Gaius began to pack his things since everyone was going to depart the next morning. At night, he had a hard time sleeping while hearing his mother's sobs and hiccups. That kind of thing broke his spirit a bit, so he decided to ease her worries a bit when the next day came. After taking her to the fields on the northern side of the village, Gaius pointed his right hand at one of the trees.

"What are you doing, Gaius?" Kaira asked with her eyes swollen. "As expected, you are too young to—"

Gaius fired a spinning magic arrow without holding back, and the attack flew so fast that Kaira didn't even see it until it hit, pierced, and knocked down three trees.

"......... How did you… learn magic?" Kaira asked after recovering from the shock.

"I just used it by accident one day," Gaius replied and then grabbed his mother's hand. "Don't worry, Mama. I will bring Father back."

Kaira always felt that Gaius was a special child. He was hardworking and never complained or even got sick. Still, she never would have imagined that Gaius had been hiding something like that. Usually, kids would try to show off when they learn anything new.

"All right… I will be counting on you," Kaira hugged Gaius tightly and then said it. "Don't push yourself too hard. I will be waiting for you both."

Gaius nodded, and then they returned home. Zairus frowned a little since it looked like his wife suddenly calmed down. She didn't even cry when they joined the others and began to walk toward the exit of the village.

Although a lot of kids began to receive some training after they became five years old, Gaius could see that a lot of them were pale. Those who weren't probably didn't have an idea of what was going to happen despite the heavy mood in the village.

"The trip is going to take fifteen days on foot, so make sure to rest as much as possible when you have the chance since you aren't used to traveling," Zairus said while they looked behind and saw the village getting smaller and smaller.

That pace was quite fast since people required seven days to reach the city of the lord using horses. Still, most likely, they will arrive once the battle is already ongoing since the enemies won't let them prepare accordingly.

"My main goal here is to return home with my father in one piece… while I have the option not to hide my magic powers to be more efficient, that will put me in the attention of some people for years," Gaius thought. "Doing stealth work after that will be hard."

The first few days of the trip had been quite rough for most of the kids. Although they slept inside tents, the ground was rough and sometimes a bit cold due to the weather conditions. The anticipation of the battle made them restless. Still, their fathers made them deal with that by training a little before going to sleep. That worked like a charm…

Gaius was already disciplined enough to train by himself, so Zairus had the chance to organize a few things with the whole group of almost eight hundred people on their side. He would need all the help he could get since he was the main warrior of that large group.

"Where are you, little master?" Relia asked once Gaius checked her parameters. "The enemy's army is quickly approaching Ekirenton's territory. In three days, they will have the chance to attack some villages before reaching a few large-sized towns, and the damage will start to pile up."

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"... I am still far away. It will take ten more days for us to be ready to deploy," Gaius replied after a long sigh since dealing with Relia was tiresome. "Still, he probably will tell us before we reach his city to head south and face the enemies… even if we will be the first group to find them."

That will be quite the pain in the ass, but the chances were small since the reports say that Ekirenton has many groups constantly moving around his territory to keep things under control.

Gaius also heard some reports from Herac that some battalions had already been sent south and would arrive on the border around the same time as the enemies. The work of their spies had been more than decent so far…

In any case, Gaius finally had the chance to see a few things that weren't the same around his village. The territory of Ekirenton was quite green, and it had decent weather conditions most of the time. It was the kind of place most greedy people would want to annex... it made Gaius recall the warring states.

There were a lot of groves around and fields that weren't uneven, but close to them, Gaius also found abandoned and destroyed villages… The wars of decades ago still haunt the present.

"There aren't many mountains around, so it must be hard to mine for ores here… maybe that is one of the reasons Ekirenton is so set on expansion," Gaius thought while looking around. "He could have sent men to cultivate those lands, but he probably couldn't scatter his people all that much without risking… wait a minute. Why am I thinking of reasons as to why he isn't an ass?"

Gaius shook his head since he had more productive ways to waste his time. In any case, after eight days of travel, they finally reached a village that truly belonged to Ekirenton's territory. The place had only children and the elderly. At least he was smart enough not to ask for the kids of his followers to follow him to war.

"Lord Ekirenton told you all to head southeast from here," one of the three guards left in that village said to the group.

Since three guards didn't look that reliable in a village of over five hundred people, the guy was armed to his teeth and wearing full plate armor. Since he was moving slowly and clumsily, it was clear that he didn't have much experience in wearing it. Still, the whole group just ignored that and kept going.

At first, the adults tried to keep their cool, but now they were having a hard time hiding their nervousness since they were all thrown into battle while they were tired from the trip. With inexperienced kids to help them while tired and facing a bigger army… things certainly weren't looking up to them.

"I don't think that the levels of most enemies will be higher than Herac was… in fact, they should be lower than my father's unless… the enemies hired some mercenaries," Gaius thought. "Those guys, unlike normal guards and soldiers, do all kinds of dangerous jobs in exchange for a lot of money, after all."

Herac was one of them, and after asking a few questions, Gaius confirmed that few people were as strong as him… that wasn't impressive since he was taken down by a surprise attack, though. In any case, Gaius had grown since the last time, and so did his magic attack power. So, instead of increasing it even more, perhaps he should focus on increasing his mana regeneration to be able to use his magic more often.

Before deciding that, Gaius had to make up his mind about using his magic directly or indirectly. If he enhances his strength, he will be able to fool a lot of people. If he uses his magic directly, he will draw a lot of attention to himself…

"It isn't time yet… I should only show my magic without hiding my face once my magic can truly terrify my enemies. Until then, I shouldn't become infamous…" Gaius thought.

During the next few days and after making up his mind, Gaius began to train more seriously while using his magic. Unfortunately, he was only at the basic stages of that combination… he could only enhance his strength and speed a bit. Still, it was more than enough to make his arrows be destroyed after hitting trees and make his spear and sword lose a bit of durability.

"I need real arrowheads… that way, I will stand out even less while killing a lot of enemies," Gaius nodded to himself.

It was hard to imagine that Gaius would get those often. No one would trust the archery skills of an eight-year-old boy, after all. So, he had to find another solution for that before he joined his first battle. He had some ideas, but they would need some practice.

Despite their worries, or perhaps because of the worries of the whole group, the next week passed in the blink of an eye, and the group eventually could see in the distance the camps of their allies. They were eager to hear how the first days of battles had passed… but Gaius had already learned from Relia.