The horses ran at each other, clashing and neighing as if disturbed by something. The problem was made even worse as soldiers rushed through the bridge, right into the burgeoning situation.

Althea was at a loss, her magic wasn't reacting, and she did not know how to use it. Hundreds of horses were probably beyond her power level, too. The Steward, thankfully, wasn't as useless as her. A massive aura emerged from him, making the horses calm down nearly instantly. The air itself seemed to still as not a single creature dared make noise.

"Take control of your horses and return to formation. The convoy must reach Marile by sundown, and we are already running behind schedule." the Steward warned.

Althea had to pull on her horse's reins to keep it from returning to formation with the soldiers. The army progressed much more easily after that, the Steward not continuing their confirmation, instead watching the sun with worry.

Thirty minutes had passed since they left, and the sun was much lower than she expected it to be. But it didn't seem to be a matter of worry.

"Is there something worrisome, Steward Ven?" she asked.

"No, your grace." the Steward replied, "How about you try practicing your magic? At your stage, you are only able to sense the mana around you, but it is a valuable skill."

Althea knew a dismissal when she heard it. So she returned to staring at the woods, dragging the horse a little away from his amour. The horse whined and tried to get close again, but a look from the Steward had it withdrawing back.

Althea ignored its antics, turning her attention to mana sensing. The old Althea wasn't very good at it, the poor girl lacked both the power and training to do it properly. To sense mana, one simply had to think about it, and mana would respond.

Of course, that was not how it worked practically. Calling on mana like that required experience, often decades of it. A Novice would often start out sensing mana in a quiet area with their eyes closed. The more talented they were, the earlier they would be able to sense it. Althea had fumbled around trying for three days before she had been able to do it.

Even then, it took her a lot of time to connect to her magic. Emilia Harkins hadn't tried yet, but she would connect in under fifteen minutes three years later. A fact that had made the book Althea jealous enough to throw a tantrum.

The event had happened towards the end of the second book in the series, paving way for the climax. The one where the book Althea had been accused of attempting to murder her husband.

Althea closed her eyes, shoving the other thoughts away as she concentrated on calling on mana. The mana came as she called for it. A simple breeze that passed through her hair. Althea opened her eyes, a bit confused, but mostly happy that mana was so responsive.

Perhaps it was because the old Althea had been using mana for a while, or because she was in her lands now. The breeze of mana was lost as soon as she opened her eyes, but Althea called to it again.

The breeze responded, but this time the connection was more dicey. Althea nearly lost it again when a particularly harsh bump broke her concentration. But the connection soon returned.

Althea called the breeze closer to her as she tried to hold on to it despite the many distractions. The connection stabilized more as she got better at holding it, despite the irritating bumps. Even the sound of soldiers talking was irritating and caused her connection to fluctuate. The longer she held it, the harder it seemed to get.

"Try moving it." the Steward interrupted her, scaring her into dropping the connection. "The mana and the mind both detest stasis and being still. The longer mana stays still, the harder it will be to control it."

"Oh." Althea said.

"But practicing that is also important, delayed spells, ambush spells and shield spells are improved greatly if you can maintain mana for a certain amount of time." the Steward said. "But that is for later, try to let your mana revolve around you as we rush."

The Steward pointed to the sky, where the sun had nearly disappeared behind the mountains.

"How…" she asked, confused.

"The mana trance often consumes more time than one thinks. And the mountains have their own magic. The Carrulian mountains are the tallest on our continent, and are laden with some of the strongest magic we have seen. The sun sets at sixteen hours in this part of the county. Sentinal is worse, the sun sets at fifteen there under the shadow of the mountains." the Steward said.

The Empire followed a twenty-four hour clock, so that made it four pm and three pm respectively.

Althea hadn't known this particularly juicy piece of information, but it made sense. Sentinal was the city built right behind the Northern fortress-wait a second. The sun set in the west, right? Yes, her memory confirmed so, the sun set in the west. Why was it named the northern fortress if it was in the west?

"Steward Ven" Althea asked. But was interrupted by the Steward announcing. "Diery army, full gallop ahead"

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A burst of mana emerged out of the Steward as the horses rushed forward, Althea's drawing ahead of them, even the Steward. Althea pulled the horse back, wondering what had happened. The horses were running faster than they usually would, she was sure of it.

The ground was going by at an extremely fast pace, like it would if she was riding a car. The Steward must have cast a spell. What had him so worried that he did not want to remain outside at night?

Althea wanted to ask, but they were going too fast, and even with the old Althea's memories, she wasn't good enough at riding to try to move around. So she practiced. The breeze of mana answered her call. But it was harder to keep it than last time. The wind seemed to blow it away, dispersing it before she could do anything with it.

Althea tried again, concentrating and quickly pulling it before the wind could pull it away. The wind kept cutting at it, pulling it from her grasp. But she fought, twisting it with significant effort. The breeze dispersed as she rolled it, but she called one again.

