Chapter 137: Aryin Village

The time passed into the morning, where Aiden and the others were ready for their new mission. Now, their goal was no longer the Pompo Administrative Region, but to infiltrate Xiliang territory.

Although the two kingdoms were at war, the King of Xiliang was known to be kind and generous. He opened the door for his territory to be used as a refuge for citizens of the Arcanis Kingdom who wanted to flee.

Aiden still had to focus on his goal, which was to find the whereabouts of the Gerard Knight Team and bring them back to Arcanis. It was like a mission impossible or a suicide mission, but Aiden was desperate to find Gerard.

They came out of the inn in shabby, simple suits of clothing. They wore no armor or swords, just the black camouflage cloak Rose Hurd had given them.

One thing was certain, Aiden had to carry the slip Henry had given him during the trip to Xiliang. The slip contained false identities for Aiden and his four team members. It was enough to trick the gatekeepers.

From the front of the inn, Aiden saw a passenger carriage carrying some refugees. The coachman was not just any coachman; he was a soldier from Xiliang in disguise.

Aiden stopped walking, casting his eyes around the small town. From the direction of the tavern last night, he saw Henry and Rose standing side by side and looking at him expectantly.

They both gave a gesture of nodding their heads, and Aiden responded in kind. Now, it was Aiden and his team’s turn to have their identities checked by soldier Xiliang.

He received Aiden’s refugee slip and detected the identity on it using a device. A notification panel popped up from the device, revealing the names of their fake identities.

Aiden becomes Rey, Aurora becomes Nay, Amber becomes Ay, Rachel becomes Rei, and Joe becomes Jay. It was a bit tricky, but those were names that seemed familiar in the Xiliang Kingdom.

"Get in," the soldier ordered, and Aiden nodded.

Unlike the previous passenger carriage, the horse-drawn carriage Aiden and his team were riding was much bigger and longer, with two seats on the right and left, where one seat was enough for 2-3 people.

In total, the horse-drawn carriage could only carry 18 passengers on one trip. They were forced to squeeze in for several hours until they reached the village at the end of the Xiliang Kingdom.

"Young man," greeted an old man, Aiden turned his head.

"Do you want to evacuate, too?" the old man asked, and Aiden cleared his throat in agreement.

"Lately, there have been many of them who have chosen to flee. I really don’t know what your reasons are for leaving," the old man said.

"Exactly the same as you. We’re leaving to save ourselves," Aiden replied, to laughter from the old man.

"Haha, of course. You went to save yourself."

After all the refugees had boarded, the Xiliang warrior closed the back door and began spurring the horses on the carriage into motion.

The carriage drove away from Lon City towards the south. As Henry and Rose followed where the carriage went, they watched as Aiden and the others left for their mission.

"Will they be able to complete this mission? I’m worried about them," Rose explained.

Henry nodded. Aiden was guarded by three dragon girls, and one loyal bodyguard. With abilities like that, the Xiliang Kingdom would have to mobilize at least half its army to defeat Aiden and his team.

"Don’t worry. They’ll be fine," Henry said.

"They’re an independent team I trust, after all."

Rose Hurd cleared her throat, agreeing with Henry. She had seen firsthand what Aiden and his team were capable of, so there was no way they could complete the mission quickly.

From elsewhere, the carriage continued to carry the passengers away from Arcanis territory. It would take them at least six hours from Lon City to arrive at Aryin Village —the village at the northern tip of Xiliang.

Despite the long journey, the Xiliang warriors seemed to care about their passengers. They stopped several times at Xiliang Kingdom military posts, where they provided snacks and water for the refugees.

"Their attitude is much better than the Arcanis soldiers," Aurora whispered to Aiden.

"I feel the same way."

After a few rests, they continued their long journey to Aryin Village. So far, there had been no significant threats to Aiden and the others. The Xiliang warriors were too kind to them.

