Derb was an astute individual, this came from a constant bettering of himself to have others approve of him. He always knew how to move a situation to his advantage, even if he didn’t consciously know it. On the planet known as earth, this might have been quite a huge advantage over others, to the point that there was really no need to learn any other type of skill. Fixing? Cooking!? You could hire people for those. Or just buy from the local super mega “clothing/food/literally anything you need” corporation.

The only thing you couldn’t buy then we’re friends. Well, let’s not think too far into that depressing line of thoughts. Derb wasn’t on earth anymore, however, and the pleasantries he took for granted were finally starting to show how useful they were. Mainly, the ones used to stave off boredom. “Oh my god… it’s not even night yet.” Derb was lying haphazardly on his new summon. He’d managed to make himself a comfortable position by hanging off some of the horns protruding from the horse’s “armor”.

The first time he’d done this the cheeky summon pushed him off, though it couldn’t hurt him because of the contract it didn’t mean it couldn’t find loopholes. Apparently, there was a pretty big line between “hurt” and “Inconvenience”, the difference being how much it was the recipient’s fault. Derb wasn’t arrogant, he knew that ordering it would just end up like how it did Adalia. During the time they’d traveled the horse had finally started settling down, especially after Derb assured it he wouldn’t make it do anything it didn’t want.

Though that was basically the highlight of the whole six hours they’d been moving. The day was hot and dry, threatening to burn him had it not been for his armor and cloak. They were quite comfortable to be in than without. He had his cloak turned on purely for it to spread around him more, less surface for the sun to hit. His gaze was starting to lose focus on the sky until he remembered one thing, the books! How could he have been so idiotic to go without even looking at one! Had his brain been fried by the sun?

With an almost desperate movement, he launched towards the right side of the saddle, almost losing his balance. He thought it’d be stupid to take out the large book while on horse so he took out the one on rituals instead. He opened the book to the basics. Everything he’d done ritual-wise was due to help from his teacher, he couldn’t be overconfident. He looked at the basics on wind and fire and found some rather strange enchantments. “Warm object? Light candle? Gentle waft!?” The rituals were something that could have been easier done by hand, some weren’t worth doing at all. “Who needs to float pens!?”

He fell towards his horse, the idea of the rituals enough to blow the motivation out of him. He eventually regained his fire when he thought of a certain ritual. He quickly reopened the book to see if it existed, and luckily enough it did. He instantly applied the starting ritual mana on the inside of his chest plate. His hold on wind magic was shaky at best, so he lost a lot more mana than expected while doing so. He shuddered to think how hard it’d be to summon a demon with such terrible talent in dark as that. The ritual slowly turned green and he pictured the air rising with heat and lowering with the cold.

The process took longer than expected but eventually he felt a light breeze circulate in his armor. The stale air started feeling refreshing on his skin. He suddenly realized how cheap ritual magic was. “I don’t really need tools with this, huh...” He practiced with more and more small rituals, warming a dagger in his hand, lighting a small and controlled fire from a ritual, making the book itself float. The process was fun but time-consuming, and eventually, night had set over the two of them. “Let’s stop for now, no point hurrying when we’ve got some leeway.”

The horse complied and headed towards the shade behind a few trees. Derb hopped off and let Mist walk off to do whatever horses did. He didn’t have a camp to set up or anything so he just took out some rations and water. While eating he called down Connor, who was patrolling the skies. He tried speaking with his mouth full but remembered that he could basically use telepathy with him. ‘Tell me what you saw.’ Connor bowed and calmly recalled the sights. “Demons. Many. hidden in the trees… We can’t enter the forest too deeply.”

