The next day consisted of me throwing in everything that I could fit within a large bag. Clothes, some more clothes.. A bit more clothes.. And a pillow! Though it didn't fit, so I opted to hold it instead.
Time flew relatively slow, I don't know if it was the anticipation of waiting for my departure, or if it was because my Dad was so busy doing his own thing that made it feel that much slower. Most of the day I had fun with Zed, mostly with me pinching his cheeks because of how puffy they were! Not much else had happened.
Till the day of departure. Setting off seemed to be one of the more.. Frustrating parts, mostly with trying to find a carriage that was set to the Kingdom Of Myura, but most of the time they were set off to minor villages that went away from the kingdom which wasn't what we wanted.
And despite our nobility, since we weren't regarded as a high noble or even really known as one, we couldn't get a private carriage of our own.
"Apologies, I'm going to the village further away, the Village Of Byfron.'' The guy apologized.
We tried all morning, all the way to noon and all the way till the afternoon. Not one of them was going to the Kingdom Of Myura. Why was it so hard? I'd expect since it was THE literal Kingdom, there'd be more riders set off to that direction but apparently not. At this point, we were going to have to wait till the next day to set off.
"Are you guys going to the Kingdom Of Myura?"
What seemed to be a random adventurer, had spoken to us from behind. He had brown hair, with shiny hazel eyes, he was rather tall, being around my Dad's height, maybe 5 foot 10? He also had a cloak that he wore, goggles strapped onto his head, and his skin looked well-kept, almost as if he had never fought or done any chores in his entire life.
"Ah yes we are." Dad swirled around, replying back.
"If you don't mind we can lend you a hand into our carriage, we're planning to go there as well. The name's Roy, Roy Stiefal. Your name is..?"
"We don't mind at all! We'll gladly accept your offer, and my name is Flynn, Flynn Rhin. And this is my daughter, Ophelia."
I quickly bowed, showing my courtesy just as my mother had taught me.
"Well then, follow me I'll lead you to our camp for the night, we'll be heading off tomorrow."
We followed Roy from behind. I was quite cautious of him, a group of adventurers who randomly asked if we were going to the Kingdom Of Myura? Little suspicious, but not suspicious enough for me to say anything, even if they were, we had no other way of getting to our destination.. So it was better to trust them for now.
After we arrived at the campsite, he went over to what seemed like his party members. One with long green hair, sharp ears, green clothing with a tad bit of white engraved, green eyes.. And a bow strapped to her back. A bit too much green for my eyes but, it appeared that she was an elf.
Another who was rather short, like that of a dwarf, had black hair, toned skin, red eyes and a large hammer that was placed beside him. If I had to assume, there was a human, Roy, an elf and a dwarf. It felt like an unusual trio. From their expressions, the elf seemed fine with us joining though the dwarf on the other hand didn't seem too happy.
"Our house is near, so we'll sleep there and in the morning we'll meet you guys here again, is that fine with you Roy and..?"
"Yes, that's totally fine! My little elf friend here is Frey and my other friend is Grid!
They had rather interesting names, with Frey's small wave and Grid's grunt, they either didn't like us or weren't talkative people.. It was fine, we probably weren't going to see them again after the trip anyway.
The very next day, my Dad woke me up rather early, the sun wasn't even up, and even when we got to Roy's campsite, they weren't even awake. I expected Dad to be rather tired too but he looked to be the most energetic out of everyone here..
After the sun had risen, the trio had woken up, raring to go. Dad and I hopped onto their rather large carriage with Roy sitting in the front. We finally headed off!
"Hey Dad, what is that creature?" I asked, I didn't really have much insight on the creatures of this world, especially the one that was pulling the carriage at a very fast pace.
"That's called a Droval, four legged, half-dragon lizards that are very quick on their feet in both land, water, and underground environments. Which is travellers use them for things like this, pretty helpful for traveling around places."
A Droval? Not even 10 minutes had passed and I couldn't even see my hometown anymore.
"The Kingdom Of Myura is around 10 thousand kilometres away from us, and the speed at which we're going at, it'll take around 6 days to get there, with 2 days of rest, so in total 8 days." Roy proclaimed.
Even though we were going so fast, 9 days was still quite a long way. I don't understand why people decided to build so far away, but the kingdom is apparently ginormous. The Droval that was pulling us continued to run at full speed for 2 days straight before needing to take a break, thus we stopped at our first campsite. I mainly just sat around.
The environment around us as the Droval scurried across the terrain was magnificent, creatures that I did not know of, flowers that bloomed across the vast plains, and the speeds at which we were going didn't disrupt the cold breeze that maneuverer through the crevices of the stable barrelled, cloth roof.
Once our campsite was finished, Dad, Roy and his crew killed a large creature of some sort. I didn't know what it was from how mangled it was when they returned but its size was quite large, and bulky as well.
"So, what's your daughter going to be when she's older?" Roy chewed as he blurted a question.
"My daughter? She's still young, and I don't really want to force my dreams on her. Whenever she's old enough, she'll tell us."
My Dad looked at me with a smile that felt off, I didn't know what he was thinking.
"Interesting.. Mr. Flynn, Let's have a sparring match, I hear you were quite the accomplished adventurer back in the day." Roy ominously asked, his hand stroking his non-existent beard as he offered my Dad a match.
I almost forgot my Dad was an A-rank adventurer, this was a test for me to see if A-rank was really all that.
"Hmmm.. Sure, I haven't fought against someone in a while."
"Lia. Watch your Dad's cool skills!"
"Beat em up Dad!" I yelled, I hoped that Dad would actually show his skills, I wanted to know how strong he was, and how he was able to get such a high rank.
