Barely a day had passed since Yoichi's forced departure from Goldhaven. Shioko's face during their last meeting kept coming back to his mind. The kiss they had exchanged meant a lot to him, and the mere thought that something might happen to her made him very anxious.

The Valley of the Northern Waters, when compared to the capital county, looked like a boundless place. In addition to the Southborne Mountains that accompanied the two adventurers' journey along the area west of the valley, it wasn't easy to orient oneself.

In that place occupied by the most luxuriant and uncontaminated nature, there was no point of reference and, without a map, even an expert traveler would have risked losing his sense of direction.

According to Ryutaro's old map, that valley ended with an indefinite ocean-like body of water. However, the sea was still far from Yoichi and Takuma's position, and they could not even hear its sound.

The hooves of their horses continued for several miles to trample the wet grass that lined the river. The clear water of the Waveless River offered those untiring beasts fresh refreshment at their most tired moments.

Unlike Goldhaven County, where every place seemed close and easily reachable, Yoichi, riding along the Valley of the Nothern Waters, realized how vast the Tentochu region was.

The sky painted with the reddish light of the afternoon sun gradually began to gray, and the light slowly gave way to darkness. The almost total absence of artificial lighting made the night sky clear and deep. The stars were so sharp that the adventurers felt like they could touch them with their hands.

"There doesn't seem to be any other villages nearby, does there, Takuma?" Yoichi inquired. The young tamer consulted the map before it got too dark.

"The nearest villages are all distributed along the northern coast of Tentochu. They have harbours from which it is possible to reach the Mukade faction and other islands scattered in the great ocean," Takuma answered promptly. "I will be honest with you. I know the surroundings of Grimbrook like the back of my hand, but as you may have noticed, the valley is a huge place," he admitted.

"Your grandfather seemed very happy for you to go on your way. I had guessed that you were not an experienced traveler. It doesn't matter. The important thing is to get to Oakenfair safely," Yoichi continued, reassuring his traveling companion. "I thought you could only reach the nation of Mukade from the west coast of Tentochu," he thought out loud.

Digging into his memories, Yoichi thought of when Enatsu first told him about his hometown, called 'Silvertide Village'. The young merchant explained to his friend that to the north of his village, several harbours allowed large ships to set sail to reach the far north of Lumya.

However, his knowledge of navigation and his information about Mukade was limited to being considered nil. At that moment, he had no reason to push himself beyond the borders of Tentochu.

"No, not at all," Takuma spoke. "My grandfather Gompachi always explained to me that the main issue is not the port itself, but the boat."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that it doesn't depend on which port you set sail from. You can reach Mukade either way. What really matters is the kind of boats that ports offer you. On the other side of the Southborne Mountains, across the Stonebreak Passage, p0rtual towns have invested a lot of money in creating huge galleons. Those boats are so impressive that they can withstand the strong currents that separate Tentochu from Mukade."

"For a citizen of a small country town, you know a lot about ships," Yoichi smiled, complimenting Takuma and implicitly thanking him for his thorough explanation.

"Hahah! Thank you, man! Well, I owe almost everything to my grandfather. You know, he's a city man and has always been a very..."

Suddenly, just as he was speaking, Takuma stopped his words. At the same instant, behind him, his scarecrow demon interrupted its stasis. From that cube of straw and wood, its fabric head swivelled upward, indicating the direction of the horse's face with its button eyes.

"Hey, what's going on?" historical

"Sshhh! Quick, we need to get out of the way!" Takuma gasped, who was suddenly acting like a weirdo. Without another word, the Grimbrook warrior spurred his horse and rode away from that kind of rural path that ran along the Waveless River.

He rode into a particularly shady area hidden behind two huge boulders that had indeed collapsed from the top of the mountains.

"Quick, Yoichi! Get out of there!" Takuma repeated, speaking in a low voice as if someone was spying on them. The red-haired warrior invited his companion to follow him behind the rocks with a wave of his hand.

Yoichi, before obeying without question, quickly looked around. Curiosity was always stronger than fear in his heart, and although his friend sounded intimidated, he wanted to understand what was bothering him so much.

Just as Ichiro's face turned toward Takuma, the Inoshuma made a strange sound. The horse demon moved its neck and face as if it had just sensed danger.

At that point, Yoichi stopped standing still like a stockfish and rode into the darkness, trusting Takuma and positioning himself beside him. Takuma dismounted from his horse and dropped to his knees when he reached behind the rocks, hiding further amidst the vegetation.

"Can you please tell me what's going on? There was nothing on the road!" the Nightblades warrior whispered, touching Takuma's shoulder. As soon as Yoichi's fingers brushed against his shoulder, Takuma turned his face to him in fear.

"I said you must shut up! They might hear us!" he trembled in a low voice, growing smaller and smaller behind the vegetation. With one hand, the young red-haired man grabbed Yoichi's leather armor and pulled him down.

Ichiro and Takuma's horse remained hidden behind the rocks, benefiting from the shade created by the branches of some trees that had grown in their back. Despite their bulky size, both the horses were perfectly hidden.

As Takuma extended his arm forward, Yoichi's gaze followed the position indicated by his finger, trying to focus on the scene.

Suddenly, something popped up on the other side of the river, which was easily skippable by leaping.