Chapter 54: Reunion with an Old Friend

After hearing Conti explain the intentions of the Asa riders outside the town, Joan finally felt a weight lift from his heart. He immediately relayed Conti’s words, without omission, to Flint Iron-Anvil.

“Tch! Got me on edge for nothing—turns out it was a false alarm!” The old dwarf grumbled, tossed aside his spyglass, and climbed down from the watchtower.

Joan followed the dwarf down the tower and joined up with Old Tyre and Conti, who had just arrived.

“Old man, when friends come calling, why didn’t you let me know? We nearly had a misunderstanding!” Flint demanded irritably.

The old ranger leaned on his cane, his face frosty as he retorted, “What friends? Victor and Matoka have no idea I’m living in seclusion in Derin Town. They’ve probably long since forgotten their older brother. Today, they’ve come with a whole troop of Asa hunters—clearly for their precious daughter, not for me!”

Flint’s eyes widened in disbelief as he looked at Conti. “Little one, are you the daughter of the great druid Victor Garinin and the current chieftain of the Algonquin tribe, the ranger Matoka Powatan?”

Conti nodded shyly.

“My apologies, Your Highness!” The old dwarf bowed deeply, full of respect.

Conti waved her hands in embarrassment, her cheeks flushed red. “I’m just a village girl, nothing like a princess…”

Joan found it amusing and couldn’t hold back a smile.

Conti turned to Joan, her eyes filled with unease and guilt. “Joan, are you angry that I hid my identity?”

Joan shook his head, unconcerned. He cared little for Conti’s origins and didn’t feel entitled to demand complete honesty from her—after all, he himself kept many secrets from Conti. How could he force upon her what he himself would not accept?

The Asa are the main indigenous people of the New World, but there is no unified kingdom among them. Different Asa tribes have their own customs and varying attitudes toward the colonists. For example, those living on the northern tundra tend to be isolationist, while those in the south, closer to colonial towns, often interact with settlers from the Old World and are generally more open-minded—the Algonquin tribe being among the latter.

Though the Algonquin outside the town showed no hostility, the ever-cautious Flint Iron-Anvil refused to fully lower his guard, merely moving the barricades enough for Conti to go out and meet her parents. Joan saw his grandfather following Conti through the gate, leaning on his cane. After a brief hesitation, Joan hurried to help support him.

To Joan’s surprise, the old man didn’t refuse his grandson’s help and quietly said, “If Conti’s parents ask about you, you can answer honestly about everything except the eye on the back of your neck.”

Joan paused for a moment, resisting the urge to touch the back of his neck, and replied in a low voice, “Understood.”

When the two arrived at the entrance to the town, Conti’s parents had already dismounted. Each held one of their daughter’s hands, examining her from head to toe with concern, asking after her well-being.

A happiness Joan had never seen before radiated from Conti’s face as she eagerly recounted to her parents how she ended up in Derin Town and all the adventures she had experienced in the past month. She lavished praise on Joan, calling him her savior and dearest friend.

Joan blushed deeply, feeling undeserving of such gratitude—he truly didn’t think he’d done much to take care of her.

Matoka, seeing her daughter safe at last, finally let go of her worries, only to be overcome with exasperation. She scolded her daughter for her thoughtlessness, for being away so long without sending word, making them search high and low and fret over her disappearance.

“I did send a ‘beast messenger’ two weeks ago—a gray pigeon!” Conti protested loudly, but her voice soon fell, and she said dejectedly, “But I never got a reply. Later, Mr. Tyre told me this forest has lots of owls. My poor pigeon… probably got eaten by one on the way.”

“Beast Messenger” is a second-circle nature spell. The caster can temporarily tame a small animal to serve as a messenger, carrying a letter to a designated place or person. For convenience, druids and rangers usually choose a small bird for this task. If Conti’s pigeon had completed its mission, the letter would have reached her mother in a day. Unfortunately, the spell can’t guarantee delivery—no one can predict whether a “beast messenger” will fall prey to animals, birds of prey, or even an overzealous hunter on its journey.

Matoka’s anger had not entirely cooled and she was about to continue her scolding when her husband Victor shot her a look, signaling that someone was coming. The chieftainess had no choice but to let her daughter off for now, taking her husband’s arm and greeting Tyre and Joan with a bright smile.

Conti, for the moment spared, breathed a long sigh of relief and ran joyfully toward the two deinonychuses behind her parents.

“Kyle, Philly, it’s been so long! Did you miss me?”

Conti’s parents’ animal companions, the pair of deinonychuses, were also a devoted couple. The male was called Kyle, the female Philly. Hearing Conti’s call, they strode over with the proud gait of great birds, lowering their massive heads in turn and nuzzling affectionately against their young mistress’s hand.

“Kyle, Philly, did Minnie come with you?” Conti asked, hope shining in her eyes.

The male, Kyle, nodded with remarkable understanding and let out a long cry toward the grove where the Asa hunters were camped.

An answering, youthful roar came from the woods, and a smaller deinonychus came bounding over.

“Minnie, I missed you so much!”

Conti opened her arms, and the young deinonychus ran to her, burying its large head in her embrace and cooing with delight.

Minnie, Kyle and Philly’s daughter, was also Conti’s animal companion—her childhood friend and constant shadow. After so many days apart, she wagged her tail and shook her head in excitement at their reunion.

Caught up in her joy with Minnie, Conti forgot her parents entirely. Joan, meanwhile, had no choice but to stand by his grandfather and join in exchanging pleasantries with Conti’s parents. Socializing was not his strength; in such settings, he always felt out of place—he would rather listen in silence than exchange meaningless small talk.

By listening to his grandfather’s conversation with Conti’s parents, Joan confirmed that the three were indeed old acquaintances. In particular, Tyre and Conti’s father, Victor Garinin, shared a master-apprentice bond as fellow disciples of the legendary Far Eastern archdruid, Valentina Suslova. Tyre had chosen the path of the ranger, while Garinin, gifted with extraordinary attunement to nature, had naturally become a druid.