21 Traveling to Ruteshia

[This chapter isn't edited nor reviewed by ed. More on that in the notes. If any part of this chapter is unbearable to the eyes, please say it in the comments. I'll try my best to... fix it maybe?]

"More of my kind?" Kirigya then seem to came to an understanding. "Oh are you asking if there is a High animal clan in Ruteshia? Of course there is! Are you friends with this boy here?"

"A High animal clan?" Nicholas scratched his head in confusion.

"Yeah he's my friend. What is the High animal clan?" Iledoya knew what the High animal clan is, but he could see that Nicholas didn't know and Iledoya didn't want to miss the chance of having someone else explaining it.

Kirigya gave the receptionist a nod, and she added Nicholas to the escorts. He wasn't an adventurer so it was only listed that Iledoya brought a friend. Kirigya then asked "You two have never heard of the High animal clan?" Nicholas and Iledoya shaked their head.

"Then what about the Noble beasts clan?"

The duo shaked their heads again.

"Haaa…" Kirigya sighed for a while. "Let's head to the carriage. I'll explain on the way there."

So they left the guild and started walking to the carriage.

"So… the Noble beasts clan. It's pretty simple actually. The Noble beasts clan are clans composed of beasts that has a human form"

Nicholas came to a conclusion "So, let me guess. There are a few Noble beasts clan out there, and the High animal clan is one of them?"

"Wow, good guess. That's right"

"Is there other clans besides the High animal clan?" Iledoya asked.

"Of course there are! The High animal clan is just one of them. The most influential wil be the Draconic clan. But… hehe, the High animal clan is the second most influential"

While Iledoya did know about the Noble beasts clan, he never knew about them being influential. "What do you mean about them being influential?"

"In the recent years, the Noble beasts clan has decided to open up to the world. They have began making branches in numerous areas. My fox family of the High animal clan decided to expand to Ruteshia"

"I see…"

They continued talking and asked questions back and forth as they walked to the carriage. Nicholas and Iledoya now know more about the Noble beasts clan and about the quest.

The carriage they are escorting is filled with treasures of the fox family that is expanding to Ruteshia. While the quest was posted with a requirement of D rank, Kirigya must approve of them first. Other than Nicholas and Iledoya, there was only two other people that Kirigya approved. Hiruta and Geronya. The both of them are D-rank adventurer. But that's because they haven't took the promotion exam to become C-rank adventurer.

Arriving at the carriage, Iledoya was shocked to see that Hiruta and Geronya didn't look that much older than him. 'They must've went through a lot' he thought. He took the initiative to introduce himself. "Hello, I'm Iledoya. This is my friend, Nyikelaos." "Hello, I'm Nicholas"

"Me, Hiruta. Her, Geronya" Hiruta coldly said. Contrary to Hiruta, Geronya seemed to be more open and cheerful, "Hi Iledoya! Hi… eh… Nickelos? Nikelas?" she asked with a confused smiling face. "Nyikelaos" Iledoya said. "Nyikelaos! Wow, your name is so hard to pronounce." On the other hand, Nicholas was screaming in his mind 'I DON'T WANT TO HEAR THAT FROM ALL OF YOU'

"Well now that you all know each other, should we get going already?" Kirigya asked.

Everyone just nodded and entered the carriage. The carriage they have to escort was very big. Not only was it big, but the items inside was quite heavy as well. Nicholas saw that there was only 4 horses pulling the carriage, causing him frown. Sitting in the carriage, he could feel it moving very slow. He asked "At this speed, how long will it take to arrive at Ruteshia?" Kirigya answered "Hmm.. maybe a month or two?"

Hearing that, Iledoya and Nicholas exclaimed at the same time "Too long!" While they do want to go to Ruteshia, to them it is just a momentary stop. They don't want to stay too long there as there main destination is the capital.

Hiruta who was listening frowned. "Well what did you expect? Unless we gallop there on horses, of course it would take long!" Hiruta and Geronya has been adventurers for quite some time so they are used to long travels. Iledoya and Nicholas on the other hand, has only recently started traveling and Nicholas really wants to reach the capital as soon as possible.

So, Nicholas offered a way "Sir Kirigya, you see, I'm a Great Space mage. If you trust me, how about storing the carriage in my personal space and we continue by horse?"

