Jon and everyone else had eventually gone to the local inn for rest.

Just as Mercy had said, Sabez had reserved rooms for everyone in groups of two.

“I’m rooming with Jon,” Mercy told the others. She grabbed Jon’s hand and dragged him away from the group.

“Uh, good night?” Tallow said in a questioning tone.

Mercy had ignored her as she led Jon to one of the back rooms. Unlike the other inn they had stayed in, this one only had one floor, and it barely had many rooms to begin with.

Once inside of the room, Mercy took to her side and sat down.

Jon sat down on the other bed.

She looked down to the floor with a worrying look on her face. Jon decided to just wait and let her speak.

“Jon… Do you think I’m scary?” she finally asked,

“...I don’t know,” Jon said. She was scary in a way, but he also liked her ferocity. She was passionate about her strength, and he wanted to encourage her to keep growing, especially because she seemed to like it.

“You’re… good scary…” he added.

“Good… scary…” Mercy smiled. “Good scary, I like that. Good night, Jon.”

She swept her legs up onto the bed and turned over. She stopped moving right after.

Jon wondered if going to sleep immediately was a special Highlander skill that could be attained by anyone in the clan.

He turned over to go to sleep, ready for the next day.

He was woken up by the sounds of swords scraping against each other.

He sat up in bed and looked out of the small square window just over his bed.

Hector was still swinging at Sabez with fire tracing behind his blade.

He’s still going… Hector had come with them to turn in the day before. Jon wondered if he had waited until everyone was asleep to go back to the train.

Feeling awake enough, he walked out of the inn and went to the beach. The horizon was showing a light pink, which Jon assumed was the rising sun. Had Hector and Sabez stayed up all night?

Sabez had resolved to swing his sword with one hand, not even moving from his spot.

Hector was clearly exhausted. Jon saw that he had resolved to use both hands to swing.

“It’s not fair!” Hector yelled, giving out one more strike of fire.

Sabez swept it away like always. “I already told you before, strength-”

“Bull!” Hector swung again, but no fire came out. He slowly stood up straight.

“I need to be stronger. I can’t wait.”

“Strength comes with time,” Sabez added. “Until then, you focus on your other skills-”

“If I don’t learn to get stronger, someone will die if I can’t defeat them. It doesn’t matter how many fancy little tricks I learn!”

“I said this before. You have an aptitude for learning a variety of styles.”

“But if some guys who are as strong as that man before… who are as strong as you… if we meet someone like that again-”

“You make up for that lack of strength with your teammates. As discussed.”

“I trust in my teammates!” Hector said. “I just don’t…”

He stabbed the sword into the ground and took a seat. “I don’t trust myself.”

“Strength isn’t always-”

“Just in my ability to swing a sword around, yeah, yeah, you said it a million times. Do you have anything to say that isn’t a lesson?”

“...You come to me for advice, I give you advice? Is it not good enough?”

“Yeah, sure, be a smartass.” Hector sighed.

“Why do you look down on yourself so much?” Sabez asked.

“Are you asking me cause you already know the answer?” Hector responded.

“Would it matter?” Sabez countered.

Hector sighed again. “My family… my sisters… and my father, they all depend on me to be strong… and so do the people I protect. I mean, you’re strong, cause it’s important to your job, right?”

“...I got the mission done,” Sabez answered. “That was all that mattered. The strength came later.”

“Hmmm….” Hector crossed his arms and hummed.

“I know that this line of thinking aligns with your philosophy too,” Sabez added. “So, what is the problem?”

“...I’ll never be as strong as my sister,” Hector finally answered. “I mean, I don’t care about what she does… but… she’ll be stronger than me.”

“Hasn’t she earned that strength?” Sabez asked.

“...Yeah… maybe… but… I’ll always be behind.”

“Your sister does care about you,” Sabez said.

“Yeah, yeah, Mallory says the same thing. Then why does she always seem pissed off?”

“...You are becoming your own person. You can’t rely on her for guidance.”

“I don’t!” Hector cried.

“You may not listen to her, but you still rely on her for guidance. But you are not your sister. You are you. And soon, you will defy your own sister’s expectations in order to create your own.”

“So, I’m giving up,” Hector said simply.

“No. Not giving up. Just setting your own expectations.”

Hector seemed to go red in the cheeks, but he didn’t say anymore.

“I’ll leave you with that, Hector. Also, you should give your sister a break. She’s scared.”

“Scared of what?” Hector asked.

“Scared of what you’ll become…” Hector looked up in astonishment, but Sabez had already made his way past.

Sabez then encountered Jon.

