"Ahem!" Riza coughed, causing Reeve to stop in his tracks. She continued, "Are you sure this is a good idea?"
"…" Reeve couldn't respond. He wasn't sure, and he knew it.
"Umm … so … do you need some help?" asked Wynn, a question which she realized was stupid.
Reeve and Riza turned towards her.
"Wait a minute … eh … were you looking for something?" asked Reeve.
Wynn appeared to be hesitating, before replying, "Umm … don't worry about it."
There was an awkward pause, which was mainly due to the fact that no one knew what to do next, and Reeve's clothing situation wasn't helping anyone. It was then, that the driver of the caravan called over.
"Eh… Miss, are we still going?" asked the driver, who was a middle-aged man with black hair. He was wearing average, patched clothes.
"Umm… yes, yes. Can we take extra passengers?" replied Wynn, hesitantly, before asking a question of her own.
"Of course, how many are we talking about?"
A few minutes later –
Reeve, Soren, Riza and the unconscious Eskaria, were sitting comfortably in the back of the caravan. The funny thing was that, Wynn had lied that she was traveling with her family. Her family had left for the capital the day before. She had been left home to take care of a few things. Well, that's what she told everyone.
As for why she had stopped the caravan, well, she attributed it to a call of nature. When she gave this reply, she blushed somewhat. Riza, being curious, inquisitive and whatnot, wasn't buying it at all. In fact, she kept asking so many personal questions, which eventually led to an awkward cough from Reeve.
From Wynn's perspective, this was a very weird combination. She didn't expect the two people to somehow turn into four. Not to mention Reeve and his awkward clothes, there was Soren and his bloodied clothes. She had tried her best to overlook Riza's clothing, until the girl started asking so many questions. And then there was the unconscious girl, who had bruises all over her body. What had she gotten herself into? Only the gods knew, and she didn't think they'd be answering her any time soon. Or any time at all.
The driver did his best to ignore the situation at the back. His business was to ferry the person who had paid for a trip from Sky City to the capital. So, whatever passengers the mistress decided to take with them, it was none of his business. Therefore, he simply whistled as he drove the caravan, which was what he knew how to do best.
It took them a few hours to reach the city of Adsvaal. This city was almost like Sky City, in terms of size. However, in terms of everything else, it was very dissimilar. For example, Sky City had been governed by an independent governor. This meant that despite paying taxes to the government, he was free to come up with his own rules and laws. Also, he was free to recruit his own military, which was somewhat restricted to Sky City, but well, at least he had the choice.
Adsvaal, however, was under a government official. Everything was supposed to be sanctioned by the government. This meant the soldiers, the laws, the city budget, and everything else was supposed to be sent to the government for approval.
When they arrived, only Wynn went inside the city with the caravan driver.
"I don't trust that wench! She's too fake", Riza voiced her disapproval, which was quite weird.
"Eh? This should be the first time you've properly voiced your disapproval. What's wrong? Feeling inferior?" Reeve smirked.
Riza glared at him, before she responded, "Inferior? I don't feel inferior at all! Aren't you being too trusting with this w--"
"Ahem! Aren't you being too paranoid?" Reeve interrupted her.
"Too paranoid? There's just something about her… I think it's my instincts screaming…"
Reeve laughed as he heard this.
"What do you find funny?" Riza asked, glaring at him.
"Oh nothing. Anyway, we still need money to enroll at Artemine. Where are we going to find the money?"
There was a very long pause. Soren looked at Eskaria, who was now awake, before speaking, "There's a friend of my father's who stays in the capital. But …"
"But what?" asked Reeve anxiously.
"I don't like him! He always makes fun of me!" as Soren said this, he blushed.
"Why are you turning red all of a sudden?" Reeve asked, with a loud laugh.
"He always finds an occasion to make fun of me. Whenever he came home, I tried my best to avoid him!"
"Well, I guess we have a solution", Reeve smirked.
"And what are you going to say to him when you get there?" asked Riza, with a frown. "Have you both forgotten what happened back there?"
Everyone except Eskaria, frowned deeply. Before they could continue with their conversation, sounds of trotting horses drew nearer. When Riza peered from the tree she was leaning, she saw the caravan returning.
"Well, the wench returns. Oh, before I forget, aren't you forgetting your promise?" asked Riza, looking at Reeve, who seemed to be thinking about something.
"Eh?"
"I mean you promised to teach me how to fight! If I knew how to fight like that, I could have walked into the enemy's territory and come out unscathed!" she declared, as her fingers dug into her palms.
"Well, didn't you come out unscathed?" asked Reeve, a bit confused.
"That's not what I meant! I had help back then. I want to be able to fight a thousand men without help!"
Reeve laughed again. "A thousand men? I think you have the wrong impression of martial arts! It is a discipline which is taught for self-defense! You need to have a noble character, and if I were to teach you, then you would have to promise me that you won't go around starting fights! Besides, you would run out of stamina in a few minutes if you were fighting a thousand men. And not even karate would help in such a situation!"
Riza glared at him, but that did no good, because the caravan they had been waiting for finally arrived.