As the dust settled at the bottom of the yawning pit, his friends were charging toward the sour-looking Ethan in haste. Meanwhile, he was staring at the wagons which had no one guarding them this time around. I guess they were smart enough to take off early.

‘’Ethan!’’

‘’What happened? Are you okay?’’

The others rushed over and grimaced after seeing his condition. Beet especially seemed to be frantic.

‘’A trade-off,’’ he replied with a forced smile before fetching Veronica’s arm and tossing it in front of Liam. ‘’Burn that for me, will you?’’

Liam gulped at the sight of a fair-skinned arm that unfortunately didn’t have any accessories. ‘’S-Sure,’’ he said and sent a small but potent fireball, setting ablaze the piece of flesh in an instant. ‘’So, she escaped?’’

‘’Mm,’’ Ethan uttered with a grim nod. ‘’I made a mistake. I’m sure she’ll return again, but I don’t think it’ll be anytime soon.’’

‘’You made a mistake and let the mid tier-6 assassin escape?’’ Carl blurted, taken aback. ‘’Then, was it true that you’ve cut Councilor Travis’s arm?’’

‘’Does it matter?’’

‘’Yes. At this point, it does,’’ Fraeya snapped tersely.

Ethan’s eyes softened as he noticed the hole in her armor’s chest piece. Dropping his gaze, he shook his head. ‘’If it's worth anything, I’m really sorry that I drew you guys into my mess. I’ve never–’’

‘’No, you idiot!’’ Fraeya cut in, gritting her teeth. ‘’I almost died because I was weak. That’s on me! But if you’d told us about your situation, one of us might suspect that anti-mage could be here for you. And now, even after we’re already involved, you’re still holding back information. Can you fucking stop trying to shoulder everything yourself and share it with your friends?!’’

Ethan stared at her, speechless. He was surprised to find that while he was considering them as his friends, he wasn’t really treating them as such. More importantly, he found the idea of depending on others… strange. Relying on others to help with his plans was one thing, but sharing his troubles with the people he trusted was another. It was foreign territory for him. One that evoked a mild feeling of dread.

‘’The witch, who came back from death, is right, Ethan,’’ Liam added, seemingly unaffected by Fraeya’s glare. ‘’The bitch, who escaped with a single arm, might come back with stronger companions.’’

That made him snap out of his thoughts and chuckle. ‘’Well, there isn’t much to say, but, yeah, sure. In a nutshell, I’ve killed some people from the McGregors and Travis came to kill me. He was almost successful, but the Olsen family got involved and saved me. They also warned Travis to leave me alone, which, apparently, was only useful until I was far away from the free cities. So, once I’m capable enough, Travis will die, and he knows it. I’m sure he will send more people after me, but there should be some time before the next batch. At least, enough time for us to reach Mirasatra.’’

‘’I’m guessing that you skipped a few key points, but that was still the gist of it?’’ Fraeya asked and shook her head when Ethan didn’t reply. ‘’Maybe you can send a message to the Olsens in Mirasatra? Would that help?’’

‘’It might hurt the McGregors, but that’s not what I'm after. And I’m already in debt to the Olsens. I rather handle this myself.’’

‘’Maybe you can inform Mirasatra’s royalty? They would gladly offer you protection and take the chance to hurt the powerful families of the free cities.’’

And then, I’ll have more powerhouses wondering what Travis wants from me. Not to mention, there is nothing free in this world. Ethan sighed. ‘’I don’t want any more powerhouses in this. I know it’d be risky, but as I said, I want to handle it myself.’’

Liam frowned. ‘’Do you have any friends in Mirasatra? You can also follow us to the Mighty Domains. We can help you just like we did before.’’

‘’How about this? First, get those clueless and frightened people out of the carts and tell them we will be resuming the trip to Mirasatra. Then, we’ll talk about the McGregors until they are ready to move.’’

‘’You want to travel with the caravan?’’ Fraeya asked as her eyebrows rose.

‘’No. I want to fly with my ship as soon as possible and get myself a new leg. But since I know that you won’t leave these people behind, I decided to escort you guys to the border of Mirasatra.

‘’Oh,’’ Fraeya said, biting her lip. ‘’T-Thank you.’’

‘’It’s okay. I don’t mind a few days of delay.’’