“Oh, good morning, Jon,” Sabez said. “Hope you had a restful nap. We shall depart as soon as I finish some stretching. You youngsters have so much energy…”

He already began to stretch out his arm and walked away. Jon walked up to Hector, who had stayed in his place on the ground.

“Oh, hi Jon,” Hector said as Jon sat next to him on the ground.

“...You’re scary,” Jon said.

Hector looked confused. “You’re scared of me?”

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“...Good scary,” Jon amended.

“Good scary…” They both watched the sunrise together.

Soon, the carriage was ready to be boarded.

While everyone was standing around the carriage, Sabez approached Jon.

“I have a favor to ask of you,’ Sabez said. “Would you kindly sit with me in the front?”

Jon was surprised. Wasn’t Hector going to sit in front?

If Sabez was asking, Hector probably had to be okay with it.

Sabez and Jon both climbed into the front.

“Hey!” Jon turned and saw Hector looking at the font.

“That’s my seat! Isn’t it?” He called.

Mallory patted Hector on the back. “Come on, Hector, you should sit in the back for once. Get to know your own team.

Hector looked up to the two women who had already taken their place on the wagon.

“Oh, boy…” Hector said to himself. “I think I’d rather the front."

“Don’t worry, deep breaths, don’t raise your volume when you disagree with someone, just let it ride…” Mallory continued to give Hector small bits of advice as they made their way towards the back of the wagon. “Pretend like they’re all Genevieve.”

“But I like Genevieve.”

Jon liked the fact that he and Hector were both trying something new on the wagon. It made him feel included in a way he wasn’t used to.

He probably hadn’t tried anything new on the farm for a long while.

When everyone was on board, Sabez flicked the reins, and the horses began to walk.

They traveled back into the thin forest, before making a turn and continuing in that direction.

Jon could still see the coastline from the carriage, even though now his view was bombarded by a whole bunch of trees. He was glad he would get to see more of it.

He was then surprised when a boat made its way into his view. It traveled the direction opposite of the carriage.

“Pardon me for my request,” Sabez said, drawing Jon’s attention again. “I understood that many of your team would be tired from the night before.

Tired? Hadn’t they all gone to sleep?

Jon turned around. Everyone had toppled over onto their sides and had all fallen asleep in the wagon.

“Everyone else made sure to run around all night. It was quite amusing to watch. I hadn’t seen you, so I assumed that you had actually taken the opportunity to fall asleep.”

“...Yeah…” was all Jon could say. Sabez was probably right.

Eventually, Sabez spoke again.

“What made you partake on this journey, Jon? To become stronger and see the world, and to leave the boundaries of your home?”

“I wanted to take Mercy home,’ Jon said.

“That’s it?” Sabez pressed.

Jon thought about it. He supposed it wasn’t the only reason.

“I can’t farm,” Jon answered. “So… now I can do something that I’m good at.”

“Ahh…” Sabez nodded. “I see. A farmer... lost in his own home.”

“I’m not a farmer,” Jon said.

“From what you’re saying, I assume you don’t have a farmer's license.”

Jon nodded with a grimace.

“But… you dress like a farmer. You shoot like a farmer… you even hold yourself up like a farmer, though I suppose, if you were surrounded by farmers all the time, you probably wouldn’t have noticed those things.

“Hmm…” Jon understood. He liked understanding.

“I mean, I spend most of my time away from my home,” Sabez continued. “But, still, in my heart, I feel it with me. So, I don’t miss it as much as I should.”

He shook his head. “I have strayed from my course again. Jon, what I really meant to say…”

He sat up in the seat. “Jon, you may not realize this… but by leaving on this journey in the pursuit of something new, you have inspired your friends to all grow as well. But you must be careful. Although your growth may have come at a stellar pace, the journeys they will go will certainly be troublesome.”

Jon nodded.

“You will need to make sure to be by their side when these hurdles come. I’m sure they will need you… as both a help and an example.”

“Okay,” Jon said.

“You know, Jon… I like you…”

Sabez patted Jon on the back.

“You listen… and you listen well…”

The wagon made its eventual stop in a clearing in the forest, waking Jon up.

The others in the back began to wake up as well.

“Oh man… my neck!” Hector held his neck as he sat up. “Was I asleep?”

“My leg is asleep, I can tell you that!” Mallory dragged his leg as he made his way off the wagon. He barely stood up as he landed on the ground.

“We are close to our destination,” Sabez said. “I figure we allow the horses to recoup their energy, then we will be off.”

“And then you’ll be off…” Mallory added.

Sabez nodded. “I’m sure you will be fine. I only need…”

His eyes looked up to the sky as he thought about his answer.

