The next morning, I went and informed Jay that I would go to the capital. I was able to successfully convince my mom after showing her that I could use space-time magic to escape if ever necessary. She asked me quite a few questions, but in the end, despite having defended him, she decided to not tell my dad about my abilities. I also made her a nice rocking chair as a bit of a bribe, saying that it would be much more comfortable for knitting or crocheting on.

After informing Jay that I would be going, I had to prepare for the trip, this wasn't going to be a short trip like my previous one. I assumed I was going to be gone a minimum of 15 days, probably closer to 20 days. I was only going to stay until a final decision was made about whether to construct it as I planned. If they wanted me to remain until it gets completed, I would have to politely decline, and impolitely decline if they still pressed me.

Leaving Jay's store, I went over to the Merchants guild to talk to Livia. I didn't have to wait even one minute after arriving before Livia showed. Chatting with her, I found out that she was going to be heading to the capital as well in order to show the hand pump to a group of people at the duke's place. Since we were going to be leaving on the same day, I suggested we travel in one convoy, which she quickly agreed to.

We chatted for a bit longer before we parted ways, both of us having to prepare to leave the following day. I went around purchasing a few things, stopping at the Cat's Paw to both buy things for the trip and let them know that I would be gone for close to a month. I promised to look around the capital and see what kind of baked items were being sold there. I also said I would pick up any ingredients that were cheaper in the capital and bring them back in my item box.

When I got home, I precooked some things for the trip there and back, that way, I wouldn't have to cook as much. I couldn't prepare entire meals in advance because it would seem strange if a 10-year-old was pulling out freshly cooked, hot items from his item box. Normally, it would be impossible for a kid my age to have the item box skill at a high level where the time is considerably slowed inside it. For this reason, I only prepared things that I let cool down first or were served cold, like sandwiches.

We had a fun dinner with Miya and Maya since I was going to be away for a while. They, of course, told me to be careful, come back safely, and have a nice trip. It was obvious that they were worried since traveling was a dangerous thing to do in this world, and the farther the distance, the greater the risk. I couldn't tell them that there was no reason to worry, so I just said that it was going to be a large convoy and would therefore be even safer than my previous trip.

I asked the spirits, Kaede, Rose, and my mom to help with my garden and such before I left, though it was mainly Dryad, Gnome, and Undine that I was asking for help. I also collected the honey to prevent any potential mishaps. The next day with everything I needed in my item box, I went to the meeting point, unlike last time, we were meeting near the gate because Jay wasn't taking as much product with him, despite still using three carriages.

When I arrived, Livia, Jay, Sieg of the Spirit Wind Travelers, and another person who looked like an adventurer were all gathered together, so I headed there. It seemed they were talking about how to arrange the carriages and position the adventurers. I couldn't help but have a wry smile since everyone seemed to have different opinions and wanted to do things their way because of their experiences, which in a way, was smart, but the way they were going about it wasn't.

"It sounds to me like you all have good reasons for your plans, but your execution is poor, and arguing like this is the worst thing you could do. Do I need to inform Revna that this is how you're acting in front of your clients, one of them being the Guildmaster of the merchant's guild?" I said, causing them to shut up and everyone to turn to me.

Livia looked at me with a bemused smile. "Good morning Cero, I guess that means you've been listening. Care to tell us what's on your mind?"

"Good morning Livia, it's nothing all that special though. Since we're all traveling together, everyone should give up on who is in charge, who is right or wrong, and who has the most useful experience. You should put the protection of the non-combatants first, having the passenger carriages travel in the middle and the two carrying goods in the front and rear. Since your two teams wouldn't be able to cooperate properly anyway, one should take the front while the other takes the rear.

Since the Spirit Wind Travelers don't have any beastkin in their party, they should take the rear, having most of their party on the last carriage and one or two riding on the 3rd carriage. I don't know your party, but since you have beastkin in your party and beastkin have sharper senses, you should take the front, with the party member with the best senses watching from the driver's seat. Most of the remainder can ride the back of the carriage when not walking to keep active.

