The rest of the night went by rather slowly for Keziah, albeit peacefully. With no more nightly visitors, and his mana spent, he was left with nothing to do but recharging it and, well… resting. He took some quick naps here and there. He wasn't particularly worried about any intrusions or bandits as Augustus was by his side and didn't need sleep.

He could always sense something and scream in his head to wake him up. Of course, he needed to extend his aura to sense anything, and he couldn't maintain it for eternity. That's why Keziah took only naps, and not full, good ol', healthy sleep. Naps were good. Fifteen minutes of it and he was ready to go for an hour or two. It was a good ratio, if you would ask Keziah.

Of course, after a while he would need to get an actual sleep, or as his nanny would say, dance with the pixies. She wasn't from any city. Instead, she had come from a small village, barely on any map. People outside cities with big, comforting walls usually had to deal with monsters, phantoms, and any other dangers that didn't dare venture near the cities. Nobody knew how it was to live in such a place unless they themselves had experienced it.

There were many in cities, nobles, and regular folk who sometimes didn't even believe in some of the stories of creatures that the villagers used to tell. Nobles, because they considered themselves enlightened and not trusting in the word of the poppycock of those lower than them. The city commoners, because they liked to distinguish themselves from the villagers and peasants living outside the walls.

As for Keziah - it was hard not to believe it when he was the one, or one of whose job was to protect and get rid of these nightmarish creatures. Adventurers weren't exactly known for their smarts - that's not to say they were stupid, but they weren't scholars. They were experienced, as it came with being travelers by nature. There is nothing like a journey to visit different places to broaden your mind. In that sense, they, along with traveling merchants, were much more learned than most scholars, politicians, or philosophers, who had never set foot outside city walls.

Keziah, although also an experienced traveler, had trouble accepting the existence of pixies. There were no concrete reports of evidence of them ever existing. There were a lot of people who claimed they had seen them, sure, but that was it. Claims, speculation, rumors. Someone said that they showed themselves to him in a dream, and others said that they played some prank on him in the forest. Lack of proof and no desire to find it, as pixies or faeries weren't exactly useful or in any sense seriously dangerous. Nobody even knew if there was a difference between a pixie and a faerie. People just used the term interchangeably.

Keziah spent the time half meditating and half watching the tree line. The naps happened because he had fallen too deep into a meditating trance. It helped him gather mana, but it wasn't necessary for it. He was so advanced in recharging his reservoir that he could do it even while running. Spending so much mana on simple things, thanks to his damaged core, had its one advantage.

He wished he had his sewing needles with him so he could at least patch up his coat. It gained some more holes and tears and patches looked better than leaving the holes alone. It added to his presence. Somewhat. That's what he liked to think, at least. Patches on a coat or cloak looked like they could tell a story, every single one. Not to mention new coats were quite expensive, especially those that Keziah could settle for. His knitting needles as well as his wool and yarn were all left in his apartment in Avinea. That meant he would be without his favorite hobby for the foreseeable future.

The dawn soon greeted his face with warm rays. The sun rose over the Edges, the mountain range beyond the Blackwood to the east. The mountains served as a border between then the Empire, now Aldunis, and the isolationist nation of Volgan. The small country was never conquered as the only land pass is through the narrow gap in the Edges that is always heavily guarded and would spell suicide for any army that tried to claim without having a very good strategy and at least a hundred thousand soldiers. It was only attempted once, and the knowledge of it is not even taught in any school of the former Empire. Keziah only knows about it because Augustus once mentioned some rumors his first owner heard about how half of the army trying to storm the pass died on the way there, either of diseases or monster attacks in the Blackwood.

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The Empire tried approaching from the ocean as well, but numerous catastrophes and surprisingly strong naval tactics of Volgan repented them as well. Thus it remained closed to foreign influences and as mysterious to the Empire then as it is now. It changed a little in recent decades, allowing small trade and exchange of knowledge in the one city located in the mountain pass. Nothing concrete ever came out of it but it was a start for more positive relations.

Not wanting to wake Lucia and Annette up yet, he decided to wait until they do so on their own. If anyone was chasing them, then it would be at least a few days before they start to progress. If they didn't catch them inside Avinea then they would resolve to more… creative solutions. That would give Keziah and Annette time. At least a few days was his thought.

Lucia was the first to wake, unsurprisingly. She sat up on her makeshift mattress and stretched her arms. With a yawn, she stood up and walked to sit near the campfire on a wooden stool she had picked up from her cart last night.

"Good morning," she greeted Keziah, who was sitting on another stool, finished with his meditation.

"It is, isn't it? Clear sky, warm sun. A sea nearby. Really good morning, I would say."

"Mhm, it always seemed like nothing bad could happen on such days…" she mused aloud.

"Don't jinx it. I've already lost count of something bad happening whenever someone has said something similar." He put his elbow on his knee and rested his head on his hand, almost resigned.

"Don't be such a nervous Nelly. You have dealt with one problem last night quite well, so karma must be on your side now."

"You were awake then?" he asked. "Could have just stood up or even sat up and they would be too scared to do anything."

"I could have," she agreed, "but it was cozy under my blanket and it wouldn't let me out, you see. Besides, I wanted to see how you would deal with it."

"It really does seem like you want to recruit me to some party or some shady organization, you know?"

"Like I told you earlier, I'm not. Maybe in the future, though. Who knows?" She chuckled.

"Right…" Keziah was somewhat hesitant to believe her. "Did you say something about karma? You believe in it?" he changed the topic.

"Oh, I believe in a great many things. It's much more colorful that way."

"More like headache-inducing."

"Only if you let it. I tend to focus on the positive and tuck away the negative aspects of whatever tugs in my mind." She gave him a motherly smile.

"Good advice, but I would rather not be encumbered by faith or beliefs of something that doesn't affect me," he countered.

"Whether it's luck, the gods, love, or friendship, you have to believe something. Otherwise, you will just become an empty shell of what person you could have become."

"Wise words," he wholeheartedly agreed. " You sure you aren't trying to recruit me?"

She laughed and pointed to the wood under the cauldron. "Actually, yes. I'm recruiting you right now to bring me more wood. Can't cook without fire after all."

"Wait, you are going to cook? Why didn't you tell me this last evening? I thought I was saving the last bits for Annette," Keziah complained.

"I forgot. Now chop, chop," She clapped her hands, "let's make this breakfast and be on our way. I hear you are being chased and I know for a fact that running away is much easier when you are not hungry."

"Right, forgot." He stood up, ready to go collect wood. "I guess that does come with age…"

In that moment, Keziah's eyes unwillingly made contact with Lucia's. The surrounding air seemed to be suddenly thicker, and it was hard for him to breathe. The woman who looked a few years older than him, but he suspected was much, much, more, gave him the warmest smile he had ever seen. It was the most terrifying thing he had experienced in a long time, possibly ever.

"What was that, boy?" Her voice was as smooth as ever, the smile plastered on her face, but it didn't reach her eyes.

"N-nothing, ma'am," he stumbled. "I should look for some fire food…"

"What a great idea. You should indeed do that."

With that, Keziah left. He walked far too much away to collect some dry branches, but he felt it was necessary at the moment. He made a mental note to not mention Lucia's age ever again. From now on, she was 22 for all he could care.