A week goes by quickly when you don’t have anything to do.
I spent most of this time outside of the palace, only returning to sleep or meditate during the nights.
I came to know the city reasonably well, and even went back to that mercenary bar shown to me by Bea a few times. Their food was just a little bit better than that found in the other taverns, but it was the atmosphere that kept drawing me back. Rather, it was the fact that I could watch bar fights almost every time I went.
That gave me a bit of a standard for strength here, and needless to say, I was slightly alarmed. It seemed like most, if not all the mercenaries in the bar were at least as strong as me, with quite a few being stronger. Of course, I had various methods to cope with the difference, and make myself stronger for a time. However, what occurred to me, was that these were only the mercenaries. How strong were the truly excellent individuals in this kingdom? I had already reached a level of strength that had given me the bare minimum requirements to attend a summit with all the strongest people on the Continents. But here, everyone’s base level of strength was overwhelmingly higher than what was found on the continents. Putting it into numbers, and levels, the average level for a mercenary in the Continents must have been around one hundred, maybe with an upper limit of one seventy or so. Here, it’s something like level three hundred.
I don’t know what exactly caused such a disparity between these two locations, since humans and beastkin were exceedingly similar, aptitude wise. I’m convinced that this is the same world that the Continents inhabit, so the environment should also be the same. The only thing I can think of that would be causing this difference would be the World Seal that I broke by accident. There’s also a case to be made about the general lack of knowledge and materials in the Continents, which could also attribute towards this phenomenon.
Anyways, it was entertaining as all hell to watch the bedlam that ensued from a group of trained mercenaries getting dead drunk, and starting a brawl over some small remembered slight. Though, somehow they were always sober enough to keep from going too far—they would stop at minor injuries.
Seeing these fights made me realize that I needed to continue training, though. Strength, especially the type that comes from combat experience, isn’t something anybody has intrinsically. It has to be built from the ground up, and nurtured over time.
I’ve neglected my training lately, in order to make better and more powerful weapons with my skill in blacksmithing. Now that I have weapons more than good enough for my strength, I can begin training again—especially since it would give me something to do while on the road. I didn’t want to sit in a cushy wagon the whole time, bored enough to blow out my brains.
I figured that I could walk or run next to the caravan, and constantly be tempering myself. The wagons would take care of the goods I would be bringing with me, and the people would be able to cook dinners for when I returned. Then, I would be able to maintain a semblance of peace while sleeping or meditating, since others would be on guard duty.
All in all, not a bad deal.
Or so I thought.
As it turns out, things were slightly different, compared to what I had imagined.
----------------------------------------
The sun had barely breached the horizon, when I heard a knocking at the door to my room.
“Be there in a second!” I called out, quickly changing the Sage’s clothing into it’s long-coat configuration. I would have been rather embarrassed should anybody see the form it takes while I’m sleeping or meditating.
I briefly wondered why anyone would be knocking on the door, but figured that it was likely someone wanting to pass a message or something.
But when I opened the door, it was Bea who stood there, waiting.
“Mmh? Is something wrong, Bea?”
She shook her head, and answered me brightly.
“No, not at all. I was just sent to inform you that the departure of the caravan was moved up.”
“Oh? When will it leave, then?”
“Today.”
“….What?”
“The caravan will be leaving today—in fact, it should be leaving in only a few hours.”
I bolted out the door, barreling past Bea. I could hear her calling after me, but I didn’t slow down for her.
About half an hour later, I arrived back at my room, carrying a massive steel reinforced sack on my back. There were uncomfortable bulges in the bag, which dug into my back rather annoyingly. Then, there was the fact that the bag was about twice as big as I was, and much, much heavier.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
Bea, who was still waiting outside my room for some reason, stared at the bag incredulously.
“What the hell did you put in there? Bricks?”
“Well, you’re not far off.” I smirked. “Where is the caravan gathering? I’d like to drop off a few things.”
Bea continued eyeing the bag.
“A few? Ugh, never mind. The caravan’s meeting by the south gate—I’ll take you there.”
“Sure. Lead the way.”
I followed Bea as she started walking down the palace corridors. We exited the palace from one of it’s numerous side doors, and made our way through the noble district, passing by a few guards on the way. Like Bea, they couldn’t seem to comprehend my bag.
After passing through that gate, Bea finally figured it out.
“In the bag…is that all metal?”
I smiled at her.
“Of course it is. What else would it be?”
She looked absolutely astounded.
“Isn’t that heavy? Why not just get a cart or something?”
“I was afraid the cart would break. Besides, the smithy already had such a sturdy bag ready, so I used it instead.”
“Holy gods—how disproportionally strong are you?!”
“Huh? I don’t think I’m that strong, though.”
Bea looked at me frankly.
