Chapter 150 – Mountain Range
“That’s a trade secret.”
“Hmm.”
He hesitated for a while, opening and closing his mouth several times. Eventually, he simply concluded the topic.
“Well, it’s good for us, I guess.”
“Sorry about not being able to tell you.”
“It’s fine. It’s not like we need to know. And you’re buying food, not drugs. We’re satisfied as long as you’re not wasting it.”
“I can promise you I’m not.”
“That’s all it matters.”
We finished eating and they invited me to stay longer, but I refused. Instead, Kuini was sent to accompany me to the warehouse as usual. When we were seated next to each other on the carriage front seat, she kept sending glances my way, at a higher rate than normal.
“What’s wrong, cute Kuini?”
She looked away as she answered.
“…Please don’t call me that, my Lord.”
“Why not?”
“I’m just a bunny. And you’re…”
“I’m what?”
She didn’t answer and I couldn’t help teasing her.
“I don’t know what you’re imagining but it’s probably far from the truth. I told you, right? I’m just a small trader.”
She shook her head vehemently.
“Yes, I am.”
Her head-shaking movement increased in power as if doing this could change reality, which made me laugh.
“You’re weirdly stubborn, aren’t you?”
She stopped shaking her head to bite her lips. After a small moment of silence, she spoke again.
“My Lord. Please tell me stories about your trip to Makji.”
“All right, but not today. I’m truly in a hurry. Oh, I know. There’s so many of you who asked me to chat some more, so I’ll pick a day to stay a bit longer in the village in the near future.”
Her eyes lit up.
“Is that true?”
“Haha, of course. Why would I lie about it?”
She gave me a brilliant smile.
“I’ll be looking forward to that day, my Lord!”
“Yes, I can’t wait for it too.”
When we reached the warehouse, I swiftly loaded one day’s worth of food and said goodbye to Kuini. There was no need for a long farewell since we were going to see each other every day from now on.
Back to 82, Suuru and I hurried to set up our stall but we were still late compared to usual. A small line of our angry regular customers was already formed and I had to use all my charm to soothe them. They calmed down after hearing we would give them a discount, a strategy that worked so well we extended it to all our clients for the day, allowing us to sell the food even faster than normal.
Still, I didn’t stay for the whole day since Suuru was doing fine on her own. After handling the bulk of the waiting customers, we had a quick lunch on the spot before I left her to handle the rest of the day. She wasn’t extremely happy about it but I just had too many things to do. It didn’t make sense for me to waste time there when it wasn’t necessary.
My next objective was to create an emergency shelter for myself. I had been thinking about it and I knew where to build it. There were a few criteria to make the perfect one. First, it needed to be in a very isolated place, in a spot no one would ever normally go. Then, it needed to be as sealed as possible since once the space was made, the point was for me to be able to teleport there without anyone else being able to enter.
The best possible location, at least for the time being and according to my knowledge, was the Ganit mountain range south of Geola. If going south from Geola, one would encounter dome 82 in the west, the bunnies’ village on the east, and further south, the mountain range. It was ideal because it wasn’t just a small range. It was a massive one, spanning tens of kilometers to the east and west, effectively separating Geola’s region of the continent from its southernmost part, which was directly overlooking the sea.
One important aspect to remember here was stealth, for the hideout itself but also for me going there. It was easy to retrace someone’s path if there were witnesses of that person passing by. From there, anyone investigating me could get a general idea that I had gone there for some reason and maybe eventually discover my shelter, which would spell a lot of trouble since it was considered the last safe place for a spatial mage like me.
As such, I needed to avoid people and even try to avoid people’s sight until I found the perfect spot. Fortunately, it wasn’t that hard for me. When I was certain no one was paying me any attention, I teleported to the sky, high enough that no one could notice me from the ground, above the lower clouds, and far above the normal flight altitude of winged species.
It was cold up there and oxygen was sparse, but I didn’t plan on staying too long. I quickly teleported south again and again and soon reached the mountain range. I lowered my altitude, getting myself under the sea of clouds again, and witnessed the magnificent view offered to me.
The Ganit mountains were even more impressive from so close, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the higher peaks were more than five kilometers high. They were covered in snow starting from around two-thirds of the main peaks’ height and the tallest ones even disappeared beyond the clouds.
Being mid-spring now, there were many streams of melted ice and snow descending the mountains, some of them combining further down to create the river that passed through Geola, north from here.
There were also many waterfalls here and there, creating picturesque scenery that would have long since become highly recommended tourist spots back in my world. Here, however, nature still dominated the place, mostly untouched by people.
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