Dangerous Path to the Capital

A day after, Solance woke up to the sight of Ryker staring down at him. The first thing he did was kneel in front of the other young man. "I'm sorry for getting you involved in this!" he said, remorse could be heard from his voice.

  While Ryker wanted to threaten the young man, in the end, he decided against it, the young man clearly didn't ask to be hunted by powerful cultivators. Unfortunately, he had to face them. Fortunately, he had Ryker in his camp.

  "Don't think too much about it. Besides, if you were not there, my family would be in greater danger. After all, bandits are bandits after all. They won't let a group of pretty women get past them," he said as he helped Solance to get on his feet.

  "Your talismans helped all of you escape so I don't hold it against you," he continued, the young master letting out a sigh of relief. He didn't know why he wanted to please the other man but he knew Ryker possessed great potential and would be valuable as either a friend or an ally.

  "So, what are we going to do? The bandits must still be out there," Solance asked in worry. After all, never would he have thought the bandits could be killed by someone at the 1st Stage Genesis Foundation expert.

  "Them, I kill them all," Ryker said nonchalantly, making Solance open his mouth out of shock.

  "How? Most of them should be in the Genesis Foundation realm for at least a decade. And you kill them," he asked, this time in shock.

  Instead of giving a verbal answer, he throws a sword at the young master, who quickly recognizes the blade.

"Didn't this belong to one of the bandits?" he said, before his mouth opened so wide a horse could enter, his shock worrying but unsurprising, Ryker already dropping the treasures he got from the bandits. 

  Even if he burned their bodies, he would take their possession first before doing it, a group of Genesis Foundation experts should have something good.

  He then threw a token, a symbol that Solance remembered clearly, "This is Uru Family's emblem. This is the proof needed for my father to make his move," Solance said, excited at the prospect of revenge.

  Frankly, speaking, Ryker couldn't blame him, being chased for so long would have made on bitter. Unfortunately, he had to bring the young master back to reality.

  "You do realize we need to get to the capital, alive, if we want to bring them down?" his question served as the cold shower that woke him up.

  "But they must have increased the number of their men to search for me. Maybe even hiring bandits and bounty hunters not related to them to increase the chance of finding me," he exclaimed, wondering how he would get out of the danger.

  "Don't worry, I told you I'm going to get you to the capital and that's what I'm going to do. Don't worry, as long as you can tell the best path to the capital that will lessen our encounter with the enemies, then I'm going to kill any enemies we find," he assured the young master.

The young master didn't believe him but decided to try anyway. After all, he was strong enough to save them from 4 Genesis Foundation experts. After all, he was unconscious at the time to know that the number of Genesis Foundation experts was in the double digits.

  Ryker didn't really care if he didn't believe him. After all, it didn't matter if people believed him or not. The only important thing is that the young master knew the path to the capital better so he might know ways to avoid being spotted by their enemies.

  Their thoughts were disturbed by a loud grumbling, "Let's get you something to eat first. Then we can discuss our plan," Ryker suggested, the embarrassed Solance nodded in agreement.

-x-

  "While we survive the first group, there would still be others near the capital. The only way we can avoid being spotted is by going through the most dangerous path," Solance said, the map on the table had several drawings, outlining the path.

  "Dangerous path? You sure we wouldn't get spotted just like you said we won't spotted when we followed the path before," Mashia pointed out, the danger they went through because they followed his direction still fresh in their mind.

  "In my defense, I followed the path where Genesis Condensing experts could stay safe. The chances of people watching that path are low, we are just unlucky that the Uru Family decided to put their people on that path," he defended himself.

  Mashia wanted to retort, but a look from Ryker stopped her from opening her mouth. She merely looked at him in suspicion instead. Solance took a deep breath. He was speaking the truth but considering the near-death experience, he knew it would be some time before they would truly believe in him again.

  "The dangerous path is a path infamous for causing massive casualties to any forces, from caravans, armies, and whatnot, they almost entirely annihilated, so you see why I don't want to use it. But because they likely send a Genesis Core expert after us, we could only use the path. Or more specifically, Ryker and I," the last word sends the group to chaos, though a sign from Ryker stopped the chaos.

  "Explain," he ordered the young man, his eyes narrowing at him. He gave the young master credit for not cowering in fear by his glare but he still wanted to know what he meant.

  "While large groups would have a hard time surviving in the path, a group of smaller but filled with more powerful people had used the path time over time. That doesn't mean it will be completely safe as the small group sometimes loses their people too," he pointed out.

  "So you and Ryker would go through this path because one, you are their target, while Ryker is the strongest person so he might survive," Miriam guessed, Solance nodded, confirming her thoughts.

  "I can follow your plan if you can make sure my group will be safe when they travel to the capital on their own," Ryker finally said, the young master merely smiled when he heard this.

  "Of course. This path right he would lead to the capital," he said, drawing a line through the forest.

  "But be warned, there would be powerful beasts living there, and there might be bandits patrolling the place so I will give you these talismans. They are called Greater Concealing Talismans, able to hide your presence from even a Genesis Core expert and its equivalent.

  However, it could only affect a small area and only work for a short time, so you want to use it when you spot anything dangerous," he said, giving it to Mashia, the dragon princess looked at him in suspicion again.

  "Why don't you take this earlier before we met the bandits?" she asked. Silence merely smiled bitterly.

  "I only have a small number and I plan to use it when we get near the capital so we can escape relatively safely,"