“Says the little girl totting around multiple times her own body weight…”
I considered telling Bea that I weighed much more then it would first look like—I had about the same body weight as a larger than average adult male, after all. This was achieved through the sheer density of my body, and was also what gave me such pure physical strength. I didn’t though, since I had a feeling she would just start teasing me about my weight. And then, I might end up doing some violent, and ill-advised things.
The caravan soon came into sight. There were people working around the well-made wagons and carriages, loading them with all sorts of goods and materials. A few mercenaries lounged about nearby, likely on the lookout for any would-be thieves that might try to snatch a few items while others have their hands full.
I was immediately seen, mostly due to the large bag on my back. A few of the workers saw my load, and started walking over briskly—likely to help me carry it or something. I waved them off, dropping the bag to the ground, where it slightly fractured the cobblestones making up the streets.
The beastkin who had come over to help paled slightly at the sight of that. They looked to each other, as if wondering if they were both seeing something real, since the fact that I had carried that bag seemed impossible to them.
I cleared my throat, grabbing their attention.
“Right—could a get a few people to load this stuff into a wagon or two? No need to be delicate about it; however, know that you might be handling some of the most valuable goods to join this caravan.”
The two beastmen nodded vigorously, not even questioning me. They called over a few more people, and began reaching into the large bag, and hauling out thick metal bars of all colors and hues. The majority of them were simple grey steel though.
Bea shook her head while watching the proceedings.
“Did you have to bring along the smithy’s entire stockpile of metal?”
“No, this is only about half of it. Maybe a little more, but calling it the entire stockpile is a little bit too much.”
“It’s still half!”
I waved off her concerns, instead looking over the caravan. While most of the vehicles present were simple wagons with the express purpose of holding stuff, there were a few carriages decked out with little rooms for sitting and sleeping in. I was a little curious about this, since I had thought this would be a normal caravan for merchants. From the looks of it, a few VIP’s are also coming along, which is why there were so many of those enclosed carriages. Certainly, I wasn’t enough to necessitate such accommodations for the road.
I turned to Bea.
“Oi—is there something you people aren’t telling me about this?”
Bea looked completely nonchalant as she shook her head.
“No. I only know as much as you do.”
I nodded my head sagely.
“Right. So, you aren’t going to tell me why there are other passengers going to the Empire’s at the center of this place?”
“Other passengers?”
“Yeah—the one’s those carriages are for.”
“Oh! Well, you see, the thing is, that….”
Bea was cut off by a voice behind me, greeting the both of us enthusiastically.
“Lady Katariah, and Lady Samantha—How fortuitous to meet the two of you here!”
I turned around, and saw two people approaching. One was the Second Prince, while the other was his sister, the Princess.
I turned to Bea, reminding myself that Samantha was her real name. I gave her a look that might just flay lesser people alive—if they had a sense of shame, that is. She, apparently, didn’t.
I gave them a strained smile, while thinking back to that night we had spent at the bar, where I stopped listening to their conversation due to how dull it was.
“And why are you two here?” I asked him. His smiled dropped a little at my tone, but he still responded to the question.
“Why, we’re traveling with this caravan, to attend school in one of the Central Empires. Isn’t that why you are here as well?”
“No.” I replied simply, before dragging Bea off for questioning.
Once we had reached a place out of their earshot, I stopped.
“What the hell are those two doing here? I thought this caravan was for me.”
“It is, it is. However, Joan and the Royal family decided that in order to maximize the security for both your caravan toward the Central Empires, and another one leaving around the same time, they could be combined. And, since the two of them were going to practically the same place, there wouldn’t be any issues.”
“Issues? You don’t count spoiled little brats as issues? I do. Is there some way to take another caravan?”
“Yes. However, that would require waiting for a good one with enough space to fit all your metal. Besides, I never said that you had to interact with the others. Both Joan and I have agreed that you can do whatever you want—you always could. That includes simply ignoring them, or outright telling them to piss off.”
I won’t lie, I thought this through for a few solid minutes.
I sighed in the end.
“Who else is supposed to come along?”
Bea knew what I meant immediately.
“In addition to the Prince and Princess, Joseph, Anhara, and I, there will be a few other members of high nobility. They are all coming along in order to attend one of the largest schools on the planet, so that they might learn more magic, or gain greater mastery over their chosen pursuit. I might also mention that the city they are going to is known for having the largest repository of knowledge known to us.”
“Oh really? That sounds slightly worthwhile. Just, keep in mind that if any of the others bothers me excessively, it is very likely things will end with bloodshed. I held back here in respect for Joan and Anhara. That’s the only reason I’ve tolerated some of these things.”
Bea nodded.
“Sure. I’ll advise them to simply leave you alone. Anything else?”
“Yeah. You owe me a spar after we’ve hit the road.”
“Sure thing.”