"Let me get some stuff ready and then I'll get going with you" Mazak told the woman.
"Can I not stay here for at least a night to rest? I'm very tired after the trek here and I'll be even more tired when we get back" she pleaded.
"Nope" Mazak sharply replied, "war waits for no-one"
Mazak immediately went about collecting many different herbs and spices, spare weapons, additional armour he may or may not need, food and most importantly money, bringing about almost half of his wealth out with him, around 500 gold coins. This would make him a delicacy to thieves, if they were to ever manage to beat him.
He put all the things he collected into his bag he brought out from the sad dilapidated cottage.
Whilst he was doing this, the woman was in utter shock and clearly stunned.
After 10 minutes of grabbing and checking that he had everything he needed, Mazak decided to say a long goodbye to all of his animal companions in his house as he won't see them for a long time.
From the smallest of all animals on the ground to large birds circling near the ceiling, they all came to say goodbye. Mazak told the animals that he won't be back for an incredibly long time so it's be better for them to safely live back out in the wild and to work together if they need to, so they will be able to thrive.
Finally, Mazak pulled out the large two heads of the amphisbaena and stuck it upon the wall in the living room, making the woman look even more shocked.
"Flies will enter your mouth if you keep it open long enough" Mazak commented towards the woman, "let's go, I've done everything I need to do here"
"Okay, do you have a carriage we can take?" The woman asked.
"No but I can buy us one so you can get your beauty sleep you desire so much" Mazak answered and then continued, "let's go, we're finished here, stay safe everyone"
Mazak walked out of his house being closely followed by the woman. As soon as he left the proximity of the house, he created a portal to a safe forest for all of his animal companions he has ever met and befriended.
"Stay safe" Mazak muttered before signalling the woman to follow him.
After a dozen or so minutes of looking for a stable or anyone owning a carriage with horses, he finally came upon a sorrowful looking merchant atop a carriage at the outskirts of the city.
"Excuse me sir, is your carriage for sale?" Mazak asked politely.
"Huh? Oh, yeah it is, 10 gold coins, that's all I need to get back up and running" The merchant replied gloomily.
Before the merchant could even change his mind, Mazak fished out 10 gold coins from his bag and placed them in the merchants hands.
"Nice doing business with you, now come on we need to go" Mazak hurried the woman aboard the carriage whilst he also got up to the box seat (where the coachman would sit to drive/steer the carriage), before the woman managed to get up Mazak used his telekinesis to remove all the merchants goods and supplies out of the wagon.
"Thank you very much good sir, you must be in a hurry to readily pay me this much, I cannot thank you enough so I can only grant you my best wishes on your travelling" The merchant recovered from his stupor.
"You know where we're going to correct? Tell me which direction we need to go, and I'll take us there" Mazak politely asked the woman.
"If I'm remembering correctly we just need to travel North for about 2 days, I'll tell you where to turn and when to follow the road. You know you can ask for my name? seen as we're going to be going on a journey together for a little while" The woman replied, almost saying that my name should've been your first question.
"That's a question for the journey is it not?" Mazak kindly returned.
———————
After some back and forth useless questions and small talk, the two somehow managed to set off on their journey in order to try stop a war.
———————
"Can I please take a rest now? All you've got to do is follow this road straight" The woman pleaded.
"First what's your name? But sure, if it was that easy you could've said sooner" Mazak responded.
"My name is Nara, an intelligence officer of some sort, I've been under the command of the Calibrica empire, reported straight to the emperor and received missions from him, but in all actual fact I've been under the true command of the khahne empire" Nara answered in detail.
"To what do I owe the pleasure of the khahne empire sending an officer to retrieve me for?" Mazak curiously asked.
"Simply put, a war is about to start, all of our combatants are positioned in key strategic and important locations, we do not have the manpower required to resolve this soon to come war, so we've decided to prepare early and have focused on holding what we have" Nara replied.
"Well then, if I'm allowed to have a lay-in after this then I'm glad to try help out" Mazak joked.
"Depending on your war effort, you'll be given much more than just a simple lay-in" Nara countered.
————NEW OPTIONAL QUEST————
•Resolve the conflict between the Khahne and Calibrica empires using peaceful tactics
If the primary objective is not achieved or unable to be achieved then:
• Aim to slow down the war progression of the Calibrica empire until other empires take action
- Currently at 1%
Rewards:
1 Level + 450 Gold + Mysterious token
————————————————————
"I'll take up your offer then, we better get going." Mazak playfully replied, whilst telling the system to track the quest.
After they chatted a little bit more Nara fell asleep and Mazak controlled the carriage to maintain course and follow the directions instructed by Nara.
~~~~~~
In the evening of the day they set off, Mazak located a spot in a nearby flatlands to setup camp for the night.
Mazak at the centre of the encampment placed a detection spell which covers the surroundings and feeds back what is in the spells area of effect back to him.
"Let's get this all sorted" Mazak spoke to himself whilst walking around the area and picking up sticks and dry materials for a simple campfire.
"It's been a while since I've camped outside this far in the wild" Nara said to Mazak whilst he was just about to set fire to the pile of sticks he had gathered and placed.
He looked at Nara before saying, "Do you ever regret leaving your home?".
"Not really, there wasn't much of a family before I left so there's no point in me regretting it, besides I have a purpose now so I have something to work towards."
Mazak nodded his head in an understanding manner and smiled before laying down on the ground like an animal, "it's best to catch up on sleep as we have a long day tomorrow."