Mattheia was not happy about his father's decision for sending him to the capital. If it was something to happen a few weeks before, he would likely run away from home as he did recently. However, having learned his lesson, seeing so many people in Copebell Understick either die or lose their lifelong belongings, the young lad decided to trust Carrera's judgement.
The village was still in the middle of recovering, therefore there were not many hands to help around the manor as most of the people had to take care of their own property. Due to aforementioned, preparing for the long drive to capital, they could rely only on each other to get carriages and luggage ready.
With Mattheia's love for tailoring, nice clothing and shoes, it was a hard task for his companions to help him pack things up. He kept considering which stuff he needed and which he did not. Looking at how this was progressing, Nine started wondering if it would not be better for manor to burn during the fight with Mayorcs. Should that be the case, the boy would have to go to work as he is.
Still, since she cared for him, Nine clenched her teeth and continued helping him, alongside Junie. Kashia also wanted to support them, but her lack of sense common for grounders was too obvious in the kind of matters they were focusing on now. Besides, Farah - who took interest in the girl - asked if it was okay to take her somewhere. Others did not know Kashia too well yet, therefore no one opposed the idea, especially if it came from the lady of the manor.
"Nine, you still did not tell us how you met Eukleis" Junie mentioned that part yet again as they were filling in the first travel chest "I heard about Sky People, and saw their ships on couple of occasions, but visiting them, or at least getting to know them is a pretty big deal, and here you know someone with such a high standing."
Nine sighed.
"Listen, you also have one of their kin here. Literally, just moments ago you let the chance of spending time with one of them go. That's how you skip a chance to get close to one of them."
"Are you saying it was that simple? You just met him?"
Nine nodded.
"Precisely. I mean, circumstances were completely different from what Mattheia had with Kashia, but the story was like that - I left the capital after my master died, started travelling and by pure chance I got mixed up in business related to Sky People. In the course of this little adventure, I met Eukleis and help him solve a problem. Because of that, he owed me a favor, and you should know by now that favors are sacred for them."
"Okay, if you don't want to say, I won't force you" Junie said, making her voice sound as if this hurt her "On the other hand, maybe I should start calling you Aukkleia?"
"If you wish to attract even more dangerous or shady people, feel free to do that." Nine replied to her, smiling.
In the end, solely packing for the travel took them two days. Not only because of clothes, but also in relation to other items they had to bring. Mattheia's parents were arranging for a small lodging in the capital, but the one that ended up most suitable did not have some basic appliances. This led to even more time spent on preparations.
While Nine and Junie were focused on getting ready for departure, Galhardt got interested in something else - he was staying in the manor, and Mattheia's sword picked his interest.
"So, you are saying you found that sword in a cave under the forest?" swordsman was assessing the weapon in his hand, doing some basic movement "It's a really fine piece. Really balanced, feels light, fast and strong. The shape and length is what I like. You sure you don't want to sell it?"
The boy shook his head. It was not only that he did not want to sell, but - according to Ardbolg, which was the swords name - now that Mattheia got bond with Ardbolg, leaving the sword to someone unaware may have some bad results.
Obviously, the boy wanted to learn more out of curiosity so he asked what are these bad results exactly, and the only reply he got from Ardbolg was a question: "Have you seen that skeleton that was holding me?" Mattheia did not need further explanation, therefore he remained careful even with such an experienced swordsman as Galhardt.
"That's too bad, kid" he said to the lad, giving the sword back "I'd love to have such a sword, but you will need one on the way, so it's good you managed to find something like that. However, while I said it's a nice piece, it seems it is still ways from its perfect shape. I believe that's because it was not in use for so long, but since you are going to capital" Gal took something out from his pocket and passed to Mattheia "Take this sash with you, wear it like this" he put the sash on the kid "and find a blacksmith named Ursa. Once the guy sees this sash, and you tell him my name, he will surely help you out with getting the sword back in shape."
Mattheia thanked Galhardt and left.
"What was that about?" Ardbolg asked him "I feel I'm completely fine. I mean, I never felt different so I don't thing there is anything bad with me. What if the guy breaks me. If the sword breaks, does it mean I'm going to die?"
With each conversation with sword, the boy was getting confused. It seemed as if Ardbolg had no idea about himself, and quite often was talking a total rubbish.
"Gal is not the type to make things up. If he noticed something, it must be the case. For now, I don't see a reason to take you there, but we will see. It's good to have an option, isn't it?"
The sword no longer complained.
The dusk was close as everyone, except for Farah and Kashia, met in dining room.
"Father, mother's not here yet?" Mattheia immediately commented on Farah missing "Didn't she return with Kashia yet?"
Carrera shrugged.
"You know how your mother usually is. If she comes up with an idea, there is no stopping her. I just hope she's going to be back by tomorrow morning. I don't want to delay your departure anymore."
The moment he stopped talking, the doors opened and Farah entered with Kashia walking behind her. Mattheia stood up immediately at the sight of Kashia's beautiful dress - only looking at this dress with lots of frills and laces made him happy, even the gold and silver color matched perfectly, also with the angel girl's features.
