God-Hunter Mage

The Border

"That's not something you can handle."

Kieran asked Old Hansen about the curse of Jormund Village. But Hansen just shook his head and told Kieran to pretend he didn't know about it. Kieran was aware that old Hansen knew he and Mio were Mages, but he might think the two of them were still too weak to interfere in Jormund’s village matters.

Afternoon arrived, and finally, Old Hansen, Kieran, and Mio left Jormund village. This village still contained a deep mystery. Kieran felt uncomfortable leaving the village without trying to help them. But what could he do? He was too weak. This strengthened his determination to go to the City of Deborah.

Kieran and Mio were in Jormund village for less than two days, but there were many things he found in this village. Old Hansen's horse carriage slowly walked over. Kieran looked back at the village of Jormund.

"What exactly happened that made them suffer from the curse?" asked Mio.

"At first, some hunters intended to hunt a wolf, but they managed to catch the wolf. But they didn't know that the wolf was the child of the wolf monster, one of the lords of this forest. Eventually, they got a curse that prevented them from leaving this forest. They turned into werewolves every time they get out of the cursed area."

Kieran frowned, "You seem to know a lot about this."

Hansen chuckled and replied, "Hahaha, someone like me should know what could be life-threatening."

Hansen was not just an ordinary middle-aged man; Kieran was increasingly convinced that this man must be hiding something about his identity. But so far, Hansen didn't harm himself and Mio, so Kieran didn't think of doing anything about it.

"Why didn't the city of Amantha send someone to solve this problem? I mean, they were all originally city dwellers, weren't they? Moreover, the wolf monster that gave the curse was dangerous, wasn't it?" asked Kieran.

Old Hansen shook his head, "This isn't something the people of Amantha town could solve. Of course, if the Capital sent someone maybe the problem would be solved. But the lives of the Jormund villagers aren't that valuable that the Capital sent someone to kill the wolf."

The journey went smoothly, although there were still many traces of rain and the road was also a bit muddy. But overall, the horse carriage could go quietly.

Although Kieran regretted not being able to help Jormund Villagers, he could only drive away together with Old Hansen. Perhaps, someday he would return to help them when he was strong enough.

Shortcuts to the border began to meet obstacles. There were some parts of the road that was landslides, due to the rain this morning. There was still a risk that the road will encounter further landslides. Old Hansen carefully carried the horse carriage down the steep path.

Luckily nothing happened, they calmly crossed the steep terrain. They were now closer to the border between the Kingdom of Hecrotus and the City of Deborah. As long as they crossed the border, then Kieran thought that they would be safe.

The border between the Kingdom of Hecrotus and the City of Deborah was two high cliffs with a river flowing at the bottom. Between the two high cliffs, there was a wooden bridge connected by rope. However, the condition of the bridge appeared to be in poor condition.

Mio looked at the bridge with a sense of trepidation. He asked, "Can we cross the bridge safely?"

"Relax I've been back and forth this bridge several times." Old Hansen calmed Mio down, he knew how scary this bridge was when he first saw it. However, after going back and forth several times Hansen finally got used to it and never thought this bridge would collapse.

Kieran watched the horse carriage slowly advancing. The two horses' legs pressed against the wooden steps on the bridge. A squeaking sound could be heard, and Mio continued to ask Hansen, "Is it safe?"

However, Hansen continued to let the horse carriage advance confidently. Step by step the horse carriage drove over the bridge. After a while, Mio finally calmed down and believed Hansen's words regarding the safety of this bridge.

But when the horse-drawn carriage was in the middle of the bridge, a strong wind blew the rope bridge with the wooden steps. The bridge was pushed to the left, and the two horses almost slipped and fell into the ravine. Mio frantically held onto the horse carriage tightly. The strong wind disappeared, but due to the thrust, the bridge moved to the right and then to the left with great force.

Kieran looked at the bridge seriously. One of the wooden steps collapsed, and Hansen immediately ordered the horse-drawn carriage to speed up. One by one the wooden steps fell, but Kieran helped Hansen by creating a temporary foothold using Darkness Construct.

Although it was thrilling, in the end, the three of them arrived at the other side of the cliff safely.

"Fortunately, we survived, Old Hansen didn't you say the Bridge was safe?"

"I didn't expect there to be a sudden strong wind. But overall, didn't we arrive at the other side of the bridge safely?" said Hansen with a nervous laugh.

The three of them continued on their way. The shortcut was getting closer to the main road. But they decided to stop. Because darkness had taken over the sky. The night that arrived made Kieran and the others rest and continue their journey tomorrow morning.

Hansen brought some food along with cooking utensils, so Kieran didn't have to hunt in the dark of night. They lit a bonfire and ate the food that Hansen had prepared. They had crossed the border, so Kieran thought that Snakehead would not chase after them anymore.

Hansen then slept in the small tent while Mio and Kieran slept in the horse carriage. Even though it was only a few days but both of them already had an understanding of each other. So that neither Kieran nor Mio protested when sleeping together.

However, Mio's tail which kept on twitching bothered Kieran because of its fur tickling Kieran's back. Kieran irritably turned around and used Mio's tail as a pillow, so the tail didn't keep moving.

"Take off my tail!"

"Hmm, shut up."

"I-it hurts! Hey seriously let go of my tail!"

Kieran let go of Mio's tail, but instead, he pulled Mio's body into his arms and fell into dreamland. Mio who was hugged by Kieran couldn't help but accept her fate as Kieran's sleeping bolster.

The night passed quietly without the slightest disturbance. After all, they were getting closer to the city of Deborah, so the beasts were becoming less and less. As for bandits, they rarely appear on shortcuts because the flow of people who pass through the main road was more so that automatically the money they get from extorting people on the main road was more profitable than extorting people who pass through the shortcut.