In this way, you can easily protect the second and third carriages carrying your clients while being quick to notice should there be an ambush, be it by a monster or bandit. This also allows you to work separately but for a unified purpose, lessening the chance of interference. Cooperation does not necessarily mean unifying your command, you can cooperate while still working within your own parties. Poor coordination while defending against an attack can be more dangerous than the attack itself."

"Mm, well said, you are correct about what should be prioritized and even positioned the two parties based on their abilities, but then who should be in front, me or Jay?" Livia said, preventing anyone from arguing.

"You should since it wouldn't make sense for the adventurers you hired to protect Jay instead of you and vice versa. Ah, but keep in mind that I will likely be moving around a lot, sitting on top of a carriage as often as I am in one." I almost forgot to mention that last part to the people who weren't used to my antics from the previous trip.

"That will make it more difficult for us to protect you, so I'd prefer you move around as little as possible." The adventurer I didn't know said to me with obvious concern.

"There's no reason to worry about my safety, I'm more than capable of taking care of myself." I smiled at their concern. "As long as I have the distance advantage, I can even take care of B-rank monsters by myself, lower A-rank if I have enough mana, or time to drink a potion and recover. If I go all out, I can even fend off my dad, Ronan, for a while."

My statement caused everyone but Jay to go wide-eyed, and even jay seemed a bit surprised, but he shrugged it off quickly.

"Your mother said you were good at magic and had learned the sword from your father, but she didn't mention you were that good. Seraphine really does neglect to mention the important parts frequently, I wonder if it is an elf thing considering I get the same vibe from you." Livia said as though she had found clarity about something that had been bothering her for her entire life.

"You're the demon instructor's son? No wonder you are confident." Said the unknown adventurer.

"Seraphine, the Storm Angel is your mother? No wonder you're so good at magic." Said Sieg, causing me to get curious about the nickname he used for my mom.

"While I am curious about the Storm Angel name and all, we should probably get moving so that we arrive on time. By the way, I know the other three, but I haven't met you or your party yet. My name is Cero." I hurried everyone along while addressing the Adventurer I didn't know.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Clara of the all-women's party River's Claw." She said, offering me her hand in greeting.

I shook her hand since she offered. "We'll be together for a while, so let's get along. I'm likely to shoot monsters with my bow or magic during the trip just to give you a heads-up. I noticed you're all beastkin, so let me know if you need buffs or anything, as you've likely guessed, I'm a half-elf, so I'm confident in my mana pool."

"I'll keep that in mind, and I'll also let the others know." She replied with a toothy grin.

At about that time, I saw my mom coming towards us along with Miya, walking quickly, "I wasn't sure we'd make it in time, glad to see you haven't left yet." My mom said after showing a little surprise when she noticed Livia. "I didn't know you were going as well, Livia."

"I'm surprised you allowed Cero to go on this trip, it's always a danger when traveling," Livia replied.

"He has proven how capable he is, so I'm no longer worried that he wouldn't be able to return, even if it were a much longer trip through a more dangerous route." She replied obviously thinking about my space-time magic, causing Livia's eyes to widen in shock, not knowing that she only meant my ability to escape alive.

"These are for you, they just came out of the oven." Miya handed me a basket that was emitting a pleasant aroma. "Mom said this would be the last pumpkin treat until autumn."

"Thank you," I replied with a smile, not wanting to say anything extra. "I will definitely enjoy this. Tell your mom I said thank you as well, I'm sure the regulars will be envious that you gave the last one to me."

"Ehehe, don't worry, if they have a problem with it, I won't sell them any pumpkin pies for a year!" She replied happily.

We quickly finished our goodbyes and started heading out, organizing the people and carriages in the way I had proposed earlier. I think they only agreed to it because Livia backed me up, the threat of me telling Revna and because it was a fair compromise that made the most sense. I decided to ride with Livia for a while, intending to ask about my mom's nickname. It ended up being disappointingly straight forward though, referencing her healing magic and wind/water combination magic.

