Ning was surprised, to say the least, flustered even. To the side, Shara was stunned as well. Thankfully, the other two couples didn’t seem to have heard what the old woman had said. “Grandma, what… do you mean about my future?” Ning asked. “I will die?”

He stared at her, wondering what she was.

“I… am an Exorcist,” the old woman said on her own. “Have been for a long time. And for a long time, I’ve had the power to see other people’s fate.”

She stared directly at Ning and continued, “In you, I see death in your future. And in her, I see…”

The old woman turned to Shara and paused. Her eyes narrowed a little, staring closer at Shara. “That’s… weird.”

“What?” Shara asked, scared. “What… what do you see?”

“Nothing,” the woman said. “You have no future. That’s not possible.”

Ning looked at Shara and quickly realized what may have been happening. The old woman could see his fate, but for Shara, nothing showed because her powers didn’t work on Shara. It wasn’t that Shara had no future, but her powers stopped the woman from viewing her fate. “That is very, very weird,” the old woman said, sinking back into her seat. She drowned in her own thoughts, not looking around at all.

Ning quickly whispered to Shara, explaining why she had no future. Shara thought for a moment and sighed in relief. She had begun having some dark thoughts about her future right there.

“When was it?” the woman asked herself softly, seemingly trying to remember something. “Grandma, could you perhaps tell me exactly what you can see?” Ning asked.

The old woman looked at him and said, “You have to first tell me what is going on. Why did the guard try to stop you? If you had spoken there, you would’ve died.”

Ning frowned a little. Why had the guard stopped him there?

“I’m not sure,” he said. “We just came to the city in the evening the day before yesterday. We went around the city yesterday, and we’re leaving today. We didn’t steal anything, broke no laws as far as I can tell, and have mostly kept to ourselves.”

“Is that so?” the old woman asked, her stare digging into Ning.

Ning nodded.

“Is there nothing more? I do not see why that guard stopped you. He wasn’t even a regular guard, but one of their leaders probably,” the old woman said. “Are you sure you did nothing wrong? Maybe not in this city, but in another one.”

Ning’s eyes slowly widened in surprise. “How… would they know if I did something in another city?” he asked. “Those places are hundreds of kilometers apart.”

The old woman suddenly slapped him on the back. “You did something, didn’t you? Don’t you know how fast their Overtaker-bound spirits can travel? They can traverse kilometers in minutes. They can go from one city to another in a matter of hours and come back. What did you do in the other city?”

Ning took a deep breath in. He hadn’t realized that was how fast the spirits could move. ‘Shit. Did they already let them know that we left Whitebridge? Are they trying to look for us?’

Ning was certain they didn’t know their exact features, but they had to have their descriptions. A young man with no older than 20 walking around with a girl no older than 16. If that had been passed along to Ternia, that man had been there to capture them.

If the old woman hadn’t stepped in to tell him that they were their grandchildren, they would’ve likely been captured.

‘I would’ve fought,’ Ning thought. ‘And I would’ve died.’

If that was true, then the old woman had in fact saved them from their fate.

“Are you going to say anything?” the old woman asked.

Ning took a deep breath and nodded. “We’ll tell you.”

A while later, the carriage was filled completely and began moving toward Yalkost City. They had to go over a small hill to the west before dipping toward the south for a while before they made their way through a large grassland, followed by thick woods.

There were many carriages before them and many after them. They were all worried about bandits, so there were many people in those carriages who were there just to fight them off. Ning explained everything to the old woman. He thought himself a good judge of character, and the old woman would certainly want to help them, hopefully.

He told her why they were on the run and what they were hoping to achieve by going to the Empire.

The old woman took over the information and sighed. She patted Ning on the back and said, “You’re a good kid.”

Ning smiled a little. “So that’s about it. We don’t really know what we’re doing, but we’ll figure it out eventually.”

“I’m sure you will,” the old woman said. “But your story… I remember something about this. What was it?”

She seemed even more confused now. “My stupid age is catching up to me. Look at me, not able to remember,” she said, trying desperately to remember.

“What are you trying to remember?” Ning asked.

“I once worked with a man briefly who had powers exactly like this young girl,” she said. “I’m trying to remember who that man was.”

Ning immediately became hopeful. “You knew someone like that? Are you sure?”

Shara perked up as well, curious. Many people within the carriage looked toward them, many seemingly wondering what the hubbub was all about.

“I’m sure,” the woman said. “We worked together on a few cases with Spirits. But I’m having trouble remembering. It was long before the kingdom became an empire.” Searᴄh the nôvel_Fire.ηet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

The woman was no older than 70, so she had to be young when she met this man.

“I remember him saying that he called himself something…” the old woman said. “Not that I suppose it matters a lot.”

Ning could nearly cry. ‘It matters,’ he thought. ‘I need those 20 points.’

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