The sun was high overhead, illuminating the lush green forest, and the birds that took flight stopped to rest on the backs of two horses that were drinking water from a river.
One of the horses was a deep black color like obsidian, and the other was a soft, snow-white color. Both horses calmly continued to drink water from the river, undisturbed by the presence of the birds.
Not far from the horses stood a red-haired man and a white-haired woman, taking apart what appeared to be tents.
"I think it will take us about three days to get there if we continue at this rate."
Arthur said as he stowed the tent in his dimensional ring.
"I see, that's a relief; we're starting to run low on supplies."
Said Livia in a relieved tone: They had been traveling for 3 weeks and their resources were starting to run low; even when they stopped at a town that was passing through to replenish, they couldn't get much due to their situation.
After they finished dismantling their camp, Livia stretched her arms and let out a yawn.
"Whose turn is it today?"
She asked as she rubbed her eyes.
"I took care of it last time, so it's your turn."
Said Arthur, who walked over to where the horses were drinking water.
"Don't be long."
"Like I'm going to."
After saying that, she walked a few steps before pulling out a long, black-colored staff from her dimensional ring.
"I should find a better way to store it; taking it out of the ring is very time-consuming, but carrying its case around isn't practical either; I guess I'll have to think about that."
Clank-!
Suddenly an arrow flew from a tree, aiming directly at Livia's head, but she, without even looking at the direction the arrow came from, blocked it by swinging her staff.
"Hehe, it looks like they noticed us."
Said a gruff voice, and the next moment four men came out from behind the trees; their appearances were not friendly at all, with several of them having scars in various places on their bodies.
"What do we do now, boss?"
I asked the smallest man in the group about what appeared to be their leader—a tall, stocky man with several scars on his face and a sledgehammer on his back.
"Hahaha, what are they worried about? It's just a woman."
He said it disdainfully as he looked at Livia, but after a while, his gaze changed and became lustful.
"Come to think of it, she doesn't have a bounty; how about we keep her and then have some fu-?"
Boom-!
His words were cut off when his face was hit by Livia's staff. The man lost several teeth and fell unconscious, with a clear mark from the cane on his face.
"Yes, yes, I know the speech; let's finish this quickly; I'm in a hurry."
Without letting the men recover from their daze. Livia swung her cane again, hitting another of the men in the face and knocking him unconscious.
"You fucking bitch!"
One of the men, in an attempt to do something, lunged at Livia, brandishing a dagger, but his fate was no different.
Boom-!
With a simple but powerful move, Livia hit the man in the head, smashing him to the ground and knocking him unconscious.
The last man standing looked at Livia in terror, dropped his weapon, and raised his arms in the hope that she would spare him.
"Please don't kill me!"
Boom-!
But Livia didn't care, and with one hit, she knocked him unconscious with a broken nose.
"At least you're not dead."
She said it expressionlessly as she put away her cane, and without looking back, she walked over to where Arthur was standing.
"Everything ready?"
Asked the latter as he settled the horses' saddles.
"Yeah, just another couple of nobodies; it's starting to get really annoying."
Ever since they had left the academy, they had not stopped being attacked by mercenaries and assassins looking to claim the bounty that the Reclesia family had put up. There were times when they were even attacked three times a day.
"Yes, but there is nothing we can do; if I am honest with you, I did not expect the Reclesia family to take this action."
That the Reclesia family would put a price on their capture was unexpected; fortunately, the people who tried to claim the reward were all mercenaries and third-rate assassins and hadn't had much trouble.
"But 10,000 gold coins is a lot of money; it won't be long before stronger people come to claim it."
That's also why they decided to pick up the pace at their first destination, where Miss Lissa's influence could help hide them.
"Rosenheim, the city of roses."
It was named after its widely known rose garden, which was extremely large. It is a mandatory tourist spot for all those people visiting the empire.
It is also the place where we will start gathering our forces.
"All set, let's get going."
Arthur finished grooming the horses, and they both mounted up to continue on their way.
Arthur got on the black horse, which he named Ebony, and Livia got on the white one, which she named Ivory.
With everything ready, they shook the reins, and the horses began to gallop; their speed was not to be underestimated. With a diet based on mana-rich herbs and added to their rigorous training, these horses were almost as fast as a sports car if they ran with everything they had.
"Really top horses; I wonder where Mr. Lucius got them from?"
Professor Lucius was a figure shrouded in mystery; not only was he an extremely strong person capable of performing "perfect hits," but he also had very high-quality resources and materials.
"And at no point did the novel focus on him, or at least as far as I managed to read."
That was another important point; although Professor Lucius did appear in the novel, he never really had a major role. It only went so far as to mention that he was the strongest professor at the academy, at least as far as combat was concerned.
"I guess it's not worth thinking too hard about."
Don't look a gift horse in the teeth. Professor Lucius has so far been a great help in progressing his strength. Arthur is sure that if it weren't for his guidance, he wouldn't be half as strong as he is now.
The horses galloped at great speed through the forest; after a short time, they emerged from the forest and crossed a vast green plain.
The sun was shining on the horizon, and the green pastures stretched as far as the eye could see.
"I have to say that seeing these landscapes is very refreshing."
For his entire life in this world, he had stayed in the capital, a place where there wasn't much nature and everything was surrounded by guild buildings or the like. Experiencing these green sights was like taking a breather.
"...Young master."
As they were crossing the plain, Livia began to speak.
"Yes?"
"Are you sure you want that person to join us?"
Arthur knew which person she was talking about—one of the allies he had in mind to integrate into his team.
"You mean Christa Schmetterling?"
"Yes, from what I've heard, not only is she someone who was born crippled without an eye and a partially dead leg, but she also suffers from the strange mana leakage disease, the one that prevents her from gathering mana in her body. To be honest, I don't know how it would benefit us to ally with someone like that."
