As the guard came closer to Orsen, he soon realized the damage of his injuries. It was not only nauseating but also grotesque to look at.
Charred flesh including his ears and nose, his left eye was covered up with a bandage and the upper torso was the covered part while the lower torso remained mostly unscathed with bits and pieces exposed as burnt.
"I was involved in a fire accident months ago. I was out hunting with my sister when we came across a tier two Fire Thrower Moth."
"I had just barely advanced into tier two while my sister was already a tier two on the second array. As we went on about our expedition, we were caught off guard by the beast and tried to flee."
"As the creature had spewed a wave of fire at me, my sister intervened and saved my life at the price of her own as she launched a devastating attack at the monster. Unfortunately the attack wasn't fully blocked and some happened to reach me."
The guard upon inspecting the damage, it looked as if it occurred some time ago and not recently. "Very well." He said before losing interest in Orsen.
It didn't take long before the two finally set off and got clearance at the gate. Looking at the kingdom getting smaller and smaller, the two fell into a deep silence as they waited on the journey that waited ahead.
*A while back*
As Orsen lit the place on fire, he was ready to leave whereas for identity, he would make an illusion to cover that up but there was an unexpected turn of events.
His body had been taken over. "I hope you still remember what we told you." A voice echoed in his head.
'The offer?' He thought instantly as the black fire that was consuming everything formed two human like shadows. One of them was Hedonism and the other Fear.
In an instant, his body was attacked by the two, Hedonism aiming for his heart while Fear aimed for his left eye. The organs weren't devoured by the fire but rather phased out.
"That should do it." Hedon said as the fire started to slowly consume his own body causing parts of his own body to slowly burn up. Instantly stepping out of the premises, he realized that he could take this identity as well.
As for the lie he narrated to the guard, it wasn't that hard to do so.
...
The destination of the caravan would take a while, ranging from a span of two weeks if the conditions were favorable or at most a month and a half if they got unlucky.
The worst case scenario was that they didn't make it at all with the crew ending up all dying and the cargo was lost or destroyed. Of course not just bandits but also demons including demon tainted monsters.
The carriages would be pulled by horses or at times other creatures such as bears or elephants but that was on more rare instances.
The path the carriages followed slowly became less profound and became more of a beaten path. The path became narrower as they were surrounded by the tress.
Such foliage gave rise to shady practices such as larceny which was common around such parts. The leader already had people take turns in watching the carriages. They would usually take shifts to allow breaks and usually stopped during the night.
As the caravan realized that the sun was setting, they immediately put a halt to their progress and decided to set up a base. The materials were already present and in a span of a few hours, the base was already done.
At night, it was even much more of a threat in comparison to the day. Not only were their vision hindered but also more creatures hunted in the night along with attacks from demons.
Bandits would usually refrain from such attacks as their advantage wouldn't be all that high.
As they had their meal, Orsen suddenly spoke out. "You don't know how to fight, do you?" It was a question that was somewhat flat. Hilda who had just finished her meal shook her head.
She was aware of the concept of combat but she never had the environment nor reason to do so considering her past job was being a maid. "No. Sadly I don't." She said with a bit of hesitation.
Orsen hadn't eaten anything as he brushed it off claiming that he wasn't hungry. The food present could be gotten from hunting the monsters that they would run into or the resources they had carried.
If one had neither, there was a stall for buying some at a price of fifty bronze quartz. It was affordable for them.
He looked at the rest of the people around him. Some were busy absorbed feasting on their meals while others engaged in light hearted conversations. Surrounding the caravan was a circle that enclosed the entire camp.
It was a defense array, capable of warding off tier three monsters that would stray and hold off a couple of hits from tier four beasts. As for bigger tiers, the chances of running into one were extremely low.
Hilda had finished her meal as Orsen got up. The two had stuck together ever since the travel had started thus she followed him as he made his way out of the protection spell that had been cast down.
Their movements had garnered attention from some people. "Where do you two think you're going?" A voice rang out.
The person asking the question wasn't all that concerned about their safety, after all. People would die on these expeditions, he was making sure that they were sure on what they were doing and the consequences that would follow.
His name was Cormic, a tier three on the second array. A prideful and disdainful air hung around his figure as he observed the two which granted his attention. It was without a doubt these two did seem rather abnormal with their actions.
