All these events happened unbeknownst to our travelling duo.

Qiu Xue and Sylvia simply continued to follow the group nonchalantly, pretending as if they haven’t noticed anything.

Since their talk with the madam’s son, Lady Si seems to be more vigilant towards the duo, casting glances on them from time to time.

“Hey. She just glanced at us again.”

“Well, duh.”, Sylvia replied me with an expression that showed ‘are you retarded’.

It’s been 2 days since then, and we’re still following along.

There’s the chance that nothing happens on the way, and they reach their destination safely, but even then, you wouldn’t let go of the people who knew your secret hiding place, would you?

We’ll need to find an appropriate timing to leave.

The best would be when they’re caught up in an attack, or well, we could help their enemies.

As I ponder this, someone shouts out loudly, “Enemy!”.

I tense up my body, and try to look out the carriage to see what’s going on.

Outside, Sylvia had already gripped her small dagger from within her clothes and was calmly staring at the caravan ahead.

Looking ahead, I spot several men dressed in black among the caravan members.

The guards were fending them off.

As they were in deep conflict, however, another masked man suddenly springs out from the side, lunging straight for Lady Si.

Lady Si steps back in terror.

The cold blade lunged straight for Lady Si mercilessly.

The masked man’s eyes lit up, as the blade reaches less than a metre away from Lady Si, and he throws the blade unhesitantly.

However…

“TING!*

The blade is deflected by the guard captain who was on standby to assist instead of jumping in immediately to help.

His main role is to protect the mother and child after all.

The masked man, whose first strike failed didn’t hesitate in drawing another sword he had on his waist, getting into a battle stance.

The guard captain does the same, as they prepare to fight.

The masked man chants a few words, then a red aura starts exuding out from within his body.

The guard captain’s eyes show shock, as he muttered under his breath, “Battle Aura.”

As he said this, he took his sword and drew out a slash, slashing a cut on his arm.

He doesn’t flinch as the blood drips out slowly.

As he does this, a dense blue aura emerges from him, seemingly oppressing the masked man’s.

The masked man tenses his body more, but wasn’t going to wait until the guard captain had unleashed his aura fully.

Taking advantage of this moment, the masked man runs in a straight line at the guard captain.

Before long, a ‘Clang’ sound is heard as the masked man’s blade is blocked.

The blade falls on the ground, as the guard captain suddenly notices the masked man was not holding the sword.

He turns back quickly to look at Lady Si, only to see her unharmed.

He lets out a sigh of relief.

However, suddenly realising something looking at Lady Si, he hurriedly turns around.

Only to see that the masked man had not escaped, but was dashing at the young master.

It was too late, the masked man would reach the young master within seconds.

As we gaze at the scene, Sylvia and I remain unfazed as we stare at the scene.

Sylvia seems to have thought of something, turning around to stare at me, saying, “Go.”

As her eyes pointed at the scene.

I looked back at the scene, noticing something as well.

Quickly, I cast an ‘Ice Lance’ spell at the masked man, hitting him on his left leg.

The spell didn’t put the masked man in severe danger, but weakened him just enough so the guard captain would catch up with him.

Not surprisingly, the guard captain caught up swiftly with a movement technique.

Irritated that he let the masked man get that far in the first place, he shouted, “Critical Slash!”, revealing the veins on his arms as he paused for a moment before his muscles seemed to burst, exploding his arm into a downward motion.

The simple motion launched a quick slash, which quickly took the head of the masked man who was focusing on running straight for the boy.

The slash struck the neck of the man cleanly, as his body took 2 more steps before collapsing and the head was lopped off, landing just inches away from the boy.

“NOOOOOOO!!!!!”, the young boy screamed in horror.

Lady Si wanted to go over to concern the boy, but suddenly seems to realise something and stops.

The guard captain protects the boy as several guards guard Lady Si.

The masked men engaging with the other guards seemed to have realised that their ambush had failed, and look towards each other.

They nod, and they quickly retreat decisively.

The guards start to pursue the masked men who were previously engaged with them, however, even in spite of wounds, the masked men didn’t flinch and continued to retreat.

The guards start to pursue, and the guard captain seems eager to catch the men as well, impressed by their techniques.

He heads towards the Lady with her son, and orders the remaining guards to join the pursuit, and he would protect the mother and son.

However, Lady Si shakes her head, and whispers something into the captain’s ear.

His face pales slightly, and he roared, “Return and stop the pursuit!”.

As he used the full strength of his lungs in this roar, even the guards who pursued initially heard it.

They were hesitant in abandoning the victory chase, but orders were orders.

They returned as they saw the masked men make their getaway.

The captain came over to offer his thanks for our help solemnly.

He showed a higher degree of respect than before, possibly owing to my quick execution of the “Ïce Lance” spell. Only regular mages would have such fluency in these, since they gain a deeper understanding of all spells once they reach Class 1.

Even apprentice mages wouldn’t spend so much time on one spell…

I found myself fond of all the ‘lance’ series spells, and found myself practicing them constantly with the help of the higher concentration provided by my meditation technique.

In addition to the recent incidents which put my close to death, having some proficiency in this area is really to be expected.

He gave a bow, and his regards before leaving to join back.

We watched as they dealt with the aftermath of the attack, as the guards continued to stay vigil and formed a perimeter around the servants who were cleaning up and the Lady.

As night fell, they chose to set up camp early.

Since we were following them, we naturally did the same.

We chaddle idly about the past over the fresh scent of brea- Oh, who am I kidding…

I struggle to chew the bread, which feels tougher by the day.

I could probably use it to block a bullet soon enough.

As I think ridiculous thoughts, Lady Si approaches us, accompanied by the guard captain,

She curtseyed, asking with a light smile, “Would you mind if I came inside for a talk?”