!WARNING!

This chapter contains graphic depictions of violence that may not be suitable for all readers.

Reader discretion is advised.

 

 

 

The carriage leaves the kingdom’s gate and the long journey begins

As the carriage travels through the empty fields Royce looks outside to see something interesting

Tori looks at Royce thinking to himself for a while before asking

“Royce? Are you okay?”

Royce snaps out of it and replies

“Yeah I’m fine, what happened?”

Tori replies

“Nothing you just look a bit gloomy since we left”

Royce turns his head to look outside again as he replies

“It’s nothing I just miss my family”

Tori smiles and replies

“Hey… I’ve known you since you were barely a year old…”

“So we both know it’s not that… It’s not like anyone else is listening… So tell me why are you feeling so down”

Royce replies while still looking out of the window

“It’s… I don’t know… I think I’ve made a mistake leaving the castle”

“It’s scary being outside… I-... I… mum even said not to go but I still am here”

“Am I a bad son?... I think I am… Me leaving, not ever listening, always being annoying and never doing as I’m told…”

“She didn’t even come to say goodbye…”

“It’s… I don’t know…”

Tori puts her hand around Royce

“Hey now… It’s alright… You didn’t make a bad decision… it’s always good to follow your dream for your own mental health even if they don’t come to anything you are still happy pursuing them right… and it’s only the start… you are one of the best mages I’ve met and with the hard work you put into everything you still will be the best mage in all of Rudhi if not the entire world”

Royce lays his head on Tori’s shoulder and continues

“I know but still… She's my mother… least she could have done is said a goodbye”

“She was so caring… and somehow… I don’t know when but it turned into Overprotectiveness”

“When father told us about all this… I just wanted to help… and what I got was…”

“I don’t even know what’s right or wrong…”

“I feel so lost”

Tori replies in a reassuring tone

“You don’t have to think what’s right or wrong… just do as your heart tells you to and as long as you don’t do anything illegal it should be the right thing to you”

“Afterall the one who should matters the most to you is your own self”

Royce replies while holding back his tears

“Thank you Tori… I jus-”

Tori shushes

“Shh shhh sh… Thank me once you’re no longer my student”

“Till then helping you get better is my job”

“Be it mental or physical”

“Now close your eyes and have a little rest”

“Today was a long tiring day”

Royce closes his eyes and nods before slowly falling asleep on Tori’s shoulder

But the sleep doesn’t last long as the carriage is jumped by a group of bandits

The Coachman tries to keep the horses calm but even with years of skills and a protective barrier over the carriage it’s hard to keep them calm as these bandits fire arrows and cast spells at the carriage

Royce wakes up as he hears the ruckus and Tori looking out of the window from between the curtains

“Tori… What’s with all this shouting an-”

Tori shushes Royce while slides the curtains aside a tiny bit and replies while whispering

“Bandits… and from the looks of things they’re from Deathspire…” 

“12 Archeres 5 Mages 2 Swordsman and a Brawler”

“Psh… Typical fucking bastards…”

Royce looks clearly surprised but let Tori continue

“Things should be fine if the coachman could get the horses to calm down”

“The barrier will be unfazed by these attack unless there is someone with an elemental blessing among them”

Royce replies

“So… No all out fights?”

Tori closes the curtain and replies

“Nope no point getting out hands dirty on such lowlife scumbags”

Royce sighs and replies

“Alrig-...”

Suddenly everything slows down as an iron arrow comes directly towards his face piercing through the window and the curtains

“What the fuck”

A little status screen appears in front

 

Blessing activated

-Hourglass-

 

Royce sees another arrow coming from the trees towards Tori

“Fuck how long does this thing last”

“No point wasting any second”

Royce quickly dodges the arrow coming towards him while concentrating mana and enhancing his physical strength

“And now…”

He punches the arrow and the door in the crossfire

As the dust clears up the brawler starts running towards them

Tori puts up another barrier and calls the coachman

“Move the carria-”

Tori stops the sentence as the coachman falls down with a loud this and an arrow sticking out of his head

“Fuck”

Royce falls on the ground the seeing blood oozing out of the dead coachman

Tori sees Royce and puts on a second barrier before helping him up

“Here I thought you wanted to be in a real fight”

“Do me a favor and close your eyes”

Tori jumps out of the carriage, and Royce closes his eyes. 

Not even seconds pass as he hears slicing and stabbing, followed by thuds and sickening gasps.

Royce opens his eyes a little to see Tori slicing open bandits with little to no effort. 

But as one last effort, a mage throws three explosives towards Royce. 

Time slows down the explosion as it destroys the barrier casted by Tori. 

