"Thank you for everything." Claire bowed deeply to all of them. "Roven Village is this way, not far now. I hope you have a pleasant journey."
The young man and the middle-aged man sitting in the front seats waved the most enthusiastically. The woman in her thirties, with the Healer class, only smiled gently. Long, wavy black hair, thin eyebrows, and no lipstick, after traveling for some time, Alioth knew her name was Velma.
Adam gave a short wave, and Alioth waved quite enthusiastically, though not as much as the two people in the front.
"I'll tell Father everything so he won't scold me too much for being away from home for so long."
Claire's joke made them laugh, but for some unknown reason, the girl's gaze was fixed on Alioth, who was puzzled. Yet, Claire kept looking at him, when Alioth realized he was being stared at, the girl smiled widely.
Alioth didn't quite understand what she meant, and the carriage was already moving slowly away from Claire's figure, who was still waving at the intersection.
"A truly sweet girl," commented Velma, watching Claire still standing in the distance.
"I agree!" said Paul, the young man in the front seat.
"I agree too!" said Paul's father, Greg.
They were both merchants from afar who happened to have the same destination as Alioth, which was Lark Village. Claire had gotten off, so from here, the total number of people was only five. The two other people who had previously been trapped in Lutarus Cave had also gotten off along the way, it turned out they were just hitching a ride, just like Claire.
"There's an old friend there who wants to buy a lot of goods from us," Greg explained yesterday.
"And because my father owes Greg a favor, I joined this trip," Velma continued.
That was the explanation from yesterday.
Now they passed the edge of a forest whose trees were curved like they formed a tunnel. During the day, they passed through a rocky, steep area that forced them to get off and push the carriage several times because the wheels got stuck. At night, they arrived at a forest area with moist ground where it was very difficult to light a campfire.
The next morning, Greg said, pointing to a small hill ahead. "After crossing that small hill, we will arrive at Lark Village."
Alioth and Adam were impatient to arrive there immediately.
While letting her hair flow in the gentle morning breeze, Velma said, "By the way, we don't know why you two want to go to Lark Village?"
Alioth replied, pointing to Adam's large bag, which was full of elemental crystals from Lutarus Cave. "Actually, we are running a mission from the Adventurer's Guild. That bag full of elemental crystals must be delivered to the village chief in Lark Village."
"Ah... I see, you are adventurers?"
Both nodded in agreement.
Velma shrugged. "I'm always impressed with adventurers, and I wanted to be like them, but I never could."
Naturally, Alioth and Adam were confused. With healing magic like that, she would definitely always be needed in any party.
"Why?" Adam asked.
Velma smiled bitterly. "Well... one or two things I can't tell everyone."
The two young men tried to understand and did not bring it up again.
It was almost midday when they reached their destination village.
Lark Village was quite large, standing on a hillside with fertile soil. Alioth could imagine how thick the fog would be here when heavy rain fell.
They entered the village's cobblestone road. Greg happily took them to the quite large house of the village chief. It was there that Adam and Alioth got off the carriage.
"Thank you, I hope we can meet again." Alioth and Adam bowed with their right hands on their upper left chests. Alioth continued, "Would you—"
"No need to pay, just like Claire," Velma interrupted. "There are no calculations between friends, are there?"
That made Alioth and Adam look at each other and then laugh, followed by the booming laughter of Paul and Greg in the front.
Not long after, Velma's party passed by and disappeared around the corner. The two young men entered the village chief's yard. A servant asked what their business was, and he immediately led them to see the village chief.
The village chief of this place was quite old, perhaps sixty years old, with completely white hair. However, he had a friendly face and a calm, warm smile. When his two guests arrived, he immediately hurried to the living room with slightly quick steps.
"Welcome, Sirs." The village chief bowed. "My name is Johny Seas, welcome to this village."
Alioth and Adam quickly stood up and bowed as well to show respect. It felt awkward to receive respect from a village chief. After that, they sat down in the living room chairs, and a servant came with wine that was not too strong.
Adam and Johny drank a few sips of the wine, but Alioth felt doubtful. Before, he had never drunk wine at all. What if he got drunk?
Johny seemed to notice this and laughed. "It's fine, it's light wine, it won't make you drunk."
Alioth tried to dismiss his bad thoughts and tried a little. It was true, it tasted sweet, although slightly bitter and strange. However, it was not too bad.
Without further ado, Adam handed a full bag of the elemental crystals to Johny. "These are fifty fire and water crystals from Lutarus Cave, as per the request sent to the Adventurer's Guild."
Johny eagerly accepted the offering with sparkling eyes. With the help of a servant, he transferred the contents of the bag to another bag of his own. Then, without counting again, he gave the reward to Alioth and Adam. Not wanting to linger, they quickly left the house after exchanging a few words.
"This is your share." Adam handed the silver coins to Alioth as a reward.
Alioth put the coins into his bag and then asked, "After this, where are you going?"
Adam thought for a moment, his eyes seeming to gaze into the distance. "Continuing the journey."
"Oh, I see. Where are you going, if I may ask?"
However, Adam smiled. "To a place I can't tell everyone about."
Those were Velma's words earlier, and it made Alioth unable to hold back his laughter. "You jerk!"
They laughed together as they were escorted past the village chief's gate by the servant. Once outside, Adam held out his fist toward Alioth.
"What about you, where are you going?"
Alioth stared at the fist for a moment, then tapped his own fist against Adam's. "I'll still be here, maybe until tomorrow or the day after. I have some business I need to finish first."
"Haha, I thought you would answer, 'To a place I can't tell everyone about'."
Again, they laughed, their fists gently bumping.
"Thank you, and I hope we meet again," Adam said sincerely.
"I truly look forward to it."
After watching Adam's back disappear into the distance, Alioth looked around for an inn. There was only one inn in this village, and it was cheap. Alioth immediately rented a room there without a second thought. After all, sleeping under a roof was better than having the night sky as a roof.
"The second main quest should happen the day after the player reaches Lark Village and completes the first main quest," Alioth muttered in his room. "I'd better find that treasure first."
His gaze was fixed on the high rock cliff to the north of the village. Far at the top of that sheer cliff was the secret treasure that had caused a sensation throughout the Aetherion Chronicle world.
He decided to spend the entire day studying the new move that Claire had given him. Even if he couldn't master it perfectly, he was sure it would be very helpful in the fight against the guardian of the treasure chest later.