Ch-14: Journey (Two in One)

***

With Davin guiding Jarien, he reached a secret escape path where Nathan and Stephan were talking to someone who supposedly was Richard could be seen.

Upon reaching closer, Stephan and Richard greeted them while Jarien looked at Nathan who seemed to be sensing something around Jarien and he furrowed his eyebrows but regained his expression to the point it felt like a hallucination.

But Jarien knew from his experience that such situations were never hallucinations and it probably meant something serious which might put him in danger.

'So, it has finally chosen someone huh, looks like troubling times are coming soon' mused Nathan without showing any of it on his face.

Richard was confused about his weird mission of hiding his identity and masquerading as a C-rank retired mercenary and upon seeing Jarien, he was baffled and realised he was in some deep trouble for sure as the recent news about his suicide attempt was known to everyone in the estate.

'Just what did I do wrong to get this absurd mission? Art said he treats me as a friend, is this something a human does to a friend?' thought Richard while trying to hide his frustration deep in his heart.

"Don't worry and do whatever you want. He will protect you directly and... both of you change your identity and stick to your role. Do not let it slip by" said Nathan while looking at Richard which gave him goosebumps.

"Don't worry, sir. I will wager my life while protecting Young Master Jarien" declared Richard confidently and honestly.

"Tsk. Who asked for your life? It is for the best if no fight occurs and even if it does, just escape or something" commented Nathan while enjoying teasing the brown-haired boy who seemed confused but still nodded.

"Alright. Let us leave. Goodbye and take care both of you" said Jarien while waving goodbye and entered the passage with Richard.

"Stephan, did you find anything?" asked Nathan in a cold tone as soon as he saw Jarien left but to his dismay, Stephan just shook his head.

"Father, let's not be hasty, no one even knows if he's alive or dead so we can't find anyone unless news spreads, as they are probably waiting for the result" said Davin as he knew a headache would come if his father stayed for long.

"Rather, you should help me deal with guild business till we find the perpetrators" said Davin in a hopeful tone but Nathan escaped by using training as an excuse leaving the grumbling Davin with Stephan who was mentioning what more work needed to be done.

***

"Young Master, don't worry about anything, I'll protect you to the best of my abilities. I am a B+ rank and two-handed heavy sword user who is at the zenith realm mastery. I have Earth and Wind elemental affinities" introduced Richard with a tint of pride in his tone.

'Yeah, I know and that's why I chose you. I remember he could not breakthrough A-rank as he had self-doubt after being dumped by a girl ending up in his team almost getting wiped out later. Since he is going to help me, I should also help him' thought Jarien while actually scheming.

"Alright then I'll leave my safety to you, Richard" nodded Jarien.

"But to prevent any mishaps, let's change our identity according to the story and travel as planned. Also fill me in about the story" said Jarien to which Richard nodded and started explaining their story.

A C-rank mercenary named Albar Tross, who retired from his work in his mid-30s after hearing news that his hometown had fallen to monsters and returned to find his sister and brother-in-law dead.

The only survivor in his family being his nephew Dimo Edea who had barely established his mana core after his parents had used all their resources after his first awakening ceremony in the association.

His uncle taught him survival skills while traversing to Ignus and taught him how to use mana properly as their affinities differed. Albar had wind while Dimo had fire elemental affinity.

Albar had once heard that Ignus City is heaven for people who have fire affinity, so to help his last surviving family member in any ways he could and to fulfil his late sister's wish, he took him to Ignus city.

As she wanted Dimo to enter an academy, he decided to do his best to fulfil his sister's last wish. To increase the chances of Dimo getting accepted, Albar sold everything and used his entire life's savings to buy a house with a training ground built in it in Ignus city.

"Young Master, that is more or less how the story goes" said Richard while disguised as Albar, who had light green hair and dark green eyes, looking like a man nearing 40s.

"It's Dimo. We can't make this mistake in front of anyone else now, can we Uncle Albar?" said the disguised Jarien with a smile as his hair turned fiery orange and his eyes matching them.

They had even changed their clothes by the time they reached the exit which led to an abandoned house in the outskirts of the property owned by his family. They walked from there till they found a car prepared for them.

This world was similar yet different in the technology department, as there were phones, internet, computers, cars, ships and many more. But there were no trains, planes or satellites, rockets, missiles, or nuclear weapons.

This was the result of everything using mana in this world. There were mana waves that transmitted data, streams, tv shows without any problems as they have almost 0 latency unless a mana explosion or dungeon break occurred disrupting the mana waves.

Even the devices similar to his past life were entirely different in how they worked. The electronics items were compact and could display wide holograms which could be interacted with. But for some reason, there was no AI in this world.

These things came as a shock to him, as he did not remember reading these things but from the memories he inherited from Jarien's regression.

Just like how there was also VR in this world which projected your real body with 100 percent pain reciprocation but dying in it did not mean dying in real life except for the realistic pain.

