By the time Ryker woke up, the sun had already risen. He stretched his arms before looking at the sleeping Era. While he wanted to let her sleep longer, they needed to move if they wanted to make it to the capital in the week.
He carried her bridal style, taking the opportunity to kiss her stomach and lips, the action waking her up.
"Ryker?" she called out with a yawn, Ryker kissing her again before opening the door to the bathroom.
He entered the bath, putting the still sleepy Era on him as the warm water proved that it could wake her up.
"I want to sleep longer," she pouted at him, his answer to that is a kiss. She turned around, pretending the kiss wouldn't affect her but Ryker could tell she wanted more.
"Sorry dear, but we need to go to the capital as quickly as possible. Besides, the quicker we got there, the faster we can spend more time love-making," he pointed out.
Era glanced at him before letting out a loud pretend sigh, before nuzzling his neck. Ryker took the chance to play with her hair, stroking and washing it. The two spend the next few minutes washing each other though they refrained from continuing their night activities due to time constraints.
-x-
By the time they exited the bath and changed their clothes, breakfast had already been prepared with everyone waiting for them.
Both Ina and Miriam stared at Era while Mashia glared at him with a blush on her face, her mind racing as she remembered hearing their passionate session. 'Please make the place soundproof. I don't think I can handle it any longer!'
Not knowing of the dragon girl's plight, the two take their place before having their breakfast, the children asking several questions about their next trip an excellent diversion.
After finishing their breakfast, they left the spatial tool before Ryker took out a map of the barony.
"We need to just follow the road. The merchant used it all the time so it should be relatively safe, though wild beasts and bandits are still a threat. But with Mashia and I, we could handle most of them," Ryker announced, the children entering the carriage while Ina got on her horse.
Era was about to do the same but was stopped by Miriam, "You shouldn't ride for today. You clearly still limping," she pointed to her legs.
Era wanted to refute but stopped, knowing Miriam was right. She entered one of the carriages, Miriam followed after. With everyone on board, the group soon headed out to the capital.
-x-
"Uggh! It's so boring!" Mashia cried out. When Ryker had said they were beasts and bandits present she thought she could do something during their travel.
Unfortunately (Fortunately), there are no bandits near the roads or blocking it. So their journey had been lackluster. Ryker had said that having things going smoothly is something they should be glad about. But she was still bored.
When they make a stop, Mashia decides to ask permission to look for the strong beast. The reason she even asked a permission was because she feared her rear end would be the receiving end of Ryker's palm.
In the end, Ryker allowed it though he told her to get back when lunch was ready. Before he could finish his word, the dragon girl bolted, wanting at least to get a chance to fight one before she had to enter the carriage again.
She looked around before using her dragon sense. Dragon sense was simply a more advanced sense, giving them better smell and hearing, with the addition of the ability to sense heat. She used her qi to expand his sense range.
She quickly sensed a bear beast. Smiling at the sight of prey, Mashia let out a smile as she stalked the creature down.
-x-
By the time she took down the third beast, Ryker sent her a message that lunch had just been finished. Letting out a groan, she put the beasts inside her storage ring before heading towards the camp.
However, as she got closer, she smelled fresh blood. Wondering where the smell came from, she headed towards the direction, thinking it might be an injured beast or human.
She reached a river where there several spots covered in thick grass. She headed towards some of the nearer clumps before finding an unconscious young man. She looked around, trying to see if she could find something to help him.
Realizing she cannot hope to get him to the camp in time, she feeds him a recovery potion, enough to heal serious injury. The man took a deep breath before falling unconscious again, the dragon princess grumbled before wondering the best course of action.
Soon, she came to a perfect solution.
-x-
"So, you found a half-dead man, fed him some recovery potion, and then brought him here to be healed," he summarized Mashia's tale.
Seeing the dragon girl nodding, Ryker couldn't help but feel a headache approaching. "While I admire you for saving him, I just don't know if we can even fit him into one of the carriages,"
Because one member of the group decided to help him, he will help but he doesn't know if their destination is in the capital or somewhere else. He thought about it for a while before giving his verdict.
"We make camp here. If he still didn't wake up by tomorrow, we take him to the capital," he told them, the others nodded in agreement.
"Let's set the camp. And Mashia, we will use the beast you kill for tonight's dinner," he ordered them. Unfortunately, he was needed to protect the camp from powerful beasts and bandits. If not, he would have followed her to the forest to hunt and gather resources.
-x-
The man woke up during dinner.
"Whe... Where am I?" he croaked out, Esran walking towards him before giving him a bowl of stew.
"Thanks," he said before his eyes widened and he jumped, the bowl surprisingly remained in his hand.
"Who are you people?" he asked warily. A question Ryker found valid as he was clearly injured by someone or a group of someone.
"We are a group of travelers heading towards the capital," Ryker told him, the man letting his guard down when he heard that.
"Thanks for the help. If we meet again somewhere safer, I will give you some rewards, if I make it out alive," he said in a depressing tone.
The others didn't know what to say at that. Except for Ryker. "In that case, why don't you travel with us, the more the merrier,"