"Cronix, I think I see a carriage!" Lapsa's voice loudly resounded in the empty field they sat in, and he pointed at a blurry shape some distance away, but it was quickly approaching.
Standing up, Cronix looked where he pointed, then he glanced at someone some distance away, "Can you hear anything Cayden?"
There was no reply given from the demi-human, but after a few seconds, Cayden listlessly replied, "It's a lizard drawn carriage, and going by the smell, there's three people inside."
Cronix nodded and turned away, however Lapsa's eyes lingered on the badger, he couldn't help, but think about the day they escaped.
After being teleported away, they arrived in Party Mansion, but it wasn't the place they were expecting, instead it was a storage area, in another part of the establishment.
This was the area the originally teleportation array they copied led too, after finding a way out of Party Mansion, it was easy to leave the city, because of the events at the Ayuna's, everything was disorderly.
Now they were here, two days have already passed since then, yet after Riley's death, Cayden's attitude couldn't be described with positive words.
It was obvious that Riley's death had greatly affected the demi-human, but Cronix couldn't pay too much attention to him; there were other problems, like the crow.
Her state since her fight with the head mistress and butler could've been better. While she wasn't on the verge of death, she was in a coma, during these past two days, she's been resting, with the three boys taking turns carrying her around.
"Cayden, Lapsa, come here, I have an idea."
The driver of the carriage was a middle age man, and inside his carriage were two passengers, one male, the other female, they were young, maybe in their twenties, their strength wasn't too high, flawless three star Casters, on both of their left ring finger, were rings with a shining blue crystal.
And as Cayden said, the carriage was being pulled by a blue lizard, it wasn't a magic beast, just a regular beast, however, magical energy was converging inside its body.
While it wasn't enough to make its body contain magic power, if this continued, it might eventually be.
It would then gain the ability to walk on the Magic Path, it would also officially be considered a magic beast, and its intelligence would improve dramastically, until it was on par with a human.
"How far are we Marcus?" The young man asked.
"We're almost there, young master, O'Kairo should be no more than 10 miles from here." The middle aged man replied.
The young man seemed satisfied with that answer, and he turned his head to his companion, but before he could say anything to her, the carriage abruptly stopped.
"Marcus, why have we stopped?" The young man asked, but when he looked at Marcus, he froze.
Marcus wore a solemn expression, and seeing this expression on his face, the young couldn't help but feel some fear. It had to be understood that Marcus was a flawless five star Caster, so something that could scare him, had to be terrifying to them.
In front of the carriage was a cloaked man, and next to him were two servants wearing dirty clothes matching those of a butler, both of them were demi-humans.
A cloud jumping squirrel, and... A goat demi-human? I've never seen that type of breed, but the clouding jumping squirrel is one of the rarest demi-humans, who is this guy?
"Do you need anything sir?" Marcus yelled out, he didn't completely know what to make of this man, especially since he couldn't feel his magic power.
The cloaked man was Cayden, Cronix told him to wear the cloak since his almost flawless Caster stage strength would be weird for a servant to have.
"We... I need a ride to the nearest city. I'm willing to pay you if needed." Cayden's voice was low and cold, this mixture, whether he intended it or not, added an invisible pressure on Marcus.
Even though he could tell the trio was young, and the cloaked man couldn't be older than fifteen, there was something off about them that worried him, even if two of the three boys were servants.
"Marcus, what happened?" A young man stuck his head outside the window.
"There's some kid that needs a ride." Marcus said with a quiet voice.
The young man finally spotted the trio, "Who are you?" The young man questioned.
Cayden sized the young man up, before replying, "I'm a traveler, and I need a ride to the nearest settlement, I'm willing to pay you an advance grade crystal."
The young man frowned, he looked at Lapsa and Cronix. They were obviously the cloaked man's slaves, the young man turned his attention back to Cayden, but now there was a hint of disgust in his gaze.
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"We don't help slave owners, Marcus continue onward."
Cayden glanced at Cronix, he really didn't know what to do now. But before they could say something, a clear voice sounded out, "Wait!"
The young man's frown deepened as he turned around, "What is it?" He gently asked the young women behind him.
"We should help them." She said.
The young man tilted his head, "Why."
"Because we're good people."
The young man chuckled, "You just want the money, don't lie."
"Okay, I want the money, but am I wrong, our families need that money." She asked.
Outside the carriage and under Cayden's hood, his ear twitched, as she said this.
The young man thought about what she said, and he knew she was right, but his frown didn't lessen any bit.
However the young woman wasn't done, "And think about it, if we leave him stranded, what do you think he will do to to his slaves."
The young man sighed, "You're right, but this just doesn't feel right."
"I know, it does feel wrong, but we need the money."
The young man nodded, and turned back to Cayden, "We'll let you ride with us, but you need to give us five advance grade crystals."
Cayden didn't argue, he reached into the bag Riley gave him, he took out the five crystals, and handed them to the young man, who then handed them to his companion, who put it inside her magic bag.
Watching this deal happen, there was a small look of longing in Cronix's eyes, just those five crystals were more money than he had in his whole time in Alktarsha.
