I ran past countless trees, carrying Riveria in my arms, as one foothold of air materialized after another beneath my feet. I had estimated my speed to be around 200km/h(124miles), although I could go faster than that, but the wind pressure would be uncomfortable at that point.
Although I could stop the wind pressure with a shield, I haven't tried it until now, and so I would rather not take any chances.
Riveria was silent in my arms as I took one leap after another, and although I would have liked for her to rest her mind properly before she met her friend, I didn't want her to drown in bad thoughts either, so I thought of making some small talk with herm, but that move ultimately failed, as Riveria leaned her head on my chest maintaining her silence.
Seeing that, I also didn't try to converse any further and kept running, and while I don't know the exact location of Melen. But I knew it was located in the southwestern side of the continent, and the river flowing through Orario met the sea at Melen as well, so it was just a matter of me following along the river.
And I was sure Riveria would let me know if I made a wrong turn.
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The town of Melen was just three kilometers away from Orario, and with my speed, it took us less than a minute to get there. I could see what seemed like tall gates made of wood, and the small port town was surrounded by wooden walls from all around.
Although the walls and gates were made to safeguard the town, I didn't see any guards standing at the gates. I entered the town, noticing the absence of guards, and at this point, I needed to ask Riveria about her friend's house, and so I called her out,
"Riveria, we arrived at the town. Can you tell me which way her house is?" Riveria lifted her head and saw that we had arrived at the town, and the people were staring at us. She quickly shifted her body and got out of my arms.
"I-It's this way…" she said quietly and walked away at a fast pace with me following after her as I heard the townsfolk's murmurs.
"Was that Lady Riveria?" "It was definitely her…" "No, way! Lady Riveria being carried by a human!?" "You think Lady Riveria found a man?" "There is no way, right…?" "But they seem so intimate…"
I was quite surprised to see that the town holds a lot of people of different species. I guess that is given since it was a port town and people from all over the world come here. I think I even noticed some couples being human and elves, a dwarf and an animal person, and many more, and while the elves did give me stingy eyes seeing me with Riveria, they didn't voice their disapproval.
And a lot of the people here seem to know Riveria, which would be obvious since she comes to this town often.
I looked around the town, following behind Riveria, the streets were lined with stone buildings that were bustling with energy, and the air was humid because of the sea, and a lot of stalls sell different kinds of seafood, including live ones, which made me a little uncomfortable.
Riveria and I walked through the town and made our way to the northernmost part of the town.
"We are here…" Riveria stopped in front of a two-story house; the house itself was not any different than the others around the place. The only thing different was the garden in front of the house, filled with different types of flowers.
Riveria remains standing in front of the house, maybe afraid to see the state her precious friend would be in; gone were the Regal and cold Elven princess. The one standing in front of me was just a normal woman afraid for a friend's life.
Seeing her unable to come to a decision, I moved forward and grabbed her right hand in my left one and started gently pulling her towards the door.
"It will be fine…" I said, and I had a reason to believe that.
Riveria looked towards our connected hands and let me pull her forwards, the door to the house was unlocked as we entered and came into the main hall.
Riveria took a deep breath and called out to her friend in a slightly louder voice. "Aina, I am here!"
"Oh! Riveria, come up, I am in my room!" replied a cheerful voice that would make you doubt if the person was really in a bad state or not. Noticing that Riveria also raised her perfect eyebrows, as we walked up the stairs and came in front of the room where the voice came from.
I let Riveria enter first in case Aina was not in a presentable state, and only entered after I received no words from Riveria.
"Oh! Riveria, how did you come here so fast?"
The woman who was sitting on the bed had similar ears and jade hair to Riveria; Her facial features were similar yet different from Riveria's. While Riveria has Regal, sharp, and elegant facial features, Aina has more of softer features.
Her eyes widened as her gaze shifted from Riveria to me, and a smile settled upon her face, going from ear to ear.
"Oh my! You even brought a man with you!?" She exclaimed.
"Aina… didn't you mention in the letter that your condition is not good?" Riveria ignored her words and asked.
"Yes, which is true, I have been really sick for a long time now, no?" Aina replied.
"You know that's not what I meant…"
"Hehe, Sorry for pranking you like that, but I was missing you so much." She said, which proved my suspicion, Aina was not in a serious condition, I mean, not so much that it would warrant an emergency message.
I got this suspicion when we left the city, because if her condition was that bad, then Eina would have come here as well. And I knew Eina didn't leave the city, since I met her in the morning itself.
