The journey begins.

The fog was thicker than usual, yet the journey commenced nonetheless. At least, Strax wasn't worried; after all, it was just a foggy stretch, what could go wrong, right?

"Young Master, what do you intend to do?" Jason asked as he watched Strax gaze into the forest covered by the dense layer of fog.

"What do you mean?" Strax questioned, and Jason continued, "I'm referring to Lady Xenovia."

Strax looked at the trees as he recalled some words he had heard from Xenovia in the past.

"Forgiveness is the excuse of the weak, who lack the strength to stand on their own. Strength is justice, Weakness is sin." That was one of the few phrases he remembered his sister saying, that is, when his sister defeated all of their older brothers in duels. She always repeated that same phrase.

His sister was relentless, to the point where it was impossible to read her intentions. Honestly, it was impossible for him to do anything against her; he just had to accept it, otherwise... well, he would be in a complicated position.

"There's nothing we can do, Jason. Xenovia is supreme when she wants something. My return is a request for reward. If that's what we think it is, it's impossible to do anything against her," Strax bitterly replied. It was really bad to be at the mercy of someone else against whom you couldn't do anything. Strax, in fact... was helpless.

However, this wasn't really bad in the grand scheme of things. After all, Strax's dream remained firm and strong, and that gave him even more motivation to move forward.

"I just need to become strong enough not to be intimidated," he said to the wind. Jason looked at him again, wondering where his old master had gone. This time, he decided to confront him for real.

"What's happened to you? You haven't been the same for a while, and it's bothering me," Jason said, serious and sturdy. Strax, on the other hand, turned to face him. If he wanted an answer, he would have it.

"I want to be strong," Strax replied, and Jason didn't take his answer well; in fact, the feeling of strangeness increased even more in his head. "What changed?" Jason questioned. "I don't want to be a failure," Strax quickly responded.

"I did everything to become stronger, broke all the limits this body allowed until I finally managed to cultivate," Strax said, and his deep eyes fell upon Jason. "Do you really think I wanted to be a failure?" His question echoed in Jason's ears, who felt Strax's true will.

"Is it because of Beatrice?" he questioned, after all, Jason knew of Strax's passion. However... he didn't know its depth.

"Because of Beatrice? Who knows?" Strax said, continuing imposingly. "Since when does a man need reasons to protect those he loves?" He added, his personality matching his ideals. Strax wanted to pursue two dreams: the first, of course, the Original Strax's, to be the strongest of all... and the second? Well, that would be for next time, after all, something interrupted them.

The carriage lurched abruptly, making Strax and Jason raise their eyebrows. In fact, they felt danger coming from outside, and Jason commented, "I'll see what it is." Getting up, he left Strax alone.

Strax stayed in the carriage for a few minutes, but with Jason's delay, he went to see what it was. After all, if they were monsters, he would love to face them to level up.

Standing up from the seat, he opened the carriage door and looked around. He saw some members of the Flame Guild, as well as Samira and Jason, arguing.

"We can't go on; we'll have to go through the mountains," Samira said. Previously, she had mentioned using the mountains as a passage, since the roads could be problematic, and of course, she was right.

"We can't go through the mountains; stop being stupid! We'll have worse problems than detours," Jason said, but to no avail. Samira continued, "Do you think this is common, idiot? This is a trap," pointing to the holes and dead animal bodies, as well as the head of a goat impaled on a stake.

"Tsk, it's already started," Strax bit his tongue seeing the scene. It was clearly something done for him, and that immediately bothered him; the simple fact of forcing him to take a detour meant one thing.

"It's a trap," Strax said, drawing the attention of the two who were fiercely arguing with their exchanges of bitter words. "And shut up," Strax said, approaching the obstruction ahead.

"We'll go through the mountains, but stay alert. It's a trap," Strax said, and Jason stared at him. "Don't look at me like that; you know full well what will happen if we continue straight. Probably, if they're smart, they already have a much larger group ahead to stop us. Through the mountains, we'll face fewer problems," Strax explained, but that wasn't enough for Jason.

"There are various beasts in the mountains, Young Master; it'll be more dangerous," Jason said, but that didn't affect Strax's decision; in fact, it only encouraged him even more to go through the mountains, after all...

"Yes, that's right! Hahaha, I need to level up! To kill those idiots who call me brother! Let's move forward!" he roared determinedly...

"Despite there being beasts, they're not strong; on the contrary, with our numbers, it's almost impossible for us to be ambushed. We have ten expert cultivators and me, besides this idiotic knight," Samira proudly said, while her subordinates looked at her with an expression of "Our boss is the best! Trust her!" Well... they were lackeys.

Strax saw that scene and sighed, thinking about how problematic the journey would be with these two verbally killing each other with dirty and idiotic attacks. Damn it, you're older! Act like adults!

"Follow what Little Fire says, Jason; she has more experience than you in this type of territory. Stop acting like you're in charge," Strax ordered. Jason felt as if he had been stabbed by a sword in his back. Strax remained impassive watching that ridiculous scene. "You're a knight, act like one; she's a lady," Strax scolded, and another sword pierced his back, this time the thickness of the sword was the size of a pillar, it would probably kill a dragon.

"That's right, I'm a lady!" Samira affirmed. Strax saw a big pointy nose grow on her face.

"Tsk, I hate dealing with people," Strax said, going back into the carriage. "Go ahead, I want to kill beasts."