Derb nodded, they hadn’t met many demons in the dirt path they were on, it made sense, there weren’t many demons strong enough to face people who were able to travel here. He pictured the bodybuilders back at the village disguised as farmers and shuddered. They ate regular livestock so why were they so massive? He decided to stop reminding himself about his skinny frame and put his hood on. “Connor, keep watch over me. If anything happens don’t hesitate to wake me up. Make sure nothing gets close, ok?” Connor nodded. His eyes were full of fire, ready to help. He wished his other summons had that same flair…

Derb only needed around two hours of sleep before he was back to normal but walking around at night was just asking to be jumped. He set a fire with the help of another ritual, lighting up the area around him. It was eerie, the tree around him set so he couldn’t see more than ten feet at a time. He realized he’d never spent any time in these types of scenarios, he’d always been hiding behind his teacher. Connor was nice to have around but he didn’t expect him to deal with everything in the forest…

He clutched his cloak closer to his body as he felt the chill enter his body. He wondered how bad it’d get when night fully came. “Hey, uh, Connor… How about you stay near me, ok?” He felt the irony in how sinister his helmet made him look and sound, compared to his voice. Connor didn’t mind, he just sat next to his master, ready to take on anything that’d dare harm him. He felt comforted by the demon, even if he looked so weak.

Derb heard a rustle behind him and almost had a heart attack until he realized it was Mist. The horse had decided to rest beside the tree he was laying on, its head right beside Derb. Derb felt silly when he saw the two. They were so peaceful in the dark and he was being protected by them. Who was he to be so scared with such companions? Like that he closed his eyes and listened to the gentle swaying of the forest. He took out his book of summons and read until he went to sleep.

The morning soon came, and Derb awoke stiff in his body. He stood up and stretched, trying to get ready for another long day on his horse. His demons weren’t around him anymore, instead moving about on their lonesome. He could see Connor using a makeshift dark arrow to attack small birds in the area. Meanwhile, Mist was trying to eat from the branches of a tree, balancing herself on her hind legs. He felt like he had to teach the two some manners at some point, this would be trouble in public.

“Connor… stop killing birds, don’t you remember that time kids tried to hit you out of the sky?” Connor jumped when he heard his master, hiding the dark arrow behind his back. “They… come close? Protect?” Derb just shook his head. “You and I both know I wouldn’t like that. Also, Misty! Get down from there!” The horse spirit had somehow managed to hook a leg on a sturdy branch and used it to bring herself closer to the higher leaves. Just before she managed a bite Derb teleported her to him in a bright fog of light. She huffed in annoyance but didn’t do much more.

“Ok, neither of you can do this while people are around. It’ll make them think badly of me. Especially you Misty… you’re too big and people might mistake you for a threat.” She dug into the ground in another show of annoyance, glaring at him. “Don’t be like that… You can do what you want when people aren’t looking, ok? We have two more days before we meet others anyway.” Mist paused for a moment before she nodded unreluctantly. Eventually, he set the packs back on her and they were on their way.

Connor chose to fly beside them this time, only occasionally going high up in the air to scout out the area. Derb wondered if he was still following the order to stay close and suddenly felt embarrassed about what went on last night. He didn’t order him otherwise, though. The company was sort of nice. He took out a book and got comfy, lying on Misty once more. The day was going to be long, might as well brush up on some rituals.

___

“We won’t get anywhere if you two keep fighting over directions!” A young woman clad in armor shouted. The two armored men were each holding one side of the map, pushing each other to try to get a look. The three had been heading towards the City of Ooravile to find fortune in a competition. Apparently, they didn’t even need to win, passing certain trials was enough reward to incentivize many towards the city. Jenny didn’t plan on losing however, she was proud of her ability as a pure earth mage.

“We’d have been there already if we didn’t take this damn shortcut,” Frederick complained, mostly at Derrick. “We’ll get there faster if we just keep going forward, if we turn back we’ll just waste valuable time.” They’d been at this for an hour now. Wondering if they should head back while their carriage trotted ever so slightly further down the path. Their map was about as detailed as a child’s drawing so of course they had some uncertainties. They finally stopped at a fork in the road heading far left or right.

“We can’t keep fighting like this or we’ll miss the chance to participate! I can’t go back home with a shame like that on my back...” Derrick and Frederick scoffed at her complaining. “Calm down, princess.” “Maybe you shouldn’t have bragged about winning in the first place?” they both interjected. She flushed at the nickname, she wasn’t a royal but her younger days were spent with a fake crown and dress, ordering her two “squires” to do her dirty work. They’d all grown out of it but they still used the term whenever she was so demanding.

“You two were just fighting… why do you always get along at the worst moments?” The two just grinned at each other and put arms around each other's shoulders. The three continued to bicker until they saw someone going down the left path.