Livia said without showing the slightest reaction; she was being rational; after all, they were in a situation where they had to be careful and make as few mistakes as possible.
"I understand your doubts; however, Christa Schmetterling is not just a useless, crippled woman."
Christa Schmetterling was a character who, in the future, would be part of the main character group.
Born into the Schmetterling family, a proud family of magicians who have ruled over the city of Rosenheim for decades,. An illness such as mana leakage clearly puts her in a difficult situation.
Ostracized by her family members, Christa, from a young age, had to face the taunts and bullying of her siblings and even the servants themselves. Treated as a waste who did not deserve to be part of the great family of wizards that were the Schmetterlings.
However, instead of feeling depressed and lamenting her situation, she decided to hold on to what she had. Using her brilliant mind, she began to study every book on alchemy and magic circles she could find, and after a while, she became a prodigy in the field of alchemy and a great connoisseur of magic circles.
In the original story, Christa was of great help to the protagonist group, contributing her knowledge of magic circles and providing them with high-quality potions and elixirs.
She even went so far as to save the protagonist's life in his fight against Benedict, giving him an elixir that managed to heal a mortal wound the latter had inflicted on him.
"Christa, although she may not look like it, is a person who will be able to bring a lot to our group in the long run."
"I understand."
After their talk, their journey continued peacefully without them being attacked along the way. Taking occasional breaks, the sun quickly went down and was replaced by the moon shining overhead.
"I think this is a good time to rest."
"I'll get the tents ready."
Stopping to rest, they pitched their tents and set up a fire to keep warm and cook.
In front of the crackling fire, they sat, sipping a bowl of soup each.
"Your cooking is impressive as always, young master."
"Come on, don't exaggerate; it's just a simple soup."
"But for a soup made with our limited resources, it's very delicious".
"Is that so? I guess you're right."
Chatting idly, time flew by, and before they knew it, the soup on their plates was gone. Now they were silent, warming themselves by the fire and enjoying each other's company.
"Young master, if you don't mind me asking, what do you plan to do after we wipe out the Reclesia family?".
The silence was broken by Livia, who asked a question that Arthur himself has asked many times since he began his plan to take on the Reclesia family.
"After that?..."
Arthur looked at the campfire as he thought about his answer, and Livia just stood beside him doing the same, patiently waiting for his answer.
"...How about just distancing ourselves from everything and going to live in a cabin in the woods?"
Livia turned to look at Arthur, puzzled by his answer.
"Really?"
"I don't know; it's a possibility."
"Don't you want to become the next leader of the Reclesia family?"
"The next leader...?"
Arthur fell silent again, staring into the fire.
'Become the leader, huh?'
Ever since Arthur came into this world, his main priority had always been to create his plan to take on the Reclesia family when the time came. But there was one thing he never put aside.
He didn't know what happened in the novel after the destruction of the Reclesia family.
He never relied entirely on his knowledge of the future; it was vague, after all. He just took what was most important and went from there, but when the time comes, he will have to walk completely in the dark.
He doesn't know if things will get more difficult in the future or if a danger that threatens to destroy the world will appear out of nowhere.
"Which is quite possible considering the kind of novel this was."
So he had to be prepared for when the time came. He couldn't rely on Kein to take care of everything. After all, he was going to change the flow of the plot a lot in the future.
"With my presence alone, things have already changed enough, so nothing is certain."
After thinking for a moment, he spoke
"I suppose that's what I'll do; as the son of the leader of the Reclesia family, I suppose it's my obligation to make amends for all the damage that father of mine caused."
"You need not be burdened with the trouble your father caused, young master."
She said, Livia, while looking at Arthur with a hint of concern.
"I know, but I'll have to do it anyway, and besides, I won't be alone. You'll be by my side, right?"
Arthur said as he turned to look at her with a smile.
"Of course, I'm your personal servant after all," Livia replied.
"Haha, no, you'll be by my side as the matriarch of the Reclesia family."
Suddenly silence fell upon them; the only sound was the crackling of the fire and the chirping of crickets. Livia's eyes were wide open, and her ears were red. Seeing her in that state made Arthur couldn't help but think how cute she looked.
"...What?"
After a while, Livia managed to ask a question that sounded almost like a whisper.
Arthur couldn't help but tease her after seeing her in that state.
"Of course! After all this is over, we will get married, and you will give me lots of beautiful heirs."
Livia blushed completely and her calm facade broke down.
"B-but I'm just a servant!"
"Livia, didn't I tell you before? You're not just a servant; you're my servant."
"B-but still…"
Livia's voice trailed off slowly as she lowered head, embarrassed, with her face completely red. Just when Arthur thought he had gone too far with his teasing, Livia spoke again.
"How many..."
"What?"
"How many...heirs do you want?"
She asked while looking at him with her still blushing face.
Arthur was speechless for a moment before responding with a smile.
"Three."
"Why three?"
"I think it's good number so that the eldest can take care of their younger siblings, vice versa or they can take care of each other."
Arthur didn't have any siblings in his past life and since his parents were working most of time, he felt little lonely
That's why he promised himself that if one day he has child, he will make sure they have siblings who can take care of him and accompany him
"I'll do my best,"
Livia finally said with firm look, which Arthur found extremely adorable
"Haha! Me too~"
He teased approaching closer to Liva, understanding meaning behind words She blushed again But not wanting lose this time, she grabbed Arthur by collar & pulled him towards herself for kiss.
"D-don't tease me!"
"You ask for much."
"T-then, atleast don't do it often."
"Haha! I'll try controlling myself."
With that, they kissed again
The campfire slowly died down both went back to Rosenheim, where their true adventure officially began