"State your name" ordered the leader of the guards as he saw the small, young figure, that had his face covered, approach them.

"Damian" answered Damian as he stared right into the leader's black eyes, not intimidated in the slightest by his power.

"You must be that student that was hired to assist us" mumbled the guard leader, seeing Damian's young figure and the Akegria Academy sigil on his robes.

"My lady, were you so desperate that you had to hire a student from the nearby academy? Was our guard group not enough" asked the guard leader to one of the people in the carriage, underestimating Damian's capability.

"I'm just being careful" answered a soft female voice from within the carriage.

"Tch, alright then. Follow our group and don't get in our way. Our priority is to protect this carriage and its passengers no matter what" said the guard leader to Damian.

He didn't seem able to sense Damian's cultivation level, which was quite average in the group. Despite only being average in the group in terms of cultivation level, Damian was confident that he could defeat a lot of them alone, especially with his new bow.

Damian wasn't offended or angry that he was being underestimated, and from his appearance, it was understandable that he would be underestimated, and it also allowed him to have an element of surprise over his opponents.

Damian nodded and didn't argue as he stood a few metres away from the group while they prepared to set off.

Damian kept his distance from the rest of the guards, who all seemed to know each other and seemed to be part of a guard group that was directly hired by whoever the two people in the carriage were.

He had tried as hard as he could to sense what was inside the carriage and who the people inside were, but it was as though his senses were blocked and couldn't make it into the carriage.

He was the only child and the youngest out of the guards looked to be around 18, but yet he wasn't threatened by any of them despite the gap in age. Although they would be skilled and experienced, and may have powerful Soul Spirits, Damian was also confident in his strength.

"Do you think that masked kid will be of much use, even if he is from Akegria Academy"

"I'm not sure, but he carries a bow, so at least he can give us some sort of ranged support if anything does happen"

The guards all spoke between themselves and Damian could clearly hear and see that they thought that he was a waste of money and space and wouldn't be of much use, but he ignored it and was more focused on completing his mission, then returning to the academy to train and accept other missions.

He needed to earn a total of 1000 contribution points through missions in order to take the Inner Academy test, that would allow him to become an Inner Student, and after completing the escort mission, he would have earned only 185 contribution points.

He still had a long way to go and also needed to reach rank 5 before then, which it didn't seem like he would be able to do. However, Damian wasn't overwhelmed by all the things he needed to do and knew that being overwhelmed and scared would only waste his time.

If he wanted to reach his target within a month, he needed to work even harder than he had done before.

"Listen up everyone, make a formation with 5 people on each side of the carriage and we will be setting off immediately" announced the leader of the guards.

Damian was calm and did as he was told, and was stationed at the rear end of the carriage.

The carriage was led by gracious white horses that were similar beasts to that of which the royal prince used, but they seemed to be of slightly lower quality when compared to that of the prince's, as the carriage began to move.

The carriage moved at a speed that was similar to that of a peak rank 2 External Cultivator, which was quite a slow speed for a beast carriage, but was slow enough for the guards to be able to keep up without tiring themselves and would allow them to survey their surroundings.

"Try to keep up kid, or is this speed too fast for you" mocked one of the guards beside him on the rear of the carriage.

Damian ignored him and moved at exactly the same speed as the carriage, not expending much Internal Energy by doing so, and was being very careful and cautious.

The guard leader stood on top of the carriage with a large weapon in hand and was very on edge, which confirmed to Damian that there was danger and that he needed to be careful.

They used roads that weren't populated and from the route that they were taking through the city at such an early time, Damian could see that they were avoiding any crowded areas and were taking a route that nobody would expect.

[It seems that they have somebody coming after them. But if that is the case, why are the guards so weak and only rank 5 cultivators] thought Damian to himself, confused and curious as to what was really going on.

They guarded the carriage for a few hours as it weaved through the roads of Aria City, seemingly heading closer towards the centre of the country. At the speed they were going at, it would take them days to reach the centre of the country and although Damian didn't know where they were planning to go, but didn't have that much time and needed to return to his training.

For the time being, he decided not to speak, not until he had a clearer understanding of what was going on and where they were going as he cautiously followed closely behind the carriage.