The carriage moved through the desolate road quietly, the ma.s.s amount of animals and other forms of life drastically decreased once they crossed the border.While the terrain was still full of vibrant colors, it"s as if the animals and humans alike steered far away from the Dark Continent… This mystery piqued Caesar"s interest, however, he didn"t have the luxury to ponder about such troublesome matters at the moment.
Within the next few hours, they pa.s.sed through a lush forest, full of vigorous trees and shrubberies. While on the road, Edward pointed out a few directions to which Caesar followed meticulously.
"Are you sure your tribe is in this direction?" Caesar asked doubtfully.
"Yes, our sense of smell is extraordinary" Edward replied confidently.
Caesar nodded his head in acceptance and they continued moving forward… They soon arrived at a forked road… one path led to the left, deeper within the forest, while the other led out of the forest.
*creak*
Caesar brought the carriage to a gradual stop, he turned his head towards Edward and looked at him impatiently.
"Which way?" he asked inquiringly.
Edward rested his chin in hands and contemplated for a few seconds before lifting his head and repeatedly sniffing the air.
A vein appeared on Caesar"s forehead, "is your clan located in a forest, or not?" Caesar couldn"t help but interrupt Edwards smelling session.
"Hmm, it"s in a forest… similar to this one, actually" Edward replied.
Caesar felt as though his brain cells were slowly receding while getting directions from Edward, he urged the horses to move left and they continued on their way.
"Ah I see, if we moved right then that would mean we would exit the forest!" Edward spoke with realization apparent in his tone.
Caesar ma.s.saged his temples, "I don"t know how this guy camouflaged his limited intelligence until now… he"s worse than Joe!" Caesar inwardly lamented.
They followed the road even while the sun went down, according to Edward and Ahri, their tribe wasn"t very far away from the border.
While driving the carriage, Caesar couldn"t help but admire the moon"s beauty, it looked even more extraordinary here than it did in Rahvin kingdom.
"That"s strange, why does the moon look different here?" Caesar asked Edward to the right of him.
Edward"s drowsiness was washed away with the sudden question and a wide smile appeared on his face… "that"s the appeal of the Dark Continent… this place is the opposite of normal places"
Caesar tilted his head and forced Edward to continue with his eyes.
*ahem*
Edward cleared his throat and continued, "almost every species in the dark continent is awake during the night! While in other places, during the day is where most of the races thrive… it"s the complete opposite here!" Edward explained enthusiastically.
"So basically, the dark continent is the home of nocturnal races… but that doesn"t explain why the moon looks different?" Caesar spoke with a piqued tone.
"No one actually knows why the moon seems different here, the only thing that people do know, is that it attracts all night loving races" Edward replied with a smirk.
*hooh*
*hooh*
As if to further explain to Caesar, different forms of birds came flying over their carriage… The silent forest soon came to life and many different forms of species showed themselves.
"This place just gets more and more interesting the longer I stay here… I wonder what other surprises this place will bring me" Caesar silently thought to himself as he observed their surroundings.
*whish*
*whish*
*NEIGH*
Two projectiles landed in front of the carriage and spooked the horses, Caesar squinted his eyes and pulled the reigns.
It took Caesar a few seconds to calm the horses, once they were calmed, he scanned the large tree"s that surrounded them.
*step*
*step*
To their front, five or so men with bulging muscles walked in front of their carriage, effectively blocking their path, they had some animalistic features such as long claws and fangs.
"Grr, you"re trespa.s.sing in our territory!" the man in front opened up, he had wavy dark blue hair with white streaks running across it… He was clearly a respected individual as the other four men looked at him admirably.
"We don"t mean any harm, we are looking for the fox-kin tribe" Caesar replied courteously, he didn"t want to anger these men for no reason.
"The fox-kin territory huh? What do you want to do once you find it?" asked the man dangerously, the nails on his hands suddenly extended and he radiated a large amount of killing intent.
Suddenly, Edward that was to the right of Caesar jumped down and walked towards the man with a wide smile.
"It"s me uncle Khan" Edward spoke nostalgically.
Khan squinted his eyes, "who the h.e.l.l are you? And how do you know my name?" he asked suspiciously.
"Y-you don"t remember your own nephew?" Edward asked with a crestfallen expression.
"I refuse to believe my strong and manly blood runs through your veins, you look so puny after all" Khan said after contemplating for a moment.
The light in Caesar"s eyes slowly dimmed as he witnessed this scene, "I kind of understand why the people in this clan are losing the war" he inwardly cursed his bad luck.
*creak*
The carriage door slowly opened and Ahri walked out, her imposing aura which she didn"t show around Caesar was in full display.
"Stop messing around you fools, I have returned" Ahri spoke in a domineering tone.
The four fox-kin behind Khan immediately kneeled down respectively… While Khan just looked at Ahri with a smile.
"Welcome back, your grandfather missed you dearly!" Khan said with a hearty laugh and patted Edward on the back.
"Who would"ve thought the Empress was being guarded by such a failure haha!" Khan asked the four men behind him and laughed once again.
A small tear fell from Edward"s eyes as he got heavily patted on the back by Khan…
Ahri smiled widely, "I"m glad my grandfather seems to be doing well, how is the clan faring against those d.a.m.ned trolls?" Ahri changed the subject and the merry atmosphere disappeared in an instant.
"Our hunting teams keep getting ambushed and the people are starving!! Those d.a.m.n cowardly trolls" Khan gnashed his teeth angrily.
"Who"s leading the tribe in my grandfather"s absence?" Ahri asked curiously.
"Your uncle is…" Khan spoke sorrowfully.
"My d.a.m.ned uncle will be the death of us…" Ahri said, not concealing the ferocity in her voice.
"Haha, well, enough talk about those depressing matters… Charlie is doing well and studying to become the strategist of the clan" Khan said with a wide smile.
"Charlie…? Why is he doing that?" Ahri asked curiously.
"Haha, he"s always talking about how he wants to become a man worthy of taking your hand in marriage," Khan said with a chuckle.
"His efforts are in vain, I have already obtained an excellent strategist," Ahri said while gesturing towards Caesar who was sitting on the carriage.
Khan and the other four fox-kin shifted their attention to Caesar, they studied him for a few minutes before finally nodding in consent.
"I trust the empresses decision, Charlie"s going to be sad though" Khan spoke after thinking for a while.
*plop*
Caesar hopped off the carriage and walked towards Khan, although Caesar"s muscles weren"t bulging, his height easily towered over the mere 6 ft Khan.
He put his right hand forward whilst a wide grin was plastered on his face… "it"s a pleasure meeting you khan, I"ll be sure to take good care of your tribe" he spoke courteously, however, his piercing red eyes that looked at Khan as if he was a pup told a different story.
Khan didn"t notice it earlier, but this man"s presence was dangerous… a small bead of sweat fell from Khan"s cheek before he reacted.
"Haha, nice to meet you too…" Khan said while scratching the back of his head in embarra.s.sment.
He turned around and led them to their tribe"s location, the four fox-kin that followed behind Khan whispered in his ear.
"What"s wrong?"
"Why didn"t you shake his hand?"
Khan just shook his head with a wry smile, "my instincts told me I wasn"t worthy of shaking his hand" he replied darkly.
"What? How can that be possible?" one of the four men asked with a baffled expression.
Caesar who was slowly walking behind them was even more confused, he didn"t want to pressure Khan, but, he felt as though the blood running through his veins demanded absolute obedience.
"Interesting…" Caesar whispered to himself.