Summoning the Holy Sword

Until the ship finally landed, Rhode felt a strange feeling.

He didn’t know why, but he had a bad feeling ever since the floating ship departed. It was different from a life or death situation—it felt more like the uneasiness a student felt due to the anxiety of maybe having a pop quiz tomorrow.

Rhode wasn’t a person who believed in intuition. He prefered to obtain information by analyzing the status quo. He believed that so-called intuition was simply nonsense. The reason why human reacted to this was merely because their brain was unconsciously analyzing past memories and coming to the conclusion. For example, a person who once saw an airplane suddenly explode would inadvertently scanned an airplane’s wings before boarding it. If there was a damaged, even if he didn’t notice it, his brain would reach the conclusion that the airplane might be dangerous, and so the body responded by reminding the brain that there’s danger. If he carefully recalled the circumstances, he might have been able to find the source of this feeling. However, the body’s response was not necessarily correct. Solely relying on intuition was a very dangerous thing. After all, intuition was a judgement people made unconsciously and was not the result of rational thinking.

That’s why, unlike Anne, Rhode only used his intuition as a reference when making a judgement rather than relying on it entirely. He thought that there might have been something wrong with the ship or they might encounter a sudden attack just like before. But it was completely different from what Rhode has imagined. The Fly Air was sailing smoothly, without any potential threats or attacks. The wind was fast, and the sun hadn’t gone down yet when they arrived. No matter from what point of view, this was definitely considered smooth sailing.

However, where did the inexplicable uneasiness come from?

He turned around to look at the Fly Air before him and shook his head, trying to toss this matter aside. Human beings were intelligent creatures; they should rely on their intelligence to find the answer rather than relying on unclear instincts to live. However, not everyone would agree with him.

“Leader, Anne is hungry…”

Standing on Rhode’s side, Anne looked at him pitifully while pulling at his clothes. She blinked, showing a begging look.

“… If I remember correctly, you just ate two hours ago, right?”

Boom!

The ground shook, the sound making the entire tavern quiet for a moment. People looked at each other, not knowing where the sound came from. The adventures who intended to take this opportunity to strike up a conversation with this beautiful girl immediately turned around and ran away. They were not blind, of course; they could see the fine gold shield beside her. They definitely wouldn’t be able to move that thing, but the girl in front of them single-handedly placed it beside her… Right now, they knew what it meant for no rose to come without thorns.

Seeing their reactions, Rhode only laughed in his heart. He wasn’t the kind of person who like to attract attention, but clearly, Anne was good at dealing with this kind of situation. If it were Marlene, she might have argued with them. Since she was a noble, she would feel disgusted with commoners trying to flirt with her, which made her think that they actually regarded her as one of the tavern’s dancers. That would be very insulting to her. However, Anne obviously didn’t think so; she always felt that it wasn’t a bad thing for everyone to be friendly with each other. She had always been a friendly and fun person, and also liked to take part in others conversation. Her action would often reduce potential enemies to them, and seeing that those guests didn’t look at them with scrutinizing attitude like before, it meant that Anne’s approach was very effective.

“The wine is coming.” The owner’s attitude was also very friendly, since they both paid satisfactorily and didn’t cause any trouble.

Seeing the sweet, fragrant toast and honey in front of her, Anne screamed excitedly and stretched out her hands immediately. Rhode could only look at her eat and feel helpless about it. He picked up a glass of sweet wine and drank it, then said, “Owner, I want to ask you a question.”

“Can I help you?” The owner busily picked up the remaining jugs from other guests while responding to Rhode’s question.

“It’s like this.” Having said that, Rhode paused to consider his wording, then continued. “As you’ve seen, we are both adventurers. Currently, we’re planning to go to the Black Pine Ruins; do you have any suggestions for us?”

“Black Pine Ruins?” Hearing Rhode’s words, the owner frowned and rubbed his chin. After thinking for a while he nodded and said, “Hm… It’s been so long since someone went to the Black Pine Ruins. I don’t really know the exact situation, but I heard that two days ago, there was a mercenary group that went there.”

“Oh?” Hearing until here, Rhode furrowed his brow.

“Mercenary group? Do you which mercenary group?”

“I’m not sure about that, but they’re not from here. They came from White Mountain City, far from here.” The owner spread out his hands, shook his head helplessly, smiled, and apologized to Rhode. “I’m sorry I couldn’t answer your question, but please be careful. Because I served them before, and they didn’t look like good people. The girl beside you is very beautiful, and I’m afraid it will lead to trouble should you run into them.”

“I’ll be careful; thank you for your reminder.” Hearing the owner’s words, Rhode nodded and finished his glass of wine.

“I hope you can prepare more food for this young lady and give us hot water. We’ve been journeying for an entire day, so we want to have a bath…”

“Of course! No problem, dear distinguished guest. We assure you that we’ll give you the best service.”

Hearing Rhode’s order, the owner straightened his chest and said proudly. Rhode also no longer said anything. He stood up and planned to leave, when he suddenly saw a young adventurer walking toward him, warmly smiling.

“I’m sorry; I’ve overheard your conversation just now. You want to go to Black Pine Ruins?”

“That’s right.”

“Then…” Hearing Rhode’s answer, the young man smiled with excitement.

“Do you want to go with us?”