"Rob, can you be quick, we don't have a horse so the trip will be long as hell!" Kirito shouted out carrying his bag full of clothing and pudding.
"Alright, I'm coming!" Rob was fat, so his pace wasn't that great, now walking miles and miles would be too much for him.
"Hey, guys!" Erin shouted out, "You know, we appreciated your company among us and how kind you were. As a way to repay your kindness, please accept this gift..."
Then, he joined her hands together, and colourful dust of glitter appeared around her. Suddenly, the dust was changing into something, it was changing into an animal.
In the seconds that went by, the dust changed into two majestic horses one white and one black. The black horse had a black mane while the other had a white one. They were all already equipped with the riddles, the saddles, the stirrups etc.
"This is the greatest don't someone has ever gave me..." Rob said looking at the white horse who was identical to the one he lost during the incident of the samurais.
After they said goodbye to each other, Kirito and Rob were off once again. They walked for miles until they reached a small village they would sleep in for the night.
Thanks to Elza's potions, they had 150 gold coins, enough to buy a medium-sized palace. As they had the money for it, Kirito and Rob rented the biggest available house possible in the village which was only half 5 silver coins, so not even half of a gold coin.
"Keep the change," Rob said winking at the woman in her mid-thirties.
They brought their horses to a ranch and went into the house. It had a living room, a kitchen and a bedroom. Although it was the biggest house available, it was quite small, but they were in a village, what did they expect?
In the living room, there was not much apart from a cosy fireplace and two chairs next to it. It was simple but great. Rob and Kirito sat next to the fireplace and started discussing.
"Hey, Kirito what did Elza say as her last words?"
"Uh... well he told us to continue, to not stop and fulfil our destiny."
When Kirito said that, Rob couldn't help but cry.
"For God's sake! If only I was stronger, I'm such a bum, I just acted dead all along instead of helping her!"
Kirito felt his pain of being too weak to protect people, but what could he do apart from getting stronger?
"You know, if we manage to reunite Japan, Elza will be proud of us. All we can do now is accomplish what she started..."
Rob wiped his tears off his chubby cheeks and nodded. They then took their tea and fell asleep in front of the fireplace.
The next day, Rob shook Kirito's shoulder suddenly as if they were under attack.
"Why on earth are you waking me up so early!?" Kirito shouted out.
"Outside, there's so much commotion, I ignored it, but then I heard a big noise. I think we better check it out." Rob said.
Kirito was still tired but still managed to walk to the door. The house they were in was located on a mountain hill which had a great view of the village. In the village, there were houses and a few restaurants, but there was a centre which was like a park where most people like walking which could be seen clearly from the hill.
In the centre, there were 5 horses, all black except one which was white, he seemed to be the chef.
The others had a black suit all around their body, while the one in the white horse only had a white robe, a straw in his mouth, a straw hat and one hand on the handle of his katana.
"Who are those people?" Kirito asked.
"They are ninjas, while the one in the middle if he doesn't have the black attire, that means he is a high rank, surely rank B or A..." Rob replied, "Their clan are surely here to steal the food supplies."
"I thought ninjas hid in the darkness..."
"It's just a stupid myth, like the one that samurais respect the code of bushido. All of it is just stupid lies." Rob responded.
Then, one of the villagers the ninjas were talking to pointed at the top of the hill. The man in the white robe looked at the hill and saw Kirito and Rob. Seeing the man clearly, he had a scar on his right eye and a deadly look which made everyone know that he would kill anything that would dare to block his way.
"It seems one of the townies told the ninjas something about us they're interested in," Kirito said in a worried tone.
"Surely he told them we gave them a gold coin, it's very rare to find someone with such a coin in this part of the territory. I suggest we leave now Kirito."
Kirito agreed, and packed their things and mounted on their horse. At the moment they were about to go, the ninjas arrived at the hill. Kirito and Rob acted like they didn't see them, but two ninjas blocked their way.
"Greetings travellers..." the man in the white robe said, "My name is Kato Danzo, rank A ninja and I'm just here to politely ask you to give me your gold coins."
Kirito looked behind him where Danzo was, and he simply ignored him and tried to force a passage through the two ninjas.
Danzo was a calm person and always had his eyes closed, but could see everything (anime logic...). Kirito managed to create a passage, and he left accompanied by Rob. For some reason, it was easy to get out of that situation, maybe a bit too easy.
"I wonder why he let us go..." Rob asked himself.
As they were walking, the passage was full of sand and dust, with plantations on their right and their left, a big empty place that looks like it was wiped out by a powerful explosion. Kirito sought to find more information about what happened.
"Good morning, could. you are kind enough to tell us, travellers, why the left side is only a mess?"
"It only happened this morning, before it was land like others. The A-rank ninja did this, he made this distant attack!"
Suddenly, Kirito understood why they let him go. It was to get a greater hit on him.
At the hill, Danzo already pointed his sword was already covered with aura.
"If you don't give me what I asked you for, then disappear..."