We continued the trip to the capital, I felt the coachman side was so awkward. Adel sat in the middle of Cassius and Valerie, and I couldn’t hear them exchange some words to lighten the trip. …

            On the trip, at one point, I felt the carriage suddenly stopped for no reason..I asked Adel. 

            “What happened?”

            She answered “Some animals disturb us..”

            “Animals?” I stuck out my head from the carriage, and looked at what animals Adel said.

            It was a pack of wolves…where there were 6 wolves…Cassius and Valerie immediately went down, and faced them..Yet, Adel kept sitting and watching them..

            I asked her “Why you not come down? And help them?”

            “Why I need to do that? My lady has paid them, surely it is their job to do that..”, suddenly Adel raised her voice, “IF I HELP THEM, SURELY THEY DON’T NEED THIS JOB..”

            “But–”

            Suddenly Cassius raised his voice, “IT’S ALRIGHT, WE CAN DEAL THEM…”

            I felt Adel raised her voice, and not lending them a hand was on purpose…To irritate them? But, I would not let them go away from me.,,

            Some minutes passed, Cassius and Valerie settled them up, without using their transmutation. I watched Cassius walk toward me. In front of the carriage’s door, he asked.

            “Do you need their pelt? Or anything from their corpses?”
            “Pelt?? You can take all of it, for you..I don’t need it.”
            Instantaneously, Adel said, “We don’t have any time to loot some animal corpses..”
            Valerie, hearing that walked toward the carriage, and Cassius jumped to the coachman's side, I saw their face quietly disappointed, to leave all the wolves' corpses behind. We proceed with the trip.

            …

            ..

            .

            The sky shrouded with bright orange, and the sun almost set. Adel told me, we would stop to make a camp for staying the night. Few moments later, the carriage stopped at the riverside close to the river. I could hear Cassius and Valerie already putting their feet on the ground, followed by Adel. Adel opened the door, and I walked out from the carriage..

            After I was on the outside, I saw Adel immediately take something from above the carriage…Cassius tried to help her, but she ignored the help from him. Adel took the thing from the carriage, I looked at it, it seemed like a tent, but it was a small tent.

            I took a seat at the carriage’s stairs, because there was nothing to do for me. Adel tried to build the tent, Cassius and Valerie seemed to take a walk around the spot, to find dry wood. To decrease my boredom, I took a walk to the river, throwing some small stones or whatever to the river. In a moment, Adel called me, saying that the tent was done..

            I checked it, and it was a small tent just for one person, with a mat to sleep in. I asked to Adel,

            “Where will you sleep?”
            “Don’t worry me, my lady…I can find some way to do that.”
            “Are you sure?”

            “Quietly sure, just enjoy, take a good rest on your night…and we need them to come back, so we can have dinner..”

            …

            Cassius and Valerie arrived with some dry wood. Instantly they arranged all the woods, lit the woods, and we had our fireplace. Before I sat on the ground, Adel put a mat for me to sit on. Adel walked to the carriage, unloading some from it. It seemed like some cooking tools and some ingredients..She used the fireplace to make dinner meals, but…

            I saw she used a few ingredients where there were four people in here. I asked her,
            “Is that enough for all of us?”
            “Huh?? All of us??”

            “Yes, all of us; you, Cassius, Valerie and me..”

            Adel immediately looked at Cassius and Valerie, turned back to me, and said, “Why we need to provide food for them too? They can find it by themselves.”

            “Come on, Adel!! Make another meal for them too.”

            “But, my lady…if we make the meals for them too, the supply will not be enough…”
            “We sure can manage that or replenish in the next town…”
            “Bu–”

            “Just make it for them..”
            “*sigh* huh…alright…” Adel stood up, stared fiercely at them, and walked to the carriage to retrieve some ingredients.

            I looked at them, and said, “I apologize for her behavior..”

            Cassius said, “It is alright…honestly…what she had said is true…usually the mercenary or escort does not eat the meal from the person who hired them, we just find it by ourselves or bring it on ourselves…”

            “But…you look like you don’t bring any food or supplies..”

            “We can hold the hunger, and hope on the trip to find something to eat...”

            “I feel bad…if you hold the hunger, when I have the supply to share..”

            “Well…” Cassius and Valerie were surprised, he said, “This is different from what the wind said.”

            I quite didn’t hear what he had said, “Hmmm?? Did you say anything??”
            …

            Adel came back with some ingredients to cook, she cooked for all of us. We had dinner together. After we finished dinner, I went to my tent to take a rest..Somehow, I could sleep well in the tent and on the mat.

            Tomorrow morning, Adel woke me up, and I got up from my sleep. In front of my tent, I saw Cassius and Valerie were tidying up. Adel asked me to go to the riverside to wash my body with her help. I agreed with that. Adel brought a bucket with some body wash..At the riverside, she helped me wash my body, while Adel and I were washing our body, Cassius and Valerie were patrolling around it…After everything was done and all the tools brought back to the carriage, we continued our trip.

            …

            ..

            Nothing happened on the second day of our trip, we took a break at noon to have lunch, and we settled at the riverside again, before the sky became dark. On the third day of our trip, nothing happened, but the relations between Adel, Cassius, and Valerie became more lightened than they first met. At dinner, Adel told us we needed to stop by a town or village, to replenish our supply, because we almost didn’t have any left. I agreed with her. 

            “Is there any town or village around here?” I asked them.

