Avian’s journey to Alimdal was decently long as it took a whole 3 weeks to get there.

The journey was pretty tame for the most part as Avian continued to practice this [Blood Sense] and [Blood Mastery] in an effort to unlock further abilities from his blessing.

On a second thought explaining this was likely a good start, but maybe explaining it through an incident that occurring on his journey would be more clarifying.

-Hey Lukas, I’ve been wondering about it, but where are you going?

-Why would you want to know that?

-Don’t change the topic and just tell me! For your record I don’t like people who don’t answer my questions!

Cornelia replied much overbearingly so as she seemed to be used to people doing whatever she asked them to do much to her butler’s Marco’s worries and dismay, this would have been a good opportunity to teach her the reality of the world by striking back with his tongue but Avian simply let it go and thought about what to say as Cornelia sat next to Avian like usually for the past 2 weeks as they traveled through the kingdom.

Ever since they got to know each from day 1, Cornelia became an ever so bothersome substance sticking onto Avian whenever she was bored, the butler Marco tried his best to reign in this unruly missus, but it was clear that he could never thoroughly control this curious young lady who was prone to get bored which is why Avian decided to humor her so that she would stop bothering him by simply telling her interesting stories from his world or playing a few games of cards with her also from his world which would usually keep her away a couple of hours but not entirely before she would come back and demand for more each interval decreasing as time went on and Avian continued to entertain her while sacrificing his practice time much to his own dismay.

This all would have been easier if Avian just acted coldly towards her and told her to bug off, but Avian didn’t as he didn’t know this girl’s position who seemingly came from a higher social rank and could easily cause him trouble if he didn’t handle it right, ever since getting connected with her he started to regret not shifting away from her like the others who took a clear step away to avoid trouble, but now It was far too late as he could only wait until they got off, but for some reason even though almost everyone who originally was on the carriage had already been replaced by new passengers the 3 of them alone still stayed as neither of them had yet arrived at their destination.

Avian at one point also wondered where these 2 were going, but told himself to not bother about them lest he would get too much involved with them then he already was which was not good.

-Miss I’ve told you before but you cannot treat everybody like you do at the estate, which is why your usual behavior will come off as rude if you continue to talk down to people like this.

The butler Marco corrected, saying something that made very much sense, but only made Cornelia roll her eyes as she countered.

-What’s the problem? Lukas here obviously doesn’t have a problem with the way I talk so can’t do as I please?

-That is not the issue here my lady…and sir Lukas am sorry for my Lady’s rudeness, but please try to educate her of the common sense of the ordinary folk.

-Mister Marco, I don’t think Cornelia is going to change just because I tell her to…

-I know but still, you are one of the only people who haven’t turned away from the young miss so I appreciate it if you could help her…

The old butler bowed his head, an image Avian had already seen too many times to count as he shouldered a lot of weight through taking care of his missus, Avian could only smile wryly at that while Cornelia started to look insulted as she saw us talking while disregarding her, somewhere along the way it seemed as if the original conversation was forgotten, but Cornelia still kept it mind and jumped out.

-How dare you two make a fool out of me! As I punishment I demand you Lukas to tell me where you are going and what you are doing! If not don’t even think about ever having to talk to a beauty like myself!

-(Oh I would never dream of that missy)

Avian sarcastically thought, thinking about a way to change the topic without triggering her further just like he did for the past few days, but just as he thought about what to do, the carriage abruptly stopped as a somewhat noticeable commotion occurred coming from outside.

-Huh?

-What happened why did we stop?

-Did we arrive already?

The people inside were confused looking out as they raised the canvas to see what was going on, Avian immediately felt somewhat was off as the shouts from outside wasn’t something he would call calm, trying to understand what was going on he used his [Blood Sense] to get a better image instead looking outside like the others.

-This doesn’t look good at all.

Immediately Avian witnessed how a lot of red dots started to clash with other red dots, the accompanying screams and shouts was enough info for Avian to instantly figure out what was going on as the people who were looking outside also started to realize.

-BANDITS ! WE ARE UNDER ATTACK FROM BANDITS

-What?!

-Oh no!

