“How do you divide your concentration? Easy, you make it second nature.” Said Eric.

“But how do I do that?” Asked back Alan.

He had no clue how to use mana in multiple parts of his body yet it was crucial to improve.

“Why don’t you try doing it all day?” Eric raised a brow and asked back.

“All day? What will it change?”

“Using mana is like using a muscle, it will remember.” With that Eric stood up from the wagon’s back, and went in the direction Max was last seen. It was an indication that the conversation was over.

‘All day? Ugh’

***

Alan spent all his days with reinforcing his legs until he was too exhausted to do so. His first problem was, that every step took him too far and it took some time to realize he needed to adjust the amount of mana spent to his legs. After that he tried varying the amount, doing running exercises in the woods, sparring with Eric, getting beaten up by Eric, running next to the wagon when it wasn’t in a rush. Sometimes even when it was in a rush.

He was getting better and better by the day, until they came close to the border.

“Halt!” A tall lean man, clad in leather armor with pouldron and a round iron-hat-like helmet stopped them. He just got up from his chair that was next to a table where three other soldier was playing some card game. They looked up the cart in unison, decided it wasn’t worth their time, and got to chat with each other.

“Reason of passing?” Asked the man.

“Oh dear, our youngest is a curious soul, and she was interested in the Velnan province. We came for sightseeing!” Theresa replied to the man. Alan was sitting in the back with the others, Max took down his armor to look more ordinary, rather than an armor-clad soldier,

The man wanted to reply when the sound of hooves interrupted him. There was a single rider heading in their direction from the roads.

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“H-hey s-” The man was gasping for air.”S-stop for a se-cond” He got off from his horse with a slump, falling to the ground bottom first. Theresa was just smiling, radiating an air of innocence.

Eric whispered to Alan “Get ready, two of them are yours.” He didn’t give any further explanation

“What?”

“Shh!” Ellie shushed him.

After some minutes, the rider got himself together and held out a parchment to the soldier, took a look at the content then his eyes turned serious. He eyed Theresa for a second then turned to the rider.

“I can’t read.” He admitted.

“We are looking for criminals with the family crest on the bottom!” Exclaimed the rider.

“And they have the exact same crest on their wagon!” He pointed towards them.

“There’s the royal seal on the bottom!”

The soldier got himself together and reached for his sword. “Boys, get ready.” But they were already standing. “Ma’am, please, don’t resist.”

“With that Eric stood up and hopped outside, dragging Alan with himself. “As I said, two is yours, try to use some kicks.” He winked at him and took his sword from his hips.

‘For god’s sake!’

Eric rushed forward, and his sword met another. They were in a standstill until two more joined and tried to stab at him. He dodged backward, and looked at Alan.

Alan focused on his legs, rushed forward and as was instructed, tried to sweep one of the soldiers’ legs from under him. A loud crack could be heard as he broke the man’s shins. Now, the others were on him, all he could do was retreat further back, but as soon as their attention was focused elsewhere, Eric grabbed the head of the man the furthest back, and slammed him into the ground. That was two down already and they just started.

As Alan was edging the range the soldier closest to him, he felt a sharp pain in his shoulder.

The rider joined the fight, and stabbed him in the shoulder, only missing thanks to his continuous moving. He kicked backward, jolting the sword out of him with the enemy down on the ground. Thankfully, nothing vital was caught in it.

But that gave time for the soldier to close the range and give him another slash across the chest. He wanted to retreat back again, but he stepped on the rider and fell.

As the soldier was ready for the final stab, a sword jutted out of his chest and he died instantly.The sword belonged to Eric, who was done with his share. He raised his sword and stabbed at Alan’s direction. Alan took raised up his arms and closed his eyes, but the pain never came. Eric stabbed at the rider who was still gripping his sword, despite Alan sitting on top of him.

“Let’s say, I count this as your two.” He said.

Theresa hopped out along with the others. Max took Alan, the huge man was more than capable of lifting him up, but it was still a surprise. He put him in the back of the wagon, but every jolt was agony to his shoulder thanks to adrenaline already being out of him.