Now in the later weeks of spring it was perfect weather to travel, the rains lessening in frequency as the world became warmer. The roads, mostly made of dirt as they were, remained dry and earthy without the hint of mud. It was along such a road that I was traveling now. The midday sun high above in the sky casting forth its warming radiance. Small clouds whisked across the expanse of blue and gentle winds brought with them the smells of deep earth.

With a more present helper in Sub-chan there was much more free time for me to actually get out and do things. Of course I didn't leave my subconscious with all the work and I still had a very active role in answering prayers. Basically all the standard generic prayers like healing, finding items, safety at night, and such were handled by my automated system. More complicated prayers like dealing with interpersonal relationships or defense from attacks were brought to my attention and I handled them personally. Well more personally than me impersonally handling them I guess?

Regardless of the semantics involved the result was more "free time" for myself. It had been decided that I was going to go out into the kingdom in disguise and sort of tour the lands and see its people's reactions in a more secretive manner. Draped over my head and body was a huge and thick cloak to better hide my identity, a fantasy classic. No one questioned a little girl wandering around alone either as in this day and age unfortunately kids sometimes just ran away or were otherwise orphaned.

The sentiment of the people regarding their new goddess was mixed at best. Most places still hadn't heard of me or thought my existence was fabricated to create some kind of new power grab. Then among those that did believe I existed the consensus was further divided. Some people were happy to have a goddess around as it meant less power for the rich, while others believed since humans were fine without goddesses for a thousand years they didn't need them anymore. These kinds of reactions are to be expected I suppose. It can't be helped.

Today I was living a day in the life of your average well off peasant, riding in a carriage between two cities in the heartland of the kingdom. Of course such services were available to the general public outside of the ultra rich, its just that these kinds of carriages are quite broken down and filthy. Anyone who had taken a ride in public transportation in any time period is well aware of the conditions I was currently subject to. As a goddess the fleas and ticks weren't a problem, but the overall grime and sickness from so many people crammed together sure was dangerous to the other passengers.

The ride was very bumpy too, as to be expected of a general use rickety old carriage. Even though the road was dirt there were still plenty of rocks to catch up the wheels and make the whole thing shake around. Such is to be expected for fare of only a couple silver pieces. Everyone just took it without complaint as this was much preferable to dealing with the dangers of the road. Long distance travel was filled with concerns like sickness, injury, robbers, beasts, and food shortage that would each end not only your trip but your life. A day or two in a stinking carriage was more than fair recompense to avoid them.

However as we were soon to find out even riding in one of these carriages didn't make you totally immune to such threats. The was a large ditch to the left side of the road and I detected almost a dozen humans resting in it. These could be travelers themselves but the more likely option was bandits. No one else including the driver knew about them of course, they didn't have a goddess map like I did.

As we approached my hypothesis was confirmed as the eight or so people jumped up out of the ditch and ran onto the road. They had well used weapons drawn: swords, daggers, and even a couple bows. Their flashing steel startled the two horses driving the carriage who reeled back with a startled whinny. The carriage came a rumbling halt as shouting voices demanded it.

"Halt you scum!" the biggest bandit shouted. "Stop the carriage or we'll do it ourselves!"

Of course panic was already setting in for the passengers. They all had very important reasons to ride this godforsaken carriage, some of them had the lives of family members resting on their return. Now their lives might just come to an end here and now, their errands unfulfilled. Such would not be the case however as there was a goddess among them.

"We're all gunna die!" a middle aged woman cried. She was clutching her child. "My son will never see his father again!"

A young man grasped the dagger he had held close to his chest.

"I'm going to be trained to be a guard. If my life is to end here I'll go down fighting!"

Then an older man, his clothing and beard ragged, put out his hand and stopped the younger one from getting up.

"Tis not worth your life young man. Bandits such as these are only after whatever wealth they can get their hands on. Surely it will be devastating to lose all our earthly possessions but they'll let us keep our lives."

I kept my mouth shut, huddled up in the corner of the carriage. My thick cloak covered my face and my little body looked almost pathetic as I curled up and kept to myself. Everyone seemed more preoccupied with their own lives to notice or care about someone like me. Excellent.

Without a word I stood up and began walking to the door of the carriage. Someone reached out and grasped my arm to stop me. It was the old man who looked at me with sadness and pity.

"What are you doing little one? A young girl like you. The things those men will do to you... Stay here and remain as hidden as you can."

Beneath my heavy cloak only my chin and mouth were visible to him. My mouth brightening into a pretty smile. There was confidence in my upright pose as I kept my face turned away from him.

"Oh don't worry kind old man. A blessing be upon you for concerning yourself for me."

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A blessing he did receive. For as he touched my shoulder I released a tiny bit of mana into him, curing his arthritis without him even noticing at first. I then slipped out of his grasp and cracked open the door of the carriage, leaving him to look in confusion at his hard as he tried to figure out what was wrong with it.

The bright sunlight assaulted the eyes of the huddled passengers as the door opened, though it was a welcome sight to me. Fresh air whisked its way around me and filled the carriage with the scents of spring. There of course was panic among the people inside as this brought the attention of the bandits outside. So I quickly jumped down onto the ground and closed the door behind me, trapping them inside their safe hidey hole. Despite their fears it would not become their sepulcher today.

The group of bandits was already finished beating up the carriage driver, leaving him curled up in the dirt near where he normally sat. Such a person wouldn't have much of worth on them and they were lucky to be left with their life. A rough and tumble woman, one of two in the group, immediately stood up and pointed to me.