He was excited about using VR but it turned out that he did not have any time so he decided to use them from the academy as every academy had the VR pods which were better than the ones on the market.

(A/N: VR will have a minor role and the stuff related to it will be explained when the time comes for it)

He was also excited about using portals but he heard that no disguises work in them and he got to know that the portals release mana waves that interfere with artifacts rendering them useless.

Unfortunately, this meant they could not use portals as it would reveal their identities, so they had to go by cars as much as possible and the rest was on them to travel. This helped them solidify their 'survival training' too.

Although Jarien could have skipped it and let Richard do everything, he decided to learn it, thinking that it will definitely come in handy someday.

He knew that theory and stories could not compare to real practical experience so he went all out in learning whatever he could from Richard during their journey.

He even asked Richard to give him the daily training according to the knight's regime to improve his physical stats even if only a little bit.

Richard, sensing his enthusiasm said "Dimo, it isn't easy. Even we have a hard time following it and if we failed to do so, we used to get punished with more training. It was true hell." while he got the chills from just remembering those gruelling days.

Jarien was smiling as they both had settled in their disguised identities after many problems and he knew about the training regime being hell. After all he had already concluded that reading those training arcs and seclusion stories is easy but reality could not be any more different.

"It's okay, you can punish me similarly if I can't complete it" spoke Jarien half-heartedly knowing full well and preparing himself for what was to come but it did not help him even a little.

Thus, started his mini-hell. He woke up even before sunrise and had to run for 30 minutes at top speed, following with 10 push-ups, squats, crunches, pull-ups and finally plank for 1 minute. Just when he thought it ended, he was told to do 5 sets and that Richard was going easy as it was the first day and did not know his limits.

He got beat up for using mana secretly many times to the point his face was bruised beyond recognition. After finishing this, he was given no time to rest but asked to go gather his own breakfast be it nuts, fruits, bark or even prey and if he failed to, then no breakfast.

He found some nuts and edible barks according to Jarien's memories as he had no clue as every plant and animal had mutated since the onset of mana. He consumed them immediately as he was about to faint due to physical exhaustion.

He was so close to eating random mushrooms but he remembered that even veterans have a hard time distinguishing edible and poisonous mushrooms and the fact that it is not worth it to eat mushrooms, fungi, insects, snakes, frogs as they can be poisonous thus making them inedible or venomous making it hard to process.

Being a vegetarian in his past life made him reluctant to eat meat if not for his immense hunger on the first day and the fact that it was monster meat as livestock nighed extinction, so it was considered a luxury even for the rich.

The condition for plants and crops could not be any worse as growing crops was not only difficult but also very expensive and the reason monster meat became a staple diet was that it was available in abundance and in different varieties. Also, it was very beneficial for young awakened as it contained mana albeit in miniscule quantities.

He got the shock of his life upon being told that now he had to swing his sword with just physical strength alone with proper posture or it would not count, starting from 500 motions of each stance which resulted in him fainting before completing even half the stances. Richard had to carry him and run at full speed to reduce their delay as much as possible.

Due to the tasks that Jarien had to perform, their speed to traverse reduced and it took them a full 20 days to finally enter Ignus city, where it should have taken them just 10-12 days.

His condition was like that of a corpse but he had learned a lot and even his foundation was stabilized due to those hellish days of training. He was taught about how to make a loud noise to scare small prey and invite stronger monsters to make sure the camping place was far from such monsters as it would disrupt their rest and even keeping guard whilst rotating every hour to teach him that the wild was not a picnic spot and many unknown dangers lurk within.

He also learnt about setting up a bonfire using dry and dead leaves, branches and bark by digging a small pit and surrounding it by small stones to prevent it from spreading and covering it up to hide tracks.

No matter how much he improved and learned, at the end of it all, he regretted asking Richard to train him properly. He saw the side of a crazy knight finally being able to unleash his suffering onto someone else which sent shivers down his spine as he would need his help in training for the next few months and even going to Volley City for what he actually came here for.

Ignus city was not his destination yet he had to stay here as he could not go to Volley City without Richard. After all, he was not an idiot who would overestimate himself thinking he would be able to solo clear a gruelling dungeon nor did he have the hobby of courting death.

Richard led him to their new house which was at the border of the city. The house was a simple 1-storey building but had a massive training room underground that would have definitely cost a fortune to be built and the hidden passage was also made to be destroyed after one left, so it could not be tracked, which showed how cunning the planner was.

The house was a stark contrast to the room and estate he had woken up in, his room was bigger than the entire area of the house showing how difficult it was for commoners to live in this world. The training ground had all kinds of practice dummies and wooden weapons with the walls being soundproofed.

The best part was that the house was durable yet it was not made of expensive material to not arouse suspicion on them but it also made him set his next plans in motion which was to hide explosives and burnable materials from plain sight as he did not know when Richard would come back from doing his task.

