We have been traveling in this carriage for two days now.

At first, when I saw the speed of this thing, I thought running would be faster.

But in the end Blizzard convinced me to sit inside instead.

There wasn't much to do inside so we mostly just talked.

I told them a bit about myself.

Mainly about the time I was stuck in that dungeon and about the god.

They were quite surprised to hear about him.

Apparently he is a symbol of worship for some people.

But most of the people in this kingdom don't worship him.

It's mostly the neighboring kingdom.

Who the hell would worship someone like that?

I really don't understand those people.

Other than chatting, I also tried to practice ice magic.

Since I was still just beginning to learn it, I didn't need to be concerned about destroying anything nearby.

Blizzard was very kind and gave me some tips.

Thanks to those, I was able to reach the beginner level.

I can't do much other than freezing small things near me but it's still something.

They were all astonished by the fact I learned so fast.

But the truth is, I'm very experienced with magic in general.

Even if it's a different element, I knew a lot of tricks that work for all elements.

If I was just starting to learn magic as a whole, it would take way longer than this.

By the way, it seems like Blizzard completely reverted to her normal formal self.

I really don't know what was up with her back then.

They said she was worried about me but...

It's hard to believe she would change so much.

Maybe that was her true nature?

She could be just pretending to be mature and responsible.

...

When I think about it...

Didn't she leave her house of nobility to become an adventurer?

There's no way a mature and responsible person would do that, right?

After all adventuring is dangerous...

...

Well, whatever.

Also, I found the coachman driver to be quite...irregular.

His name is Darius.

He is an elderly man with gray hair and stern look in his eyes.

Even when he met eyes with me, he didn't budge.

I think he has to be the first person who wasn't afraid of me the first time he saw me.

I wonder why?

His mana was on the lower side and his physical strength couldn't even compare to Bob.

And yet, I could feel that this person was strong.

Not in terms of physical or magical prowess, but in terms of his mind.

When it was time to sleep, the carriage would stop and we would set up tents.

Darius then pulled out a strange dog statuette.

Apparently it was a special magic tool, which somehow keeps monsters away.

And even if someone manages to invade closer than fifty meters, the statuette will start barking to wake us up.

I was kind of interested in how exactly it worked, but he wouldn't tell me.

All he told me was that it was one of the precious magic tools produced by the kingdom's best magic tool craftsman.

And in the end, I didn't learn anything about the functionality of the tool itself.

As we went, we were ambushed by thugs a few times.

First time was a small group of really weak ones.

All it took was a wave of a single hand to defeat them all.

The second group was a little more organized.

They cut down a tree and blocked the road with it.

Then, when we came to a stop, they tried to snipe Darius with a crossbow.

Luckily, Darius was protected by yet another magic tool of his, which deflects projectiles.

They then tried to blow us up with fire magic, but I deflected it back at them.

After that, they seemed to run away.

The last group to ambush us threw a smoke bomb at us to blind us.

But Blizzard used air magic and dispersed the smoke.

With their smoke screen gone, they stood no chance.

The area around here apparently has a lot of these outlaws.

Many of them have bounty on their heads.

But we only killed them and didn't bother collecting anything off of them.

Their dead bodies would be too disgusting and stink up the carriage.

Well, I wouldn't really mind it too much, but the others were firm about it.

After these two days, we have arrived at a city called Bezendop.

From here, they said it should take under a day to arrive at Grandores, the royal capital.

We found an inn and stayed the night there.

I shared a room with Blizzard while Bob, Darius and Belion were in another room.

The next day, it was for some reason decided we would go sightseeing around the town before departing.

The city was pretty much like Henduria in my eyes.

Except it was a lot bigger and there was no sea nearby.

Well, it's probably because I haven't seen many cities yet.

That's why they all feel like they are the same.

During our little walk, we visited this city's adventurer's guild and I was introduced to its guildmaster.

Unlike Phil, this guildmaster was a young looking man with blond hair and long ears.

He was an elf.

Elfs are usually older than they look so he could have been older than Phil.

I wanted to ask his age, but Blizzard told me beforehand, that asking one's age is very rude.

Like everyone else, he was quite nervous when meeting me.

But besides that, it felt like he really wanted to ask me something.

In the end he didn't ask so I don't know what it was.

When we continued strolling in the city for a while, I noticed a church.

I decided to peek in and...

There was him.

Or rather his statue.

The god who kept me trapped in that dungeon, Gundar.

When I looked at it I felt angry.

But at the same time I felt like I shouldn't be angry at him.

It was a weird feeling.

I have all rights to be angry, so why do I feel like my anger is misdirected?

Did he perhaps manipulate my thoughts somehow?

Ugh...

Then I noticed there was a group people seated while an elderly man in white clothing was giving a speech.

I happened to overhear him saying something about sacrificing a goat, but before I could hear anything more I promptly left.

I really didn't want to stay there.

