Near evening, another squad arrived at Fossbarrow.
There were not many people in this squad, only eight, but every one of them was well equipped, powerful in build, and clad from head to toe in gleaming armor.
The warhorses beneath them were excellent gray-coated steeds, broad-shouldered and strong, at least seventeen hands high, and covered with matching cobalt-blue horsecloths.
The person in the lead carried a greatsword on his back. It had a golden grip and a blue scabbard.
It was an extremely recognizable weapon.
"Your Highness? Lux?"
The cavalryman's voice came from inside his helmet, sounding somewhat low. As he spoke, he removed his helmet, revealing a head of black hair and a resolute face.
"Garen?"
After seeing him, both Luke and Lux sounded a little surprised.
Luke walked forward and embraced Garen. "I didn't expect to run into you here."
Ever since the war at the border ended, the number of times he had met Garen could be counted on one hand. Garen had been constantly traveling around on missions for the Dauntless Vanguard, and he rarely even returned to House Crownguard.
A smile appeared on Garen's calm face as he said, "I'm quite surprised too."
Lux's voice sounded from the side. "Didn't you say you had something to do and couldn't come?"
Only then did Garen look at her. After not seeing his younger sister for so long, a trace of tenderness flashed deep in his eyes, though he hid it very well.
"I had just completed a mission nearby when I received the request for aid. The ancestral rites are close as well, so I thought I would come take a look."
As he spoke, he looked Lux over once, a subtle smile at the corners of his mouth. "You, on the other hand. I didn't expect you to come here."
Lux crossed her arms, her pretty face cold. "That's because every one of you found an excuse to avoid it. Besides, why can't I come?"
"All right, let's not talk about that for now."
Whenever the siblings met, there was always a bit of gunpowder in the air, but by now, Luke could tell that their relationship was not actually bad.
After interrupting them, he welcomed Garen's squad into town.
On the road, Garen and his squad members examined the situation in Fossbarrow and also noticed that something was wrong. He could not help asking, "What happened to this town?"
So Luke explained the town's situation once again. After hearing that demons were involved, Garen and his squad members grew even more serious.
His teammates were naturally from the Dauntless Vanguard as well, and none of them were simple. Every one of them was a powerful fighter capable of standing on their own.
With their addition, Luke's confidence and sense of security grew a little stronger.
At present, the only method they had was to first wear down the demon whose whereabouts were unknown. After all, anyone with ill intent had plenty of time to hide, let alone a demon with extraordinary abilities.
Trying to find it directly was basically unrealistic.
However, during this time, Luke and the others could make more preparations.
Luke had originally thought this would be a prolonged battle. He simply had not expected that, after only two days, the demon would lose patience.
February 10.
As the sky gradually darkened, the night was somewhat colder than the day. As usual, the townspeople in the shelter camp gathered together and chatted.
For the past two days, they had not been troubled by nightmares again. Whether in mood or condition, they were far more relaxed, no longer as tense as before.
Some had already begun guessing that the demon might have feared His Highness and the others and already left the town.
However, over the past few days, Luke had been continuously confirming that the demon had not left.
Elsewhere, beside a lit bonfire, Luke and the others sat in a circle, watching the flickering flames and chatting idly.
Several of Garen's subordinates drank beer while recounting their own experiences and adventures. Each person's history could have been written into a novel.
Lux had a headache from listening to these stories. From childhood to adulthood, she had already heard who knew how many of them.
At this moment, she was sitting listlessly to one side, boredom written all over her delicate face.
Luke, however, was hearing them for the first time and found them quite interesting. Beside him also sat the especially enthusiastic Poppy, who was even more interested in these stories.
For example, Diadoro had once bravely fought an entire Noxian legion. Sabator had killed an abyssal grub.
Varya was an incomparably brave female warrior. She had once charged onto the deck of a pirate ship by herself and burned their vessel to the ground. That time, she had nearly lost her life, but in the end, she returned alive.
