The carriage owner, who had remained quiet the whole time, finally decided to turn around and check where all the noise was coming from.

“Hi!” John said as he faced him.

“What the!?” He shouted.

Ah, sorry..

“Sorry for the jump scare.. Is everything alright?” John said.

“Everything Alright..? I Have a kid on my carriage and I didn’t even notice!” The driver replied.

“Yeah.. about that.. 2 kids actually.” John said.

He pointed at Ariel, who had been staring at her new necklace, and she waved at him.

“W-when did you 2 get on..?” The man asked with a perplexed expression

“That’s not important, sir. Why don’t you have any adventurers guarding your carriage?” John questioned.

“No, I don’t think that is important.” the driver said.

The man let out a sigh before continuing. “I’m a merchant kid. I made a request in the guild to be accompanied, but no one accepted. I couldn’t wait any longer so I decided to leave everything to luck.”

“I see..” John responded.

“Look kid, Carriages without adventurers protecting them usually get targeted by bandits. They’re uncommon in this area, but they still appear. If we’re lucky, they won’t appear. If they do, I’m afraid I won’t be able to help you. They’ll capture you and your friend and sell you off to slave traders.” The driver explained.

“Mhm.. Hey sir, what’s the reward for that quest?” John asked.

“10 Silver coins,” He replied.

“Hmm.. Then since I’m already here, I might as well accept it. I also get a free ride so.”John spoke.

“Wait, a minute. You kids are adventurers?” The driver asked.

“How do you think we got on without anyone noticing? We’re both F rank adventurers.” John replied.

“F?! That’s pretty low. I don’t think you’ll be able to handle bandits.” The Driver said.

“Ah.. About that.. Don’t worry, look. Glacies.” John replied.

He pointed up and an ice spike had been formed slightly above his finger.

“Magic?!” The driver exclaimed.

“Mhm. She can use it too.” John added.

The man let out a laugh after he realised something. “I see, not to mention how you didn’t use any chants. You’re a strange kid, but you’re hired. My name is David, you are?” the driver asked.

David looked to be in his 60s. He had a long white beard, a sword on his waist and ponytail tied white hair. He was also slightly taller than John, around 165cm while he was around 155cm.

“It would be rude not to properly introduce myself to my benefactor. My name is John Fox. And this here is my partner.” John answered.

Ariel, who realised that it was her cue, got up and bowed her head and introduced herself. “My name is Ariel Rivera. I’m John’s p-partner.” With a smile on her face, she sat back down.

“Nice to meet you, John and Ariel.” Said David.

They both nodded at him.

“That being said.. Aren’t you the lucky guy? Travelling around with such a cute girl.” David whispered.

“Very!” John said as he nodded.

“Wha- I wasn’t expecting that reaction..” Said David.

“But it’s the truth?” John said with a perplexed expression.

“Most people aren’t able to admit it. We’re still pretty far from where we’re supposed to go, It’s getting late and the horses are tired so let’s get some rest.” David suggested.

It’s been around 3 hours since the carriage left the kingdom and the sun set about an hour ago. The reason that David didn’t notice them all this time was because he kept ‘Furtim’ activated between him and Ariel, and would occasionally use Silentium when he turned around.

John decided that it would have been best to tell him after we were moderately far from the kingdom, so that he wouldn’t be able to go back.

“Alright.” John replied.

David moved the horses out of the road, onto a nearby plain with trees.

“This should be able to keep it out of sight.. The only problem is that monsters are quite common here.” Said David.

Next to the road they were on, there was the forest that he went to with Ariel for the goblin extermination and the Giant boar. Despite travelling for 3 hours by carriage, John still couldn’t see the end of it.

The forest also looked much more deeper here compared to the entrance, apparently it was because people cut trees in the entrance of the forest to use for the kingdom.

“It’ll be fine as long as we’re not inside of the forest, right? We’re still out in the plain, we’re just taking cover with the trees near them.” John asked.

“No, I’ve travelled this path many times, there’s always going to be a pack of wolves that will appear, I was planning on taking a short break then keep travelling by night, but that would be more dangerous. And since I hired adventurers, let’s see what you’re capable of.” David explained.

