Before we knew it, we had already exited the capital and now we were walking on the high road toward Stein… of course Stein was a long way from here, by estimation, just to get to their border you have to ride horse for about 2 weeks. there are shortcuts sure, but they involve strong monster territories and other dangerous places where even bandits can camp out, there is a way where we could even go through a deep forest, I think that was the quickest way though? but looking at Rose, she seemed to hate that idea entirely? was it because there would be a lot of bugs there? I think a girl like Rose would be averse to bugs after all.
"Okay Rose, give me the map." As I said, Rose gave the map. I analyzed it using the system, putting the whole information in my memory.
System, find the shortest Route to the country Stein. Let's go straight to the capital…
{Answer, the shortest route has been found: go straight along the highway until River forest then exit the highway route…..} sure as hell, it really was the forest, the shorted route...
"your really thinking about going through the forest!" Rose who found me gaze at the map clearly saw where my eyes were pointed at.
As the System gave minute instructions for us to follow, I saw that we could enter the forest. That way we wouldn't have to go around it using the highway. it would save a considerable amount of time for us…. about a whole weeks horse ride... sorry Rose I'll be taking the forest route.
I could just flash step my way over the Forest so that the dense tree's do not hinder our speed but If I wanted to do that, I would first have to make Rose agree to at least let me carry her… since that way we can even avoid entering the forest at least.
Yes that was right, I was going to flash step my way to the Stein kingdom… it was the fastest way to go there and nobody should be able to find us that way too.
"Say Rose, how fast can you run?" I asked just to be sure of her capabilities…
"What! Are you making fun of me? I am a knight and Lord Rin's number one apprentice!" well I thought she would burst at me but what could I do? I at least had to know her capabilities. I had no idea just how strong the people around me usually were. And comparing them to my grandparents seems to be the stupidest thing I could do.
I already knew where I stood among the humans right about now. I was a loose cannon… and an extremely loose one at that. Lilith being confident in sending me there made that wide and clear.
"I mean, I know that you're a knight and a rather talented one at that but I haven't seen any knight's capabilities before. Did you forget I grew up in the wild? The whole world is a mystery to me." Hearing me She suddenly started thinking…. There was no way I could say I may be strong but I had no idea how weak she was from me.
"Yes you're right…. Forgive me for my ignorance… I can run faster than silver horned wolves…. And I can keep that pace for….. An hour or so.." wow that's very fast.
Silver horned wolves can easily run at the speed of 80 to 90 kilometers per hour and if Rose can really run at that speed for 1 hour it's really unbelievable… among the speed of animals that have little intelligence because of their Speed the silver horned wolves were the ones that survived the most… although… It was a weak monster lacking in everything else. they can't even coordinate with others among them so they are easy targets.
I wonder what kind of hard training she did to achieve this level of speed and stamina… for a normal human in this world, Rose would look more like a legendary athlete. But she was still in the realm of humanity. That was what I knew after hearing of her example.
"Well that's impressive and don't mind the formalities we came to this mission together so I say we have equal say in it, of course I will call the shots but you can tell me if you find anything not to your liking. Okay?" hearing me surprised her.
"Well that's one brazen decision, did you forget? you just met me last night and also you know I don't see you with good eyes. But you are saying you would do as I say too?"
"You're too serious Rose. Did you forget Leila knew you? So I know you too and also it isn't like you outright rejected my plan. you're not a stranger. I saw how close you were to Granny. So let's just say we have some connections which probably makes us friends… yeah at least to me you're a friend."
I drilled it to the point. I had to make myself clear that we were on the same team so that on our mission, we could be on the same page… I wouldn't leave my life on someone if I was not trusting of them, that was why I would build up trust with Rose too, so she could at least be somewhat closer to me.
"If you are this insisting then I guess I have no choice, still… Why do you want to know my capabilities?" Rose said shuffling her hair behind her ear, well that was oddly cute?