And Rodion had once led a fleet north in winter and burned the Freljordian town of Frostheld, making an example of it to deter any raiders who dared invade southward.
Every story spoke of these warriors surviving mortal danger by the narrowest margins. To them, these were all trials that would only make them stronger.
This left Luke somewhat emotional. The world was just like this. Every person was the protagonist of their own world, shining in different colors in different places.
Just as the atmosphere of the conversation was pleasant, a figure hurried over. The urgency in her movements made her current anxiety obvious.
It was Magistrate Giselle.
"Your Highness, have you seen Luca?"
She stopped, panting for breath. Her brown hair was a little messy, and her expression was filled with worry.
Seeing how anxious she was, Luke and the others immediately put away their smiles. He thought for a moment, then shook his head. "No. I only saw him this morning."
The others did not speak, clearly giving the same answer.
This made Giselle even more panicked. She said, "Luca is missing. Three other children are missing with him."
Luke frowned slightly and asked, "When did you discover they were gone?"
"At dusk, when the sky was about to turn dark. Before that, they were playing hide-and-seek. I thought they had only gone a little farther away to play, but after searching all around the area, we still couldn't find them."
The panic on Giselle's face grew more and more obvious, and her eyes were filled with self-reproach. She felt that she had failed to watch the children properly.
Under these circumstances, she should never have been so careless. Yet in the time it took her to doze off, they had disappeared.
She had been too tired these past few days, and just now, she had somehow grown drowsy for no reason. But Giselle knew that was no excuse.
Now, thinking of the four children missing and that demon possibly still not having left, her heart was filled with pain and guilt.
"Don't panic yet. Go notify everyone in town and have them search the entire town." Luke stood up and quickly began making arrangements. "We'll go search outside town."
"I understand." Giselle hurriedly ran toward the shelter camp.
Luke and the others did not delay either. They immediately mounted their horses and headed outside town.
For four children to go missing under these circumstances, the probability that the demon had acted was very high.
Naturally, Luke could not watch everyone at all times. Now that this had happened, they could only take action.
"Garen, take your squad and protect the town to prevent anything unexpected. Everyone else, split up and search. That will make it faster to find them. Also, all of you, be careful."
At the town gate, Luke gave his orders.
After hearing his words, Garen, Vayne, and the others all nodded solemnly, then split up and left.
Nearly two hundred people in total scattered toward every direction around Fossbarrow.
As for Luke, Lux, Sona, and Katarina, they headed toward the mountain forest on the right side of the town and went deeper in.
Riding on Starfire, Lux asked, "Was it that demon?"
"Most likely." Luke nodded. "And there's a very good chance it wants to lure us out of the town."
Before setting out, Vayne and Frey had checked whether there were any traces of dark magic.
But they could not detect anything, which meant the demon had been very careful this time.
Inside the town, everyone was staying together, so it had almost no chance to act.
But it was different after they left town, especially when they were spread out like this.
At this moment, under the night, the road was unclear. A layer of dark clouds seemed to condense in the sky, blocking the bright moonlight. The clouds gathered, gloomy and dark like a demon's cruel smile.
The farther they moved away from town, the quieter the surroundings became. Human voices also grew fewer, until finally, only the continuous sound of hooves moving forward remained. Clop, clop, clop, clop, accompanied by the rustling of leaves in the cold wind, enough to raise goosebumps.
However, the air was filled with the fragrance of pine and wildflowers. This was a sign of spring's revival, and also a gift from the rugged northern mountains.
After that came the smell of soil, slightly damp, like the scent after rain.
The group continued deeper in, following the winding mountain road as it stretched north.
Along the way, they saw no sign of anyone's activity. After about half an hour, a fork in the road appeared.
One road pointed southeast. One road pointed due north. In the middle of the fork, there was also a narrow path covered in wild grass, only wide enough for one person to pass through.
The appearance of the fork meant Luke's team had to split up again and move forward separately, so they would not miss those children.
