The next morning, the group had said goodbye to the city and were on their way to the city together with a few dozen people. With a nervous look, Cale observed the people around him. Ahead of them, children walked alongside the family's trade wagon. They as well had made their way to Sylve before the lockdown was raised. A little farther way in front of Cale walked a group of Anuxers, with whom Ben was currently talking.

This group and a few hundred other Anuxers had travelled from Sylve with the ships and were now assigned to serve as escorts for the route between the capital Exarion and the trading city Persiven. They were on their way to the capital for the seventh time by now, and once there they would make their way back after one night. According to their statement, no creature had been seen since the attack, which on the one hand was gratifying, but on the other hand frightening. Behind them walked some soldiers who, just like Cale, were silently watching the people. Who exactly they were escorting, Cale had not recognised, but the nobleman had to be a few meters behind them in one of the carriages.

William and Aletta walked alongside the family's carriage behind them, swapping stories from their past. Philippa, on the other hand, was enjoying herself with the children and playing tag with them. At first, the family was a little skeptical of a stranger from Winstest, but quickly realised that their group posed no threat.

"Hey guys!", a cheerful voice behind Cale spoke up, prompting him to turn around. A third soldier in the same clothing joined the others, who greeted him with irritated looks. Cale could tell immediately that the third man was a mage, for he carried no sword and possesses a lot of mana, which he did not conceal. He turned away again, but secretly listened to the conversation. "Have you heard the latest rumors?"

"You mean about the Anuxers from the mountains? Yes, we've overheard that. Everyone is talking about it."

"It gets even better!", the third soldier raised his voice gleefully before continuing quietly. "The Anuxers are said to have had real trouble in the mountains because they kept running into creatures of the higher plains. I heard that someone inquired the guards at the gate about that topic, and the soldier is said to have confirmed it. He said that a High-Mage had accompanied the whole group and that this High-Mage had claimed that hardly anything had happened. A gross understatement if you ask me..."

"They told you that?", the first soldier interjected.

"And you believe it?", the second added suspiciously, but the young mage persisted in his statement.

"I'm serious. It sounds totally logical, wouldn't it? No one has come out of the mountains for weeks and suddenly a group shows up that is supposed to have had no problems? But if a High-Mage accompanied them, then everything sounds much more logical, doesn't it? Gosh, I wish I had been with them. I've never seen a High-Mage before, let alone seen one fight. That must have been really fascinating!"

Nodding in agreement, one soldier lingered on his statement.

"Don't be ridiculous, people exaggerate. Even if it's true that a group crossed the plains, I'm sure they just got lucky. Why would a High-Mage accompany them when he could fly or at least pay for a ferry for all of them?"

"True...", the second soldier spoke up. He seemed unsure which rumors to believe. "I'm just glad we don't have to go there. Just thinking about it gives me goosebumps. My last encounter with the creatures wasn't so nice."

Cale could feel the other two nodding in agreement, as if remembering unpleasant times. A moment later, he suddenly noticed an iron gaze on his back that made Cale's hair stand up. Behind him, it went completely quiet before he noticed the group distancing themselves from him a little, triggered by the third soldier.

"That man, was he there all along?", the third soldier spoke up quietly, so quietly that Cale could barely hear him and had trouble deciphering the words.

"Yes, he was? The man belongs to a small group distributed a good hour ago. We've been keeping an eye on them a bit, but they don't seem dangerous. Why do you ask? Does he make you nervous?"

"Does his group consist of two swordsmen, a young blonde-haired woman, a female archer and him?", the young soldier interjected, causing an immediate icy chill to run down Cale's spine. How had he known? Had he realised that Cale was a mage? Impossible!

"Yes. How did you know?", the first soldier returned in amazement.

"Well, the guard at the entrance to Persiven gave a brief description of the Anuxer group and he said that the High-Mage was dressed entirely in black."

Now, Cale was really getting a little nervous. The guard had in all seriousness memorised your appearance? Why that and why was he telling it so proudly? How did he even know who Cale was?

"Damn", Cale muttered as he remembered his ID at the same moment. Of course! Even if his name wasn't in wide circulation, it said on his ID that he was High-Magician from the Magistrat. Just as this note was on the ID cards of the other members of the Magistrat to be able to confirm their identity at any time. Cale just wanted to fuel the rumor mill a bit and not be associated with these him. It was too late for that now.