"Do you know how my grandparents travel on foot?" I asked myself to bring her to get back to reality, for better or worse, this lady knight looked very cute when she actually listened to me.
"Yes! I certainly do! I have heard that when they have to progress by foot, they move at such speed that the scenery around them gets blurred and the people rarely know that someone has just gone past them!" it looks like she knows a lot about my grandparents….
"Yes that is correct, now by your saying, I get it that you aren't capable of that?" I asked
"Yes…. how I have tried to reach such heights, but I only get blocked by something. It feels as if my perseverance is nothing compared to that wall…. What am I saying…!" I see, she has reached a point where she can't go forward… I guess it feels like going hard core in a game only to fall back to the players with vip passes.
As I listened to her, she looked down hiding her face.
"In that case Rose, I have to say that we will not make it in time…. So I propose that you let me carry you…. So that we could both move faster." I said as seriously as I could… I had once read that in the name of seriousness and their missions, knights can agree to nearly anything.
Rose did stop to think about it but then she looked seriously at me and said.
"If that's what needs to be done, it is a small price to pay… but won't you get tired faster that way?" Yes, I guess those novels were on the mark!
There might just be some otherworlders on earth!
"Ho! don't worry about me, I can easily carry you. I mean you look slim not to mention I have enough strength to spare.."
System release the gravitational pressure….
{Affirmative!}
Booooooom! As the 100 folds of gravity were removed, I felt light as a feature… the force that was released made a boom sound and cracked the ground beneath us and a gust of wind was released….
"wha..What wa..s that!?" Rose said as she pushed her blowing skirt down. she was wearing shorts it seemed. the pink shorts looked great...
"Relax Rose, I just released the pressure that was on me." I said as easily as I could. people in this world wouldn't understand gravity, so this was the only way I could show them that….. thankfully she didn't see that I had gotten a peek, I don't know if she would be embarrassed about showing her shorts or not, so it was good that she didn't realize.
"So you use space magic too?" Rose looked surprised.
"Well Right now I can only do this much." that was right, Void magic was not space magic but these two elements seemed similar… The void magic could manipulate reality itself but since the math is hard for the people, very few people could use this magic…. sure having an aptitude for it also mattered.
If not for the system, I would also be running around circles around this magic not being able to do anything. The calculation needed to perform Void magic was on another level entirely.
"Alright Rose, can I carry you then?"
"Yes…." Rose looked Reluctant but as a professional knight, she saw that we had to think about our Mission first... still, when I picked her up princess style…. She yelped….
"Are you really fine with this? I can carry you on my back too?" I asked, since I knew this position was very embarrassing but this was better to me since she was wearing hard armor and it would hit my head mercilessly when I would jump and stuff… I really didn't want her at my back.
"No it…. Will be fine… just… fine!" She looked to be an innocent girl. watching her get shy in this position was normal but we had no time to spare…. So I started to run at full speed. I would flash step the whole way.
After training for so long, I was already at a point where I could use flash steps for days at no end… even Alice was capable of flash steps for at least a day….
...
After starting to run like that we both were silent until Rose broke it with a question.
"Is this the technique where you move faster using mana?" Asked Rose… since she was only holding on, I guess she was quite bored…
"Yeah, it's a technique like that, maybe…" since I never saw people use this I didn't know if Rose was talking about this technique or not… this technique was more then just using mana, I am practically using my body to get in touch with the world itself, when one is able to perceive this technique, they can use this to not only move fast but also enhance their battle stance to a completely different level. But very few people were able to acquire the mindset to learn this step.
Something that could affect your posture, movement speed and your overall strength output… let's just say this would be a SSS Rank skill in a game. Even I don't know how the hell I was able to learn it in my 2nd life. Was I a royalty or something?
"But I thought it took a lot of mana to use this technique? How long do you think you could hold off?"
