Chapter 178 [Warp Gate]
The line was long, and we were standing in line, patiently waiting for our turn.
This was the [Warp Gate], something derived from the ancient gates and the one that took us to that previous forest and to Rein.
We were standing in line for quite some time and, unlike the communication center, this place had no different treatment.
From knights, normal people who were wealthy enough to use this gate, to even some people in the noble outfit, were standing in the line waiting patiently.
This was a special place, guarded with [Rank-3] knights that were quite strong in a general sense.
Their physical stats were lower than mine but, they were still the strongest bunch in this area.
And the numbers were not low either.
There were six [Rank-3] and almost twenty-one [Rank-2] guards in this center street.
There were also three (tier-4) Mages on the warp gate that operated the thing and a room some distance behind the gate that stored the money collected by the guards at the gate.
And though there was such security, things were lively here.
Without much discrimination, people of similar status were looking and talking with each other.
They were happy and talking about their everyday stuff.
And at almost some places away in the line, the two of us were standing, looking at the third that held two cones of ice cream in each hand.
Zoe being Zoe, was eating these two cones happily like the little girl she was.
Her radiant face and merry smile were comforting, so we just watched her eating with helpless smiles.
She was something else, truly.
It was our turn soon, so there was nothing else to do for us aside from this, and I was riding on a different train of thoughts at the same time.
Today had been interesting, unique, and special at the same time.
I met someone special and someone that gave me the feeling that she would have some of the greatest places in my life.
This amazing person that was strong on her own without some fatal flow of fate, was also an adorable one.
She was running wild, killing every beast in the hunting ground she could see in the search of a beast core.
And that wasn\'t all. She was also finding some special herbs that I just \'happen to see\' in the places that she had already cleared.
And if something like that was missed by her acute senses, then there was only one reason for that... her terrible luck.
It was close to a normal person, something someone like her shouldn\'t have.
It was low, too low for someone who had an Origin skill, high magic, special combat power, and much more.
But luck wasn\'t something we could gain.
That thing was random, and the world itself assigned that stat.
My luck was high, really high for some reason, and I was happy about that.
Even my dad didn\'t have that high of luck and I knew from the people I had seen after coming here that my luck was actually quite high.
\'Well, there was no actual use of that one, just like charm, so I didn\'t need to worry about that.\'
I can help her if she needed the luck I had. I had practically no use for it for now.
But I sure was concerned about one thing.
\'She wouldn\'t let go of the one that made her grandma suffer. And, well, even though she was strong enough to kill that thing, I am worried about her.\'
Worry for someone... some emotion I was feeling after a long time.
I wasn\'t going to let her go alone anyway so; I was looking forward to seeing her in real action again.
The opponent would be strong, and it was a spirit, an astral creature like that ghost.
And only her darkness attribute would work on it.
Thankfully she had it, or the only water attribute would be a no-no against beings like that.
So, a future fight was confirmed.
For now, we have to go to her house, to the main estate of the southern dukedom.
I only knew about that place from what I had read in books and heard from the people of this city.
That place was also near a forest area and the natural resources south produced were special things.
From natural herbs, fruits, and things that we can eat to materials of alchemy and medicine.
Even the wood and some special creatures loved by the people came from the south.
And the main estate, the castle of duke Atraxia, a family who had been part of the empire since ancient times and had always stayed neutral in political conflicts, we were going to that place.
It would be a fun thing to meet some of the strongest in the empire and seeing them with my own eyes would be something new for me.
I wasn\'t a normal child. I knew that much, at the very least.
From my powers to my family.
Everyone was special but... I had practically no experience with what that actually meant.
I didn\'t know other\'s point of view of them on the other hand, how they actually were to the people of this empire or what the place that guarded one of the borders of the empire looked like.
And I didn\'t know the story of how one of the rulers of the seas, someone known as a tyrant in old history, became a hero.
I wanted to know their story someday if I can and I believed those two would be happy to tell their grandchildren.
At least Zoe and I didn\'t know that, and Anna would be happy to hear a story if it was acceptable for a child.
I didn\'t know if Rein, Carla, and Alf knew it but, I wanted to know about his young days and the things that had happened with him and grandma.
And how mom, someone who was just a student of one of the greatest merchant guilds, become the guild master.
She must have waited for me to come back to tell me herself and now that I was here, I knew she will tell me too.
One of the most surprising things I came to know while gathering information in the city was the name (Red-eyed hunter).
"Khum..." A chuckle escaped my mouth and Rein looked at me in bewilderment.
"You ok, Eon?" she asked, but Zoe was just finishing her ice cream as she knew I just found something funny.
"Yes. It\'s nothing, don\'t worry." I nodded and smiled at her, and she nodded back with more confusion.
She didn\'t know what I was thinking, but she understood I was more than ok.
\'Dad? A blood-thirsty hunter that ran wild and killed every energy beast that was even close to demonic creatures?
An adventurer who was always coved in blood and was feared by other adventurers?
Rumors can get really funny sometimes.
I knew he was a viscount now, so why would someone who had no hesitation to obliterate villages full of beasts receive such high rank in this short time?
That was quite funny.\'
Well, even if he was that kind of person in the past, I only knew Brian Kromet as a dad who cooked outstanding food while wearing a pink apron.
That was the only image I had of my dad and even if he does something like his past self before me, nothing could change that crybaby father image I had of him.
Anna would agree with me. I knew that too.
I had no need to consider someone else\'s point of view.
Even if I wanted to know what others thought of them, I didn\'t have any desire to judge a person with that information.
I had my eyes, my thoughts, and myself to know what or how the other person was.
Well... this train of thoughts about our family had to end when she tapped on my shoulder.
"Eon, it\'s our turn next. Let\'s go~!" she said in a cheerful voice, and I nodded with a smile.
Zoe was also finished with her ice cream so, she also nodded and grabbed my hand after wiping her mouth.
"Yes, let\'s go~," I answered with a smile and she nodded at the person before we vanished through the gate with the same blue light.
We walked forward, and she gave the same purple card to the guard, making him flinch, and he handed it to the mage on the other side.
The mage looked at the card, then at us, and then back at the card.
Quickly scanning the card and conforming to the authenticity, he gave it back to the guard, and the guard handed it back to her with both hands.
These reactions were really fascinating…
I really wanted one of those, just to study if not for things like this.
Well, I will get one anyway.
The guards nodded and looked at her with more respect.
So, they were still worried about someone of higher standing while treating everyone the same here.
Just what kind of ID was that purple card to make them like that...?
"Main city Temani of the south, please." Rein said and handed the guard a bag of coins.
I could see they were twenty gold, and that amount was at least ten times anyone had given in this line before us.
This definitely wasn\'t normal, not that I cared much.
"Yes, ma\'am." The guard answered and nodded at the mage in charge of the gate.
she walked up the steps, and we followed behind her.
Standing behind her before the gate that was \'just small\' in comparison to the one at home, we watched as the mage on the other side nodded.
A blue light appeared inside this round rock gate, and she hurriedly walked in and we flowed quickly.
The linked location would close quickly, so we had to hurry.
\'I\'m going to someone else\'s house before even going to my own. And my family is coming there.
Oh nature…
I just hope things go well...\'
I prayed as our bodies became a beam of light and vanished inside the blue light.
There was still a long way ahead of us, a tiring one at that.