It makes me feel good, but I quickly forget about it and move out of the city. Once I am far enough away from the city I drop shapeshift and fly back to camp. Grimgar is still meditating and even my arrival doesn't disturb him.

I decide not to disturb him and lie down to get a few hours of real sleep. Once the sun comes up I get up, wake Grimgar, and then take out a bunch of dishes for breakfast. After we are done eating I shapeshift to human form and then we return to the road.

On foot it will take us about two days to reach the Magic Kingdom's capital. Of course, flying would be faster, but there is a lot of traffic on the road. It is unlikely, but if I am not seen on the road it could lead to problems if someone checks.

Besides, I don't really have anything I need to do and I can teach Grimgar as we walk. In fact, taking my time and walking might just keep me out of trouble for once. Before lecturing Grimgar some more I let him ask any questions he has.

After answering his questions I ask some of my own to make sure he has understood. Then I go back to telling him everything I have figured out so far about cores. As soon as I tell him about absorbing cores to increase strength he wants to go hunting.

However, I make him wait, him running off right now would attract attention. When we find a place to camp I will let him go hunt, I am curious if he can absorb cores. When we stop for lunch we end up eating and chatting with some merchants.

They aren't attending the auction, but they are heading for the capital. With so many rich people heading to the auction the city will be packed. It is a good opportunity for even normal merchants to make a lot of money.

This is a good thing in my opinion, with the city full of people it will be harder for me to stand out. It also means there might be some interesting things for sale outside of the auction. If it takes us two days to reach the capital, that means I will have two days before the auction.

That should be plenty of time to wander around and look for interesting things. It should also be enough time to look for any elves that have been taken to the capital. Although, searching with my mana probably won't be a good idea.

In fact, I am probably going to have to be extremely careful about using any mana in the capital. Who knows what spells the mages of the Magic Kingdom have come up with over the generations. It might be a good idea to not use any mana at all unless I absolutely have to.

Once we finish eating we resume walking along the road and talking about cores. There is quite a bit of traffic passing us, mostly wagons and carriages. Not long after lunch we are passed by twenty mounted knights escorting a carriage.

While this isn't the first such group to pass us, I take note of it because the carriage has a royal emblem. Luckily, it passes us by and keeps going, I was worried that it might be the princess. That kind of attention is the last thing I want right now, especially with witnesses around.

At Grimgar's urging I start looking for a place to camp early so he can hunt. However, just as I reach the top of a hill I start hearing the sound of combat. When I can see over the hill I find that the royal carriage is under attack.

The battle is still going on, but it isn't going well for the knights and it doesn't look like they will last. The attackers look to have started with around sixty or so people, but half have died. However, there are only eight knights left and all of them are wounded.

Even as I am watching and figuring out what is going on another of the knights falls. It being humans fighting humans I really should just ignore it, but I find I can't. I don't know or care who is in the carriage, but the knight's bravery is something I can't ignore.

Despite being outnumbered and half their fellows having died, they show no signs of giving up. Maybe it is how movies in my old world romanticized knights, but I find myself respecting them. With a word to Grimgar I take the fire sword out of my pouch and charge down towards the battle.

Grimgar quickly passes me, but that is because I am keeping my speed down to human levels. While I want to help out the knights, I am not going to blow my cover to do so. Besides, I want to see what Grimgar is capable of before he upgrades his core.

That way I have a baseline so that I can tell how much his core upgrading improves his strength. So, even as I start killing the enemies, most of my attention is on watching Grimgar. His skills are pretty basic, but his strength and speed are at least double that of humans.

However, I seem to remember my stats weren't all that great in the beginning. It seems that Grimgar has a higher starting point than I did, especially if he can absorb cores. If he can, then he could turn into a real monster fairly quickly, even without training.

The two of us make quick work of the attackers, but even so two more knights end up dead. Only five of the knights are still alive when the last of the attackers dies. None of the five are in good shape, but I can't heal them, that would cause huge problems.

17 Level 3 Humans defeated! 5,100 Exp gained!

Seraph says "Ash?! How are you here?!"

"Oh, um, hello again, Princess!"

Seraph says "It looks like I need to thank you for saving me life yet again!"

"No need for that. I was just on my way to the capital of the Magic Kingdom, this is merely a coincidence!"

Seraph says "Coincidence or not, you have saved my life for the second time! I don't even know how to reward you at this point! Especially since I want to ask a favor!"

"There is no need for a reward, but what favor do you want to ask?"

Seraph says "First, can I ask, are you heading to the capital for the auction?"

"Yes, I am."

Seraph says "That's perfect! Can you help to escort me there? I am worried more bandits will attack!"

"Bandits? Not likely! Take a closer look! They may be dressed like bandits, but they are too well fed and too clean to be bandits! Not to mention, bandits tend to be cowards, they would never fight a frontal battle like this!"

Knight-captain says "Your Highness, he is right! These were not real bandits!"

Seraph says "If that is true, then someone is trying to kill me?!"