A little group continued to travel further down a road. Two carriages slowly writhed on the street, steadily advancing towards their goal. Inside one of the carriages sat Maria. Bored, she stared holes in the air before she asked, "Brother, when will we be there?"

Across her was Libertas languidly sitting, similarly bored. He shot her a glance as he lazily swung his legs back and forth. He shrugged his shoulders while he replied to her, "I don't know. Shouldn't you know it?"

After Maria turned her gaze to Libertas, had she waved her little hand in the air. With the clicking of her tongue, she spoke vexed, "How could I? I was never there in my whole life."

Sighing, Libertas shrugged once more his shoulders. He showed his open palms to Maria as he helpless said, "Well, I can't help with this. Let us ask your father later."

Hearing him speaking like this, Maria sighed while she casually imitated the shrug. Following she briefly remarked, "Okay. Let us ask daddy."

Silence. The time slowly passed by as the carriage under them rumbled from time to time, and soon, Maria opened her mouth again. Her gaze wasn't focusing on anything as she lost herself in her thoughts. Absent-mindedly, she asked with a hint of curiosity in her voice, "Brother, why did you run yesterday, but today didn't?"

The edge of Libertas' mouth stiffly twitched as he heard Maria asking about this. Glancing at her, he noticed that she wasn't looking at him. As such, he thought of a pretentious answer, "I trained my body yesterday. As for today? I am resting. It is important to have a balance of rest and working!"

Maria shot him a glance before her gaze moved back to stare holes in the air. Then she ironical asked Libertas, "Were you really training? It didn't seem like that yesterday. It seemed more like you were strolling."

Libertas smiled wryly. Although he indeed ran a lot, it hadn't cost him much physical exertion. It wouldn't be wrong to compare the physical effort with a leisure stroll. Nonetheless, he wouldn't just admit that. However, he certainly wouldn't have accomplished it before his physique suddenly improved due to an unknown reason. Hence, Libertas only laughed dryly.

As Libertas was laughing, the father entered the carriage and laughed too. He then sat down beside his daughter and smiled at them. Then he waved his hands mysteriously around as they left on their path a blue mist behind. The hands ceased to wave around as the blue mist wholly covered the sight to his face. Following, the father spoke deliberately coarse to arouse a sense of mystery.

"Thou want to see my magic? Then I shall comply with thy request. Open thine eyes and marvel about the wonders of the world. Ye shall be the witness of my magic!"

While he spoke, the blue mist slowly flowed in an entrancing way before they formed one by one different looking runes. The runes danced around in the thinned mist before they settled down in a circle. At the centre of it was the picture of a flame. All of a sudden, the rest of the blue mist whirled, and a thin strand connected the different runes.

Libertas and Maria fixated their eyes on the unique scene of the spectacle of magic. Their little mouth was agape as their expression told everyone of the wonder and longing they felt. However, as the spell circle vanished, was Libertas immediately dumbfounded by the new sight. On the contrary to him, had Maria an amazed expression on her face.

Replacing the runes and the image was a blazing fire. It was entirely the same flame as depicted by the picture inside the circle. It was floating in the air as it slowly heated the surroundings. The mesmerizing glow of the blaze captivated Maria's gaze. Nevertheless, Libertas wasn't amazed but stunned.

The sight was just too unexpected compared to his expectations. At the start, he was expecting something grand, something that he couldn't even imagine in his dreams. But in the end, it was only a flame. Nonetheless, it was indeed fascinating to see a floating fire. It was definitely captivating to see how the runes and Mana created the blaze. Even then, it was too underwhelming. There was an immense difference between Libertas' expectations and a floating fire.

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Hence, Libertas felt a bit let down from the father's performance. As such, he stared speechlessly at the father. However, the father didn't notice it as Maria had grabbed Libertas' arm and shook it vigorously. She pointed excitedly at the flame as she screeched, "Brother, brother, look! There is fire! A floating fire! See! Brother, see! Magic!"

When Libertas heard this, he chuckled. Then he dismissively waved his hand, "This is nothing. I have seen in my life much more, and a floating fire is just too ordinary among them."

