After hearing his past, I felt the world was much bigger than what I thought it was. He was a noble? That explained why he was good at communicating and persuading others. His sister got sold as a slave? I could only hope Vesper or Chelsea weren’t suffering the same fate as his sister, Lyss. I didn’t want to think negatively while I’m so close to finding Chelsea, so I diverted my mind to think about something else. Other than feeling sorry for him about his path and his sister, I felt great. Having Alberto by my side all the way to Cevine would be a great help. He was better than me in terms of fighting, even one-on-one. Assassins were supposed to operate in the dark, stealthily taking out their enemies while staying undetected, yet Alberto did none of that. He was more of a fighter than an assassin, but his weapons and build were of an assassin’s build, so I was a bit confused about his fighting style. Alberto went back to being all gloomy again, staring out of the window. Fayette looked like she wanted to say something, but I held her back, shaking my head. It’s probably best to leave him alone for a bit. It has now been five hours since we left Lunae Lumen, yet it was still a long way from Blackburn. Three days, that’s going to be a long time, the uneasy feeling in my stomach grew as I thought about the long journey time. And that is if we travel in perfect condition. What if it rains? Monster attack? I grew more and more impatient as these thoughts kept on swirling around in my head. I tried to divert it by turning to Fayette. She was only looking out of the window, not flying around obnoxiously like before. I turned to look outside as well. There were still only trees on the side of the road, rabbits hopping around the trees. The sky was clear, with only a few tiny clouds. It wasn’t as hot as Barrsons Island, even when we were in the box-shaped carriage.

The noble carriage was behind us, reflecting the light of the sun with its shiny decorations. I looked into the woods, trying to clear my mind. After a little while, something strange appeared in my eyes. Those bushes, why are they shaking so violently, and… are they moving? As that thought ended, two arrows were shot, one through the windows of my carriage and the other to the noble’s carriage. My instincts kicked in as I jerked my body back in time before it hit my head. DAMN! That was too close! The arrow ended up almost hitting Alberto in the leg but fortunately, it barely missed it, even though Alberto sat still this entire time. Alberto bolted out of his seat as he started yelling.

“SPEED UP THE CARRIAGE!” He said. I fell down to the seats as the carriage started speeding up shakily. But what about the noble, the person that let us travel with them? I peeked my head out of the window to see that the shiny carriage was also speeding up, but the blood left my face as I saw what was behind them. Men on horses with bows and scimitars, rushing us with a smile full of malice on their face. We need to protect the noble!

“THEY ARE CHASING US!” Fayette screamed out. Alberto chanted a spell for about three seconds then he peaked out of the carriage, shooting a Firebolt at them. Guess he learned a trick or two back in Lunae Lume-. The thought was cut short as another arrow grazed through my face into the carriage. The pain seared through my face as the cut on my face started bleeding out. Focus! I need to stay focused! I yelled out from the ground as the carriage was shaking as violently as never before.

“SLOW THE CARRIAGE DOWN, GET TO THE SIDE OF THE OTHER CARRIAGE!” I yelled out to the driver. The driver let out a whimper, but he did it anyway. The carriage started slowing down, letting the noble’s carriage catch up to us. Right behind us was the bloodthirsty bandits. Fayette flew next to my face and cast Quick Heal on the cut. It healed instantly, that’s amazing, last time it barely healed. I stood up from the ground, trying to stay away from the windows. The noble carriage was now right next to us. I carefully took a peek at the noble’s carriage, just to see one of his guards was shot dead. One other guard was trying to shield him and the butler from any other incoming arrows. I tried to find multiple ways to get out of this situation, but there was only one thing that we could do.

“Alberto, climb to the front!” I said as the carriage suddenly jerked violently. Does he get my plan? He nodded as if he knew exactly what I was talking about, and then started to vault through the front window to where the driver was at. Another arrow came at us, but this time it was obvious so I dodged it in time.

“Hey, what are you doing!?” I heard the carriage driver say as Alberto got to where he was. A moment later, the driver was thrown into the carriage where we were, his mouth opened and his mouth widened. Alberto, trying to get the horses in control, started slowing down.

“HANG ON! THIS IS GOING TO BE ROUGH!” Fayette held onto me when the carriage started becoming horizontal, blocking the road. The carriage shook violently as it almost flipped, but Alberto’s skill as a driver was good enough to stop it from flipping. Then, the noble’s carriage advanced on, leaving us behind. The bandits stopped before they collided with the carriage, as they started to pull out their scimitars. I peaked out the window, there were six of them as they all got off their horses and ran toward us with their scimitars while making vicious waves of laughter except one. The other one was behind with his greatsword out, standing in a fighting stance. A warrior.

One of the bandits reached the carriage, before they could open the door, I kicked the door open, bashing their face with it. I got off the carriage and stepped on the man’s throat, killing him instantly. Alberto also got down from his horse, with Fayette on his shoulder. He ran toward the bandits faster than I ever saw him run with his daggers out. The bandits were surprised as Alberto reached them before they could react. I saw him cut a bandit’s throat, spun around, and stabbed the other one in the chest as I charged the bandits myself. Damn, he’s angry. They didn’t even get to scream. There were two bandits left, they both were hesitating, but in a fight, hesitation is death. I brought my ax down to a man straight from my back, as that man’s face was split in half. The other bandit moved to strike me, but I was fast enough to parry it and attacked with a riposte. He wasn’t fast enough to stop it either, and his chest shattered as I cut it with my ax. I got stronger… One more left.

“Ah, crap! Those badges ain’t just for show is it.” The guy that looked to be the leader of these bandits charged as he was saying that with his greatsword, I was surprised at how fast he was, but I was still able to dodge it. His blonde hair flew with the wind as he ran toward us, crazed up like we were a feast for him. He’s fast, but nothing compared to Stratford. I truly felt like Alberto, Fayette and I all got stronger, perhaps we should have done this from the start. Alberto jumped at the bandit leader, throwing out three quick attacks, he was able to parry two of them, but the last one pierced his armor, grazing his chest.

“You! You are good!” The bandit leader said. He then charged again, but apparently, his balance was thrown off a bit by the wound on his chest, as Alberto managed to block the attack. I approached the bandit with my ax, cleaving it down onto his head. He tried to dodge the attack, but Alberto pulled him into the blade, and his head was split open by my great-ax. Alberto and I stood there for a while, calming the adrenaline down. He slightly tapped me on the chest, almost like complimenting him.

“How did you move so fast?” Alberto smiled at that and pointed to Fayette.

“I cast Accelerate Movement on him! Like how I did to you back at the Norone Festival!” She said while laughing, almost yelling out the word. How come I didn’t move that fast at the festival? My thoughts were once interrupted again by the frightened voice of the driver coming out of the carriage.

“I-is it over?” All of us just laughed at that.