Silence prevailed in the moving carriage as the morning sun was shining brightly.
The night had finally passed.
Sencho Neo, Yukikama Kawarasuri, Sencho Neo, and Satou Yukino, four male passengers.
Bella Kamazaki and Alexandriya Aya, two female passengers.
The six passengers altogether had experienced a crazy night, and now, they had very little to say as they all slept soundly. Nearly eleven hours had passed since the climax of that night.
Meanwhile, the carriage-rider, Sasurasaki Kiyotai, was slightly anxious as he heard nothing but silence behind him. He still remembered when he was resting alongside his carriage with his TimberWolf sleeping next to him that night when…
(Last Night…
Sudden noises had woken him up.
Groggy, he sat up abruptly and rubbed his eyes. Putting on his glasses quickly and adjusting the hat on his head, he looked to his right and peered at the descending trail into the heart of Sekoto Forest. And slowly but surely, the noises grew louder.
From there…
He could see six people emerging from the furthest point that he could see.
He knew them pretty well, despite him only spending a day with them so far, but it took a few seconds for him to understand that it was his passengers scrambling towards him.
W-What the…
King was the first to see him and shout.
"Kiyotai-kun!! Start the carriage!"
Immediately sensing danger from his words, he jumped out of his seat and woke his two wolves who had been unattached to his carriage and peacefully sleeping in the grass beside him. Quickly guiding it to the front of the carriage, he prepared to take off.
Both Shizaki and Neo arrived first, with Aya and King right behind them. Yukino finally arrived, with Kamazaki coming in last.
"You guys are…too….fast…"
They all hopped in with no hesitation, and Kiyotai guided the carriage to speed off.
"What's going on?!"
"You wouldn't believe it. Oh, you guys, when we get to the Royal Guild, we'll need to make a report to the Royal Guard Post in that area."
On hearing this, Kiyotai, still shaken up, trembled with anxiety.
"O-Okay, you're scaring me. Do you know how crazy you guys are acting and sounding right now?" First, you all start running like wild in the middle of the night, telling me to get out of there quickly, then this! Seriously, what happened?"
)
Kiyotai now sat calmly in the driver's seat. They had told him everything about the attack in Sekoto Forest, and although he tried to brush off the idea of Timberwolves being harmful, they had all insisted on the same thing: they were mercilessly attacked by them.
Haaa…I should've listened to my wife and stayed home…
He sighed and looked at his right side, where the mighty Sekoto Forest was still in view beside the road. The forest was finally about to leave his sight as the carriage finally passed by its circular end.
They were finally leaving the vicinity of the Sekoto region, and were about to enter the Northern Province, where Pandora City, which was just in front of the Royal Guild, was situated.
In his heart, he secretly hoped that he wouldn't have any other problems with this set of passengers, considering that he had a hell of a scare just recently.
His thoughts began to stray as he thought back on his hometown.
I wonder how Mina and the kids are doing…
He smiled as he reflected on their parting words to him.
(Days Ago…
"Stay safe, Papa!"
"Papa!"
As the two toddlers waved goodbye to him, he smiled with enthusiasm and happiness overflowing from inside.
"I will, thank you. See you soon, okay?"
"When will you return, dear?"
He stood up from his crouching position to face the beautiful, pale woman with her reddish cheeks. He embraced her warmly, and then pulled back, his hands holding hers tightly.
"Next week, I suppose. As you know, I will be doing a single one-week trip throughout the Northern Province of Aldranza for more income to help us out. The long-distance trips in that busy region should be a great boost for us."
The woman named Mina looked at him with a slightly bitter smile.
More income, but less time with the family. They were a struggling couple, with Mina being recently let off from her messenger duties, and Kiyotai's struggle to sell farm products turning him to go for a new line of work, carriage-riding with Timberwolf transport. He had been in this work for just over a month now.
"Don't worry, I will be back soon. I…have to go."
"See you next week, Papa!"
"See you!!"
His son and daughter both hugged him around his waist as he smiled with empathy and love.
