Since neither Yuki nor I were able to decide who would pull the carriage, we settled on us both pulling it, which neither of us was happy with; I wanted to care for my little monster, and from her behavior, she wished to do the same for me, but since we were both pulling the carriage, it didn't matter anymore. We are currently walking down the dirt road while pulling the carriage; we've been doing so for about the last couple of hours, and noon is just around the corner; this wouldn't have been a bad time to stop, but we took our sweet time during the morning so we were going to power through it and only stop towards night time.
"Yuki, there is a child behind us; please keep your hands to yourself." Said Alexander quietly, walking directly next to Yuki, their skin touching as they pulled the carriage while she groped his semi-erect manhood.
"She can't see; we're walking too close together; besides, I'm still unsatisfied from this morning." Stated Yuki softly with a lustful expression while glancing down at Alexander, tightly gripping his shaft, causing him to nearly grunt in pleasure.
"Yuki, I love you, and I promise we'll do it in the future, but not before a child, alright?" Remarked Alexander softly with serious expressoin as he kissed her arm while staring into her yellow eyes, causing her to bite her lip before nodding.
"Haa, alright." Muttered Yuki with a sigh as she removed her hand from Alexander's crotch, causing him to smile as he kissed her arm once before leaning his head onto her.
"Hehe, don't worry; I promise the next time we make love, I'll make sure to satisfy my adorable little monster." Said Alexander quietly with a faint smirk, his words causing Yuki to nod eagerly, only for her to blush towards the end.
"What are you two lovers talking about?" Asked Cath curiously as she folded her arms and looked at Alexander and Yuki, who was too embarrassed to respond.
"Hmm? Nothing, just professing my endless love for Yuki. Why? Did you want me to do the same for you?" Replied Alexander with a small smile as he glanced at Cath, only to wink at her.
"Well, that would no longer make me feel slightly uncomfortable, wouldn't it?" Said Cath sarcastically while rolling her eyes as she glanced at Michelle, who was playing with Chloe, before shifting her focus to Yuki.
Chuckling, I was about to say something, but before I could Talis suddenly swooped down from the sky and perched herself onto my shoulder, though she seemed to be frowning.
"Is something the matter, Talis? Did you spot bandits or something?" Asked Alexander curiously as he glanced at Talis, who shook her head before pointing towards the sky with her wing.
"No; the wind, it's behaving really unnatural. It just started flowing in the opposite direction from out of nowhere." Replied Talis with a troubled expression as she released cute little chirps, causing Alexander to frown before his eyes softly glowed.
Using [Heroes Gaze], I gazed into the sky, looking through all the mana floating in the air, only to see it was all moving in the direction we were walking, away from Hyphen.
'This is beyond unnatural, for every different mana to be moving in the same direction? It's more like they're being forcefully pushed, if anything.' Mused Alexander with a deep frown as he stopped walking and gazed at the sky, causing Yuki to halt as well while looking at him in slight concern.
"Is everything okay, Alex?" Asked Yuki, furrowing her brows as she gazed up at the sky while both Cath and Michelle looked at them.
"I would like to say yes, but I don't know for sure; the mana is moving weirdly." Replied Alexander with a slight frown as he dropped the reins and turned around, observing the way they had come from, watching as the mana rushed through the sky.
While staring in the direction of Hyphen, observing the atmospheric mana, I squinted my eyes as I witnessed a wall of brown or earth mana surging towards us, forcefully pushing all of the atmospheric mana, seeing how active and fast it was compared to the usual slow and docile mana in the atmosphere, I immediately knew this mana belonged to someone, and whoever it was, they were incredibly powerful.
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'It's not slowing down.' Mused Alexander with an ugly expression as he eyed the rapidly nearing wall of earth mana, only to swiftly run towards the front of the carriage.
"Yuki, protect Michelle and Cath!" Yelled Alexander solemnly as he grabbed Talis and Chloe, curling into a ball, protecting them with his body while Yuki quickly did the same, covering both Michell and Cath with her large body.
Yuki didn't waste a second idling about and swiftly did as I told; not even five seconds later, the wave of earth mana enveloped us while a familiar roar resounded throughout what felt like the whole world. Gritting my teeth, I withstood the mighty roar that aggressively shook my entire body for a few seconds before the roar and the wave of earth mana finally passed us.
