Your new adventure doesn't start well - Part 2

"Are you sure you want to do this, young master?" the coachman asked after looking back and not seeing the brown-haired boy running after the carriage anymore. "Your father won't be pleased if he finds out what happened here. I might even lose my job this time."

"Don't worry. Just continue the journey."

After all, that boy wouldn't give up just yet, Rude thought.

With nothing to do, Lince sat in the middle of the road and bitterly cursed his former friend. He stayed like that for a while, but soon the situation began to get worrying. After all, he had been abandoned in the middle of nowhere.

What should he do? Lince thought of a solution to his problem. Suddenly, he remembered seeing some houses along the way back to Lord Micaelo's lands. He could reach them before nightfall if he walked fast, where he could find shelter and food, and then return home. Determined to follow this plan, he grabbed his bags and started walking. It didn't take long for him to grumble about their weight:

"What the hell did they put in these bags!?"

Lince knew that inside those bags were new clothes and study materials, all purchased by the lord. Just the clothes alone were worth a small fortune, impossible for a peasant like him to buy. But Lord Micaelo wasn't only generous with his money; he also placed trust in him. Even his father made an effort to give him a better life. So, how could he waste all that effort just because of Rude's selfish act?

When Lince thought this way, his mind became confused. He stopped and thought again. Returning home was the best option because he didn't know the way to the academy. Plus, walking would be exhausting and take several days, not to mention the dangers one might encounter hidden along the roads... however, even considering all that, he decided to continue his journey. He turned back and walked toward Camelia, wherever it might be.

"You'll pay for this, Rude!" he muttered to the heavens.

If he simply walked along that road, he would surely reach somewhere. So, he continued his journey, now alone and on foot. He was even looking forward to seeing Rude's furious face when he arrived at the academy. This thought gave him even more motivation to keep going.

However, his thoughts changed after a while. It would be good if he found a place to take shelter before nightfall. Lince had some coins in his pocket, not much, but his father had kept them for emergencies and insisted that he accept them as a parting gift. He could use them to pay for a night or two at an ordinary roadside inn.

Lince walked with this thought until he reached an endless prairie. He was exhausted, and his arms felt like they were about to fall off from carrying the bags. On the other hand, the road disappeared from sight into the orange twilight on the horizon.

"I've been walking on this damn road for hours... why can't I find anything?" he complained.

Night would arrive soon, but there were still no signs of human presence anywhere he looked. It was just green grass and massive dark rocks. And there might be some creatures hidden among them, waiting for an opportunity to feed, Lince thought. Imagining that sent shivers down his spine.

But the brown-haired boy didn't give up and kept moving forward. It was in this way, in a way he couldn't have imagined, that his spring began.

…

It was a pleasant early morning. Newly bloomed flowers of various colors and shapes created a paradisiacal garden beside the road. The tree leaves were still moist from dew and dripped small drops onto the ground, where birds with cheerful songs pecked for fresh food, completing the charming landscape. Meanwhile, the wheels of the massive carriage crushed almost everything in their dirt path until they abruptly stopped.

"Huh, are we stopping?" a girl with short, light-colored hair asked. She leaned her slender body to the side and looked out the window. She only saw a small clearing in another forest.

The other two occupants of the carriage found it strange, as it wasn't time for a stop yet. While they wondered what was happening, the small window opened, and the mustached face and a pair of middle-aged man's dark eyes appeared.

"What happened?" The young man dressed in white stepped forward and asked the coachman.

The man then said amid the horses' neighs, "There's a boy's body in the middle of the road. What should we do?"