For two weeks, Luke made his way toward the northeast, using the map borrowed from Amelia. In that time, he made significant progress with the <Eye of Horus> skill.
In the first week, the half-wolf slowly progressed to using the skill daily. In the first few days, he would get very tired, and his bones hurt so much that they seemed to be broken. Still, he endured the pain of the Legendary Skill and realized that he was managing to sustain it longer than before, but while in Luke's vision, many minutes passed, in the real world, it was only a few seconds.
In the second week, Luke decided to start trying very hard to move in the downtime within the Legendary Skill. If he succeeded, nothing would be fast enough to escape from his eyes when he activated the skill; however, these efforts were fruitless, and he still couldn't move.
Soon Luke realized that he needed to train outside the world of the skill too, and for this, Bastet was a very useful companion.
Just like Luke with his new ability, the Summoning couldn't keep his evolved form for long either. Normally, Bastet kept his big, strong form for less than two minutes, which was quite a long time considering he had little time of life.
The Summoning and the Summoner were evolving as they searched for the Fort that Lescar mentioned.
For Luke, it was impossible to forget the mysterious boy's instructions, because they were very clear. There was no point in Luke going to Forge Hill if he knew that his friends were not there. Still, Luke was almost considering going to the big city, because he had visited all the Forts marked on the updated map that Amelia had lent him, and all the Forts he had visited had been abandoned for some time. Furthermore, if any of his friends had ever been to one of these Forts, Luke would have found at least a trace of the smell as he focused his sense of smell; however, he found nothing.
Somewhat hopelessly, one late afternoon Luke saw an inn in the distance, and he decided to stop to ask to fill his canteen, buy hay for Atom and ask for information; after all, the locals were the best at passing on up-to-date information.
As he tied his horse to the fence in front of the small hut in the middle of the road, Luke heard music coming from inside the place.
"?? It's not about reaching the top of the world and missing the view. It's about climbing and feeling the journey strengthened you. It's about having love and place in other hearts and then having friends with you in life and every part. We can't have all we've ever wanted, what would be the charm of the world if it were that way? And so I'd rather have smiles and the blessings and gifts of life that surround me each day ?? ..."
The half-wolf entered the tavern quietly, to not disturb the pleasant atmosphere in the room. Maybe because there were no Dungeons for a few miles, or maybe because of the influence of the Cardinal Kingdom, which was still quite close, this region seemed quite peaceful.
When Luke entered, he only saw one person sitting at the counter, the tavernkeeper, and almost ten people sitting in front of the stage of the inn, singing the soft melody with the bard. The half-wolf approached the counter, making the wood of the tavern floor creak with his steps. He was much stronger than he had been two weeks ago, and I hadn't noticed it yet.
"Good afternoon. How much costs for me to fill my canteen and feed the horse?" Luke asked the tavernkeeper.
However, while the caucasian-haired man was answering, his voice and the singing people's voices took a secondary plane, because Luke suddenly smelled a familiar scent. The half-wolf looked to his right side at the counter, where the hooded person was, and the person, at the same time, also turned to look at him.
The moment the golden-yellow eyes of the half-wolf met the brown eyes of that red-haired girl, he could hardly believe that he had finally found Meredith.
They both didn't think much of it and hugged each other tightly, both because of the longing and because of the relief at seeing that the other was okay.
"I knew you would come for me! I knew it!" Meredith exclaimed, hugging Luke as tightly as she could, fearing that maybe that was just a dream.
Luke smiled gratefully, and hugged the half-fox lovingly, as he felt her head resting against his chest. It had been months since they had last seen each other, and they had never been away from each other this long since they can remember.
"Have you shrunk? You're shorter than I remembered." Luke teased her.
"What about that ass of yours? Have you been working out much?" asked Meredith, after groping Luke's buttocks over his overcoat.
Immediately, they started laughing and pulled away from the embrace. Their friendship was never heavy and emotional, but rather charismatic and caring. At that moment, the half-beast duo realized that the entire inn, including the bard, was looking in their direction. After that, they laughed their way out of the inn to have a better conversation.
Leaning on the wall outside the inn, Luke took advantage of the sunset to answer his biggest question:
"Why did you guys leave Oukiwa without me, without telling me?"
"Fear? Hope? It's hard to answer exactly.... Everyone in the gang knew that we often abused your altruism, and in the gene wagon plan it was no different. You were the only one who thought rationally that night in the kitchen and yet we made a decision based on unrealistic and selfish dreams.... Maybe because we were guilty or as a way to try to prove to ourselves that we should go ahead with the plan, after Matthew went to spend time with Jess, we sent Ynosuke to Vasconcelos."
The half-wolf arched an eyebrow. "He went there? When?"
"A few weeks after you left. We pooled some of our savings and paid his ticket to go. Well... he saw you walking the streets downtown next to a white-haired Elf. So, he came to the conclusion that you would not steal from that family, because as we know, your instinct to protect the people you care about overrides your desire to hurt them... It must have been hard to choose..."
"You guys were right... Despite all the trouble I've gotten myself into, and the enemies I've made, I can't imagine stealing from the Strogueher's."
Suddenly, Meredith turned her face and asked the following question:
"So... We'll forget that subject for now... Did you... get any girlfriend while living in Vasconcelos? I mean... you don't have to tell me this kind of thing, if you don't want to, I just see that you look a lot different than you used to... I wonder if it was because some woman got into your heart of stone..." She was trying to hide her apprehensive countenance.
This 𝓬ontent is taken from f(r)eeweb(n)ovel.𝒄𝒐𝙢