The morning was a busy one as Cypher emerged from his room. All around the mansion servants could be seen working to decorate and prepare for the many visitors who would soon be arriving. The common banners were being replaced with ones embroidered with fine gold and silver threads.

Every inch of the mansion was being cleaned and dusted to make sure that not even a single mote of dust or speck of dirt was to be found no matter how hard you looked. Appearances were of the utmost importance when it came to visitors and the Galvans were no strangers to visitors.

Of course, Cypher would have had his own preparations to make, but thanks to his diligence, he had managed to handle most of them the night before. In fact, all things considered, he was pretty much ready to go. The sun had not quite risen above the mountains in the distance and the dim light of dawn pervaded the lands of the Galvan manor.

He worked his way down to the guard barracks and met up with Agnad, Tym, and Richmond. The three of them were busy loading a carriage with supplies for the road, as well as a few gifts Galex had decided to send to Gett. Again, keeping up appearances was very important to a lord like Galex, and sending a small bit of wealth to a village like Gett would serve to raise his standing in the villager’s eyes.

Bags of grain and rolls of silks and cloths were already packed neatly into one of the carriages and all that was left was to finish loading up a few crates of vegetables. Cypher made his way over to one of the carriages and saw Agnad leaning against it taking a long sip from a waterskin. However, the smell of alcohol was strong in the air and Cypher seriously doubted that it contained water.

“What is this guy thinking drinking so early in the morning?” he thought to himself. “Shouldn’t he be concerned about keeping his wits about him on the journey?”

Agnad saw Cypher staring at him with an incredulous look on his face and burped before letting out a hearty chuckle. “Now, now, don’t you go worryin’ about this one bit. I’m still as sober as an ox. I’m even betting I can walk a line cleaner than you with my eyes closed!”

Cypher simply nodded and caught the gaze of Richmond and Tym who seemed to be urging him to agree with Agnad. Cypher didn’t know much about drinking, nor did he know anything at all about Agnad. The man was rather large. Perhaps it took a whole lot more to get him drunk that the average man. In any event, he decided to simply forget he saw anything and focus on the journey that lay ahead of him. It wasn’t like Agnad would be driving the carriages or anything anyways.

Cypher was then guided towards the carriage in the rear and told that it would be his job to guard it. It was a much older carriage than the others. A bit shabby too. However, calling it shabby was perhaps the wrong word. All of the carriages the Galvans owned were in fantastic condition.

He should know, he was often tasked with keeping them cleaned up and in good working order. In fact, as fate would have it, this one was the very same carriage that he had hidden the spellbook in after he was done with it. The problem with this one was that due to its age, it creaked and groaned despite various efforts to oil the axles of the wheels and the hinges of the doors.

It had been converted slightly to allow more goods to be transported. As such, one of the seats had been taken out and that space was utilized for two large crates of spices. As it was, there was barely any room for his legs to fit comfortably inside but he made do. It would be a full day’s ride to Gett from here and he wasn’t looking forward to the trip in such a cramped space.

However, despite that, he was still excited to be leaving the grounds for the first time. He had donned his armor and secured his sword at his hip before leaving his room. He was actually looking quite impressive. If nobody knew better, one could assume that he was a guard in full. This only added to his sense of excitement, but even so, he nervously squeezed the pommel of his sword from time to time.

Eventually, everything was loaded up and they departed for Gett. As they traveled the carriage wobbled along the road, groaning and creaking the entire way. They were moving at a good pace and after a few hours, the sun had risen in full. The morning air was crisp and cold and even inside the carriage, a light fog seemed to hover around him.

The two little windows he could see out of constantly fogged up but he was happy to wipe it away and enjoy the view. He was diligent in his observations along with admiring the scenery. Nothing out of the ordinary could be seen. Deer ran through the trees on either side of the wooded road. Squirrels climbed the trees and birds were singing their morning songs.

It was far more peaceful than Cypher had thought it could be, and something inside him longed to step out and enjoy the air firsthand. That said, there was no way that he could keep pace without tiring himself out quite easily, and slowing down was out of the question. This, after all, wasn’t a leisurely trip.

They carried on for hours as the day dragged on and eventually they came to a stop several dozen kilometers away from the mansion. Midday had broken and as Agnad and the other two guards disembarked they began to prepare a small fire and lunch. Cypher emerged from his carriage and stretched with a long pleasant groan.

His legs had gotten quite numb from being locked into position for so long but it wasn’t anything he couldn’t handle. He found that his stomach was rumbling and a good lunch would do them all some good after covering so much ground. Gett wasn’t too far off now according to Richmond and Tym as they discussed things with the three drivers. From what he overheard, Cypher learned that they’d be arriving around dusk.

