6 To the Southern Outpost

"Damn, these horses though. Really," Charles mumbled as he listened to the sound of his horse's hooves as it took its time to take its step just like the others. It was as if they were giving the path before them a thorough check before they move their shaking limbs.

"Hey, don't be like that," Roland replied as he turned his head towards him. "They're doing their best."

They passed through their city's gates a few hours ago and now, they're treading the path decorated by tall brown grasses and a few thick trees that looked as if they've been separated from each other. No wild animals were seen on their sights except for the birds flying under the thin clouds scraping the blue skies above them. They continued to move until the heavens lost its hue as the sun found itself resting over the western hills in the distance.

"Hey, I know that look," Melvin as he moved his head to meet Charles' eyes. "You're still bummed about what happened with the potatoes weren't you?"

"They're hella good," Charles shouted back. "If you scraped the burned part that is, which is still not saying much since it'll be bland as hell when you do."

"Of course, those were a lot of trials and errors, had to steal me a recipe book but damn, that was worth it."

"What?"

"Yeah, he stole one. Guy here returned home with a book and a few arrows sticking out of his back," Roland replied with a smile.

"Yeaaaah, that was fun. Not planning to do it ever again though."

"But why didn't I see it?" Charles asked.

"Because that happened a long time ago?"

"He ended up using the book's pages as to start the stove," Roland added, slowly curving his lips into a self-conceited grin. "If that's what you're wondering about."

"Yeah, I ended using the page's to start the stove, once, twice, quite a few times," Melvin replied with an upbeat tone that soon turned into a shy whisper.

Charles took a slight pause before he ran his palm through his face. He took a sharp breath through his nose and when he looked at Melvin, he glared at him as if he was gazing at a failure.

"What?" Melvin protested. "It's not like I'd get to use the other recipes anyway. Like, I don't need to learn how to cook steaks and bear meat. Potatoes are the only ones I could love!"

"And somehow, you managed to throw that into the fire too," Roland followed with a monotonous tone.

"And somehow forget to not peel its skin before throwing it into an oven," Charles added with a hint of disappointment behind his words.

"It's not like I can start a fire with a flick of my finger like you guys. It was winter and it's the time where dry leaves are as precious as gold. What do you want me to use? Your house?!" Melvin shouted.

They had a moment of silence until Charles asked, "Oh, now that you've mentioned it. Sir Roland, what kind of magic are you using?"

"Lightning Magic?" Roland replied with his words unsure. He took a moment to think and after that, he scratched the back of his head and followed, "I can do about three a day, four if I really tried hard. Also, Roland is just fine."

"That's… an interesting choice…" Charles knitted his brows as he forced himself to smile.

"Yeah, I've been told that fire is the easiest to imagine because people nowadays have seen their fair share of things burning but this guy chose to master lightning instead since he thought that it's cool." Melvin let out a chuckle.

"It's because they are," Roland replied with a dignified expression despite his face looking a bit flushed. "and Melvin please, stop it…"

"For the spells though? What do you use? What are the spells that you could do?" Charles asked once again.

"Oh." Roland's grin widened. "If you're talking about what kind of things I can do with lightning, well lately I've been working my way to make this field that was supposed to make my enemies weaker but since it's really hard for me to wrap my head around it, I've only gotten to the point where I could make them as strong as me..."

Charles slowly nodded his head as he tried his best to hide his concern. "That doesn't say much, isn't it?

"Well, I-"

"He has the lightning sword too!" Melvin laughed. "Calls it the Flickering Holy Sword of the White Thunder Emperor."

The two of them laughed for a moment before the party fell into deep silence once again. Roland covered his face with both of his hands as the rhythm of their horses' steps rang by their ears.

"Now, now, I've read some text that spellweaving also includes naming the spell itself so the user can visualize it clearly. So I guess," Charles chuckled. "Shouting the Flickering Holy Sword of White Thunder Emperor could do the trick?"

"Roland, Roland, tell Charles what does it do!" Melvin begged.

"It turns my sword white…" Roland paused for a moment to breathe and with a sigh, he followed, "And it shocks whoever comes into contact with them…"

"Do you have… anything else?"

"Yeah, basically, his technique itself is quite shocking," Melvin said as he looked at Roland and Charles with a smug grin.

"Nothing much I guess? I can heal people though… about four times a day. What about you Melvin?"

"Oh, I can't do magic."

"The dude's immortal it's insane," Roland added.

"Now you're just lying. I can get hurt too," Melvin exclaimed. "You just hurt my feelings!"

"Okay… but why?"

"I'm an old warrior myself. We weren't trained like how they trained Roland, or you." Melvin looked into the far distance and he soon noticed the golden gleam of the sun as it slowly makes its exit over the horizon. "But damn, the sun sure is sinking fast, who's gonna take the first watch?"

"Ah, no worries. I got that covered." Charles puffed out his chest and smiled. "We're a little behind schedule but it shouldn't be far. We're gonna spend our time in the southern outpost tonight."