It was currently the fifth month of the year. In this world, the human race uses very identical times as Ritzy's old world. The only difference was that there were 13 months and each month lasted 25 days.
Ritzy was currently outside the family manor saying his goodbyes to his family.
With heartfelt sobs Elizabeth said,
"My poor son, barley becoming an adult and they are sending you to war".
Ritzy,
"Do not worry mother, I will surely come back. It's my job to keep this family safe".
Elizabeth,
"Hurry back I can't wait. Remember, we are sending you some knights and servants with you so please do rely on them".
Elizabeth turned to her right and looked straight at 12 guards and 5 servants that were attending to Ritzy.
"All of you must remember you serve the Reds household. You will be tasked with serving and protecting my child. I better not see a single injury on him when he comes back. Do all of you understand!".
All the subjects said in unison,
"We will serve to your satisfaction!".
After Elizabeth finish saying her goodbyes, Christopher came in front of Ritzy.
"Son, make this family proud. You are one of my descendants and I desire the best for you. Come back as soon as possible and be safe. These are trusted knights of the house so rely on them if something ever happens".
Ritzy,
"Understood father, I'll make the family proud".
Finishing saying his goodbye's to the whole family, the journey to the south of the Pheonix kingdom began. There they would meet with the main army at the stronghold. They would report that the Red's family has arrived to serve and are ready to receive their orders.
The trip consisted of only crossing a hilly range and some forests. They would restock on necessities on the way at 3 different towns before arriving.
On the trip, they were provided with fourteen horses and 2 carriages. The carriages would be pulled with two horses each. One carrying the servants and necessities, while the other will be carrying military equipment and money for the donation the family was going to give for the war effort.
All the knights on the trip were either veteran soldiers who already experienced large warfare or their young adult children who wanted to join their parents and receive their achievements on the battlefield.
The servants were mostly the knight's attendants that already knew how to help the knight when they prepared for combat. From helping them dawn on their armor to maintaining their war horses.
The only servant who wasn't taught how to help knights in preparation for combat was Jacky. Normally regular servants would not be going to a warzone with their master but this was different. When nobles would go to war they would be given a private servant to attend to their every need.
Nobles were the only ones who were allowed to bring private attendants.
After an hour has passed, the group was already well faraway from the manor and already entering the first forest.
Entering the forest people started traveling closer together. The knights were creating a circle formation on the carriages and around Ritzy.
Ritzy turned to the knight on his right and asked,
"What is happening, what is with this sudden reformation?".
Knight 1,
"Lord, we are currently crossing the forest. We must be very warry here because remember the city is not too far away. Bandits love these kinds of areas because they are the least guarded and have many travelers going through here. Especially merchants on their way to the city".
Ritzy had stoped being alert ever since he learned how to spread his mana in the area around him. By spreading his mana, he has been able to sense every little thing inside the mana. By pouring enough mana around him, he would be able to see and hear everything that is in a half-mile radius around him.
Ritzy,
'Hmm, makes sense. Thank you for filling my curiosity".
Knight 1,
"My pleasure my lord, I'm here to serve".
As they were traveling Ritzy was thinking to himself.
'This is a very interesting thing, I never really thought about what people back in the day did for countermeasures against bandits. Well, it makes sense they did something like this. Maybe I should see what people do in certain situations when it comes to danger. I'll be fighting on a battlefield soon, it will be a good idea for me to learn what makes a person tick in this world. From desires to fear'.
One of the older knights on the left started coming closer with his horse.
Knight 2,
"My lord, I recommend for you to mount your armor on. This area is very dangerous and the chance of an attack will only increase as we go deeper. Either it be from bandits or animals."
Ritzy was currently wearing high-class travel clothes typically used by herbalists. It provided easy mobility and used leather armor for protection.
Ritzy,
"Do not worry, this might seem like basic leather armor but in reality if very durable. It's made from a magical beast bear dark iron. The leather is as strong as regular iron but very stretchy for comfort".