Other than Beet and Hayley, the others went to help the passengers of the caravan while Ethan started to inspect his belongings. He was taking out a spatial pouch from his ring and looking inside before throwing it to the side and fetching another to do the same. I’m pretty sure that I saw one among them… Ah! Here it is. He took out a gray flying carpet and made a connection through his mana, making it float next to him.

A [Blink] carried him on top of it, but he struggled to balance himself properly. Adjusting the carpet’s position in the air helped. Though, sitting straight was still a pain in the ass. Thankfully, he was able to bend the corners of the artifact with his will. With a few tries, he managed to make a curve that would support his back. As he wiggled to find himself a comfortable posture, the flying carpet changed its shape bit by bit, and in the end, it looked like an upper part of an armchair. Despite its comfort, the sudden movements were out of the question, but it was definitely better than a wheelchair, causing a pleased smile shape on his face. Mine is much better. Professor X can go play in the mud.

‘’You seem to take this lightly,’’ Hayley commented in a low voice, peering at his leg with a frown. ‘’How?’’

‘’Oh, believe me, I’m consciously holding myself back to not returning to Ehrendil and wreaking havoc,’’ Ethan replied, his smile turning malicious. ‘’It’s just that I have more important plans and making that bastard pay has to wait.’’

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

‘’I’m not talking about revenge,’’ she said, hesitating to continue. ‘’Y-You became crippled, Ethan. H-How could you brush off it like this?’’

‘’I mean, it can still be fixed by a high-tier healer, right?’’ he asked, a bad feeling blooming inside.

‘’Um, yes, but it’s not about that. You could’ve lost more than a leg. You’re very lucky to be alive. How is it that you're not shaken at all?’’

A sigh of relief escaped from his mouth, and his brows furrowed as he thought about what to say to her. He was shaken when his [Blood Rush] skill activated and showed him how close death was. Now though, there was only frustration and anger left. Am I still considering this as a game? Did VR change my perception in the past or was I always like this? He lifted his head to look at the wolf-girl, who was more distressed than he was, and smiled bitterly. ‘’I don’t know. Give me some time. Maybe I’m still in the denial phase.’’

She became even more flustered. ‘’No, I-I…’’

‘’Hayley, I’m joking. That’s not my first time getting close to death. I think I've started to get used to it. And right now, I’m tightly hugging the idea of being able to fix myself soon. I-If that wasn’t possible… I, uh, I have no idea how I would deal with this.’’

‘’It is possible!’’ Hayley replied quickly. ‘’If you don’t have the money, there are still healer sages who treat people without charging anything, but I don’t know if there is one in Mirasatra.’’

‘’Oh? What about the others? Do you know how much they charge?’’

‘’It varies, but it should be around 50 mana stones.’’

‘’That’s good. I can afford that,’’ Ethan said, his voice drowning among the cheers and cries that came from the wagons.

Once everyone was settled, they decided to have a meal and start the journey right afterward. During the meal, Ethan distributed the goods he’d found in Joey's storage to the passengers. There were still some missing items, but no one complained. They were all happy to be alive and free. The return of some of their wealth was only more good news. Ethan guessed that Joey might’ve shared some of the merchandise with his men, but he had no intention of digging into other pouches he had and let the people decide what to take.

As they enjoyed the cook’s delicious soup, Ethan covered his small group with [Void Mute] and finally chose to get to know his new friends better. ‘’So, you guys are going to Mighty Domains. I heard there are some good hunting grounds there.’’

‘’Yep. That’s the plan,’’ Liam replied. ‘’We need to advance to tier-5 before Meteora opens.’’

‘’Oh? I want to go there as well. Maybe we can team up when the time comes.’’

‘’Sure! Why don’t you come with us right now though? If you worry that I might drag you guys back, I can assure you that won’t be the case. If I can’t create the skill I want in three months I’ll just advance with what I have and catch up to you in no time.’’

The corner of Ethan’s eye twitched. ‘’Good to know. Is it nice to have superior talent from birth and not be bothered with the troubles of the majority?’’

‘’It’s pretty good. I mean–’’

Fraeya hit the back of Liam’s head. ‘’Sarcasm,’’ she said before continuing her meal as if nothing happened.

‘’Oh…’’

Ethan shook his head with a smile. ‘’I have my own plans and people to see in Mirasatra. Maybe I can join you later on, but I can’t say for sure. In the worst case, we’ll meet just before the Meteora opens and go there together,’’ he said and turned to Hayley and Carl. ‘’What about you guys? What do you plan to do in the near future?’’