"So, how do you like my idea?" Farah was obviously proud of herself "It took me a whole day to complete, but I think it's one of my masterpieces. Son, what do you think?"
Mattheia's eyes were sparkling.
"The dress is perfect, mom!"
Farah smiled, but scolded him with her eyes.
"Anything else?"
"Obviously, Kashia looks beautiful" he said aloud "Though it would be hard not to with a dress like this" the second part he thought to himself.
Only Mattheia was focused on the dress, while others got a hint of Farah scheming something.
"Either way, let's eat and get ready to see you off tomorrow" lady of the manor sat next to Kashia and they started eating.
Following morning, group comprised of Mattheia, Nine, Junie, Kashia and three family servants left Copebell Understick towards the capital of the country - Testroria, after tearful goodbyes with Carrera and Farah.
From their group, both Nine and Junie knew the Testroria as they lived there at some point of each of their respective lives. On the other hand, both Mattheia and Kashia had no chance to see the capital. In case of boy it was because of his upbringing as his parents wanted to keep him away from trouble his ancestry could bring. As for angel girl - well, she lived in the skies as most of her kin, and they were rarely visiting the ground.
They left early in the morning in order to make sure they will not be traveling after dusk. Of course, with powerful people on board, they should be able to manage most of the trouble, but it was always better to avoid unnecessary fighting. Besides, they did not want for their luggage and carriage to be damaged.
Distance they had to pass from Copebell Understick to Testroria was long enough to require three days by carriage to reach there. Knowing that, they had to plan their route through places offering lodgings since three days route meant two nights to sleep at inn.
The plan was to proceed north-west through Bows to reach Saddle, where they were supposed to spend the first night. Afterwards, they were to head west and reach Passcalle for the second night and then straight to Testroria.
Before leaving, they were warned about two dangerous spots on the way - Ghostcoward village between Bows and Saddle towns, and Faecaus village between Saddle and Passcalle towns. Both places were known for bandit parties attacking travelers, and peacekeeper units being unable to take care of them.
"This Ghostcoward has a really bad opinion" Junie talked to others as they were sitting inside the carriage "I heard that the place is like a magnet for the worst scum in the country. When I was asking around, people told me a lot of crazy stories. Though most were highly unlikely, it's funny how creative intelligent races are."
"So, what's the craziest one you heard?" Kashia asked. Overall, in their current party, she seemed to be the most interested in variety of stories.
Junie looked up, thinking.
"You know, it's actually hard to say. There are some really good stories, but these would be funny mainly for adults, so no point telling these here. As for the others... Well, apparently one of the bandits rides a dragon instead of a horse. Or one of the bandit parties roaming during the night being ghosts or wraiths."
"Why won't you tell us the ones you believe are for the adults?" angel girl inquired "You know that Sky People live long, so for us the term adult is a bit unnatural."
"Okay, so if I tell you these stories include talking about sex, intercourse between different races or with animals?" as Junie continued, Kashia's usually pale sking slowly changed the color from slightly pink to red "See, this means such stories are not for you yet."
Interestingly, Mattheia who was usually curious about such topics, eagerly eavesdropping should anyone have lewd conversation, did not say anything so far. This behavior was so weird to Nine, that she specifically asked the boy what is happening with him.
"Nothing. I'm just thinking about how the things changed for me. I was hoping I could prove how strong I have become, stay at home to defend everyone, and maybe even have a chance with you." he said all of that with a serious face, without a shade of red on his skin, which in itself was commendable "I told you that none of the girls at school can compare."
"You are still young Mattheia, you are surely going to find someone closer to your age. Especially now, when we are going to capital. You will meet many more people. This will change the way you see things."
"So, you are saying I'm going to meet someone better than you? Are you really so sure about that?"
"Of course, look at Kashia for example. She's gorgeous, and - well, she is still growing."
Angel girl was blinking quickly, confused by Nine's words.
"Wait, what are you talking about?" Kashia reacted like that, but Junie showed her what this was about using a gesture, making angel girl's face keeping the red color.
"Nine, I get what you are saying" Mattheia spoke again "However, for a faerie, you are still a teenager. Ten more years and I will be old enough for you."
Nine smiled as she was not seriously considering this, but felt it may be a good way to give him a push:
"First and foremost, think about becoming a proper adult, learn about life. If you reach high enough level in your studies, and in ten years you are going to say the same, I may consider your proposal."
The only reply from Mattheia was loud "Yes!" and just after he did that, they felt a strong bump and a cracking sound followed.
"Wait, what was that?" Junie, who was sitting closes to the driver, jumped outside to see "Oh, c'mon, you can't be serious!"
One of the wheels cracked because of some log lying on the tract.
"I didn't see it. It was covered in leaves" the driver was explaining, but the thing he said made Nine cautious.
"How long will it take you to fix it?" she asked, while activating one of her skills, which allowed to find energy flows of living beings.
"It's not serious, so one hour or two at most."
"Ok, do your thing then. Let me know if you need help."