“Agreed, I’ll keep watch, you can get some rest along with the horses. Let’s continue tomorrow morning. Wait.. I FORGOT! Where are we going again?” John asked.

“Huh? You didn’t even know that? Then why d’you hop on to my carriage..? You’re a pretty strange kid. We’re heading north to one of the ports where adventurers go to travel by boat to the kingdom of atlas.” David answered.

Ah, that’s right, kingdom of atlas was north of the kingdom that he was in.

“I thought you guys got on my carriage because you knew that.. It’s also quite a famous place for adventurers.. No, in fact, many adventurers go there.” Said David.

“Why is that?” John curiously asked.

“Well, there are 4 Dungeons surrounding it.” David answered.

“Dungeons.. Can you tell me more about dungeons?” John questioned.

“Huh? You’re an adventurer and you don’t know what dungeons are!? Listen.. Thousands of years ago, dungeons just appeared out of nothing. Inside came out monsters which caused a massive amount of casualties and deaths.” David explained.

John listened intently with dimly lit eyes as the man continued to explain the origins.

“In an attempt to find out, what was the cause of all the monsters appearing. Humanity created exploration groups to explore the dungeon, Thousands of treasures and magical items were found inside and these helped strengthen humanity.” David spoke.

‘Wow.. I never realised history could be so interesting.’ thought John.

“The exploration groups resulted in the creation of the adventurers’ guild. It’s an adventurer’s job to suppress monsters and explore dungeons. Because they explore, they’re able to experience many new things. Each dungeon is different, so adventurers tend to travel around and see each one.” David further added.

“Wow.. So that’s what it means to be a true adventurer. You say they travel around to see each one, does that mean that they’ve completed the previous one? What happens when they do, does it reset?” John probed.

“Completed? Haha, you’re a funny kid. In history, only 3 dungeons were recorded to have been completed. In order to complete it, you’d have to reach the final floor and beat the final boss. As a result, you gain unimaginable riches and ancient loss scrolls containing powerful spells. Do you get it now, kid?” David spoke.

“Ah.. so the reason they travel around is to find an easy one which they’ll be able to complete?” John realised.

“Haha, you didn’t have to put it like that, adventurers have their pride, you know. But yeah, that’s the case. Anyway, we’re continuing tomorrow morning. It’ll take us a week to reach Atlas following this pattern, so try to get as much rest as possible.” David replied.

“I see.. Thanks for the information! I’ll be fine.” John said as he made his way towards Ariel.

It sounded a little ungrateful, but John was sure he understood why he was in a rush.

“Ariel, how are you?” John questioned.

“I’m good and you?” She asked.

“I’m good. I thought it’d be a good time to teach you magic strengthening.” John answered.

With an excited expression, she nodded.

John explained the process to Ariel, how she had to imagine her magic power strengthening her body, and she got a hang of it quite easily. It’s probably because she can use magic perception and cast a spell. Compared to that, magic Strengthening is basic.

“So how does it feel?” John asked.

“My body feels light and I feel faster.” She answered.

“Interesting.. Why don’t we test it?” John suggested.

As he finished saying that, in an instant, he stretched out his arm to see how she would react and she grabbed it.

“Looks like your senses and reaction speed increased as well.” John stated.

“D-Don’t just startle me like that! But.. I unconsciously reacted. I never imagined that I would be able to move that fast.” Ariel said.

“It’s magic.. Anything is possible. That aside, get some rest for now. I’ll be keeping watch with magic perception to make sure no monsters attack us.” John declared.

“Alright, wake me up when it’s my turn. I can use magic perception too.” Ariel replied.

“Yes, yes. Will do.” John responded.

Shortly after that, Ariel laid down on the carriage and began to sleep. John checked on David and made sure that he was also asleep. The horses were fine too.

“Well, then, I guess it’s time to try out this spell. Deprehendere.” John muttered.

‘A pack of wolves in the forest within a 50 meter radius, huh.. Just to make sure’ John said to himself.

“deprehendere”

‘No other humans within a 100 meter radius. It should be safe, if I go hunt some food for us.’ John thought.

“Meat easily spoils without being frozen. But with my ice magic, that doesn’t matter.” He spoke to himself.

———————————————————–

“Ariel, Good morning.” John greeted.