The news hit everyone hard people were panicked holding their loved ones closer to protect them, but no one left the carriage as they all knew that the carriage was the safest place within the ongoing battle that was taking place, everyone could only pray that the mercenaries and guards were strong enough to defeat the bandits if not it spelled something terrible with everyone involved as no one here likely had a combat blessing if they didn’t go out to help already.

Traveling was not a safe thing to do in this day and age because of how prevalent bandits were, even though they traveled with other carriages and caravans making them stronger in numbers and less likely to get attacked by bandit raids, it never meant they weren’t going to get attacked by bandits, in a world where the role of a person was decided by their blessing this was much more so the case as bandits were one of the highest ranking problems any country could have as almost every person whose blessing was on the blacklist was literally abandoned by society giving them no other choice but to turn to a life of crime which is why most of the people who were bandits were also those who had a blessing on the blacklist but this was not always the case as there are no absolutes in this world or any world for this matter.

As everyone sat in their seats shaking and generally staying quiet, Avian momentarily thought about something as he continued to observe the battle with his [Blood Sense] gaining barely any information other than vaguely being able to tell how many enemies there were through guess work, but as he continued to observe Avian finally made a decision as he abruptly stood and started to head out of the carriage.

-Lukas! What are you doing?! Stay here its dangerous outside!

Unexpectedly, it was Cornelia who stopped him first as everyone else simply watched without a word as Avian was about to leave, these people who watched Avian going out to likely help probably assumed that Avian had a combat blessing which is why they didn’t say anything when Lukas stood up and was about to go, only Cornelia who didn’t think about these things stopped Avian as she was worried about him, even though they had only known each other for 2 week, this was the first time Cornelia had gained something similar akin to a friend in Avian, even though Cornelia was mostly clueless about how the world worked, even she understood how dangerous bandits were and what would happen if Avian were to oppose them, even though she didn’t want to say it Cornelia simply didn’t want to see Avian dead.

-Miss, please stay down, I am sure sir Lukas knows what he is doing do not involve yourself in this, remember that he is still a stranger to us, we have no right to say anything to him.

Cornelia was a bit startled by her butler’s abrupt change of character when he suddenly turned serious and cold, so much so that she even forgot what to say as she could only weakly stutter while looking at Avian.

-But…but…but…

-No, buts please sit down miss, everything will be fine the mercenaries and guards are all professionals, sir Lukas also wouldn’t just go out to die if he didn’t have the ability so please recognize your own inability and just stay calm and sit down.

Cornelia still looking unconvinced looked at Avian with worry as she stood in place not letting herself be moved by her butler, seeing her like Avian realized that he needed to say something, knowing this clueless rich girl he wouldn’t put it behind her if she did something reckless like follow him, on top of that she did have that strange ability of hers that allowed her to hide her presence which would likely foolishly bolster her courage if she did decide to go as well.

Avian honestly didn’t want to see her die, for how annoying she was, Avian did know her, and even though he was always merciless against everyone, children was still a line Avian drew when it came to his behavior, he didn’t care what happened to children as long as it wasn’t connected to him, but when it was connected even Avian would feel slightly bad.

-Cornelia, just stay here with your butler and wait, I am sure this is all going to end soon and as for me I don’t intend to die so you shouldn’t worry about me and instead worry about yourself in case things go bad.

And with those words Avian swiftly jumped off the carriage as he couldn’t be bothered to say anything more reassuring with his view of the world, in his hand a short spear materialized almost as if it was hidden behind his cloak, but in reality the short spear was something Avian bought in our of their many stops as they rode through the kingdom which he stored inside his space ring, Avian never bought this short spear with the intention to do harm, but merely as a form of self-defense on his journey, but in this case Avian had found an opportunity which made the spear very useful to him as he snuck by the carriage while keeping his [Blood Sense] on to make sure no one was sneaking up on him.

For how mysterious and effective Cornelia’s stealth ability was even she couldn’t hide herself from Avian’s [Blood Sense] when he was actively focusing on it.

-Well me being cautious won’t mean anything if I can’t receive the enemies blade head on, but again I can’t let this chance pass.

