The town of Nerwood, once a beacon of the central and eastern border was now reduced to rubble. Retang's expression was dark, he was looking forward to seeing his home again. His family lived in this region. The party followed Retang to what was left of his home, a small house at the edge of town.

They were already expecting the worst, due to what they observed of the towns they passed before. The others were familiar with losing family and comrades, which is why they remained silent. Letting the man mourn. For the first time since their journey began the atmosphere of the party was solemn, even Eliza's winning smile wouldn't do anything for them.

Retang was someone that won his freedom through working for the kingdom. He earned enough to support himself, his wife and their son. He agreed to join Eliza because she saved his life, this visit was meant to be just another homecoming.

The bodies that Retang found at the house was enough for him.

The party stayed in the town for three days to carry out the burial rites of Retang's family and the town's people.

"The Living must go on." Retang repeated to himself, the group was now back on the main path.

"I believe the saying is Life must go on." Corrected Natalie, having suppressed the urge to correct him for the past three days.

"I think both are correct." Harak interjected. "They both mean that those who are still in the living realm are meant to keep on living."

Varmoot stayed silent, while Tarik listened in to their conversation with great interest. Natalie's comments might seem antagonistic to most, since the man just lost his family but to Retang all that came out was a light laugh.

He knew fully well that it took her a lot of effort to just not do it. A spellcaster with her background is the type that loves to flaunt and correct others whenever they can. The tone shifted slightly, they were all fully aware of the world that they lived in. Dying an early death was common and getting attached would often cause more pain than simply ignoring others.

The Markluzian kingdom was such a place, even if they were not at war with the orcs of the north.

Helping others cope with a loss is a hard thing to do, more so for Eliza who considers herself a selfish person. While the death of others was still something that she considered sad, she was more than happy if this death meant her own survival. In her mind, she couldn't justify crying over the death of someone else when she was healthy and uninvolved in the process.

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In a way she was happy that the others could help the man cope with his loss, she did her best to give him a smile and try to lift up his spirits but she knew that she couldn't relate to how he was feeling.

"So, where are we headed to now?" Eliza let the others handle the logistics, though she did have a copy of the map.

Tarik who was sitting next to her was the first one to respond. "The city of Lumostib, it's supposed to be a well-defended area."

"The refugees from the towns that we recently visited should be in that city." Retang added. "From what I remember they are a city that's proud of their standing army and their spellcasters, the ruling body of the region are the Vloslags."

"Nobles right?" Tarik asked. "Does anyone here know anything about them?"

"The Vloslags produce high quality spellcasters from their lineage, any member of their family has a high mana capacity." Natalie began, she rolled her eyes before saying "Snobs, all of them are snobs. If you think the nobles at the capital were bad, then you haven't met a Vloslag."

"Then they are likely the type that would reveal your location, Lady Eliza." Retang deduced. "Nobles with high pride in themselves often love to suck up to the royals, a quick pit stop to sell the loot and we can be on our way to the ports."

"Indeed, I can cast a few spells to help in disguising you." Natalie waved her staff. "I'm sure that we can use our plaques to sell our wares, Act with caution Eliza the last thing we want is for the Prince to send guards after you."

"It's better for them to just assume that you're dead." Tarik exclaimed, he then looked at his broken arm. "I'd like to see a priest for this thing anyways, we can think of our plans when we get closer to the city. For now we all need to rest, I'll take first watch tonight.

While they were still in Markluzian Territory it is impossible for Eliza to escape the hands of the prince. She was sure that the young man would do anything to find her, he was smitten and if he finds out that she's still alive then he would spare no effort in reuniting with her.

'That's right! How could I worry about the feelings of others? I'm still trapped in his playground, This is where it truly begins. Hiding my identity during our stay there will be key to my plans, we can gather supplies and buy a carriage when we get there. Everything should start going my way by then. While I don't remember the Vloslag family, I'm sure that Mars already informed them of my disappearance.'

The fights and their journey towards Lumostib was an appetizer, something to start off their journey. Eliza would describe it as soup with some hard bread, it started off well with a bit of a bitter after taste. Though everything was balanced out in the end due to how strong the party members are both physically and mentally.

'Our real test begins in that city…' She thought to herself before saying "The things I do for freedom."