I was pleasantly surprised at how little time it took for the caravan to go from getting ready, to moving.

I was in a relatively good mood, as well. Though, this was mostly due to the reaction I had gotten from that repulsive little noble kid, who was so convince that I would enter his bed. It was nice to know that I could frighten an inexperienced little kid so badly.

I would do the same to that Joseph hanger-on, but he hasn’t actually done anything to merit such an extreme reaction from me. At worst, he’s just a little annoying.

Joan must have known what my mood would be like with her little deception on the caravan, and didn’t show up to say goodbye. A good thing, since I don’t even know the depths of the lecture I would have given her.

Her daughter Anhara, however, did show up. She had her own swanky little carriage as well, with a contingent of guards all her own. I was a little curious to find out why she was also going, but that could wait. We were facing months on the road together—plenty of time to ask around about it.

In addition to Anhara, Bea’s little sister Gabriel showed up, also in order to attend the schools in the Central Empires.

She went straight for the Royal siblings and that Joseph kid, and was greeted enthusiastically. They all walked over to a carriage obtained by Joseph earlier, just before that other noble kid had started yelling at him.

I found a nice carriage near the back of the caravan. It was one that had seen better days, but had a nice interior, and looked completely ordinary. I wouldn’t stick out in it, while the bandits would likely attack the nicer looking carriages before this one. I might not even need to fight before any bandits are eradicated, this way.

I settled into the carriage, intending to spend this first day of travel simply relaxing. I don’t know where Bea got off to, but I knew she would also be traveling with us. She would be somewhere within the caravan. I’m just glad that she isn’t bothering me while I’m inside the carriage, which soon began moving as the whole column of wagons and carriages lurched forwards, taking the first tentative steps of the journey.

Very quickly, we passed through the city gates, and rolled onto the roadways outside the capital city of this remote kingdom.

I will admit that I don’t really know what happened for the next few hours, since the rocking of the carriage somehow lulled me to a quick and easy sleep.

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I woke up when a shaft of light began shining on my face. When we had first set off, I had kept the window open in order to watch the city give way to the fields surrounding it, then the roads snaking through the abundant forests. This proved to be a misstep, since the sunlight beaming into the window woke me up before I was ready to. In other words, I now felt cranky in only the way someone would after a rude awakening.

It felt somewhat worse, since I hadn’t meant to fall asleep in the first place. Of course, this was wholly accidental on my part, and made me feel more my age. It was easy to forget I was only fourteen here, when I had lived through all those other lives.

I blearily rubbed my eyes, taking a quick look around the carriage.

Good, I was still alone. After waking up here, I half expected to find Bea cuddling with me or something.

Poking my head out of the window, I saw very much the same scene that I had drifted off to in the first place.

The trees lining the forest road were tall and vibrantly green—they certainly gave off a feeling of untamed wildness, much befitting the fact that we are practically at the very edge of civilization out here. The only thing ruining the illusion of currently being in the middle of a vast wilderness was the clatter of iron-bound wheels on the road, and the soft sounds of the horses.

From the window, I could also see that many people were walking or riding alongside the carriages, not wanting to be cooped up for extended periods of time. I was much the same, and would not be spending much time inside the carriage after today. I’m intending on beginning my training again tomorrow, through a variety of methods. Maybe I can even convince Bea to spar with me regularly, when I find her.

It was shockingly relaxing to travel by carriage, I discovered.

I’ve never really have the need or the ability to ride in them before, since I would either not be important enough to afford one, or didn’t have the time to be lounging about in one.

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Now that I had the chance though, I was finding that being able to calmly meditate while on the move does have some benefits. It was a good way to rest, and due to the way that time tended to shorten while meditating, it only felt like a few moments had passed when the caravan stopped, and the sky had turned dark. I stopped my meditation, once again turning my attention outwards.

With a good camping spot for the night picked out, the wagons and carriages of the caravan were arranged in a circular fashion, for the better defense in the case of an attack. In the center, tents were pitched for those who didn’t have the luxury of sleeping inside. Fires were started fairly easily, through the use of magic, and food was soon cooking over them. Most of the meat was gathered by an advance group of hunters, traveling a few hours ahead of us. Then, the grains, fruits and vegetables were taken from the stock we carry with us. This would be replenished each time we stop in a town, or city.

I popped out of the carriage just long enough to grab a bowl of food, before heading back. While traversing the campsite, I got the eerie feeling that someone was watching me from afar. Considering that I couldn’t find Bea, I had a good idea who was staring so intensely in my direction. What the hell does she think she’s doing?

