"Good Morning, Mr. Lucius. What do you think will happen to the boy?"
Lucius turned around and saw a familiar blonde priestess.
"There are only two choices for him now. Either he'll be dissected and researched, hoping for death, or he dies immediately. I will do everything in my power to get the latter result for the boy."
"I see…"
After their conversation, Jess left Lucius's tent and saw David doing pushups near the center of the campsite.
"That poor boy has no idea of what's to come… An orphan living in the slums, his life couldn't have been harder, but now, after awakening his magic and having a chance to change his life, he'll just be a labrat for the council…"
Jess began to feel tears well up in her eyes from the injustice and her inability to stop such an evil fate for a troubled soul.
As a priestess, she was raised to have good morality and fair justice.
"Maybe if I can ask my father? No… He wouldn't get the letter fast enough…"
A genuinely irrational thought went through her mind.
"What if I ask Ray to just take him away from those fossils before they see him?"
"No! If Ray did that, his life would be ruined… The Lurris Kingdom is still nothing to the Zesian Empire…"
As Jess sat across from David, who was doing push-ups, she felt another presence sitting beside her.
"Jess, you shouldn't worry too much. I'm sure Lord Lucius has a way of dealing with this."
The one comforting Jess was the serious yet kind-hearted archer of the party, Cassie.
Her green hair and green eyes were a trait passed down from generation to generation of the Spruce noble family of Lurris.
The daughter of a Duke traveling with her, the daughter of an Archbishop, was ironic to her because, in the past, they would've been enemies.
"Thanks, Cassie. I've just been so afraid because despite being strong enough to fight most monsters, we still can't stand up to those old fossils…"
"Remember Jess, not all of them are enemies… They're elected by the three kingdoms, and with our family influences, they may not do the worst to the boy. After all, each kingdom gets two representatives in the council…"
"You're right, Cassie."
Jess agreed with Cassie.
The anxiety in her chest dwindled but didn't disappear.
-
[Daily Quest]
[0/1 hours of meditation]
[100/100 push-ups]
[0/100 Sit-ups]
[0/5 km]
"I managed to complete my daily push-ups early!" David celebrated
The soreness in his body had slightly diminished overnight, but doing the push-ups again made it come back worse than before.
While focusing on his push-ups, he didn't see that two ladies were conversing in front of him.
One seemed to be worried, while the other was calm and consoling.
"I wonder what they're talking about."
"Alright, everyone, it's time to go!"
David looked the other way and saw Lucius and Ray waiting with the shielder, whose name he hadn't learned yet.
Noticing that Lucius wasn't carrying anything, David asked
"I wonder where he keeps all of his stuff."
[Use the Inspect skill, and you'll get your answer]
Still not used to someone reading his mind, David felt uncomfortable
"I see…"
He opened the skill tab and thought about the inspect skill while looking at Lucius as he walked away with the other men.
[Portal Bag (lvl 3)]
[A portal bag is any type of bag enchanted with dimensional storage magic. The use of dimensional storage magic is very rare, therefore making a portal bag expensive. A level 3 portal bag stores 3x3 square meters.]
"Just who is Lucius to be able to afford that?"
David was gaining more and more interest in Lucius, who had saved him.
"Let's go, boy!" Lucius shouted at David
"Alright!" David responded
-
As they traveled, David saw many things he hadn't seen before.
He had believed the free lands were just a forest full of monsters, but there were more than just trees.
Large mountains releasing water at an astounding rate
Lakes, large enough that he thought they may be looking into the ocean.
However, the most fantastic thing he had seen were floating islands. The islands were small and higher than the mountains he had passed. They were above a purple lake.
The lake area was covered in signs, reading "Do Not Enter. Poisonous Water Ahead."
He couldn't figure out how the islands and poisonous water were connected but kept note of how beautiful they were
They walked along the road between the settlements, sometimes seeing other travelers but never seeing any monsters.
He got the cold shoulder when he asked the shielder man why they didn't see any monsters.
"Sorry about that, kid. Brad's mute, so he can't even if he wanted to answer."
David looked at the green-haired archer, trying to remember her name.
"Ah, I see. Thanks, Ms. Cassie."
"You don't have to call me Ms. Cassie. I'm only a few years older than you. Cassie or Cass is just fine!"
When Cassie finished telling David that Ray, who was ahead of them, laughed loudly.
"GWAHAHAHAHAHA"
"Why the hell does he laugh like that?" David thought to himself
[No Idea.]
"I wasn't asking you," David sighed after reading Lucia's reply to a question focused at himself.
"So, Cassie, why haven't any monsters attacked us yet?"
"I see you're excited to test out your newly awakened powers, but unfortunately, these roads are safe as long as Ray is here. Any monster weaker than him will probably steer clear from us. Although if something stronger were around here, we'd all be done for."
Cassie finished her statement with a short laugh
"It seems they all completely trust Ray's strength." David noticed
Ray came to the back of the group where David was walking and wrapped his arm around David's neck in a friendly yet dominant manner.
"Come to the front, kid."
As he dragged David to the front, Jess and Cassie shared the same annoyed expression as they made eye contact.
"Not this again…" Jess muttered
"So lemme catch you up to speed, kid. As you know, the Salamander group was originally an adventurer group. The kingdom recognized our talent and sponsored us as long as we served them. So we're basically a knight order. I'm the leader, alright. I'm the strongest in the party and closest to reaching the A-tier. You know what that means, right kid?"
"Um…you're powerful?" David guessed
"Well, obviously, but I'm not just strong. I'm the strongest human, obviously. Any monster would run from my aura alone. So don't go askin' about us seeing any monsters on the way 'cause we're not seeing any."
"If you're so strong, why are you working under Lucius and the kingdom?" David retorted
This caused Ray to let go of him and look at him approvingly.
"I'm surprised you didn't let me completely walk over you. To answer your question, I'm the strongest human in the Lurris Kingdom. But, despite his extremely important position, the old man over there is a weakling. So I gotta protect him."
David wanted to know why he felt so obligated to protect Lucius until the old man in front of them turned around with a resolute look before speaking to the group.
"Everyone! We have arrived in the Magic City of Elderglow."
David walked up the hill and saw a large city, seemingly from a different world than his own. The city had three layers, each more prosperous than the one below.
"So this is Elderglow," thought David