Well, I’ll be damned, luck was on our side! Not long after we looked at the available jobs, we were approached by a noble, who recognized Arsted and asked him if he would be interested in escorting him to a town called Dalabar, which was in South Ornea. It was going to be a month-long journey, and it was on the way to Starcrest. Not only that, but the pay was better than any available job we could take.

  The noble didn’t have any interest in me or Renna, which wasn’t surprising considering our age. Thankfully, Arsted told the noble that we’d be going with. The noble had simply nodded, not caring one way or the other. All he cared about was getting Arsted’s help.

  This worked out well for us, and we wouldn’t need to get a mule. That could wait until Dalabar. The timing of this mission couldn’t have been more perfect.

  We were set to leave today. The three of us were waiting at the gates when a large wagon and the noble, who hadn’t given us his name yet, arrived. That wasn’t what I expected, so I glanced at Arsted whose face remained stoic as always. Nothing ever seemed to get to him.

  “Apologies for not saying this earlier, I was worried about someone overhearing us,” the noble said. “The escort is for the cargo inside this wagon, and I do expect trouble.”

  Trouble? What kind of cargo could he be hiding? I thought and looked closer at the wagon. I would have liked to peek inside, but my instincts told me this noble wouldn’t like that. The wagon was large enough to carry a dozen or so people, at least, judging by the outside. Were there slaves in there?

  No, if there were slaves, he wouldn’t be expecting trouble, right?

  I had to force myself not to think of what may be inside. What was the point? I’d likely never know and racking my brain about the possibilities was pointless. If there were slaves inside, well… That would be a road I’d cross when I came to it. Slavery being part of this world was something that didn’t surprise me. I did oppose slavery and while every instinct in me wanted to free them all, I knew how impossible that would be.

  “We are ready to go,” Arsted said.

  “Very well, let’s go,” the noble waited for us to start walking before urging his horses forward.

  I felt like we should buy horses. If soldiers spotted us, they’d be curious about this cargo. If the army wanted to inspect this wagon, there would be nothing we could do to stop it. We were only two children and a demon after all.

  Then again, this was a noble. He wore a fancy robe, with a golden crest of a sword on his neck. Perhaps no soldier would dare mess with him. Bandits might and with war going on, There might be a lot more bandits. Yeah, that had to be it, right?

  Of course, it sucked that we were going to have to walk while the noble got to ride his wagon. Oh well, no point in complaining, we were planning to walk to Starcrest anyway.

  “Arsted, what if the cargo is something bad? Should we be doing this?” Renna asked.

  “Do not worry. Aeron is a trustworthy noble.”

  “You know the noble’s name?” I asked.

  “Yes. My apologies for not telling you his name earlier.”

  “No, no, that doesn’t matter,” I said with a wave of my hands. “I didn’t realize you knew him. That makes me feel better about this job.”

  “Ah, yes, I could have eased both your concerns if I were more forthright. We are likely transporting an important person in this wagon.”

  An important person? The thought of that made me look at the wagon again. Who could a noble be transporting that needs to be hidden? Could it be the king of Dracaena?

  Stop it, that’s a ridiculous thought. I chided myself. It was likely another noble, maybe someone from South Ornea who needed to safely escape Dracaena to avoid being taken as a political prisoner. I was glad we weren’t protecting a slave trader, I wasn’t sure what I would have done if that had been the case.

  “So long as it’s not something bad, I don’t care who we’re transporting,” Renna said.

  While we walked, I noticed Aeron kept himself a bit further back than I would have expected. What if we got attacked from the sides? Sure, right now we weren’t near a forest or mountains but what if we went through a forest and then got attacked?

  Arsted didn’t look concerned at all. With him at our side, it was unlikely for an ambush to get us anyway, which made me realize that was something I needed to improve upon. Being aware of our surroundings or knowing if someone was tailing us would be a good skill to use. I looked at my hands and wondered if there was a spell that could help in that area.

  I was used to being alert, but magic would be a better way to locate threats, rather than relying purely on sound or my eyes. My time in Vietnam had taught me that. Though it was hard to locate the enemy with all the trees and bushes.