"Ugh, i-is everyone okay?" Asked Alexander as he stood up with Chloe and Talis in his hands while using [Heroes Gaze] to check for any injuries.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Replied Talis with a nod as she spread her wings, checking herself for injuries
"Chloe! Are you okay, Chloe!? Do you hurt anywhere!?" Exclaimed Michelle worriedly as she forced her way out of Yuki's embrace and rushed towards Alexander, nearly knocking him over.
"M-My head head hurts a little." Muttered Chloe with slightly teary eyes as she rubbed her ears, which were bleeding, though before Michelle could freak out, Alexander placed his hand on her shoulder.
"She's fine, Michelle; she merely ruptured her eardrum, nothing even close to life-threatening." Stated Alexander firmly, his powerful voice overpowering Michelle's fear as she breathed a sigh of relief while tightly hugging Chloe.
"Haa, thank goodness; I don't know what I'd do if something happened to my little girl." Muttered Michelle with a relieved expression, not even realizing she, herself, was bleeding from her nose.
"Yuki, Cath, are you two okay?" Asked Alexander as he quickly approached Cath, who rubbed her head while nodding.
"Ugh, yeah, my head also hurts a little, but thankfully, Yuki took the brunt of the impact for me, though that roar came from the direction of Hyphen, so does that mean the rampage is already occurring?" Replied Cath with a nod, wiping the blood dripping from her nose before turning around and gazing in the direction of Hyphen while fearfully gulping.
"It should be, but that's also our queue to get the fuck out of here." Said Alexander solemnly with a nod as he picked up Cath and placed her on the carriage before doing the same to Michelle and Chloe.
"Your guy's injuries are going to have to wait for now. Yuki, are you okay?" Added Alexander as he glanced at the three before looking at Yuki, who had been motionlessly standing still.
Not getting a response, I ran up to Yuki and shook her aggressively; now wasn't the time to take things slow, and it seemed to work as it snapped her out of whatever trance she was experiencing.
"S-Sorry, Alex, t-the memory of that incident appeared in my head." Replied Yuki with an apologetic expression, causing Alexander to nod.
"I understand, but how are you feeling? Injured?" Asked Alexander as he grabbed the reins from off the ground while observing Yuki, who also grabbed the reins.
"I'm fine; now let's get moving. I want to get as far away from that as I can!" Declared Yuki solemnly with a hardened gaze, prompting Alexander to nod in agreement while Talis spread her wings and took to the skies.
Using [Mana Enhancement], I strengthened the entire carriage, which would otherwise break down once Yuki and I get to run, and if I'm being honest, I'm surprised our carriage is still intact, though from what I remember, that monster roar hadn't damaged our armor at all.
'Whatever, I can think about that stuff later; for now, let's freaking leave!' Mused Alexander as he tightly clenched the reins and nodded at Yuki, only for them to both start running across the dirt road while pulling the carriage.
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Slowing down from a full-on sprint to a light jog, I looked up at the setting sun before turning around and looking in the distance, only to sigh in relief.
'Zartha, we should be safe from this distance, right? I've been running non-stop for several hours.' Asked Alexander softly as he turned into the forest, heading off the trails and using the cover of nature to conceal them from potential bandits.
'Yes, unless that monster is somehow able to target you specifically, you're completely safe from this distance.' Replied Zartha coldly as she kicked her leg into the crystal-clear water, splashing Trina in water.
"Haa, that's good to know." Muttered Alexander with a nod as he slowly walked through the forest, searching for a spot, only for Talis to swoop down through the canopy of trees.
"Alex, this way, I found a decent spot." Said Talis with a yawn as she landed on a tree branch while pointing towards the right, causing Alexander to nod as he folded her through the forest.
After squeezing the carriage between some trees, we finally arrived at the spot Talis was talking about; it was a small clearing beside a large tree; unfortunately, from what she said, there was no nearby river, but that was fine.
"Today felt so long; glad it's finally over; I could use the sleep." Muttered Alexander as he parked the carriage beside the tree before looking inside it, finding Chloe, Michelle, and Cath sleeping in the back while Yuki was quietly sitting in the front with her head down.