Chapter 199 The Journey Begins
For the next few minutes, the cohort of three trudged along, following each other's trails, with Raven at the forefront.
It was a couple of torturous minutes in pure terms of awkwardness and unfamiliarity.
Never had Northern been in this situation. He wasn't used to walking with anyone.
Even when he and Ellis walked together, it'd be appropriate to say he saw the boy more as a pet than an equal.
Right now, there was no need to strike any conversation whatsoever, but there was also a harrowing feeling tumultuous within him due to the deafening silence.
Like he needed to do something about it.
But Northern knew better than to give in to that feeling, because the moment he did, that was his certified ticket to becoming a clown.
He was walking with one of... perhaps, even the most manipulative person he had ever come across.
Although that notion was liable to many fact checks, Northern didn't want to bother about that part of it right now.
'One foxy being at a time...'
Baby steps.
Still, the silence was difficult.
'I didn't know I'd one day come to detest silence like this...'
Northern, of course, without uttering a single word, continued with the cohort.
They had since left the town square and were already walking towards another forest that barricaded the edge of the city.
It was a different one from the one Northern had been to a couple of days ago.
It was thicker and darker, with colossal trees that could even be seen from the point where they currently traversed.
The moment the visage of these trees began to come into view was when Northern started to get very itchy about asking a question.
He had not been to this side of the city, and obviously, it was kind of difficult following through with the map in his hands.
It had even taken him a Herculean effort to find just the town square which sat right in the center of the city.
He had been lost in the map a couple of minutes ago, and the most annoying thing was, all Raven said was, "Come with me."
'Damn it, does she think I'm her slave or something...' Northern ground his teeth and clenched his fist.
'Crap!'
The more he thought about walking forward quickly to meet her, the harder he found it to do.
In his mind, he continually concocted how he would quicken his pace and just be like:
-Hey, Raven, do you like maybe wanna tell me where we are going?
'No, that sounds corny. I should try something that resounds with more confidence.'
-Raven, where the fuck are we going?
'Is that rude? It sounds pretty okay to me... it should be okay, right?'
Even though! It was hard, incredibly hard.
And he had no idea why!
'Shit, am I just a wuss... come to think of it, I've not really spoken with many girls in this world.'
Even in the one before, he was a hardcore nerd.
The only probable act of 'the gods' he committed was stroking his third leg while thinking of a busty school crush.
He didn't even have the wit to pull ladies, neither was he with the rizz.
The one girl that jilted the shit out of him was someone that took interest in him, and never did he once think that things would turn out the way they did.
Even when the evidences were staring at him in the face.
That was how delusional and ignorant he was.
Of course, he learned his lesson and worked to be better than that.
But it was easier said than done.
For one, he had not been in an environment where he needed to exclusively converse with girls.
The few times he did while growing up, they were easy. Before his eyes, they were just a couple of kids.
But this situation was different.
Of course, Raven and Terence were probably not as old as Annette was, but they emanated that same aura of a lady as she did.
In fact, perhaps more muliebral and elegant than her.
Annette was well, masculine... in a sense.
But the two ladies moving in front of him were like walking 8s. Their figures looked like something that was sculpted by some heavenly artist, one that had an obsession with perfection.
Each movement caused their backsides to sway mildly. The more he focused on that mildness, however, the more explosive his heart began to beat.
Quickly, he turned his face away with a tomato-reddened face.
'Crap! Come on bro, what are you even doing right now? Focus! Focus!!'
With those words, he managed to save himself from further declination and focused.
In that moment, Raven stopped, causing Terence to immediately stop, and then him too.
He raised a brow, wondering, 'What's wrong now?'
They were standing at the very border that parted the city from the forest, although there were no visible signs or wall indicating or making obvious the partition.
"Is something wrong, Light?" Terence asked with a serene tone.
Her voice made goosebumps crawl up Northern's skin.
Perhaps it was the eerie beauty of her voice in the silence, or the fact that he had carried some nonsense thoughts before now.
Either way, he didn't want to think about it. Luckily, Raven's bland and uninteresting voice was in time to save the day.
"I know you have probably been wondering where exactly we are going," she said.
Northern swallowed his spit internally without a waver of expression. He stared blankly at her, putting on the best tough front he could muster as she continued.
"I wanted to be sure that we are away from the city."
That part caused his brows to rise a little, but rather than cut her halfway, he wanted her to make her point.
First matter of importance was knowing where the fuck they were going.
"Like I said, our original destination is somewhere really far, but in order for us to get to that place, we'd have to carry out a series of indecent operations."
Northern felt his lips uncontrollably begin to curl up.
'And here I was thinking this fox was a hero of justice...'
"Indecent, you say?" Hoarsely as usual, the words rang but this time with a subtle hint of disdain.
"Yes. Need me to explain?" Her eyes burrowed into him, like those of a diabolical sentry petrified by a burden incomprehensible by mortal minds.
He wouldn't lie; there was something scary at the same time annoying, hiding deep within her sharp crimson glare.
"Of course, do I need to tell you that?" He responded and looked away for a second.
Raven looked down, hesitating for a brief beat, but she spoke before a second passed, looking up into Northern's eyes, hers igniting with a dangerous spark.
"Well, it's not much..." she said, "first we have to go to the Sloria nation stronghold, find a way to enter without their permission, because they will never give us their permission. Then we have to kill a human whom I owe a death grudge, then we have to steal from a Sage. I don't know if stealing from him without killing him will be possible, so if worse comes to worst, we might have to kill the Sage too."
Northern's jaw went slack, his mouth parting open slowly as the weight of Raven's words sank in.
'All... all of that... and she just said it so casually?