The preparation went along pretty well, it took half a day for everything to be completed. Liam gathered men to make sure they got everything they needed. Food for men and horses, water, torches, enough spare weapons, medical supplies, and lots more. As the captain, it was his responsibility to make sure that as many people make it out alive. And while he might have some critique on his men, he still saw them as friends, he was hard on them only because he was scared of losing them. If he could save them by pushing himself a bit more, he would gladly do so.
This time Robert would come along, as his first expedition and combat experience against monsters, he needed to take everything into account. If Robert came back with only one arm, Liam and Lucas would be facing the consequences of that. There are healing spells that can regrow limbs, but neither Robert nor Lucas knew them. Liam even had his doubts about Venion.
They had a caravan of about 5 carriages that carried most of the supplies and men. The middle caravan contained all the supplies, while the other 4 were occupied by the soldiers. Even if his preparations were complete, Liam still felt uneasiness. Fighting against monsters without magic or special tools or traps was a tall task for any normal soldier with a little bit of training. He could only hope that it wasn't going to be a disaster.
Traversing the woods going north towards their destination, nothing out of the ordinary occurred. Lucas was curious and asked some soldiers where they were going. After his little revenge, the soldiers were a lot more friendly with him, especially now that he was a mage as well, giving him a higher rank. Apparently, this was the second biggest mine, but not the biggest source of income, it was a coal mine, while the others had iron or even a few magic crystals. Otherwise, there was nothing special about the mine.
"Cap, you know what we're up against?"
One of the soldiers was riding a horse like Liam. He was the scout so he was allowed to have his own horse. Slowing his pace to match that of Liam's horse, the scout posed a question that most of them had been struggling with.
"Conrad, please call me captain or Liam.", the soldier started to show a bright smile at that remark. "C'mon cap, what's wrong with that name, I think it makes you look a lot cooler, you know?".
"For the love of the goddess.", shaking his head he tried to ignore the nickname of his crew a bit. The surrounding soldiers were laughing when they heard his response. They liked to tease Liam with a few strange names to lighten the mood. "To answer your earlier question, it's mostly Steel Spiders, but we don't know for sure what kind of beasts are in there. I'll try to make Lucas and Robert take on a few more."
"Great, great, by the way, since when do you grow your beard?"
After the last few weeks, Liam had started to get a little beard, which made him look a lot more professional. "Since now, I think it looks quite well."
"Hahaha, better be careful Lammy, or the misses might think you look like a hobo.", laughs and a few other jokes at the cost of Liam's annoyance were being thrown around. Even though Liam was irritated by their stupid jokes, he couldn't help but show a smile at their liveliness. They had to ride for a few days, so they needed to entertain themselves.
Taking a break from all the teasing, Liam slowed down a bit, ending between the second to last carriage.
In one of the carriages were Robert and Lucas, paired with a few soldiers. Normally Robert would have his own vehicle of transportation, but due to logistical reasons, they couldn't afford another one. Horses weren't so easy to get, especially tamed ones. The baron had a lot of wealth, but had spent a ton on materialistic things and was preparing for a possible war with the north. So spending a lot of money just for an extra carriage wasn't something the baron wanted to do. Not that he was smart or strategical to actually think of it, but his personal butler advised him to do so.
So far, neither one of them had said anything, the group in that carriage stayed silent. While they heard the laughing from the front, the soldiers started to get a little jealous. They wanted to joke around as well, but with their lord's son with them, they couldn't really start making jokes.
'I guess we should say something, no reason to stay silent.'
'What are you planning? I know I'm not the greatest when it comes to socializing, but breaking the tension now won't really give us any benefit.'
'Are you not realizing we can try the same principle with Robert as we tried with his father? Perhaps this time it'll be successful as well.'
'Go ahead, I guess.'
"So, Robert, how have your lessons been?", with no other good topic, Lucas chose something he was interested in. "It's nothing special, a bunch of arrogant teachers disciplining you so you can walk or dance a certain way. Otherwise, I just get taught about economics or some other subject, nothing you would understand so I won't explain."
Lucas had to hold in his laugh when he heard that Robert had dance lessons. He started to imagine him dancing around with those old teachers and couldn't help but start laughing aloud. "What's so funny? Has your brain gone haywire just from the word 'economics' ?", thinking that Lucas was someone with absolutely no knowledge about anything he felt superior, but that didn't last too long.
"Hahaha, I just have to ask, pfff, do you need to actually dance, like a little girl prancing to impress her daddy? Hahaha", Lucas absolutely had no filter, the other soldiers in the carriage started to laugh as well. Seeing Lucas being so blunt with someone of nobility, they also started to feel a lot looser. "SHUT UP! STOP LAUGHING!", but that wasn't enough to stop them, it only encouraged them. After their little laugh passed Lucas noticed something.
"I have to say I'm surprised, we've been talking for a bit and I still haven't heard how I'm a commoner from you, are you nervous or something?", Lucas pointed out that Robert normally loved to degrade Lucas by making fun of his rank.
"Have you already forgotten? You're my rival now, since that bout I have acknowledged you as someone to compete with. This doesn't mean that you aren't a hopeless commoner though."
"At least I don't have to dance."
With that, a few chuckles were heard from the soldiers, but with a quick glare from Robert, they stopped. "I'll have you know that being capable of dancing during a ball or gathering of nobility is extremely important for your standing and rank."
"What does dancing have anything to do with your rank? If you have a lot of money, couldn't you just buy a rank? If you're powerful, you can be gifted a rank, who cares how you dance?"
"I should've expected you wouldn't understand how the high society works, you truly are hopeless."
'And that, my friend is how you break the ice. He's willing to talk now, even the soldiers would probably say something if they had some meaningful insight.'
'I still don't get it, but go ahead with whatever you want.'
With that, they continued their conversation. After they started to talk about what his lessons contained, Lucas found that many things were stored in the books of the library, but also a lot of detailed information that was completely new to him. 'So the books of those old guys do actually have a purpose.'
With his mental sphere, Lucas could remember things a lot faster and learning became as easy as breathing. So Lucas would catch Robert in a mistake or two, giving Robert the impression that Lucas was a lot smarter than expected. Even more surprising was that the feeling was mutual, Lucas was actually impressed by all the knowledge Robert had amassed without a mental sphere. Lucas had it easy, but Robert had the same, sometimes even deeper, knowledge as him. That combined with all his combat training, both physical and magical. Lucas was sure he would fail if faced with the same conditions.
Robert actually enjoyed talking with someone his age, he grew up with strict parents and discipline. His expectations were always high and he needed to be a capable mage next to a successful noble, it was a lot to handle. This little outing filled with jokes and normal conversations made Robert happy. Never in his life had he talked with someone about the weather and thought about how hard it must've been to be a carriage rider. Simple things that didn't need to be talked about were expounded on, it felt strange yet relieving to know that whatever he said or did wouldn't be taken too seriously. He found someone to talk to, being mean or insults were accepted and shoved aside like they were just a way to continue the conversation. Robert could express himself for once, without being afraid of saying the wrong thing or responding in a way that a noble shouldn't.
'It's been some time since I've talked so much.'
He didn't always laugh since he was the subject of laughter in the first place. Yet at a certain point, they all started to laugh at each other, for their build, their job or focus, or hobbies, anything could be laughed at, but they welcomed it.
'Father would never even talk to these men, yet they don't seem that bad. They are from a lower rank, but what makes them so awful? Father never made me laugh, yet these brutes have done so. How must they view us nobles? If we see them as brutes, they must see us as sleazy pigs or something even more vulgar.'
He started to question his teachers and parents. 'What makes a good noble?'