RISE OF EROS

CHAPTER 521

While all this was happening in the capital of Dunnas, Andrew and his companions were traveling through the desert towards the kingdom of Catarea. Apart from the attack they suffered on the first day, their trip had been peaceful.

Andrew had wanted to have fun with his wives in the carriage during the nights, but being in the desert, which is dangerous, was not the best idea, so up to now they had not done anything.

According to the plans, they would reach the border in a couple of days, so they were in no hurry and had now stopped to eat. While they were preparing everything for the meal, suddenly, Oliver stood up and looked into the distance.

Andrew and his wives looked at him strangely and without being able to control themselves asked, "Is something wrong?", to which Oliver responded pointing to the east, "A few kilometers in that direction I feel a large group of people approaching."

Hearing what he said, Andrew and the girls tried to sense the presence of the people Oliver was talking about, but their level was still insufficient to notice the group, which meant that they were quite far away.

Unable to sense those approaching, Andrew asked, "Do you think they are hostile?" to which Oliver did not answer, but instead stared in that direction for a moment.

This made Andrew and the two girls alert, as it seemed that Oliver had found something worrying. They waited until Oliver finished assessing the situation and then he replied, "I don't know if they are hostile, but they are accompanied by a top-level super expert."

Although it was not an opponent that worried Oliver, the fact that this group had a powerhouse of that level accompanying them showed that they were not a simple group, so they were on guard.

Meanwhile, just as Oliver had noticed them, the super expert of that group had noticed Andrew's group. He couldn't measure Oliver's strength, but he knew he was on par with him or even superior, so he approached one of the carriages.

This group consisted of about 15 carriages pulled by earth buffalos like those in Spigas' caravan, which meant that they were a trade caravan, as these animals were the most used for caravans of merchant because their endurance and strength were perfect for pulling cargo carts.

Among the drivers, guards, and other personnel, there were about 100 people, and in the middle of the caravan was a carriage pulled by strong horses and the decorations were luxurious.

The super expert who had noticed Andrew's group approached this carriage and knocked on the door. Seconds later the carriage stopped and the entire caravan did the same.

The carriage door opened and a handsome young man a little older than Andrew appeared asking with a frown, "Is something wrong, teacher?". "A few kilometers from here there is a group of quite powerful people," said the super expert.

This man is of a similar age to Oliver, but due to his corpulent build and facial hair, he seems older. The young man was surprised when he heard this because he knew that his teacher is a super expert one step away from becoming a master expert, so the words, "Strong people," from his mouth meant that they were really powerful.

"Teacher, more powerful than you?" asked the young man worriedly and the man answered seriously, "At least one of them is at my level or higher." The young man was surprised and also adopted a serious expression.

"What do you think we should do?", the young man continued to ask. Although he is the leader of this caravan and this man he calls teacher is in some ways his subordinate, the young man holds him in the highest regard and always listens to his advice.

The super expert looked again in the direction where Andrew and the others were and making a decision replied, "Young master, I will go investigate, if I have not returned in half an hour, change course and move away immediately."

Upon hearing his teacher's decision, the young man wrinkled his face, because that was not good news. His teacher saying that meant that he could suffer a calamity and if that was the case, he would lose his protector and teacher, something that the young man did not want to happen.

The young man tried to convince him to change course and not risk it, but his master refused saying, "They already noticed us. Changing our course at this moment would alert them."

Not knowing how to reply, he could only accept his teacher's plan, and seeing that the young man understood, the super expert disappeared and began to head towards Andrew and the others.

From the moment the caravan stopped, Oliver had been inspecting what was happening. He had noticed that apart from the super expert there were 2 major experts in the group and some minor experts, so they were not a weak force.

If they got into conflict, they could suffer, especially Aki who is the weakest of the group and Oliver knew that this could end in disaster, so when he noticed that the super expert was heading towards them, he alerted everyone.

