Chapter 449: Chapter 446 – Journey on Muddy Ground

Night slowly and steadily crept across the western sky, sweeping away the last remnants of the golden-orange glow that had lingered after yesterday afternoon’s destructive storm. Inside the shelter cave that still retained some of the warm temperature from the bonfire embers, Sylvia sat relaxed, leaning against the solid natural stone wall while gazing straight out through the cave entrance.

The lingering savory aroma characteristic of the ancient crocodile roasted meat they had eaten that afternoon still left a faint but tempting scent in the cave’s air. The golden kitten was curled up very comfortably on Sylvia’s lap; its small belly, now full from the premium meat portions, rose and fell in a very calm, steady, and peaceful breathing rhythm.

Sylvia slowly rose from her seated position with extremely smooth movements so as not to startle the sacred beast on her lap. She walked slowly toward the outside of the cave to perform a tactical inspection and periodically check the outdoor terrain conditions. Stacia and Alicia, noticing the movement, immediately got up from their resting spots and followed behind their sister.

The night air outside immediately greeted their skin with a cool, rather damp sensation. Fortunately, the pressure was no longer as suffocating and heavy as when the floodwater volume was at its peak earlier that day. Sylvia walked steadily toward the edge of the rocky cliff overlooking the main trail at the lower elevation.

The sight below showed a fairly significant natural anomaly. The thick brownish floodwater that had reached a massive depth of two full meters earlier that day had now drastically and rapidly decreased in volume. Along the main road’s surface, only a shallow layer of ankle-deep water remained, mixed evenly with a thick spread of extremely muddy, sticky, and glistening soil that reflected the moonlight from the horizon.

"The rate at which the floodwater is receding is unusually fast," Sylvia murmured in a low, cold voice. Her dark red eyes continued performing mechanical calculations on the mud traction below. "Yesterday’s heavy rain phenomenon indeed contained many strange parameters. The storm structure arrived instantly with extremely destructive power, and now the flooding phase is also receding at a speed that doesn’t align with normal natural laws."

Stacia stepped forward closer to Sylvia’s position. "There’s a high chance of large-scale mana fluctuation interference embedded in the core territory of this border forest region. Or... there might be a much more massive spatial anomaly currently in the process of activation around our route."

Alicia nodded in agreement, her graceful fingers idly playing with the tip of her magic staff in a steady rhythm. "Even though the water volume has decreased significantly, the ground surface characteristics down there are still in a very muddy and unstable phase. Will we force ourselves to continue moving the carriage tonight as well, Sylvia?"

Sylvia remained silent for a moment in a silence heavy with tactical calculations. Her red eyes scanned every inch of the trail’s curves below the hill before she finally gave her final decision. "We will continue the journey tonight. The mechanical structure of our trading carriage was designed with high durability, and the pair of zombie horses in front have no biological fatigue limits like normal animals. However, we need some additional structural modifications on the wheels to prevent mechanical slipping."

The three of them immediately turned around and walked back into the cave to pack up all the remaining camping logistics equipment. Sylvia opened her dimensional system storage and took out several spare high-strength steel chains coated with anti-slip magic formulas.

With Stacia’s magical assistance using wind currents to lift the several-hundred-kilogram carriage body off the cave floor, Sylvia moved with great agility to wrap the special iron chains around the outer surface of their wooden carriage wheels. The steel chains wrapped tightly, creating an extra sharp and aggressive grip structure to cut through the slippery muddy ground. The characteristic mechanical sound echoed inside the cave as the chains locked perfectly: klek... klek... klek...

"Wheel structure modifications like this should be more than enough to overcome the mud friction resistance outside," Sylvia said while testing the tension of the steel chains with several strong pulls from her left hand. The golden kitten sat watching the entire process from the carriage roof, its golden tail tip wagging quickly with high curiosity.

After all the technical preparations were completed without missing a single parameter, the three of them immediately boarded the trading carriage. Sylvia took her main position on the outer coachman’s seat with the reins firmly in her grip, while the golden kitten returned to a comfortable spot on her lap.

Stacia and Alicia entered the tightly closed passenger compartment, positioning themselves in full alert mode to anticipate any potential threats emerging from the forest darkness. With a gentle tug on the reins from Sylvia, the pair of jet-black zombie horses began moving forward in unison, pulling the carriage out of the shelter cave’s darkness.

