"Guardians of Nictra?"
"Don't listen to him. While it's true they massacred the army of Cassar, they are no ally of ours. After all, there are the rare times that they do attack those who cross the tundra."
Kailen watched on as Dean and Guy continued to argue over the possible intentions of the beasts, from it he could draw the conclusion that nobody really knew anything about them. The journey carried on quite uneventfully for the first day, the night Kailen continued to recover inside the spare carriage.
The next morning he awoke after a few hours of sleep, his wounds better than previously though still painful. The wound preventing him from any real exercise in the chance he aggravated the wound further.
They had left the city of Lanza by quite a distance now and they were surrounded by very tall luscious trees. A road worn away by continuos travel winded its way through the forest, allowing them to travel through with ease.
Kailen had once again joined Celia for a chat, while the convoy steadily moved on. The luxurious grand carriage, providing a nice relief from the simplistic one he'd stayed in overnight.
"So, how are your wounds?"
"Ah, you noticed huh?"
Kailen made sure to appear completely unaffected as much as he could, though he had clearly underestimated her observational skills.
"Well, it's more that I knew beforehand. I'd heard about the events before we left, I was going to try to convince you that we could delay our departure but somehow I knew you wouldn't agree."
"My wounds aren't too bad, I should be recovered in the next two days."
Kailen hoped that there would be no incidents over the next two days while his wound was still hindering his abilities, it would be just his luck to die while being unable to fight back.
"That's good then, you don't have to worry too much. The guards I hired are quite strong and bandits are rare this close to the city of Lanza."
Their chat continued over seemingly meaningless topics until Celia brought up the events of the Carth and Stanly families.
"I heard you fought with Randall Crowley, honestly consider me impressed. He has quite the reputation you know..."
"Yes, it showed me where I can improve."
Kailen replied curtly while the fight did help Kailen to understand his shortcomings and his obvious lack of strength, he couldn't help but feel aggrieved at the result.
"You know it's said he's killed an elder of the Sword Sect School, that's no easy feat. You should be quite proud you could oppose him, considering you're so young."
"While that may be true, it doesn't change the fact that I was left at his mercy..."
Having his life left in another's hands aggrieved Kailen immensely, his newfound freedom had granted him the opportunity to control how he lived. Kailen was currently more motivated to increase his strength than ever, though with his injuries he was unable to act on his desires.
Kailen's main focus would be to increase his agility, by finding the required qi to nourish his body while further increasing his skills with the blade. The increased agility of his joints and muscles would allow his swordplay to reach new heights and he was anxious to reach them.
"You should be careful in the future though, his actions seemed completely unlike his bloodthirsty reputation."
Kailen took her warning on board, he had a faint idea as to why Crowley had kept him alive. He felt that the man was similar to him in the respect that he loved to face strong opponents, it's likely he spared me so that he could face my future self huh...
Though such an approach suited Kailen well, he also wished to revenge his defeat and slice the arrogant bastard up for good.
"Can you tell me anything about him?"
"I know that he's a sellsword, he'll do any job for the right money. Though he's offended many great families around the continent he's slippery."
"Does he have some kind of backing? That allows him to slip away all the time?"
"Nobody really knows, he is quite the enigma."
"That so..."
A silence overcomes the carriage as Kailen took a moment to admire Lady Celia's beauty before him, though the quite moment was quickly interrupted as a ruckus seemed to occur outside with various shouting from the carriage drivers and the three guards.
From what Kailen could hear through the carriage walls, there seemed to a blockage on the road. That was obviously never a good sign and hence the ensuing panic.
"What's going on?"
"It seems that there is something on the road blocking the path."
Celia frowned, clearly reaching the same conclusion as he had. Kailen arose to approach the nearby window and pulled the curtain to see the situation outside, the road was clearly blocked intentionally as large wooden pillars and various scrap wood was pilled in a heap. He could see Guy, Dean, and Ran all standing aware while looking out towards the surroundings.
The carriage drivers ran to take cover inside the spare carriage slamming the door behind them, leaving the three men to stand guard outside. Kailen concluded that his best option would be to stay inside and protect Celia, while the three outside dealt with the majority of the threat.
He had confidence in them as it surely wasn't the first time the trio had dealt with such an occurrence, plus he was sure Celia wouldn't have hired some incompetent men for her protection. The surroundings were peaceful for a few moments before Kailen swiveled his head towards the nearby bushes were a series of arrows came flying from.
He watched as the trio expertly picked up shields from the ground and covered their bodies, a variety of arrows struck the shields together with their carriage. The carriage vibrated numerous times before settling, Kailen noticed that the maids all looked fairly fearful while Celia seemed as calm and graceful as ever.
"Don't worry ladies, I'm sure the guys outside will handle it. Even if they do get inside, I can protect you."
Kailen attempted to calm the maids, Celia smiled and spoke.
"You don't need to worry Kailen, sit down and don't aggravate your wounds. A few bandits shouldn't be a match for the three outside."
Kailen gave her a glance before continuing to observe outside, around six men ran from the bushes all armed with ragged clothing and rusted weapons. There were no bows, so either there were more men in the bushes or this was it. The trio outside prepared themselves for the sudden rush readying their weapons, Kailen was anxious to see them perform.