Tangled By Fate

"Aren't we supposed to be in the desert? Where are we now?"

Catherine looked around, confused about what she was seeing.

"This is... not a desert. It's the largest pastureland," Veronica stated.

She had been traveling for some time. She had memorized all the places she had visited.

Right now, they were standing in the middle of a land covered with grass and other low plants.

They could barely see rivers on both sides of the land. The rippling sound of moving water had confirmed that the rivers had stones and pebbles.

Catherine was puzzled. "The pastureland? The largest one at that? Where on earth do we have this pastureland?"

"I don't know the name of this land," Veronica answered. "This place is mostly suitable for animals who eat grass. Unfortunately, we don't have horses to feed."

"We are in a place that has no name?!" Catherine slapped her forehead. "But why are we here? Did Ovior mistakenly send us here?"

"What kind of mistake is that?" Sebastian frowned. He was also dumbfounded like the rest. "He isn't an amateur wizard."

Veronica glanced at Ironin. He had been quiet until now.

"Ironin, what should we do? We didn't prepare any teleportation stones," she said.

Ironin didn't hesitate to answer her.

"We walk."

Catherine's jaw dropped.

Her other three companions might have had physical training but all she had was brain training.

Staying in the tower, all she ever did was work on accounting. After her break up with Vincent, she hardly went on hiking.

They didn't bring any horses. All they could do to reach the desert was walk.

"There s no point thinking why Ovior sent us here." Catherine let out a deep sigh. "The question is where are we now?"

"That's the border of Louses," Sebastian pointed at the west. They could see the forest far away across the river.

"We are too far from the desert," Veronica stated. "We need to head to the north. Does anyone have a map?"

Ironin opened his bag and there was a rolled paper. After he unrolled the paper, the map of the whole continent was revealed.

Looking at the map, Veronica took a sharp breath. "Ironin, don't tell me you drew this map after visiting all the places?"

Ironin gave a short nod of affirmation in return.

"That's amazing!" Veronica couldn't help but praise him.

Even Sebastian looked at Ironin in admiration.

"How do you know he drew it?" Catherine asked.

Veronica pointed out some areas. "These places and details are not in the usual maps we buy from the shops."

"And you memorized the details?! That's mind-blowing!" Catherine exclaimed.

Ironin and Sebastian had to agree with her.

Not sure how to handle this compliment, Veronica went back to the main topic, "In any case, if we just head to the north, we will face mountains that we cannot cross.

"We must move to the northeast. At the border of Tybu, only small hills are left. It won't be an issue to cross Tybu and go to Lynnford."

Ironin acknowledged her plan with a nod.

"Hills... we have to climb hills... and we don't have horses with us..." Catherine looked like she was already drained of energy.

"You cannot complain now," Sebastian told her. "If it wasn't for you, we could reach the border of Tybu in four days by walking. With you, it will take twice the time."

"Who asked you?" Catherine shot daggers at him with her gorgeous blue eyes.

"Twelve days," Ironin corrected Sebastian after he was done with the calculation.

Upon hearing that, Catherine's shoulders slumped as though someone splashed water over her burning fire.

'Savage," Veronica thought.

Since they had nothing else to do, they headed to the northeast. Since Catherine wasn't as fast as them, they had to walk slower than usual.

By the time the sun set on the west, they only crossed 1/8 of the prairie.

Sebastian gathered some sticks and lightened up the fire.

Ironin headed east to check if there was any small animal around them while Veronica headed west to hunt.

Catherine was sitting idly. She was exhausted. After Veronica fell sick, she hardly had time to rest.

Before she gathered enough energy, she had to go for an unexpected adventure that she wasn't ready for.

Staring at the fire, she was thinking of something unknown to the world.

Sebastian stole a glance at her. He sat across the fire. He would sometimes add more dry sticks to keep the fire running.

When he watched the quiet, exhausted girl, he tried to figure out what she was thinking but failed miserably.

Soon, Catherine started to feel drowsy. With someone close to her, she felt secure. Her eyes gradually closed.

Sebastian noticed her dozing off. Her head slowly leaned to the left side.

He quickly got up and sat beside her. When her head moved, it touched his shoulder.

Sebastian carefully adjusted her head so that she could sleep without having neck pain after waking up.

For some unknown reason, a strange warmth started to spread all over his body. The heat unexpectedly came from his shoulder.

Sebastian had no idea why Catherine's head felt like it was burning.

To match up with the heat, his heart was pumping violently. He got nervous thinking if the sleeping beauty next to him would wake up from the sound of his beating heart.

The time was moving slowly. Every second seemed too long.

While Sebastian heard animals calling each other's partners, the fire crackled the sticks.

Veronica was the first to come back. She brought two dead rabbits with her.

She was going to speak when she saw two people snuggling close to each other.

She paused on her track and then slowly approached them. She soundlessly dropped the dead animals and pretended not to care about the other two.

Sebastian noticed her and froze on the spot. He wanted to move but then he paused as he looked at Catherine's sleeping face.

Feeling embarrassed, he scratched his cheek. He took a quick glance at Veronica.