Cecil woke up very early the next morning and did half of his normal morning training routine. Once he was finished, he took a quick shower and quickly ate the breakfast that Lucia's mother made. After breakfast, he quickly took a quick check on all his belongings, equipped the armor and weapons he received from Argon and Felice, then packed up everything else he wanted to bring into his bag and headed downstairs with Silver.

Arriving at the door, the two bumped into Lucia's parents who were already waiting for them. Cecil smiled and greeted the two, "Good morning."

"Ah, yes. Good Morning."

"Morning, Cel sweetie~"

Feeling a little bit awkward, Cecil scratched his head and said, "Well, it's about time I go."

"Yes."

He looked around, but to his disappointment, Lucia wasn't there to see him off. Seeing the look of disappointment he was sporting, Anna quickly explained, "Lucia went out ahead already, so she's probably at the village gate waiting for us."

Cecil brightened up when he heard this and smiled, "Okay, that's great! It'd be sad if she didn't come and see me off."

"... I wonder about that."

"Huh? What's that Mrs. Anna?"

"It's nothing~"

Cecil couldn't quite catch a part of what Mrs. Anna just said, but, since she said it was nothing, Cecil decided not to pursue it.

'It's almost time for me to go.'

Cecil felt kind of excited and scared, but mostly excited, since this was going to be his first journey, ever. It was every young boy's dream to go on a journey all by himself with nothing but a few things that he could carry on his back. It wasn't any wonder why Cecil himself was feeling the way he was. He really anticipating this journey.

'It's not something I would even consider doing when I was back on Earth. I mean, what journey? You could just take a plane or some mode of transport and travel around the world.'

This was different. This was a journey, an actual adventure. It wasn't some trip or tour. But, a journey to find his family. Although the motive behind it was simple, finding his family, but the nuance of the journey itself was filling him with excitement.

'There's a whole new world out there ready for me to explore.'

While thinking such, Cecil opened the door. He planned on leaving before any of the villagers woke up, so it was still dark outside. Cecil smiled brightly and walked out of the house, taking the first steps of his journey. Silver followed alongside him while Lucia's parents were right behind the two. They made their way to the village gate. On the way there, even when it was still this early in the morning, they still somehow met some of the villagers who were already up and about.

They all looked over to him and sent him off with their blessings and smiles. Some of the parents even wake up their children. Waking up and seeing their 'big bro' leaving the village, they immediately began to tear up. The group finally reached the gate just as the sun was about to rise over the horizon. Cecil looked around the gate, but to his dismay, Lucia wasn't there at all. Seeing her not there, Cecil turned around and looked at Mr. Zaqi and Mrs. Anna who followed him all the way here. A bit disappointed, he finally opened his mouth, "Well, I guess, Lucia's avoiding me or something..."

"She's just like that, don't worry, you'll see her soon."

It was a weird response. What did Mr. Zaqi mean by 'you'll see her soon'? Cecil could no longer wait. The sun was already making its way up the sky. He thought that if he saw the rest of the villagers, it might make him want to stay a bit longer in the village, so he decisively chose to leave right now.

"Okay... anyway, I should go now. Thanks for your hospitality Mr. Zaqi, Mrs. Anna. I'm very thankful to you for taking care of me and Silver until now."

"It's nothing, it felt like I had a son. So it was very much enjoyable."

"Just think of us as your second parents here on Alternia~"

"..."

Hearing what the couple said, Cecil smiled brightly and bowed real low.

"Thank you so much... Mom. Dad."

Mr. Zaqi and Mrs. Anna were surprised by his words and with bright smiles on their faces, they replied, "Have a safe trip, son." "Have a safe trip, sweety~"

Cecil looked up at them one more time before turning around and walking off.

"Goodbye! Take care!"

He reminisced on the short time he spent here at Fauxe Village. It was really nice even if it was only for a month or so. He thought back to Lucia who he hasn't seen yet since this morning. It made him somewhat despondent.

'My first friend after coming to this world didn't see me off. I couldn't even see her for one last time.'

Cecil continued forward while sulking a bit.

'I mean the least she could do was see me off you know.'

Back on Earth, Cecil didn't have many, actually, he didn't have any friends at all. He was too busy training and never got close to anyone, including the other trainees who were at his father's dojo. While walking, Silver started barking at him.

"Rawr!"

"What is it, Silv?"

"Rah, rah!"

"Huh?"

After barking Silver looked ahead and started dashing forward.

"Hey, wait up!"

