Lucky Encounter?

Michael sucks in deep breaths as he jogs through the forest, branches occasionally nicking him and causing cuts in his skin and tears in his clothes. Luckily, he still possesses his shoes from earth, otherwise his feet would be incredibly injured by now...

Eventually, he has to stop and take a break as he was so exhausted he might just pass out... He barely did any exercise back on Earth, so it was no surprise that even with adrenaline pushing him forward, he'd only be able to jog haphazardly through the forest for around an hour...

Not to mention how hungry he was, he'd stupidly left the food provided to him back in his cell, leaving him on his last legs... Now just walking felt like a monumental task, and Michael was honestly afraid of getting ambushed by whatever animals lived in these forests...

He knew this place couldn't be that dangerous, as it was close enough to the Magic Academy that any threat would've long been dealt with, but that didn't mean he was safe... At this point, even a stray dog might be able to put him down... Those two Hex's he cast had actually been around half of his magical pool. While he could feel his mana slowly regenerating, it wouldn't be full for a while.

"Hah... Hah..... Maybe I shoulda just let them cut my head off... Would have been easier than this." he mutters, resting his hands on his knees to keep himself upright.

Michael stays there for a bit to recover. Once he catches his breath he starts moving again, this time at a slowly, more reserved pace. After all, there wouldn't be a point for him escaping if he was eaten alive by some random animal.

He doesn't really know where he's actually going, and despite the thousands of stars overhead, he doubted there was something like the 'North Star' he could infer his location via... Louise had told him to go to Germania, but since Michael knew of future events, he knew he had to start gaining strength quickly, otherwise he'd be helpless when that Ancient Dragon eventually come to destroy the world...

Albion would eventually be taken over by that rebellion and try to invade Tristain... In the story, Saito and Louise use Void Magic to destroy the army, but that obviously isn't going to happen this time... It might actually be a good opportunity to gather EXP to level up, so maybe interfering in the war would be beneficial...

Though, come to think of it, he'd probably die if he tried... Ignoring the army of soldiers, dragon riders, etc, the leader of the Albion rebellion is in possession of that mind control ring... Considering he couldn't even block a curse from Fouquet, he doubted he'd be able to resist such a thing...

Michael releases a sigh, no, without getting far more powerful than he was now, any ideas concerning wars and large scale conflicts could be unilaterally ignored...

As Michael was thinking this, he accidentally trips on a root, stumbling forwards and falling out of the treeline, onto what seemed to be a road... "Thank god." Michael mutters, "If I'd gotten lost I'd be royally fucked."

*Pat! Pat! Pat! Pat!*

...

Michael glances down the dirt road where the sound was coming from, from the darkness, a carriage pulled by two horses appears. The coachman was wearing a hood that concealed his face, and there seemed to be two people sitting behind him. Lucky! Michael mentally comments as he goes over to try and talk to them.

The carriage slowly comes to a stop as he approaches, the oil lamp swinging side to side as its momentum continues on. "Hello?" Michael asks while hoping this wasn't some sort of 'Ghost Rider'...

"Do you need something, child?" the coachman asks, his voice gravelly and hard on the ears.

Michael nods, "Yeah, I was just wondering where I am... I got lost in the forest and need some directions... Or a ride if you'll have me?"

The coachman chuckles as the other passengers perk up and looks towards him, "Strange how you got lost at this time... Lest you've been walking all day?"

Michael shrugs, "Definitely feels like." he jokes.

The coachman nods, "Well, East of here is Tristainia, the capital... Ah, also the academy if you wanted to know. North-West and where we're headed is the port city of Antomiers. You can hop on back if that's where you need to go." he explains.

Michael chews his lip in thought, it wasn't in the direction of Germania, but at least he'd be able to rest his legs a bit. "Alright, thanks !" he says, climbing onto the back of the carriage and taking a seat a good distance away from the other two cloaked men who were present.

"Er, hey." he greets awkwardly as they turn to face him.

One of them lower their hood, revealing a gruff, weathered face with missing teeth. The ones that were still present were yellowed and slowly turning black, showing just how poor their dental hygiene is... Michael has to force himself not to grimace at them, quickly promising himself to find a way to brush his teeth in this medieval world.

"How you doin' kid, wonder how'd you end up this far out. Not a village that near to here..."

Michael shrugs ambiguously, "I've been walking for a while... What're you guys doing travelling so late at night anyway?"

The two men laugh, soon followed by the coachman, "Hehe, well, what do you think a group of men riding the roads at night would be doing?"

...

Michael pauses, suddenly feeling a bit worried about the way both men were looking at him... He glances over to the sacks of goods partitioned at the side of the coach. He pales slightly as he makes out a dark red splotch on one of them under the light of the oil lantern. Unless that was spilt wine, he was probably in a lot of danger here...