"Well I think we can go to the capital of Stein without stopping .." As I said so, Rose sighed like this was what she thought too…
"You Really are their Grandson huh!...." she said with a tinge of sadness. Sadly I had not been able to see it, rather I probably would have no idea why she was sad even if I knew she was sad.
"What do you mean by that?" I asked with a questioning gaze… we were still moving at high speed but I had much mental fortitude to handle multitasking too.. so you could say I was chatting like we were having a relaxing tea cause obviously after becoming less shy, Rose looked to be in a chatty mood…
"I… well you see you have…. Much power to actually survive out of the edge of the world. then you take on such important missions as if completing a daily routine. Overall you don't seem proud like the heroes themselves.. Although you are oddly happy to use their image to get all the girls you can get. I can't tell if you are sincere or full of evil." well... I don't know about getting the girls part... then again, Leila already said something about me inheriting the maids from my granny... damn, just what kinda life am I leading here anyway?
"Isn't that normal? They have done things that they can be proud of. I am still achieving… or rather I think I am… and for the girls business you speak of, I will tell you this that I would never bother a girl who doesn't want my company, you should know this for sure, since I already find you quite attractive... still, I have yet to talk to you out of my own violation, if not for this mission, I hardly would have been acquainted with you."
After hearing me, Rose didn't reply, she only looked at the scenery passing by and that was that.
We suddenly stopped talking….. That's how I went on for 3 hours…. I had passed the forest in 2 hours, thankfully I went over the forest just as planned which made it easier for Rose and on the 3 hour mark, I reached the nation's border. It was practically open so I sprinted my way through and headed for the capital… it was laughable at how I had increased my speed, 2 weeks journey only took me 3 hours... really, it wasn't wrong to say I could probably one shot the whole Stein kingdom.
At first we needed to catch the Royal family. I needed to know their circumstances first.
Rose was nodding off in sleep. maybe the ride was comfortable for her but on the other hand her defenseless face was looking charming… I had to say, while sleeping she looked like a weak girl who you'd be over protective of… still, is it really okay to be this much defenseless?
It seemed that even if she had stopped talking to me midway, it was not out of any reason for hateness. Thankfully for some unknown reason, I was able to make some trust between us.
...…..
It took 1 hour… to reach the capital city… after passing the border I probably traveled to the heart of Stein without letting anyone see me, I was near the entrance gate… The day was nearly over as it was afternoon…. I had stopped between some places to relax now and then… so it had actually taken a total of more than 4 hours actually. I knew I could travel straight without any rest but since I had just gotten out of training, I didn't want to strain myself first thing the next morning.
We needed to enter the capital and get ourselves a base where we could be near the Royal castle and the nobles… that way in daylight, I could go around the town and look at the city's layout…. But something felt fishy to me…. There was smoke coming out of the city and it looked like chaos was brewing there… also, I could see people were fleeing…. While I passed the other cities, I had not seen any chaos, rather it looked peaceful… but this place… something was happening.
"Rose, wake up!" My helper was still sleeping soundly… "just how sleep deprived is she?"
"Mhmh… what is it?" whoa! What a cute way to wake up… she woke up and scratched her eyes and stretched like a cat…. Her fluffy blonde hair made it even more appealing bouncing with her every gesture. if she had cat ears, I bet those would twitching right about now.
"Hey awake? I think something's off… the capital looks like it's in chaos ...." I didn't have time to watch this cuteness so I tried to speak about the ongoing situation… As I described, Rose got serious. Her posture straightened and she got attention at once, the change was so drastic even I got bewildered by it. in the end she really was a professional knight.
"I think we should get to the capital first, then assess the situation…" I said.
"Yes I think so too but what do we do if they are already having a civil war between themselves…? there was already unrest here so it is not impossible." Rose voiced her opinion… it was true if nobles really had become powerful enough to oppose the Royal family then a civil war or Coup d'état could happen. But if that was the case, then it would be more like a military coup wouldn't it?
As such it seems that all our plans were going to be wasted… The situation in Stein… it just got worse...