"Look! A cute little girl! At least I think it is, hiding beneath that filthy cloak."

One of the men smiled his dirty grin and turned to look at me.

"Yeah I believe so! She'll fetch a pretty stack of coin! After we've had some fun with her."

I stood there in the dirt, my back straight and my hands inside the cloak near my sides. My gaze was on the wounded driver on the road and I ignored the peeping eyes from the now cracked door behind me.

"I'm going to have to ask you to step away from that man. He's wounded and I mean to help him."

The bandit leader laughed and began walking towards me. He was a tall muscular man with a crooked grin and a crooked face. In his hands was a crooked sword of shining steel. He was the biggest and the strongest of them. His voice was deep and full of hate.

"He's not as wounded as you're about to be if you don't kneel down little girl."

In response I lifted my hands out of my cloak and lifted my hood back over my head. As it settled down behind my next my face and hair were exposed at last, my galaxy pin shining in the sunlight. I kept my face emotionless and asked a simple question.

"Are you immune to magic?"

The leader grinned even wider now. It was clear no one recognized me.

"A rich little mage girl? This day is getting better and better!" he said advancing. "We have a mage in our group. I'm afraid you're out of luck."

The burly man walked right up to me and reached out his hand to seemingly grasp me by the hair, a classic move of course. What he wasn't counting on was what happened next.

Once he was standing in front of me and loomed over me I whipped out my left hand and flicked him away like he was a pebble. The big man went flying through the air and landed with a groan in the dirt a dozen feet away.

One of the bandits, a thin man with a big thick stick of some kind, suddenly jumped forward as his companions shouted in alarm. This one appeared to be the mage. He shouted at me in anger.

"I'll show you you little shit!"

In one smooth motion he flicked out his staff and left hand, his fingers making a particular pattern as he held it out towards me. Suddenly scorching fire burst out from in front of him like a flamethrower. It was all consuming and blackened the dirt of the road as it hit me.

It seems I was too dangerous to live, or at least they figured I could be healed somehow from near death. As the fire engulfed me however I started taking steps forward through the inferno, the now panicking mage keeping up the flames beyond what he probably planned.

"She-She's walking closer!" the mage shouted in fear.

At this point the flames had completely burned away my big heavy cloak, the remaining ashes of the cloth being blasted away by the intense heat. It must have been quite the sight as well, my colorful clothing now exposed in a blur through the consuming fire.

I opened my mouth and took in a deep breath, sucking in the fire like a fish slurping up water. My lungs began filling up with the raging flames, the stream weakening until it was just a stream from his hands into my mouth. Of course as a goddess my lung capacity was massive and soon I was standing there with a twisting stream of fire flowing into me.

The mage stopped his magic within only a few moments of me doing this, the shock on his face mirroring the looks of his companions. This little girl had sucked up his entire attack like someone drinking an entire river.

My lungs were starting to get really hot so I threw back my head and looked up at the sky. Then I breathed out, shooting the fire into the sky in a fountain of flames. The intense heat scorched the sides of the carriage roof as they went past. Once my lungs were empty again I looked back down and coughed up a puff of black smoke.

Of course the mage recoiled in horror.

"She's a monster!"

All of the bandits turned and began fleeing in panic. This little girl was more than just your average mage and they didn't want to stick around to find out the extent of her powers. Robbing peasants was one thing but risking your life was something else entirely. Bandits were cowards at heart after all. None seemed as terrified as the mage however as he had his likely most powerful attack so easily dismissed.

As they began running I stomped my foot on the ground and shouted after them in anger.

"Hey what about my cloak you assholes? I need a new cloak!"

In their panicked scrambling to escape several of the bandits twisted around in order to pull of their cloaks. They then threw them to the ground and continued running. The demands of this little mage girl were something to be satiated if it meant giving them more time to run further.

With the bandits quickly receding into the distance I let out a deep sigh. I then walked over to where the cloaks were laying on the ground and stooped over to pick up the nicest looking among them. Then I stood back up and draped it back over myself as I was before.

The people on the carriage were looking out at me not in thanks but in terror. Mages were powerful and dangerous people of course, and the common folk were scared to get involved with one themselves. Sure I had saved their lives but who knows what I would do to them?

As I walked back over to the carriage I went to the wounded driver and stopped next to him.

"Lets get you fixed up."

I crouched down and put my hands on him, my mana easily healing all his wounds. Once that was done I stood back up and took a step back from him to give him space.

In a somewhat expected turn of events the man scrambled to his feet and acted like I was about to eat his innards. He backed up into the carriage and began climbing up into his driving seat without looking directly at it.

"Stay b-back! I don't w-want anything to do with you!"

One of the women from the carriage could be heard shouting in fear.

"She's a monster!"

The driver turned his back to me in order to scramble up the rest of the way into his seat. He then grabbed the reins and whipped the horses into moving. They neighed and took off until they were galloping. The wagon rattling and rocking around as it sped down the dirt road and away from the little monster girl.

As it sped away I took a few jogging steps into the middle of the road and turned towards it, the clouds of dust it kicked up whirling all around me. I threw up my arms to the sky in frustration.

"Hey! Come on!"

Of course my disappointment didn't alter the course of the carriage and I was left standing in the middle of the grasslands alone. With a huff of angst I dropped my arms to my sides and shook my head. Honestly even though I understood why it had happened it was still hard to believe. I kicked a rock with my left foot and thought about what to do next.