Lucio stretched before walking out of his room and soon, he was out of the mansion.
The servants of the family were filling up the carts while the guards stood around the two carriages. Adolf and Aarah were standing outside, overlooking the work that was being done.
The archer and the berserker were standing beside the noble siblings. Lucio walked over and Adolf nodded in greeting while Aarah smiled, which Lucio returned by a simple nod to both.
The other two mercenaries were stumped when they looked at Lucio, who had two leather costrels (A leather canteen) strapped around his waist.
They saw the groovy carved patterns and came to the conclusion that it cost at least ten silvers each, and they were right.
Even Adolf had noticed it but didn't pay attention to it, just like Aarah did the previous day.
Lucio asked Adolf when they would start moving and the reply he got, was one hour, so Lucio simply walked out to buy bread, which cost him one bronze for four long breads.
Before he returned back, he handed the family of three to the bar owner, who he trusted the most and asked him to send them to the city as he was not allowed to bring slaves on the journey.
Lucio gave one each to his fellow mercenaries when he returned back and ate one whole loaf himself and felt very full. The mercenaries both introduced themselves as Erick and Brock.
Lucio simply said, "You can all me Samael."
Lucio did some push-ups, squats and some jumping jacks in that one hour to gain some exp points as he did not want to waste precious time.
'Who knows what kind of danger I might have to encounter…'
Finally, after about a few minutes more than an hour, they were ready to move.
Lucio walked briskly beside the carriages while the other mercenaries rode mules and the family guards rode horses.
He didn't protest as he did not know how to ride one. As long as he had a smooth journey, he didn't mind walking.
They walked a few kilometres when a guard tapped him on the shoulder, before pointing at a carriage that was at the back.
Lucio turned around and saw Aarah motioning him to go to her, which he did.
He expected the guards to gossip and some "Young master" to pop out of nowhere, but that didn't happen, leaving Lucio disappointed and relieved at the same time.
'The web novels on earth have a huge influence and I don't really like it….' He sighed inwardly and stopped in front of the carriage and before walking at the same pace.
"Come inside, there are things to talk about." Aarah said and a servant inside the carriage opened the door and Lucio climbed inside.
The carriage had a lot of room inside. The maid sat opposite to Aarah and while Lucio contemplated where to sit, Aarah motioned him to sit beside the maid, which he did.
'Of course, sitting beside a noble is disrespectful.' He thought as he looked at Aarah, waiting for her to talk.
"Tell me how you know so much about the plants." She said, more like a command.
Lucio simply smiled before shaking his head "No."
The maid was shocked but Aarah seemed paralysed due to his sudden rejection.
No one other than her brother had said no to her wishes which made her simply stare at Lucio, her mouth open.
Before Aarah could regain her composure, Lucio calmly continued "I wasn't paid to reveal my source of knowledge, my lady. I was hired to help you out with recognising plants and herbs."
Aarah looked at Lucio, who was smiling slightly and looked forward, ignoring him.
Lucio looked at the maid in confusion and she simply shrugged. He couldn't leave the carriage without Aarah telling him to do so, as it was again, disrespectful to leave without permission.
So, he helplessly sat in the carriage awkwardly.
Aarah didn't know what to do in that situation either, so she simply closed her eyes. She wanted to rope him to her side as knowledge was very rare and Lucio would be a very important asset to her family.
Roping him in would increase her standing in her family, which was helpful as her brother wouldn't simply be able to order her around.
Lucio sighed and decided to sleep.
The journey was mostly smooth. They stopped when they had to consume food and rest their mounts. They moved most of the time except when they slept and had meals, which was three times a day.
Lucio was asked to help and identify some wild plants as they had to use them for making food.
It was a peaceful journey. At least for four days….
*****
Jo Shin and Kim Dojin looked at the group of men who were tied to each other with a sturdy hemp rope.
They were in the middle of the tribe, where they usually cooked together and ate together.
A few decapitated bodies lied in front of the group of men. The women and children of the tribe were looking at the two muscular men who had assassinated their tribal chief and tied up all the men who dared to retaliate.
Jo Shin had trouble keeping them unharmed while he wrestled them to the ground, following their tribe traditions.
Both their stats had increased by a huge margin in the past two nights that they played. Fighting and killing gave them a lot of experience points compared to doing normal training.
The harder the fight, the more exp they got. Kim Dojin had almost died twice while Jo Shin always danced at the deaths door and emerged victorious.
The group of men in front of them were the ones who had lost to them and according to the tribe's traditions, one of the two would be the tribe chief.
Kim Dojin looked at his partner who he had experienced a quite a few fights that were highly dangerous. He was about to speak but Jo Shin was faster,
"You can be the Tribe Chief. I'm only good at fighting while you have good management skills."
Dojin was quiet for a while, and finally nodded before cutting off the ropes and declaring himself as the tribal chief, "THE NEW ERA HAS ARRIVED!! WE WILL BE TAKING OVER THE WHOLE MOUNTAIN!!"
"YEAAHHH!!"
"RAAAHH"
"ORAAAA"
The tribesmen who were released, roared and celebrated as their new chief had let them live, which was not common.
Dojin nodded before turning to his dear partner "We need a group of fighters. You should be able to train the men, right?"
Jo Shin nodded, "I'll have to go back and get the kids here."
Dojin nodded as Jo Shin left.
Most of the women of their home tribe were either dead of went crazy, so they had to kill them off, leaving the innocent children.
"All the men will undergo training from tomorrow, including the children above the age of ten."
'Haaah…. There are no quests nor a story to follow… it's like a free roam world that's at a hardcore level.' Jo shin thought as he ran through a dense forest.
'Eighty of the hundred beta testers already exhausted their three lives…. And it's only been two weeks in Oscuro.'
"Oh well, I got to do my best to survive."
******
Lucio was simply walking along with the carriages. The past four days were pretty calm and he was happy with it. He didn't really want too much adventure in his life when he was weak.
Aarah had not called him after he had rejected her "request" and actively tried to annoy him by making her maid add too much salt to his soup or making the servants serve him burnt bread.
Lucio saw this as a very childish retaliation and didn't not react the way she wanted him to. He simply threw away the soup and peeled off the outer crust of the bread.
While Aarah passed her time thinking of ways to annoy Lucio, Adolf used this chance to get Lucio over to his side, only to meet with rejection again and again.
Lucio didn't like to be tied to any family, the only exception being the royal family as they were the strongest powerhouse in the region and that was also the main reason why he had accepted Adolf's offer.
Entering the so-called "Holy City of Axyte" was not easy as they did a lot of checks on a person's background before letting them inside.
Escort missions were a loophole to enter the city without any checks and Lucio decided to abuse it as he wanted to join the army, where the position of a general was higher than that of a noble.
The sun went down and the fire was made. Tents were pitched and the people sat down.
After having the regular, plain dinner which consisted of soup made from wild vegetables, corn and jerky. The bread had all been used up so they had now switched to jerky and corn.
The workers happily ate while the siblings enjoyed their lavish dinner in their own carriages.
Lucio threw away the salty soup given by the servant before filling his bowl with soup from the pot.
After a satisfying dinner, everyone fell asleep, except for a few who had to keep watch.
Lucio was having a pretty nice dream when he heard shouts nearby, waking him up.
"ENEMY ATTACK! ENEMY ATTACK! ENEMY ATTACK"