After half an hour, dinner was ready. So Zelos took a break. His hands weren’t that hurt, but he still washed them and covered them with a piece of cloth for a while. It would have been better to protect his hands with some gloves and only strain his muscles, but that would be too time consuming… it might improve the speed that his parameters increase, but Regeneration would slow down. It was better to keep a balance since the future was uncertain.
“I am not too good at this, but the taste should be all right. My mother likes to cook for a lot of people, so I learned a few tricks from her.”
Irlan had made some sticks and pierced the veggies and the meat and cooked it close to the bonfire… it was like a barbecue. Zelos wondered why that word came to mind since Irlan didn’t call that anything. Regardless, he didn’t know if the meat and the veggies were good or if Irlan cooked well, but it was delicious.
“Hmm, not bad. Not bad at all. I appoint you as our cook for this mission, Irlan. I could get used to this.”
“Hahaha, much obliged. My father also said that he cooked a lot for the captain as well when they were young, but he eventually got sick of cooking for a guy.”
“I heard that his unit always looked in high spirits thanks to his cooking. It is rare to see a leader of a unit cook for his underlings. No wonder he always had his unit full and at full power.”
Irlan smiled proudly. Zelos could understand that feeling a bit, but he was a bit surprised that the people of that world could get used to the death of the people they loved so fast… maybe it was because death was common among them and they were fighting it almost every day and because it was the best way to honor the memory of those who passed away since they also left a gift to the people behind… to at least one of them.
In the end, Zelos ate his share, but he felt like eating more… Unfortunately, Heirina bought enough for everyone to eat once for dinner and breakfast, so he couldn’t ask for more… it was a pity, but he will have to be mindful or hunt for some food. He probably could find some insects around, but he didn’t want to eat them in front of the others.
“I guess I will just buy more food from tomorrow onward with my own money.”
Once they were done resting, those three went to spar against each other while Zelos returned to the darkness behind another three. Those three had brought their main weapons, Heirina and Irlan had swords, but Kaitrine had a spear. They also had wooden versions of their weapons, and soon the sound of wood colliding against each other began to echo.
While Zelos was changing the club to his other hand, he took a glimpse of Irlan and Kaitrine sparring… he didn’t know if she was trying hard enough, but Irlan dodged her thrusts by a thin margin as he usually could.
Eventually, Heirina sparred with them as well and Zelos furrowed his eyebrows since he couldn’t tell what her trait was… all that he saw was Heirina moving her wooden weapon in the last moment and then blocking the attacks of the others… She didn’t try anything else.
“Is it something related to reaction?”
Zelos tried to recall the way that Hei fought… their main traits should be the same. Still, nothing truly stuck out… he just swung his weapon wildly without ever missing. It would have been helpful if Heirina tried to do anything, but she never did. Moreover, she had enough physical strength to stop any kind of attack… that should be her second strongest trait, brute strength or something.
In terms of traits, people are usually born with two, but they can gain others along their lives, some methods remain a secret, but it was common knowledge that when their ancestors died, people could get some of the power of their best trait if the ancestor chose it. With enough training and time, someone probably could make one trait stronger than the other, so it wasn’t surprising if someone had several traits, even more than ten, since they can obtain more traits from their grandparents, parents, even uncles or cousins.
Thanks to that possibility, Zelos wondered about a dark possibility… What if some people tried to speed that up by killing those related to the person they wanted to strengthen?
“... I can’t deny this possibility in a world that has been at war for more than one thousand years.”
At that moment, Zelos finally realized why Hei only had a single daughter. Having more than one child could create conflict between them, and one side might try to dispose of each other to guarantee their genetic rewards. Naturally, that would only be something that those of powerful families would have to worry about.
“We are still in our territory, but we should rest in turns. There might be some wild beast hidden since we are close to the border, too. I will take the last turn of the watch duty, and you guys can decide what you want to do with the others.”
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In the end, they were fine with whatever setup since they could rest during the day as much as they wanted. While the war was problematic, it made the breaks between the conflicts a lot calmer, since bandits preferred not to take their chances while the forces were around. The next two days passed quickly, and soon, they arrived at their first destination.
Although they left the territory of the Hei clan one day and a half ago, the group didn’t find many signs of human activity for quite a while. Aside from the paths left by wagons, carriages, and people coming and going, they only found a lot of unused land that was pretty silent. There weren’t any signs of animals or game that could be hunted.