The circumstances were suspicious, therefore she kept looking around and found a couple of energy sources. Nine was not sure if they noticed her magic, but those strangers appeared in the distance and started approaching the carriage.
"Hello fellow travelers, I can see that you ran into trouble" there were three men in the group, two humans and one beast-kin, who was the one doing the talking "Do you need a hand? Bandits lurk in the area, so it's unsafe to stay out in the open like that, especially if your group is mainly women."
"You say we cannot take care of ourselves!?" Junie, as martial arts master, felt offended by his word and entered a competitive mode "I can assure that I myself am strong enough to take you on."
"Woah, it wasn't our intention" beast-kin man answered her "If that's how it sounded, I apologize. We honestly want to help you. There is actually a workshop not so far away from here. We can go there and bring a spare wheel for you, though we would need money for that."
Junie laughed.
"Yeah, I can already see how you are disappearing on us with the money. No way we can agree to that. One of us would have go with you."
Nine was further observing the are with her skill, while listening to conversation between Junie and the strangers. During this short talk, she managed to pick up some more energy trails, these ones being concealed, though not good enough for her not to find out. There was something going on for sure.
"Be cautious, Junie" she whispered into her ear "I suspect this is a trap. They are checking the ground, and most likely wanting to separate us. Just continue talking to them, and go along. I will take care of the rest."
With that, Junie agreed to go with the three horsemen, while Nine warned others and instructed them what to do, just in case.
Once Junie rode away with the three men, a bigger group of strangers emerged from the woods. They started off slowly, as if they were just traveling on the tract, but about two hundred meters from the spot where the carriage was, they went into gallop and took out the weapons.
"Okay, everyone, it's going to get ugly!" Nine shouted to others "Don't go easy on them. The law here is clear in this situation, they attack us - we are allowed to kill. Think of them as if they were mayorcs!"
"I hope they are taking care of their bodies" Ardbolg spoke to Mattheia.
"Why? Wouldn't that mean they are stronger and harder to be defeated?"
"The best way to defeat is to kill one's enemy" the sword replied "It doesn't matter how strong they are, you kill them. But what's important to me is to not get dirty with shit, so please, if they are sweaty pigs, try to cut anywhere away from the intestines, okay?"
Mattheia thought that, aside from the fact speaking with sword was already weird, the topics Ardbolg was bringing were something he would have never imagined on his own.
The boy was so focused on this unusual talk that he almost forgot to take a defensive stance to fend off the attack. Fortunately, Nine was there with her magical prowess and her reaction gave Mattheia a moment to prepare.
Combat started with him and his main teacher taking the vanguard, Kashia in the middle and servants taking the back. Short look around was enough to notice there were over twenty bandits attacking them, and they had mages in their ranks too - Nine managed to get two bandits in one attack before the opponents noticed they are up against someone with magic skill. Once they realized, the way they fought changed completely - there was no more rushing forward and their mages put up the barriers.
Despite that, with Nine's abilities, attacking was still possible despite strong defense from bandits. However, Nine focusing on attacks would open bandits a way to encircle them, of which she was aware. Because of that, they ended up in a weird stalemate.
"Nine, what now?" Mattheia asked his teacher "What if they've got more people that can come?"
"I'm aware, just stand your ground for now. We wait."
Bandits were riding around within their barrier, trying to provoke, but Nine was experienced enough in battles to know what should not be done in such circumstances. At the same time, she was aware waiting for too long may be bad for them. Nevertheless, she had a reason for stalling.
Then, after about five minutes of stalemate, the card Nine was betting on was finally played. There was a chaos in enemy lines, caused by none other than Junie, who returned after taking care of three guys she went with. Using the chaos, Nine started fireworks, throwing bandits into even bigger disarray.
They had an upper hand now, but could not rush while Junie was still between the enemies.
"Junie, get your ass here now!" Nine shouted to her friend.
Junie was trying to push through. Unfortunately, she got blocked by opponents magic. Situation became dangerous even for someone as skilled as Junie.
"I'm going in!" Mattheia rushed up front, making it impossible for Nine to stop him.
"Your left, right, down!" Ardbolg was giving him instructions "Now, cut and twist, do a turn and slice!"
With all of these directions, the boy felt as if dancing in the ballroom rather than being in actual fight. It seemed to him as if he had a fever of something, everything around was so slow, bandits could not even touch Mattheia. And then, everything suddenly stopped with Ardbolg sayin "It's done!"
The boy had a similar feeling to waking up from a dream. He was standing in the middle of the road, soaked in blood, bandits' bodies lying around him, making a circular shape. Mattheia was not sure what exactly happened, he just recalled he rushed in to help Junie, but then?
"Junie? Nine? Kashia?"
He felt a hit to the head, turned and noticed Nine standing in front of him.
"What the fuck was that!? Did you just go full berserk on us!? You nearly attacked Junie after killing the last bandit!"
Mattheia looked at Nine, confused.
"Wait, you mean...?"
Nine's face was furious.
"So you really don't remember... Honestly, I'm not sure if it's good or bad, but this means we have additional work to be done once we get to the capital."