The moment the chain-wrapped carriage wheels first touched the muddy ground on the main road below the hill, the zombie horses instinctively slowed their pace to adjust traction. Crrreeeet... Crrreeeet... Heavy mechanical scraping sounds echoed in the night air as the carriage wheels struggled to cut through the thick, sticky mud layer.

The zombie horses, which could usually run with great agility, were now forced to step with extreme caution; their sturdy legs sank several tens of centimeters into the black mud with every step.

Sylvia did not force the speed, allowing the undead instincts of the two creatures to adapt independently to this annoying new terrain. A few minutes later, after their body coordination rhythm had perfectly aligned with the mud resistance, the carriage’s acceleration began to gradually but steadily increase. The steel chain modifications on the tires proved to work extremely efficiently, providing constant mechanical grip so the carriage did not slip or get stuck in the living mud pits.

The night journey through the darkness of the border forest region proceeded in a relatively comfortable and safe silence. Moonlight occasionally slipped through the dense canopy of giant trees, providing natural illumination on the wet, glistening road surface.

Faintly, the howling of night wolves or the movement of territorial wild beasts that had just awakened after the storm could be heard echoing in the distant forest vegetation. However, not a single monster or living creature dared approach the perimeter of their trading carriage, which was directly guarded by three extremely terrifying powerful entities.

After traveling for nearly four full hours at a slow but very stable pace, Sylvia’s sharp red eyes caught the faint glow of lantern light on the horizon ahead. A small village settlement stood firmly amid the wet post-flood forest vegetation.

The architectural characteristics of the buildings in the village looked very unique and interesting; all the residential houses were built with a vertically elevated concept, standing solidly on massive ancient wooden pillars resembling large-scale traditional stilt houses. The warm yellow glow of oil lanterns shone through several window gaps, providing a contrasting sense of life in the middle of the pitch-black forest night silence.

"We will stop and spend the night in the stilt village ahead," Sylvia’s voice transmission instantly echoed through their special telepathic link into Stacia and Alicia’s minds inside the carriage.

As their trading carriage began approaching the simple yet sturdy wooden village gate, a middle-aged man acting as the gatekeeper, holding a lit torch in his right hand, stepped forward to block the path. The man wore a thick waterproof coat made of animal hide and tall mud boots; his face showed deep fatigue but still maintained a high level of vigilance toward the arrival of strangers.

"Stop right there! Who are you really, and where are you headed on a dark night like this?" the gatekeeper asked in a hoarse voice full of interrogative firmness.

Sylvia gently pulled the horse reins, stopping the carriage a few meters before the torchlight’s reach. "We are a group of traveling merchants on a journey. Our caravan was caught by the extreme storm yesterday afternoon upstream and could only force ourselves to continue moving tonight after the floodwaters receded. Is there any commercial lodging facility still operating in this village?"

The gatekeeper narrowed his eyes, directing his torchlight to carefully scan the entire carriage structure and the physical appearance of the three beautiful girls on the vehicle. His eyes widened for a moment in surprise at the unusual visual charm of the three sisters, but as a border veteran, he quickly regained his emotional stability.

"There is one decent inn in this village," the man replied while slightly lowering the torch’s direction. "It’s managed by a woman named Ran, located at the eastern end of the village perimeter. Just follow this straight path, then turn left right after passing the giant tree in the middle of the square. Its building is the tallest and most magnificent in the village, so it will be very hard to miss."

"Thank you very much for the directions," Sylvia replied with a short, polite nod while still maintaining her cold dignity.

The gatekeeper then turned a mechanical lever, slowly opening the wooden village gate and signaling with his hand for their carriage to enter. "Maintain your caution when traveling inside the village roads. Even though the remaining floodwater has fully receded into the underground drains, thick mud accumulation is still everywhere. We locals here are already very accustomed to sudden flood disaster cycles like what happened yesterday."

Their trading carriage moved slowly again, entering the interior of the stilt village. Sylvia used this momentum to perform a deep tactical observation of the local spatial layout and structural adaptations. Just as she had previously suspected, all residential buildings in this village adopted a highly mature vertical architecture system, standing on thick wooden pillars reaching nearly three full meters above the ground.

