CHAPTER 41: ON THE ROAD (1)

Once we had been accepted for the job the old man proceeded to give us some more details on the job itself as well as the route and what he expected of us.

"So the journey should take us about a week, we have a single wagon that me and my granddaughter here will use at night to sleep. I’d like a rotating watch over night and during the day at least one of you to be up front with me in case of trouble the other two can stay in the waggon."

"Their shouldn’t be too much trouble on the road but I’d be supprised if we didn’t have at least 1 or 2 monster attacks most days and you will naturally be required to deal with that threat as you see fit. That should cover most of it any questions?"

We looked between us for a moment wondering if anyone had a question to bring up seeing neither of my companions had one I decided to go. "Iv got one, not so much to do with the job per say but more about the destination, Iv never been to Bowan before so was wondering if you could give any insight about what we can expect there?"

He looked at me for a moment before shrugging and answering me. "Well it’s known as the adventure city, we’re the adventure guilds first branch was established and they picked a damn good spot for it. Very high mana levels there ya see so plenty of monsters congregate there. Have heard that their are a couple of known dungeons in the area too but I’m not one to go exploring them." He thinks for a moment longer before continuing. "As for the city itself well it’s on the smaller side for city’s but it’s got plenty of commerce so it’s great for someone like me." He finishes with a wide grin.

I smile at that before thanking him, we soon make our exit and promise to meet him at the northern gate in the morning. Leaving the inn we decide to make one last stop at the bathhouse as a treat before we leave for a long journey.

I do make sure to purchase some of their soaps and other cleaning products, it takes a decent chunk of my remaining money but I feel it is a purchase well made. With the day coming to a close we retreat to the same inn we first used and get a room for the night. After a quick meal we head to bed eager to get an early start.

Morning comes and with a hasty breakfast at the inn we head out towards the northern gate. We arrive just before sunrise and are shortly joined by Derek and Shara on their beast of a waggon. The thing is huge the size easily 2m wide and 5 long, it has enclosed sides and is being pulled by 2 beefy looking oxen type creatures, they are 6 legged with dark grey almost black fur and with quite intimidating horns protruding from the sides of their heads.

"Mornin to ya, hop on up now and we can get goin." Derek calls to us, I go to hop in the front whilst Kana and Amanda head round to the back and get into the wagon from there. As soon as I’m seated the wagon starts moving again. It doesn’t go particularly fast maybe at a quick walking pace but looking at the beasties that are pulling it I imagine that they are able to maintain this pace almost indefinitely.

"Good morning to you too Derek. How you doing this morning?" I ask him once I’m situated.

"Aye canny complain, morning ain’t gettin any easier but nothing I can do about that now." Chuckling he continues. "Well past ranking up a whole bunch but I ain’t no fighter so got no inclination to go that."

I chuckle at that too, indeed the man did not have the body of a fighter as he had some healthy pudge to him, that coupled with his old age made it an unlikely possibility that he would suddenly start fighting monsters. "So how come your out traveling with your granddaughter? Would she not be with her folks?" I ask.

His face drops slightly at that causing me to wince as I instantly got that it was probably a sore spot for them. However, before I can say anything else he speaks up having seen my wince. "Ahh your alright is a valid question, my idiot son her da went and got himself killed years ago. He married an adventure lass and he decided to stop being a merchants and took up the blade." He laughs humourlessly. "Then he and their party went into a dungeon and never came back out. That was around 10 years ago no, left little Shara with no where to go but with me. So I’m training her up to take over the merchant company when I retire." A warm smile spreads across his face at that.

"Well I’m sorry for your loss but it seems like Sara is doing quite well at the whole merchant business then based on your reaction?"

He laughs heartily at that and his smile grows even wider. "Aye she’s a true talent, can get a blind man to buy a monocle that lass!" Laughing he slaps his knee to accentuate his point. At the loud noise Dawn finally wakes up and stretches out slightly and lets out an adarable little squeak.

Smiling down at her I give her some skritches inbetween her budding horns and then feed her a small scrap of meat, I had thankfully prepaired a decent amount of jerky for her, enough that it would easily last a month of she stays the same size and only ate that. I hear a small ghasp and look up to see Derek staring at Dawn with a look of amazement in his eyes.