Katarina spoke first. "I'll take the middle."
She did not know why she was working for Demacia and this guy, but since she had followed them out, she had to do something.
It just so happened that she had not fought in a long time. If she could run into that demon, she wanted to test what it was made of.
After saying that, without caring whether Luke agreed or not, she flicked the reins and shot forward.
"Then I'll search the right side."
Sona's inner voice entered Luke's mind.
After Luke nodded, Sona set out alone toward the fork on the right.
Lux looked at the path on the left. "Then we'll go left?"
"Yeah. Let's go."
Luke nodded again and headed left.
"Do you think we'll be able to find them?" Lux asked from horseback, her tone somewhat worried.
"We'll do our best." That was the only answer Luke could give.
"Also, don't you feel like Giselle is hiding something from us?" On the road, Lux brought up what she had noticed. "It's about Luca. She seems like she doesn't want Luca to appear in front of us too much."
Luke replied, "I noticed. She loves her child very much. This is a kind of protection too."
"Is Luca like me?" Lux did not have the ability to sense magic, so at this moment, she was only guessing. "A mage. The way he looked at us that day, he seemed a little scared."
In the capital, enforcement of the ban on magic had already become much more relaxed. The Mageseekers did not appear as frequently anymore, but Fossbarrow was located near the border. The changes in the capital had not yet reached this place.
So to Giselle, her child becoming mageborn was simply terrible news.
In order to avoid being discovered by Luke and the others, she had deliberately kept Luca away from them these past few days.
Lux did not know how to talk to Giselle about it. At this moment, she could not help thinking that even if Jarvan III truly intended to lift the ban on magic, apart from the capital being somewhat affected, mages in other places still seemed to be living in deep hardship.
That caused her to overthink again despite herself. She lowered her head and looked. A trace of light was quietly hidden at her fingertips.
Aside from relying on a layer of status, compared to them, how much better off was she really?
Luke glanced sideways at her. "Don't think so much. The matter of the magic ban will be resolved one day. Right now, let's find those children first."
"Mm."
Lux nodded and adjusted her state of mind. Her eyes quietly glanced at Luke's profile. The unease in her heart gradually dispersed, and her gaze turned forward.
With him here, she would no longer feel lost.
Another half hour passed, and a new fork in the road appeared.
This time, there were only two paths, left and right, except one led upward, while the other led downward.
Lux and Luke looked at each other. She spoke first. "I'll pick the right!"
After choosing, this girl immediately set off. Under the dim light, her back looked full of resolve and courage.
Luke believed that the current her already had the ability to stand on her own, so he headed down the road on the left.
Lux rode continuously through the forest. In her field of vision, the forest's colors were actually different. They were not simply dark, but bright and varied.
When magic filled her senses, it also lit up her world. The colors of the forest became extraordinarily vivid and full of life.
She could see little spheres of light floating in the air. She could hear the breathing of the trees and the sighing of the earth.
The world before her eyes was so incredible. All living things thrived within the currents of energy, whether nameless grass or sturdy iron birches.
People said that the roots of iron birches sank deep underground, deep enough to reach the heart of the world.
This was the world in her eyes, beautiful, rich, and colorful.
Just like that, she rode forward through the forest, following the slightly muddy road and leaping over one steep obstacle after another, while quietly listening in her heart.
Listening to the voice of this forest.
At that moment, her perception far surpassed that of most humans. Within the colorful forest, flickering light leapt between the trees. She felt distant starlight drift in like mist, starlight that scattered across other worlds and shone upon other lives.
At last, she sensed something. Deep within the forest, the light trembled faintly, as if it had been covered by a shadow. This made Lux frown.
Lux's intuition kept warning her that there was definitely hidden darkness there.
"Go that way, Starfire!"
Without the slightest hesitation, Lux flicked the reins and made Starfire accelerate toward the depths.
//Check out my P@tre0n for 30 extra chapters on all my fanfics //[email protected]/Razeil0810