‘’I, naturally, won't be going to someplace as savage as Meteora,’’ Hayley answered with disdain. ‘’My teacher arranged for me a job in the Nightingale castle. I’ll be working directly under Duke Jonathan.’’

‘’Impressive,’’ Ethan commented. ‘’Is that castle inside the capital?’’

‘’Yes. Both Duke’s factions reside inside Miri, but no other nobles are allowed to do that. That’s why everyone else is vying for their position. However, their military power is just too powerful and the King never allows an internal fight. So, all the other nobles are fighting behind the scenes against the Dukes. My teacher also warned me about many other things, but he also said that the rewards would be satisfying.’’

‘’Interesting,’’ Ethan mumbled and turned to Carl, causing the man to flinch.

‘’I-I didn’t plan that ahead a-actually–’’

‘’Can you please stop looking at me like that,’’ Ethan said with a wry smile. ‘’Is it that surprising? Aren’t there some geniuses in the Union who punch above their weight? Also, we would all be dead if not for Beet.’’

‘’W-What do– Oh! Do you mean his skill [Isolate]?’’ Carl asked with wide eyes and narrowed them in suspicion. ‘’But isn’t that a rank-1 skill? You sure you aren’t exaggerating?’’

‘’It is a rank-1 skill and Veronica had rank-2 [Mana Sense], but she couldn’t ignore the skill completely. The moment she’d torn that black cloud, it was already fixing itself rapidly. That’s why she wasn’t able to locate me from time to time and took serious injuries. Otherwise, by the time my mana depleted, she would be in a decent shape and probably kill us all.’’

Everyone turned at Beet, perplexed.

‘’All the skills he has are broken,’’ Liam muttered.

Fraeya nodded absentmindedly. ‘’They are all on par with the legendary skills people get from Meteora.’’

Ethan smirked and turned back to Carl. ‘’Well? Do you have any plans for Meteora?’’

Carl shook his head. ‘’No. I heard about the competition there. I don’t think I can survive in such a place. Hell, it’s a miracle that I’m still alive after hanging around with you freaks for so long. I’m not sure about the future plans, but I don’t want a caravan job anytime soon either. Maybe I’ll find something different in Mirasatra.’’

They chatted about their goals and intentions for some time before switching the subject to more casual topics. Once the meal was over, Ethan carried everyone and everything above ground with his ship. He had to make five trips up and down, but along with everyone’s help, it wasn’t anything difficult.

And so, the much-suffered caravan group resumed its journey. They increased their speed from what was before and kept their rests short. Everyone was eager to reach their destination.

Although, Ethan doubted that anyone was more eager than him. The more time passed, the more he understood the difficulty of his disability. And it wasn’t just the physical hassles. After all, he still had his [Blink] and the flying carpet. It was the dawning realizations in the mornings, the looks he was getting from the people, and the constant reminder of how fragile his life actually was. All these and many small other things combined together were getting him little by little and changing his frame of mind.

Fortunately, he had his friends with him. Though, the fortunate part was the weird duo; Liam and Fraeya. Because pitying looks of Hayley, and the new-found respect of Carl which was mostly caused by fear were only adding to his annoyance and irritation. Ethan was pretty sure that there was also much to gain from this humbling experience, but he found it too hard to stop distracting himself with the thoughts of the healer he would soon find. Rather than focusing on now, he kept telling himself that this was only temporary.

As his internal debates were getting more and more intense, the caravan finally reached the border of the Mirasatra kingdom after a week-long trip. It was quite a bit smoother than everyone had expected. There were no monster or bandit attacks and no sign of Veronica either.

Since the merchants of the caravan were once again able to hire more guards, Ethan gave his goodbyes to his friends and exchanged meeting points and times. Together with Beet, they jumped on their ships and swiftly made their way toward the closest city, Marah.

In his once-again-decorated cabin, Ethan was able to detect all the biochip users in the kingdom. Well, only the ones who didn’t turn off their signals. Which he guessed was the case for most, because his mini-map was showing 43 people in total, with most of them coming from the capital, Miri. While the city he was heading toward had only a single biochip user.

However, his thoughts didn’t linger on his fellow earthlings for too much. They were busily occupied with the high-tier healer he needed to track down and the new items he would acquire with his new wealth.