Wild Dragon of Rome 30

“It’s time to move,” I said the moment the sun disappeared at the horizon as I poked Lillian, pulling her out of her trance. “How was your trance? Any improvement?”

“Unbelievable,” she said. “Feel free to alert me whenever that mana build-up gets too much.”

I chuckled. “So, you only want to use me for my mana. How merciless,” I teased.

“Shut up,” she said, blushing. She slapped my arm, I just chuckled, ignoring the temptation to tell her that mana buildup had already reached a difficult degree. It would be fun …

But, just because there was no immediate sign of danger didn’t mean that we were safe. Even with the false trail, and unexpectedly large distance we managed to traverse, all it would take was one mistake for us to have a tail.

And, I much rather run away without dodging elemental spells.

“Hop on,” I said as I knelt, asking her to jump on my back. While it was more fun to carry her in a bridal hold, it was better to have my hands free. She did, and I started running at full speed, my enhanced senses allowing me to maintain awareness.

“Do you think we can arrive at the border in a week?” she asked.

“Depends on what we encounter,” I said. “However, assuming moderate trouble, a week should be doable with my sleep.” Then, I chuckled. “Assuming, of course, I can maintain my motivation. Running without resting is not easy.”

“What do you need?” she asked, worried.

“Well, I wouldn’t say no to the occasional kiss,” I said, which earned another playful slap.

“You’re a shameless rogue,” she growled, but it wasn’t enough to keep her giggles down. I gave her a heroic pose, which was already absurd enough under normal circumstances. And, with her on my shoulders, while I continued to run at full speed, its absurdity compounded even more. “Alright, I surrender. I’ll keep you entertained,” she surrendered before leaning and kissing me.

“Better, “ I said with exaggerated smugness. It kept me entertained, and it kept her distracted. Of course, distracting her like that had certain drawbacks, particularly when she put her hands on my hair, caressing it softly. That itself wasn’t too big of a problem, but soon her hands trailed down to my neck and shoulders, their dance more playful. “You’re pushing your luck,” I warned her.

“I don’t know what you mean,” she answered, not bothering to conceal her mirth.

“You’re lucky that we can’t waste the night time, or…” I said, growling in a way that I knew she liked. With our bodies connected, I could feel her heat up under that growl. Good, I wasn’t the only one that was being tortured.

“You’re a mean man, Marcus Scipio,” she called, pouting. I chuckled, which turned into a theme of our unusual trek through the forests of Western Gaul. We occasionally had the take wide turns, avoiding occasional villages or the hunting parties that had decided to stay outside overnight, but otherwise, the journey was monotonous.

Shockingly so, considering our circumstances.

Two things had played a role in our success. The first one was my senses. Not only I was able to detect the presence of any hunter, village, or even the occasional mage that might prove to be troubling, but also I was able to sense the beasts around us. And, since my detection was not limited to their mana presence but also factored in smell, sound, and vision, I was able to assess them even better. I knew which one I could ignore, and which I needed to avoid, which allowed me to even faster.

Then, we came across a checkpoint, which was sealed during the night.

One of the most important ways Rome maintained control of its provinces was the checkpoints. Every important mountain passage and bridge had provincial soldiers guarding it, collecting taxes and controlling movement at the same time. The assigned guards were often not very impressive, but they didn’t need to be.

Not when every checkpoint was equipped with giant bells that could be rung to alert the nearest legion, which sent somewhere between one contubernium — eight soldiers, usually led by an apprentice mage — to a century — eighty soldiers, led by a mage — to respond depending on the importance of the passage and the alert status.

Even mages couldn’t bypass those checkpoints easily, as they had at least one scout capable of detecting magic assigned to the area, and any magic attempt would be detected. So, unless someone could swim through a raging river, or climb through a beast-infested hill without using any magic, avoiding those checkpoints was very difficult.

