The morning had finally come.

After a brief wake up call by the maid, I made my way to the living room. Alfonso was sitting on the couch waiting for me.

"One of my guards will escort you across the border. It's best to keep your sword easily visible in the carriage so the border guards don't find you suspicious."

He grabbed a little sachet of money.

"This should be enough for you to last a few days in Gavaria. My guard will pay the border crossing fee. You should be aware that they will do an inspection of the entire carriage and your clothes."

"Thank you."

"Here, I also had a sheath made for your sword, I saw that you didn't have one. You can attach it to your hip."

I collected the little sachet of money and sheath and made my way towards the front door where one of Alfonso's guards stood, waiting for me.

Suddenly, Celestia and Theresia sauntered over to me.

"It was nice having you, you're welcome back any time!" said Theresia, with a little smile on her face.

"Bye-bye, Ritsu!" Celestia called out to me.

"Thank you for allowing me to stay." I lowered my head and thanked them.

The guard opened the front door and the two of us made our way outside where a carriage pulled by two horses was waiting for us.

The carriage at the back was quite spacious, with a little area at the front for the coachman. The guard and I sat in the back on the cushioned seats, opposite each other.

As we started travelling, I could feel the bumpiness as the horses began trotting. It was quite different to a car. The inside of the carriage also had a humid moist feel.

The Regas family waved at us as we departed.

I decided to use this opportunity to ask the guard a few questions about this world.

"Do you know how to use magic?" I asked.

"Yeah a little bit, I can do basic spells and stuff but mostly it's just meant to boost my physical abilities." He pulled out a long baton. "I can do things like make it harder and make the tip really sharp like a spear."

Interesting.

"Also how are fighters ranked here? Like I know that knights are the strongest."

"Are you new here or something?" He asked me.

"It's a long story, but basically I know nothing about this world."

"Confusing but whatever, so there are three main ranks, soldiers, Warriors and Knights. To be a soldier, my rank, you need to master all the basics of magic and be strong enough to take out a bear, without using any gear. Obviously, we don't actually have to kill a bear, it's just a general assessment."

"Makes sense. How many soldiers are there in the world?"

"Every nation has around a thousand or so I'm pretty sure. Soldiers are like the lowest rank of professional fighters, but in a war, sometimes nations will conscript normal people as well and hand them a sword."

"Mhm."

"Anyways, after that, there are the warriors. They generally specify in a single type of magic and have more advanced and complex abilities. One Warrior can generally take out between five to a hundred soldiers."

"So there's a bit pretty large skill gap even between people of the same rank?"

"Yeah, but more so in Warrior and Knight ranks, like Princess Lucia's personal guards are some of the strongest Warriors, they could probably take out around 150 soldiers each. Whilst some newer warriors could only be able to take out around four or five soldiers." He continued. "Anyways, Knights, as you said, are the strongest fighters, able to take out almost anyone. I'm pretty sure there was only one time in all of history where a Knight was taken out by someone other than another Knight. It took around seven of the strongest Warriors of that time at that."

Princess Lucia's personal guards...

"I see, do you know of any Knights?"

"The only current Knights I know of are Daario Artemis, the Knight of the moon, Reid Lichter-Seibert, the Knight of the Sword and Fourier Ourania, the Knight of the Beginning."

"Wait, Fourier Ourania... Is he related to Lucia?"

"Yeah, he's her brother."

Wait, I wasn't too clear on the monarchical system of this world, but don't the sons generally succeed the throne? Also, he's a Knight, which means he's probably not that young.

"Wait, so how old is he?"

"I'm pretty sure he's around eighteen years old."

"Wait... Then why is he not the heir to the throne?"

"I'm not completely sure, I heard that he has a curse or something."

"Oh."

So curses and stuff exist too.

The horse and carriage suddenly came to a stop.

"Um excuse me, there's a big slime up ahead, could you take care of it?" The coachman asked the guard.

"I should be able to."

He hopped off the carriage and made his way towards the slime.

It was interesting to see other monsters here.

The slime was a clear, transparent colour of green. There were some contents inside it which was completely visible from the outside. It rolled along the ground like some sort of jelly tire, despite looking sticky, grass and dirt from the ground didn't stick to it. It was about the size of a large suitcase.

"I would usually take care of small monsters like this myself but my weapon is currently being fixed." The coachman told me.

I noticed a large section of bandages on his arm as he spoke to me.

The guard walked towards the slime, tensing his body. He then violently jerked the baton, extending it, reaching about a metre long. The slime slithered across towards him and squished itself down as if it was about to jump. Without any hesitation the guard slammed it with his baton, sending its jelly-like fluid splashing across the ground.

The slime began reforming itself in small puddles. The guard constantly slammed the puddles as they formed. One of the puddles became large enough and launched itself towards him. He managed to spin and smash it in mid-air.

After a little while, the puddles stopped forming as the green jelly-like liquid soaked into the ground. The guard pushed the tip of the baton back down, bringing it back down to its original size.

He hopped back onto the carriage and we continued on our journey.

"By the way, do you know how to use magic? I heard you saved Master Celestia." The guard asked me.

"That's an even longer story, but basically, I can't produce magic for a variety of reasons so the only thing that I can do is use this magical sword that has magic within itself."

"A magical sword? What's it called?"

"Um, the Universal Sword, I guess...?"

"Hm, I've never heard of it."

Well, it was pulled out of the trash by a useless goddess so I doubt you'd know it...

The horse carriage continued steadily along the path.

"We should be nearing the border now, you don't need to say anything unless they ask you a question, I'll do all the talking."

"Alright."

I could see some guards standing near a little shack in the distance.

We eventually got to the checkpoint.

"Who are you guys?" The checkpoint personnel asked.

"We're just going over for a little trip."

"Alright... Who are you guys associated with?"

"The Regas family."

The checkpoint personnel checked his clipboard.

"Alright, I'll just need to inspect your carriage, please step out."

The three of us got off the carriage and stood in the grass on the side as two checkpoint personnel scoured through our carriage.

After a little while, they came back.

"Alright, twelve gold and you're free to go."

Twelve gold...? That seemed like quite a bit. At the marketplace before in Charnin, people were only paying in bronze coins and the occasional silver coin.

We paid the fee and then the checkpoint personnel gestured for us to go through.

There was still a decent distance of nothing but grass.

"We'll drop you off at an inn near the capital."

"Sounds good, how far away is the capital?"

"It should be around two hours or so from here."

Still a little while to go.

Hold on, what was I even meant to do when I got there? Like I have no way of getting into contact with the princess...

I guess I'll figure it out.

Around an hour in, scarce pockets of residential farmland areas began appearing. There were some houses surrounded by big patches of wheat. We still were a distance away from the main city centre.

"By the way, how developed is Gavaria?"

"I'd say that it's probably the most developed kingdom, it's the wealthiest by far."

I see.

As I looked out the carriage I saw a few children kicking a ball around.

Aw so nost-

Ow.

I suddenly felt an intense pain in my head.

What the hell...?

Ow.

Agh, what was this?

Wait, why did I say nosta-

Ow.

What was happening?

Could this be something about my old life...?