Hellbents
Chapter 16: Englerock

The rest of the night Ava went through with. The word did not match the truth, considering the veiled investigation that was accompanied by a sharp gaze from Al that made him break out in cold sweat. Starting from what weapons he usually wears, whether he fights since childhood, taught by whom, his motives live as a hunter, Ava answered with a long-winded, long-winded, even some time he shifted the direction of the conversation to focus on Al himself, which was reciprocated also with pleasantries or general answers that Ava doubted the truth. The employer and the servant are the same.

For hours Ava observed the middle-aged man while answering and interrogating him. The man had hair that was completely gray, neatly combed back without any strands being misplaced, his countenance always flat despite his gray eyes narrowing ferociously. Ava had never seen him fight, but her reflexes were high class, of course with high levels and status points above 20 by default Ava would consider strong the man. When he stepped, Al walked swiftly but without a sound, as well as when he did other things, as if it was his duty in everyday life. Perhaps this is what has to do with the man's secret identity. The servant of a prince had a level above 50, definitely not an ordinary person.

Ava awakens River to take turns night watch, explaining the situation as to why Roy slept next to River who was shocked. Ezra was replaced by Roy. A prince doesn't deserve to be awakened to be a night watchman, you mean? By the way, the friendly-looking big-bodied man is indeed easy to make friends. Not long ago, River and their newest member had a light chat, looking familiar.

Ava was sleeping, her dagger was under the backpack that she made a pillow.

***

The thin blanket that wrapped him could not beat the autumn cold wind. Ava wakes up with shivering legs and mosquito bumps on her arms and neck. Seeing the other members still sleepy except for Al, Ava decided to do light exercise after running around their camp, but had time.

A few hours through a small road flanked by dense trees, the group finally came out of the forest, greeted by green lowlands that stretch as far as the eye can see. Some small villages with a difference of kilometers are on the left right of their journey, small farms residents also once distribute Ava with the sound of chicken cock or cow moaning.

This means that they will soon arrive at Englerock.

But the phenomenon he first saw, although many times he heard in the fantasy world, occurred not far from the position of Ava's horse carriage at that time. A gate.

The three-meter-tall gate that emits blue-colored energy is surrounded by dozens of people, only two of whom are dressed in eye-catching royal uniforms. On top of that, a large screen contains level 10 limit info to enter the gate along with three participants with the most contribution points.

Contribution points as expected literally, is a benchmark of a person's results in conquering the existing gate, the greater the contribution points the more valuable the prize will be, and the more valuable it will be, in addition, publicly displayed contribution points can attract the attention of groups who want to recruit someone in their guild. However, low-level gates do not attract attention, perhaps because that is not a lot of people there.

“Do you think it's the level 10 gate that appeared two months ago, this is their ninth crackdown? So it's only a matter of time before the gate disappears,” Roy suddenly makes a sound seeing Ava who shows interest.

“From what I saw the participants were just ordinary villagers,” the girl replied.

“Yes, because the gate can only be entered by people below level 10, and people with level 10 are mostly just adult men who are not too experienced in fighting or a child who is good at fighting.”

But Ava can not be sure that in the future he will never enter a gate, because there are so many materials and artifacts that come from there, besides there is a possibility that someone, Eve, is, will tell him to conquer a gate in the interest of Ava's return to the original world.

So Ava should at least experiment once. Censored names can be considered unregistered, so participants may be asked to enter them manually. And in case the sensor is displayed as it is, then Ava just need to find a gate that is not much observed and less supervision, and will disappear afterwards.

Luckily, there was such a gate before his eyes. The longest record a gate has held is after ten submissions, so Ava just hopes her unlucky fate doesn't interfere in the matter.

Not long after, the fresh smell of the ocean entered her nose, Ava could almost taste the salty taste on her tongue. The blue ocean reflects sunlight that looks more like a collection of light on the edge of the world. Large ships anchored themselves in the harbor that were even seen busy in the distance. Ava finds a seagull racing their horse-drawn carriage from a clear sky that is not covered in clouds.

They arrived at Englerock.

Finally, after two days of stifling travel due to the presence of three unwanted people. Ava would be very upset if Ezra planned another suspicious scheme here. But even if the prince insists on following her again, Ava will refuse because of their different destination. There is no way he knows his destination that far, even River only understands that Ava must cross the ocean so it needs a ship, not a specific destination. So this information is unlikely to leak.

“Thank you for the care of you two in these two days,” Al said seriously, Ezra nodded and Roy bowed. Ava replied with a Hollywood smile when a bag of coins fell into her hand, “It's nice to work with you guys.”

“Then, what if this cooperation is continued until the departure of the ship?”

Before River reflex answered, Ava had already gone ahead. “Ah, unfortunately I have other affairs in this city, so you should hire a guard from the guild center.”

Ava is well acquainted with this technique, foot-in-the-door negotiation. One can approve large requests after being preceded by small requests because humans have “thoughts continue”. River used it on Ava until a few days ago, which is why he was able to agree to his participation in the adventure back to the original dimension. But for Ezra, Ava has to be more affirmative. He had to be careful every time he spoke to the cunning prince.

“Wah, what a pity, even though our conversation is exciting.”

Fun just for you.