A few minutes later the man from the caravan arrived where Andrew and the others were. He did it openly because his intention was not to start a conflict, but to find out who they were.

Oliver and the others noticed this, so they were not too worried because it seemed that this group was not hostile, but that did not relax them. The super expert looked at them from afar and began to measure them and confirmed what he feared.

He could not understand Oliver's strength and that was enough to deduce 2 possible options. The first was that Oliver was more powerful than him and the second was that he had some artifact that prevented it.

If it was the second there was nothing to fear, but if it was the first, the situation changed and since he had no way of finding out unless he fought him, he decided that it was better not to risk it.

"Greetings," the man said, trying to keep things calm, and seeing that he tried a friendly approach, Oliver was not hostile and returned the greeting, "Greetings to you as well, sir. May I ask the reason for your visit?"

The man, seeing that Oliver maintained a cordial attitude, relaxed a little, but was still attentive to any movement. "Our caravan seems to be heading in the same direction and we wanted to know who is ahead of us," the man said.

Oliver and the others immediately understood that the group behind them had the same concerns as them, but they did not let their guard down and Oliver continued to handle the conversation.

"We are heading to the kingdom of Catarea. My young master has business there," Oliver replied without telling his entire plan. In reality, they were going to Catarea, but they did not plan to do business there, but they did not have to tell that to strangers.

The super expert didn't completely believe him either, as he is originally from Catarea and being a closed kingdom for the most part, he knew almost all the merchants who traveled there and didn't recognize Andrew and the others.

While there was no hostility, he had to gather information, so he continued to ask, "I'm sorry to ask, but I'm from Catarea and I've never seen you there, are you new merchants?"

Oliver and the others were surprised by his words. Who could know all the merchants who frequent a kingdom? Honestly, no one, as it is difficult to know everything that happens in a country, but for Catarea it was different.

Being a closed country, the ways to access are limited and all are monitored, so it was possible to know, however, only people of high status would have this information, so this man had revealed that he had a high status in the kingdom of Catarea.

This was not a coincidence, the man had revealed it intentionally, but in a subtle way. It was a way of telling them that he was important and it was not convenient to antagonize him. Also, it would be difficult for them to lie to him.

With this information, Andrew took over the conversation, as they got into something more diplomatic, and Andrew has better negotiation skills than Oliver, so he decided to take control.

"Greetings to the elder. I am Andrew from Dunnas. We intend to pass through Catarea on our way to the country of Rios. May I ask the name of the elder?" asked Andrew.

The man was surprised by Andrew's intervention. He knew that Oliver was not the leader of this group, but he did not expect the young man to dare to interrupt them, as it is common knowledge that when two higher-level experts speak, the others must remain silent unless they are asked to speak.

It is a matter of pride that many old experts use to show their strength, but this man did not care much, so he looked at Andrew and replied, "Greetings young Andrew, I am Ecclesiastes, protector of the Limares family of Catarea."

At the man's introduction, Andrew adopted a respectful position. Since they were going to travel through different countries, Andrew did his homework and knew the nobles and organizations that he should not offend on his trip and the Limares family is one of them.

In the kingdom of Catarea, the Limares family is only below the royal family, so they are the second most powerful family in the country, and offending them is seek a problem in Catarea.

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"It is a pleasure to meet an elder of the Limares house. As I mentioned before, we are just going to be passing through Catarea. Now we just stopped to eat," said Andrew trying to avoid conflict.

Ecclesiastes noticed that Andrew seemed to recognize the Limares family and that reassured him, because he understood that Andrew did not dare to make them enemies, which was good, because they would avoid a complicated battle.

It wasn't that Andrew was afraid of the Limares family, but if he could avoid a conflict, it was better to avoid it. After that Ecclesiastes asked a few more questions to identify their objective and in the end concluded that there would be no problem, so he decided that they would continue on their way, but without approaching Andrew's group. Ecclesiastes was still cautious.