It was hard to believe it had already been several hours since they broke camp and resumed the journey. Time really does fly when you are staying busy. And she was keeping busy. Quinn was not only walking along with the lengthy caravan; she was also nose-deep in the list of beginner modifiers shown by Magic 101. And what a list it was. Hundreds of simplistic-looking runes were engraved on the pages with meaning and basic effects. It was quite dizzying.

The intermediate list of runes were even more nauseating. She had only glanced at them for a moment before turning away with a pounding headache. Unlike the starting set, the intermediate modifiers were made of three dimensional runes. She didn’t even know where to begin in creating three dimensional objects with mana. Her mana control wasn’t anywhere near capable of the feat.

Although she technically didn’t need the runes - her native language worked surprisingly well - she figured it was best to hide that fact. Since only the runic language worked for the humanity of this world, it was best to blend in as much as possible. She didn’t want to get ousted and hunted down over a simple mistake like casting magic in another language.

Quinn jotted down potential runes as she found them. Although she was incredibly interested in what she was doing, she still paid enough attention to her surroundings to walk along. That tiny bit of attention was just barely enough to catch Mikeal looking at her oddly.

It wasn’t like she couldn’t understand. From his perspective, she probably looked like she was staring at the air and writing on the air occasionally. Indeed, she would look like quite the maniac. But how could she explain it to him? ‘Hey, I have this magical book that you can’t see. Trust me. It's real.’ That would make her look even crazier, though he might just believe her considering the state of the world. And so, she simply ignored him.

They had entered a valley between the mountains at some point. Tall pine trees had long replaced the sheer rocky walls. They released a rather sweet scent as their sticky sap slunk from needle coated branches. Birds happily twittered along in the valley and she could hear the faint trickling of a stream from up ahead. Of course, the skies weren't blue and the constant flashes of lightning ruined the scene. The moderately-light rain, though a bit lighter than it was an hour ago, didn’t help matters.

With all of that said Quinn had grown somewhat used to the seemingly inhospitable landscape over the past weeks of living in the Empire of Storms. Although it took some getting used to, she actually liked Halis quite a bit. At least, compared to some of the other places she heard about.

According to not only her books but also some conversations she had erm, ‘overheard’, the southern country was a hell hole of blazing hot sand and sweltering heat. The deserts were only made worse by the deceptive mirages and deadly oases peppering the landscape. She would much rather stay in Halis than get anywhere near the desert corporatocracy. And that wasn’t even including the devilish merchants that would even trick a child out of their lollipops.

Some of the rumors were probably the results of propaganda. It was apparent the North disliked the South, and vice versa. Still, though, the fact that Tymac was a desert would drive her mad. Quinn really, really, really hated sand. It was just the worst. The only thing worse was- nope, she couldn’t think of anything.

The southern hellscape wasn’t all bad, according to some untrustworthy sources. There were supposedly vast amount of ancient ruins and hidden treasures buried under the sands of time. It would be a lie to say that the thought didn’t evoke her adventurous spirit even just the slightest bit.

Ding!

A bell radiated across the caravan with a gentle hum, pulling Quinn from her thoughts. The first time she heard it, she had been rather startled. Now though, she knew it was a sign of rest. The entire caravan around her slowed to a stop along the forest path. A shout from the man holding the bell, Arnz Schel, drew everyone’s attention. “We are stopping for lunch! There should be a stream off to the left if you need it. Just ask a guard to tag along. We’ll begin moving when the sun reaches its zenith!”

Unlike several people around her who looked up, Quinn simply cast Compass and observed the ball of light. She probably had about an hour until noon.

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“So, what's for lunch, my lady?” Mikeal asked from her side as he took a seat on the ground.

Quinn rifled through her pack until she found her jerky and hard tack. She had bought just enough to reach the next town and restock. She didn’t think the day would come, but she was starting to get sick of the smoked meat. It wasn’t that it tasted bad by any means, just that it got boring to only eat the same meal for lunch and dinner. “The same as usual. You?”

