Chapter 257

Chapter 257: Frozen Valley

Eman and his sister were heading back to the Old Mining Town, the Sunville Village. But their travel wasn’t so steady because the road was covered with snow. Whether they like it or not, their carriage could not advance faster.

“Brother, it seems the snow today is much heavier than yesterday. And it seems to me it will continue till tomorrow,” Eina said, sounding a little worried.

Eman nodded silently and asked. “You’re right. Aside from that, do you feel cold?”

“J-Just a little. Not enough to make me quiver,” she said while forcing a smile.

Since she was wearing a thick fur coat, she didn’t feel much cold. But that didn’t mean she felt nothing regarding it. The smoke that was coming out of her mouth whenever she spoke was the evidence.

Eman showed a wry smile. “I see. Be sure to tell me when you feel uncomfortable, okay?” As he said that, he pulled down slightly the hem of the hood she was wearing to cover her head better.

“Yes, brother.”

.....

The cold made Eina’s skin even paler. But, the slight redness of her cheeks could also be seen. She looked so adorable and gentle even in such a condition.

As Eman and Eina conversed, he suddenly received a telepathic call from the coachman which took his attention.

‘Uh... my lord, it seems impossible to advance now. The snow is thicker in this part. The beast could no longer take a step forward. Aside from that, I sense many life forms ahead of us.’

Life forms, huh. He wondered if they were humans.

Eman then closed his eyes and concentrated his attention ahead. He caught the presence of a hundred or thousand life forms ahead of them just as the coachman said. They appeared in his vision like wisps in a dark room. But he noticed that they weren’t from humans.

Snow Hounds. Based on their presence that appeared in his perception, he ascertained that they were Snow Hounds. These Snow Hounds were known as wild beasts. They were difficult to deal with, especially in this freezing climate. Add to that that they were attacking with their quantity to overwhelm their target.

He opened his eyes again. He peeked through the window and discovered that they were in a valley. This valley was about 500 kilometers away from the nearest village. Nevertheless, this wasn’t a good place to stay. There was a tendency for a snowslide from the nearby hills.

‘I see. That’s enough,’ Eman said to the coachman through telepathy, then he looked at his sister again. “Eina, I will tell you something so listen closely, okay?” Eman thought it was the right time to let Eina know about the Lord’s Domain and the people inside.

In their travels, he was shifting the world a couple of times just to make their rest safer, especially at night when she was unaware. But he did all those in secret and he made sure that Eina would not notice the difference except him and the coachman.

Looking at her brother who was looking at her with a serious face, Eina couldn’t help but ask.

“Eh? I-is there a problem? Is there a strong enemy, brother?” She looked so worried.

Eman couldn’t help but touch her head to ease her. “Relax. Even if there is such a thing, your brother will kill them instantly,” he said with a confident smile.

Although Snow Hounds were higher level compared to Ratmen, with his current level now, they were not a threat to his life. He had many ways to deal with them.

But there was a high risk in confronting them in this current condition. They have the place advantage and the number advantage. Still, that didn’t mean he couldn’t defeat them. If he would use all his resources and go all out against them, he could say with certainty that wiping them out was possible.

The reason why he wanted to avoid battling them was... because he felt some presence tailing them for a while now. It started when they left the last town. But Eman just let them follow because the chaser didn’t approach them. They were maintaining their distance for some unknown reason.

They might be members of the thief guild. Or maybe some bandits who wanted to loot them.

Since the carriage they were using was such a luxurious carriage, and since there were no guards around them, they probably thought they were an easy target for them.

There was also a possibility that they were from those two families. He didn’t want to alarm them. As long as the enemies wouldn’t decrease their distance, he would not approach them also. Eman didn’t want to let his enemy know about his capability.

There was a high chance that they wanted to see the extent of his power first before attacking him from behind.

There was also this possibility that hounds were a trap set up by them beforehand. So, Eman couldn’t expose himself if that was what their goal was.

Since they were staying right at the edge of his perception range, Eman could not tell with certainty their total numbers.

Seeing her brother’s usual confidence, Eina breathed in relief.

“I see. You’re right, bro,” she said with a beaming smile.

“Hmn...” he pondered. Then he had a change of mind. “I think rather than saying, showing must be faster,” he said.

Before Eina could ask what her brother meant, she heard a finger-flicking sound.

In the next second, the white reflection on her brother’s background suddenly became bright like a sunny morning.

The white world a while ago suddenly became golden in just a second. Eina looked in surprise. From the corner of her eyes, she caught a glimpse outside from the window. Lured by it, she was tempted to look, her head rotated to her side to look outside.

“Whaa~t!”

Eina gawked at what she saw. The white world just a moment ago had disappeared. And in exchange, a scenic world greeted her eyes.

“Brother... where are we?” She asked in shock.

Eman smiled. Without replying, he pushed the door to open it.

Crisssh!

It made a slight scraping noise.

When the opening was wide enough for him to pass, Eman jumped out. “Come...” he asked her sister.

Meanwhile, somewhere in a valley, a group of 10 people were having dumbfounded faces.

“What? What? What? What happened? Where are they? They disappeared!” Shouted a man who was holding a telescope in his hand.

“Dumbass! What do you mean they disappeared?” Said the person with a huge stature as he grabbed the former’s collar.

“Relax, Bigmouth, I’m sure they are just hiding somewhere using a camouflage ability,” said the third person.

“Tsk!” Bigmouth, the person from the thief guild, released his grip after clicking his tongue. He wanted to get his revenge on that person.

“Let’s go,” said one of their colleagues. Of the whole group, he was the only one with a unique aura. He also wore a black suit like a butler. His gestures were elegant as those of a noble. He had long black hair and red sharp eyes.

“Where are we going, Mr. Pein?” The person who was holding the telescope asked.

With a sinister grin, “Fufu, we’re going to hunt the lost sheep.”

“Eh?”