A Long Journey

Devotion arose early that next morning. Ysmir was already awake, pacing around the room.

"Ready to go?"

Ysmir responded by jumping up onto Devotion's shoulders, draping over his neck like a scarf. Devotion was about to step out of the room when he remembered something. He grabbed that long brown cloak he had bought the day before, draping it over Ysmir to hide it.

"Sorry if it's not super comfortable, we just need to keep you hidden while we're in town. Once we're out, I'll take it off." Ysmir growled softly under the cloak, but didn't try and fight it. It was a bit unfortunate, but it was really the only solution for the moment.

Devotion tried to find a way to rent a horse, but strangely, every stable seemed to be closed. That was odd, they were normally open this time of morning. What Devotion hadn't noticed is that nearly every stable had changed their open sign to closed when they saw him approaching!

He thought nothing of it, more so dreading the fact that he would have to walk all the way to Wanchen. That was not a fun walk by any means, and would slow him down significantly. Still, he didn't really have any other solution, so he began the trek.

I know what you're thinking, dear reader. Why would the stables avoid Devotion? Well, let's rewind time a bit. Back one day, to when Devotion first entered Bronia, to be precise. Upon hearing the commotion of a man walking into town with a strange fox, the bald man, James Powder, had immediately come to see if it was Devotion.

"You're a ballsy man, David, showing your face so obviously around here again!" James Powder had thought to himself. He had then stealthily followed Devotion around, trying to figure out what he was planning. After Devotion had left the general store where he bought the map, James had immediately barged in, demanding the shopkeeper to tell him what Devotion had purchased. Upon hearing that it was a map, he had further demanded to know what direction Devotion was headed.

Unfortunately for James, the shopkeeper had not known where, only that Devotion was planning on leaving the next day. To counteract this, James Powder had gone into every stable in town, giving all of them Devotion's description, and threatening to run them out of business if they sold that man a horse. This was not very hard to do, considering that all James really had to do was reveal his aura of an Immortal to intimidate them.

The last part of his plan was to follow Devotion stealthily, then ambush him on the road while he was travelling. In fact, once he knew what path Devotion was taking, all he had to do was run ahead on a horse and set up a trap. It would be simple. If all went well for James Powder, he would have Devotion's head, and that ten thousand gold piece reward would be his! He practically salivated at the thought of that much money, let alone the position of joining the Mystace noble family that was also offered as a reward.

James patted the protective charm magical item that Salvador Mystace had given him. Last time, James had run since he knew that strange fox creature could kill him. With a protective talisman like this, though, he could ignore the fox and go straight for Devotion!

Although, I sense there may be more confusion. After all, we haven't seen our bald adversary, James Powder use any magical arts like Devotion. You may be wondering, how is he a cultivator if he never uses magical arts? Well, there are many types of cultivators, and some focus much more on the physical body, like James Powder. He uses things called Battle Skills. They are similar to magical arts, only they focus on powering up attacks from the physical body or with weapons. James focuses particularly on his bare hands, making him a physical body cultivator.

Now, let us fast forward time once more, returning to Devotion, who has just left the walls of Bronia for his long journey to Wanchen. Once he was away from the city, Devotion removed that cloak from his shoulders, allowing Ysmir to finally get some fresh air. It almost seemed to sigh in relief when Devotion pulled the cloak off.

"Sorry. Couldn't risk it. We shouldn't need to do that in Wanchen. It's a city of Immortals, after all! A magical beast shouldn't be too strange." Devotion summoned the staff form of Ghostwhisper to use as a walking stick. Ghostwhisper's consciousness was still in hibernation at the moment, but the staff would still be useful.

Little did Devotion know, a certain bald man was lying in wait, just a few miles ahead.

Devotion's journey was uneventful, and to be honest, he was feeling pretty bored. He had tried to make casual conversation with Ysmir many times, only to remember that the fox couldn't talk. He probably looked insane to anyone watching him, talking to a fox in the middle of the woods.

After a few hours of travel, Devotion decided to sit down and rest for a bit. He was only halfway through the first day, after all, and was pretty tired. better to conserve his energy than waste it all in one day. He'd continue after a bit.

As Devotion sat and rested, he cursed his rotten luck at being unable to find a horse. At least there was a central path to follow to Wanchen. He drank water, ate a little bit of food (as well as feeding some to Ysmir), and was about to head out again when he saw something in the trail he was walking.

Horse footprints. And they appeared to be pretty fresh, too. Maybe that meant he was catching up to someone with a horse. Maybe they'd even have a carriage he could hitch a ride on! That would speed up his travel immensely!

Of course, unbeknownst to Devotion, those horse tracks belonged to a certain bald man, who most definitely would not be pleased to offer Devotion a ride to Wanchen!

As Devotion got up and practically sprinted after those horse tracks, James Powder was getting ready for a fight! This would be it.

This time, he would kill Devotion!