"Helloooo," his thought process was broken when he heard a call from his right. He turned to see a Genesis Core expert casually leaning on a tree, giving him a cheeky smile.
"Do you like the decoration I put?" decoration, what did he me-, "Judging by how shocked you are now, you should know what I'm talking about. I decided to make use of the trash that was lying around,"
"By trash, you mean bandits, right?" the leader of the force asked, Ryker nodding enthusiastically at the correct answer.
"Yep, the trash just suddenly appeared in this town so decided to clear it," he replied. The leader didn't really believe the young man, after all, he was just a Genesis Core while the bandits would likely have people similar in terms of strength in about 10 to 40.
Still, the young man might know something. "Let's head inside first, and then have a talk. The rest of my men would begin to replace the guards killed in the battle," he told the young man, who just nodded.
-x-
When the leader asked about the event, he thought he would receive a rather impressive yet fake story. Instead, he got to hear the most outlandish tale possible, at least one he knew about.
Apparently the young man had been traveling into the city to get to the Birak Kingdom Capital City. He wanted to stop at the city but was prevented by the Bandit Occupation. Which he eliminated them to stop them from being an obstacle.
He wouldn't have believed what he said when he asked for a sparring session with him, one that resulted in a horrendous loss to him, as the young man easily beat him. Best him, a Genesis Source expert who had reached the peak of the major realm.
The defeat made him believe what the young man said, though his superior would likely not believe him. Oh well, that is something to be thought about when he reports the event. In the meantime, he decided to ask something else.
"So you want to go to the capital city, and you are not alone, hence you don't just fly there," the nod he received confirmed his question. "And your group is not too strong, with more than half being civilians," another nod confirmed the situation even more.
After giving it some thought, he asked, "How about a deal, you let me take the credit. In return, I escort you and your group to the nearest city that we can go to,"
After what he believed to be hours but only a few minutes, the young man finally gave his answer to their proposal.
"I agree,"
-x-
Able to get an escort of 1000 soldiers, he grabbed his group, who had remained in the mountain. After all, if a new group suddenly appeared in the town when it had just been released from it, there would be questions. Which resulted in the pursuit of an answer that he could not answer to.
Seeing the newcomer, the leader gave Ryker a slight nod, telling him without speaking they must follow the order given. Which in the Grand Scheme of things isn't too much trouble. After all, getting escorted to a city, even though it's not the capital city as they planned, would be a great help for them.
He watched as the leader split his group into two, groups of one thousand men. He couldn't help but ask, "Why do you plan to split your forces?" the leader quickly answered.
"The first group, with me as the commanding officer will be the one to head back and give our report to the higher-ups. While the rest will stay and protect the place until the reinforcement arrives," he told the young man, who nodded at his words.
"I don't need to tell you but you will join our group temporarily until we reach the city. Are there any questions," the leader asked.
"Are the city in question near the capital city?" he asked. The leader quickly gave his estimates, "It's close enough to the city that you can travel and reach the capital city in less than 2 days of travel,"
Hearing this, Ryker nodded. With how large a Duchy could be, 2 days traveling to reach the capital isn't too long. With that said, he needs to make sure the 2 days won't lead to their death.
"Are there any strong bandits' groups on the route to the capital?" he asked. After all, he didn't want to be incompetent on the last league of the journey. Who knew what could happen in just 2 days?
"None so far, but who knew what happened during our travel? After all, the bandits had been getting more and more aggressive," the leader warned Ryker, who nodded at the warning.
With the information, he could at least prepare for it. But for an extra layer of safety, he decided to learn more when they reached the place, after all, every single piece of information could be the reason between life and death.
Seeing how Ryker listened to what he said made the leader satisfied with the new addition. The only thing left for him to do was make the last preparation before they could go to the city.
-x-
With the escort, even with only half of the reclamation force, no bandits even attempted to attack them. After all, most of them are coward who hide until a defenseless target appears in their line of sight.
Even if there are not many elites, the soldiers could always form a battle formation and best most of their attackers with their strength. Most bandits know this as many had fallen victim to the battle formation so they will know to not try to engage a battle formation.
This resulted in their travel being peaceful. Not quite but peaceful. Which is a rather good thing as Ryker could spend most of his time learning about the Cultivation Arts in his possession.
-x-
By the end of the week, they reached a huge city, that could easily beat the Mariz Barony in terms of size and infrastructure, which also included some kind of huge building. He wondered what was inside the building but a quick call from the leader made him decide to ask about it some other time.
The leader brought him to the gate and registered him easily. With their document approved, the leader gave them a last word of parting.
"The building over there," he pointed towards the huge building Ryker had been wondering about, "is the arena. You could register and fight in the arena but be warned, there had been death inside the arena.
As for the inns, most of them are located in the north of the city, so they are a bit far from here but most of them are excellent. So, best of luck in your journey,"