Summoning the Holy Sword

The brilliant rays of the sun permeated through the gaps between the canopy.

Rhode stopped in his tracks; he stared at the hilly dirt path in front of him for a moment, then he turned back and looked at the girl who was gasping for air behind him.

“Ms. Marlene, can you move a bit faster?”

“W-wait a minute… let me… catch my breath…”

Marlene’s present state was a mess. With mud, twigs, and leaves sticking onto her robe as well as with a face full of sweat, she’d lost all of her previously elegant features. If someone saw her pitiful state right now, they’d have thought that she’d just came back from a war. But in fact, she was only climbing a hill.

“I… never thought… that it was… going to be this tiring…”

She took heavy breaths with each step as she slowly staggered up the hilly road. The enthusiasm that she displayed before had completely vanished. When Rhode saw her like this, he started to regret his decision to bring her along. After all, he wasn’t here to fool around. Physical strength wasn’t a mage’s forte; clearly he’d forgotten about this point.

During the previous mission, Marlene didn’t fall into such a miserable state because she used her magic to float up against the steep mountainous slopes. However, as the elevation here was much gentler, she refused to use her magic and insisted to walk. And that was how she ended up exhausted.

At the beginning of the climb, she was energetic since it was her first time exploring the wild without anyone guarding her. This newfound freedom in adventuring made her even more enthusiastic than Rhode.

“I can’t really say, but I feel that she’s different from before. Moreover… nevermind.”

Marlene recalled the time when she was about to leave with Rhode on this mission. Lize held her hand tightly and hesitated as if she wanted to say something, but after a while, she didn’t say anything and left. As a woman, she could feel that Lize was jealous and worried at the same time. But Marlene did not know the reason why.

Was it because she wanted to tag along, so she got mad? But the Lize she knew wasn’t that kind of person…

Marlene suddenly straightened up.

A magical wave surged in the air, sending a direct signal to her body which caused her to react immediately.

Rhode also noticed Marlene’s body twitching slightly.

“What happened?”

“Someone is coming.”

Marlene turned her head and gazed at the mountain below which was hidden behind a thick foliage.

“My sigil detected people marching towards our direction. One… two… three. Three people. But there’s a chance that there might be more…”

“Let’s get ready to move forward.”

Rhode loosened the grip on his sword.

“Do it as planned.”

“Got it.”

Marlene acknowledged his order and raised her wand towards a tree beside her. Soon, a bright, mysterious sigil appeared and penetrated into the trunk.

“Let’s continue.”

“Why don’t we just ambush them and kill those group of nasty people?”

Marlene simply threw out the question on her mind. In her opinion, those guys weren’t tough. If Rhode and herself combined strength, they could easily dispatch them. So why should they be afraid of being caught being these people? It was something that she didn’t understand.

“Simple. Because this place is not too far from the Deep Stone City.”

Rhode answered her question without hesitation.

“If we engage them now, those guys will immediately send some signal for reinforcements. By then, we will lose our advantage. However, now they are unaware that we have intel of their locations. Letting these guys continue to follow us is a better option for now because we can lead them deeper without alarming them. Even if they realize that something is wrong, it’ll take too long for their reinforcements to aid them. So, rather than finishing them off here, we can keep track of their movements without worrying about an ambush.”

“I see…”

Marlene nodded and no longer said anything regarding the plan. She could guess what Rhode planned for them. But still, she was rather annoyed with the sweat trickling down her face.

“But if you’re just looking for magic herbs, do we need to walk this far in?”

They had been trekking the mountain since morning and Marlene was already dead tired. She didn’t understand why they had to enter so deep into the forest when there were other spots closer to the edges.

“Indeed we don’t. If we are looking for magic herbs, we won’t need to go this deep in. But, coincidentally, I’ve found some treasure maps which points to the Twilight Forest. If we can find it, it’ll be a boon to our group.”

Rhode’s expression was indifferent as usual. It didn’t appear as though he was lying, and since Marlene trusted his judgment, she stopped being skeptical about everything he did.

“Treasure?”

Marlene’s eyes sparkled for a moment. She couldn’t imagine what kind of treasures would be buried here. Those fantasy adventure stories that she had been reading made her slightly less skeptical about these things. After all, instead of going to some underground cemetery, a treasure hunt sounded much closer to her ‘adventure fantasy.’

“Then which direction shall we head next?”

“North.”

Rhode pointed to the front.