            Cassius answered, “There is, three or five hours on the road, we will come across a small town, but…..” His face became worried.
            “There is something wrong in that town?”
            “Sort of……but with your servant staying beside you, maybe it’s not a problem…”

            …

            Tomorrow morning, we decided to stop by the town, Cassius told us, to replenish our supply.. On the way to there, Cassius gave me a suggestion,

            “How about the carriage not entering the town, but stopping outside the town?”
            “Why??” I asked him.

            “To prevent something unwanted from happening.”

            “You can ask Adel about that..”

            Adel answered she would keep the carriage entering the town, not staying outside the town…Cassius tried to persuade Adel to let the carriage outside the town, but Adel still insisted on entering the town. Whether he wanted it or not, he accepted. 

            The crossroad had been in sight, the name of the town could be seen. Malitia.. Did I misread the name of the town? The town name was Malitia..We turned to the town, and entered it. Cassius guided Adel to the local store he knew, to buy some supplies..In the town, I looked around from the window of the carriage, everyone’s eyes were on us.

            The carriage stopped in front of the store. Adel told Cassius everything he needed to buy, and gave him some coins. Cassius jumped down from the carriage, and walked to the store. Again, I felt everyone’s watching us, it was like being supervised by someone…and I heard something disturbing from Valerie, she said to Adel,

            “We have been marked..”
            “Which way?” Adel asked Valerie.

            “On your left…”

            I turned my gaze as Valerie said to Adel. I saw some people gathered, but I looked at them as ordinary people. How could Valerie know them?

            We kept waiting for Cassius to come out from the store, and he came out. He told Valerie to help him, bringing the supplies to the carriage. Valerie jumped down from the carriage, followed him to the store. They went inside to the store, leaving Adel alone on the carriage.

            In a moment, they came out from the store with supplies in their hands. They put it above the carriage..After all the supply on the carriage, and they climbed up to the carriage, we immediately went off from the town..On the way, Valerie told Cassius about being marked..He just said..

            “Again…that’s why I hate that town!”

            We came across the crossroad again, and continued the trip…Yet, after some minutes riding from the town, I was still feeling like I was being followed by someone. I looked back, and saw some horses chasing us..I immediately told Adel,

            “THERE ARE SOME PEOPLE CHASING US!!” 

            “WHAT!” Adel looked back, immediately made the carriage go faster, and said to Cassius and Valerie, “You two know these people who are chasing us?”

            Valerie said, “That’s why I said, we had been marked.” She looked back, “Those crap people surely love to chase people..” And she turned her gaze to Cassius, “What do we do about them?” 

            “Just be ready, I don’t want to deal with them, let’s just persuade them.” Cassius said.

            In a moment, the group were beside the carriage, there were ten people riding the five horses, with two persons in each horse. They seemed to be surrounding the carriage from all positions, where there were two horses in front of the carriage. I thought they would stop the carriage, instead one horse beside the door of the carriage tried to open the door..Adel heard the door try to be opened, immediately said to Cassius,

            “YOU!Take control of the horses..” 

            Cassius and Adel switched seats.

            I saw the door being opened by them, immediately I stayed back from the door..One person tried to jump inside the carriage, when he jumped to the carriage, suddenly Adel from above the carriage kicked him, made his body throw back to the horse, and the horse with the rider fell off. She went inside the carriage..

            They changed the position, now there was one horse with two persons in each direction. I was surprised, Cassius yelled something to them,

            “YOU IMBECILES, WHAT YOU WANT! STOP YOUR HORSES, AND WE CAN TALK.”
            After his yell, I saw all the horses beside and behind the carriage pass us, they stopped in the distance in front of us…In a moment, we stopped in front of them. All the riders got off their horses..I noticed their equipment was the same as Cassius and Valerie, light leather armor and short sword. Cassius jumped down from the carriage, and walked toward them..

            Adel said to me, “Wait here, my lady..” and she left the carriage.

            I watched her walk toward all the riders. I saw Cassius and Adel seemed to have a discussion about them, after Cassius came back from them…I didn’t know what they were discussing, but suddenly Adel laughed so hard, her laugh was so loud, even I was inside the carriage could hear it..I saw her walk toward them. In front of one of them, instantaneously, I saw something flying from them, it was……….one of their head.

            In response, they used their transmutation to fight Adel. I noticed a different color from their hand. The highest one was the same as Valerie, Red or fourth level, and the lowest one was Yellow or second level. They started to surround Adel, and engaged her…But……………their engagement, and their fighting were nothing in front of her, in a seconds, I could see all of their heads went flying with clean cut..,and their bodies were lying down. Adel covered in blood, Cassius in there did not make a single move or single step toward them, instead Adel finished all of them before he moved a single finger.. 

            Seeing her covered with blood, in the middle of lying bodies, made me remember what mother said, Adel was a former assassin, who got captured by father, and got trained in the home. I wondered if Martia and Livia, the maids of Aurelio and Ophelia, were the same like her, or maybe all of the servants in the house were the same like her. Suddenly, the two persons who got thrown away and fell off from their horse back there, got passed and were beside the carriage. They were seeing all that, immediately they turned back their horse, and started to run away, but…two daggers flew from Adel, toward them, hit on their heads…Instantaneously they fell off from the horse, and the horse ran away.

            I heard from Valerie said something to me,

            “Your family, surely a monstrous family….”