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After some time, the day we would be departing Stollar with Temuru had come.

A round trip that would take about two whole months was a first for us, so we packed quite a lot of luggage, but we had a carriage so we didn’t feel the weight. We practiced driving a carriage before the departure, and at present, we were all trained enough to ride on the highway.

“Nicole, we’ll be depending on you for the duration of this journey.”
“Oh, Mark, it’s been a while. Seems like you’ve grown even more?”
“No way I’d have grown taller at this age.”

We have formed parties with Mark several times over the past three years, so I was familiar with his disposition. And he was also used to our looks, so he wouldn’t come to hit on us.

You could say he was someone very easy to party up with from my perspective.

“We have my two carriages and one from Nicole’s side, but are you sure you can handle so many?”
“There should be no problems as long as we guard front and back.”

Temuru had some apprehensions that our carriages stacked up to form quite a big line. Finia reassured him as we got ready to depart. Our carriage would be leading, followed by Temuru’s carriage. And at the tail, there was one more carriage loaded with merchandise.

Our carriage had a canopy too, so it could shelter us from rain. Mark’s group’s luggage was also being loaded on it.

“Having a carriage really is convenient, huh?” John and Tony were mumbling such things while loading the luggage. They were still third-rank, so they could not afford a carriage. Thus they ended up using our carriage for their things.

“We need one for ourselves.”
“That comes after we get to fourth-rank. We have some breathing room now, but a carriage is still too soon.”

Tony rebuked the grumbling John. If they wasted money there, the leeway the breathing room they finally obtained would disappear. When you reached the third rank, you were considered to have the ability of an average Adventurer, but subjugating monsters still came with the exhaustion of the equipment.

Until they reached the fourth-rank, considered to be the area of veterans and skilled people, there was no profitable work around, so they still could not go wild.

“Well then, the coachman of our leading carriage will be Finia. Michelle, you sit next to her. I’ll go on foot. Cloud you ride the horse and keep in line with us.”
“Okay.”
“Mark, you guys stay alert for our backs. I doubt Michelle and I will overlook anything, but there is a chance that a surprise attack could come from there.”
“Got it, leave it to us.”
“Sir Temuru, you stay in the center and prioritize protecting yourself inside the carriage. Alright, time to go!”

With my order, Finia set the carriage into motion. The two carriages followed behind us, with Mark’s group at the tail. We reported our departure to the gate guard and set our course towards the south.

The Holy Tree Kingdom of Forneus was to the east from here, but there was no straight path to it from Stollar. We had to return to Raum’s vicinity first before changing our route to the south.

“It would have been great if I could use the Portal Gate.”
“You can only carry two people with Teleport, so that’s impossible for now, Lady Nicole.”
“Yeah. Besides, you can quickly return once you visit it once, so I’m jealous as is.”
“Well, it is convenient for sure.”

If I felt like it, I could return to Stollar, or even the northern village. In fact, that’s what I did whenever I wasn’t adventuring. But since there was a risk that Finia and others would get attacked during that, I couldn’t do it so willy-nilly.

When I grow up and be able to freely teleport where I want, I’m sure such ‘easy trips’ would become possible.

We traveled the countryside for some time after leaving Stollar, so there were great views. The safety was maintained too so there was no need to be overly vigilant. The weather was also nice, so we were advancing along in a very relaxed manner.

“It’s such nice weather. I’m feeling sleepy for some reason.”
“Then would you like to walk, Michelle?”
“Huh, no!”
“You selfish girl!”
“Can’t you just ride the carriage too, Nicole? The luggage carrier is still free, you know?”
“And what would we do about the need to be alert?”

I scolded Michelle who was completely devoid of tension while suppressing a yawn myself.

“Hmm?”

But then, I let out a questioning voice. It was because I saw a bird flying in the skies above. It was like a small dot seen from below, but scaling its size to how high it was, it was actually quite large.

“Hmm, is that a vulture?”
“Seems to be.”
“Huh where?”

Finia affirmed my guess, while Michelle was searching for it all around. Seeing that Cloud dropped his shoulders.

“A vulture huh. No point being a shielder against birds.”
“Well, they are flying enemies, after all. Can’t be helped.”
“But we can’t protect Temuru like that.”

That was a surprisingly clear assessment given that it came from Cloud. There was hardly a point in the rank of troops when it came to aerial monsters. We were ground beings, and as such, the sky was always a blind spot for us.

Being alert against them was the duty of us scouts. Fortunately, we had a mighty anti-aircraft tower by the name of Michelle with us, so we were gonna deal a preemptive strike on it.

“Michelle, it’d be a problem if that one attacks us, so take the initiative and take it down.”
“Okay, got it. So bird’s on today’s menu!”
“No, that’s not what I mean… Valencia One, Ultramarine One, Gold Three, bring one to the extreme—Overboost.”

The vulture was too far to shoot from here. As such, there was a need for her to use the Third Eye, so I cast Overboost, one of the top-ranking enchanting spells on Michelle. Although not on Teleport’s level, this spell was still quite advanced, so it took a good chunk of my magic power. Even so, it was still better than exposing our client to danger, so I used it without being frugal.

By the way, Michelle could use the bow even with the spell bestowed to the bangle on her arm, it put a lot of physical burden on her, so she was trying to limit using it to the utmost.

“Okay, here I go!”

She pulled out the Third Eye with great force and drew it. She had replenished the steel arrows and the spares were in the luggage carrier, so she wasn’t hesitant on using them.

Then, the loosen arrow stayed true to its aim and pierced the vulture. That night, we had a grilled bird as requested by Michelle.