to easily locate people even miles apart.
Therefore, they just hoped they were lucky enough and none of the remaining attackers were proficient enough in tracking.