"Haa… do you have any idea how panicked I was when I first got your letter?" Riveria settled herself on a nearby chair, while I quietly left the room. I could introduce myself later. I thought as I made my way down the stairs and sat down on a sofa.
And although I didn't have the intention to eavesdrop on their conversation, my senses, which have become sharper, were able to capture everything they said.
"By the way, how did you get here so quickly? I was expecting you to arrive at least by night." Aina asked, but Riveria didn't reply immediately. "C'mon, tell me!"
At the insistence of Aina, Riveria finally decided to reply. " …Arin carried me here," she said. I really wanted to see her expression right now, but I held back.
Aina went quiet and didn't reply, making Riveria speak up again. "At least say something…"
"Ah, sorry, I was just in a slight shock…" Aina hesitated, but finally asked. "Ummm… Riveria, what is your relation with him?"
Riveria clearly wanted to avoid the answer to that, but Aina pushed on. "Is he your Ideal man? Or don't tell me you are already dating?!"
"Sheeess! You are too loud, and no, we are not dating." Riveria continued, her words unsure, "He is my student, my fellow familia member, and… I don't know…"
"Um, that's a great improvement from before, where you straight up deny that."
I thought of going outside to avoid hearing any more things, but just as I finished convincing my heart to go outside, I heard the front door open, and a large man appeared in the hall, raising his eyebrows at me. He was around my height with tanned skin darker than my own light brown skin; he was muscular for a non-adventurer with brown hair and eyes.
"So, you are the man accompanying Miss Riveria, whom everyone is talking about," he said, while observing me. I stood up to shake his hand, which he did.
"The name is Arin Kael, just call me Arin," I said. He nodded once, his brown hair followed his head moment, and replied.
"It's nice to meet you, Arin. I am Max Tulle. You can call me Max as well." Just as we finished introducing ourselves, we heard steps coming down the stairs and looked up to see Aina and Riveria coming down the stairs.
"Darling!" Aina exclaimed, and Max, who was standing before me, was already near her, "Honey!" They called each other sweetly and hugged together. Riveria walked near me.
"Honey, you should not move so much. What if your condition worsens?" Max told Aina, his voice filled with worry, as Aina made a small pout in return.
"Moo, the healer, told us that I should move around some more."
"That's true, but… I am just worried." Aina tightened her hug around him and said in a reassuring voice. "It's fine, darling, nothing will happen to me."
"Honey…" "Darling…"
"Cough," Riveria interrupted with a cough, before things could escalate, "Can't both of you give it a rest at least when you are having some guests?" she asked.
"Oh, sorry about that. But I hope now that you met Arin, you will understand us to a small degree." They separated from their hug as Aina apologized with the intention to tease her.
"I told you it's nothing like that!" Riveria cried in embarrassment. As Max's eyes widened in surprise.
"Oh! So you finally found yourself a man? But I guess it makes sense, you are also getting ol— hiii I am sorry."
Max stopped midway, seeing Riveria getting ready to fire her ice magic.
"You are lucky Aina cares so much about you, or I would have frozen you to death a long time ago."
"Humph," Aina huffed at Riveira, "Riveria, bad girl!"
"Wha!" Riveria appeared shocked at being called that when she was the one being insulted. "Kuh! Aina, why are you taking his side? Weren't you supposed to support me? Where does the naive girl who followed me around go now?"
"In case you forget, I am a mother of two now; the innocent girl is already gone," Aina replied calmly.
"Isn't Riveria in her 20s by Elven standards? So, why can't we all agree not to call her old?" I threw in my question to show my support for her. And maybe my voice came out slightly stronger than intended. As Aina stared at me for a moment before smirking.
"Oh? It seems Riveria now has someone to protect her dignity, huh?"
"Thank you, Arin, but it's fine, I can just freeze this ruffian when Aina is not looking," Riveria said with a chilling voice, making Max shiver in his boots.
"Hey, hey, I was just joking, Miss Riveria, an-anyway, how long will you be staying? I could clean the guest room," he said, changing the subject.
"No, need for that, we came over in a hurry after getting Aina's letter," Riveria said.
"Eh… C'mon, stay for a day at least, we have a lot of catching up to do, and you can even show Arin around the town." Aina whined, clinging to Riveria, helpless. She looked towards me, asking for my opinion.
"Let's stay for a day, I have the prototype of the new communication device, I could tell Asfi to let the other know about the situation," I said and walked outside to talk with Asfi.