Cecil quickly chased after Silver who stopped just before they entered the forest which led to the main road. Heading north on the main road would lead him to Forest Hill Town which was his next destination. Silver turned back and started barking at Cecil, prompting him to hurry over next to the big fella. He looked up at Silver and thought, 'All the training and eating that Silv's been doing sure has made him really big.'

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Silver's large size made him tower over Cecil. He was over 3 meters in height with a length of 6 meters from his head to his tail, his tail taking up about 1 meter of his overall length. He could practically mount him just like a horse. In fact, he was practically horse-size now. All Cecil needed was a saddle and he'd be able to comfortably ride on him. While thinking that, Cecil heard a high pitched yell growing closer and closer to him from behind.

"STTTTUUUUPPPPPIIIIIIIIIDDDDDDD!!!"

"Wha- bughhhhh"

Just as he was about to turn around, a huge impact hit him right on his spine. Cecil was swept off his feet from the abrupt impact and flew forwards a meter or two and fell face-first into the ground.

"Hey, stupid. You didn't think you could get rid of me that easily huh?"

'Gaah, I'm dying, I'm dying dammit... my spine...'

"Ow, ow... wha?"

Cecil turned around and looked up at the perpetrator who knocked the wind out of him and sent him flying.

"Lulu?"

"Idiot Cel."

'Okay, what? Did she just send me flying with a flying kick to my back?'

"What the heck was that for?!"

"Hahaha~!"

Her only response was to laugh at him like he was some stupid moron. Cecil quickly got up and glared at her. Feeling the glare, Lucia's only response was to tease back at Cecil.

"Ohoho, scary~"

"That hurt you know."

"So?"

'What's with this girl? You're supposed to send me off with a smile, not send me flying with a kick!'

Cecil took a closer look at her and noticed that she was wearing a cloak almost like his with a bag strapped to her back.

"Hey, you couldn't possibly–"

"I'm coming with you!"

'I knew it.'

"Hey, you can't just say that, you know! Did you ask your parent's about this?"

"Yup, and they've already agreed. I was bound to go to the Magic Academy in Anglaria's Capital City in a year. So, why not just go on a journey with you instead?"

"What?"

Thinking back to earlier, Cecil suddenly remembered their talk from yesterday evening.

'Ah, so that's what Lucia's parents meant when they told us to take care of 'ourselves' and they'd be leaving the 'rest' to me.'

"You could have at least told me about it yesterday during the evening! I was pretty bummed about you not showing up!"

"Well, you didn't say anything about leaving the village at all to me either, so that makes us even-steven."

"Ugh..."

Cecil couldn't retort to what Lucia just said. On the bright side, it was much better to go on a journey with a friend instead of going around by himself. He would, of course, welcome the company. Silver barked at the two and lowered his body down on the ground. Cecil saw this quickly jumped up, landing comfortably on his back. He then turned towards Lucia and stretched out a hand to her.

"Well, come on then Lulu."

"...hehe"

Lucia gave him a bright smile, took his hand pulled herself up. Instead of sitting behind him, Lucia decided to sit in front of him. Cecil didn't think much about it and wrapped an arm firmly around her waist to make sure that she wouldn't fall off when Silver decided to run.

"Alright. Now that we're set. Let's go!"

"Let's go!"

"Rawr!"

Cecil pointed forward and psyched everyone up.

'This is going to be a first for me and Silver, Lucia too even. To go on a journey towards the unknown, it's really making me all hyped up.'

With the excitement, there was also a little bit of fear. Cecil just turned 14 and the thought of traveling to an unknown world made him feel a bit insecure, but this journey was bound to happen sooner or later. In a world rifled with a lot of dangers, monster animals, living trees and sentient plants, it was only natural he'd feel a little bit of fear, but going on this journey would let him quickly adapt and learn more about the world. The faster he could adapt to the world, the faster he could go on a search for his family.

He would rather journey now than to find out later that because he waited and took a long time, his family wasn't even teleported here with him. Or even worse, find them dead because of how dangerous the creatures of this world are. Not to mention that society and everything was completely different than to what it was previously back on Earth.

'I just hope that my family can quickly adapt to the changes and environment as I have.'

"Hah, who am I kidding. There's no way my family members are weaklings. If anything, they'd probably thrive in this chaotic world," Cecil mumbled to himself.

"What's that Cel?"

"Haha, it's nothing. I'm just looking forward to this."

"Haha, me too,"

Silver let out a bark and quickly rushed forward. It didn't take too long for them to reach the main road and after getting their bearings straight, Cecil pointed in the direction they were going and said, "Okay, first stop. Forest Hill Town!"