Livia asked me a bit about my potions and other such benign topics. As we moved farther out and I started to feel the occasional monsters, I moved to the top of the carriage, surprising both Livia and the River's Claw. I found out later that Clara thought I was joking when I said that I would ride on the top of the carriage. Before exiting the carriage, I had given Livia a cushion and pulled out my own once I got on top of the carriage.

Laying back on the top of the carriage, I spread out my Presence Detection and Magic Detection, while pulling out a book on dungeons I had purchased. I couldn't feel anything that could be considered a threat, so I opened the book and started reading. It turns out that it was a study on dungeons, why they exist, and other things that differentiate dungeons from the rest of the world.

It was an interesting read, though lacked any real conclusions, only offering a few theories that might explain the odd phenomena. I, however, was able to form my own theories thanks to my knowledge of other worlds existing and my space-time magic. I now believe that dungeons are subspaces like a more advanced version of dimension home, where the space is distorted and mimics the laws of this world since the dungeons are naturally formed from the mana and laws of this world.

Though it felt like my theory was missing something, it definitely seemed like dungeons were subspaces and had natural laws similar to the ones of this world. After reading through the book and skipping over some rambling sections that felt like the author was ranting, I noticed the reactions to Presence Detection were odd.

It felt like the monsters in the area were avoiding one area, and that area was moving. Presence detection didn't feel anything in that area, and we weren't close enough for my Magic Detection to scan it, so I sat up and focused mana in my eyes while staring in that direction. Empty, the area looked devoid of life, I couldn't see or sense anything, causing me to know something was strange. If we kept moving, and the unknown monster continued moving in the same direction, we would cross paths in another 5 minutes or so.

Not wanting to underestimate the potential threat, I quickly jumped to the first carriage, using Air Step to cover the distance. Air Step, as it sounds, is a skill that allows me to step up to three times on something like a floating barrier. I gained the skill after wondering if I could use barrier magic like an invisible platform, which worked. As soon as I got to the driver of the first carriage, I asked him to slow to a stop.

When we stopped, everyone gathered to find out why we had stopped, only to see me coming down from the very front. Seeing me come from there, they all looked at me at the same time, the question obvious in the way they looked at me.

"There's something not showing up on presence detection heading west in front of us. It's still too far to sense it through magic detection as well, and when I enhanced my eyesight, I couldn't see anything over there. All the other monsters are clearing a path in front of the direction that it is moving in and giving it a wide clearance. We should move the carriages close to each other so I can set up a barrier and send someone to scout." I said while looking at them.

"Are you sure? I haven't noticed anything strange." Asked someone from the River's Claw, I assume it was the party scout since she was the person that was in front next to the driver.

"I'm sure," I confidently replied, "we would have crossed paths in about 5 minutes had I not stopped the carriages."

"You should listen to him, his scouting ability is easily on par with an A-rank." Roy, the scout of the Spirit Wind Travelers backed me up.

"I suggest we not waste time lest that monster finds us first," I said, getting everyone to start moving again.

Once the carriages were grouped up close, I cast multiple barriers over the area, concealment, physical, and magic reflection barriers. I then waited outside the barriers with stealth activated while Kayla, the panther beastkin scout, rushed in the direction I had indicated after I cast haste and a concealment barrier on her. I monitored her and the general situation the whole time, hoping the odd occurrence wasn't anything too troublesome.

While paying attention to my detection skills, the situation took a sudden shift. Shortly after, I noticed Kayla start moving back at high speed, not long after that, my magic detection picked up on something powerful. Quickly, I gave up on my stealth, cast an earth wall spell, and called for the other adventurers, informing them that something had gone wrong and Kayla was getting chased back this way.

I drank a mana potion and watched as the others prepared for battle. Soon enough, while enhancing my eyes with mana, I was able to see the situation, and based on what I had read, I knew what was coming.

"Everyone that can use ranged attacks, prepare to immobilize the enemy. It seems we're dealing with a Cockatrice, and while I do have some anti-petrification potions, it would be best if we could keep it from getting close." I informed everyone as I pulled out my bow from my item box and knocked an arrow, enchanting it with a lightning spell.

