Knight and Wand

Chapter 5: Northward, Escape
In the narrow cave, three young men sat on the ground by the light of the campfire, discussing the direction of their future escape.

"Marmore County is here."

Azerien used a stone to draw a few rough outlines on the ground, and then pointed his finger at the northeastern edge of the outline circle in the lower left corner. "Based on the route taken by the prisoner escort vehicle, this place is relatively close to the border. Even if we take a longer detour, we can probably get back to Serian in about six or seven days. But we must be careful to avoid the soldiers, bandits, and wild animals along the way."

Leon suddenly interrupted and said, "I don't think it's appropriate to flee east now."

Azerien and Lohak both looked at him in confusion.

"Why?" Lohak asked in confusion.

After all, Leon's soul came from Earth. When facing the Serrian Kingdom in his memory, he did not have as strong a sense of home as the two people in front of him, so he realized the current situation that they ignored.

Leon pointed to the border line drawn on the ground and explained, "The war has begun. Since Kantadar's army has captured the city of Rolandar, who knows how many other places in the western counties of the kingdom have been invaded at the same time. Isn't it more dangerous to return to a place that is likely to be occupied by them?"

"." Azerien was stunned when he heard this. After all, he was still a teenager who had not fully grown up. Even if he had a smart mind, it was difficult for him to consider the bigger picture.

Lion continued to the two distressed people in front of him: "I'm not sure where the Kantadar army has invaded. What if they have already spread the flames of war to the heart of Serrian? How many dangers will we have to go through to reach the safe area further east? Unless you have distant relatives in the farther east to seek refuge, it may be worth our risk. Otherwise, our difficult journey back to our homeland caught in the war will not be much better than it is now."

Hearing Leon's words, Lohak's eyes darkened: "Except for my sister, all my family members were killed by the Kantadars. Now even if I return to Serian, I don't know where to go."

Azerien smiled bitterly when he heard this: "I still have some relatives, but they probably hope that I will die with my father in Rolandar."

Leon glanced in surprise at the complex expression of self-mockery on Azerien's face.

Azerien gathered his composure and asked, "So where do you think we should go now?"

Leon hesitated for a moment, pointed to the border outline drawn by Azerien and asked, "I heard from traveling merchants before that the Kingdom of Orland in the north speaks the same language as us, right?"

Azerien nodded. As a noble son who had received a certain amount of education, he had a good understanding of geography. "It's not just the language. Historically, Orland and Serrian were both countries founded by us Feru people, although most of them don't believe in the Holy Sun and the Holy Prophet."

After receiving a positive answer, Leon continued to express his proposal: "Here's what I think. Instead of taking the risk of fleeing eastward to Serian, why don't we go north to Orland to seek refuge? After all, even if the Kantardars are crazy, they can't go to war with two kingdoms at the same time. Besides, most of the soldiers in this county should have been mobilized to the east to maintain the war. At this time, the possibility of us encountering danger will be lower if we go north."

After that, he asked his two companions for their opinions: "What do you think?"

Azerien thought for a while, and finally nodded: "Although it cannot be said that going to Orland is definitely safe, it is indeed much less risky than running east."

"I'll listen to you." Lohak said in a muffled voice. Naturally, he didn't have any better ideas.

After unifying their opinions, everyone had a temporary goal and direction. Leon's tense nerves relaxed a little, but only relatively speaking. Although everyone escaped from the prison, their hometown had been occupied by the Kantardar army. They lost all their families and homes. If they wanted to survive in this dangerous and chaotic world, the three of them had to face threats of hunger, disease, banditry, and wild beasts that were no less severe than the soldiers' swords.

"How much food do we have left?" Leon asked.

"There are only two pieces of dry bread." Lohak replied after looking at the shrunken rag package. The dead mercenary obviously had not prepared for a long journey in advance, and there was not much dry food in the package.

Leon looked at the wind and rain outside the cave: "When the rain stops, I will try to catch something to eat outside."

"You can hunt?" Lohak asked with some surprise.

"Well, my father is a hunter. I learned hunting from him when I was young. It should not be a problem to catch some small animals. It's a pity that we don't have bows and arrows." Leon recalled the tracking and hunting skills in the original owner's memory and sighed regretfully.

"Then it's up to you. I only have the ability to fight." Lohak scratched his head, as if he had thought of something, and handed over the armed sword: "Do you need this? If you can, I'll give it to you. And the chain mail on me. In fact, it was your credit to kill that guy, and you should also share the things stripped from him."

He looked at Azerien beside him and said, "Don't you think so?"

Azerien did not object to Lohak's statement, but at the same time shook the dagger in his hand: "I have no objection, but if it comes to hunting, Leon should need this more."

Indeed, Leon nodded. He needed a dagger to process branches and make hunting tools more than a sword.

As for the distribution of supplies, there is nothing to worry about. The three of them are currently in the same boat, have gone through hardships together, and basically trust each other. So Leon believes that weapons and armor must be given to those who can use them most effectively.

