[53:09:21]

Westwend Valley was just like an ordinary valley, beautiful, and filled with greeneries such as trees and grasses. However, they only arrived at the edge of the Westwend Valley. They arrived from the west side while their target would most likely arrive from the east side. Del was sleeping in the car while Cassandra and Cole were walking around the car, setting up a temporary place to stay.

Del packed quite a lot of canned foods on the back of the car. It was not like Cassandra and Cole were cavemen that couldn’t open a can like that. In fact, Cassandra mentioned once that they had something like that back in Ilbistirum.

Cole was heating up the can with the heating magic that he used to heat up beaker glasses, “Hey, here you go.” He gave the heated-up can to Cassandra.

Cassandra grabbed the can, “Ouch, it’s quite hot.”

“Sorry, I think I turn up the heat too much,” Cole giggled.

“That’s fine. [Utility Mode: Cool Breeze].” A white wind filled with cold air appeared from Cassandra’s hand and it flew to the can, cooling the content and the can into a cold enough temperature.

While eating and sitting down on the grass, they were talking about their circumstances. After all, both Cole and Cassandra had finished their purpose of staying inside of Elbanian. It was time for them to go home, but there was something that couldn’t let them leave the continent.

Del was the main reason why they couldn’t leave the continent. Even though Cole and Del had a rough start in their friendship, it turned out to be beneficial for both of them. Cassandra enjoyed her relaxing time in Del’s house. Maybe it was the feeling that she indirectly became Del’s mother in that short period.

Cassandra sighed, “You know, something is bothering me.”

“What’s bothering you?” Cole kept eating his food from the can.

“You know, Del’s a nice kid, I’m not going to lie. I don’t want to leave him alone, but we also have our own business, don’t we? I meant, we still have to finish our education in Ilbistirum, but still, it left a bad taste in my mouth to leave him here.”

Cole put his can on the ground and put his hand on his chin, and he said, “Yeah, I agree with that. The kid is surely helpful to both of us. He even gave me this weapon,” Cole showed his MP5SD, “Who even gave this kind of weapon to a mere researcher like us?”

“Haha, I think Del has given all sorts of powerful weapons to you,” Cassandra commented on Cole’s heavy usage of the M2 Browning on top of the humvee. Even in comparison to Del, Cole used that machine gun more often than Del.

“I know that,” Cole said.

“Anyway, I’m thinking of bringing Del to Ilbistirum, what do you say about that?” Cassandra asked.

“That’s a sound idea. Still, how can we bring them to Ilbistirum? We still have to cross a sea,” Cole said.

“Well, I think he might be enticed to join us if he is cornered in a situation where the only option is to run away from this continent. Besides, I think I still want to stay here, we’re not really in rush, are we?” Cassandra said.

“Still, I don’t think Del would want to swim all the way to the demon continent.”

“Of course he won’t, you idiot. He will get on the ship with us. Don’t worry, I can convince the captain that will take us there to let him and whoever he rescues today onboard.”

“I hope so.”

Del got out of the car with eye bags still in his eyes. Driving all night long was exhausting for him who was basically still a human. Cassandra had the benefits of being a vampire which meant she was quite nocturnal.

As he wiped his eyes, he said, “Morning guys.”

“Morning bro.”

“Morning Del.”

Del grabbed a can of food from the back of the car and ate it up without warming it up first. For him, some meals were better to be eaten cold than warm. It was not like he had the time to heat up the meals. Time wasn’t his friend and he only had been through the easy part of the journey.

He grabbed a glass and poured a cup of water alongside powdered coffee. He asked Cole to heat it up so he could have a nice cup of coffee when driving the car towards the more treacherous region of Westwend Valley.

“You ate so fast,” Cole commented as he gave the heated cup of coffee to Del.

Del retrieved the cup, he replied, “Well, it’s not like we have a lot of time, do we?”

“Yeah, you’re right. How much time do we have?” Cole asked.

“Two more days.”

Cassandra mumbled, “Two more days, huh? It’s going to be difficult. Not to mention that we have to move through some of the dangerous territories of this place. Anyway, don’t worry, as long as we keep working together, it’s not going to be that bad.”

“I hope so. I meant, we do have a lot of weaponry, but if we don’t use it efficiently, we are as good as wasting our time,” Del said.

“Correct. Anyway, here’s what I have gathered, I want every single one of you to listen carefully because this information is rather questionable,” Cassandra said.

Cassandra got the information from some back alley merchant that he met in Alder. The valley itself could be entered from two directions, it could be entered from the east and from the west. North and south were out of the question due to the rough terrain that it had. There was only one road stretching from the east to the west.

From the east, they first must go through the Linum Forest. This forest was the home for goblins so they had to be careful and kept an eye for a possible ambush. It was only the start, Del has encountered goblins before, they were dangerous in a group, but one goblin didn’t really pose a big threat.

The next location that they would have to go through was Nean Cliff. It was no ordinary cliff by any means, in fact, it was the place where they had to deal with the lizardmen at the very least. It was also the place where the myth of the serpent was coming from. In short, it could be just an easy trip or it could be the most dangerous place of them all.

After that place with the serpent, they would arrive at Duliare Hill. It was the only peaceful place of them all and it was located in the middle of Westwend Valley. It was said to be the most beautiful place of them all. However, the place was also the execution ground for Elbanian. Below the hill was the place that called Valley of the Death.

“So… we still have a long way to go then,” Del commented.

“Yeah.”

“Alright, let’s go then,” Del entered the car.

Del continued driving the car again through the gravel road of that valley. Cole was on the machine gun turret as usual while Cassandra was holding the map as usual. Del was thinking about dealing with the ambush that the goblins might have prepared for him.

Goblin wasn’t exactly a stupid creature, sure, they were not able to study science, but underestimating their combat knowledge usually proved to be very fatal. They were still able to use combat magic and basic combat tactics.

Inside of the car, Del was mostly protected from that all, but Cole wasn’t. In fact, he was the most exposed person on that whole car thanks to his responsibility of manning the heavy machine gun turret.

“Cole, do you need a better armor? We are getting closer to the forest, you know?” Del commented as the forest was right in front of their eyes.

“Armor? Armor like yours? Wouldn’t it be so bulky?” Cole asked.

“Are you sure you won’t be getting any armor?” Del asked.

“I’m sure, don’t worry, I have casted material field all over my body. I’m safe for now. You just be careful in driving while we are entering the forest, alright?” Cole said.

“Sure, if you suspect anyone, just push the trigger, is that clear?” Del said.

“Clear.”