The young man reluctantly opened the carriage door, and let the trio in. Cayden obviously entered first, the others entered next. The crow was inside the cloak, being held by Cayden.
But as Cronix was entering Lapsa whispered in his ears, "Should we reveal ourselves, I mean, it looks like they support free demi-humans."
Cronix immediately shook his head, he couldn't help but think about a certain event in his past, where he was attacked just for people thinking he was a demi-human.
As they sat down, Marcus whipped the blue lizard, forcing it to start moving. The carriage slowly began moving, with the lizard steadily gaining speed.
When the carriage finally gain enough speed to be considered fast, Cronix mumbled under his breath, "Ask about where we're going."
Cayden gave a tiny nod and asked, "Can you tell me about where we're going, like the cost of living, strongest magic user, slave trade..?"
The young man immediately cut Cayden off, "The slave market in O'Kairo is a dying market, in fact, it should be completely gone before the decade is over." There was a proud look on the young man's face when he said this.
Lapsa and Cronix exchanged a glance, their eyes brightened up considerably, and under the cloak so did Cayden's.
Since Cayden was under the cloak, he couldn't see, but the young man noticed how Cronix's and Lapsa's eyes brightened when he said this, which only furthered his pride.
The young woman watched her companion with amusement, but no surprise, it was obvious she'd seen him do this before.
Cayden suddenly felt something move inside the cloak, he looked inside, and saw the crow beginning to stir.
This caused him to smile faintly, he then turned his attention back to the young man, "Interesting, how about the cost of living?"
The young man suddenly frowned, "Wait a minute, how can you call yourself a traveler, if you don't even know anything about the surrounding communities?"
Cayden sighed, and said, "Please, just answer the question."
"It's pretty much the same as any other city, rent is 600 lower grade crystals..."
"600!" Cronix's mind did some calculations, "That's 20 lower grade crystals per day, one day here is equal to the rent in Alktarsha."
While Cronix's voice was low, the carriage was quiet enough for everyone to hear him, and he knew talking out of turn was an act worthy of punishment.
So to keep up this act, under the view of everyone, he stood up and kneeled in front of Cayden, "I'm sorry, young master, please spare this lowly servant."
Cayden was confused at first, but he knew what Cronix was thinking. Unhesitantly, he raised a hand, and holding back his strength to a three star Caster, he slapped Cronix in the face.
Watching this, the young man couldn't help but clench his fist, however he felt a hand squeeze his arm. He looked back, and saw his companion.
The young woman shook her head, but the hand that was clasped onto the young man's arm was shaking revealing her hidden anger, while she may like money, her views were the same as her companion.
The young man closed his eyes, he knew what she was trying to convey by stopping him, and he knew she was right, he couldn't act right now.
So he's a three star Caster.
Marcus, who was paying attention to what was happening inside the carriage, revealed a little bit of relief when this came to light.
Cayden sighed, and felt a little guilty for hitting Cronix, but he didn't reveal any of that on his face, instead he said, "I'm sorry for my servants behavior, later I'll give him a proper punishment."
"I don't think that's necessary." The young man managed to say through gritted teeth.
"Oh, nonsense, do you know what happens when servants don't get their punishments, they become disobedient, and rebellious." Cayden actually said this with a small laugh, not out of enjoyment, but because he was reflecting on his own behavior as a servant.
However, to the two companions, this laugh was the laugh of pure evil, who enjoys the suffering of others, and the young man couldn't handle it anymore.
The young woman didn't even bother trying to calm him down, she didn't want to, this cloak man was too much.
In one quick motion, the young man's hand was suddenly around Cayden's throat, but before he could do anything.
An intense feeling of dread overcame him, he threw Cayden back, but it was far too late, a large blast of dark magic was shot out from inside the cloak, it was on par with a flawless five star Caster.
As the blast was about to hit its target, the ring on his left hand emitted a blue light, and it cast a blue light that cloaked the young man; it served as a protective shield.
Marcus who was at the front suddenly disappeared, when he reappeared, he was right next to the young woman inside the carriage, before he disappeared again with the young woman, and this time appeared next to the young man.
The three boys' heart beats accelerated, this was the first time they've ever seen anyone do this, even in the Ayuna's, no Caster could move that fast.
However, when they looked in Cayden's direction, they calmed down slightly. The reason being the crow, her presence could even the tides greatly.
"I've never had to fight a demon before." Marcus muttered, but there was a frown on his face, he thought the cloak man was only a three star.
But when the young companions heard this, they gasped. The young man couldn't help but comment, "No wonder he's so horrid, it turns out he's a demon."
"Damn it, if this was 15 years ago, we could've brought the demon's corpse to the holy knights, and they would've given us a huge reward." The woman mumbled.
The young man's lip twitched when he heard his companions mutterings.
Inside the carriage, Cronix turned to Cayden, "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, but it seems like this cloak doesn't defend against everything."
"We're not going to be able to run away this time are we?" Lapsa couldn't help but ask.
Cayden shrugged, "Haven't we faced worse, we'll survive. The only difference right now is, we can't let them live."
Lapsa and Cronix froze when they heard him, but they both knew he was right.