"Pirantrophs, a rare sight."
"Why are you laughing? There are monsters in front of us!"
She's still chuckling, mocking me.
"You gotta relax. Those creatures don't attack first. Normally... Sometimes."
I hold back the insult that I'm about to hurl at her and I yell.
"What do you mean?!"
"Don't worry, you'll see."
She keeps riding the horse without a care in the world.
The black, huge, about 9ft tall, pig-like monsters with two long and big brown horns on their head are at our front, they're four in number and they seem to be going somewhere together.
We're getting closer and closer to it.
"Don't worry, they'll run once they see our wagon."
Jennette keeps assuring me with a calm voice.
"Um, I don't think they're running Jennette, they're standing still now."
We're getting closer and closer, and the creatures are standing, looking at our incoming wagon like its prey.
"Jennette."
I call her name but she isn't answering, we're just a few inches away from the monsters now, and they're blocking our path.
"Jennette."
I'm shaking her shoulder but she refuses to answer me.
One of the creatures brings its face closer to where I stand holding Jennette's shoulder and she's sitting on the horse.
Its nose is like a pig's, it really is pig-like.
"Kruunk!"
It shouts, the air from its smelling mouth blowing both me and Jennette's faces and the bangs of our hairs flutter.
Jennette sighs.
"I didn't want to kill, I just wanted to enjoy our trip."
She stands on the horse, perfectly balanced and uses her hand to push me back inside the wagon.
"I gave you and your friends a chance to run away."
She raises her right hand, her palm spread wide.
"Inubladu."
With a low, calm voice, she calls out.
And then– a green magic circle, with various ruins on it forms on her open palm.
Wron!
A soft green hue of light flickers from her palms and into the air. It's forming something– a blade!
A windblade!
It's green.
As she swings her hand down, the wind blade immediately severs the head of the first monster, blood splattering everywhere.
My jaws drop.
What the? She's capable of that? I gotta learn that!
Her eyes are cold and sharp as she stares down at the other monsters from the horse.
As the monsters see the severed head of their kind, and meet the eery and chilling eyes of Jennette– their instincts tug at them, they run away.
"Hmph."
The magic circle disappears and she cleans off the dust on her gown caused by the monster's head impact with the sandy ground.
"Impressive."
I say, the awe In my voice and the glimmer in my eyes can't be hidden.
She jumps and lands her butt on the horse.
"Pfft, no Young Master Charles, it's not impressive, pirantrophs aren't even d-tier monsters, you should be able to kill it easily too. Don't you know your own strength?"
She laughs at me.
"Don't call me Young Master Charles anymore. I've abandoned that identity. Call me Ed. And, I only sparred with Klaus back at home, the only time I fought someone who wasn't Klaus was the day I fought Richardson."
It's true, I've never fought anyone apart from Klaus who I trained with every day, I never sparred with any of the kids I was in the same class with.
"That's why I'm going to become a mercenary when I get to Ludia, to increase my experience, that's what I lack, after all, I need knowledge, enlightenment and proper training to ascend my circles."
I can see Jennette visibly shake, albeit slightly as I mention my plan of being a mercenary.
But she wouldn't say anything– she shouldn't, I warned her.
She only nods her head slightly.
"Do you want to learn how to use air mag–"
"Yes!"
Before she could even complete her question, I already answered her. My eyes are flashing with excitement.
"Haha."
She laughs awkwardly, surprised by my quick reply.
"Then... I'll teach you starting from tomorrow."
"Thank you sensei!"
I say playfully as I bow my head and give her a fist-palm salute.
"What's sensei?"
She asks as she chuckles.
"It means master."
"Master?" She smiles, "okay."
Finally, I'll have something productive to do during this fucking slow trip.
And we continue riding.
***
"We have to set camp here. I didn't sleep yesterday, I need to rest too."
She stops the horse.
It's nighttime, and Jennette is tired, I can obviously hear it from her exhausted voice and I can see it from the way her eyelids are heavy and the way she's yawning now and then.
"Yeah, I think that'll be good too."
She nods her head.
"But we're not with any camping materials, and where are we gonna tie the horse?"
I look around, the area we're in is filled with grass and flowers, only the narrow and straight footpath is devoid of grass, it's just soil.
We're in the middle of the road too, it's dangerous and I can hear the howls of wolves in the distance.
"The horse won't go anywhere, don't worry. It's a specially trained horse, trained by vice-captain Klaus himself."
I raise my eyebrows.
"If it's that maniac that trained it then I feel bad for it. I know it won't go anywhere, but if it does run, I won't blame it or get angry, it's suffered enough."
I tell Jennette and she looks at me with a curious expression.
"I wonder if the horse carried boulders on its head every hot afternoon."
Jennette finally laughs.
"Oh you, you're gonna miss those guys aren't you?"
Huh? Is she crazy? Miss? Pfft, the only people I miss are Marcelle, Dustin and Margie.
"No, that's impossible."
I shake my head as I declare plainly.
She sighs.
"Alright, whatever you say... I brought something with me that we can sleep in."
I look at her curiously.
"And what's that?"
She touches a pouch attached to the strap on her waist.
"Huh?"
She opens the small purse and brings out something inside.
Wait...
What the hell? How...
"How is it possible to bring out something like that from inside your strap?"
"It's one of the perks of being a registered mercenary in Ludia. They hand you a standard-issue subspace bag once you're licensed."
Subspace? I'll just assume it's some magical purse or bag that stores things bigger than it.
My eyes glitter with expectancy.
"How much time is remaining before we reach Ludia?"
"You asked that this morning Ed. It's two days."
She holds the two folded mats she brought out from her purse and jumps down from the horse, and I come down from the wagon too.
"Now, to sleep. We've got a great day ahead of us tomorrow."
Yeah, I'll learn air magic and... Travel, so uneventful.
She lays the mat on the ground, and we lie down to sleep.
It's really uncomfortable sleeping on some grass at the side of the road– the bugs are crawling and the crickets are creaking. Who knows what might creep on me while I'm asleep?
I force myself to sleep.
"Goodnight Jennette."
I turn to face Jennette who's lying down beside me.
She turns to face me too and she smiles and squeezes my cheek.
Gosh, I'm not a damn kid.
"Goodnight Youn– I mean, Ed."
She giggles.
And we both sleep off.
______________
"Those are the ones eh?"
"Yes, yes boss, the ones that smell like money!"
"Shhh, lower your voice, you'll jinx it you rat tongue!"
"So, should we keep tailing them, boss?"
"Absolutely! We just have to wait for the best time to strike, like we always do."
"Don't worry. We'll monitor them like we're hawks."