At this very moment, we were currently walking down a road, only several miles out from Ashber, Aya and I were in these shitty, dirty clothes. Arthur was in a much more fancier outfit now, one with animal fur.
Sylvie was hiding in his jacket, and we were not using any mana, trying not to alert anyone that we were coming. I was side by side with Aya, no one was around so we were all just talking quietly.
"Arthur, you're telling me that I shouldn't have blood oath activated, right?" Because if I did, I might be able to track the Retainer or Scythe, well, actually I would be able to. "I could just find whoever is there, and we could head in that direction."
"Don't, they may be able to sense you using it, we want the element of surprise." Arthur told me, and I shook my head.
"Does surprising them even matter? They know we are coming, maybe not when we are, but they know at some point we will be there."
"But we are also tasked with shutting down the slave trade that is being run in the town." Aya said, but we could do that with ease.
"Just follow along, Veer." I kicked a rock on the ground. "We'll be there in a couple of hours, beforehand, if we see anyone, we want them to think we are part of the slave trade that is going on in town."
"I know." I said, facing forward with a bored look on my face, for some reason I thought we were going to drop out of the sky, land in front of the enemy, and kill them.
I might as well go through everything I know, Jagrette, the Retainer of, actually I don't know which Retainer she is, I know she has acid powers. She also has plant magic, some sort of corrosive touch, the ability to travel through trees, and absorb life out of them, which to me, makes no sense, how can someone travel through a tree?
Who else, well I guess, Cylrit, he may show up and fight, but I doubt he fulfills his duty, maybe he will, I don't know. He has some sort of ability that allows him to absorb attacks with his sword and has this black fog sort of magic. Honestly, it seems pretty weak to me. I think Arthur and Aya could handle him, but Arthur knows he's an ally in a way.
I know there was one other one, she really didn't fight in the war, but Agrona may need to send more of his elite forces to beat us with me here. Oh, it was Lyra, she had that voice amplification ability, which means she had sound magic. I don't know what she looks like though, I don't remember reading it.
I forgot the Retainer Tessia fought, I think his name was Bilal, I forget his powers, but if Tessia was able to defeat him, then I think I could with ease, so he is not even worth thinking about.
Now, what if Nico shows up, he'll most likely be throwing some sort of tantrum towards Arthur, but he is still a Scythe, maybe one of the weakest, but he is one. I think I'll be able to take him, he has earth magic, and I know he uses some sort of spike spell, it may be the same one Cadell and Uto used.
We know Cadell's powers, and I don't think any of the other Scythe's will show up, unless it is Seris, which then I have no idea what would happen, would she attack, would she not, I don't know. It would be interesting to see her, I'm pretty sure she looks like a normal person, not like some of these Retainers and Scythe's who wear masks. I don't even know what she is capable of, she is strong, maybe as strong as Cadell, so I don't think we can take her on if she does fight us.
"What are you thinking about?" Aya was looking at me, dirt all over her face. Arthur wanted us to look dirty, so I also had dirt on mine.
"Nothing, just prepping myself." I was going to activate blood oath when we got closer, because the fact is, we still don't want to walk into a trap, even if this is a trap for them. "Arthur, how much further?"
"Awhile." He said, I sighed. "Lance Aya, you use wind and illusion magic, correct?"
"I do." Aya turned to my brother and smiled. "Why do you ask? You want me to train you to use illusion magic, like I did with Veer?"
Arthur shook his head. "No, I'm just trying to find a way we can cortinate our attacks together, so that we can fight as one." I've actually never fought with Aya, on her side, but I know how she fights since we sparred a lot. "I feel like we didn't fight as one against Cadell, Veer, some I want to change that."
"Shouldn't we have trained before coming then, learn to fight together." I shrugged, thinking about how we could fight as one, not caring that much to be honest. "We all fight up close, so I say we just go with the flow, you see an opening, you take it."
"No, I mean, if it is Cadell, when the three of us combined attacks, it did affect him a little, maybe not a lot, but slightly." I do recall what Arthur is saying, but it didn't do much, if not anything. "So, I think Aya, and you should play mind games with whoever is there, illusions after illusions like you did with Cadell, that way we can aim larger attacks and hope they hit."
"Big hope." I said. "It's not like those big attacks did anything against Cadell, and he had that fire that ain't away the mana I got into him, so my blood magic was pretty much useless."
"It was not useless, you were able to cancel out his magic countless times, you just could not hold it for long." He is right, but I still wanted it to do more.
"I'm fine with that plan." Aya agreed with my brother. "That's if only a Scythe shows up, like we said earlier, there's a chance that a small force is underground."
"Yeah, I ----" Arthur was cut short as we heard a carriage coming this way from behind us. "Quiet, remember you are slaves at the moment."
I put on a sad face, and faced forward, zoning everything out now.
