Sitting atop the roof of the Dwayne family's luxurious carriage, I glanced out at the open road before me.
The capital city was built on an expansive plain, and even with the city's vast size it barely took up a fifth of the plain's total area.
Dead ahead, for as far as the eye could see, was flat land interspersed with trees.
If you looked around enough, you could see some rolling hills in the distance, however, they were quite rare, and most hosted look-out posts for the army.
I wasn't sure exactly if they were being used or not though.
I mean instead of invasion, I guess they could be used to look out for bandits and such, but I doubt that they'd come so close to the capital.
Basking in the evening sun and drowning in my thoughts, a grunt brought me back to reality.
Looking to my side, I could see Jiayi's figure struggling to climb out onto the roof.
Staring at her for a second, I reach out and help her up.
"What are you doing here?" I ask while reseating myself.
Jiayi stared at me silently for a moment before sitting next to me.
"How old are you?" she asked.
"Old enough," I responded. It was the same response I gave bartenders when they asked my age before I reincarnated.
She gazed at me intently for a second, which honestly, put me off a bit, before asking another question.
"If you're old, why're you so short?"
Short? I'll have you know I'm the average height for a nine-year-old, a bit taller even.
I don't bother responding and sigh, asking why she didn't go bother her parents.
"Bother? That's rude," she said.
"It's accurate," I responded.
She pouted a bit before seemingly putting the ordeal aside.
"Are you famous?" she asked while pointing to my tag.
"Not at all," I say, "Are contractors with my tag usually famous?"
"I'm not sure, my uncle says he's so famous, he's even met the prince!"
I snort in response. As said prince, I can attest to the fact that I've never met any adventurer before this, hell I've never even met anyone outside of the palace before.
I'm in sort of a Repunzel-esque situation, as I've never even been to a ball, despite the fact that one is always held every couple of months.
I mean besides that one that happened after my birth at least, and I never even attended it properly.
"That prince that never leaves the palace? I doubt it," I say.
"I don't know about it either, Dad says that I shouldn't trust everything Uncle Zach says," she says, with a complicated expression on her face.
Pointing at my sheath, she continues her questions.
"Are you a good swordsman?"
"One of the best," I answer.
I mean let's be honest, I definitely wasn't the best, but I wasn't your average swordsman either.
I could probably take on several decently experienced swordsmen at once.
Obviously, I'll never need to, even on this trip, the Praetorian Guard will take care of any 'issues' before I need to do anything.
Though, now that I think about it, doesn't that defeat the purpose of making this whole trip?
Whatever, it works in my favour anyway, it's not like I'm particularly inclined towards fighting random strangers.
"Are you stronger than my Dad then?" she asks.
"Er...maybe? How strong is your dad?"
"The strongest!" she replies, her eyes shining with adoration.
Seeing that she had no intent on explaining why he was 'the strongest', I simply nod my head and gaze back out towards the road.
In the coming hours, I chatted a bit more with Jiayi about this and that, mostly laughing about what the occasional passing coachman looked like.
I mean don't get me wrong, I'd never do something so childish usually, but for some reason seeing her trying to keep in her laughter while pointing at some guy's nose is hilarious.
Soon, night came, and with the nearest city still being 3 hours away, we decided to stop for the night.
I thought that it'd be an issue, as the Dwayne family didn't seem like they'd be used to camping, but I was proven wrong.
The family seemed especially familiar with camping, despite their wealthy status.
I say that like I'm some expert camper when in fact I've never even done it once.
Luckily, Cephi seemed capable enough, so he assisted the Dwaynes and their coachman while I 'stood guard'.
After the camp was set up for the night, I offered to cook, as it was the only thing I could do to help.
And not to toot my own horn, but I was a damn fine cook as well.
I lived alone most of my life before I got isekai'd, so learning the art of cuisine was a must for someone like me.
Using the ingredients provided, I managed to make a simple soup to go with the bread we had on hand.
It wasn't super amazing or anything, the seasonings in this world were a bit underdeveloped, but it was still quite good.
