20 days after the explosion – Duke’s Villa

After getting a hold of himself, the prince psyched himself up by telling himself that this wasn't the time to mope around and instead of wasting his energy in pointless loathing, he should get out of this sh-ty situation. And that's what he did

First he reunited with the two girls, and after making sure Lina was alright and only the four of them were the only people alive on the mansion, they started to make preparations to leave

The prince asked Susan what happen to their stuff, but it seems they took all their luggage inside the carriage to make the con more believable. So basically, they had nothing but the cloth they were wearing

So he went to plan B, steal anything valuable, which ended up pretty successfully. They could have stolen the paintings and some of the decorations, but since it would help the enemy found them faster when they start searching for them(since it would be pretty obvious it was them who sold the stuff), so instead they stole the money and cloth the people on the mansion had

Since there were a lot of people working there and the duke have some cloth for guest in case they ever need them, they got quite a nice haul

And even though the guards and servants weren't rich, they got quite a few silver and copper coins. Still, what helped the most to their monetary problems was Susan's savings

In the end, they had a lot of clothes to choose for, 120g, 23s and 76c coins

So after craving some bags and preparing cloth, food, some necessary stuff, the money and some horses, they were ready to leave. They all changed to their respective disguises, and after waking Lina and changing her cloth to her disguise, they only had one more job to do

They went to the cellar, grabbed all the alcohol that was left(since they carry a few) and started to spread it around the villa. Lastly, they light some of it and got away from there as fast as possible

The prince and the rest got on their respective horses(Aria carried Lina on her while the prince and Susan ride alone) and left the place to the nearest city while the villa burned behind them

Of course, among all this Lina asked what was going on and it could be said that the prince did his best. He basically told her that some bad people were after them since they were royalty and that they needed to disguise themselves to slip away and get to safety

And obviously, she also asked about her aide, and to prince credit, he had his best poker face and told a lie that even a politician wouldn't be able to pull it off better. He basically told her that since they were in danger, he send her to get some help and rally their allies since she was the only one not marked by their family background

Not the most believable lie out there(and it's not like politicians tell the most believable ones), but it was the best one he had at the moment, and she did buy it.

So even though she was hugging Aria's back harder that she needed, at least she wasn't crying

And without much problems and thanks to a map they found in the villa, "a warrior, slave warrior, magician and a little boy" found their way to the closest city by sunrise

The city was relative big, with a moderate population of around 100.000 and with the standard facilities like inns, general stores, blacksmith, adventure guild, slave market etc. It wasn't exactly one of the biggest cities in the kingdom, but it was above average

The interesting thing about this city was his source of income since the city has an artificial dungeon. An artificial dungeon was a completely cleaned up dungeon that was later filled with specific creatures and resources that were later harvested by the resident or adventurers according to the difficulty

There are cities like this all around the world, since specific creatures are extremely useful to harvest like the telepathy wolf headstone that allows long distance conversations among multiple people up until 1km and even among people of different speaking language

There is also the interdimensional frog that has a stomach that it's bigger that what it looks like from outside(it's later dissected and make into a bag) or a lizard with a glowing scale useful to make lamps, etc. There are all kind of monsters and plans artificially breed since they have something useful for selling

And because of the usefulness, this kind of city brought all kind of people, making this kind of place ideal for people trying to not caught attention to themselves, like this party

But even though this city was interesting, what they needed was to get away from here as fast as possible in a "natural way. That's why the first place the party went was the adventure's guild

The "warrior" was lucky enough to carry his adventure ID in his cloth(in case he had to run away and needed a source of income) and even though some people saw it, they were either dead, or a slave. Besides, according to the "slave warrior" no one else knew so the "warrior" could use it without been found out later (in theory)

So as soon as he went inside with the other 3, he started to look for a mission that allows them to get out of town with his "c" rank without driving attention to themselves

There were a couple of options like subjugation requests or exploration, but in the end "the warrior" chose a simple escort mission for a caravan. It was Ideal since it would leave the city in a couple of hours and still accepted more adventures for protection

It included food and payment at the end, with a bonus for anything that bothers them on the way. The caravan wasn't traveling directly to the capital, but in a round way since they collected merchandise from different settlements

Still, in "the warrior" opinion it was better this way since it would b easier to escape a manhunt since they would b able to blend in naturally with the rest(in theory)

So "the warrior" went to the reception desk while carrying the request and asked while showing his ID

"I want to take this escort mission, can I?"(warrior)said while handing over the request and his ID

"Since you are "C" rank, there shouldn't be a problem as long as you are satisfied with the reward, just go at the designated place and talk with the merchant"(receptionist)said while taking a look at the paper and ID and then handing him a certificate

"Thanks"(warrior)

"No problem, and good luck"(receptionist)

So the four of them when to eat something and went to the meeting place a little early to arrange some things. Of course, the "warrior" warned the other 3 to only use the alias they made up on the way

When they reached the destination marked on the request, they saw wagons, people, merchandise, etc. For the look of things, they were almost ready to go, so the warrior asked around until he found the man responsible for the caravan

"Hello, my name is Jarvan, a "c" rank adventure and I was wondering if you were still hiring for the escort request"(warrior)said to the leader while showing his tag and the certificate

"Sure, we could use some extra bodies, those 3 come with you?"(leader) said while looking at the people behind him

"Yes, one is a magician and the other an inner mana warrior, sadly one is a rookie and the other is a slave so neither have an ID, so let's make a deal. Pay for the food and logging of the four of us plus triple the "c" rank reward at the end, without the extra. What do you say to this?"(warrior) bargain

"Mmm, if they are the real deal, let's make it double without the extra, food and lodgings included"(leader)

"I can show it to you no problem but if it's double, include the extra or no deal"(warrior)pressed

"Fine, but they better be above average or no extra"(leader)

"no problem there"(warrior)smiled at that

And the warrior told the 2 to show their abilities and after showing them, the leader was really surprised but not only at their power level

"Shouldn't they exchange gear? they don't match up"(leader)said confused

"Naa, they prefer it this way since one has lower defense, it's better to wear armor, and the other doesn't like the restriction in moment that comes with armor"(warrior) explained

And since it made sense to the leader(to some extent) he didn't press on the matter and welcome them to the caravan

And that's how the "warrior", the "slave Warrior" that was actually a magician, the "magician" that was a warrior and the little "boy" started their journey back to the capital

Note: I plan to make a murder mystery during the caravan travel, so any request?