"The man is supposed to be a High-Mage? Are you s...", the first soldier replied sceptically, but fell silent when Cale turned to the rear. Instantly, the three men realised that Cale had been eavesdropping on them all along. It was not necessarily a dangerous thing to come across a High-Mage, but very rare. Most people only ever heard rumors or saw them from a distance, so encountering a High-Mage at a distance was unlikely. Almost like a myth.

Cale had put on his most relaxed smile. Briefly, he'd considered changing his appearance to better disguise his identity, but he didn't want to take the risk. Especially not for such a triviality. With a brief gesture, he signalled to the soldiers to keep the secret about his group to themselves and they nodded in agreement. Satisfied, he formulated a "thank you" before shooting forward with lightning speed.

Elegantly, he came to a halt next to Ben, who had been talking calmly with some Anuxers until just then, when he noticed Cale behind him.

"Cale?", he spoke up irritably when he noticed the astonished looks on the faces of the three soldiers. However, since Cale said nothing and merely joined them, he did not inquire further and turned to the new acquaintances. "Ah, guys. This is my friend Cale. Cale, this is Mats, Sylas and Elijas. They have travelled from Sylve with their Supervisor and are currently working as escorts."

Politely, Cale greeted the three men before asking, frowning, "Supervisor?"

"Sir Yuma Nolen. He is our group supervisor and was assigned to us a few months ago", Sylas explained kindly as Cale gave Ben a sceptical look. He wondered if Ben knew this Sir Nolen, after all they were employed in the same city. Judging by his look, they did not, perhaps Ben was simply too high up in rank to know the names of other soldiers.

"May I ask where Sir Nolan currently is?", inquired Cale curiously. For some reason, the name sounded familiar, even if he could not currently judge from where. It happened to him quite often, which was usually because he had witnessed the future and seen it somewhere at some point.

"He's further ahead in the colony, we'll meet up with him again in the evening", Sylas explained, gesturing forward with his head. "You are from Sylve too, aren't you? Do you know him?"

"I'm afraid the name doesn't ring a bell, but haven't had much contact with other Anuxers either."

"Ah, we've only been Anuxers for a few weeks, too. Actually we are new soldiers of Bellator and we learn swordsmanship in the royal guard", Mats explained proudly, causing Ben to pause in surprise. He probably hadn't expected the statement, but for Cale it narrowed down the circle of suspects. A soldier of the royal house... there were thousands of possibilities. If he had students, then he had to belong to one of the higher ranks, maybe the 2nd or 3rd company. Cale would definitely keep an eye on Sir Nolan, that much was certain.

"I see", Ben admitted, glancing behind at William and Aletta. They were quite lucky that William was very much an unknown, otherwise the soldiers probably would have realised long ago that the Prince of Sylve was accompanying them. An awkward situation, both for Ben and Cale.

"Looks like you found the perfect training partners", Cale admitted with amusement, patting his friend once hard on the shoulder to relax the situation a bit. He was pretty sure that none of the three students were aware that the Duke's son of Freigoud was talking to them, which he actually found amusing in its own way. The likelihood that they knew the third prince was close to zero. Even though he had hoped that he would not meet anyone close to the royal family, the situation suited him quite well. After all, he wanted to make it clear to Ben and William that they were not as weak as they thought. At least not compared to ordinary people.

"Please?", Ben threw back, visibly irritated.

"You know, my friends Ben and Liam are also swordsmen and would very much like to fight some serious opponents sometime", Cale commented in the most seductive voice Ben had ever heard, which made him take a step back slightly disgusted by him before noticing the bright eyes of the three men.

"Really?", replied Mats enthusiastically. A wide grin drew on Cale's face, he felt William approaching them briskly and from the walk the mage realised he had overheard the conversation and was quite excited himself.

"Is that alright? There are really a lot of people around here", Ben admitted sceptically, even though he was pleased by the comment. They'd only been fighting Cale for weeks, having a comparison of how well they'd actually done would make him insanely happy. Not to mention, he hadn't fought soldiers from Sylve in a long time.

"That should be fine. We're in the countryside and I always keep an eye on the surroundings. In case of an emergency, I can always intervene in battle and Aletta is still there. So what do you say, would it be worth a try?", Cale encouraged his friend when William reached them. His joy was literally written all over his face.

"What did I just hear?", he spoke up excitedly, before politely greeting the group and turning his attention to Cale. "Were you expecting this?"

"What? That there are other soldiers out here too? No, not really", Cale replied with a grin. "It makes sense, though, doesn't it? Better out here than in the illegal arena."

"Arena?" gave Ben, William, Mats, Sylas and Elijas in complete unison.

"Oh, nothing. What do you five say? Do you want to?"