With the appearance of the main quest, I now have thought of which nation to conquer first.
But before going there, matters that I need to settle personally will have to come first.
"Have you thought of something, Murphy?"
Murphy stood silent as his head looked down as soon as he woke up.
"... After looking through the kingdoms one by one, nothing managed to spark my interest or draw in my attention, your grace"
"So you are saying that there is nothing you desire?"
"Other than growing stronger, there is nothing"
Unlike Payne whose full attention and effort is driven into the path of battle, Murphy's was the path of improving oneself.
But there was no definite direction.
It would be no different from saying that he is walking down a path while blind.
While he is sure of the path he chose, he cannot see anything that lies beyond the present.
"Then..."
Mel held out her hand.
"Come with me, and I will show you the colors of the world. The most beautiful and breathtaking ones as well as the gut wrenching disgusting ones. The joy and misery of living. I will show you everything until you find something that will ignite your soul"
Murphy looked up and was blinded by the woman in front of him.
In complete awe, like a light on a dark field, Murphy thought that the one before him was illuminating the hazy world he was in.
Driving away the thick fog and cradled him into her warm embrace. Making all of his frustration to go away.
Murphy could not help but tear up.
"I'm sorry, your grace. It looks like dust has landed on my eye"
"Take your time taking it off"
Mel looked through the window as she drank her tea whilst Murphy rubbed his eyes as he cried his grief of being alone, of never having anyone he could call family, away.
...
After some time, the Crimson tower master left along with Darius to go back to the Magic kingdom. But before that, Darius wore his artifact that will protect him from mental magic that I readied for him in case the magicians try to pull something on him.
With my clone, Elmenz, and Rojh staying behind to take care of anything that comes up in Lagnos, I was at ease knowing that my subjects are safe.
If anything were to happen there Finn, Ralias, Claude, and my clone would be capable of handling it by themselves.
And after my hard work of spreading animal heat inducing pheromones on the farms, the number of animals rose significantly compared to previous years.
Now I can rest assured that no problem will appear anytime soon in Lagnos.
"Your grace, I know that we are going there formally but, is there really no need for you to take any knights with you?"
Aster asked out of concern.
"Not at all. Besides, even if I were to exclude myself I doubt that anyone would be powerful enough to beat everyone here"
Along with me is a former tower master, two princes, and the renowned Murphy. Except for a few individuals, I doubt anyone would be strong enough to kill these four combined.
The carriage stop as Javier pulled the reins.
After opening the window to see why Javier stopped the carriage, my thought backfired on me. In a ridiculously humoric way.
- You must have jinxed yourself, master.
'But I doubt some band of thug would be enough for them'
"Listen up! This road belong to us!!! You must pay a toll fee if you want to pass safely from here!"
The one who seems to be the leader of the group yelled as he draw his blade.
"Your grace, may I?"
"Go ahead. Make sure not to destroy the road"
After saying that, Mel closed the window.
"Are you guys deaf or something? Why are-"
With a wave of Javier's hand, a wave was formed from a nearby river that washed away the group of bandits.
The group of bandits hit the several trees causing them, knocking them out in the process.
"Hiyah!"
The carriage moved once more forward to its destination.
...
Boom!
After a few days of traveling, we were halfway to our destination.
Bang!
And now, we were at the jungle of Danur. A place with a high amount of mana in the air so it naturally makes the mosnters that reside here even stronger.
Swoosh.
But the mosnters weren't the problem since no monster would dare to come close to us.
"Your grace, how long will it take for the two of them to finish their session?"
"It has been already four minutes. They should be finishing things any second now"
No monster dared to come at us after hearing the sound of explosion reverbrating through the air whenever Javier and Murphy would have their daily sparring session.
It was so safe that animals prefered to stay close to us despite the noise.
And since Aster has heigthened sense of hearing, he had to stay near me for me to protect his sensitive ears from the defeaning explosions the two would make.
"Haaa... haaa"
"You're not bad yourself, kid"
"You too. Never thought a sage would be proficient in hand to hand combat"
The two returned breathless and immediately sat down as the tension in their bodies disappeared.
"Here you go..."
Aster handed out bowls for them with a sour expression.
It must have been from seeing two monstrous individuals fighting leagues above him. And one of them is younger than him.
- Something like that would have damaged his pride.
'That is normal. But I am surprise to see that our chef has no problem with it'
- I think he is use to it. I mean, Leo's sister and the four heroes of Aelius were people he could see almost everyday. He must have been used to seeing powerful people from the start that he doesn't even care anymore.
'True. Except for Yu Mengyao or Payne I doubt anyone else would be enough to surprise Leonard'
Maybe that 'person' would surprise him, but, except for her I doubt anyone else would be capable of doing such a thing.
Our journey through the jungle of Danur, that was infamous for its level of danger, continued with Javier and Murphy having a spar everyday and eventually arrived to where we I wanted to go.
Toot - to - to roooot!!! Toot - to - to ru rooooot!!!
Trumpets echoed as the citizens of this nation bowed down to the carriage carrying Mel.
"How wonderful. This is what a proper entrance should be like"
After opening the door, Aster went down and held out his hand to escort Mel.
Click, clack.
Mel went down and saw the endless heads bowing down to her as a sparkly, velvety golden carpet embedded with diamons at the side was laid out while birds flew and drew patterns in the sky.
[The Goddess of Land is curious to know what you are doing on her land]