"What? Barbarians? But the barbarians should be in the borderlands, not here… not in Gray Valley." Lina said with disbelief.
Gray Valley was almost close to the center of the North and had a significant distance from the borders, the place where the barbarians were located. So it made no sense for them to appear here or to be able to advance this far.
"Gray Valley has no watchers, no guards, and no controllers. It's easy to enter." Reinh answered with a completely indifferent tone, without taking his eyes off the carriage window.
Lina frowned. It only took a few seconds for her to understand that the young master was not wrong.
A place that was considered militarily worthless was exactly the kind of place that nobody supervised.
Also, Gray Valley had a twisted and annoying geographical structure, and its land was basically useless.
But a question did not leave her mind.
"But… why would they attack us?"
"Their goal is simple. Either take me hostage, or kill me." Reinh finally looked at her. His eyes had no emotion inside them.
"You?" Lina froze.
"Even if I am an illegitimate child, I am still a Vorhelm."
"Killing or taking me hostage can give the barbarians a lot of morale."
Illegitimate or not, he was the child of the Patriarch of the Vorhelm family, and he carried the Vorhelm name.
In his previous life, the barbarians had been very happy and proud when they captured and tortured a Vorhelm.
Even if that Vorhelm was an exile. In the end, he still had Vorhelm blood, and the fact that he was an exile actually made him even more tempting for many people.
After all, they could release their anger and hatred toward the Vorhelms on him without worrying about the Vorhelms taking revenge.
But that was not the whole truth.
There were things Reinh intentionally did not say. Like how the barbarians knew the exact time of their travel. Such coordination was not accidental.
Even though he was famous as the only illegitimate child of the Patriarch, he was not famous enough for the barbarians to know the exact time of his return to the Garden of Crowns, and even the exact route they were taking.
This was only possible if an external force was involved.
A quiet coldness passed through his eyes.
He did not expect that woman to act so quickly. Did she really feel threatened? Did she think she must remove him as fast as possible?
Or was her pride damaged because she had failed to kill him before?
The more interesting thing is that the woman seemed to be so crazy that she was even willing to join forces with the enemies of the Vorhelms.
And he did not believe for even a moment that his father was unaware of such a thing. But even so, his father chose to close his eyes to it.
It did not matter.
Suddenly, louder screams came from outside. This time they were clear; the battle had started. The sound of metal hitting metal, short and rough shouts, and strikes with killing intent.
"Young master, please wait here. I will return soon." Lina stood up. She looked at Reinh with a serious expression.
Before Reinh could answer, she opened the carriage door and stepped outside. At the same moment, she closed the door behind her, and a thick layer of mana covered the entire carriage.
It was not hard to understand. She had sealed the carriage with her mana… to protect her young master.
Reinh showed no reaction. He was not worried about Lina.
Behind her calm and gentle appearance, she was a Seven-Ring mana user.
Reinh tried to look outside through the window, but the chains wrapped around the carriage blocked all vision.
He leaned back slowly. There was no fear on his face and no rush in his movements.
At that moment, a majestic voice rang inside his mind.
"Kid… I only slept for a short time. Why are there so many hostile auras around you?"
A moment later, a miniature form of Arceus appeared above his head.
"Barbarians. Ambush." Reinh explained very briefly.
"It is nothing important. It will finish soon." Then he added:
"You are too calm." Arceus made a mocking sound.
"Forget it." He paused for a moment, then as if remembering who he was talking to, asked with curiosity:
"But how can these humans you call barbarians move so easily inside your borders? Does your clan not care?"
"Why would a God personally deal with mortals?" Reinh said with no change in expression.
Arceus frowned.
"Dealing with barbarians is probably part of a trial. A trial for the young generation of the clan. If my father wanted to deal with them, they would all be dead already." Reinh continued.
In his last life, he had thought about this many times. Why did his father never order the complete destruction of the barbarians? Why did he allow them to do whatever they wanted? Why did he just stand aside and watch the destruction and killing of the people who lived near the eastern borders?
He understood the answer later, when he became stronger.
"Humans are really strange creatures. If an outsider dared to approach the land of the dragons, we would burn his entire bloodline." Arceus said with annoyance.
Reinh ignored him and focused a little on the outside.
"There has not been any noise for a while." Then he asked:
"How many auras do you feel close to the carriage?"
"Two people, and they are not hostile." Arceus focused for a moment.
However, suddenly a bloody scream tore through the air.
"Both of them are dead." Arceus said instantly.
A cold smile appeared on Reinh's lips.
It did not take long for the carriage doors to be ripped off with a wild force. The mana layer broke under the pressure of the chains and collapsed.
Light from outside entered the carriage.
"Haha! We finally caught the Vorhelm bastard." A rough voice said with a mocking laugh.