"I'll see you soon….Tina, and Tamari."
He bent down once again to kiss them both on the cheeks as Mina slowly relaxed her expression.
"Okay…you better get going. Please stay safe, and….I love you, dear."
Kiyotai stared at her as she bent down to embrace him, along with Tina and Tamari together.
"...Me too."
)
Kiyotai, the carriage rider. He did have a primary love for travelling, or helping people with travelling. Sure, those were some aspects as to why he decided to pick this job. But no… he mainly did this for his family, the most important factor in his life.
He gripped his reins tightly.
Kiyotai: "See you soon.
***
Everything was dark.
Shizaki then jerked up from his apparent bad dream as he suddenly woke up and sat upright. Perspiring, he tried to wipe away his sweat as his heart kept on beating rapidly.
"Oh right…I'm not in that place anymore…"
He looked around himself to confirm his surroundings, and relaxed as he confirmed that it was the Sekoto Region, with the forest being left behind.
Sitting on the left side of the carriage, he viewed both Yukino and King sleeping on his left and right respectively. Neo, Kamazaki and Aya were sleeping on the other side of the carriage, right opposite him.
Breathing a short sigh of relief and calm, his eyes averted upward to the ceiling.
In just a day, he had ventured out into the world, away from his solitary borders, made new companions, made a friend, defeated wolves-well, maybe having fought off would be a better way to say it on his end…
Everything felt…amazing, and scary at the same time.
He had no clue what the imminent future held for himself. There was only one thing that he was sure would happen.
{"In exactly one year…everyone you love and will come to love will be destroyed forever. Will you be able to save them all, I wonder?"}
Could I really do it….someone like me?
Well, he had to. If he couldn't…no one would be saved.
But going up against a pack of wolves by himself gave him a taste of reality.
He was only able to push a few back, injure one, and kill one. If not for Kamazaki's Affinity of Spirit Arts, he would have probably died.
He was constantly reminded of his weakness. He simply could not do much with [Turbulence], especially with just his lowest form. If he tried to go full power, he would further damage his already hurt Soul Realm, and his head would not be able to handle the pain.
If he was going to save his friends, his loved ones, maybe even the world….he has to get stronger. Will the missions and people from the Royal Guild prove to be enough?
Time was ticking. Every day counted. He only had a year.
"Damn it…am I really going to do this?"
He hated doubt, but as a person who had constantly looked down on himself for almost his entire life, he began doubting once again. Was he making the right decision? What was the best decision? What if-
"...Hey."
A voice from his right interrupted his thoughts. He noticed King looking back at him as he had gotten up from his well rested sleep. He kept his voice low so as not to wake up the others.
"You okay? You seem anxious."
"Oh…yeah, a bit…it's nothing, don't worry about it."
He wouldn't understand anyway, Shizaki thought.
He had also decided to keep his voice low.
"…What a night that was, huh? That was way too scary for me…."
Shizaki didn't really want to talk about the events of last night, but he could hardly carry a conversation, so he simply nodded and waited for King to continue. The small image of what he had seen while looking back at the forest came across his mind, but he instantly tried to discard it in fear.
King's relaxed face soon turned into a face of anxiety as well.
"I need to apologise to everyone when they all wake up. I…caused everyone needless pain."
Shizaki looked a bit confused.
"No….why would you say that…"
"It's simple. I practically insisted that we should all spend the night in that damn forest…I also froze when we were going up the trail as a group and got ambushed by wolves while everyone reacted in time. Neo-kun saved me, and it was when I realized that I had just escaped death thanks to him that I started to move on instinct…"
Shizaki couldn't answer.
"Then, in my hindsight, I almost severely injured Aya-san by being reckless and destroying the ground. I wasn't paying attention to the safety of my comrades…it's really all my fault."
Shizaki averted his purple eyes away. King noticed this and smiled as he sighed in frustration at himself.
"Do you wanna hear a little story about myself?"
"....A….story..?"
"It's about how I got my nickname, King. No, The Little King."
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Chapter 18: (Regretful Thoughts That Loom.)