Chapter 362 Home
Aside from the fact that the young lithe boy was back-broken and couldn't stand up, the shock of what he saw before him took so heavy a toll on him that he was just sitting there with a frozen look on his face.
Ellis' silence after seeing him made things a little bit awkward for Northern.
While he had been on the journey, he didn't think he had taken quite the time. But now that he was back, it felt like he had been gone for years.
Ellis had grown so much.
He seemed to have more warmth to his skin tone. His face, although wounded, was now brimming with life and purpose.
His hair was longer, but rough and dirty. And the armor he had on was better compared to the makeshift one he was wearing before.
Jeci turned to Northern with a slight frown bearing down on her face.
"My lord, should I dispose of this weakling?"
Northern gave her a scowl and looked away. She went silent afterwards and did not say anything.
Ellis, by the way, just stared down, lingered, then slowly raised his head.
"Is it really you? Northern?"
Northern gave him a small smile, one that sat sweetly on his pale and scathed face.
"Yes Ellis, no other Northern."
Ellis heaved a huge sigh and shined his teeth, tightly shut.
"I'm so glad you're back North. I missed you so much, we all did."
Northern looked away, slightly pouting.
"What's there to miss about me? It was not like I was a good guy."
Now that he was back and reminiscing on his past here, Northern began to see how shortcoming he had been, all in the excuse to avoid being the center of attraction.
But all that was enough right now.
His face became serious as he asked Ellis.
"Where are the others?"
Ellis lingered a bit; as he tried to speak, he coughed and almost coughed out blood.
Northern at that point stopped him and helped him up.
"It's probably best if you don't talk now, just lead the way to your rendezvous point."
Ellis paused briefly, shocked.
'How does he know about that…'
A couple of things had been happening; the fact that Ellis was running through this forest had by no means been a coincidence.
But Ellis did not expect Northern to know any of what was happening.
He hesitated and then finally asked,
"The rendezvous point. How did you know about it?"
Northern placed Ellis' hands over his shoulder,
"How else do you think I knew?"
Ellis raised his brows as Northern continued.
"Night Terror told me. Now, shut up and take me there…"
The lithe boy's lips trembled.
"But there are lots of monsters, I don't see how we will bypass them without Sir Terror."
'Sir Terror'
That was weird to hear, but Northern had other important matters to ask about.
He sighed and explained.
"I've dispersed my clones around the forest on my way here. I dealt with some myself before getting to this place."
He turned his head to Jeci.
"This woman here is also a very great fighter. I think she'll protect us very well. Right?"
Jeci nodded rigorously, her face reddening with excitement.
Ellis looked down for a bit, his face was sort of melancholic, so Northern asked.
"What?"
He raised his head up slightly.
"Your mansion. We lost it… a lot has happened before…"
"I know Ellis, I know, just take me to the rendezvous point."
Ellis nodded and slowly started to lead Northern.
Their walk was slow but progressive; Ellis took note of corpses of monsters with missing cores that lay around here and there as they pressed forward.
There was no need for them to engage even once throughout their walk forward.
And after a dozen minutes, they arrived at a clearing.
The place was barricaded by a wooden gate; despite being built amidst a forest, they were unharmed and untouched by monsters.
However, there were crude markings, as if to warn off intruders of the cruelty that lived within the walls.
By those markings alone, anyone that dared to trespass was bound to tremble back in fear. Be it monster or human.
"Night Terror," Northern murmured.
Hearing him clearly, Ellis spoke.
"After you guys left, things got dire, that bastard Braham, he kept coming after me. It was only thanks to Master Hao and Sir Terror that I survived this long. But the guy was very persistent… as if that was not enough, he betrayed the entire stronghold and sold us out to Sloria. To make things worse, there was another sudden rift shatter… everything just happened so fast that we couldn't even get the time to save our skins."
Ellis looked down.
"I was supposed to steal supplies from the delegates of Sloria that are here… since Savant Annette and the rest are preparing to venture into the rift."
His hands trembled, but he clenched them.
"But I failed, Sir Terror suddenly disappeared, in my desperate attempt to shake off the pursuers, I decided to take the unterritorial route… I was chased and then I had to discard the supplies so I can at least make it back alive."
Northern patted the boy's back.
"It's fine… it's fine…"
'This is a lot…' He looked around and said:
"So, the monsters do not come around here because Night Terror marked the place?"
Ellis nodded.
"He marked the trees within a hundred meters. Thanks to that, we are safe in this place and the Sloria people can't get to us."
Northern nodded subtly and looked at the gate.
"So how do we get in?"
Ellis removed himself gently from Northern, then limped slowly towards the wooden gate, leaned on it and knocked three times, paused, knocked twice, paused and knocked five times.
After that, the gate slowly opened and Ellis looked back with a gentle smile full of kind aura.
"I know it's not the best of states, but welcome home Northern."
Northern stared blank-faced as the inside of the makeshift shelter opened up to him.
He muttered, unsure of the words even as he said it.
"Home…?"