"I-is that a d-dragon there lassy? How in the nine hells did you manage to tame one!?" He exclaims. "How much would you sell it for I’d pay just about anything!"

My mirth vanishes and I reply with a cold voice as anger bubbles up from me. "I consider Dawn here to be my daughter. I will advise you to never refer to her as an it or even think about buying her as if she were a common item to be traded." Unknown to me my eyes flash as the golden specks that are apart of my eyes glow. Dereks pervious excitement at noticing Dawn freezes as he notifies the rage building up in my eyes.

He coughs awkwardly as he is stared down by both me and upon ny anger flooding through my bond Dawn too glares at the man. "Ahh it would seem I let my excitement get the better of me there." He offers a small bow in our direction. "Please accept my apology I meant no disrespect towards either of you, I just haven’t seen a dragon before and got ahead of myself."

Seeing his honest apology I feel some of my anger receding and I nod at him before going back to stroking Dawn working on calming her down and seeing through calming emotions through our bond. She does eventually settle down after some time and a few snacks along with plenty of skritches to placate her.

The rest of the morning is spent in mostly awkward silence thanks to the earlier moment but that is soon shattered when we are approaching mid day when I spot 2 shapes rushing towards us from over a hill to our right. Standing up I stare at them trying to make out what they are, sensing my intent Dawn looks over to and lets out a low hiss and sends back a feeling of danger to me.

"Kana, Amanda got a couple of monsters approaching from the right side!" I call out. Then I begin to circulate my mana as I prepaid to cast a skill. Both girls are soon out of the wagon which slowed to a stop at my call and they stand to look at what is approaching. Now that they are closer I can make out what looks to be two raptor like monsters, they are running on their 2 powerful hind legs with 2 frontal limbs tipped is vicious looking claws. They are covered in a multicoloured plumage of feathers which blends quite well with the multicoloured grasslands we are within.

As soon as they are in range I summon my Spear of the Wilds imbued with air to allow it to travel faster. "Kana I’ll take the left you take the right." As I say so I let loose my spear whilst reaching out with nature moulding and will the grasses in front of the raptor to try and entangle its legs to prevent it from dodging.

The raptor which was focused on the incoming spear of wind was not paying attention to the ground in front of it and was promptly snagged by the rapidly growing grasses. As it movements halted my spear struck true pricing straight into its chest. The beast let out a cry of pain which was rapidly silenced as I summoned 2 roots to impale it from beneith. One aimed at its head the other its chest.

As my raptor fell limp the second had gotten a bit closer but upon hearing its partners cry of pain it glanced back, that mistake was all Kana needed and she released a powerful arrow with deadly wind magic’s swirling around it. Before the raptor could process that its mate was now dead Kanas arrow struck true and pierced right through its head, swiftly killing that one too.

I hop down from the front of the waggon and head over to the two monsters after recovering Kanas arrow I proceed to store both corpses in my chocker and return to the waggon giving Kana her arrow back and planting a soft kiss in her lips at the same time. "Great shot love"

Smiling Kana kissed me back and said. "Great shot from you too, and well spotted these were quite hard to spot even after you noticed them."

I grinned back at her. "Well I’m sure they will taste even better come dinner time then!" Laughing at that both ladies return to the back of the waggon where a curious Shara was peaking around the edge. As I returned to the front and climbed back to my seat. "Hey so Derek don’t suppose you know how best to prepaid one of these raptors to eat do you? Or if any of its parts are worth selling?"

He stared at me dumbly for a moment before shaking it off and replying. "Ahh um yes I believe iv heard that they can be cooked like any other poultry, so frying them would be quite good I suppose? As for their parts yes their feathers are quite sought after due to their multicoloured nature."

Humming to myself I smile before looking at him and speaking up. "Would you be interested in buying any feathers?" His confused expression turns into a grin as we begin to haggle over the price of the feathers.

———-

So the start of their journey and already attacked by fancy chickens! Wonder what else they will run into on their journey?