There was an audible gulp that came from the adventurers, and for good reason. A cockatrice is an A-rank monster that has a petrification breath attack, runs fast, and is no slouch in combat either. Luckily, Kayla is a panther-type beastkin that is quick on her feet, otherwise, she likely wouldn't be able to stay ahead of the monster, though the distance is slowly closing.

As soon as it was within range, I shot my arrow, before quickly knocking another one, enchanting it, and sending it down a slightly different path from the first. I was able to graze the Cockatrice with the first arrow and score a direct hit with the second, but I only managed to stun it for a few seconds. During those few seconds, Kayla was able to cross behind the earthen walls I had set up, and the other ranged attackers were able to hit the cockatrice as well.

Even the close-range attackers had pulled out throwing and other ranged weapons, not wanting to get within range of the petrifying breath. As soon as the monster had come to a stop temporarily, I used earth magic to hollow out the ground in front of it and shot arrows at the monster's eyes, enraging it. When the mild paralysis from the enchanted arrows wore off, it immediately started to charge forward while I knocked another arrow and enchanted it with fire magic.

On its third step, the ground below it caved in, and I released my arrow, aiming for where its head would be. The monster roared out as it fell, causing my arrow to hit inside its mouth, which was far more effective than what I had planned. As the other adventurers saw this, the close combat fighters ran toward the enraged monster. To reduce the risk even further, I cast wind magic, rotating the air around its head like a cyclone.

Despite everything, the Cockatrice had not taken much damage and was putting up a good fight even with its limited mobility. I healed the adventurers that had been sent flying with worse injuries from the wings and legs. Unfortunately, Sieg had gotten hit with the petrification breath, albeit only barely thanks to my magic causing the breath to swirl upward. I had to have Kayla rush over with a potion for him since he was still too close to the Cockatrice for me to go over.

When the vanguard was starting to show fatigue, I started sneaking in more magic attacks to finish it sooner. I still had my Spacial Severance spell that I could use if necessary, but I hadn't been able to fully test the spell, so that was a last resort kind of thing. Fortunately, Sieg managed to behead it in a fit of revenge for partially being turned to stone earlier, although he almost got hit by another breath attack while beheading it.

After the battle, I took down the earthen walls and helped treat everyone's wounds, taking a mid-grade mana potion while I was at it. Once that was done, I used Earth Magic to place the Cockatrice on an incline to bleed it into a bucket made from earth magic. I also carefully removed the eyes, floating them in a bottle of high-grade healing potion. From there, I carefully dismantled the Cockatrice, having Livia help me preserve all the valuable alchemical materials.

Almost everything on a cockatrice is useful, the feathers for magic tools and weapons/arrows, the eyes, heart, liver, kidney, lungs, tongue, and blood in alchemy, the meat and intestines are edible, while the claws, beak, and teeth are usable in weapons and arrows. After a quick vote, we decided to use the meat and intestines during our trip, and we would split the value of the remainder. Livia appraised the value of the alchemical materials and then bought most of it while I bought the rest. Of course, after the split, I paid almost nothing for the materials I got, which included one of the eyes.

After setting aside some of the meat and the intestines, I pretended to lightly freeze the rest of the cockatrice meat before putting it into my item box. I also offered to carry the materials that Livia bought, which she agreed to. We continued along the road for another two hours before stopping for the night, we weren't able to travel as far as planned, even with pushing the horses a little, so we planned to make up the time over the next few days.

For dinner, I made a chicken dumpling stew that was somewhat similar to a hotpot and some stir fry using the intestines and sliced vegetables, including a few peppers. It seemed like the adventurers and Jay had brought bread from the Cat's Paw, so I only provided for Livia and me. I also made milk tea after the meal. Dinner ended up being a huge hit with everyone, the meat was tender, juicy, and delicious all on its own, which made the meal all the better.

ShadowWolfGuild

Noticed one of the programs I use has been occasionally replacing words with the "correct" words, making sentences incoherent.  I have also been going through and fixing where a random return to a new line is created by one program.

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A special thanks to Yeuromain for the support