A modular wooden staircase design connected the muddy ground surface to the front terrace of the houses. What caught Sylvia’s tactical attention the most was the presence of several small wooden sampan boats neatly and tightly tied to the stilt house support pillars an instant water transportation logistics preparation made by the villagers in case follow-up flood waves struck again. The main trail inside the village was also deliberately elevated from the original ground using thick wooden planks and flat stones, although it was currently still very slippery due to the remaining thin layer of mud.

The atmosphere inside the village that night was very quiet, silent, and peaceful. Only a few external oil lanterns were still lit along the stilt terraces, accompanied by faint low voices of casual conversation coming from behind the wooden window gaps of the houses.

Occasionally, the soft laughter of children or short barks from village guard dogs broke the night silence, giving a strong indication that this small civilization on the forest border had truly adapted psychologically and sociologically to the extreme cycle of sudden flood phenomena.

Their group finally arrived right in front of Mrs. Ran’s inn after accurately following the gatekeeper’s directions. The inn building was indeed the most prominent and magnificent compared to the surrounding stilt houses featuring a full two-story vertical design with a very spacious front terrace, and decorated with rows of minor magical lanterns emitting a very warm, bright yellow light.

Sylvia pulled the reins, stopping the zombie horse carriage right in front of the inn’s main wooden staircase. A moment later, a middle-aged woman with a slightly plump body and a very friendly face stepped down the wooden stairs, offering a warm and sincere smile to welcome them.

"Wow, it’s a great honor for our simple place to receive traveling merchant guests at this late hour," greeted the middle-aged woman, who was none other than Mrs. Ran herself, in a very cheerful voice. "Please come up to the terrace, dear. It just so happens that there are still a few large empty rooms left on the second floor of the inn. As for the trading carriage and your pair of pulling horses, you can place them in the compartment under the stilt over there; we’ve already prepared a closed emergency stable facility that is safe from the night humidity."

Sylvia didn’t waste time on long negotiations; she immediately stepped forward and handed over several pieces of pure silver coins as legitimate upfront payment for the room rental and stable facilities. The three of them quickly moved to unload several crucial logistics items to bring up to the second-floor resting room, while the pair of black zombie horses were allowed to walk independently into the closed stable area under the stilt house without extra supervision. The golden kitten, with one invisible movement, leaped up and took an alert position on Sylvia’s right shoulder, its amber eyes continuously scanning every inch of the inn’s wooden corridor with constant vigilance.

Inside the second-floor inn room that had a minimalist concept yet was very clean, neat, and dust-free, the three sisters immediately sat around a small wooden table in the center of the room. Stacia, who seemed to have reached the peak of her laziness, immediately flopped her entire body onto one of the soft cotton mattresses while letting out a long sigh full of deep relief.

"The sociological adaptation of the residents in this border village really contains many interesting parameters worth studying further," Alicia said gracefully as she approached the wooden window frame, opening it slightly to let the night breeze in while gazing at the village layout below. "They have truly achieved mature life synchronization with the pattern of flash flood threats in the forest. From the implementation of massive stilt houses, providing emergency sampan transportation under every house, to creating micro-scale modular drainage systems installed between the support pillars to accelerate water drainage back into the ground."

Sylvia gave a short nod full of tactical approval while her fingers gently stroked the warm fur of the golden kitten, which had once again leaped and curled comfortably on her lap.

"We will maximize tonight’s duration for complete physical and mental energy recovery at this inn," Sylvia instructed in a calm yet firm leadership tone. "The continuation of our carriage’s journey will be rescheduled for tomorrow afternoon. Before we move through the remaining forest route, I plan to first gather some local information and rumors from the villagers regarding the latest geopolitical conditions and security on the deepest territorial route leading directly to the imperial capital’s main gate."

The golden kitten let out a soft purring sound of satisfaction from its throat, allowing the warmth of its body to blend with Sylvia’s aura. That night, inside the stilt house room at the eastern end of the forest border village, the three sisters finally sank into a very peaceful, safe, and soothing rest; even though beneath the wooden floor they stood on, the forest ground remained wet, damp, and held millions of mysteries about the unexpected magical storm cycle that had just passed.