He laughed, though his laughter seemed even faker than usual. “Unfortuntelly, I am also indulging in the same.” He shrugged his shoulders as he pulled out his own meal. “It is what it is.”

She sighed and chomped down on the smoked meat. It, of course, didn’t have seasoning on it since it was just a cheap ration. Quinn swallowed and nodded her head over to the caravaneers walking around with bowls of soup. “I-I might have to join them and get some other kinds of food.”

“Yeah, but seven copper per meal is a bit…” Mikeal shook his head as he watched more people walk over to one of the carriages. This one had smoke rising from its thatched roof and a delicious scent funneling to the rest of the caravan. It was one of the few carriages in the caravan not owned by the Schel Caravan Company.

Although she was rich by most people’s standards, she still didn’t want to waste money unnecessarily. Her current meals, for instance, only cost twenty copper for a week’s supply. “What an intelligent move…”

Although she wouldn’t take part in the food cart's meals, she could still appreciate the genius of its owner. She would’ve never even thought about food had Mikeal not reminded her on the last day, and would’ve had to rely on the expensive but simple food.

A particular man, one whom she had seen only a couple of times over the past day, walked to the carriage. The only reason Quinn remembered him was due to his attire. The man was one of the few people in the entire caravan to be wearing full plate armor. And his mustache! It was the classic curly posh mustache that somehow managed to be far too bushy and yet still have an appeal. He also had the silvery sagen that marked him as a knight wrapped around his shoulders.

He bought four plates before heading back to the tail end of the caravan, drawing a muttered remark from Mikeal. “Dang, big guy’s gotta eat, huh?”

It wasn’t the first time he had made remarks on the other travelers. He seemingly had nothing to do but people watch. The mage took every opportunity to talk to her about the odd things and mannerisms he noticed. Of course, she only heard him about half the time since she had been rather busy.

This time, however, was different. The knight seemed to have some kind of superior sense of hearing because his head flicked to Mikeal the instant he spoke. To put that into perspective, Quinn had just barely heard and she was sitting right next to him. She froze up at the knight’s pointed glare. Her only saving grace was that the target was Mikeal and not her.

Mikeal gulped from her side before waving at the knight. His movements were subtly choppier than usual as his arm seemed to lifelessly flop around. Of course, the insufferable mage also gave his most irritating smile to the knight. The tall knight harrumphed and turned away in short order, returning to his original place.

A rugged exhale came from the pink-haired man as he turned away from the knight and looked over at her. He immediately put on a smile. “Haha. Note to self, don’t piss off that guy.”

She couldn’t quite figure out why Mikeal - the self-proclaimed step to Archmage - was so worried about the entire engagement. “W-what was with him?” From what she could tell, although impressive, he was just a knight in a suit of armor. Surely Mikeal could cast some kind of mind-altering magic to fight the guy off, right?

Mikeal shook his head. “He is just… he is very strong. Best not to get on his bad side… I wonder why someone like him is traveling with us…” He seemed to withdraw into his own personal world. A few attempts to draw him out did little as he zoned out entirely.

The knight must be really strong to put Mikeal in such a state with just a glare. Maybe he was even stronger than Willa? She had a sudden flashback to Willa blitzing through zombies using a kind of silvery aura that clung to her sword. Her swordsmanship alone was impressive, but the silver aura seemingly enabled the lithe rapier to cut through even some of the stone walls in Umbersnecht.

The question remained, why would such a guy be traveling with their caravan? He didn’t need the protection like the rest of them did. Quinn decided to chalk it up to strong people being eccentric and finished off her meal. She made a note to herself to look more into knights and how they worked. She had a feeling they were probably important and it would be a poor idea to face one while unprepared for their tricks and tactics. And she should also look into the aura that Willa showed off. It was obviously some kind of power, but it would be a good idea to figure out how it compared to mana and athyrn.

A while later, while she was jotting down some ideas and notes, the caravan packed up and set off once more.