The Wind Calms the Fire - Chapter 18

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 18
They traveled all morning, rested around midday for a meal and to let the horses recover, then continued on their way.
It was only as the sun began to set that the party finally established a suitable camp for the night.
Peni descended from the carriage, patting her lower back with both hands.
“Ugh. Riding in a carriage for so long is absolutely dreadful. My stomach’s been churning the whole time.”
Peni glanced back at Lea as she climbed down after her and spoke.
“But how do you manage to look so fresh, Your Highness?”
Lea shrugged and replied.
“I suppose it’s just how I’m made.”
Whether it was thanks to Spirit Power or simply her nature, she’d always had excellent physical endurance—even in her past life.
“It’s so unfair. Is that something you’re born with too?”
“You’re holding up better than most. You’re not even that susceptible to motion sickness.”
“How much farther do we have to go?”
“Hmm… At this pace, we should arrive well within nine days.”
“You seem to know quite a bit about it.”
When Luke spoke up, Lea turned to look at him.
“Have you been to the Capital before?”
“No, this is my first time. I just made a rough calculation based on what I observed.”
‘For something rough, that’s remarkably accurate.’
It was much the same as what Luke had heard from Orbin before they departed.
‘How long until we reach the Capital? It’s been so long since I’ve been there, I’ve lost my sense of the distance.’
‘Normally, at our pace, we could make it in less than five days. But with this group, it’ll probably take four or five days longer.’
‘Really? That long?’
Lea surveyed the surroundings of the campsite and watched the soldiers busily erecting tents, then spoke.
“There are routes with far more comfortable lodgings. Did you choose to camp under the open sky because of us?”
“No. His Majesty dislikes official ceremony. He considers receptions and banquet attendance a waste of time, and they tie us up, delaying the schedule.”
“So we’ll be camping like this the entire way.”
“If it becomes too inconvenient, I’ll speak to His Majesty about it.”
“It’s fine. If we pass through villages, we’ll attract attention. Word about us could spread before we even reach the Capital.”
Lea turned to look at Peni and spoke.
“You’re all right with this, aren’t you, Peni?”
“Of course, Your Highness.”
Peni forced a smile.
What could she say when the princess herself had no objections?
Orbin approached.
He bowed his head slightly to Lea before speaking.
“We’ll spend the night here and depart in the morning. I’ll let you know as soon the meal is ready. You can take dinner in the green tent over there.”
“Understood, thank you.”
The eyes of the soldiers, busy with campsite preparations, turned toward Lea and her conversation with Orbin.
It was unprecedented for the Commander-in-Chief to order an outsider to travel with the Entourage.
That alone filled everyone’s minds with questions.
And for Orbin and Luke—the Commander-in-Chief’s closest confidants and the true powers within the Entourage—to display such deference was extraordinary.
‘Just who is she?’
But everyone kept such thoughts to themselves.
There were no loose-tongued soldiers in the Commander-in-Chief’s Entourage.
* * *
When Carrion stepped down from the carriage, his eyes swept rapidly across the campsite.
When he casually turned his head, he noticed Lea approaching him so closely that he hadn’t seen it coming.
She offered a slight smile as their eyes met.
Soon she had closed the distance entirely and spoke.
“Your Majesty, there’s something I wanted to discuss with you.”
She had breached his personal space with such ease.
He should have felt displeased, yet the unfamiliar calm that settled over him left him uncertain.
“What is it?”
“I’m curious about the route to the Capital.”
“Is camping uncomfortable for you?”
“No, I sleep fine anywhere. That’s not it. I observed the roads on the way here, and I think there might be an issue. A map would make it easier to explain…”
“A map?”
“If you lend me writing materials, I can sketch something out for you.”
“There’s a map in the carriage. Let’s go inside and check it. Cedric.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“Have Orbin brought in.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
As he turned toward the carriage, an attendant nearby quickly pulled the door open.
Carrion paused and glanced back at her with a questioning look.
“Yes.”
Lea did not decline.
Truthfully, she’d been wanting to see the inside of that carriage for some time.
She climbed the small steps and entered first, with Carrion following behind.
‘Wow…’
Lea gazed about with unconcealed curiosity.
The interior resembled a small study office.
Long facing benches with generous spacing between them, and a table set down in the middle.
One wall was completely covered in maps.
A small built-in bookcase on the opposite wall was crammed with volumes.