Knight 2,
"Pardon for the misunderstanding, I just wanted to make sure your safe".
The younger knights on the back were able to hear the conversation Ritzy had with the knight. They were currently talking about how Ritzy was a daddy's boy who relied on his parent's money for that kind of quality armor unlike them who had to earn their armor.
One of the older knights went right between them and angrily whispered,
"Show respect, he is our lord!".
Since they were in range of Ritzy's magic presence, he was able to clearly hear them as if they were right next to him.
Hearing them talk caused Ritzy to give off a little chuckle and think,
'Like my father provided this for me. He was going to give me magical compatible light armor but in the end, Savior refused. He said I should earn my armor so he sent me on a hunt for the dark iron bear that I'm currently wearing'.
'Too bad, I kinda overestimated the bear and accidentally brutally killed the first bears I saw. I tried using fire magic to burn their organs when I stabbed them. I believed it would cause enough internal damage to kill them and not enough for the fire to spread onto the fur. Sadly it was so much fire that the fire caused the bear to virtually burst. The fur was so ruined that it couldn't be salvaged. Luckily they traveled in packs so when I was gonna kill the final bear, I only chopped off his head'.
'Even though most of the fur and meat were mostly damaged. The bones and claws were in great condition. I was able to sell the material to a mercenary in a nearby town. I was able to use that money to buy some delicious food when I got to the city near the manor. There I learned the reason why the meat weirdly tastes better than my old world was because it came from a magical beast. Supposably the more powerful a magical beast was, the better it would taste and at the same time it would provide some benefits to the body'.
After an hour has passed, Ritzy sensed movement up ahead. Ritzy poured more magic in the area to be able to sense farther away. Now he was clearly able to see up ahead.
Behind the bushes was a wolf pack waiting and hiding. They looked like they were waiting to ambush anything that came down the path.
Ritzy spoke up loudly enough for everyone to hear him,
"Knights, we are approaching a pack of wolves. They are a click away so be prepared".
Knight 1 approached Ritzy,
"Sir, the forest is very dense. Are you sure there are wolves?".
Ritzy,
"Yes, they are plain to see if you spread your magic up ahead. Right behind the bush laying down and ready to jump".
The second knight came up as well and said,
"Sorry my lord but were aren't magicians, were are unable to produce or even capable of sensing magic".
Ritzy,
"Huh, but I remember seeing some knights have a blade glow during sparing sessions. I have even seen our family archers hunt animals with a wind like projectile".
Knight 1,
"That sword glow you saw was a skill that your family only departs on the family's most trusted knights. The air projectile you saw is a basic archery skill that is very popular for people who need to hunt during traveling. The difference between skills and magic is that skills are more restricted".
Knight 2 who was a veteran stated speaking,
"Sir, please do not hold back when asking. Sir Savior Puissance has told me that you have been secluded most of your life so you don't know much of the outside world. Just ask me what you need to know and I'll try my best to answer your questions".
Ritzy,
"Thank you for your guidance, I will be relying on you from now on. May I know how I should refer to you when I call for you?".
Knight 2,
"I'm knight Alter and the one right next to you is knight Junger".
Junger interrupted,
"Prepare yourselves, were are getting close to their ambush area".
Everyone here tensed up getting ready for battle. The knights in the back were moving forwards ahead to protect the carriages.
Alter,
"Ritzy, retrieve your weapon from the carriage. A battle is about to begin".
While everybody was being very tense and on guard, Ritzy casually lead his horse next to the carriage and asked Jacky to pass him his long sword.
Reaching back to the front of the pack Ritzy said,
"That bush area you see in front of us is where they are hiding. You don't see this but the alpha wolf is the closest to us. I'll shoot an arrow to try and kill him before their attack begins. Without a leader, they'll run away".
After saying that, Ritzy started picking himself up and perfectly standing up straight on top of the horse. He then conjured a crossbow on his forearm. The mana started accumulating into the crossbow and was getting brighter and brighter. Once Ritzy was satisfied, he launched the arrow.