It was afternoon, by the time he was done, so he spent the next few hours to reread his diary and check the status of events as the future would not help him much as he was planning to mess it up, since it had already derailed from his fainting causing a significant delay in his part of the plot.

Jarien and Evelyn were born on 5 December, 972 imperial calendar or Year 272 A.C.F (after council formation). The similar months to his previous life made it easier and the only difference being all months consisting of 30 days meaning 360 days a year.

Currently, it was 30 December, Year 987 and hence the city was in full tide for the new year as it was only a few hours afar. According to the memories, an assassination attempt on Jarien happens in August, so he has the next 8 months for his plan but there is no guarantee that it will follow as it is.

For the next six months he has training with Richard and using the city's resources to nourish his body and try to break through to E-rank else his chances to get into the academy will decrease. There is also the dungeon in Volley city for which they must leave in 6 months to pre-empt it and steal the 'fragment'.

In the end, frustrated he gave up and decided to let things flow and that he will take them one at a time. Jarien finally relaxed and slept in a bed after so long but his sleep was not a comfortable one as he had nightmares about his past life.

***

While Jarien was planning and acting on his plan; Richard, who had left him to relax and freshen up, went to a nearby bar as 'Albar' and sat inside without attracting much attention.

He had two goals for coming here, first was to hear about rumours regarding Jarien and any news that was circulating and secondly, he had to share his story and make a few 'friends' who had been through something similar.

He ordered the cheapest ale as he had done his fair share of infiltration missions, so he knew how to act as a cheapskate customer which would attract the regulars as the waitress would cause it as such people generally are easy prey to scam.

And as he expected, before he had even drunk half a glass of the ale, a person came and politely asked if he could sit with him. Richard just looked at the guy, nodded indifferently and continued drinking, appearing to be in deep sorrow.

The burly man who looked like a bandit no matter how you looked at him spoke again in a polite tone "I don't remember seeing you around, you seem new here. Here, let me treat you to something good as your first time here"

"I just arrived today. Thanks, but there is no need to burden yourself" answered Richard in a sombre tone while still fully focused on the ale in his hand.

"Haha, what burden, it's no big deal" said the burly man then shouted "Maria, bring the good stuff for the newcomer." His shout attracted a few more people to come near them and greet Richard as Maria brought some expensive ale and food.

"Ahem… thank you for your kindness" Richard coughed to hide his fake embarrassment but still had a sombre tone.

Another one asked "Haha, let's all cheer the newcomer up"

As if waiting for the cue, all of them started chatting with him and introduced themselves and it turned out the burly man was once an early B rank mercenary, two others were also retired mercenaries and the last man was a merchant.

After drinking and chatting with them happily, Richard suddenly turned sad and dazed out while staring at the ale. Noticing this, they sensed something amiss and the merchant nudged him "Albar, what happened? We all have been through something or the other. You can share it, trust me you will feel better"

Albar looked at them and after a few moments of silence and contemplation, he said while gritting his teeth "As I said, I am a retired mercenary but as you can see, I am at my prime, why would I retire if not for those damned monster tide"

"I had just finished a group task and was thinking about how to spend my money when I heard a monster tide attacked my hometown, so I hurried there as my sister, her husband and my nephew lived there"

"But I was too late, my sister and her husband were unawakened and had gone to gather herbs but they never returned. I only later found out everything from my nephew that he had a mana core and reached G- rank as my sister wanted him to enter the global academy"

"To do this, they even took loans and hired a B-rank mage to help Dimo successfully awaken. I paid off their loans and to fulfil my dear sister's last wish I…" exaggerated Richard in an emotional tone with moist eyes to the point even this group could feel the intensity of his emotions.

They barely resisted falling for it as they were trying to scam him of money while Richard continued his story as if the entire world's injustice had fallen upon his family in a depressing tone. The burly man wanted to smash his head open as Albar was not stopping at all and continued mumbling.

After finishing his story, Richard ran away saying "Thank you for your kindness, I will definitely remember you guys for my life" The entire group were dumbfounded because they had to pay for Richard's shameless eating and drinking which cost them a fortune making them curse at him in rage.

Richard had fulfilled one part of the goal and decided to go to different taverns to do the same thing making him famous as 'The Sobbing Thief' who ate and drank at another's expense and then ran away. His shamelessness knew no bounds.

Finally, he returned after escaping his pursuers and went to his room as he was too tired from eating and drinking that he barely wrote down what rumours he heard.

'Jarien Dawner was saved by a healer named Arkas and his entourage, else there was no chance of him surviving and how the Dawner family wanted to recruit them but they rejected as they wished to save as many people as they could'

'Aino Aalto, a commoner girl with above A potential had been injured and finally cured. Some say it was the elusive Arkas who even denied an elite family's recruitment but no confirmation'

'The Cuzlades Academy is going to reopen from 1 January, 988 resulting in a lot of geniuses of the continent gathering as new freshmen will also be there and events including them would be broadcast as usual'

'...'

***