A couple of hours after the stop, our wagon stopped for a few minutes, allowing the horses to rest from the ascent and preparing to descend Bald Hill. No signs of trouble, especially one that could stop a tribe of dangerous demi-humans, as described by Aison, were visible.

In fact, there were no signs of anything, with the only notable thing being the burning sun. It was a few degrees hotter than the time I passed the area before. And it was why I preferred to stay inside and not ride on the coach seat.

Aison also chose to stay inside until this new stop, from where he would drive. And even though we were in an enclosed space, we only spoke briefly, with him answering a doubt I had, then returning to the gloomy silence.

The doubt had been about the well. The last time, it was tainted with an animal corpse, and I was surprised to see it solved so quickly.

"The Kingdom's roads are something sacred for all of the people. After all, if not for the anti-beast enchantments and wells, there would be no manner to safely travel without a big escort or avoid hauling barrels and barrels of water. Thus, any city official, guild, noble, or village elder will send people to solve any issues they can and do so as soon as they hear about it."

I tried to get the talk going on from there, but Aison shook his head, closed his eyes, and remained unresponsive, probably trying to guess what the journey had in store for us.

***

Our next stop was at the area where the caravan had camped for the first time. It had taken us nearly four hours to travel the 11 [Primordial Steps] that separated the two wells, a good time, considering we crossed a sizeable hill.

As the horses rested, drank, and ate the fodder served by Aison, I quickly summoned some of the prepared food, setting up the table for us three. For this meal, I chose a fish soup (made with the stockfish from my inventory) and vegetables with cut smoked chicken, akin to an undressed caesar salad. Weral reached for one of the barrels with the heavier wine, but Aison stopped him with a shake of his head. In the end, we drank the pretty light [Infrus Counter].

"There is half-a-day of travel to Bigradh, so we should reach the city by morning, the stops and horses considered." Aison spoke up for the first time in the several last hours as we started gathering everything to set off.

Weral nodded in agreement and turned to me, "We are going far quicker than expected. So if the road spirits agree with your words, a day in the town is on me. Serves we rest and continue on the right timetable."

"Sounds fine. I did not have a chance to see Bigradh on my last visit." Mmm, walking around a new city will be nice, at least if I manage to escape these two guys. After all, the talks about a day paid by him, I am pretty sure he meant a day of drinking with him paying.

***

Usually, people say things like:

[If you are on the lookout, nothing will take you unaware.]

[An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.]

And so on.

Yet, I think I will point out the obvious and stick with:

[If one expects trouble, trouble will definitively arise.]

And after today's events, I may also add:

[No preparation is enough for what you meet on a fantasy world's roads.]

As we made our way to Bigradh, the sun began setting down. With Aison driving the wagon and Weral taking a ridiculously loud nap inside, it was logical for me to choose to travel outside. Or maybe it was the desire to hit a pipe, something that I can't discard either.

With Aison continuing to give the silent, worried and waiting for the unexpected vibe, I spent the time dwelling on my thoughts. Reflections on the projects I had started or yet to start. And a few concerning that a master was a master. This latter, because of the leather armor-like vestments I was dressed in currently.

After all, who could expect something with metal plates, chainmail, and a decent weight, to be so damn comfortable? If not for knowing it was on me, I could swear I was using a damn tracksuit. {If this is the average work of Roder's, then just what will he create from the [Gloomclaw]? What kind of masterwork?!}

A feeling of something being wrong jerked me from my thoughts. {That was a reaction from [Danger Sense], wasn't it?} I looked to the sides, confirming that there was nothing, and Aison looked calm enough.

"What happened?" Noticing my abrupt movements, he asked right away.

"[Life Radar]" I did hear him, but first, I decided to confirm. Only after being sure that except for a few small dots, not bigger than ones of a rabbit or bird, were in the range, I answered, "Felt something, but it seems I was mistaken."

"Se..." Aison's responses were always clearly voiced, so I turned to check what was up for him to mumble.

Between the danger feeling and that I was already accustomed to Aison driving as he thought necessary, slowing to allow some rest or rushing ahead, I had not thought about why we were so slow.

"Aison?!" I actually cried out as I noticed his chin on the chest, eyes closed, and lack of reaction.

"Mmn..." In response, even as I shook him by the shoulder, he only muttered something incomprehensible.

My eyes darted to the sides as if I expected to find some explanation, but what I saw shocked me even more - the horses were sleeping as well!

It did not look like that at first, standing and moving, until a moment ago. But now, the four heads down with closed eyes, it was hard to be mistaken.

While [Status Screen] is always active, I did regulate it to hide most of the information usually visible. Though it shames me, it took me nearly a minute to check on Aison with the health and effects part of the improved [Analyze] spell.

Health 100% Stamina 0% Afflictions: ???

{Damn, something that I have not even heard the name of? But judging from the zeroed stamina, sleeping magic? Wait, but what about me then?}

Afflictions: ???, Resisted.

{The effect was resisted by [Perfect Health]. So, some physical method? But, what?!}

My mind raced, trying to find answers, but to no avail. After all, just what could have affected everyone without anyone noticing anything strange? Well, I did feel some danger a few moments before, but in that case, from where it come? [Life Radar] did not show anything but a few small animals, one of them?

I tried to avoid panicking, and thankfully, I managed to. After confirming that Weral was in the same state, I activated [Life Radar] again and checked on the small dots.

Having memorized their positions, I waited for a some minutes and used the spell again.

{The three to the left and the single one to the right are in the same spot as before. But the two behind..?} These latter blips had moved, at least if I wasn't mistaken. Yet, to confirm it, I waited some more.

This time the two blips did not move, and with them being on the edge of the radar's zone, making it a decent trek, I decided to keep a look on for now. After all, moving away would signify leaving both wagon and passengers absolutely defenseless!

I was monitoring Aison's stamina most of the time. And seeing how it did not increase at all, even though several minutes had passed, I concluded this would take long. And thus, any investigation would need to wait for someone to wake up or me to discover something trully alarming.

***

The lack of anything to do and not knowing what is going on will disturb anyone, particularly if one has no idea how long one will remain in such a situation.

[To avoid stress and unneeded worry, one has to find what to do. Distract oneself, concentrate on another thing but the situation.]

Wise words that I heard somewhere. And ones that I chose to follow.

I walked around the wagon, ate, drank a cup of wine from one of Weral's barrels, and so on. All that while I was alternating the use of [Life Radar] and a maximum [Status Screen] in hopes of finding at least something. Yet, nearly two hours passed, the night creeping in, and nothing. The blips that I thought had moved remained still, and I concluded that all creatures inside my radar's envelope, judging from their lack of movement, they all were under the same effect.

"But for all the effin outlandish stuffs of this world, just for what one puts everyone to sleep?!" And indeed, this small outburst at the 3rd hour of not doing, and not knowing anything, was actually the real question.

Why?