Those people feel...dangerous...in a different way.

We also stopped by some mansion near the middle of the city.

The butler there called Blizzard 'lady Trestadonia' and she scolded him for not calling her Blizzard.

It seems like the owner of this mansion is a friend of Blizzard's family.

Although she left her house to become an adventurer, she didn't completely cut off all ties.

The owner was a short black haired man with a mustache.

Normally, I don't rely on my nose, but...

His smell was kind of...familiar.

I couldn't quite tell what was so familiar about it though.

When he saw me, he paled even more than anyone before.

After that, we were forced to leave because he started to feel unwell.

I think that was quite an exaggerated reaction.

People are normally afraid, but not to the point of fainting just by seeing me.

Does he know me?

...do I know him?

I couldn't really push the subject without causing a scene so I obediently left.

But even then, it left a nagging feeling in me.

Just who was that person?

After we were done walking around, we returned to the carriage and finally departed.

It only took few hours of riding until we could already see the city gates of the royal capital.

Its walls seemed to be higher than the other two cities I visited.

After passing the gate guards, we finally entered Grandores, the royal capital.

It seemed way bigger than even Bezendop and there was a big castle in the middle of it all.

As we rode through the streets Blizzard's fans started gathering.

At that moment, Bob got out of the carriage to shoo them away.

Thanks to him, we managed to get to another gate leading to the inner part of the city quicker.

This gate supposedly serves to divide nobles and commoners.

When the guard saw me, he was startled for a second, but then rudely asked Blizzard why I was there.

She got closer to him and whispered something in his ear.

When he heard that he paled and bowed down to me.

"E-excuse me for my rudeness!"

...

I wonder just what she told him.

Probably about my level or something.

We continued riding through the city and finally reached the castle gates.

The guards there similar reaction and again apologized after Blizzard whispered them something.

We then got out of the carriage and Darius drove off to park it somewhere while the rest of us continued walking.

I was brought to a spacious room with a table and couches.

Blizzard and Belion left to inform of their arrival and I was left in that room with Bob.

To be honest, I don't know much about Bob.

He is very enthusiastic and devoted but doesn't talk that much unless prompted.

All I know about him is that he used to be a regular commoner child, who happened to be talented with the sword.

After that, he was picked up by Blizzard and she enabled him to further study swordsmanship as well as some magic.

We sat in that room silently without exchanging a single word.

It felt a little awkward and I felt like we should be talking.

But in the end, we quietly sat there until someone else entered the room.

It was a man in a suit wearing a serious expression.

"Welcome to the royal capital miss Reiza."

"Your audience with the king has been scheduled at tomorrow morning."

"Until then, we have prepared a guest room for you."

"Are you fine with this?"

"...sure."

An audience with the king...

I heard the king has been the ruler for over fifty years now and is closing in on the end of his lifespan.

He is well respected among his servants and a wise man...or so they said.

Well, I'll see for myself tomorrow I guess.

I'm then led to a room by the butler.

It was a spacious room with a big bed, some tables, chairs and a drawer.

Quite incredible to be honest.

I walk up to a window and look outside.

It's almost nighttime so maybe I should go to sleep now.

I'm a little concerned about sleeping in an unknown place, but it should be fine.

After locking the door with a key I was given, I leaned my sword against a wall and went to bed.

42 days left to return.

Bonus:

How does sensing mana work?

Sensing mana can be done in two different ways.

The first is to 'see' it.

When looking at an object or a creature, you can see its mana.

Sensing it in this way behaves almost like normal sight.

It means, that walls and other obstructions won't allow you to see it.

This way is generally easier to learn and with a bit of experience, it can be seen passively without even thinking about it.

The main disadvantage, except for being obstructible, is that seeing the exact amount of mana is difficult.

You can see the volume without a problem, but you can't know its precise density unless you are very experienced.

That's why Reiza might appear to have the same amount of mana as some other random child if an inexperienced person looks at her.

The second way is to properly sense it, this is the 'real' way.

This method is much harder and generally only learned by magicians unlike the other way.

It's much easier to sense it this way if you close your eyes and concentrate.

But with enough skill, it is possible to do it without closing one's eyes.

The main advantage of this method is the fact, that you can sense mana all around you and even behind obstacles.

It's also easier to tell the exact amount and shape of the mana.

So even if you are blindfolded, you can tell how your opponent is moving by sensing the movement of their mana.

Unfortunately, it's not as effective against things under water, in dense fog or similar places.

"Wait a second."

"Why are they sacrificing goats for me?"

You didn't even know about that?

"No...er...I mean..."

"It's not like I'm watching everyone at all times you know..."

"I still need to manage this world so I can't care about such details."

Can't you just keep turning back time and gradually look at everything?

"What?"

"Who would do such a laborious thing?"

"I don't even want to watch all these weirdos!"

And yet you still intently watch Reiza.

"Well of course I do!"

"How could I not?"