"Ahhh! What the hell, Captain!"

Several young men cried after their heads smacked against the cold wooden floor. The pain immediately roused their minds awake.

Even so, they still felt like shit from their hangovers.

"Urgh… I feel sick."

One of the young men felt like throwing up all of last night's food and drinks, but the urge to piss quickly became predominant.

However, the moment he stood up and saw the morning mist outside the open window, his brows furrowed with doubt.

"Is it nearing midday already? Sure as hell doesn't look like it…" the young man commented.

As soon as the others heard it, they also glanced outside the open window before the same doubt festered in their minds.

Rather than nearing midday, it seemed very early in the morning!

"Pack up your stuff and gather outside by the wagon for me. Once we prepped the food for the journey, we'll be meeting up with Lady Linette and Lady Lillias," Captain Rhys instructed.

"I've already warned you all last night. You can only blame yourselves for not heeding my warning," he added.

The young men of the escort group all grumbled with complaints.

They recalled that there was something like that. But how were they supposed to take it seriously? The captain should have been more straightforward!

Nevertheless, the young men all followed Captain Rhys's instructions. They packed their belongings and headed to the designated location, albeit like lifeless zombies.

Caelan was the last to leave the room. He waited for everyone to leave first before he grabbed his fat bag of coins and hid it inside a bigger bag filled with clothes and travel necessities.

Once the bag of coins was safely hidden inside, he followed the others to the wagon and loaded everything onto it.

…

Meanwhile, Vaan finished his tour around the town. He quickly returned to Golden Peacock Inn with some packed food and called the two ladies.

"It's time to leave, my Lady," Vaan informed after knocking on the door to their room.

"I got it," Linetta answered from the other side.

A few moments later, the door slowly opened before Linetta calmly walked out, followed by a droopy-eyed Lillias with messy bed hair.

It was clear that Lillias was only half awake.

Nevertheless, after they bid farewell to Lady Solana, they met up with Captain Rhys and the rest of the escort group by the parked wagon.

"Lady Linette. Lady Lillias," Captain Rhys and the young warriors in the escort group greeted.

Linetta furrowed her brows slightly when she saw the lack of energy within the group of young warriors. Some of them had their eyes closed to catch up on their sleep.

Nevertheless, Linetta eventually acknowledged their greeting with a nod before ordering, "Let us head to the east gate."

"Understood, my—"

Captain Rhys was about to comply when he suddenly paused, thinking he may have misheard Linetta's words.

Some of the more awake young warriors were also surprised by Linetta's words. Caelan, in particular, revealed a slightly alarmed look, which was captured by Vaan.

Nevertheless, Vaan feigned ignorance and did nothing.

"Pardon me, my Lady. But did I hear you say the east gate? Weren't we taking the Hobgoblin's Road over at the western gate?" Captain Rhys sought confirmation.

"There's a change of plans. We are taking Goblin's Road. Looking at the state of your men, I believe this is the right call," Linetta said with a hint of disdain.

Although she knew the escort group was full of new recruits, she didn't expect them to be so lacking in self-discipline.

She would have picked a veteran escort group if she had a choice.

Unfortunately, there weren't any veteran groups available in the Steelguard Escort Group at the time of her commission.

Nevertheless, Captain Rhys felt ashamed after catching a glimpse of Linetta's disdain.

He would have been more strict with his men if he had known they were leaving so early in the morning. The blame lies with him; he had been too lenient on the new recruits.

"I'm sorry, my Lady. I should have instructed them better," Captain Rhys lowered his head in apology on behalf of his men.

"Never mind that," Linetta shook her head and said, "Let us head out now. If we are quick, we might even reach Redpine City by nightfall."

"Understood, Lady Linette," Captain Rhys complied, but his lips slightly twitched.

According to their usual pace, it would take more than a day to reach Redpine City from Sunpeak Town.

However, Lady Linetta expected them to reach their destination within half the day. In other words, they would be rushing through Goblin's Road.

Sometime later, the group passed countless other buildings before arriving at the east gate.

Along the way, the Vaan casually glanced around with his Magic Vision before he slightly paused on the second floor of Rainy Bell Inn. After a moment, he continued to look around casually as if he had seen nothing.

…

Meanwhile, Old Ronnie spotted Vaan's group as they passed through the area to leave town through the east gate.

However, Old Ronnie quickly hid inside his room and pretended not to have seen Vaan's group. He knew there would be problems on the road.

In fact, Old Ronnie had dark bags under his eyes. He couldn't catch a wink of sleep after being threatened by the unknown assailants at knifepoint last night.

Suddenly, one of Old Ronnie's people rushed into the room, causing Old Ronnie to be startled.

"Sir, the escort group is leaving the town earlier than the scheduled time, as you suspected. Should we quickly prepare and catch up to them?"

"N-no, we are not going with them anymore," Old Ronnie stuttered with fear.

Whoever was targeting the witches and their escort group clearly had the ability or some level of confidence in wiping them out.

Following such a group was like asking for death.

However, the person from Old Ronnie's merchant group did not know what Old Ronnie had experienced last night in his room. As such, the person was baffled by his change of heart.

"No?" the person furrowed his brows before mentioning, "Weren't you very eager to follow them, Sir?"