Gust and Wesley fled to Elaine’s house, hiding from the victims of Gust’s antics. Not that they were chased – the villagers had gotten used to Gust’s antics by now.

After a full day with Gust, who had gone out of his way to cause trouble and raise hell for Wesley’s enjoyment, he was reminded of carefree afternoons spent playing with his older cousins back home.

But although Wesley seemed much happier than before, he was constantly reminded of his own loneliness and trauma by the world around him: the sounds of the previous night, the sound of the assassins’ footsteps echoing around the estate, the eerie silence of the forest. Tragic events can be blocked out as if on demand… but the scars never truly leave.

“Say kid, don’t mean to pry, but what are your plans now? I ain’t old enough to be your dad and I sure as hell won’t baby you for the rest of your life.”

Wesley raised his head toward Gust and shrugged. “I don’t know. I should have family in the Reiniad Kingdom, but you said that the Reiniad Kingdom is over two thousand miles away… there’s no way for me to get there.

“Hmm…” Gust scratched his chin. This was a move that he’d seen many of the older people in the villages he’d visited in the past do to look smarter and more thoughtful than they actually were. But, it felt appropriate to do now.

Unfortunately for him, he’d forgotten for the moment that Wesley was blind, so his actions were wasted.

“Say, the clothes you were wearing when we met were made of some fancy stuff. I’ve seen nobles in the cities around here, and they wear the like. If I got you to your family in Reiniad, how much would they pay me?”

“Uh…I’m not sure, maybe about a million gold coins?”

Gust jumped to his feet. “A million gold coins??? Kid, you better not be playing with me! I want five at least!"

“Okay, okay, five.”

Although Wesley spoke with such certainty in his voice, he was merely a child, and thus had no real understanding of wealth.

Even so, Wesley had never thought about what would happen if he actually made it to the Reiniad Kingdom. If that happened, he would worry about the money then.

What he needed, right now, was help.

“Alright, let’s leave in the morning. It’s about time I moved on from this village anyway.” Gust did his best to stay calm.

Five million gold coins! Factoring in the terrain between them and the Reiniad Kingdom. It would take them less than a year, to reach their destination on foot. After that… he could live out his days in luxury!

Gust lost himself in his fantasies – as a bard, his imagination tended to run a little rampant.

…

The following morning, Wesley woke up in the same bed that he slept in before – Gust had convinced Elaine to let them stay for the night, promising to leave the morning after.

“Gust, where are you? I’m hungry!”

Instead of Gust’s angry voice, Wesley was greeted by Elaine’s instead.

“Gust I swear to god if you don’t get that damn boy out of here today I will cut your damn jewels off!”

Wesley heard someone running up the stairs, then felt himself being grabbed and pulled.

“Let’s go, Wesley! We’re off to the Reiniad Kingdom!”

A few minutes later, Gust and Wesley began their journey along the road, due East. Proud of his efficiency, Gust announced his accomplishments in the hours prior.

“So, this morning I went out and bought some food and water for us—although we’ll probably be starving and dying of thirst in a few days anyway—, a sword for protection—although I don’t really know how to use it so we’ll probably be dead if anyone tries to rob us—, and…”

Wesley groaned to himself. It was going to be a long trip.

“Say, kid, can you do anything useful?”

“I can cast some elementary spells, but I specialize in ice spells.”

Wesley heard Gust abruptly stop.

“You can use magic??? How do you use magic? Is it like they say in the stories, where you can create magic circles out of thin air to decimate thousands of opponents with ease? Can you fly? Show me!”

“Uh, well…” As the two walked, Wesley relayed everything he knew about magic to the man, which wasn’t much, as he’d had less than a year’s worth of experience regarding the subject. However, this was more than enough to hold Gust’s attention for several miles of their journey.

The only issue was, as he tried to walk while turned around to imitate looking at the person while speaking to them, he kept walking diagonal to the road, and so kept walking into trees and the like along the side of the road.

Gust and Wesley ended up walked down the road holding hands.

From time to time, they would pass others on the road. Some travelled alone, while most travelled in small groups. There was one outlier, however. As the sun was about to disappear over the horizon, a caravan of wagons rattled up from behind the two boys.

The leader of the caravan stepped out and greeted the two, who stopped in their tracks and turned around cautiously. “Hey boys, would you like to pay for spot in our caravan? We’re headed to the Kenta Kingdom.”

Gust scratched his head and said, “We’d love to, but we don’t really have any money. How about this, could I offer my services? I’m a bard, you see.”