"I'm surprised you know how to cook so well," Simon said. "Most contractors only know how to swing their sword, and not much else," he continued.
"Really? I'd assume that travelling so much would make them at least half-decent at it," I say.
"Well, most contractors travel with large caravans, so they don't necessarily need to learn how to cook," he responded. "You'd know better than me," he said while pointing to my tag.
"I only became a contractor recently," I say with a shrug.
"And you've become verim ranked already? Aren't you talented?" he said as he looked at me with an astonished gaze.
I chuckle lightly and change the subject.
"Jiayi tells me that you're a swordsman?"
Simon laughed lightly and shrugged.
"I used to be in the army, so I could pass for one," he said.
With that, we conversed a bit more while Diayu went to bed with Jiayi, they would be sleeping in the carriage, while Simon and the Coachman would share a tent. Cephi and I would also share a tent.
Soon, the sounds of conversation and the crackling fire died out, being replaced by the sounds of various creatures of the night.
I wasn't asleep yet, instead, I left the camp and headed to a clearing nearby to practise my swordsmanship, or at least one of the many forms I was forced to learn, as I was bored.
As far as Enoch's blessing went, the ability the learn sword arts from a simple demonstration is quite op.
But that was also where that particular blessing stopped, as it was up to me to keep my body in well enough shape for my weapons to inflict enough damage.
I mean, even if a child swings a sword perfectly, how much force would realistically be behind it?
That was where the second blessing came in.
My unnatural and ridiculous strength. Seriously, it's ridiculous just how strong I am.
While things like lifting entire mountains are currently out of my reach, I was able to lift a 1 metre-tall vase made entirely of gold.
When I was one year old.
While there was nobody but Cephi to see my feat, it left me shocked for a week.
The blessing seems to scale with age as well, so the older I get, the stronger I become.
Too bad my stamina remains largely unaffected by the blessing.
Anyway, back to my practice.
This sword art was common in the south of the empire and was largely defence based.
One of the requirements of this sword art was the use of a shield, which I didn't have, but with the power of imagination, anything is possible.
Another requirement was the use of a short sword, which I substituted with a dagger.
This wasn't one of the daggers that would return to its sheath after 30 seconds, this dagger was given to me by Cephi before we met the Dwyne family.
There were many weapon stalls in the capital, so buying one was easy, I have no idea why Cephi had money though.
Anyway...there weren't any flashy moves or wide strokes with this art style, as with most art styles, and one of the main points of this style was keeping your opponent as close as possible so that their attacks can't build much momentum.
I assume that its intended use was against anyone carrying anything longer than a hand-and-a-half-sword.
An hour soon passed, and I switched sword styles. I continued with this approach of practising, then switching for a while, about four hours, before I felt bored of even that, and decided to go to bed.
As I was about to sheath my dagger, I heard someone speak behind me.
"Are you the prince?" the hushed, almost whispered voice asked...
Turning around, I caught the sight of a pair of figures. They were clad entirely in black cloaks, and their faces were shrouded by the shadows.
Unsure of their identities, I raised my dagger and pointed it towards the duo.
"A bit rude of you to ask for my name while hiding your identities, no?" I say.
I had seen the line in many a novel and anime, so getting to say it in real life without cringing about it was quite fun.
As for their identities, I wasn't too concerned as the Praetorian Guard wouldn't sit still if they were a threat.
The figures looked at each other for a second, before the same one from before spoke again, in their eery, silent voice.
"My apologies, They are Krishin..." the figure said while pointing towards their partner, "...and I am Savara,".
I simply nodded and was about to ask why they had disturbed me, however before I could, a familiar figure suddenly appeared and stood in front of me.
It was Cephi, who stood silently with their spear out.
This...can't be good.
"Adam, go back to the camp," Cephi said, in an uncharacteristically commanding tone.
Having seen enough to know where this was going, I didn't bother responding and quickly made my way towards the camp.
What the heck is happening?