“A week and a half at most. How much can happen in that time period?”

Jeeze. Jon’s farm had been attacked over the course of two days, and then he left his house soon after. His whole life had changed in half a week. He didn’t want to imagine what else could happen.

“No more promises from you!” Tallow said as she made her way to the front of the wagon. She wagged her fingers at Sabez. “Just don’t take too long.”

“Same to you,” Sabez responded.

Tallow grunted in turn. She then approached Jon.

“Can I see your gun?” Tallow asked. “I want to see if I can use it.”

Jon hesitated. He didn’t know how to tell Tallow about why it was complicated.

Thankfully, he had Hector.

“You can’t, just like, take Jon’s gun,” Hector called. “It’s like, picky and stuff, I don’t know. You can use mine.”

“But I want to use Jon’s,” Tallow said. “I’m sure it like, uses wind magic and stuff.”

“Actually,” Sabez interjected, “the spell that Jon’s gun uses-”

“I wanna see if you can hit me!” Tallow sped into the forest.

Jon looked at Sabez, who sighed.

“Might as well entertain her,” he said. “So, she can understand.”

“Let me come!” Mallory said. “I wanna watch this!”

Jon looked at Mercy and Hector. Hector was feeding the horses, and Mercy had walked away to the opposite end of the clearing. He couldn’t tell what she was doing.

“...Okay…” With that, Jon, Mallory, and Sabez went in Tallow’s direction.

Already, Jon could see a white figure leaping through the trees, and changing directions at a rapid pace.

“Can you get her?” Mallory asked.

Jon nodded. He trusted his gun and his aim.

He pulled his blunderbuss from his back and held it up to his face.

He aimed and fired the gun, being able to predict where Tallow would land and collide with the blast.

The blue energy sailed towards the target and disappeared among the bushes. Still, the white figure rose back into the trees as if nothing had happened.

Hmmm… Jon was sure it hit.

“She’s… cheating…” Sabez said. “She’s probably using her energy to fend off the attack.”

Jon didn’t know people could do that. He just assumed that Bal was just really strong. He forgot to attribute things to mana use that weren't spells.

“...I know what will hurt,” Mallory said. “You got any more potatoes?”

Sabez reached into his small pouch and pulled one out.

Mallory snatched it out of his hand and gave it to Jon.

“You know what to do!” Mallory said assuredly.

Jon nodded. He grabbed the potato and shoved it in his gun.

He wondered if the potato would get all over the inside of his gun, but decided that he could just clean it up later.

Jon held the barrel of the gun at level with his eye and fired again.

The potato flew hard into the distance, accompanied by the projectile of blue energy as always.

This time, there was a small splattering sound in the distance, accompanied by a slight shrill. The white figure didn’t leap around anymore.

Instead, Tallow walked out of the bushes, her upper body and face covered in potato innards.

“What the hell was that?” She asked.

Mallory covered his mouth as he giggled deeply.

“Ha,” Sabez said. That was it.

“Potato,” Jon answered gleefully. He then held out the gun to Tallow.

She looked at it.

“No thanks…” She walked away to the wagon.

Jon didn’t know what to do, so he offered the gun to Sabez.

“Sure.” Sabez took it with one hand and bowed to Jon. “Thank you.”

“You can hold it?” Mallory asked.

“That says more about Jon than it does about me,” Sabez responded. “Although… I wonder… if I may…”

He held the gun out towards the forest with one hand.

He pulled the trigger.

The largest blast of energy Jon had ever felt fly from the gun erupted from it. Both he and Mallory had to cover their heads from the shockwave.

When it finished, Mallory’s robes and Sabez’s cape were still fluttering from the energy.

“Whoa!” Mallory yelled. “I think you killed someone!”

Sabez checked the side of the gun. “This is dangerous… for me, I mean.”

“Can… Jon do that?” Mallory asked.

“I don’t know,” Sabez said. “I didn’t have a choice in the matter. I had to open up my mana pools for the gun to work. The gun chose how much energy to take out and how much to shoot. Whoo!”

He wiped his forehead under his headwrap. “It nearly depleted my mana pool. I know you’re a gracious friend, Jon, but please be careful when offering your gun to others.”

“Sorry,” Jon said.

“It’ll be fine. I’ll recover quickly. It was my foolishness…” Sabez walked back towards the wagon as well.

Mallory went close to Jon.

“Dude!” He whispered, although no one was near them. “Did you see that? Do you know what type of mana pool you need to do that! You couldn’t do that…”

He stopped himself.

“...You could do that... with time…”

Jon nodded. With time.