abcnovels
Chapter 168
Chapter 168: Homecoming
TL: Etude
After assisting Captain Quik to hire a temporary navigator from the Adventurers’ Guild, Ladi bade farewell to the crew of the Southern and set off on her own to return to her homeland.
To save time, she rented a fast horse. After a day and night of travel, she arrived at her hometown—the independent territory of Messiah.
It was 8 A.M. when she entered the town. Despite not having rested for a day and a night, the sight of familiar buildings and streets swept away her fatigue.
However, something did raise her guard—a wanted poster found by the roadside, clearly marking the identity of the wanted: a wizard. Normally, only the local lord had the authority to issue such a proclamation. Its presence on the streets indicated that the upper echelons were either in collusion with the church or had reached some compromise with it.
She tried to blend in with the ordinary pedestrians, leading her horse straight to her home.
After walking for nearly twenty minutes, she arrived at a corner of a street where a restaurant named “Flying Dragon Pavilion” appeared before her.
Ladi took several deep breaths to calm her excited heart and then pushed open the door to enter.
The place was lively, filled with many customers. It seemed the business was as good as ever.josei
However, she didn’t find the person she was looking for. There was a new waitress she didn’t recognize, apparently tallying up accounts behind the counter.
“Had they hired a new waitress?” she thought. It made sense, as the previous one had expressed a desire to resign before Ladi had left home, and several months had passed since then.
Ladi slowly approached the counter.
“Is the mistress here?” she asked.
Although still dressed as a man, she had removed the fake beard used for disguise and no longer tried to imitate a male voice.
The waitress looked up to see a pretty girl standing at the counter, her green hair and delicate features somewhat familiar.
“Are you looking for Mistress Cierra?” the waitress asked, appearing somewhat naive.
Seeing the waitress’s dazed look, Ladi covered her mouth and chuckled lightly.
“I’m here to see her, but I’m not a customer. I’m her daughter.”
“Ah!” The waitress seemed a bit flustered, quickly coming out to bow to Ladi.
“So, you’re Miss Ladi… I’m so sorry for my earlier rudeness!”
Ladi waved her hand, smiling, “There’s nothing rude about it. Besides, you haven’t seen me before. Just call me sister.”
“Alright, Sister Ladi.”
“Is my mother out?”
“No, the mistress is in the backyard sorting things.”
“Thank you. You go ahead with your work; I’ll go find her in the back.”
“Alright!”
Ladi turned and walked towards the back, quickly passing through a corridor to the back door.
She immediately spotted the figure she had longed to see.
In the courtyard, a woman with the same hair color as Ladi was carrying a box, also walking towards the door.
Naturally, she also noticed Ladi immediately.
“Oh my, my wild girl finally decided to come back.”
“Mom…”
Tears welled up in Ladi’s eyes as she quickly walked towards her mother.
The woman also set down the box and opened her arms, and mother and daughter embraced tightly.
Although Ladi had often traveled far as an adventurer, it was always with her companions. This was her first time living alone in an unfamiliar place for several months.
To those living in Horn Bay, the northwestern bay of the Kingdom of Ordo was practically at the ends of the earth. How could Cierra, as a mother, not worry, especially during a time when the church’s oppression of wizards was becoming increasingly severe?
“If it weren’t for your letters every month, I would have gone looking for you.”
Thanks to the Foster family’s merchant fleet, Ladi could send her letters to Horn Bay, which were then relayed to her mother in Messiah.
The Fosters were willing to help mainly for two reasons: Ladi was an advisor to Count Grayman, and she used to be a member of the Lichman Adventure Team, which had good relations with the Foster family’s second young master.
The mother and daughter went to Ladi’s bedroom and closed the door for a private conversation.
Cierra eagerly asked, “How did you come back this time?”
“I took a ship from Alda, traveled by sea to Horn Bay, landed at Asta, and then came straight home.”
“By sea?”
Cierra was puzzled. If she remembered correctly, the distance from the northwestern bay of Ordo to Horn Bay was over two thousand nautical miles…
“Mom, you haven’t seen it. The lord’s shipyard has created a type of vessel that sails entirely by wind. It doesn’t even need rowers; just by opening the huge sails on the masts, it can go incredibly fast. Especially in this season of strong northern winds, we were able to maintain a speed of 8 to 10 knots every day on our way south.”
Cierra looked incredulous.
“That’s… hard to believe.”
Having spent some time at sea in her youth, she knew what a speed of 8 to 10 knots meant. Oared ships could reach this speed too, but it was a short-term burst relying on the rowers’ strength, nearly impossible to maintain for a whole day.
As for the lord Ladi mentioned, Cierra knew she wasn’t referring to the lord of Messiah, but the young count in the northwestern bay, whom her daughter had mentioned in her letters.
According to the descriptions in the letters, this lord seemed to be an inventor who had created many incredible things. Although not explicitly stated, there was a tone of admiration in her daughter’s words about him.
Perhaps due to confidentiality, the letters didn’t detail the count’s inventions, but it seemed the ship Ladi took was one of them.
“There were no dangers on the way, right?”
“No, the journey was smooth, with no extreme weather or pirates.”
“And how was your time there?”
Cierra asked what she most wanted to know. Although her daughter had assured her in previous letters that everything was fine, and she had now returned safely, she still needed to hear it from Ladi herself.
“I had a good time there. My life was fulfilling every day. Count Grayman and my colleagues were very kind to me, so please don’t worry.”
“Ah, they always say the northwestern territories of the Kingdom of Ordo are lands beyond civilization…”
“Mom~ You can’t jump to conclusions without seeing it yourself. It may be a bit more backward than Horn Bay or other places, but it’s not beyond civilization. And Count Grayman is working hard to change the situation in his territory. This time, sending ships to Horn Bay is to pave the way for future maritime trade.”
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