“A bard, eh? Alright, that’d work for me; can’t say it’s been an entertaining trip as of yet. Can you fight as well?”

Gust straightened up. “Best fighter in my village, sir! See this sword here? I’ve had it since I was five, sir!”

He might’ve gotten away with it too, if Wesley didn’t start snickering at these words. After all, he knew that Gust had only purchased the sword that morning.

“Right… just come along, I think the wagon in the back has some space. Tell them that Mark sent you. Let’s just call it me pitying you two boys. After all, It’s not safe out here at night. You’ll be safer with us. Just don’t cause any unnecessary trouble.”

Gust smiled broadly. “Thank you very much, sir!”

“Yeah, yeah.”

As soon as the caravan leader left, Gust bent down to whisper into Wesley’s ear. “See that? We got a free ride. And, what the heck was with you mocking my words?? I WAS the best fighter in the village. Just not physically.”

“Right, your stories really could bore people to death.”

“Aren’t nobles supposed to have good manners?”

“Aren’t bards supposed to be good with words?”

Gust chuckled and gave Wesley a playful pat on the back. “…I swear…”

As the caravan passed, Gust and Wesley waited along the road until the last wagon rolled up. Like Mark had said, there was plenty of room in the wagon. Despite the large size of the wagon that could easily seat 20 people, about half of it was filled with boxes, while only three people occupied part of the remaining space.

Gust and Wesley climbed into the wagon, waving toward those already inside as they entered. Everyone quickly introduced themselves. The three already inside the wagon introduced themselves first as Kyle, Jen, and Alex. Kyle and Jen were a newly married couple, while Alex was Kyle’s younger brother. Kyle and Jen were both 21 years of age, while Alex was 14.

Kyle and Jen were touring the continent for their honeymoon, while Alex was on his way to a school for knights in the Larwin Kingdom. After their introductions, Gust proudly and shamelessly introduced himself as the student of a master bard travelling to broaden his horizons, refine his stories, and practice singing his songs.

Wesley was the last one left to introduce himself.

“Umm… my name is Wesley. Nice to meet you all!”

A few chimes of “Nice to meet you” floated around the wagon followed by an awkward pause.

Gust glanced at the trio, then looked toward Wesley. This…

Wesley lowered his head, then lifted it and smiled. “So... have you seen anything interesting on your travels yet? Gust and I just started, so we haven’t!”

“Well, actually, just a few days after we left…”

Wesley let out a quiet sigh of relief.

But later that night, when everyone was getting ready to go to sleep, Wesley tugged on Gust’s shirt.

“Gust, can you do me a favor?”

“Yeah, sure little man, what do you need?”

“The next place we go to, could you buy something to cover my head for me?”

“Ah…yeah.” Gust frowned, then patted Wesley’s head. “Don’t worry about it, little guy. I’m sure there’ll be some way to cure your blindness.”

“Really!?”

“Oi, shh shh. Keep your voice down; we’re about to sleep here. But yeah, I mean, is there really any limit to what magic can do? I’m sure there’s someone out there who’s researched curing blindness before. Don’t worry about it. Now screw off, I’m tired. Go sleep.”

Gust sighed. A white lie.

After some restless shifting, everyone in the wagon fell asleep.

To set up camp with a defensible perimeter, the wagons had been formed in a “C” formation, with the opening facing the south so as to provide protection against bandits, while the mercenaries tasked with guarding the caravan patrolled along the perimeter. But these were extremely common measures that bandits were used to.

With political unrest in the capital city of the Conarite Kingdom, many officials were too preoccupied with political affairs to bother maintaining the social order . As a result, the bandits slowly emerged from the shadows to wreak havoc on the citizens of the kingdom.

Normally, if they were too unruly and attacked “too many” times in a certain time period, the cities would send out soldiers to exterminate them. However, with the officials distracted and too busy competing with each other, these crucial duties were often overlooked.

As a result, many unscrupulous individuals dropped their honest facades and joined the established and now thriving bandit groups, exacerbating their power .

Typically, no bandit group would dare approach a caravan like Wesley and Gust’s, for it would be too well-guarded, large, and tightly organized to be worth the risk. Such groups usually had no more than twenty or thirty people, which was nowhere near enough to challenge a caravan that spanned several wagons and housed several hundred people.

However, at such a perilous and anarchic time, some of the larger bandit groups consisted of over a thousand people. It was precisely one of these groups, innocuously named the Whitewind Family, that slowly surrounded Mark’s caravan.