After weeks of traveling cross country and avoiding even the smallest sign of civilization, it felt great to be on an actual road. It wasn't some simple path either. The road that they had been intermittently walking and running for the past two days was remarkable.
Even far between towns or cities, with nothing but farmland as far as the eye could see, the stone paved road was wide enough for two wagons to drive side by side in even the narrowest spots.
Nearer to one of the numerous towns that lay every twenty miles or so, the roads opened up, and branched out to provide easy paths to circumvent the town. How long must it have taken to build this level of infrastructure?
It might not have been anything much in a modern civilization. Long stretches of the road were little more than outcrops of rock that had been slowly weathered by countless feet and wagons, and many areas were in desperate need of maintenance with large potholes where a stone had been pulled out. Still, it made traveling and more importantly cargo transport trivial.
Even the landscape was beyond anything he might have imagined. The land here was rocky, and the few areas that didn't have settlements or farms, were barren and rocky. The air was dry, and there hadn't been even the hint of a cloud in the sky since they left the mountains.
They were in a full on desert, and yet most of the land was covered in farms. Huge canals had been carved all throughout the land bringing water to farmers, massive aqueducts supplied water to cities, and there were considerable rivers that snaked all throughout the land.
None of this should be possible, and yet here it was. A bright green stretch of farmland might be only a single fence and a small dirt levy away from a dusty red desert. There were even regions where rice paddies stretched as far as the eye could see.
Neither Vanya nor Nora seemed nearly as amazed that they were walking through a desert filled with flowing, fresh water. Vanya kept them at a quick, but not unreasonable pace. There were too many people for them to get away with day long sprints without drawing attention.
She was visibly tense every time they passed another traveler, whether it be a small family of refugees or a wandering trader. It was even worse when a long stretch of soldiers marched past them.
Jason had been worried that someone would see her massive form and impressive armor and try to draft her or something, and indeed she did draw attention. Everyone that they massed gawked openly at her, but none were brave enough to say a word.
Nora stuck right on Vanya's tail, or rather where her tail would normally have been if it wasn't tucked up underneath her shirt. She wasn't uncomfortable when people gaped or pointed at her. In fact, she never even looked up at them.
Jason would have liked to stop and get some information from one of the other travelers, but there was never a chance. Even when they stopped to rest, Vanya took them out into a barren stretch of ground and they set up camp there, with one of the three of them on watch at all times.
Not that anyone else on the road was likely to have any interest in talking to him. Even were it not for Vanya's presence, which may as well have been a sign proclaiming 'stay away,' people didn't stick around for very long.
When they passed people on the road, it wasn't uncommon to see the other party slow down drastically to decrease the amount of time that they were in contact. Particularly with the refugees, they often didn't even poke their heads up. The few that tried, probably to beg for money, were shut down the second they saw Vanya.
And the refugees weren't just coming from the unnamed city that they passed through. Jason was confident that they had long since blown past the people fleeing the city, but still there were small groups heading both towards and away from the capital.
That was disturbing to Jason. He would have thought that one group of refugees fleeing in one direction would notice others going the opposite, and change their course. What would be the point of going somewhere that others were fleeing? Then again, it didn't seem like there were many places left that were safe to go.
Jason, Vanya, and Nora had intentionally avoided every city they had passed, but it was clear that things weren't right. Even if they hadn't seen burning cities, there had been a remarkable disparity between people entering and people leaving.
Things weren't right here and more and more, Jason felt like he needed to learn why. The sparrow, for her part, seemed as oblivious as Jason. In fact, the little she knew was only making him more confused.
She said that the kingdom of Selevas hadn't been overrun in 200 years which had allowed it to flourish within the mountains. Most of the other human kingdoms had fallen, or at least suffered greatly in the last war, resulting in Selevas becoming this world's version of a superpower.
The hero had almost always come to Selevas, and they had a dynasty of kings and queens tracing their lineage all the way back to the first war, though even the sparrow thought that was dubious considering the timescales involved.
What had happened that had caused this level of chaos in a nation that was this powerful and successful? The sparrow was certain that it was something to do with the new hero, and Jason was inclined to believe her.
Jason woke on the third morning since they had passed out of the mountains, and pulled out some provisions. They could hardly be called provisions anymore, though. Dried meats and breads were still what they ate for the most part, but food kept appearing in Vanya's bag.
The day before they had eaten a cold meat pie that had actually tasted mostly fresh. Jason wasn't sure how he felt about Vanya stealing their food. They had the money to pay for food now, thanks to the bandits they had killed in the mountains, but given the current state of the world, he didn't know how far that would go?
Jason hadn't seen her steal a single thing, but he was sure she was using her spatial magic somehow. He kept an eye on her whenever they passed another group of travelers, but he never saw anything unusual.
He knew he should say something, but it didn't feel like it was a battle worth fighting. Vanya hadn't killed anyone, which was more than he had hoped for. If he just didn't think about it…
He felt the sparrow's presence in his mind. He had been growing more aware of her presence the longer they spent together. Sometimes, he was sure that he could feel her emotions to a certain extent even without her saying anything. Right now, he felt a wave of disapproval.
"I probably deserve that," he thought to her.
"You should grow a backbone and stand up to her if you don't feel good about it," she said.
"I know , it's just…"
"It's easier to not say anything?"
That wasn't what he had been going to say, but if he was being honest that was the truth. Damn that stupid bird. "It isn't fair that you can read my mind," he said instead.
"It's…"
She began to say something, but Jason cut her off as he noticed something up ahead. A pair of travelers wearing dirt stained clothes and large packs had stopped on the side of the road to eat.
There wasn't anything remarkable about them. Probably just another pair of refugees looking for somewhere to go. What surprised him was how intently they were watching Jason's group as they walked past.
Even Vanya didn't usually get people staring at her to that degree. Typically, they would see her and immediately look away while attempting to surreptitiously take a glance whenever they could. These two were gawking openly.
It wasn't until they began walking past them that he noticed that the two men weren't staring at Vanya. They were staring straight at him.