On the way to the carriage terminal, we passed by the item store next door and my mum excitedly dragged us all in. My parents examined the teleports curiously and my mum decided to buy one in case of emergencies. My dad frowned and said that he would always be ready to teleport us out of danger, but my mum pointed out that he wasn't able to teleport so many people at one time, so he grudgingly paid for the teleport and some potions that my mum picked out.

While waiting, I examined the shelves more closely to see whether there were other more interesting buys, but apart from some expensive encyclopaedias and field guides, there were only some random stationery and equipment like water bottles and pouches. Well, I suppose those were essential for adventurers, but we had stuff from Earth that was far cheaper and perhaps more durable, so we didn't buy any. And to my disappointment, there were no books about magic either. Maybe it was so commonplace they didn't need any books on it? Perhaps we should look for a bookstore in some larger town next time.

We had to nearly drag Masa away from the field guides, but we finally proceeded to the carriage terminal. The place was more like a bus stop than an actual terminal, but that made sense since this was supposedly a remote village. There was just a sign saying "Carriage Terminal" and a couple of two-horse carriages parked beside it waiting for passengers. I was excited to see horses since I had loved them as a kid, but there was no way you could keep one in Singapore due to the limited space, so I only ever saw them at the zoo. All four horses were a nondescript bay, and the drivers were standing beside them, so I didn't dare to try petting them or anything.

The carriages themselves were as large as a minibus and could apparently seat ten people comfortably. My mum approached the drivers, asking about their routes and one of them nodded, taking out a small box with what looked like buttons and a flat "screen". To me, it kinda resembled a retro handheld game machine, like an old Gameboy or something. The driver pressed some buttons and then showed my mum the screen and she nodded and waved at the rest of us who were standing a distance away.

We tapped our adventurer cards to the box to pay our fares and the driver gestured for us to board the carriage. There were two rows of five seats facing each other on each side, so all four of us chose to sit on one side. We settled down in our seats and waited for more passengers to arrive.

It felt a bit strange to have such a modern paying method and yet ride a horse carriage, but I guessed it was par for the course in a fantasy world. Maybe someone might invent a carriage that ran purely on magic in the future? I could only imagine how tiring it would be to produce that much firepower though. Hmm, maybe it wasn't very practical here after all. They would need a whole team of Elementalists specialising in the fire aspect just to move the vehicle. No, wait, they could use other aspects like water and air too, right? But it seemed that Elementalism wasn't a common affinity so such a horseless carriage might end up too expensive to be viable for the general public. Oh well.

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I realised with a jolt that the carriage had started moving. There were still a couple of empty seats, but these carriages seemed to run on a schedule. the ride was smoother than I expected, and the seats were nicely cushioned too, so overall it was almost like riding in a slow bus, except for the usual engine sounds being replaced by rhythmic hoof beats. I glanced at the other passengers, but they looked like ordinary townsfolk and were either quietly dozing off or looking at the scenery. My parents were starting to do the former, so I followed Masa's example and stared outside the window.

The window had wooden shutters instead of glass, so I opened mine wider to take in more of the scenery. We were still travelling though the forest, but the trees gradually thinned and we reached the edge of a large plain that had a river running though it in the distance. This plain looked familiar somehow...but I guessed any large piece of flat ground with tall grass could look similar. It was just my imagination that it resembled the area where the Singapore portal was, right?

Apparently I wasn't the only one having such thoughts because Masa turned towards me with wide eyes. I shrugged and he furrowed his brow, but turned back to look at the scenery without saying anything. We still didn't know how big of an area was included in this "game", and for all we knew the portal could be somewhere on the other side of the world. Surely it would be too coincidental to have it only a few hours away from Nevda Town on foot? On the other hand, it might make sense if the town was supposed to be the "starter" town or something like that.

After the grassy plain, we started to see some cultivated lands with small orchards and crops that looked like wheat. I guessed it was wheat, anyway, since I wouldn't be able to tell the difference between wheat, barley or oats at one glance. I knew it wasn't rice, at least, since there were plenty of paddy fields in Melaka. Some of the fields looked like they were ripe for harvest, but we also saw some with large black patches among them. Were those burnt marks? Whoa…don't tell me that was caused by the flame slug? Just how big was that thing?! Could we really exterminate it?

With growing trepidation, I alighted from the carriage at our stop, following my parents. Masa came behind me and tapped me on the shoulder. My anxiety must have shown on my face, as he reassured me, "Don't worry, we have your parents with us this time. I'm sure we'll be able to handle it somehow."

I sure hoped he hadn't just set up a flag.