“Good morning.. Wait.. Didn’t you say that you were going to wake me up when it’s my turn!” Ariel exclaimed.

“Well, things happened and there wasn’t really any need. Besides, I can get some rest in the day while we travel, and you can just wake me up when anything happens.” John explained.

“So you don’t trust me to be able to protect us from the monsters at night..” She said with a saddened expression.

“N-No! That’s not it! Sorry, it’s just because you looked so comfortable when you were sleeping that I didn’t want to wake you up..” John justified.

“F-Fine, but next time please rely on me a bit more.. If you don’t it makes me feel useless as your partner.” Ariel said with a pouting face.

“Understood.”

John went over to David and woke him up.

“Good morning.” He greeted.

“Good morning, kid. Looks like we got fortunate. No wolves attacked us.” David responded.

“No, they did.” John said as he pointed towards the frozen bodies of the wolves outside of the carriage.

“W-What?! You dealt with them all on your own!?” David asked in a surprised manner.

“Yep, and I froze them, so we’ll be able to eat some meat.” John replied with a smile.

Ariel, who hadn’t realised either, looked surprised.

“Well done. Looks like I made the right choice hiring you. Not like I had any choice to begin with.” David replied.

“Thank you, that being said. I don’t know how to butcher animals, so do you mind teaching me?” John asked.

“… I don’t even know what to think, at this point.” David said with a dumbfounded expression.

John unfroze one of the wolves and with his help they butchered it. Now all that they needed was to cook it and eat.

“Hey kid, lend me a hand. I’m trying to set this wood on fire. Try to look for some flint.” David asked.

“there’s no need. Ignis.” He replied.

In an instant, after John muttered the word. The wood lit up in a blue flame.

“O-oi.. What’s this?” David asked.

“Fire? John replied.”

David ignored what John said and began to cook the meat. To his surprise, it managed to cook way faster than expected. That’s because of the blue flame.

Last night, John practiced a few new spells. One of them was ‘Ignis’, a fire spell. At first he tried creating fire, but it didn’t work. John thought he didn’t have aptitude for it until he realised that fire is the process of the rapid oxidation of material.

It’s possible for Magic to create a material out of nothing, It can create Chemical compounds and elements of the periodic table, as long as you understand the formula and you can imagine it.

But creating a material like wood is a waste of energy, and John was never really interested in wood, so he didn’t understand its composition. Creating wood to use fire magic seemed stupid, so he thought, why doesn’t he just create the flame itself? And to his surprise, it worked.

A Flame is the visible, gaseous part of the fire. If John remembered correctly, flames consist primarily of carbon dioxide, water vapour, oxygen, and nitrogen.

Most of those can be found in our atmosphere, so all he needed to do was gather them up with magic, After that with a spark. It ignited. The Area in which he concentrated The Carbon, nitrogen and oxygen is where the blue flame is formed. And after it’s formed, John can manipulate it in any way he wants to.

After we finished eating John asked David “What are we going to do with the remaining bodies?”

“Can you unfreeze them for me? I’d like to butcher them, I think you could keep the pelt and sell them for quite a few gold coins. And we could freeze the remaining meat and use them for food during the trip.” David answered.

“That’s a good idea!” John replied.

Just as he suggested, John unfroze the remaining bodies, and he butchered them. Shortly after he finished, John created some water for the horses and after they were finished eating. They continued the trip.

*Yawn*

John let out a yawn and had a tired expression on his face as he sat on the carriage beside Ariel. David was the one controlling the carriage and remained focused throughout the whole time. He was also working hard in his own way.

Ariel, who noticed that John was tired, grabbed his head and placed it on her lap.

“Um.. Ariel?” John asked.

“Sleep, if you don’t get enough rest, you’ll slow us down.” She said.

“Alright..” He replied before closing his eyes.

‘I’m excited to see the kingdom of atlas and experience new things from now on.. I don’t know what the future has in store for me.. But I hope it’s filled with exciting adventures.’

‘Slowly but surely, I’m becoming stronger. Stronger so that i won’t ever lose to anyone. I’ve decided that once I reach Atlas, I’ll undergo heavy training.’ John thought to himself.

And just like that, he fell asleep.

.