The father snorted dissatisfied and waved his hand. The fire quickly burned away and dissipated into the surrounding. Following he grumbled displeased, "Kid, what did you see to say this only something ordinary? Tell me. I am very interested."

Libertas smiled as he glanced at the curious Maria. Her eyes brightly shined as she nodded her head while her father was speaking. After he built the suspense through a short silence, he spoke, "Can you imagine a city out of raging towers? Can you imagine people flying through the sky? Can you imagine a world beyond the sky? I have seen them all."

Maria's eyes dimmed instantly. She sighed, "That is nothing exceptional. My old home was even in a city full of the dumb towers. Everything was grey and bland. Nothing was beautiful there."

The father snickered while he shook his head, "Kid, you should learn to be humble. If I was back in my heydays, I could even let this carriage fly off. As for now, I can only let my lovely daughter fly freely from time to time in the sky. Isn't that sad? However, a world beyond the sky? Do you mean the stars?"

Libertas gaped with a slight blush. For a moment he had forgotten, this wasn't his typical medieval world. It was a medieval fantasy world! With magic rampaging in the world, he couldn't use his outdated common sense. Hence, he sighed lightly and suggested, "How about we play a round of chess?"

Hearing this, the father laughed out loudly, "I was correct, right? Just admit that! Why changing the topic? Just say it bluntly! There is no need for you to be shy! Just let me-"

However, a loud shout interrupted him. Maria had excitedly jumped up while she yelled at her father, "Daddy quiet! Chess! We play! No complain!"

The father wryly smiled as Libertas snickered back at him. Annoyed, the father shot him a glance before he took out the chessboard and its pieces under Maria's urging. Looking at the board and its figures, Libertas sighed in relief. Luckily, they looked the same as the ones he knew.

Swiftly, the father placed the chess pieces on their rightful place. Then he waved to them to start playing. Nevertheless, before the game began, the father asked suspiciously, "Do you even know how to play chess?"

Maria had already moved a piece, as such, she too looked at Libertas curiously. Libertas smiled, "I haven't played chess for a long time, but even then, I still remember how to play it! As I still played it, I was known as the best!"

The father dismissively waved his hand at Libertas. Only to sigh as he saw his daughter looking up to Libertas with sparkling eyes. While he secretly moaned over his daughter being led astray by Libertas, he sullenly spoke, "All right. If you say so, then please play a few rounds with my daughter."

Smiling satisfied, Libertas took a pawn and moved it two fields forwards. The game had just now truly begun. At the start, they swiftly moved one piece after another without any hesitation in their motion. Nonetheless, it wasn't long before the game started to slow down. Both of them were deeply immersed in their thoughts as their turn steadily took a longer time.

Beside the rumbles of the carriage, it was silent. From time to time was the faint clacking of wood against wood. Then it was quiet again. The father stared at stunned at the chessboard. Libertas had played unexpectedly good and had even gradually gained an edge over Maria.

After some time, Maria yelled angrily and pouted as Libertas took her king. The father clapped in his hand, "You are pretty good. You even beat my daughter. Do you want to play another round with me?"

As Maria heard this, she once more cried out, "Hah? No, daddy! I wanna play another round! You play later! Big brother, let's play!"

Libertas chuckled as he saw Maria shamelessly pushing her dad away to play another round. The father wryly smiled as he saw how quickly placed the pieces back to their start position before she had moved one. She had never acted this swift when she played with him. Maria glanced anxiously up at Libertas before she urged, "It is your turn, big brother."

Libertas smiled relaxed as he too moved a chess piece, a pawn again. It was fun to play again. Since middle school, he had no one with whom he could play chess. It was a bit lonely as he passed his time mostly alone. Of course, he had friends, but he only spoke occasionally with them since certain things had happened. Slowly, but steadily they had drifted apart, and their relation turned cold.

Unfortunately, the time passed by too fast if one had fun. Hence, unknowingly the sun had slowly climbed high up in the sky. Its blazing rays shined down on a grand city wall in the far distance. Two carriages drove slowly but steadily along a lonely street. Soon they would reach the towering wall in the far distance.

A mild breeze swept the dust from the street in the air. The coachmen raised their hand and gazed into the far distance. What would be laying await for them in the future? Only with effort and persistence would the future be slowly revealed to us.