Royce tries to move, but the shaky legs and violence render him unable to move. 

Tori rushes towards him at speeds so quick they make slowed time feel normal. In what feels like a split second, Tori puts up an earth barrier surrounding the entire carriage. 

As the deafening explosion turns the remaining bandits to ash, Tori slowly lowers the earth barrier to see the forest flattened and nothing but piles of bones and ash left.

Tori turns around and quickly holds him tight

“ARE YOU OKAY!? YOU’RE NOT HURT ARE YOU??”

She lets loose once to see it for herself if he’s okay or not

“IS THERE ANYWHERE THAT HURTS? YOU’RE OKAY RIGHT? WAIT I HAVE POTIONS IN THE CARRIAGE LET ME-”

Royce interrupts Tori

“Hey.. Hey.. Master.. I’m alright don’t worry”

“It’s okay I don’t need anything”

Tori hugs Royce again and replies

“I- I- I got scared… I don’t know what I’d have done if something happened to you”

Royce hugs Tori back trying to calm her down

“Haha an adventurer that makes explosions look slow getting scared of little me getting hurt”

“I appreciate you caring for me so much but don’t worry, I’m okay”

Tori lets go of Royce and replies

“I see… But you’re still a prince I can’t just let you get hurt”

Royce laughs and looks around to see only one horse standing there in front of the carriage

“Well… any idea how this prince can get to his destination”

Tori gets up and looks around to see the hoofprints going deep into the forest

“Well one ran off somewhere inside”

“Guess we’ll just have to put everything on the horse back and get to Parth that way”

Royce opens his inventory to see if there’s any space there

“Well I’ve quite some space in my inventory so we can probably put the tent food and water there”

Tori gets into the carriage and picks up items from the back

“Well we gotta be quick”

“It’s about to get dark soon, we gotta get out of the forest and look for a place to set up tent”

Royce puts his hand over the things Tori puts out. After everything is in Royce’s inventory Tori starts to put the rest of things on Horseback

“Alright, that should be the last of that”

“We should get going now”

“The horse has enchanted harness so it should be able to carry this and both of us”

Tori and Royce both gets on top of the horse and starts following the road

While on the way Royce looks up and asks

“So is there a reason why we need to get out of the forest before dark?”

“Like we can just camp out here if we find an open area”

Tori looks at him and replies

“Well we’ll probably get killed by Deathspire and if they don’t come for us that probably means we’re in the territory of a powerful monster we shouldn’t be in”

Royce continues

“So how long is this journey to Parth going to be”

Tori sighs and replies

“We can get there in 5 hours but it’ll get dark in 2 so we’ll have to set up camp”

Royce asks

“But like… if it’s only 3 hour journey we can just push through and get there late at night”

Tori replies

“Well we can… I thought you’d like to get some rest after all that has happened today”

“But if you want we can”

Royce replies and Tori speeds up the horse

The sky slowly changes color, from the sun to the moon lighting up the path forward

After traveling in the dark for some time they both see light in the distance

Tori speeds up once again and they both reach the gates to the city of parth

The guard stops them for checking and asks for ID

“Your ID or Guild card”

Tori shows her card to the guard as he glances over it and asks Royce for his

“Your ID mister”

Tori replies

“He’s the p-”

The guard cuts her off and continues

“I do not remember talking to you”

Royce sighs and opens his inventory to get his royal insignia

“I think this should suffice you mister”

Royce opens his status screen and continues

“Brock Randhel, Age 26 and working under Marquees of Parth or in simpler terms the person who is working for my Father, The king of Eldermor nation, Beth Eldermor”

“Now if you will move aside so we can get to our inn”

The guard nervously gets aside realizing what we had done just now and both Royce and Tori enters the city as Royce look back to once again reply to the Guard

“Oh and I dare say it was quite a questionable welcome at best, If that is how you treat everyone who comes in the city I might have to bring this up to the marquess”

The guard falls on his knees as Tori giggles

“You could’ve gone a little easier on that poor man, He was just doing his job”

Royce replies as they continue their way to the marquess's mansion

“Well after you saved my life today making someone respect you is the least I can do”

“And even if you didn’t save me today I’d have done the same for my master”

Tori smiles and replies

“Alright alright, We’re at the mansion let’s go”

Both of them get off the horse and Royce shows the insignia to the guard as they walk in

The guards take the horse to the stables and get the off it before leaving

And one off them leads the way to the mansion, once they reach the entry to the mansion the doors open on their own followed by a greeting from the marquees himself

“Welcome! Come on in. I was waiting for you to arrive my dear nephew”