The wind must be the spell. Steward Ven's spell was interfering with hers, pulling the mana to use it. Hmm, perhaps a smaller amount of mana would work.

Althea tried it, calling to an even smaller amount of mana. A thin wisp of air seemed to emerge from somewhere, answering her. The wind pulled at it almost immediately, but with considerably less force than before. Althea called it to her, revolving it around her as she bent forward. The force of wind suddenly increased, pulling at her wisp, but Althea fought back.

"No, you won't have this one." she thought to herself as she held onto her wisp. The wind force increased many times as she held the wisp, almost taking it from her grasp. Althea put it on a spin again, nearly losing it in the process.

But she managed it, speeding the spin up as she focused her attention on it. The world seemed to fade for her as the wisp drew her attention. A strange thing, she wasn't the kind to hyperfocus. The thought nearly wrecked her concentration and let the wisp go, but the weaker pull on it proved to her advantage again. The tiny wisp was just enough for her to control.

The battle between the wind and the wisp continued as she felt a strange energy fill her lungs. The power of the wind seemed to weaken over time as she increased the wisps speed, finding it easier to do so.

Althea even added a bit more mana to the mix, the difference in strength minimal. In the end, she was woken up from her trance by the wind suddenly disappearing, the wisp going too as she stopped in surprise.

In front of her stood two massive gates, leading through fifty feet high walls. The merchant city of Marile, one of the three cities in Diery.

"Come, Countess, it is tradition for the highest ranking noble to walk through first." the Steward said.

Althea guided her horse to overtake the Steward's, the horse neighing unwillingly as its crush disappeared from sight.

The guards looked at her, their backs straight and fear in their eyes.

"St-state your business or be gone!" one guard said, his eyes flickering from her to the arm behind her. The gates were closed and Althea could see archers perched on the walls. "The Diery county is under the protection of the Bern march!"

Oh. Oh. The city thought they were attackers. Well, they did approach the city at high speeds with an army at their back.

"I am Countess Althea Diery, on my way to Deadre to take my position." she declared. "I have with me Steward Ven who leads a squad of the Emperor's guards to guard me. The army accompanying me is the Diery county army returned to me by Marquis Bern."

The guards bowed before saying. "Oh-um. The city of Marile welcomes the Countess of Diery."

Althea stared at the guard for a second. The greeting was incorrect, this was the greeting for a foreign noble, not the lady of the land. But she probably shouldn't press it. Althea stepped through the gates towards the city center, the army following her. Perhaps belatedly, she wondered if the city had enough facilities for the army.

A city on Earth would surely have enough space, but she wasn't so sure about this place.

The army marched in behind her, and she suddenly realized that she did not know where to go. Althea scoured her memory, searching for information. A lady usually stayed in her palace. Marile did have a palace she owned. But what about the army?

Althea just gritted her teeth and led the horse to the palace, a massive palace in the middle of the city. The guards in the palace closed ranks, stopping her.

"Marile city does not allow foreign nobles into the palace. Please leave, Countess." the guard said.

"Am I a foreign noble now?" Althea asked. Perhaps it was just that they hadn't recognized who she was, but if they were being rebellious…

"Does the Marile city wish to rebel?" Steward Ven asked, power radiating off him towards the palace. The guards fell to their knees as a gust of wind blew the gates open. Althea waited for a few moments, and just as she expected, a ruffled looking man ran out of the palace.

"I greet the Countess of Diery." the man wheezed, giving a hurried bow, staring at Steward Ven.

"The Countess Guarding Diery." Althea said.

"What?" the man said, looking a bit irritated.

"The Emperor has seen fit to declare the Diery family a guarding family of the Empire." she said. A crowd had gathered on the street around the army, gawking at the events. A gasp spread through the crowd at her declaration.

"I see." the man said. "Please, come in, Countess Diery, Marile city is glad to receive the Countess of Diery after such a long time. Oh, forgive me, Countess Guarding Diery."

"The Countess is tired, she will retire for the night after a private dinner with her counselors. The city lord may arrange barracks for the soldiers." Steward Ven said.

"Oh, um, well, about that." the man said. "I know that the city is supposed to have a fortress, but after the place remained empty-"

"Did I not make myself clear?" Steward Ven interrupted. Althea just let it play out, she was out of her depth here, Steward Ven was not.

"If the city lord does not have accommodations, he may arrange them on his own dime. The fortress can be discussed in the official review of land and positions next week." Steward Ven said.

The city lord's face paled, but he did not dare reject. Steward Ven's demonstration from earlier must have scared him. Althea got down from the horse as stable hands rushed in, her horse neighing uncomfortable at the reaching hands before running off into the air.

The stable hands looked frightened at its receding figure, shocked by their charge suddenly taking to the air.

"Do not worry, just take care of the carriage's horses." she told them before marching into the palace. There was a lot of stuff she needed to know, and Steward Ven likely had the answers.