On the next day, early morning, Adrian’s family was preparing to leave their home. N was no longer wearing his mask and Adrian could see that he was a man with average build in his late twenties or early thirties with Emerald eyes, black hair and fair skin. N swiftly harnessed the horses onto the wagons after breakfast as the family did a final run through of the house for anything they wanted to bring with them.
"Levitate." N spoke as he manifested three glyphs simultaneously in front of him and cast the spell on the three wagons. Bob and Tiffany watched in awe. Adrian and Winnie did not comprehend.
"Triple Cast… Amazing…" Bob said and N bowed to him. "I am flattered."
"Was that difficult?" Winnie lightly pulled her dad's sleeve.
"Why don’t you try it on these two branches?" Bob answered as he picked up two dry branches from the ground.
"Divine Spell: Levitate. Divine Spell: Levitate." When Winnie focused on manifesting the first glyph, the second glyph would fade. As she switched focus onto the second one, the first one would fade.
"The Goddess blessed us with these Glyphs, so that we don’t need to know how they work when we use them. However, intuitively, we still need to calculate how much power is needed, consider the shape of the branches and etc. It is like playing chess, it is difficult to remember all possible moves in 5-10 moves ahead." Bob explained. His wife and he often played chess with Adrian and Winnie on weekends. So, it was a good example for them. "So, if you practiced more, you could cast more spells. But, there is a limit to how much your mind can handle."
"Does it mean N is really good at playing chess?" Winnie asked.
"Yes, he must be well beyond a Grandmaster." Bob answered.
On the side, Adrian also tried casting two spells consecutively, but he did not do any better than Winnie.
"Dad, how many spells can you cast at the same time?" Winnie asked.
"I can only cast two spells at a time. I think the top record in the Kingdom was four spells without using skills. It was performed by a Professor in the University of Silverlake. That person is not a combat oriented knight though." Bob answered as he looked at N.
"No wonder I never win. I don’t read ahead." Winnie chuckled.
"After I am gone, you can keep practicing with Adrian." Bob answered. Suddenly, Tiffany gave a slap onto his arm and gave him an eye signal. "Ouch." Bob let out a sound in pain.
Winnie’s expression darkened, because it reminded her that Bob would be leaving her for work. Bob was a farmer and Winnie was always free to roam around her dad even when he was working. It was hard for her to accept that her father would be gone for a long period of time. She puckered her lips, sulked and walked toward Adrian as he entered a wagon. Bob watched Adrian helping Winnie get into the carriage. Then, he climbed onto another wagon’s driver seat.
On the first day of their journey, N, Bob and Tiffany each drove a wagon. N drove the first wagon which was mainly loaded with furniture and clothing. Tiffany drove the second wagon that carried Adrian and Winnie, together with some items that would be useful for the journey. Bob drove the last wagon that mainly carried frozen food. It had a huge fridge that was fueled by Divine Power. Tiffany prepared several layers of cotton comforters for the children to sit on, so the ride was quite comfortable. Throughout the journey, Adrian and Winnie played chess on a magnetic chess set. N’s Levitate spells did not lift the wagons off the ground, they only made the wagons lighter for the horses to pull. Even so, the horses were able to canter all the way and the ride was faster and more comfortable than that of a regular wagon. They easily overtook several slower moving wagons and carriages on the way.
The scenery near the farm house was mostly flat plains with well organized crops and fruit trees. Forest mountain ranges could be seen on the far east and far west side of the plain. As they neared the next town, the mountain range on the west side had became very distant from the main road. The wide plain of the west was occupied with farmlands and dense forests. Some of the farmers working on the field and children playing on them were Bob’s family’s acquaintances and friends. However, they were busy at work and N’s disguise spell made them unrecognizable. "As long as you don’t talk to them, they won’t recognize you." N told the family before the journey. Merchants also regularly traveled on this road, so the farmers were not startled. "I wonder if Minnie will remember me." Winnie commented.
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They took a lunch break in an unoccupied farmland at around noon. After lunch, Adrian learned how to drive a wagon and started helping his parents in a rotation. N drove the front carriage in the entire journey without any help.
