A Demon's Journey

All members of the Heretical Paladins followed the Great Eagle's lead. The Great Eagle led them through a shortcut where they didn't encounter any beasts.

In fact, on the way, they found many rare fruits and other eatables that increased the cultivation of a few members.

Even Noah's cultivation increased by eating a red fruit called the Crimson Melon. This fruit was filled with a rich quantity of Ardor and possessed a trace of Flame Laws.

All the warriors who ate this Crimson Melon became stronger. Their Ardor's quantity increased substantially. Those who possessed Flame Element gained even more benefits as their Flame Element became denser and fiercer.

As they walked through the shortcut, one of Noah's subordinates asked, "Just how did our Master convince this Great Eagle to let us pass through this forest?"

"Don't know. But I can guess that it's related to that tiny bird. I saw that bird with Master Azaroth before. It must have a unique identity," Another warrior spoke.

"That's natural. If not, how could that Great Eagle personally come to meet our Master?" Another warrior spoke.

Meanwhile, Aria and Luna were more curious about Noah's conversation with the Great Eagle. Aria asked him, "What did the Great Eagle say?"

Noah didn't have any reason to conceal that conversation from her, so he answered, "The Eagle informed me that it had lost its eggs due to a moment of carelessness. It wants us to recover those eggs or children for it. I have three feathers of this Great Eagle which will be useful in identifying or sensing its children."

"Oh," Aria spoke while contemplating deeply about this.

"Isn't the Great Qin Empire quite large? It will be difficult to find this Eagle's eggs or its children even with the help of these feathers," Luna commented.

Aria found herself agreeing with Luna's thoughts. However, Noah shook his head and spoke, "I have promised the Great Eagle that I will find her children and return them to her soon. And I will definitely do that."

"But still, why would the Great Eagle let us pass through this forest? Just what did that tiny bird say to force the Great Eagle to personally escort us to the Great Qin Empire."

Noah rolled his eyes and responded, "Well, that tiny bird's identity isn't as normal as you think it is."

Aria and Luna didn't receive their answer, but they knew this was the closest answer they would get from Noah.

It took them nearly 35 days to pass that Forbidden Forest. This was how long the shortcut to the Great Qin Empire was.

As they stepped into the Great Qin Empire's territory, Noah suddenly flew in the air and asked the Great Eagle, "How do I contact you?"

"Those feathers contained a trace of my Spirit. You just need to fill those feathers with your Ardor, and I will sense my Spirit and immediately head to your location," The Great Eagle responded calmly. It had naturally thought of such an issue.

Noah nodded in acceptance and spoke, "Very well. I thank you for personally escorting my group through the forest. Moreover, we found many precious herbs and rare fruits that greatly boosted the strength of my group. I will definitely repay this act of graciousness."

The Great Eagle responded offhandedly while staring at Zena, "I couldn't have disobeyed the command of a Beast God's inheritor. Stay careful of the path ahead."

"We will. Thank you once again," Noah spoke before landing on the ground again.

The Great Eagle soon returned to its nest in the Forbidden Forest while Zena flew immediately flew back towards the Glerian Kingdom. It was heading towards Ralph's position.

Ralph had informed her of the direction he would be traveling so that Zena could find him on her way back.

Ralph's group had already crossed the Glerian Kingdom. They had entered the Sinyalian Kingdom's territory. Since the two kingdoms had merged, the border area had disappeared.

Thus, Ralph's group had no problem crossing the borders between the Glerian Kingdom and the Sinyalian Kingdom.

Meanwhile, the Heretical Paladins were traveling deeper into the Great Qin Empire. They skipped the first few villages and towns since Noah believed they were dangerous.

There was a small possibility that the Great Qin Empire had planted spies in these cities who were to eliminate any intruders entering from the forest.

But then again, there was another possibility that they didn't do that since no one had managed to enter the Great Qin Empire through the forest in the last couple of decades.

However, Noah couldn't ignore this possibility. He was in an unknown Empire and had no idea of the Emperor's personality. The latter possibility was more likely to be true if the Emperor had a cautious personality. Meanwhile, the former was more likely to be true if it was a careless Emperor.

Leaving things up to fate wasn't a good idea. So, Noah decided to skip the first few towns and enter the fifth town.

All the Heretical Paladins noticed that the routes of the Great Qin Empire were much superior to the routes in the Glerian Kingdom.

The path was made up of stones. It was clean and seemed perfect for the carriages.

The second thing they noticed was the number of caravans on these routes. Nearly hundreds of caravans have passed the Heretical Paladins.

Moreover, all these caravans seemed to belong to different businessmen. Trade was clearly flourishing in this Empire.

Thirdly, there were many inns and restaurants on the way. Thus, the Heretical Paladins didn't need to set up a camp on the road. They just had to travel a bit more and could stay in an inn by the road.

The inn was rather luxurious and had a comfortable bed along with a bath. It could be compared to the best inns available in the Glerian Kingdom's capital.

Moreover, the restaurant had unfamiliar-looking food, but all of them were absolutely delicious. Fortunately, the restaurant manager and the innkeeper accepted the Glerian Kingdom's currency.

Noah was startled to notice that the Glerian Kingdom's coins lost nearly ten times their value in the Great Qin Empire.

This implied that ten coins of Qretas, the Glerian Kingdom's currency, would be worth only one coin of Taka, the Great Qin Empire's currency.

Noah secretly exchanged all his Qretas with Taka. The first reason was to have plenty of local currency.

Secondly, these coins seemed to scream that he was an intruder. Only someone from the Glerian Kingdom would possess so many Qretas and not a single coin of Taka.

Noah possessed vast wealth, and the man who converted those Qretas guessed that Noah's identity in the Glerian Kingdom wasn't simple. Noah must be one of the fleeing nobles of the Glerian Kingdom.

This would explain his vast wealth. The man didn't charge extra because he wished to form contact with Noah.

Noah understood the innkeeper's desire and welcomed it. He had to ensure the innkeeper wouldn't reveal the truth about him.

He had to live in the Great Qin Empire for two years at least before he would be considered a Great Qin Empire citizen. This would allow Noah to pass through that Border Line without an issue.

The Voice Transmission Array Stone was also a bit different, and all members of the Heretical Paladins were forced to buy one.

It took the Heretical Paladins 16 days to reach Granca Town. This town seemed to place a heavy focus on agriculture as it was filled with vegetable fields.