According to the map that was provided to them by Madame Laveau, the time it should take for them to reach Moirai Keep was about one to two days of travel, provided that they have a good mount. Sadly, they did not have a good mount. Instead, they have Tusko. And both Miri and Anne had to share that damn boar. So instead, the trip took a total of three days.
Even with Anne’s boar-whispering soothing, it did little to subdue the boar’s temperament for long, especially when he had to travel for that long. Occasionally, when the ride got too rough on the hips, Miri would instead opt to walk for several hours before returning to the ride, which would then exhaust her feet. She had to alternate between feeling sore on her hips and feeling tired on her feet.
Needless to say, it was not a pleasant journey. And she blamed video games for this. They made traveling look too easy. It gave the players an inaccurate sense of how adventuring in a fantasy world would actually be like. The concept of fast travel had made us weak!
Maybe that’s what VR games were going to do, take the game to the next level by putting you on a treadmill so that you could exercise while playing the game. That way, you could actually experience the grueling act of traveling the road instead of merely observing it with your eyes and ears and pressing a bunch of buttons. Plus, it’d be great exercise. All in all, it’s not exactly a new concept per se if you’d read and watched enough science fiction over the past decade or so.
Finally, after days of travel, the two women had arrived at Moirai Keep. On its surface, it didn’t look all that impressive—just a medieval–styled structure made of granite covered with blue and purple moss. By the time they’d reached their destination, it was nearly nightfall—giving the sky a dark, dull mixture of orange and green while the three moons were brightly shown in full view.
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.
As they approached the keep, they could feel a sort of ominous aura emitting from the place, almost as if it was haunted. Well, to be fair, a bunch of mages did die in this keep, so it wouldn’t be that much of a stretch to say that this place was legitimately haunted. Even Tusko, with his beastly instincts, seemed to wince and tremble as he approached near the keep—almost as if he could sense the ominous aura more perceptively than the two women.
“Yeah? You felt it too, huh?” Miri asked softly, turning to the boar. “You know what? Why don’t you take a break for now?”
Using the mount rune, she recalled the boar back, causing it to vanish from sight in a mist of multi-colored particles. Now, it’s just the two women all by themselves as they approached the path towards the keep with fearful, cautious steps.
“Miri…I’m scared…” Anne whispered, trembling nervously as she walked, holding the redheaded mage by the arm along the way. “This place…I sense a great evil within…”
“Well, no shit,” Miri replied. “This is the place where a horrific ritual took place and where a bunch of mages got murdered, after all. You know, if you’re still having second thoughts about this, you can just wait out here at the entrance.”
“No way! I’m not leaving you to go in there all by yourself,” Anne insisted, trying her best to hide her fear under a facade of bravery. “Like I said before, if you’re going, I’m going with you.”
Miri smiled at her response, appreciating her loyalty. Sometimes, it’s more impressive for a naturally cowardly person to face danger for the sake of a friend as opposed to a typical brave warrior archetype—that just meant that they had more to mentally overcome in order to stand by their friend.
Once the two reached the main entrance of the keep, they pulled the heavy wooden doors open, entering inside.