Around 4-5pm, the first day of travel ended and they set up camp. N and Bob trimmed the grass on a grassland next to the main road for the camping site and checked for vermin and snakes.
"N, you were incredible. You levitated three fully loaded wagons for an entire day. Are you ok? Are you tired?" Bob was very surprised.
"Thanks, I am totally fine, just getting a bit hungry. It wasn’t a full levitation after all." N smiled as he started setting up the camp. A full levitation was lifting an object entirely off the ground. While this was what the spell was meant for, it was more commonly used for decreasing the weight of an object by around a quarter to half for Mana efficiency.
"You must be as strong as a Holy Knight." Bob, looking amazed, started helping with the setup.
Tiffany jumped off the wagon, clapped her hands once, and said. "Alright, I will make something good for dinner to celebrate our escape from the prison. Adrian, would you prepare some firewood and dry leaves?"
"Got it." Adrian felt energized by Tiffany and carried an empty bucket and a rope to the forest nearby. After collecting enough firewood for the night, he looked at the bundle of dry-woods and took a deep breath.
"Divine Spell: Levitate." The spell hit the firewood bundle, which looked large compared to Adrian’s height. Then, he carried it on his back and walked back to the camp.
In around five minutes, Adrian arrived at the camp. However, he was extremely exhausted. Maintaining a spell required the caster’s Mana, which was equivalent to their stamina. While a twelve years old boy like Adrian may not be able to lift the firewood bundle with muscular strength alone, the Levitate spell allowed him to use the energy from his entire body, making it possible for him to carry them. "The demon levitated three fully loaded wagons for an entire day, while I only levitated a bunch of light dry-woods for five minutes." Although he didn’t trust the demon and viewed him negatively, he couldn’t help but to feel impressed. Throughout the journey that day, he had thought about handing the demon over to the knights. However, that thought now completely vanished. "I am too weak." Adrian felt powerless. For the first time in his life, the boy seriously desired strength.
As Tiffany promised, the dinner was indeed impressive. Using precise control of the Earth Element Divine Spell, "Stone Wall", she made multiple stoves for the dinner. Bob and Winnie also helped with its preparation though Adrian was too exhausted to help. They made pizza, ground pork spaghetti, beef stew and rib-eye steak. After N secured the perimeter, the five enjoyed their dinner together. Adrian did not speak throughout the dinner, but Winnie chatted with N about various topics.
"N, where are you going to take my dad?" Winnie asked N after dinner.
"I am not taking him away, I am going to work with him in a place about one day away from the capital." N replied.
"Why can’t you work in the capital instead?"
"Because my home and workshop aren't located in the capital."
"Why don’t we go to where you will be working?"
"Because you need to go to a school in the capital. It is considered the best school in the country."
"What are you working on? Why can’t dad work in the Capital instead?"
"I am making medicine to save people and I need your dad to help me in my workshop."
"Why do you need dad to work with you?"
"I need his expertise."
"Why are you taking dad away?"
N didn’t answer and looked at Bob and Tiffany with a difficult smile.
"I need dad more than you! You can’t take him away." Winnie shouted with teary eyes. Both her parents and Adrian knew that she had been sulking for an entire day and was now letting her frustrations out.
Tiffany hugged Winnie and said "It’s ok, Dad promised to come back, remember?" She soothed Winnie as she cried. Bob walked to Winnie and helped to soothe her.
Typically, Adrian and Winnie would put their dinnerware away themselves. Adrian, seeing what happened, helped Winnie put away her dinnerware and then put away his own. N also started cleaning up the dinner table. Bob and N made a temporary kitchen counter before dinner, so they washed the dishes with it, where Adrian applied soap and N rinsed them. Adrian felt as if he was working with his Mom or Winnie in their regular dish washing routine. The two worked in sync with each other without talking at all throughout the night.
N and Bob created two temporary bathrooms using Divine and Demonic Spells when they set up the camp. After dinner, everyone took a bath. Adrian and Winnie went to sleep.