Avian motivated himself some more, finally reaching the place where the battle was taking place as he witnessed how mercenaries hired by merchants and guards under the employment of the merchants were fighting a blood battle with the opposing bandits who all looked rugged and worse for wear.

-Kill them all!

-Keep your formation, don’t let these bandits separate you!

-Archers! try to take out the opposing Archers!

Just as expected the battle was chaotic with orders being barked left and right and blood being spilled everywhere causing this intense stench of blood, originally Avian assumed he would become slightly sickened once he came closer, but for some reason he felt rather more energetic as soon as he smelled blood everywhere as he saw people getting, cut and stabbed, he didn’t know if this was one of the hidden effects of his [Hemomancer] blessing, but for some reason Avian felt as if he was full of adrenaline causing all of his senses and bodily attributes to get slightly heightened as he stepped onto the battlefield.

Already Avian felt that him coming here was paying off, but this wasn’t the reason why he was standing here watching the fight, hiding near a carriage Avian waited like a beast waiting for his pray and as he waited he watched as a sole mercenary who was fighting a bandit in a bitter struggle was getting snuck upon from behind, seeing that the mercenary was about to get assaulted on both sides and likely going to die, Avian immediately acted, holding his short spear with both hands he charged at the bandit who was about to ambush the mercenary, the bandit not even realizing he was basically the mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind.

And as Avian charged, he focused on his short spear before using his [Blood Control] ability to invoke a sub-ability he learned while on the journey.

[Blood Reinforcement]!

As soon as he invoked this ability he felt his blood being drained as it swiftly started to course down his hands and onto his spear moving towards the tip, it took only half a second before the head of the spear turned entirely crimson just like blood and then stabbed into the bandit from behind directly hitting his heart as the spear penetrated through the bandits body, the spear head leaving through the other end as the bandit looked shocked turning back trying to see his killers face, but failing as he quickly died and Avian pulled the spear back.

Seeing what just happened, the bandit that was struggling with the mercenary was shocked, noticing his distraction and that his guard was lowered, the mercenary instantly took the opportunity and struck the blade the bandit was holding away with his shield giving him enough time to also stab the sword into the bandit as he was finally able to kill him and end the struggle.

-Phew!

The mercenary sighed out of relief, having finally room to breathe the mercenary only looked at the dead bandit for a moment before him before sensing a person behind him which made him quickly turn around, but upon witnessing Avian holding a spear and another dead bandit next to him a brief look of confusion flashed before his eyes before the young mercenary realized what must have happened and why the bandit looked so shocked.

-Hey! Thanks, you saved my life!

The young mercenary said truly thankful as he looked at Avian, within this chaotic battlefield no one could assure that they wouldn’t get killed, if it wasn’t for Avian the young mercenary would have likely been the one on the ground instead of the other way around, but Avian didn’t listen as he was more focused on the dead bandit before him.

This man was the person Avian had killed, even in his previous world Avian had never killed anyone, but as a businessman Avian was involved in the deaths of many through his few and far between cutthroat methods even if not directly as some had committed suicide because of his actions, Avian always thought that killing someone with his hand and killing someone indirectly would be different and he was right, but for some reason he also realized that killing someone with his hand wasn’t that different compared to killing them indirectly, maybe that was just him, but Avian felt that the act of murder wasn’t that big of a deal as he always heard other people describe it to him.

Then again, Avian never valued human life as much as others, he was always willing to sacrifice someone for his own gain so it was the same as murder only with extra steps.

-Yeah, be careful, next time I don’t think someone as convenient as me will come to rescue you.

Avian said, luring out a troubled smile from the young mercenary as he agreed with that statement having just escaped deaths grasp.

Also talking on the battle was a bad idea too which is why both Avian and the young mercenary immediately turned towards the fighting.

The young mercenary was starting to get ready gaining his breath back, but he stopped still having not gotten the name of his savior.

-I am Markus, a member of the Black Shield Mercenaries whats your name savior?

Without changing his expression Avian simply replied.

-Lukas, I am passenger in one of the carriages coming to assist.

And with that the two quickly joined the fighting as blood continued to flow only exciting Avian more and more.

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