The horse-drawn carriage continued on until it crossed the border without a post. The post there had been destroyed in the great war last year. Now, they could easily enter and exit the post.

After passing through the mountain pass and valley, they saw a beautiful and green village, filled with vast farmland with villagers working in the fields.

They immediately turned their attention when they saw that a passenger horse-drawn carriage had arrived on this day. Previously, the passenger horse-drawn carriage had come on the previous day.

The passenger carriage stopped, and the other passengers got off the carriage one by one, including Aiden. Aiden turned his head, clearly seeing that the villagers were not happy with the refugees’ presence.

"You! Come here," the Xilliang warrior called out to one of the villagers.

Annoyed, the man came to the soldier’s call. The soldier asked him to take the refugees to the house that had been provided, a dormitory-shaped house that could accommodate them all.

"Tch! Why take them in if they can’t work?!" the man snapped, venting his frustration.

"The elderly may not be able to work, but we also get young refugees," replied the Xiliang soldier, pointing at Aiden and his team.

The man turned his head, then glared at Aiden. He ignored the elderly and chose to walk closer to Aiden. A question crossed his mind when he saw Aiden.

"You became a refugee?! Are you cowardly enough to go to war and take up arms?" the man asked, yelling at Aiden harshly.

Aurora heard what the man said, the harsh words that he shouldn’t have said. When he wanted to vent his anger, Aiden held Aurora back.

"We’re not knights or mages. So, what’s the point of fighting for our lives?" Aiden asked.

"Tch!"

"I hate cowards like you more than slackers!" the man scolded, crossing his arms.

"But look on the bright side, you’re not lazy like them," the man replied, Aiden clearing his throat in agreement.

After venting his frustration, the man led them all to the refugees’ dormitory. The elderly and young people had to go all the way from the center of the village to the edge of the village, where there were more refugees settled.

They walked over rocky roads, through the forest and arrived at the dormitory. When the door opened, Aiden was shocked to see that it was filled with many refugees sleeping crammed together in one large, stuffy room.

"Find your own bed. I won’t help."

’I can’t possibly let Aurora and the others sleep here. They’ll be uncomfortable,’ Aiden explained.

Just as the man was about to leave the dormitory, Aiden walked up to him which made the man curious.

"What? Do you need something?" the man asked.

"We can’t stay here," Aiden replied.

"HAHA, you’re refugees, you idiot. Don’t expect anything more," the man explained.

"That’s not what I meant."

The man paused, continuing to focus his attention on Aiden and his team members.

"We’d like to stay at an inn. Does your village have one?" Aiden asked.

"Tch! What do you have money for, huh?"

Aiden patted his magic pouch and took out a single gold piece. Money could be used anywhere because it was made of metal, and the currency systems of all the Kingdoms on Planet Gaia were almost the same.

"Gold coins?!" the man was shocked.

"How? Can you help us?" asked Aiden.

"O-Of course. I’ll show you the best place you can stay."

Graciously, the man escorted Aiden and the group away from the refugee dormitory. From afar, the man pointed to a two-story inn, the only inn in this place.

"That’s the only inn we have. You can stay there," the man explained.

From the outside, the inn didn’t look too bad, almost the same as the average inn. Even so, Aiden was curious about the contents of the rooms there.

"Alright. Thank you."

Aiden and his team went in and rented three rooms, one for Joe, one for Amber and Rachel, and one for Aiden and Aurora. When the door opened, the shape of a standard inn room was displayed in front of them.

"This isn’t bad," Aurora said.

"What do we do next?" Amber asked Aiden.

"We have to discuss and find information to get to Suchang City."

He activated Reinhard’s Token of Nobility. According to Henry, the Token would react if Gerard was around. It would emit light.

But what he saw was different, there was no reaction from the token, a sign that Gerard was not in Aryin Village.

’Looks like Henry’s words were right, they’re in the big cities in Xiliang.

’I need to get there before it’s too late.’