The other three was surprised to see Nicholas having the Space attribute. After all, a mage with a Fundamental attribute is quite rare for them. Kirigya pondered about it for a moment. After thinking about it he answered, "Let's try it"

They stopped the carriage and disembarked. Nicholas waved his hand and the carriage was soon covered in a deep blue mist. After it covered the carriage, it went back towards Nicholas leaving only the horses. The other three was once again surprised while Kirigya was delighted. Being able to arrive quicker was after all, a good thing for him. Hiruta still had his cold expression on, but deep inside, he regretted his words a little. Just a little though.

But it was only then that one of them realized, "Wait, there are 5 of us while there are only 4 horses" Geronya said. Now all of them felt quite awkward. Except for Iledoya. "No need to worry. I can have my own horse" after he said that, he stomped the ground and numerous small grey lines sprouted from the ground. They soon formed together a grey horse with plain white eyes. Now all of them was flabbergasted. Iledoya hopped onto his horse and said "Let's get going then!"

The other four looked at each others shocked faces before hopping onto a horse each. Having not contributed anything so far, Hiruta and Geronya felt awkward and was really itching for some action now. They wanted to prove themselves useful too.

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After a few hours of traveling, they soon found a chance.

"He's a fox family member and is the only one among them. He must be bringing some treasures with him to Ruteshia" said a bandit to a figure that seems to be the leader. the group of five was surrounded by a group of bandits. Hiruta and Geronya was very excited to finally be able to contribute and do their duty. Hiruta was holding a staff while Geronya was holding a sword. The 2 of them were waiting for the bandits to attack first, because there were almost 20 bandits that were surrounding them. Nicholas and Iledoya was waiting for them too.

The one who looked like the leader said "You, the fox family member there. Just give us any treasure that you have and we will let you all pass without any troubles" Kirigya furrowed his brows. While the four of his escorts was strong, he isn't so sure when they're surrounded by 20 bandits.

"Fire magic: Fire prison" "Water magic: Water prison" "Wind magic: Wind prison" some of the bandits were mages, and they casted prison spells to further corner the group. "Hmm… Advanced mages huh…" Iledoya said. While it was surprising to hear Iledoya analyze their rank, the others felt that now wasn't the time and place to be surprised.

"Yo, fox guy there. If you don't give anything soon, we might have to bury your bodies you know?" the leader said with a smug. BOOM. The leader was suddenly thrown back a few dozen meters. "*cough* *cough* w-what happened?" the leader said painfully. Numerous more BOOMs could be heard following. By the time the leader could realize what was happening, all of the bandits has been thrown far away.

Hiruta breath in some air as he relaxed his body that was in an attacking pose. "Weak." that was all he said. Iledoya was impressed "Rippling air technique. A staff technique for Wind mages that could create sonic booms with almost every strike. Being used by a Higher mage, it is inevitable that the bandits would lose" he explained. Kirigya was also pleased to know that his escort was very capable.

They then continued on their journey and soon night fell.

This time, it was Geronya's chance to prove herself. "Fufu… finally it's my turn". They found a suitable spot to camp down and she then casted her spell "Earth magic: Earthen Abode". A house made entirely out of earth sprung out from the ground. "Behold, a Geronya original spell, the Earthen Abode! Though it is just made of dirt, you won't get dirty from it since it's coated with my magic." she said with a bragging tone.

Iledoya inspected the place and found out that it was true. The coating of magic not only kept people from getting dirty, it also strengthens the structure of the house. 'This is pretty cool' he thought.

With Geronya casting her spell, Kirigya has more info about his escorts. 'Hiruta; Higher Wind mage, Geronya; probably a Higher Earth mage, Iledoya; probably a Life mage, and Nyikelaos; Great Space mage. What an amazing luck I have' Iledoya was also thinking about the same thing with an addition 'Kirigya… Great Fire mage…'

The carriage that they brought had food, so with the usual wave of a hand from Nicholas, dinner was served. Iledoya chose to eat his fruits though. "I've been wanting ask for a while now, but what is with that tree on your backpack and its fruit?" Geronya said. Nicholas added "I've been wondering the same"

"Hahaha… It's like this…" Iledoya thought up a made up story to keep Serion's existence a secret.

This became a routine of them. By morning they will be traveling. Fighting those who want trouble. By night, sometimes there are stories and then to sleep.