"Ready whenever you are, Mr. Roy."
"Right back at you, Mr. Flynn."
Flynn's bodily aura slowly transformed into a static-like enhancement, his sword that he pulled out radiating an electrical aura as he held it out. Dashing forward, he slashed downwards before being parried by Roy quickly and efficiently. A flurry of slashes that were directed at Roy, though Roy was able to easily deflect all of them barely moving his body at all beside his hand that held his sword.
Dad's techniques were far incomparable to Roy's sword simple yet fluid techniques, although I hoped that there was something more from my Dad, it looked like Roy had trained in the arts of swordsmanship much more diligently and had dedicated his life toward it. But, it seemed off.. Was it really that easy to fend off against Aether with just simple swordsmanship techniques?
The fight prolonged and neither my Dad or Roy was being pushed back whatsoever.
Slashes from the sides, the front, overhead, all kinds of attempts to bring down Roy but none succeeded. My Dad's overall swordsmanship skill level paled in comparison to Roy's, that much was obvious even with the help of Aether, my Dad wasn't making any progress whatsoever in winning the duel.
Roy didn't seem to even enhance his body either, not that I could see. Roy's smile slightly widened, his sword comfortably sat in his hand, my Dad continued to slash at Roy without any loss in speed, the grass burnt to a crisp beneath their feet, and it even looked like a part of electricity made Roy's cloak catch fire.
But, Roy wasn't fazed whatsoever by his destructive attacks and the fire from Roy's cloak soon extinguished itself without a proper reason. The knowledge that I had learned when I was still a young girl rang through my head. This didn't look like Aether..?
That could've meant that Roy was that much stronger or his skill in swordsmanship alone was all he needed.
"HAHA, you're good!" Dad exclaimed.
"You're pretty good yourself, Mr. Rhin!" Roy replied, his volume matched Dad's voice.
Flynn jumped back before lifting his sword up into the sky, lightning soon climbed to the tip before manifesting a thick blade of electricity, the sword paled in comparison to its newer form and the blade was now approximately 5 meters in length.
"I'm gonna finish it off here! Get ready!" Dad bolted toward Roy, as he swung his sword downwards, lightning bolted at him and thunder roared along with it.
Roy's smile slightly widened, for the first time in the entire match, Roy pushed his foot back, getting into his stance. And what I felt was.. Intensifying. I could feel it, a different power.. Something different to Aether!
I could see it for a brief Moment. It was calm, almost as if Roy was like water. Once Dad's sword of electricity reached just above Roy's head, his hand flickered, it was a blur. It was as if he didn't move?!? All my Dad and I knew was that Roy had deflected it at inhuman speeds and was already in front of my Dad, with his sword next to his neck.
Roy swiftly sheathed his sword before bowing, instantly his face turned into a cheerful expression, almost like he was a child who just got a piece of candy.
"Aw man! That was intense! You almost had me with that last move, that was close!" Roy laughed, scratching the back of his head as he did so.
"Haha.. Yeah.." Flynn merely stood there in disbelief.
I think everyone else besides Roy's companions were shocked. My Dad had no chance in that fight, Roy was just too powerful. Dad's head faced pitifully toward the ground. He must have felt embarrassed, maybe more disappointed. My Dad stood before me, his lips looked to be trembling almost.
"HAHAHA, I was just going easy on Mr. Roy!" My Dad laughed.
"Don't worry Dad, you're still the coolest in my eyes."
I didn't know what else to say, I knew that my Dad had lost pitifully. I knew he was disappointed in himself. But my voice wouldn't allow me to say anything else. I stood up and walked away. But, before I went into the tent, I looked back, seeing Roy and his companions eating the leftovers as they conversed with each other.
Roy glanced at me, giving a small wave before he faced his companions and continued on with their conversation.
I laid onto my makeshift bed, looking up at the starry night sky, the stars shined brightly even when far away, they were able to make themselves known by radiating themself. I admired them, would I be able to radiate like that? Would I be able to become a star that could be seen and known by everyone?
"Get some rest Lia." Dad spoke from behind.
"I know Dad. You get some rest too."
The next 2 days we continued to ride till the Droval became fatigued once again. Setting up camp, I quickly moved toward Roy, poking him in the back with my finger to get his attention.
"Huh oh, Ophelia! To what do I owe this pleasure?" Roy's formal manners took me aback for a Moment, but I moved on rather quickly.
"What was that?"
"What was-" He abruptly stopped, before something clicked in Roy's mind. "Ah! You mean 'Aura'?"
"Aura?" My head tilted slightly, puzzled at what 'Aura' was.
"It's something different to Aether if you're confused."
What was this 'Aura' he spoke about? I knew it was something different, from his spar with my father, it definitely was something unique.
"Teach me it."
"Seeing as how your Dad is a Divergent, you'll probably develop an Aether soul later, so why?"
It was a good question, why? Why did I want to learn aura even though I had already developed an Aether soul? I merely deemed it as my child-like interest in new things.
"I want to learn, even if it's the most basic principles. Please, Mr. Roy. I've already developed my Aether soul, please Roy-" I cleared my throat, changing my mannerisms more to my mother's side. "I mean, please bestow your teachings upon me Teacher!"
Roy's mouth dropped wide open when I had spoken of my Aether soul.
"Most people sense Aether at the age of 12, that's a pretty impressive feat as developing one takes at most two whole years.. You seem rather young though.."
"I'm 12, turning 13 this year."
"Haah.. I'll try to teach you in half an hour. HOWEVER!" Roy pointed his finger up, "I think I should teach you what Aura is first."
"Yes, teacher."
"Drop the formality, just call me Roy." A smile that was radiating, like the morning sunrise.