  Night fell and we all stopped. To my surprise, Aeron sat with us by the fire and cooked a nice meal. I had expected Aeron to always keep himself close to the wagon, yet he left it unattended for a while until the food was done. He ate his portion, then put food on a plate and brought it into the wagon.

  That confirmed we were escorting a person, and it was someone who clearly didn’t want to be seen. Were they planning on staying in that wagon the entire month? Wait, how were they going to the bathroom? I didn’t recall anyone leaving the wagon or doing their business out the side.

  “Arsted, I’ll take guard to start off the night,” I said.

  “You sure?”

  “Yup, I’m not tired. It’ll be nice to let you get some rest for a change.”

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  “Very well. Wake me if anything seems amiss.”

  “Will do,” I didn’t think I would have to. I’d bet my life that Arsted was always aware of his surroundings, even when he slept.

  “Thanks, Thorian. Have a good night,” Renna was yawning as she spoke.

  “Good night,” I said.

  A week passed, and we ran into nothing. I could feel myself wanting to let down my guard. If it hadn’t been for my past life, I likely would have. There were consequences to getting too comfortable as that was almost always when trouble arrived.

  There was something I was working on. Since there was a lot of free time, I had decided to start working on my own spell. Elias had told me that becoming a Mystic mage required creating your own spells and understanding magic on a deeper level. The stone bullet wasn’t exactly unique. Sure, the bullet shaped stone was unique looking but any magic user that knew earth magic could form a shape and attack. Elias shaped his rocks into drill bit shapes. I used an .556 bullet as my formation.

  Fire came out of my hands and within the fire was earth. I’d gotten that part down at least. My first goal of this spell was to create fire, while having earth inside without being seen. That might sound easy, but it took me over three days to get it and only now was I getting it every time.

  “What are you doing?” Renna asked.

  “Oh me?”

  “No, the man in front of you,” Renna said while rolling her eyes.

  “Ha ha, very funny,” I retorted. I allowed the fire and earth inside to disappear. “I’m trying to combine earth and fire to create a bomb.”

  “A bomb, you say?” Arsted asked, his interest clearly piqued.

  “Yeah. When we were in the dungeon killing monsters, it made me realize how useful a bomb could be. I figured I’d try to use magic to create it. I’m hoping to make the attack look like a fireball when in reality, the earth inside will scatter.”

  If I had a book or another magic user to talk to, this might be easier to accomplish.

  “That makes sense. The monsters would react if they saw you combining both elements,” Renna said.

  “Exactly. Monsters are smarter than I thought. If the monster is strong, it always reacts to my attacks in ways I wouldn’t expect. It’s like they can sense magic.”

  “That’s because they can,” Arsted said. “Monsters, even weak ones can detect mana, though the weaker ones are usually too slow to react. Some monsters can use magic, as you’ve seen already.”

  My first time seeing a monster use magic was back in Alcion, when fighting trolls. I could see why adventurers existed. If not for the guilds, I’m sure monsters would be roaming around all over, killing anyone who came into their territory.

  If this worked as I hoped it would, then monsters would be easier to kill. If they thought I was attacking with a simple fireball, they’d be cocky as that was not a strong spell. Time would tell, assuming I could get the spell down.

  “Be wary, Thorian, of what can happen when using magic in new ways,” Arsted said.

  “I know. I’ll be sure to test this in a safe area.”

  “You must be wary for yourself. Custom spells can backfire. Don’t do anything reckless.”

  “I won’t, I promise.”

  Elias had told me the same thing. Mages had accidentally killed themselves trying to create their own spells. I didn’t want to die by my own attack. The thought of accidentally killing myself made me shudder. From what I gathered, the mages whose spells backfired usually didn’t do thorough testing. I wouldn’t make that mistake.

  “Arsted, we should spar tonight,” Renna said.

  “We can do that.”

