Inheriting a Lost Bloodline, My First Task is to have heirs?!
Chapter 147 - 147 - The Departure to Sklavryet

The night before I am bound to leave for Sklavryet, I did a final check on everything that I needed to bring for this fairly long stay outside the empire. I have already prepared the clothes I will wear once I leave the territory of Athanoviya empire. I will immediately change into these clothes to ensure that when I reach Sklavryet, I look the role of a commoner that is simply moving in to the territory to look for a job. I have sets of these clothes prepared to ensure that I can maintain the said created image and identity. I have prepared similar clothes of this quality for my designated companion, Lark. We have to ensure that no matter if there were eyes observing us or there were none, nobody would think that we came from Athanoviya much less have other reasons for entering Noir's territory.

At dawn, I woke up with a really early start. I gave Ioannis a kiss on the forehead, wishing him sweet dreams and a deeper sleep. I made sure to inject more of my mystique mana to the ring and hidden earring he was wearing for higher safety and protection features. I changed my clothes to much simpler ones. I look like I just went out for a quick trip to buy something. The clothes that I was wearing are what you typically see on someone out on a regular trip at the market area of Hoffen City. I quickly left the comforts of the room I shared with my husband and immediately casted a sleeping spell to everybody inside the villa. I do not want any complications (well, this is a better way of saying that they were stalkers) following me for this personal mission I am setting out for. I quickly walked to Dimitri's room, giving him a kiss on the forehead as well. To be fair, I did a quick teleportation to Kayden's room in the Moonlight Inn to do the same. I don't want anybody to know I was somewhere else so I had to teleport back to the villa again. Once everything is in place, I quickly left my home and in just a few minutes, I can be seen exiting the gates of the academe. I do not want to say good bye to anyone here since they have always been informed on the day I will leave for my immersion.

Once I left the gates of the villa, I immediately walked to the inn where Lark is currently staying in (in secret though). I did three consecutive knocks in a secret pattern we previously agreed on and he opened the door quickly. After I entered the room, I saw him all dressed up like a normal tourist as I am. For some reason, I can see the excitement and a strong sense of determination in his eyes. As for where the determination was for, I have no idea. (A/N: He's determined to seduce you!) I simply greeted him a "Good morning" and he greeted me back. I asked him if he was ready and he nodded firmly. I have already given the receptionist of the inn the rent for another day with instructions to only check on the room for cleaning once the check out time of 2pm of the next day arrives. As to why I am doing this, it can be some sort of a diversion or a way to erase my tracks. I want to at least have the illusion that I entered this inn and never left the room till the next day. If I was being followed, these would confuse the stalkers as to where I went and the exact time I left the room as well. Very few people know that my magic rank has risen since the check I had at the start of the first semester so, no one would think that I could teleport in and out of any place I have visited before.

Sklavryet is a free and open city situated south of the Athanoviya empire. The fastest way to get there will then be through the southern territory, a land which is majorly owned by my in-laws, the Vacarros. I don't want them to know though of this personal trip I am having so I chose to just teleport to one of the secluded parts of Arista. Though it is a town within their jurisdiction, it is not a place they would frequent on an early morning during weekends. I held Lark's hand and gave him instructions to close his eyes and just brace himself for the discomfort of the teleportation since this is his first one and it is a long distance at that.

I immediately started the teleportation spell and closed my eyes as well which has been a habit of mine. Once I opened my eyes, I was welcomed with a much cleaner and peaceful Arista. Aurum has done a great job cleaning up the unsightly things that I have seen here during my last visit. My in-laws must have also expedited the process of rebuilding this area to make it more profitable based on the business plans I have given them. After I have taken in all the sights, I looked towards Lark who is visibly pale and uncomfortable. Ioannis was the same when I first brought him with me to teleport when he was not yet deified and that was a fairly short distance compared to the current one we had. I immediately coursed some healing mana to Lark's body through our link hands to ensure that his discomfort disappears as quickly as possible. When he felt the sudden warmth coming from my hands washing away all his discomfort, he immediately looked into my eyes and smiled sweetly. Ugh, my heart. You can just give me a simple thanks instead of this.

Since we have safely arrived and Lark seems to be okay now, the first thing I thought of was proceeding with my plan of renting an animal-drawn carriage that can bring us to Sklavryet from this territory. I want it to look middle class at best to give a feeling that I at least prepared enough for this trip but not well-off at all. I want to be consistent with the illusion of being a hopeful temporary working, trying her like by moving to a new territory. Since Arista hasn't changed that much, I was able to determine the direction of the stall that sells and rents animal-drawn carriages. I pulled Lark there and knocked at the stall which is still closed at this time. I took a several minutes of knocking before someone opened the door for us. The grumpy old man is seemingly irritated at the new visitor but after I immediately voiced out what I came for and that is to rent a carriage on a long distance trip to the gates of Sklavryet. A trip this far can instantly earn the old man at least 3 silvers per person with me covering his food expenses as well as his expenses on his return back to Arista. All in all, he should earn atleast 24 silvers which is a hige amount for a lower class family. It should enough to feed a family of four for at least 1-2 weeks. I saw the surprise and happiness in the old man's eyes and he said that he will personally escort us there by driving the carriage. We barely waited half an hour before we were able to set off. Lark and I simply made ourselves comfortable inside the carriage. I silently placed a protection spell on the carriage for our safety. Once we are in the areas with lesser people, I will place an invisibility spell as well to avoid unnecessary trouble. It would take us about a day of non-stop travel to get to our destination. I am not in a hurry though so I will simply enjoy this trip, have ample rest in between, make sure I never miss a meal and enjoy the sights.

Because I was enjoying being a tourist a lot, instead of the initial approximate of arriving their in less than a day, it took us exactly about 29 hours to reach the gates of Sklavryet. We left the territory of the southern region of Athanoviya empire at around seven in the morning and arrived at the gates of Sklavryet half an hour before lunch time. It took us a lot of time as I made sure to have regular stops to eat, rest and sleep. I do have an old man in tow and an ox that I wouldn't like to die on me. It was already sick in the first place so I do not want to torture it unnecessarily. I also enjoyed the ownerless meadows full of indigenous plants and animals that we passed by and I made sure to appraise the new ones that I saw for the first time and then decided to take as many of the useful herbs and other alchemy materials as I can. This was repeated as many as eight times throughout the trip. I couldn't just stop myself from making sure I still get some form of income from this outing. I made sure to send the alchemy materials I picked to Unce Daejung's inventory with a note for him to keep his lips sealed as to where he got the materials from since some people may figure out my current location. Another thing I made sure to do was also mapping the areas we passed by and marking the places where the alchemy materials (plants and animals) I have harvested were found. What I am most happy about is that the more places I get to visit and explore, the more areas I will then be able to teleport to since I can them and put pins with descriptions on my map. Sure, I hated the backwards way of travel (my back and butt hurt from all the bouncing and shaking) but I have never been more contented in the gains I got with a single endeavor than now.

As we reached the gates of Sklavryet, I thanked the old man for the relaxing and peaceful trip. He bowed to me as he also said his thanks. He said that it was I who made sure that we have ample rest and are all fed well throughout the trip which made it the best one he has been in so far. He said that he hopes that he can serve me again in my future travels. We went to one of the famous diners near the gate based on the suggestion of the territory guards and ate a heavy lunch. Once we all have our fills, I gave the old man his pay and a little extra too since the trip was extended because of me. He thanked me again profusely and immediately left to go back to Arista. I kept a stealth spell on the carriage and secretly healed up the ox that was pulling the carriage as well to ensure the old man's safety.