After an hour or so, the group decided that they were far enough from Bolnuir, where Zaros could most likely no longer track them down.
They stopped by the side of a dirt pathway in the middle of the Jormount forest that covered Bolnuir.
The pathway had wild grass and other shrubs growing all around it, seemingly deserted from use for many years.
All of the passengers of the four total carriages helped in gathering materials to hide the carriages, such as large leaves, bushes, and other such materials.
All except for Yan's father of course, who stood back and watched everyone work with a proud smile on his face.
The man irked Zareth a little bit, but it wasn't too much to worry about.
Right now, thinking of the geezer as an enemy would only ruin his chances of staying on the carriages a while longer.
After everyone finished disguising the carriages, they trekked into the forest for a while with the horses, before finally finding a flat area rid of most trees and bushes to lay down camp.
Zareth, Silio, and some merchants helped get the firewood for the campfire, and the others set up sizable marquee tents to sleep in for the night.
It was all finished quite quickly, as the group cooked and ate some dried meat of sorts, and the time for rest kicked in.
However, almost no one looked to be in the mood the sleep.
It might have been because of the constant worry of Zaros suddenly appearing out of nowhere, or simply a beast attacking them in the middle of the night, but mostly everyone stayed outside, near the fire, and refused to sleep.
That was, all except Zareth. He was completely calm, with not a single worry in the world.
Zareth did not worry about the future, nor did he dwell on the past. He was the type of person who lived in the present moment at all times.
So, why wouldn't he get some sleep, and in the meantime, even use Hale to up his cultivation and power?
Speaking of which, Zareth had begun to fear Hale was becoming quite useless.
Sure, it might have been somewhat effective at the start, but Zareth was now noticing only minuscule amounts of mana cultivation growth.
This meant he needed more cores to ingest, but also a greater way to cultivate. A better breathing (cultivation) technique.
Of course, he reckoned he would find an abundant amount of these in the inner cities of the kingdom.
If he could get into some sort of institute, then even greater breathing techniques would come his way.
Without much left to think about, Zareth's sleep led him to awake into another day.
As the golden arches of the sun assaulted their way through the treetops of the forest, casting an orange hue over the wilderness, the group packed up all of their supplies and continued on the path once again.
Several hours swiftly passed, those which Zareth spent continuously cultivating with a stagnant serious expression on his face, which made both Silio and Yan slightly afraid to approach him.
Eventually, the carriages were halted to stop at one of the regional travel stops.
Regional travel stops existed everywhere within most counties in this world and acted as a way to check traveler validities.
Over four hours ago, the group had taken a route which went up hill and abandoned the route that they had taken to come into Bolnuir. They had never come across this travel stop before.
This new path, which hugged the side of the mountain on the right, and went off quite a steep ledge on the left, was wider than the previous route, going from 8 feet in width to now 20.
Zareth got off of his carriage to see how these travel stops were dealt with as well, as it was a concept he was unfamiliar with entirely.
After about 100 meters of dirt path existed two booth's on either side of the path where two men stood, a thin, transparent barrier in-between the two blocking the road.
Zareth followed Yan and approached the stall on the left.
The man inside the stall was slightly overweight and had an eye missing, his skin was also dirty in comparison to the clean, yet oddly tight-fitting clothes he had on.
Yan grinned widely before speaking to the man.
"Hello good sir, we will just be passing through."
He said, taking a golden plate with lettering on it and showing it to the man.
Without even looking at the plate, the man inside the booth replied.
"Sure! But before ya' go on through, I must say, I highly admire ya' family and the work yous' have done for this kingdom. You see, when I was a little bo-"
The man randomly began talking about his childhood, which threw Zareth off slightly, as he simply turned back around and began walking back to the carriages.
Thinking back on it, Zareth also noticed how informally the man was speaking.
Along with the barely fitting clothing and barbaric-looking face, Zareth felt a slightly peculiar vibe to it all.
However, he brushed it off as nothing and began thinking of what was more important to him currently, and that was, finding a way to win over the geezer to let him stay on the carriages for extra time.
He made his way inside the forest, before standing behind a thick tree and letting go of his bodily juices.
As he nonchalantly whistled, still thinking of how to make a good impression on Yan's father, he suddenly noticed six unfamiliar figures quickly approaching one of the carriages in the middle of the line.
The two middle carriages were where majority of the merchants rested, and his carriage was at the very end of the line.
As soon as Zareth saw this, his eyes quickly darted back to Yan, who still looked to be preoccupied with the man behind the booth counter.
Looking back at the carriages, the figures had shabby clothes on, barbaric faces, and several weapons in hand.
Suddenly, a grin appeared on his face.
'What's a better way to leave a good impression... than becoming the hero and saving the day?'