  I tuned them out and returned my focus to magic. I’m surprised Renna didn’t spar with Arsted more often. Seeing me testing magic must have given her the idea to spar with him. Now that I was confident in getting the formation of the spell, it was time to figure out how to cause the earth to explode like a grenade…

  Another week passed. Arsted and Renna began sparring every night. Arsted won each duel easily. It was obvious he was holding back. He was a good teacher, after every victory, he would tell Renna what she should be doing to avoid losing like that in the future.

  Renna was a good sport and absorbed the information like a sponge. She rarely lost the same way twice. It was good to see her improve her skills. Not that she was getting closer to beating him, she was far from his skill level.

  Over the past two weeks, I had yet to see anyone leave the wagon. How they were going to the bathroom was one question I had. The other was how were they not going insane? I couldn’t imagine staying inside a wagon for two weeks, without leaving once! Either this person was very important or extremely sheltered.

  Aeron consistently warned us to be wary. When I say us, I mean me and Renna. He wasn’t concerned about Arsted it seemed, not that I blamed him. The demon was always wary after all. I was puzzled as to why he cared if we were focused or not. When hiring Arsted, we had seemed like an add-on that had to come.

  The sparring between Arsted and Renna must have earned us a bit more respect in his eyes. I’m not sure why he would give me more respect, I hadn’t done anything to show off what I could do. Perhaps he assumed I was strong since Renna was.

  By nightfall, it was time to show off my progress with the spell. I’d been working diligently on getting this spell to work. There had been a lot more frustration than I’d like to admit but I had figured it out. It was time to show the others!

  “Renna, Arsted, I have something to show you,” I stretched out my hand, creating what I was now calling the firebomb. “Watch closely.”

  The firebomb launched toward a group of trees. I waited until it was far enough away before closing my fist. The firebomb exploded. Debris clattered against nearby trees. The sound was loud, far louder than I expected it to be.

  “Let’s go see!” Renna grabbed my hand and ran forward. Arsted got up and followed us.

  “Wow, you did it!” Renna said.

  Where the firebomb exploded was a small hole. The trees nearby had holes punctured in them. It seemed the mana I had poured into the earth, combined with the force of the explosion made the firebomb stronger than I thought. Until now, I’d only tested it with sand. This would work on monsters for sure.

  “Yeah, I-”

  “WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING?” Aeron came barreling out of the wagon, his face red as a cherry.

  The sudden explosion of anger had me at a loss for words. What was he so worried about?

  “You might have given away our location with all that ruckus!” Aeron said. He was glaring at me intently. There was silence for a moment before he turned to Arsted. “Keep these children under control, understood?”

  “Apologies, I wasn’t thinking,” I said.

  “We’ll be quiet from now on, please forgive the noise,” Arsted said.

  “I better not hear another sound for the rest of the night!” Aeron turned toward the wagon and stomped off. He was mumbling something under his breath that I was fine with not hearing.

  “Don’t judge the man harshly. Whoever is in the wagon must be very important,” Arsted said.

  “It’s fine, I should have thought about the noise before showing you guys.”

  “Let’s forget about him,” Renna said, turning to me with a beaming smile. “How come we didn’t hear any loud noises while you were practicing this move?”

  “Well, in my tests I wasn’t putting much pressure as I didn’t want to hurt myself. Once I figured out how to stabilize the firebomb, I added more pressure which resulted in the explosion you heard. I could make it quieter, but that would weaken the attack.”

  “Interesting, you’re further along with magic than any kid I’ve ever seen,” Arsted said. He was rubbing his chin and smiling. “You and Renna impress me more every day. It’ll be interesting to see how strong you’ll both become.”

  I wasn’t sure what to say. If I was a normal kid, I wouldn’t have thought about a firebomb. The only reason I did was due to my experience in my previous life. Still, I was able to create my own spell. I’m sure I wasn’t the first to come up with a technique like this.

  “Arsted, it’s time for us to spar!” Renna was fired up. Her sword was already out before Arsted could respond.

  “Very well,” Arsted said.

  Time for some evening entertainment. I stepped back and took a seat. This was turning out to be a great trip.