Journey

[66:42:34]

Six hours had passed since the timer begun, Del and the others had loaded all of the luggage into the car. Del also checked how many rounds of ammunition were left inside of the car and inside of the machine gun. There was enough ammunition, around 1,000 .50 BMG rounds inside of the car.

Fuel for the car could be purchased in the middle of their journey so there would be no problem about fuel shortage either. Cassandra also told Del that the journey might take two days using a horse. After a little bit of calculation, it was around three hundred miles away from his current position.

The sky had turned dark, people had fallen asleep. Yet, Del was preparing for a long journey into the east. For someone like Del, it might be idiotic to travel closer to the people that actually wanted him to be gone.

As usual, Del wore his new helmet alongside the FLAK jacket that had been accompanying him for the past three months. He put his NVG on the dashboard of the car. His H&K G3 was in the backseat. On the shotgun, Cassandra was sitting.

Del and Wolfie were in the backseat. He was taking care of Wolfie while caressing him. Cole's equipment had been upgraded as well. To cut expenses, Del bought Cole an inexpensive 6B3 body armor. He also bought him the same PASGT helmet. He also held a new weapon, an MP5SD.

"Anyway, if you don't mind me asking, are you really going to drive all the way to a place only God knows where it is?" Cole asked.

Del turned the ignition for the car, "Yeah, I think I will."

Del drove the car out of his front yard. Maybe the journey wouldn't be that boring, but the driving was certainly going to be exhausting. After all, only he could drive the car. Cassandra couldn't drive, much less Cole, and Wolfie was out of the question.

"Cole, get on top of the turret, I need your eyes," Del said as he grabbed the NVG from the dashboard and gave it to Cole.

Cole wore it and he opened the hatch of the car. A Browning M2 was attached to the roof of the vehicle. Cole was the regular user of the machine gun on top of that vehicle. The machine gun had saved him and Del multiple times.

For example, Del and Cole rammed through an armored carriage barricade. If not for the heavy machine gun, Cole wouldn't be able to kill the mage that kept firing at the car using their spell from the comfort of their armored carriage.

"So far so good, Del," Cole observed the road around him.

"Alright, well, keep me updated, alright?" Del asked.

"Copy that, boss."

===================================================

Anna was sitting inside of a wooden carriage with her hands tied up to the chair of the carriage itself. She was on her way towards Westwend Valley. She was on one of the carriages on the convoy of carriages. Her carriage was no different than an ordinary wagon, it was not even fancy.

Inside of that carriage, there were two guards, herself, and one other person, Eric. Eric was there, not for rescuing her, but for talking with her. She was no longer wearing a shackle and chain, but she still wore her magical restrain collar.

"Why did you kill Harry?" Eric asked.

"Who? Me? I didn't kill Harry. Complications did," Anna said.

"Complications? I know the fact that Harry was the most supportive person among all of us in the banishment of your brother. Not stopping there, I know Harry always harassing you for loving your brother too much. All of the evidence points that you were the culprit, Anna," Eric said.

"What evidences? Assumptions that the elitists make just for the sake of preventing mutiny inside of our party? The assumptions that the other healers outside of the heroes party made to corner me? Or are you talking about the fake witnesses that I haven't even seen in the medical tent? Which evidences that you're talking about???" Anna shouted.

Eric sighed, "Anna, you're guilty. The autopsy also suggested that there was a sabotage attempt on Harry's body. There is a magical stone attached to the hand of heavily injured Harry. As we know, you are the only person that has access to Harry's tent."

Anna couldn't believe it. What the heck was wrong with Eric? Why he believed that evidence that came out of nowhere. The evidence was made by the kingdom authorities and Anna wasn't a person that was able to implant something inside of Harry's body. Just think about it, how a high-school student had the nerve to do surgery even though it was only a minor one?

"Magical stone? Are you crazy? Are you guys really thinking that I am able to pull something like that?" Anna asked.

"Did I also have to mention that you have refused more than once to treat Harry? You have the tendency to tell the other healers to treat him. AND, when you treated him, he died. What makes us think that you don't kill him?" Eric said.

Anna thought for a moment, "Do you really think I am capable of killing Harry?"

"You used to be not capable, four months have passed, do you really think I believe that you are not capable of killing a person?" Eric asked.

"No, I don't need you to believe it but I know that you are a snake, always have been," Anna said.

Eric slapped her face, "I'M NOT A SNAKE. I HAVE NEVER BEEN A SNAKE. Some information is better be unknown. You don't need to know everything. Knowing is not something that you want."

Anna just smiled, "See, I know you don't want your true face to be exposed to the others. I thought my brother is only paranoid about you. It turned out, he was right."

Without any hesitation, Eric stood up from the ground and kicked Anna with his steel boots. Blood came out of her own nose, but it was not that lethal. "You bitch, why do you have to keep mentioning your brother? I'M SUPERIOR. YOUR BROTHER IS DEAD NOW! STOP MENTIONING HIM!"

"Superior? Is that why you keep downplaying my brother, even in school? Is that why the 2nd place in our class looks like the 1st place in our class? Is that what you meant by superior? Face it, you just want to be better than my brother, but you can't," Anna smiled.

"Whatever, you're going to be burned anyway," Eric said.

"Do you think I can't survive being burned alive?" Anna asked.

"No, I don't think you can."

"Are you sure?" Anna mocked.

"Quiet."

"You're stupid, you know? Well, I'll say that you become stupid. I am not surprised at how easy you were indoctrinated with the propaganda that the king made. After all, you immediately rose up into powers and I do aware that more than five girls want to be with you."

"Propaganda? Anna, the king is telling us the truth. The demons are evil and you have seen it with your own eyes. Remember back when we were strolling around the villages and there were demons that were attacking the village," Eric explained.

Anna smirked, "Which demon? The demons that we attack as a pre-emptive strike because they might pose a threat although they were clearly unarmed? Or are we talking about the different demon?"

Eric grumbled, "You fucker, the king was right to punish you to death. You're really evil and cruel. How can you say they were unarmed? They are walking to the village."

Anna smirked, "You are really indoctrinated. That's fine, I'm not going to cure your stupidity anyway. It's clear that you're really consumed with your own power. You know, this is a betrayal, but I am not surprised."

"Damn, woman, even after becoming closer to death, you're persistent, aren't you?"

"You know, I can count with my hands how close I am to my own demise, why should I even spent my time griefing when I can mock you for your foolishness. Don't get me wrong, but I'm in this exact situation because of your judgement," Anna said.

Eric kicked Anna in the crotch with his steel boots, Anna growled in pain, "Bitch, I never thought you would be like this. I thought we can solve Del's problem together, but you just decide to fuck it and kill Harry. He's my best friend!"

While still holding her painful crotch, Anna said, "It was not my fucking fault. Harry died of complication you motherfucker."

"Complication that you made, now shut up!" Eric shouted.

Insulting Eric wasn't helping, like it or not, Anna was still a girl. She immediately cried after succumbing to her pain. Eric smiled after successfully made Anna stopped talking about him. He felt superior to be able to make Anna stopped resisting and cried. However, little did he know, his action would later have a consequence.