Cypher took the time while the simple soup was being prepared to walk around and inspect the carriages. They seemed to be holding up well and wouldn’t need any servicing from the looks of things. Given how smooth the road was, aside from a few bumps and holes here and there, the wheels were doing quite well.

Then again, Cypher had never had the chance to ride in a carriage before so he wasn’t sure if they were prone to breaking or if this was normal. In any event, he soon settled in with the others and they enjoyed a nice quiet lunch as the birds chirped in the distance. This was nice, and Cypher would not soon forget his time out here on the road.

****

In the distance, he could see the small group huddled around a low burning fire. They didn’t seem to have noticed him following them, nor did they seem all that imposing. This would be a super easy job. Hell, as far as he was concerned there was nothing to worry about. The drivers were simple commoners. They wouldn’t put up much of a fight at all.

Two of the actual guards were lanky men who didn’t seem to know the difference between the pommel of their swords and the tip. The only real concern was the massive wall of a man with a scraggly beard, but even he didn’t seem to be much of a threat given how much he was drinking and how lazy he appeared to be.

However, the onlooker was surprised to see that their group had decided to bring some kid along for the ride. He was armed and armored like the other three guards but the kid couldn’t be older than ten or eleven. He seemed to hold himself like a warrior but there were tell-tale signs that he was wholly inexperienced.

“Jeeze, what do they take us for? Have we really lost so much standing in this region over the years? Do they really think some kid is going to make a difference? Then again, that kid might be some kind of prodigy. Maybe he was stronger than he looked, or maybe the guards that accompanied him were?” The man sat thinking and mumbling to himself for a while as he bit into a strip of dried beef and watched the party from afar.

It was true that Lord Galvan had heightened security over the years in his domain. Bandits had been all but pushed out of this area for a long time. However, there were still a few bands who still roamed the region. After all, no matter how oppressive the guards were in their patrols they couldn’t be everywhere.

Hell, his group had already hit several villages in this area in the past few weeks. Not once had they been caught or forced to retreat. In small villages like these security was lax, but the spoils were quite plentiful. “Get ahold of yourself Garret!” he said to himself, slapping his cheeks for good measure.

“These idiots won’t know what hit them once they arrive in Gett. Heh, besides, nobody can beat the boss. Of course, I should probably still tell him about this all the same…” Garret went back and forth in his mind over what to do as he watched them pack up their supplies and return to the carriages.

He had been tailing them for the last few kilometers. He had been informed by his boss that a small party would be heading towards Gett in the coming days and had been camped out waiting for them to pass his way. His job was to keep an eye on them and let the others know the kind of force they would have to face.

It would have been much easier to simply hit the village before the guards arrived. However, as his group had discovered, these small villages didn’t have much to offer on a regular basis. But during this time of year, during the Celebration of the Sun, the Galvan family would always distribute lots of wealth to the various villages and cities in their domain.

There was much profit to be had at such times. Of course, the idea of hitting the shipment of goods while it was still on the road had been floated around. But that often posed too much of a risk. There were plenty of Zightbeasts roaming the wilds after all. As safe as the roads generally were, a large disturbance or the spilling of blood could attract more problems than it was worth fighting off.

The villages though were well protected and warded from those damn beasts. Even if the entire village was gutted and their entrails left to rot in the sun, it would still take a day or more before hungry beasts came prowling. Waiting for the goods to come to them was a much easier and cleaner way of handling their business.

Besides, this small group would soon be passing the one leaving Gett. If the two groups of guards banded together things might go south really quickly for any attackers. Best to play it safe and wait for them to move on without any ordeals to worry about. Bandits like him were poor not stupid.

Garret had kept an eye on this group long enough to have a general idea of what to expect. Overall? He didn’t think that his band had anything to worry about in the coming raid. Taking care of these low-level guards and some shitty kid would be child’s play. With nothing more to see, Garret packed up his small camp and rushed off to regroup with the rest of his band.

If he kept to the shadows of the trees they’d never see him shoot past them. Even if they did, he could simply play it off like he was a wandering vagrant should they stop and question him. Not everyone could afford to live in comfort, surrounded by wealth like those uppity bastards who ruled over this domain.

He smiled wickedly as he easily overtook them, and only thoughts of the coming riches filled his mind. The boss would be pleased with his work and when it came to that man, the rewards for good service were very great indeed. An evil chuckle escaped his lips as he counted the coins on his horizon. His payday was so close that he could almost feel his gold pouch weighing him down already…