Emery was currently laying on the roof of one of the carriages with her legs crossed as she enjoyed the view of the grass fields they were passing by. By now they had been on the road for two days and we're but a few hours of journey away from their destination. The days were smooth sailing for the group. They were fortunate enough to not encounter any bandits on their way here. This gave the mercenaries to just laze away. Emery in particular was extremely happy about it. She could just sleep her day away without a care in the world. It truly did feel like vacation.
While the group didn't face any bandits but they did face some problems on the roads. The carriages were too heavy so even with magical beasts it took them too long to travel. Not to mention the regular stops needed for the beasts to rest. What made the journey worse were the many fallen trees and construction work being down on the roads. There was a storm in these parts of the kingdom not too long ago. It caused trees to fall and bridges to break. The workers sent by the duchy were working hard to fix it but some places were still under construction. This caused them to change routes multiple times, which ended turning a day and a night's journey into that of almost two days and one night.
While Emery herself didn't mind the delay but it seemed that the others did. Particularly the merchant. He seemed to grow more frustrated each moment than the past. It seemed that he truly was not particularly fond of wasting almost double the time necessary for travel. But it seemed that he was sensible enough to not take his frustrations on others. He was upset and he made that clear but he also did not hold others responsible for things that they could not control. Emery had seen her fair share of rich people. It's safe to say that the merchant was a rare kind of breed.
As Emery continued to have enough leisure, she sensed something flying at her with speed. Before she could even get up the flying object hit her squarely on the head.
" Hey!" Yelled Emery as she rubbed her now sore side of the head. Looking around she found Mr. Bow trying to suppress a laughter and Mr. Sword looking like he just wanted to disappear.
With a smirk on her face, Emery took out her own object of choice and threw it at her disrespectful team mate. It didn't take long before it turned into a mini scaled fight with the both of them just throwing random stuff at each other. While on their two days of journey Emery and the others made the best of their time and used it to learn about each other which was done by battles hosted at the bonfire as their source of entertainment. The end result of that was a full day of Emery and Mr. Bow just goofing around like it's no one's business. Mr. Sword on the other hand was both used to and frustrated by his friend's behavior while the others just acted like they didn't exist which was fine by Emery.
As they both continued to get on each other's nerves, the carriages entered the final place of travel before they entered the city's vicinity. It was the forest that surrounded the city on three sides. The forest was called Aquamine. It was named after the common herb that was most found here. The flower was one of light blue color with water properties. It was a herb that was high in demand all year around as it was used in healing potions of all grades. The duchy made a lot by being one of its biggest suppliers in the region.
Entering the forest, the atmosphere of the group got a lot more serious. Even the two goofballs stopped their game of toss and went back to their positions. Emery again went back to her usual spot which was the carriage roof and sat upright as she looked around to keep a watch on her surroundings. The carriages went deeper and deeper into the woods. The roads were a lot more deserted than normal because of the damage caused by the storm.
Evening was looming over them and they were but a few kilometers away from reaching the famous city. By now most were a lot less on guard but still enough to react to any situation. The looseness was expected as they had faced no dangers on their way there. As their journey continued a rustling from the woods caught their attention. With vigilance raised to the max, the group drew their swords towards the sound. As the noise grew closer and closer-
BOOOOM!!!
A loud explosion shook the ground and scared away the birds resting on the trees. A bright light almost blinded the men as the shock wave threw them off their feet. The carriage almost tumbled over. Slowly the smoke started to clear as groups of men dressed in black started to surround the area.
' Play time's over I guess. '