The methods Dan had drafted had failed, his last resort was a lot less elaborate, but much more feasible.
The horses had grazed and rested again, so they set off once more to the light, they had to tread carefully through the uncharted lands.
"What's the point of a direction marker anyways, we can just look out for the flowers." Saul said to Rud who sat beside him at the front of the wagon.
"We're in an unknown place, the more pointers you have the better. " Rud replied.
–
The formation was mildly loose, with it being mostly the same as before, Heimer and Gustev in front.
Behind the two were Lana charting a map and Ricia parallel to her.
Saul's wagon was directly in front of Paul's, and Heimlich behind them.
They went to the far right from the entrance ,so as to be right in front of the light when they turned;
It was the last plan Dan could muster up when all else had failed.
After moving right for nearly two hours, a river emerged right in front of them — they decided to move along the river side.
As a touch of grace, whether coinciding or not, it - the riverside - was leading right to the light.
Leo sat behind the wagon staring at the blue river that was flowing towards the direction they were headed, it stretched till the end of the horizon and sparkled from the sunlight.
Caesar came to join him, but Leo paid him no heed.
"Are you going to give me an answer now?" Caesar asked with a frown, but with a softer tone than the one used in their previous encounter; harsh nonetheless.
"..." Leo stared at the river with a smile on his face.
"Hey, give me an answer!" Caesar pulled his shoulder, he said this with no hint of his regular composure.
Leo shook his hand off with his shoulder forcefully.
"Is it alright to leave those two together?" Clarence said to Dan from inside the wagon.
"If they want to fight it has nothing to do with me." Dan replied.
"You're a terrible person." Clarence teased sparingly.
Karius just stared at nothing, he slowly closed his eyes and slept while sitting.
Leo rested his hand on his jaw while he still gazed into the horizon.
"I learnt it from a friend, who learnt it from his father." Leo replied in an indifferent manner.
"And who is this friend of yours?
Who is his father." Caesar asked.
Leo shifted his gaze to Caesar.
"The friend is dead, the father might be dead for all I know, now piss off." Leo said to Caesar then averted his gaze.
Caesar was stunned by Leo's response.
"I…see..." Caesar said subtly.
There was silence between them for a long time, noon came and went.
With the light as their beacon they kept on going as the land gradually became flatter.
"You never get tired at the scenery do you?" Caesar said with a awkward chuckle.
It was an effort to laugh of his earlier actions; it did not work.
"..." Leo didn't bother with replying.
"Why didn't you use your aether earlier when I attacked you." Caesar asked Leo with a now sullen tone.
"Wooden wagon, flame aether, I don't have to say more than that, do I?" Leo replied.
"But you could definitely channel your aether to your neck, I know you could." Caesar followed up immediately without giving Leo the time of day.
Leo turned to Caesar, he stretched his left arm out away from the wagon.
He pulled out the glove off his left palm, then coated his palm in aura.
Aether poured into the gloves as it began glowing light red, and about a about half a minute later they began bubbling.
He then threw the glove in the river.
That was all that needed to be done, Caesar impulsively rubbed his own neck at the thought of what could've been.
"...
I'm quite sorry, I acted rashly.
That information wasn't supposed to be available to anyone but my father, one other and myself.
I don't know how it got into your ears." Casar said to Leo.
Leo looked at Caesar.
"Did you eavesdrop to get this again?" Leo asked.
Caesar let out a nearly silent snicker.
"Yeah, something along those lines." Caesar replied.
"But who was the other person you spoke of?" Leo asked.
Caesar shook his head.
"I can't divulge more about this matter-" Caesar said politely.
"No, no- I understand, totally."
"This is something really important, if it's okay with you, I need the name of that man.
I'm sorry if you wouldn't want to because of what happened earlier, but please." Caesar made a plea with his face showing how genuine it was.
Leo grew a displeased look on his face.
" He hasn't passed on, or I hope he hasn't." Leo replied.
"I still have a score to settle with him, he needs to tell me why.
What reason could there even be but cowardice.
And how entangled is he to the army." Leo thought, his displeasure manifested as a scowl.
He too had been partially awake when Kenneth exchanged his son's life for his own.
The wind blew against the river, resulting in a cold breeze.
"Marc-
[Leo snorted]
My friend used to call his dad a researcher of sorts, if you need his name I'll give it to you.
But there's a condition attached, and since our goals align... " Leo decided to negotiate.
"I'll tell you everything I know about him.
[Leo looked down to the ground passing beneath their feet, then he looked at Caesar]
In return, I need you to find him and some people, if it's the royal family's network then I know you can do it." Leo said.
"Deal?" Leo raised his right arm.
Caesar seemed to be in doubt at first, but he came through.
[Tsk.] "Sure why not." Caesar bumped fists with Leo against his better judgement.
"His name is Kenneth Von Steiner…" Leo began describing him.
Caesar's expression didn't change one bit.
"Hmm, it's definitely not anyone I know of, not in the least, but with this description I can begin searching for him; at least when we get done with this expedition.
Then it's your turn now, you've satisfied my request, now it's time for yours.
Whom are the people you seek for?" Caesar asked Leo.
"I need you to find that man along with three other people;
A military personnel that was a corporal six months ago, a young boy and a girl…around my age with grey hair as well, last seen at the third wall six months ago." Leo said with discontent.
He described them with a brief of what happened at the relay camp.
"You still joined the army besides all that happened, that was a weird move.
...
I'll make sure those people are found, there is nowhere within there empire beyond the royal family's reach." Caesar assured.
Leo felt relieved, with two groups searching for them it would be nearly impossible to not find the targets.
"I didn't join the army because I had a choice, and with someone like Ren being my saviour I couldn't just look at things from one end.
…
Man do I miss the world before all this." Leo reminisced about the good times while smiling.
–
"Hey, you like Zefroth right?" Leo asked Caesar.
"No I don't." Caesar replied.
"You do" Leo said.
"I don't." Caesar replied.
"You do" Leo said once more.
"Yes I do, what more of it." Caesar said without a wane in his confident demeanor.
"..." Leo had nothing to say for a while.
"You cheat" Leo said.
"..." Caesar had no response, his right eye did twitch a bit.
"Liar, trash, leaving a lady worried at home." Leo added to the provocation.
Caesar remained silent.
"Hey Leo." Caesar said.
"Yes?" Leo replied.
"You used to like Cla-" Caesar's mouth was covered by Leo's palm.
"(You win, you win.)" Leo whispered while squeezing his face in embarrassment.
"Heh" Caesar muttered.
….
They kept moving along the riverside gradually inching to the light, at a certain point it became a very gradual ascent.
Night came by to reveal the beautiful night sky, they continued their journey through the night with lamps and no stopping.
Leo swapped with Paul, and Saul with Leo, while Rud swapped with Heimlich to maximise efficiency while they rested.
Leo looked up into the sky to admire the beauty, it was unlike anything they had seen before.
Stars littered across the sky, with shooting stars firing across, the moon was nearly full as its light shone upon them.
The sound of the river gradually intensified the more they travelled along, with an intensifying gentle whooshing sound.
In the morning they switched again, with the ones on night shift having their time of rest; about four hours.
The horses needed to cool off, they didn't have to give them water from the storage any longer as they drank from the shallow bank.
After the time of rest had ended, they continued on with their journey, this routine repeated itself for two more days, with the light growing ever brighter.
Those days were uneventful, with the only thing of note being the gradual wooshing sound becoming a roar and the mountains in the far distance had become closer too.
By the third day they could see structures — structures that looked not of the creation of man, they were scattered all over the place in the distance.
The third day was going to be a long one.