___

“All this is for is to light a cigar?” Derb looked at the small lighter ritual on his finger, it seemed like a tiny blowtorch was protruding out of his armored gauntlet. It was blue and constant, so he thought it’d hold some welding capabilities. He was drastically wrong, it seemed the blue didn’t indicate the intensity, 10 minutes on his dagger and all he got was a blackened tip. He sighed in disappointment at the results and put the dagger away. He was about to look for another ritual until Connor shook his shoulder.

“Humans ahead… armed.” Derb stood from his laid-back position, people were actually taking this path? “What are they doing? Are they headed in our direction?” Connor shook his head. “Waiting, ahead of us. Not moving.” An ambush then. Fuck. “Tell me how many there are, are they well hidden?” Fuck, fuck. Did they know he was here? Could they find him if he ran? “Three, no hidden. On carriage on… twisting path?” Connor obviously didn’t know the words but derb luckily understood and felt relieved.

“Christ Connor… you could have started with that… they might have a broken wheel or something.” He thought about how massive the forest was. “They could even be lost. Let’s go meet them.” Connor didn’t like that decision. “A-armed? Big! Scary!” Derb just laughed. “People wouldn’t be out here unless they had somewhere to go. I doubt any robbers would like to hide in a demon-infested forest.” He pulled on his hood to hide his helmet, no need to start off with that impression.

He ordered Wisp to go faster, lowering his weight with the rabbit spell. He slowed down once Connor informed him he was close. He felt a knot in his stomach all of a sudden, what if they were actually bad people? It wouldn’t have heard him to scout out a bit- “Stop fighting, you idiots! You were so buddy-buddy a minute ago!” Nope, he was fine. The forest path turned and he saw the carriage, simple but sturdy and expensive looking. There was no hood on the carriage so it seemed more war-ready than for travel.

The three on top were a sight to behold. The two on the front seat looked to be brothers, each rather tall and muscular looking. They looked even bigger when you included the bulky golden armor they had on, though some parts were missing, mainly in the stomach and arms. The two seemed to be fighting over a piece of paper that was ripped in two. In the back was a woman armored completely from the waist down. She had dark black hair that glistened against the white and gold of the armor she used. She was Desperately trying to separate the two boys.

The Carriage turned silent as they saw Derb show up from out of nowhere. He hadn’t noticed but the spirit horse made no sound as it moved, the lack of noise shocked the trio. They saw the monstrous and beautiful white creature. Each side of it was covered in sharp-looking horns. The demon floating to the side looked beautiful and fragile, but flying was no easy magical feat, so they assumed it’d be powerful. Neither held a light to the rider, however. The menacing look and desperate rage the armor held, not to mention the sinister hood that seemed to cover his face. A sword was latched onto his back, a mighty wizard and a decent swordfighter, perhaps?

They Didn’t want this fight, even if they won they’d probably lose a life doing so. “W-who might you be, Stranger? It’s dangerous to walk these paths alone..” Jenny almost facepalmed at Derrick’s choice of words. Summoners were mad and thought their demons to be human. What he said could anger the man. “Thank you, but I’m plenty safe with my incubus here. He’s been… quite observant. He glared at his incubus who had spent the morning shooting birds for fun, to which it cowered.”

The three were rather put off by the words. “Where might you be heading? I’ve got plans to visit a tournament at this… orvale place.” Derb said, trying his best to make conversation. The three lit up at the remark. “Ooravile!? We were just heading there ourselves! We’d gotten lost just now and had no idea if we should turn back! Do you-” Jenny’s mouth was quickly covered by Derrick. “Do you have any idea what he could do to us if he found out we were competition? He could-”

“Ah! Fellow competitors, then? That’s great! I’ve been meaning to find some company.” Derb pulled out his map, greatly detailed and full of landmarks. “I just happened to have a map. Would you care to join me?” The three gawked at the hospitality of the cloaked figure. “My summon here could pull your cart as well! With him, we’d be able to reach our destination in no time!” Derb leaped off his horse using Snake Eyes, landing neatly and steadily in front of the carriage. He pulled back his hood and proceeded to remove his helmet, showing a pale and handsome face, with dark and sharp eyes barely covered by black shaggy. The smirk on his face from helping them was clear on his face. “Shall we go?”