"We're going out for some fresh air." Orsen commented as he looked back at Cormic. Of course he knew what he wanted to say. "If you put yourselves in a precarious situation, just know that help won't arrive as soon as you think."
Cormic said as he made his way back to the camp with the rest. It was his duties to observe no irregular activities took place in the caravan and this clearly did.
The two went deeper into the woods as the view of the stars became clearer and the atmosphere quieter. It was chilling but soon enough, the two came into a small opening in the woods after a while.
"We'll do it here." Orsen said making Hilda pause for a moment before she realizing what he meant. She had received a talisman in the form of a ring which acted as a store space and a defense as a gift.
"Considering your hidden talent for mana, using weapons isn't ideal for you not to mention it would be time consuming." He said as the two stood in the same direction as each other.
He stretched his hand out and opening his hand with the other pocketed as he aimed at a tree.
*BAM*
A small fireball shot from his arm and landed on one of the trees. It fairly scorched the bark of the tree but it didn't do substantial damage to it as it seemed fine with a bit partially burnt.
Hilda scoffed as to how Orsen underestimated her and did the same. A small fireball, the size of a fist made a tree its target and did more damage compared to Orsen as it burnt off a huge part of the tree.
Such an attack could be done by a tier one. Seeing thus, Orsen shifted his element to another one, water. The size wasn't anything massive as it struck the same tree again.
Several small blade arcs chipped the tree making marks but it stood strong. Hilda reciprocated the same easily capable of making it more lethal than Orsen as her tree was riddled with marks barely able to preventing from falling.
As a tier three, this was childish work to the point it seemed degrading but she kept her thoughts to herself and continued. Orsen did the same with small rocks, forming them into sharp pebbles and making holes through the tree.
She did the same but unlike earlier, the magnitude as of now was reduced, similar to Orsen's level and a groan emanated from the tree as it fell to the ground with a large thud.
From then on, Orsen shifted to other elements which proved difficult for her to master.
Wind was hard as she found great difficulty in controlling the currents in the air, ice was impossible along with light, metal, sand, molten lava and nature.
But what took her by surprise was spatial manipulation and time. As he formed a small black hole that was directed at the tree.
Upon impact, a side of the tree was instantly devoured as if by nothing while time reversed the effects returning the two trees back their original state.
"So which elements do you feel the most comfortable with?" Orsen asked as he withdrew his hand. Hilda was at a loss for words.
"Fire and water but can you teach me the last two?" She inquired. Her face portrayed her eagerness to learn what he had just demonstrated. The more she spent time with him, the more elusive he came off as.
"For spatial and time manipulation, that will take a huge amount of time. It could take you months just to form a spatial crack and even longer to maintain it, let alone use it in any form of combat."
"But that will have to do for now." Hilda felt somewhat dejected after hearing that but understood that it would take a while. With her learning of alchemy, it took her two months. She knew she had the patience to do so.
After that, the two started to make their way back to the caravan. The dome protection allowed them to pass as it detected them as members of the caravan.
...
The next day, the caravan continued to make their way to its destination, Rien Kingdom. The kingdom was still a developing kingdom but it was simple had some reputation on it.
The reason as to why Orsen was even on this journey to begin with was because his target was also there. As for Hilda, she could serve as companionship to help pass time before he got there.
They packed their belongings before they were back in the road once more. As tier two experts would stand on guard trying to make sure that the road was clear, everything seemed to be perfectly under control.
"At this rate, we should be able to get to Rien Kingdom in a matter of two weeks or at the very least three." The Caravan Leader Lysander concluded as they trip went on smoothly.
Suddenly, the carts at the front immediately cake to a stop without warning. Everyone was bewildered by this as it brought the whole conglomeration to a pause.
Orsen who had been sleeping in his own realized what it was opened his eyes slightly before closing his eyes once more.
Hilda on the other hand had been trying to refine an artifact Orsen had given her after their training.
She wanted to learn spatial manipulation along with time control but that would take time and she soon realized why.
The artifact in her possession was a spatial rift that resided in her mind. She had to focus on it as she would have to infuse her own mana into it so as to refine it and as she went along with it, slowly gain knowledge and insight of the spatial manipulation.
She had been advised multiple times to take it easy by Orsen and not push herself too hard but her eagerness was getting the best of her. The thrill to master such an element would make her one of a kind.
She would make herself invaluable and her knowledge that she had learnt till this point all the more earn her sky high profits. Just thinking at the mere thought sent shivers down her spine.