46 A mysterious old lady
David and Eve travelled for an entire day.
Eve didn’t know where they were heading but she soon realised they were going in an opposite direction to which Elandor and his group went.
The distance to the Kingdom of light where they should be headed kept increasing instead of narrowing.
She thought since she was alone with David, she could get close to him on the pretext of excuses like preparing food, heating water for the bath, helping take care of luggage etc.
But no matter how many times she tried to initiate the conversation, she was always met with a cold response.
Realizing that by doing so she was just making a fool of herself, she just shut up and kept following in silence.
When the sun was about to fall, they finally saw some abandoned buildings at some distance.
Eve realized that this was the abandoned city which all the people avoided on their journey towards the east.
Soon the duo arrived at a wooden house built at the periphery of the abandoned city.
Eve remembered that this city was once attacked by various high-level wild beasts in ancient times and countless gold, and platinum-ranked adventurers along with many soldiers died while holding the fort so the citizens could escape safely.
It was only when a legend-ranked adventurer joined the battle that they were able to resolve the crisis.
But since a large number of people died in this city, rumours started spreading that the land was unholy and various ghosts and phantoms roamed the streets at night.
Because of the fear of such rumours this area had long been abandoned.
She had read many books about history and felt nostalgia for those times.
During that period, their continent experienced a new age of unprecedented growth.. both in culture as well as in economy.
At that time the famous legend-ranked adventurers were scarce and were no different from the Gods, they had various special abilities and were the apex power on the continent.
But, one day all the legend-ranked adventurers suddenly disappeared from the continent, and even after repeated investigations by many powers nobody was able to find out where they went.
Since that day, it was like the power limit of the world got capped and no matter how hard anyone tried the maximum strength one could achieve was only equal to a platinum-ranked adventurer.
Legend rank slowly became a myth and people who achieved the strength of platinum rank started getting worshipped.
David had an ecstatic expression upon seeing the wooden house.
He exclaimed with an overbearing tone,
“Finally we are here!”
Upon hearing him, Eve was brought back to reality from her reminiscence.
There was nothing particular about the house.
It seemed to be a very old house that should have long rotten away with the passage of time and should have become a part of history along the abandoned city.
But seeing it so well-maintained, it was clear people were living inside.
Eve was already scared of running into any phantom or spectres as told in those rumours she had heard and couldn’t help but utter,
“David, why are we here?”
“We should leave quickly, this is a very dangerous place and it’s already nightfall.”
“Who knows what we shall face at night?”
“It’s better to run away from here, while we still have a chance!”
It was not Eve’s fault that she looked like some scared cat… after all, everyone is afraid of supernatural things like ghosts and spirits that can no longer be explained based on common sense.
It has long been said since ancient times that the true fear is always of the unknown.
The things that can’t be seen or felt under normal circumstances, the things that can be hardly perceived during the bright day but are common under the shades of night, such things are capable of inflicting fear even in the noblest of souls.
Seeing her frightened expression, David just snorted away.
“I can’t believe that someone who is following me is afraid of such rumours!”
“With me here nothing bad can happen.”
“Shame on you Eve, your expression shows how little faith you have in me!”
David ignored her and started walking towards the old wooden house.
Within seconds he appeared next to the rusty metal door.
Taking a deep breath he knocked a few times on the door.
Eve was already nervous and was repeatedly scouting the surroundings.
She believed that someone capable of living in such a place was definitely not a simple person.
And since at this time of urgency David visited this place…it was clear that whoever lived here was a close acquaintance of him.
She felt aggrieved, during the time she stayed by his side, she had done various personal investigations and never found that David had such a connection.
All this only highlighted that even though David looked naive, he still hid deeply just like Elandor.
She once again felt sad.
She clearly remembered that during last summer, she helped David to complete a difficult task given by his family and as a reward, he allowed her to ask him anything.
At that time due to her suspicious nature, she asked him if there was anything he was hiding from her?
But he replied that he had already told them everything about him and even promised that in the future he would never try to hide anything from her and Jasmine.
She muttered to herself, “David, Why did you never tell me about this thing?”
‘I have heard some people saying that various outlaws and notorious criminals hide near this city as it gives them a safe-haven.’
‘David perhaps….perhaps are you also a part of a group involving those people?’
Various thoughts started running wild in Eve’s mind but she still decided to hold on and see how the situation unfolds.
But before she could think more, the door of the house creaked open.
They saw an old lady.
Her wrinkled skin, long white hair and knife scars on her face signified that she had lived for quite a long time.
Upon seeing us, she laughed wildly!
“Haha! I knew you would soon come.”
“I have been waiting for you, David!”