Adam glanced at the scenery outside the house and frowned.
He didn't know where they were, but he was sure it wasn't anywhere near their estate.
The house was on a giant wheat field with no end in sight. Farm animals could be seen caged and ready to be moved by a horse-drawn carriage. A few giant cells that could hold humans could also be seen, signifying something more horrible for their future if they didn't escape.
Looking at her surroundings, Rose had become more anxious, not knowing what to do.
She gripped Adam's hand tightly as she waited for William to return.
At that moment, the sound of the door creaking was heard as William, still in the appearance of Homer, stepped out, his face and clothes covered in blood.
Looking at him, they became speechless, not knowing what happened.
Noticing their gazes, William understood their reaction. Crouching on the ground, he inscribed another magic circle; this time, it was a cleaning spell usually used by maids in the magic tower.
Activating the spell, a slight wind rushed out from the magic circle, targeting the blood. The blood soon disappeared from his body as if never there, his complexion becoming slightly paler.
'Almost out of mana…'
He thought, his expression grim. Since the illusion spells, he cast constantly drained his mana; his storage could never recover.
This was the issue with having a weak body and small mana capacity. He couldn't wait to upgrade his stage, but things had to be resolved first.
"If my body was stronger, I would have awakened my aura as well, but sadly I'm far too weak for it now."
He muttered, heading towards the horse-drawn carriage, signaling his siblings to follow.
The two followed him, not saying anything, as they turned their heads to look at the still-standing house.
"I've already set the fire, it will slowly start smoking, so lets leave to not get effected. Although the wheat field will be burnt as well, this is our enemy's territory, so it doesn't really matter."
Said William, taking the reigns and urging the horses to move.
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In a valley located at the far north of the Thelwedean empire, a horse with a man on its back galloped at max speed, heading towards a settlement.
The man was handsome, with long brown hair and a slightly long brown beard covering his face. His sharp almond-shaped brown eyes looked ahead, a hint of killing intent in them.
White armor covered his body, radiating a pure white aura.
He entered the settlement, witnessing the countless destroyed buildings, as well as innumerable corpses of humans and animals alike.
A scowl formed on his masculine face as he screamed, signaling his arrival in the place.
"Leona! Adam! William! Rose!"
He shouted his family members' names, his expression crumbling.
Not getting any response, even after screaming for a while, he headed towards the most prominent building in the area.
He descended from his horse and kicked the closed door, shattering it to pieces.
Releasing his Aura to the fullest, he scanned his surroundings to find signs of life.
He could see the corpses of the servants and the head maid, all of them having unwilling yet determined expressions on their faces. Just from this, he could gather what happened here. He didn’t see the corpses of some of his staff however, which meant they had either escaped or were captured.
After a while of searching, he still couldn't find the members of his family, dead or alive.
He headed outside, gritting his teeth.
He released an enraged howl, his Aura spreading into the surroundings and destroying anything it touched.
The armor on his body shone brighter as white wings appeared on his back.
White lines covered his whole body as his long brown hair moved despite no wind.
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A single sentence came from his mouth after his nerves calmed down.
"Baron Max Byrd, you fucker. If I don't eradicate you and your family, my name is not Malcolm Don Virtu!"
He shouted, the ground under his feet deforming from the pressure of his Aura.
At this moment, sounds were heard in the surroundings, bones extruding from the ground, the countless corpses sprawled on the settlement, slowly moving and rising to their feet.
Malcolm's face became solemn as his souring Aura was directed at the undead. His frame vanished from the spot it was standing on, leaving only an after-image as he cut any undead on his path.
The sword in his hand glowed with a holy white light, releasing aura blades to the surroundings.
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A horse-drawn carriage drove faster on a bumpy dirt road, heading towards a city northwest of the Thelwedean empire.
The city's name was Kelsein, and it was known as the second most prosperous city after Arithsanat, the empire's capital city.
Three male figures occupied the carriage, their appearances intimidating; however, if one could listen to them speaking, they would find a funny sight.
All three of them had either childish voices or extremely unusual voices.
Especially one of them, who sounded just like a little girl.
The trio was Adam, Rose, and William, disguised as Tyler, Kirk, and Homer.
William had decided to head over to Kelsein as soon as he recalled the location of their entrapment, the same city he had run to when he escaped with Rose in the past.
