Emperor's Reckoning

The caravan arrived at a three-way fork with no signs of which go where. The old farmer stopped right in the middle of the road and saw no one else in the vicinity. No traveling merchants, no wandering adventurers, they were alone with nothing but the rustle of grass from the fresh meadow.

"Is this the path?" asked Graham.

"This is the fork, sir," the old farmer nodded firmly.

"I used to take the northwest path because there is a river for Dora to drink, however, that's all there is. To accommodate people, there is hardly anything there but the boring view," the old farmer shook his head. "We have to take the other path because there is a local guild there. They have an inn and a tavern as well."

"Tavern you say?!" Lyon exclaimed with high spirit.

"No, you're not going to drink anything there, Sein," said Cecile with a smile.

Lumina darted over to the woman sitting just right beside her, with her brows furrowed. She then closed her eyelids and crossed her arms.

"Let's go there, then, I will not have my young master starving or sleeping inside this little caravan," said Assid.

The old farmer made a wry smile. The old caravan was his pride and joy, without it, he won't be able to sell his hard-earned corps to the locals or big cities.

"You are also not sleeping there," said Graham.

"What?"

"I'm saying that we will buy a room for you as well, of course, if you rather choose to be with your caravan, then you are very welcome to do so," said Graham.

"O-Of course!" the old farmer answered delightfully, "T-Thank you, sir!"

"Don't mention it," said Assid.

"Then let's go there, it's almost dusk," said Cecile.

"Y-Yes, Young Miss!" the old farmer immediately made his horse clap against the road and went off from the usual path that he took daily.

Kesya suddenly grinned, "Hey old man."

"Y-Yes?"

"Do you know a young man named Lyon?"

"Ah, yes, yes miss!" the old farmer shook his head. "He is amazing, isn't he."

"Oh, how so?"

"You haven't heard of him? I'm sure his name is more famous than the Three Great Families by now," the old farmer firmly nodded.

"Is that an exaggeration?"

"Not at all, young miss!" the old farmer shook his head, "I swear, even rocks have heard of his name. Lyon, a lad that was no older than my own son, rose to the sky with the power of a meteor. His feats, tsk, tsk, tsk, unbelievable."

"Oh really?"

"Yes! His strength is incomprehensible. It was rumored that he is actually an old monster in disguise."

The group immediately furrowed their brows but their aura was immediately suppressed by Cecile. "Tell me more."

"Oh, you haven't heard of it before?"

"Oh I've heard his name before," Cecile smiled, "I want to catch up with the rumors about him."

"Ah, Young Miss is a fan? Well, the rumors are just theories that people came up with after seeing how he keep overpowering the cultivators he was up against."

"Then?"

"They noticed how Lyon was able to keep surpassing his enemies, and I'm not talking about cultivation-wise," the old farmer shook his head. "They were talking about how experienced he was in combat. After seeing all of his arsenals, they thought that either he is a truly exceptional genius or an old monster with too high of cultivation, that he could mask it for people weaker than him."

"I see," Cecile nodded. "Do you perhaps know, how or where these rumors started?"

The old farmer shook his head, "My apologies, Young Miss, but I only heard it from my small village."

"Is that so," Cecile smiled, "Thank you." she darted at Lyon's back. He was sitting on the floor, at the very back of the caravan with his legs crossed. The man in question was looking at the road with his figure constantly swaying to the bump of the wheels.

"Hehe, but Young Miss, if you are interested in meeting him, I've last heard that he is in Garuda City after fending off some green-skinned creature called orc."

"Oh, that's too bad, I want to meet him personally," said Cecile with a bright smile.

"It's going to be hard, there are numerous people trying to meet him now, however, it would be hard, I fear that young lasses would have their hearts broken early. After all, the young man is actually the long-lost husband of the empress! The Mortal World was shocked!"

"Oh really?" Lumina sneered.

"Yes, yes, really," the old farmer nodded a few times. "The world was shocked, he was also making waves at the time, and the timing of the reveal couldn't be any more perfect!"

"Hmm... is that so," Lumina put one leg on top of the other.

"Y-Yes? That is so, are you a fan too Young Miss?"

"Hmm, I don't know, I can't exactly decide," said Lumina as she leered toward the man swaying at the back of the caravan.

"Can't decide..." the old farmer made a wry smile after he muttered.

"Is that the little settlement?" asked Assid.

The old farmer squinted his eyes and couldn't see a thing. "My, I must have grown too old, I'm sorry but I can't see it yet."

Just after the old man said those things, he saw with his weary eyes a familiar place albeit a bit blurry. "Ah there, yes, that is the settlement — sir, you have very keen eyes."

"That's a matter of course," answered Assid before he adjusted his glasses. He turned over and said to the man sitting at the very back, "Young master, we are approaching the settlement soon."

( Huh? He is reporting to that playful young man instead of the woman? ) thought the old farmer as he creased his forehead. ( Is he actually the leader of the group instead? ).

Lyon nodded and waved his hand in response.

Assid nodded then return his glance to the road in front.