Keen had lived in a small rural town since he was six, so he really was quite naive. And that wasn't just Keen—Lin Lei got the feeling that Jenny was pretty naive too.
With just a few words, Lin Lei managed to smooth things over with the little fellow Keen.
At the same time, he roughly understood the situation between Keen and his sister.
"Inheriting the position of a county city lord—that's no simple matter, is it?" Lin Lei saw much further than this innocent pair of siblings.
In the O'Brien Empire, cities were ranked by tiers. The highest was naturally the imperial capital, followed by the seven provincial capitals. Below the provincial capitals came the county cities, then ordinary small cities, and finally rural towns.
A county city lord held a rather elevated status.
How could such a position be handed over so easily to a naive boy from the countryside?
After a night of cultivation, Lin Lei opened his eyes to find that dawn had broken.
"Lord Lei, we should arrive at the empire's border city by this evening," Lanz said with a grin. "Lord Lei, why don't we have some breakfast together?"
"Sure."
Lin Lei headed over with Bei Bei. As for Hei Lu... the food they had simply wasn't enough for it. Late the previous night, Hei Lu had slipped into the Magic Beast Mountain Range for a proper feast.
On a carriage not far from Lin Lei.
"Sister, I'm heading out!" Keen happily jumped down from the carriage.
Lambert watched Keen's carefree manner and silently shook his head. Then he looked at Jenny. He knew full well that Jenny was kind-hearted but also quite innocent.
"Miss, don't rush down just yet." Lambert forced a smile.
"Grandpa Lambert, is something wrong?" Jenny looked at him with wide, puzzled eyes.
Lambert said, "Miss, you've seen for yourself—we ran into bandits on this road. Once we reach the border city, we'll have to part ways with this caravan. Then it'll just be this old man escorting you and the young master. If we run into bandits on the road, I may not be able to handle them."
Jenny couldn't help but recall the scene of the bandits' attack the night before.
"Right... what should we do then?" Jenny grew a little nervous.
Lambert smiled. "Miss, did you notice that Lord Lei? He cut down even the bandit leader with a single sword stroke. If Lord Lei agrees to protect you, there will surely be no danger."
Jenny was eighteen, after all—not as clueless as Keen.
"Grandpa Lambert, a strong warrior like that... if I invite him, would he agree?" Jenny looked at Lambert.
Lambert smiled encouragingly. "Don't worry. Just tell him that you and Keen are the children of the lord of Chier County City, and that you're returning so Keen can inherit the position. If he escorts you back safely, you'll reward him handsomely once you reach Chier County City. Remember... don't say anything else. Don't tell him you used to live in a small rural town. That's all you need to say."
Lambert knew very well that if they revealed their full background, the other party would probably refuse.
"Oh."
Jenny didn't notice the gap between Lambert's words and the actual truth.
"Go on. And remember—be sincere," Lambert encouraged her.
"Okay." Jenny nodded, took a deep breath, and mustered her courage to climb down from the carriage.
Watching Jenny descend, Lambert sighed inwardly. "Madam... even in death, you couldn't let it go, could you? You insisted that Jenny and Keen go inherit this county lord position. Baron Weyde may be dead, but the first wife and her people surely won't let Keen take the lord's seat easily."
"If only we had a ninth-level warrior's protection, then it would be a sure thing." Lambert had heard the night before that McKinley had reached the eighth-level. Yet Lin Lei had killed McKinley with a single casual sword strike. In Lambert's estimation, Lin Lei must be a ninth-level warrior.
A gentle breeze blew. After eating his fill, Lin Lei relaxed and rested for a while before the journey would resume.
"The O'Brien Empire... ah, we'll be there tonight." Lin Lei lay on the flatbed cart, waiting comfortably for departure. But then, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a graceful figure approaching.
"Jenny?" Lin Lei sat up, puzzled.
Jenny walked over somewhat hesitantly. Seeing Lin Lei sitting upright and looking her way, she quickly managed a smile. "Lord Lei, hello."
"Miss Jenny, hello." Lin Lei was a bit confused—what was she here for?
Jenny stood there, dithering for a moment, not sure how to begin.
"Miss Jenny, is something the matter?" Lin Lei asked.
Jenny's face flushed slightly; she looked a little nervous. "Lord Lei, it's like this—my brother and I are heading to our father's county city. My brother is going to inherit the position of city lord. But I'm worried about danger on the road, so I'd like to ask you, Lord Lei... to protect us."
Having blurted it out in one breath, Jenny began to stammer.
Lin Lei had a general sense of the O'Brien Empire's geography. His brother Wotton was in O'Brien Province, the southernmost province of the O'Brien Empire.
Where they were now was probably the empire's northwestern province.
From the northwestern province to the southernmost O'Brien Province would take a year and a half at least. Of course, if Lin Lei rode his Cloud Leopard at full speed, he could cover over a thousand miles in a day and arrive within ten.
But Lin Lei wasn't in a hurry.
His brother was studying at Obren Academy—what was the rush? Right now, the most important thing was cultivation, to improve his strength as much as possible.
"Protect you—and for how long?" Lin Lei asked with a smile.
"Not very long!" Jenny said quickly. "Chier County City is right here in the northwestern province. From here, we'd estimate ten days to half a month to get there. We'll be sure to repay you generously."
"Repay me?"
Lin Lei sighed inwardly. With his experience, he could tell: how could the position of a county city lord fall so easily into the hands of two innocent siblings with no backing?
"We'll give you lots of gold coins," Jenny said, looking at him hopefully.
Lin Lei joked, "How many gold coins are we talking about?"