This time, however, things were different. Adam was alive; they didn't have to beg to be let in or sing and steal for a meal, and they had hidden their identities.
Everything so far was as William had planned.
Reaching Kelsein, he had a lot of things he could do, knowing the city and all the future happenings like the back of his hand.
After two hours of riding, they turned, entering a different path, the road becoming much smoother and more accessible for the carriage to roll.
"I'm glad the empire built paved roads as the main roads leading to all the big cities, at least we wont be bouncing around like rabbits now."
Muttered Adam as he rubbed his rear area with relief.
"When will we be there?! I feel like I'm going to vomit from all of the bumps in the road!"
Complained Rose while rubbing her belly in an over-the-top manner.
William smiled bitterly at their words since the dirt road was created half-heartedly and had caused them a lot of discomfort in these two hours, but it was nothing to him.
The carriage could have been better quality, too, clearly bought at the cheapest prices. Compared to the highest-grade carriages that didn't even require a horse to drive and had magic arrays for stabilization, temperature control, and a dimensional storage device, this carriage was like torture, especially to noble children like Adam and Rose.
William understood their sentiments, but he didn't think the same. If these two had gone through the world's end, where even moving from one place to another was a privilege, they wouldn't be complaining.
"We should be there in twenty minutes, so hold on a bit longer. Sadly, we can't even take a break in this situation, since time isn't by our side."
Said William to Rose, patting her head to comfort her.
Rose pouted but stopped complaining, understanding they weren't in a favorable situation for her to act like a spoiled brat.
Like this, they continued traveling, getting their first human interaction only after ten more minutes.
A traveling merchant was heading out of the city, an entourage of carriages following behind the giant and high-class carriage.
The merchant didn't even come out of his carriage as they passed by the trio, contempt written on the people guarding its sides.
William and the rest didn't say anything at this scene as they continued forward without a care. William had already informed his siblings not to interact with anyone on the road, even if they knew them. They needed to get into the city and get things sorted; everything else came after.
William took this time to organize his thoughts, maximizing his time. Since he had used an unfavorable method to increase his strength quickly, he knew there would be side effects to his growth.
After explaining the way to Adam, William decided to sit back and meditate, focusing on recovering his sore mana channels and preparing for his mana core.
A mana core was the most essential part of a mage, most commonly known as the 'mana heart' since most people used their heart.
In William's case, the risks were much higher since he decided to use his brain. The reason the heart was used as the core was simple. The heart supplied blood through the entire body, which made visualizing and directing the flow of mana through the mana channels easier.
But things were different for William since he already had a great understanding of his body after years of experience. He wouldn't have risked creating a mana core using his brain if he were in another body.
Of course, there was a reason why he created the core with the brain as the center. There were two significant advantages to it. First was the accelerated thought process since the brain sourced the mana. Second was a more refined and free-forming mana output, meaning the ability to manipulate mana freely throughout his entire body.
With the mana brain, he could focus all his mana on one specific part of his body if he wished or even cast spells faster, using his thoughts as a catalyst.
Since he had used a forbidden method to increase his mana capacity by accelerating his time, his mana recovery had almost stagnated.
He had sapped his mana storage dry for the next few weeks, which could only be supplemented with mana potions instead of natural recovery.
'I should have enough mana to maintain the spells for roughly another 3-4 hours at most, after that I'm basically going to run on empty and im going to be completely fatigued if I don't get any mana potions.'
William realized he had miss-calculated his mana usage. Initially, he was supposed to have more than half of his mana storage at this time, but he wasted too much mana on useless things.
'I don't know if regressing has effected my mental stability, or my hormones are acting up.'
He knew he wasn’t perfect in any way and was bound to get swept up by his emotions despite his experience. Humans were flawed creatures, that’s what made them unique.
William shook his head, trying to focus his thoughts back on the task at hand. With his mana reserves dwindling faster than expected, he needed to conserve what little he had left for emergencies.
As the carriage rattled along the road, William delved deeper into his meditation, visualizing mana flow through his body and attempting to coax his exhausted mana channels back to life, to no avail. It was apparent that he would have to wait for the after-effects of the spell to wear off.
Fifteen minutes later, they could finally see the tall city walls with a majestic castle showcasing its might behind it.
The sight of Kelsein's walls relieved the trio, signaling that they were one step closer to safety. As they approached the city gates, William instructed Adam and Rose to remain silent and let him handle the interaction with the guards.