Linetta scrutinized the stubby-bearded man for a moment.
“We’re spending a night in Sunpeak Town and taking Goblin’s Road to the next city at midday. Follow us if you want. However, we won’t be waiting for you,” Linetta stated shortly after.
“Thank you, my Lady,” the stubby-bearded man expressed his gratitude before saying, “You can just call me Old Ronnie. May I know which noble house you hail from?”
“You can just refer to me as Linette. Just Linette. We are not that close. So please don’t talk to me unless you have something important to say. Furthermore, I don’t like us traveling side by side. So either you travel in front or behind us,” Linetta expressed evident dislike for the person.
At the same time, she also used her nickname, which was only a one-syllable difference.
Nevertheless, Old Ronnie did not know that. Thus, he immediately deemed Linetta and her sister to be witches from an ordinary household.
“Understood, my Lady,” Old Ronnie voiced his compliance.
However, his tone sounded less eager after understanding the witches did not hail from a notable household.
Shortly after, Old Ronnie lagged behind the escort group, where he could no longer eavesdrop or join in on Vaan’s conversation with Linetta and Lillias.
“Kind of harsh of you to treat him as such, don’t you think, my Lady?” Vaan softly voiced his amusement.
“I don’t care. I don’t like that person. He stinks like opportunist people. If I give him my household name, he would be buttering me up like a fly, very annoying,” Linetta stated with a grudging look.
“Yeah!” Lillias chimed.
Being part of the Delarosa Household, Linetta and Lillias had seen and interacted with their fair share of opportunist people who sought to build a relationship with them simply based on their noble background.
“So you already know,” Vaan slightly smiled.
“Well, it also seems like you noticed that he was an opportunist person,” Linetta gave Vaan a sidelong glance.
“Occupation habit,” Vaan casually yet vaguely replied with a smile.
Captain Rhys soon approached them on the side of the Earth Salamander as they traveled on the main road.
“Are we really taking Goblin’s Road to the next city, my Lady?” Captain Rhys asked for confirmation after overhearing the conversation earlier.
However, Linetta didn’t answer. Instead, she turned her head to Vaan and passed the explanation job to him.
“Of course not. We are taking the other road,” Vaan casually said.
Between Sunpeak Town and the next city was Red Goblin Mountain. As such, the road to the next city was split into two main roads around the mountain.
One was Goblin’s Road, the more popular route due to its flat land and low-level danger.
However, it was also a dense forest path with poor visibility, making it a popular spot for bandits.
On the other hand, the other road, Hobgoblin’s Road, was less frequently taken due to its higher-level danger and highland, which also makes it more difficult for heavy wagons and carriers to pass.
But unlike Goblin’s Road, it was open and free of bandits. It didn’t have any spots that bandits could use to hide for ambushing.
Hobgoblin’s Road was the best choice for avoiding sneak attacks and ambushes on the road—or so Captain Rhys thought after hearing Vaan’s answer.
However, Vaan had other plans for divulging the information.
“Nevertheless, it seems like Brother Vaan will still be accompanying us to the next city,” Captain Rhys understood.
“Yeah,” Vaan nodded.
“Sunpeak Town is not a good place to stay. I heard it used to be a prosperous town in the past. But after the Lord of Sunpeak Town passed away a few years without any heirs, Sunpeak Town declined to the point that it became a den for banditry nearby.”
Of course, that was not Vaan’s true reason for not staying. His trip to Sunpeak Town had already been delayed by half a day.
There was no telling where his woman, Eniwse, who had turned into a Wyvern-type Abomination, had gone since then.
As such, tagging with Linetta’s group will quickly get him to the next city. But before they leave Sunpeak Town, he needed to fish for information.
Sometime later, Sunpeak Town came into view.
It was a small town, home to three thousand people, situated right by the bottom of Red Goblin Mountain’s cliff, surrounded by green forest trees, and protected by a high stone wall.
Due to the special terrain of the region, it had the best spots to view the sunrise outside of Red Goblin Mountain.
At that moment, they couldn’t enjoy such a view due to the darkening hour.
“Since we made it here, we can assume that the wagon thieves had already reached Sunpeak Town and sold off the spoils much earlier than us,” Captain Rhys said with a sigh.
Shortly after, Captain Rhys turned to face Linetta.
“My Lady, since it is getting dark, please go right ahead and pick an inn to settle your lodgings. We will rejoin you after we sell off the carcasses.”
“Alright,” Linetta nodded.
As they arrived in front of the battered wooden gate with blue bloodstains, Vaan dismounted the Earth Salamander with Lillias before Linetta unsummoned her familiar.
“The state of Sunpeak Town is terrible as expected. Who knows when was the last time they had these gates repaired or replaced,” Vaan casually commented as he entered the town with Lillias and Linetta.
However, just as they stepped through the darkness of the gate, Vaan whispered to Linetta, “We’ve secretly followed since we’ve taken the main road to town, my Lady.”
Linetta also did her best to appear normal, but she felt heavy-hearted.
She still had this faint hope that her aunt didn’t commission a hit on her and her sister after they left home to seek help in the capital.
However, there was no reason to be secretly followed and watched unless assassins were targeting them, looking for the opportune chance to strike.