A Sense of Ceremony is Always Necessary

Anana slowly raised her head.

Before her stood a strikingly handsome young man.

His features were refined, with perfectly sculpted facial contours, hair as dark as the night, and eyes that seemed to hold amber within them.

Ah, so handsome.

That was the only thought in Anana's mind.

After all, in the snowy wilderness, most men tended to have rugged appearances. Compared to Xia Lun, they might as well have been uncivilized barbarians.

"What's wrong, little one?" Xia Lun waved his hand playfully in front of Anana, snapping her back to reality.

"I-I'm fine... Sir, is there something you need?" Anana stammered, her cheeks flushed as if she'd just been pulled from a hot bath.

"Let me ask instead." Aina suddenly grew wary, pulling Xia Lun behind her.

"Does your village have a merchant caravan heading to Kro Village?"

Ah, so beautiful.

Staring at Aina, Anana found herself lost in another daze. Compared to her, she felt like she wasn’t even an ugly duckling.

Anana's face turned an even deeper shade of red from embarrassment.

Aina gave the young girl a suspicious glance.

As Xia Lun’s wife, she was well aware of his overwhelming charm—officially a hero, unofficially a walking incubus. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have made that mistake with him while he was asleep...

Noticing Anana’s expression, she had stepped in to prevent the sinful hero from stealing yet another young girl’s heart.

But... why was the girl blushing even more now that she was the one talking?

Could she be... into women?

Aina’s expression gradually turned peculiar.

"I can sense your thoughts drifting somewhere strange again." Xia Lun lightly tapped Aina’s head with a mock chop.

"I believe I’ve told you before, Xia Lun, in front of others..." Aina puffed her cheeks slightly.

"Right now, our identities are students of Olifando." Xia Lun cut her off before things got complicated, then added via telepathy, "But I’ll gladly accept punishment for this transgression later, Your Majesty the Demon King."

Aina’s heart skipped a beat.

This guy... he really isn’t a proper hero at all!

"Kro Village? You mean Kro City, right?" Anana replied to Aina. "Our village does have a merchant caravan going to Kro City... If I remember correctly, they’re leaving for it today."

That’s why her parents were in such a hurry to process those furs.

"What a coincidence," Aina continued. "We’d like to go to Kro Village and hope to travel with your caravan."

Anana pointed in a direction. "The caravan leader lives in that house."

Aina nodded and casually tossed Anana a gold coin as payment for the information.

On one side of the coin were engraved wheat stalks and flowers, while the other bore the portrait of a bearded man.

The man was Elro XIII, the current king of the Yalan Empire and the first Prime Minister of the United Nations of Yaliris.

This was the currency issued by the United Nations of Yaliris, the most widely used and trusted among humans. Even many other races had begun adopting it for trade.

Below it were silver and copper coins, with an exchange rate of 100:1.

A single gold coin was enough to cover a month’s expenses for an average family in the Yalan Empire.

Anana’s eyes widened. "Um... this..."

A gold coin... even for her, this was a considerable amount of pocket money.

Yes, pocket money.

Because Anana’s family... wasn’t exactly poor.

Wealthy merchants and nobles of the Yalan Empire were willing to pay high prices for the furs transported from Lake Village. Though hunting in the snow plains was extremely dangerous, the rewards undoubtedly matched the risks.

And Anana’s father was the most experienced hunter in Lake Village—in terms of skill, he could probably rival a knight.

Anana instinctively wanted to return the gold coin, but the two had already walked away.

"They left so quickly," Anana murmured in amazement before happily tucking the coin into her pocket.

She could ask the caravan uncle to bring her a few new dolls.

...

If Xia Lun and Aina wanted to travel somewhere in the world, there was likely no faster method than flying there themselves.

Yet they chose to set off slowly with a caravan, just like novice adventurers.

There had to be a sense of ceremony.

The more powerful a person was, the more they pursued meaning in life—power, wealth, strength. After all, they could have almost anything. If they simply indulged without restraint, they would eventually grow empty and weary.

Ceremony played a crucial role, acting as a seasoning for emotions.

But to those who couldn’t understand, this so-called "ceremony" would simply seem like the eccentricities of the strong.

The caravan leader, Ge Rui, was a portly, bearded man with a perpetually cheerful grin.

Aina handed him a gold coin, and the matter was settled swiftly.

"This is too much... Just taking you to Kro City shouldn’t cost this much..." Despite his words, Ge Rui’s hand obediently pocketed the coin. After all, no one turned down money.

As a result, Ge Rui specially cleared out a... dog sled for Xia Lun and Aina.

In the snow plains, the sleds weren’t pulled by horses but by domesticated snow-wolf dogs.

Snow-wolf dogs were hybrids of snow wolves and regular dogs, far gentler in temperament than their savage wolf ancestors but just as large. The biggest in the caravan was nearly three meters long, with remarkable stamina and endurance.

The sled’s runners were also widened, not the typical narrow type. Since the caravan was heading toward the Yalan Empire, where the ice plains would eventually melt, traditional sleds wouldn’t be usable.

Ge Rui rang a bell, and the caravan began moving forward.

"Are you two from Kro City?" Ge Rui struck up a friendly conversation with Xia Lun, handing him a leather water pouch. "Warming liquor, untouched. It’s all yours."

Money really did buy better service.

Xia Lun took a sip—the liquor carried a milky fragrance, quite pleasant—then passed it to Aina.

"We’re students from Olifando, here on business and now heading back," Xia Lun offered casually.

"Ah, so you’re mages." Ge Rui’s expression shifted to one of sudden understanding. He had already guessed Xia Lun wasn’t ordinary.

After all, what kind of normal person could trek all the way to their village alone?

"Still, Kro City is a place with a long history," Ge Rui mused.

"Yes, it’s been a very long time." Xia Lun gently wrapped an arm around Aina’s shoulders, his gaze tinged with nostalgia.

Kro Village... was where he had first met Aina, over a thousand years ago.