It seemed that the Roman Republic didn’t consider someone to absorb a dragon heart to their body, combine it with some random druidic ritual and crazy failed breakthrough attempt to gain the exact ability to bypass those.

What an oversight!

Lillian didn’t seem to consider that fact, as she tensed on my shoulders. “Maybe we should wait until the morning,” she said. “That way, we can mix in with the merchants and travelers.”

“No need,” I said. “We can just bypass it.”

“We can’t,” she gasped in panic. “If we kill the checkpoint guards, there’ll be a manhunt! And, everything we have done will be for nothing—” she started before I reached up, pressing my finger against her lips.

“Calm down, sweetie. I know,” I said. “I have a simpler thing in mind. Think about how we escaped from the island. We’re going to do the same.”

She blushed. “Oh, I forgot about that,” she said.

“Don’t worry, it takes time to learn how to keep a cool head when facing emergencies. The key thing is to take a deep breath and consider every single solution first.”

“I … I will do better,” she promised.

“Don’t worry, and just hold tight,” I said as we moved away from the outpost, and instead went toward the most intimidating part of the hill. With my improved strength, I was able to climb through the face of the hill easily,

With that, I ignored the palisade that was built at the entrance, and started climbing the sharp hill with ease, Lillian’s weight on my back not even slowing down. Of course, the hill was dangerous for more than just the angle of the climb and unstable footage, but many beasts lived on it. Mostly birds, but there would be often Earth-natured snakes capable of digging tunnels, hunting those birds.

Not exactly simple opponents, making me glad for my ability to detect and avoid them with ease. And, just like that, what was supposed to be an impossible ordeal even for a four-element mage turned into a casual stroll.

I was getting more and more happy about my failed breakthrough. As long as everything went perfectly —

Just as I was thinking that, Lillian let out a fearful gasp, which scared me despite not having anything around. I reached for the stone knife reflexively even as I looked around. “What’s wrong!” I asked, looking for a threat, but finding none.

“Y-your body,” she stammered.

I bit down a dirty joke. I never heard her this shocked, not even when discussing my failed breakthrough. “Tell me, what’s going on?”

“I … I was just checking to understand how you can run that fast without tiring when … when…” she stammered, still shocked. I put her on the ground and grabbed her shoulders.

“Tell me,” I said, feeling unsettled by her reaction.

“Did you realize that your body is actually absorbing mana?” she asked.

I froze.

That was a good reason to panic.

“No, that’s impossible,” I said even as I closed my eyes and focused on my body. It was impossible. I couldn’t absorb mana directly. It was one of the cardinal rules of the world. Humans couldn’t absorb mana directly, and required vitae to do so.

Four-element vitae was the most common method, and there were other unique methods like shapeshifters, beast tamers, and druids, that either used different kinds of vitae or even used external mediums. But, across all those methods, one cardinal rule was never broken. Not even for sorcerers.

The human body couldn’t absorb mana directly.

I kept my eyes closed, watching the circulation of mana carefully, but failed to find it. “Focus on your legs,” Lillian commented.

I focused on my legs, understanding the rationale immediately. It was the part that had been exhausted the most. I watched the mana circulate around … and a minuscule part of it suddenly disappeared.

I wanted to deny what was going on, but denying the obvious was the domain of the stupid and the dead. Instead, I pulled my knife, and stabbed my arm, avoiding veins. Lillian gasped in shock, but I ignored her complaints as I focused on the mana flow.

The mana gathered to the wound, directly being absorbed as it helped me recover. “Impossible,” I muttered, ignoring the sudden sense of hunger that accompanied the sudden recovery.

However, when I rubbed off the blood, another nasty surprise was waiting for me.

A small scale. Solitary and glowing…

“Do we—” Lillian said, but I interrupted her.

“No, ignore it,” I said. “The plan stays the same. I’ll do my best not to get hurt, we’ll spend more time experimenting once we find a mana-dense location.” My tone was rude and sharp, but Lillian just nodded.

And, I continued running.