Not minding the force of her stare, I climbed on top of my carriage, and calmly ate the camp food while purveying the whole campsite. There were truly quite a few people in this caravan, with fully half it’s population taken up by merchants traveling to the Central Empires in order to buy and sell goods. The other half was made up of the students traveling to the same destination, and all the guards. All in all, I’d say that there were about two to three hundred people all traveling together. And, like the people, the wagons and carriages were divided up fairly evenly, with half dedicated to the carry of goods, and the other half for people or miscellaneous goods like our stock of food.

Of course, out of the merchants, I couldn’t recognize a single one. The students though, I knew. I had at least caught fleeting glimpses of most of them during the ball, indicating that they are all of the nobility. That being said, I don’t know any of their names, and don’t intend to figure it out. If this lot turned out to be even half as annoying as that Carlton guy, any conversation I have with them would end in murder.

It was only that group including the Royal siblings and the Paragon guy that I paid any real attention to.

For one, the siblings had looked at me with open suspicion earlier today, when they had first showed up. I wonder what they had found out about me that caused them to be so cautious. And then, the Paragon kid seemed to be wandering around the camp, looking for someone or something. I resolved to avoid him from now on, since I had a strong feeling about who he was looking for.

I might have felt a little pity for him though, since he was scurrying about the camp frantically. The pity was largely covered up by my mirth, however. It’s funny watching people hurry about so much, as if they don’t have time.

They never seem to realize that hurrying rarely ever does any good. It’s far better to simply take a step back, and go through things slowly. Had he done that, Joseph might have known where to at least start looking, instead of running about without a hope of accomplishing what he wants.

I stayed up on the roof to meditate through the night. My mana cultivation might have sped up lately, though I can’t really tell for sure. I would have to have a side by side comparison of what it was like before versus now, and that’s not exactly possible. If there has been a speed increase, it’s been happening gradually.

Could it have something to do with the fact that I’m still gaining level so quickly and easily? Maybe.

I think that a large part of it is where I am, though. The air and ambient mana feels quite a bit stronger here, rather than in the continents. I have a theory on why that might be, but haven’t gotten any proof besides that of my gut feelings—which is telling me to blame it on the World Seal.

Suffice to say, by the time I quit my meditation, I had gained another level, and the sun had come up again. Begin day two, I guess.

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True to what I had been promising myself yesterday, I began training myself again today. I figured that nobody would miss my absence from the carriage, and simply left without letting anyone know.

I bolted through the open window, and given that I didn’t hear any sort of alarm from the nearby people, I wasn’t spotted while doing so. Once outside, I made for the nearby forest edge, and disappeared inside of it without anyone being the wiser.

Ah, wait, one correction. I can feel the same gaze that had watched me yesterday. If that is Bea, she saw me go.

That’s fine then. She probably won’t interfere with this.

To start with, I did some stretching, letting the caravan amble off into the distance as I did so. It didn’t matter if I lost the caravan, since they would generally stick to the same road, and I could easily find them again with all the dust being kicked up. And, beings with mana pools register very strongly in my mana sight, allowing me to track them with ease—should I need to.

I suppose one of the blessing of having the particular body, is it’s flexibility. The stretches that I could do now, were things that I could only dream of in past lives. Even some of the Kata’s, or martial art’s exercises, that I had trouble with back then were easily done now. I can even touch my toes, never mind the fact that I can also do the splits!

In other words, doing my customary stretching exercises were actually a little fun, now that it didn’t feel as if my muscles were tearing off the bone.

Once I stood up, I bounced on my toes a little, and tore off in the direction from where the caravan had come. I ran at full speed for as long as I could, before stopping to take a short breather. Then, I took my nodachi off my shoulder, and began doing basic sword exercises while it was still sheathed.

Just basic things, like a simple down stroke, or a horizontal slash. I repeated the simplest of moves for a few hours, aware that the foundation held up the rest of my techniques. The stronger a foundation is, the better the more complex moves.

After this, I moved into more complex exercises, ending with myself shadow fighting opponents of equal skill to me.

Then, I started my process of cooling off, again doing some stretches, and finishing with a light jog back to the caravan. It hadn’t gotten far off into the distance, given that it moves fairly slowly.

Anyway, I’ll keep up this training for as long as I can. Yeah, it’ll be boring, but I can deal with that.

Besides, I got Bea to promise to spar me—and I never specified how many time we’ll be sparring. I might even start that tomorrow, if I can find her.