Leon himself had played with various cold weapons in his previous life, but he was not sure how effective the adults playing house in the sword hall wearing protective gear would be when facing real brutal soldiers who were fighting on the edge of a knife.

After experiencing the bumpy and uneven muddy ground in the wild, he realized rationally that in a real fight in the wild, his experience and habits of adapting to flat floors and modern roads might make it difficult for him to even maintain his balance. Moreover, even if he knew some superficial sword skills in his previous life, this body of the original owner, who had never learned sword fighting, was not proficient enough to use them.

Thinking of this, Leon glanced at the physiques of the two people in front of him, and silently weighed them in his heart. He was the son of a hunter and had no shortage of meat since childhood. Azerien was the son of a noble and also had no lack of nutrition. The figures of the two were outstanding among their peers, but Lohak's physique was obviously much stronger than both of them. He didn't know whether it was natural or acquired through training.

"Who among you can use a sword?" Leon asked thoughtfully.

"I have learned swordsmanship, but I don't have much experience in fighting with a sword." Azerien understood Lion's thoughts and answered truthfully.

Luohak patted his chest and said, "I can fight with a sword. My father is a sergeant in the city guards. I almost grew up in the barracks. When the Kantadar bastards attacked the city, I assisted the guards in defending the city until..." When talking about the past battles, his eyes dimmed, "until my father asked me to rush home to protect my sister and mother."

"Cheer up, it's not your fault." Leon pushed the arming sword back to Lohak and handed him the thick inner armor lining at the same time: "Since you are the most experienced in sword fighting among us, the armor and sword are given to you. It makes sense to use these things together."

After saying that, he looked at Azerien and said, "You can continue to use the shield and the long dagger. If you encounter danger, you can use the shield to protect yourself and assist Lohak in the battle."

"Of course, I won't take the opportunity to escape while you are fighting the enemy." Leon spread his hands and joked.

Azerien shook his head: "You gave everything to both of us, so it's only right for you to take the opportunity to slip away."

Luohak agreed honestly: "Yes, you have saved our lives. If we are in danger, you can run first! I have no complaints."

Leon smiled and said nothing more, but continued to count the items with the two of them.

In addition to a helmet, chain mail, a one-handed sword, a long dagger, a round shield, as well as clothes and a water bottle, there were also a dozen silver coins in the mercenary's rag bag, which could be considered an unexpected fortune.

"If we come across a decent settlement, we can use the money to buy some food and tools," said Azerien.

"But we don't speak the same language as the locals. How can we conduct transactions without arousing suspicion?" Leon frowned.

"It doesn't matter. I can actually speak Uriah, the language spoken by the Kantardar people." Azerien pointed at himself and said, "If there is a chance, I can try it alone."

They discussed this for a long time until the rain outside gradually subsided, and then the three of them took turns keeping watch and went to bed.

The next day, after the weather cleared up completely, everyone left the cave and went into the woods to find food. Fortunately, they found a small mountain stream.

Leon taught his two companions how to make some simple harpoons out of branches. They spent the morning catching fish and then returned to the cave to make a fire to solve the current food problem.

They had been in the cage for so long, gnawing on the inedible dry food blocks and not being able to fill their stomachs at every meal. Now even this plain grilled fish without any seasoning sounded so delicious in their mouths. Hunger was indeed the best seasoning.

For the entire afternoon, Leon used raw fish meat and fish entrails as bait to set up several small traps in the woods using earth pits, branches, rags and vines. Although they would only rest here for the last night, if they could get some gains before setting off, it would make their escape journey easier.

At nightfall, Leon, who was in charge of keeping watch, was sitting against the rock wall at the entrance of the cave. He was not idle either. He used a dagger to cut the small tree trunk he found during the day into a relatively flat wooden pole, and then began to grind the tip on the rock to make a spear. No matter how simple it was, he always had to have a weapon in his hand to deal with the wild beast.

Besides, even the simplest wooden spear can cause fatal damage to unarmored targets if used properly. Even if he encounters armored mercenaries, he can still interfere with the enemy from the side.

As he was grinding, Leon couldn't help but miss the arrow of light he had rubbed out before.

What's it called? Isa's Arrow.

That thing is more powerful than ordinary rifle bullets. If it can still be used, they don't have to be afraid of the threat of ordinary beasts or individual soldiers. Even if there is a price of fainting after using it, anyway, Lohak will definitely not abandon him when he is unconscious, so he can barely accept it.
Leon suddenly laughed, dispelling his dreamlike fantasy.

The mysterious voice from that day never responded to his calls again. There was no point in dreaming of a power that did not belong to him. He was lucky enough to have a miracle happen once.

"Alas, who are you?" Leon muttered to himself, touching the sharpened tip of the wooden spear. In fact, the voice was quite nice, as if it was a girl's.

However, the hastily-made guesses at that time might not be reliable now. Although the voice did come from his heart, it did not prove that there was another soul consciousness living in his body.

Maybe a kind-hearted magician happened to pass by, and she saw the injustice and came to the rescue remotely?

Leon was amused by his own fantasies.
(End of this chapter)