A safety rail ran across to keep the books from spilling out.
The Black Castle Carriage was longer than an ordinary carriage, which meant the interior was quite spacious.
A small door was attached deeper inside the office space.
It meant there was another room beyond.
When Lea’s eyes fell on that door, Carrion spoke.
“That’s the records room. It contains confidential documents, so entry is forbidden.”
Lea quickly looked away and said.
“I had no intention of going in.”
Shortly after, the others climbed into the carriage.
The person Carrion had summoned was Orbin, and though his adjutant Cedric made sense, Luke had come along as well for some reason.
The small study was now packed.
“What are you doing here? It’s cramped. Get out.”
Even as Carrion reproached him, Luke stood firm with his hands clasped behind his back, pointedly ignoring the complaint.
Carrion only clicked his tongue and let it go.
Lea found herself watching them both with interest.
The relationship between the two seemed more intimate than a rigid chain of command.
“Orbin. The Princess tells me there’s a problem with our route.”
Orbin turned to look at Lea.
Lea pointed with her finger to the area near where the party currently was on the continental map plastered across the wall.
“Is there a more detailed map of just this region?”
“There is.”
Orbin found the map and unfolded it across the table.
Lea pointed to one spot on the map and asked.
“Does our route pass through here?”
“It does.”
“There won’t be a path. During this season, the mountainsides along the road repeatedly collapse. Carriages can’t get through.”
Orbin’s eyes blinked slowly, his expression stunned into silence.
Cedric spoke in a low voice.
“What are you talking about? Is this certain?”
“Well, I’ve never traveled this route at this time of year myself…”
He turned to Lea and asked.
“Are you certain of this information? If there were repeated collapses, we should have received reports. I’ve heard nothing of it.”
“It’s not on the scale of a major landslide. People and horses can pass without issue. And since this isn’t a Trade Route, the problem isn’t widely known. It’s more the kind of information shared only among those who know.”
Orbin let out a thoughtful murmur.
Orbin was always the one who chose the paths.
He knew the various side roads that connected the Northeast Region.
This was necessary to keep the Commander-in-Chief’s movements unpredictable, appearing at any garrison without warning.
But this route heading to the Capital was unfamiliar to him, charted only from maps and rough estimation.
Carrion asked.
“What’s the alternative?”
Orbin traced a line with his finger across the map.
“We’d have to go around like this. It would take at least five more days. We’d need to make a stop somewhere in between for supplies.”
Lea drew a different line across the map with her finger.
Where Orbin’s route curved like a parabola, Lea’s line was nearly straight.
“We can go this way.”
“I’ve never heard of a path on this side before.”
“There definitely is one. Though there are some complications.”
“Complications?”
“Bears roam the forest. But it’s not even Early Spring now, and with this many people—plenty of knights among them—bears shouldn’t be much of a threat.”
“You’re saying the carriage can pass through the forest?”
“It’s entirely possible.”
“Taking this route would save more than a day—assuming the princess is correct. But I don’t know this path. It’s not on any map I’ve seen.”
“I know the way. Maps can be misleading for this route.”
Lea looked toward Carrion.
Then all eyes turned to the one who would decide.
Carrion, studying the map, spoke.
“Send a few scouts ahead on the original route. Once we confirm whether the path is truly impassable, we’ll take the route the princess described.”
“As you command.”
After descending from the carriage, Cedric asked Orbin.
“Why didn’t you voice your objections to him?”
“If the landslide truly makes the original road unusable, there’s nothing else to be done.”
“There’s another route, though. Even if it takes longer, a safer path is better.”
“You think it might be a trap the princess set?”
“Can you say with certainty it isn’t? What grounds do you have?”
“There is plenty that seems off about it, I’ll grant you. There’s no foundation of trust between us either. But you or I could say it a hundred times and it wouldn’t matter.”
“What do you mean?”
“You feel it too. The way he treats the princess—it’s different somehow. Have you ever seen him allow anyone into the Black Castle Carriage?”
“…”
“Trap or not, whether the princess’s half-baked knowledge causes us trouble or not—if he experiences it, he’ll come to understand something.”
Orbin gave Cedric’s shoulder a light tap and turned away.
Cedric stared after him with narrowed eyes.
The man had a streak of irreverence running through him.
Cedric, loyal to his very bones, often found Orbin’s languid attitude distasteful.
All the more so because he wasn’t wrong.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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