"Are you sure you guys don’t want to go?" Helena asked, tears welling in the corners of her eyes as she held Linda’s hands.
The three had already asked everyone.
While a minority who were still relatively young and confident in sustaining a town life decided to go with them, a little over half chose to stay, believing it would be too much for Hal to take care of all of them by himself.
"Yeah, you guys go on first. We’ll follow when my son and the others can help. It wouldn’t be fair for little Hal to shoulder all the burden, you know," responded Linda, unaware of the conflict between Hal and her son.
"Don’t worry. Before you know it, we’ll all be together again at Bunroon. We’ll drag those old souls if push comes to shove, so don’t worry and enjoy your new life there," chimed in the father of Leonard, another of Hal’s former friends.
They decided to wait for Korren and the others to visit and bring them out instead.
Of course, there were a few of the older ones who stubbornly didn’t want to leave, but Linda and the others vowed to convince them.
For now, only Hal, Helena, Lynn, and a few others will be leaving.
Half of them would stay behind to Enjoy reading on NovelHub - your free online novel platform.
Hopefully, by the time Korren and the others returned, everyone would be willing to go.
Money was still an issue.
However, the majority of the villagers collectively decided that they could simply find a way later and just try first.
They could help one another, just as they had here, and if things still didn’t work out, they could always retreat to Poporo.
Unfortunately, Hal’s sidecar could only fit two people and a wolf pup the size of a large dog.
The others would have to travel by donkey carts.
Hal had already gone to the nearest Donkey Exchange Terminal yesterday and rented three full carts for the journey, along with seven E-ranked wizards as guards, all for a single gold coin.
There should be no problem for the other villagers to reach Bunroon Town, though Hal would probably have left before they arrived.
Most of the villagers secretly dreamt of making it out of Poporo.
After all, who would want to live in shallow sleep and constant fear of invasions every day?
They would surely be among the first to perish if the army failed to hold the line one day.
Unfortunately, unlike those who had their children admitted to the Grand Magic Academy, most of the villagers didn’t have any hope of making it out of the sticks, so they were truly grateful that Hal even considered helping them.
It was normally just the direct family of the young wizards who would be able to
"Well then, take care, Aunty Linda, everyone. See you at Bunroon Town soon." Hal smiled, revving his Manatech Motorcycle before disappearing into the horizon with his mother, Aunty Lynn, and Loki.
He was quite glad that he truly went to such lengths for them, especially after witnessing a lot of them cry their hearts out after hearing his generous offer.
Now, although he couldn’t bring all of them with him, he could at least go on with his life with a burdenless heart, knowing he’d done everything he could and was appropriate for the villagers.
The two middle-aged women were somewhat uneasy in the first few hours of travelling, especially when others looked their way.
They were worried whether they looked too much like a bumpkin.
However, when they realized people were merely admiring Hal’s motorcycle, they finally eased up.
Time and changing scenery passed as Hal, Helena, Lynn, and Loki made their way to Bunroon Town, a settlement west of Aeloria about three hours away.
Hal had specifically chosen this town because hunting mundane game would serve as one of the primary sources of income and food for the others.
He couldn’t bring them to a town too far from forests or mountains.
As discussed, Helena and Lynn would temporarily stay there to wait for and help the others get settled before moving to Aeloria.
This would give Hal ample time to gather more funds for their stay.
With the subconscious and unavoidable fear of returning to a devastated border village filled with nothing but ruins of makeshift huts and corpses of people he knew and loved gone, Hal could finally focus on wizardry, unconventional as his ways were.
Bunroon Town was quite a developed settlement and had a few wizards settled.
It even has a small outpost of the Imperial Wizard Guild.
Furthermore, unlike the less developed towns, Bunroon has a paid militia.
His mother and Ennya’s were definitely far safer there than they were in Poporo.
For the next seven days, all the four did was travel towards Bunroon, eat, and camp.
A few beasts did ambush them on the nights when they had to camp out, but they were all mere F-ranked
They didn’t encounter any real problems with Loki keeping watch.
The two middle-aged women enjoyed the trip so much that, before they even realized it, the reinforced wooden walls and arched gateway came into view.
They had arrived at Bunroon Town.
However, the closer they got, the more certain they became that the sounds of an ongoing battle were coming from within.
In addition to a few explosions, there were also the unmistakable clangs of metal clashing against metal.
’Damn it!’ Hal cursed inwardly.
Those were not the sounds he wanted to hear coming from what was supposed to be his mother’s and aunt’s new home.
How the hell was there a skirmish happening in this town when it was right in the middle of the empire’s territory and surrounded by major cities on all sides?
Sure, there was a small forest nearby, but the mana inside wasn’t dense at all, and it only housed mundane creatures, with F-ranked beasts being the apex predators.
It was, more or less, an ordinary forest.
Hal was naturally frustrated, beginning to regret his decision to leave his mother and aunt here.
Unfortunately, the other villagers were already on their way, and they couldn’t leave without at least informing them.
"Loki, protect Mom and Aunty Lynn. I’ll go check what’s going on."