It only took a minute for the carriage to reach us, and when it did it stopped to our side. "Are you heading to Ashber, young sir?" I turned to the man who asked the question, his voice sounded pleasant, but looking at him would say otherwise. The man was in silver armor from head to toe in the front of his carriage, had a big beard, very muscular, and looked like some adventurer of some sorts.
"Yes, my father has requested for me to meet him there, with these two." Arthur motioned toward Aya and me.
"Oh, I see, your father must be a slave trader then." He smiled at Arthur, then turned to us. "Looks like you guys hit the jackpot, such a beauty." The man was now eyeing up Aya like a snack. "I'm sorry, I didn't introduce myself, my name is Benjamin, but people call me Benjy."
"My name is Rey." Arthur said, he really was going with our father's name, funny. "I don't know where my father got them, but you are right, he did hit the jackpot."
"Well, I can give you a ride if you want, unless you want your merchandise to walk." Could I kill this man? That was the only thought going on inside of my mind, like, honestly, I know it's a way of life here in Dicathen, slave trading, but calling me merchandise pisses me off.
"I couldn't, I don't want my slaves messing anything up for you." The guy was smiling at Arthur, but I could see in his side eye, he was still examining Aya from top to bottom.
"It's fine." Benjy waved his hand towards the back. "Have them jump in the back with my slaves." He had a giant smile on his face, I wasn't using magic at all, so I didn't even sense them. "You can sit up here with me, young ma."
"Are you sure? It would be a huge help." Arthur gestured with his hands, showing his fake gratitude.
"Of course, come on." Benjy jumped off the carriage and made his way to the back.
Arthur faced us. "Get in the back of the carriage, and don't do anything to make us look bad."
"However." Benjy said while I rolled my eyes at Arthur, and Aya and I followed Benjy to the back. "Personally, I don't like traveling with my slaves when they are not cuffed up, so if you do want me to get you to Ashber faster, I ask for your permission to make sure these two don't try to run away and make our lives harder."
"Don't worry, they won't try anything." Arthur smiled at him. "They know what happens to them if they do."
"Even so, I have extra cuffs, so it's fine." Benjy reached into the back of the carriage, Aya and I were still on the side, Arthur was also next to us. "Ahh, here." He pulled out four pairs of mana cuffs I assumed.
I'm going to kill him.
I took a step forward, but Arthur spoke up and I stopped. "I guess I'll accept your kindness in making sure my father's products don't try to escape." Arthur stepped toward Benjy and held out his hands. "I'll put them on, then meet you at front, maybe you can give me some advice since my father never does."
Benjy handed the cuffs over and smiled. "I got you, don't worry, I'll tell you all you need to know so that you can surprise your father when you get back." Benjy patted Arthur's shoulder as he made his way back to the front of the carriage.
"Put them on, I don't think they will have an effect on you." Arthur said, motioning for Aya to lift her hands up, and she did. "Just sit in the back and wait until we get there, I think this man might try something on me, but I don't know, if he does, I'll have to kill him."
"Just let me." I said as Arthur put the ankle cuffs on Aya, she had a very serious, yet tired look to her, she was a very good actor.
"No, not yet." Arthur came over to me, and I sighed softly, not loud enough that Benjy heard. "Come on." I lifted my hands, and he cuffed them, then leaned over, and cuffed my ankles. "Now, get in the back."
Aya and I slowly made our way to the back, and when I looked inside, four faces were staring at us. I slowly climbed up, and got in, sitting in the corner next to a young man who seemed to be in a bad state, he was an actual slave, so it made sense.
Aya got in next and sat across from me next to a male dwarf, the two other slaves sitting on the other end of the carriage were two girls, one was an elf who seemed to be slightly younger than Aya, and a human girl around my mom's age. The elf girl was pretty attractive, so I'm assuming this guy has a thing for elves.
I could sense the cuffs trying to cancel out my mana, but it wasn't working, I could break them like Arthur said, which did make me feel a lot better at the moment.
I leaned back into the carriage, I couldn't hear if Benjy and Arthur were talking at all, the carriage started to move, and we were off.
"This is stupid." I spoke up, dropping my facade.
"Veer, we have to be quiet." Aya told me, and the four other slaves stared at us. "Sorry, he doesn't know better."
"No, we are allowed to talk as long as it doesn't interrupt him." The dwarf spoke. "I'm Flint, it must be nice that your master doesn't beat sense into you."
Jeez, I don't know if I can do this, I bit my lip, turned my head toward the back of the carriage, and stared at the passing ground as we made our way down the road.
I activated "Blood Oath" knowing the cuffs couldn't stop me, and I was still able to hide my mana usage, which was why I thought it was stupid we weren't using mana, but I guess they aren't on my level, and blood magic does allow me to do it easier.
I couldn't sense the people in Ashber yet, we weren't close enough, but they should come into range in about twenty minutes or so, maybe sooner. This just sucks, absolutely sucks, I want to fight already.
I closed my eyes and looked into my core, sensing for the Serpent's presence, something I didn't do any more since I knew it was taking over my mind. I was going to need more strength from it sooner or later, I knew that.