After the short battle with the nefandites and, unexpectedly, learning some valuable information from one foolish enough to hope for mercy, Kane and Bauer felt ready to brave the long and arduous journey. Too many hours of walking in silence beforehand seriously took a toll on them, letting grow weary and complacent, but now that they had experienced their first encounter since taking this mission, their eyes looked sharp, scanning the area for any threats.
As they approached the stagecoach, they took notice of a window opening, where the man in green stuck his head out and looked back at them.
"Goodness gracious!" he exclaimed, his eyes widening as he looked back to find corpses laid on the ground and large patches of grass in the area. "You both already dealt with them?"
Kane and Bauer offered a singular nod. It wasn't that they felt the need to keep up their silence, but it was rather a case of appearing ruthless, collected, and calculated. Them keeping silent was out of hope that the men would see a simple nefandite encounter as nothing more than an inconvenience that they could very easily handle.
And of course, it also made sure that Kane wouldn't say anything stupid.
"Marvelous!" continued the man in green, looking back inside the stagecoach for a few moments, before he stuck his head out and tossed a pouch at Bauer, which revealed a subtle shift of coins within. "Perhaps Frederick was right about you two... Rest assured, Tiny and Giant, we will compensate you in full if you keep up this good work."
Once again, they offered a singular nod, returning to their designated positions before leading the way.
The night was still young, however, so they both made certain to feel alive, constantly scouring the land with their weapons drawn, ready to take the fight to whoever dared approach their money.
***
Hours of marching would go by, and eventually, dawn would slowly fight back against the night, sending it retreating as it steamrolled the stars out of vision, painting the eastern sky in yellow.
Despite their minimal rest—especially Bauer, who practically had no time to rest—the mercenaries pulled through feeling lively. As they'd study their surroundings, observing footsteps and traces of blood throughout the night, they'd cleverly avoid any potential surprise attacks.
It was because of their keenness that they were able to instead get the jump on any nefandites that were out camping in the snowy plains. That also meant that the three men requested that they store the spoils of victory in the stagecoach, however, but even so, the three men compensated them with more pouches filled with silver.
For once, the mission didn't seem that bad. Sure they may have had to strain themselves against their aching feet, freezing bodies, and a growing weariness that was a harder fight to win against than nefandites, but all in all, they were making money.
It was especially helpful that once the sun was over the horizon, Kane was free to use fire to melt away the snow ahead, creating an easier time for everyone—even the horses seemed grateful.
However, after many, many hours of marching, the stagecoach would once again come to a halt, and the two would learn that they were free to take a short rest once again, though it was really the horses that needed it more than they did.
Kane stood next to one of them, even being allowed to pet it as it lowered its face to his hand. The poor creatures had the toughest job for sure, and it was by a long shot. Pulling such a large stagecoach, with twenty bags filled with armour and weapons, along with five people, seemed like a task that should've been impossible for just two horses.
I wonder what they're feeding them at that point? wondered Kane as he gently patted the horse. More importantly, he looked at Bauer, who dug his blade into the snow and rested along his knees, what are we gonna do?
He walked away from the horse, letting get some time to appease its weary body's requests for rest, pulling out the grimoire and looking through the spell list. He walked over to Bauer, standing a few metres across as he looked through the several hundred pages.
Kane cleared his throat, taking notice that his companion decided to rest in the snow, and in what looked like the most uncomfortable position one could sleep in. "Do you want me to at least melt the snow?" he asked.
Bauer remained motionless for a few moments, even silent, before shaking his head.
"Well, what're you doing then?"
"Meditating."
"Since when did you meditate?"
"Ever since I trained with the blade."
"Bullshit. I've never seen you meditate once."
"Because I don't have to do it everyday."
Kane raised a brow, staring at the lines of text he still couldn't really understand. "Why do it at all then?"
"All who fight should do it at least a few times."
"Why?"
Again, Bauer remained silent for a bit, before blowing out, shaking his head as his concentration was broken. Well, I guess he doesn't get it because he's still a kid. Slowly, he stood up and quickly performed a check of the area, glad to find that nothing was approaching them.
"It's because," said Bauer, stretching his arms and back, "the mind is the weapon."
Kane chuckled. "You sound like one of those old and wise fantasy mentors."
Under his helm, the corner of Bauer's mouth curled up, remembering the good times of when he wasn't making stupid decisions as a kid and got to indulge in those fantasy stories Kane talked about.
"Well, they're not wrong," he said, taking a deep breath as watched the sky grow brighter, with a crimson sun hewn into it. "The mind is an ocean... that's a line that has stuck with me ever since."
"Ah, yes, of course." He chuckled, closing the grimoire and putting it back in his coat as he reached for the pouch full of parchments. "The mind is an ocean... that definitely means something."
Bauer looked at him, his words heavy and serious. "It means everything."
"Alright, mister sword saint," replied Kane, carrying a hint of sarcasm in his voice, "sorry for interrupting your meditation. I'll just go back to my readings and leave you to it."
"Thanks, mister second-rate wizard."
Kane's head darted towards Bauer, throwing a sneer his way. "Oh really?" he said, quickly pulling out his wand and firing a bolt of fire.
Bauer already saw it coming and swiftly deflected the magic with his sword, holding his position for a few seconds before dropping his guard. "Like I said, second-rate wizard."
Kane let his shoulders sink, dropping his tension as he slowly turned to face Bauer. "Alright, since you're some first-rate swordsman, let's test it."
Bauer scoffed, looking down as he shook his head and chuckled. "Fine. I'll make it easy for you as well. All you have to do is land a hit on me. If you can't do it once before we have to get on the move again, I'll be calling you a second-rate wizard until you win."
"You sure that armour can take a hit from magic without you getting injured?"
"If you're so scared or confident that you'll win, then put that shielding spell on me again."
Kane nodded, saying, "Defendere te... Alright, it's done. Get ready, because I'm not gonna go easy on you."
***
A few hours would pass by of their training, where Kane would use all within his power to land just one hit against Bauer, using all sorts of spell combinations and tricks he could think of.
And yet, even with Bauer simply standing still, he could not do it. With every failed attempt, the creases around his eyes would grow deeper, and so would the pressure in clenched jaw. In fact, every time he'd fail, the next attempt would prove even worse of an attempt, with Bauer eventually resorting to using only one arm and holding the other behind his back.
No matter what he did, he was forced to watch as every single spell was guarded by the black blade, disappearing the moment his spells came into contact with it.
I'm not just some fucking second-rate wizard, he told himself, though him breaking a sweat before Bauer was seriously not a good impact on his mind, which had already become a raging storm. I know I can win, I just have to—
"Tiny, Giant!" called out the man in red, abruptly putting their spar to an end. "We'll be moving now. Get ready!"
Kane was just about to fire another torrent of fire pellets, but stopped mid-motion, shaking his head as he moved back into position. The weight of failure was devastating, a crushing blow to his pride, eating away at his sanity.
It especially didn't help that Bauer commented "second-rate wizard" as he walked back. Earning himself that title felt like he was wearing pillory of shame on display for everyone to make a laughing stock out of him.
Truly, a devastating blow.
But nevertheless, their journey was resumed, and they had a job to complete, leaving Kane with ample time to ruminate over his shortcomings as they marched.