“I did well in buying a lot of food in the last village… otherwise, I would have suffered a bit.”
Zelos wondered if he was getting too comfortable by getting used to eating a lot… while that gave him the chance to train more, it felt like he was getting a bit too relaxed. He felt more focused before… and sharp, too.
“We are here.”
While he was thinking about that, Heirina informed them of that. The group opened the window and soon found some fields around. They didn’t look that well-maintained, but soon, they found many fences around and animals eating grass on vast pastures. It looked like people there lived more on raising cattle than actually cultivating the fields. That should make the meat tastier, but Zelos wondered if it would be pricey or not… his savings were quickly ending, after all.
After half an hour, they reached the territory’s main town, and soon, they found a bunch of mercenaries acting as guards at the entrance. They stopped the carriage, checked what they had inside, and frowned since they were basically kids. They frowned even more after they saw Zelos.
“Proceed and don’t cause trouble while you are here.”
“Understood.”
Zelos wanted to ask if she truly understood that, but he decided to keep quiet… the town wasn’t much different from the one of the Hei clan, but Zelos couldn’t help but think that the place looked less pacific, or more militarized for that matter. In a single block, he saw three forges and the sound of metal was going strong in the area.
“Although that woman’s group was hired to protect this place, it feels like the people here are used to preparing for wars.”
“There are some mines nearby, so they produce a lot of iron-based things.”
“You are well-informed.”
“Anyone can know this much just by asking around.”
It was hard to imagine Kaitrine asking around for things like that, but that was another thing that Zelos decided not to say out loud. In any case, the group realized that a lot of people were looking at them and for quite a while as well… It looked like the people there weren’t used to receiving visitors, which made Zelos wonder if they were just wary of uncommon faces or if they didn’t trade at all.
“I feel like we will receive more than just a little warning if we get in trouble… Captain, we should look for the person we are going to escort and leave immediately.”
“Good idea.”
Heirina accepted Irlan’s recommendation pretty easily since she agreed to it. While she wasn’t showing, she didn’t like the feeling that the town was passing to her. Fortunately, they didn’t have to since they soon found the place that they should go… in the middle of the town, they found a large prison that looked like a fortress.
The walls were thick and rugged, twenty meters tall, and several crossbows were installed on them. The walls also had stones with pointy ends…, so someone trying to climb that place would hurt their hands and feet quite a bit. Zelos had a lot of questions.
“You didn’t say that the client was a criminal.”
“I told you that I would only tell you when we arrived. Anyway, we are to escort two people here, and one of them is someone Lua captured in the previous battle. We will be moving them further into our country’s territory since there are rumors that some of the enemies were planning to attack this place and free him.”
“I don’t think that they would be able to send a powerful force to invade this place without being noticed for two days at least… I guess they would need only one if they didn’t stop to rest, but that would put them in a bad spot for a battle. Unless…”
“Don’t say it out loud… but there are rumors that the enemies infiltrated the country and will use spies to free him. If I am not mistaken, he is the little brother of the second most powerful mercenary group of the country in the West. He should have a lot of information.”
Irlan and Kaitrine looked at each other and frowned… that was someone pretty important to escort for people of their age and experience. Still, they didn’t ask anything, since they knew they would find the reason for that soon enough.
When they reached the prison, the guards at the entrance blocked their way. At least ten of them were armed with very nasty-looking spears. Heirina stopped and then jumped from the carriage and gave them a scroll. They read it for a few moments and then checked the emblem before they looked at each other and nodded.
The group began to move again when the gates were opened, and they didn’t find much space between the walls and the main building. Weirdly enough, Zelos could only see a building of five meters in height… It had a single floor, but after looking around, he assumed that most of the place should be underground.
As soon as they got close, the massive iron door of the building opened and then they found a group of people wearing what seemed to be gray ceremonial clothes that covered their bodies completely. It made Zelos think of those guys who would behead criminals after they were judged and deemed guilty of heavy crimes. One of them moved the hood from their faces and then it was revealed the pale face of a blond woman who had long, straight hair and blue eyes. She looked exhausted for some reason.
“Thank you for coming, Heirina. My name is Edea. It seems that you didn’t come alone… that is good?”