Chapter 248 - A Lead

After the Instructor came back from taking the injured prince from the infirmary alongside the other 2 students who brought him, he was just about to yell and berate Fatima, but immediately found out that she was actually the 3rd Prince's fiancée from overhearing the students talk about it.

"Uhm...young lady, next time, please tone down on the violence... anyways, class will begin now! If all of you have already grouped up together we'll move to the forest field now!"

The instructor only reprimanded Fatima with mild words since he didn't dare disrespect the prince. Berating her was the same as berating the prince.

"Hm, what a convenient title..." Fatima said lightly.

"Ugh..." Rowan had a pained look on his face when he heard this. Clara looked at with sympathy and casually patted his shoulder without thinking.

"Oh! P-prince, I'm sorry, I didn't mean any disrespect..."

"No, it's okay Clara...you're Fatima's friend so you can treat me as you would treat her...haaah...I can't believe she just said it was a convenient title..."

"Well...you're in for a hard time, Prince Rowan."

"Please, just Rowan is fine...but yeah...I guess..."

"Hurry up, are we going or not?" Fatima said as she looked back at the two people who were lagging behind.

They only had 3 people, but Fatima didn't care. She couldn't be bothered to recruit another random weakling and both Rowan and Clara didn't make any notions of recruiting others either.

Just like this, the 3 moved to the forest field to conduct their class and let's just say that Fatima practically massacred every other participating team with her fists and wits.

******

Time passed and it was the present. Fatima was staring up into the starry skies just like Cecil, but instead of resting in her room, she was currently inside a large ballroom.

"...If he's out there then he's probably looking up at the same sky..."

"Ima?"

When she heard the familiar voice, Fatima turned around and eyed the handsome young man approaching her.

"You should have waited inside, what're you doing out here? It's cold." The young man said as he took off his suit and dr.a.p.ed it over the girl.

"I'm just...enjoying the night sky..."

"Still thinking about your brother?"

"...yes..."

"We'll find him soon... and since I know he's YOUR brother, I'm sure he's safe."

"Thanks Rowan." Fatima replied with a small hint of a smile. The handsome young man talking to her was her 'fiancé' and the 3rd Prince of the Regulus kingdom, Rowan Regulus.

"I heard that you're second brother is coming to the Kingdom..."

"Yes..."

"I just hope he's not like my second brother. I believe we haven't met yet, right?"

Fatima lightly chuckled at his words. This caused Rowan to widen his eyes a little in shock. From what he knew, it was immeasurably hard to even humor this young lady.

"No, you two haven't. He was too busy dealing with the factories the previous time you visited."

Rowan nodded in understanding. Then he couldn't help but chuckle as he remembered his first ever visit to his fiancée's 'kingdom' a month ago.

"I didn't think that you were actually from the no-man's land. Meeting your family was pretty nerve-wracking, not to mention, you were actually a Princess yourself. No wonder you carried yourself with such nobility!"

"...I lied back then, I apologize for that. Also, I'm no princess."

"Haha, it's alright, you had your reasons back then, but now I'm glad you're more trusting in me...but are you sure you aren't a princess? With the way the citizens inside your city treat you, not to mention all those warriors training in your family's private land, you sure seem one to me." Rowan replied with a teasing smile.

"I'm not one, okay?"

"Well, you're going to be one soon!"

"Heh, keep dreaming lover boy," Fatima replied while rolling her eyes at him. Rowan only smirked and asked while looking around.

"By the way, where are Clara and Karen?"

"Clara's off with her boyfriend somewhere, and Princess Karen was pulled away to join the ball..."

"Hm, you don't have to address my sister so formally...she's going to be your sister soon. Also, from what I know, aren't you two close?" Rowan asked with a teasing smile.

"Hmph, we are friends, but please remember this is the castle. I can treat her casually outside, but spare me from doing it while I'm here. And don't forget, you still haven't once beaten my father in a match. Whether it was in chess or in a spar, don't think you'll be marrying me anytime soon!"

"Hahaha~ it'll be soon though! I won't keep you waiting for long, Ima."

"...Whatever," Fatima scoffed in reply, but she had light blush on her face. After interacting and getting to know the prince for a while, Fatima had indeed grown a little fond of him. At least he had the guts to actually chase after her unlike the men in her city who would only fawn over her from afar.

Fatima turned around and gazed up at the night sky once again before she decided to head in. Rowan stuck his arm out and Fatima wrapped hers around his as if it was only natural.

Cecil would be surprised to know that there was actually a man who had caught her eldest sister's interest while at the same time was able to endure the 'abuse' his father and brothers rained on him when the man visited his family.

Previously, every man who wanted to court Fatima would be beaten down and degraded into the Silvaria family's punching bag until they quit in frustration.

However, whether it was luck or not, but when Rowan went for a visit, the only person he met was their father who at that time was being reined in by their mother from acting up. His brothers were all out working while Cecil himself was missing, so Rowan actually dodged a couple of bullets there.

As for grandpa, grandma had that covered. Rowan was able to survive the Silvaria family's traditional 'beat down' because he was able to avoid meeting the ones that would beat him down.

******

Cecil woke up pretty late the next day. He had a good, deep sleep last night and had even dreamt about seeing his sister in the castle of a human kingdom called...Re-something or whatever, he couldn't recall the name. He only remembered that it was a kingdom called Re-something something.

"I hope that dream was real... if there really is a kingdom called Re-whatever, I'll be sure to check it out first."

He got up and stored his blanket and pillow into his ring before noticing a nice smell coming from the wagon's kitchen.

Cecil went over for a peak and saw Lucia making breakfast for everyone.

"Morning."

"Oh! Morning Cel~ you were sleeping pretty deeply today~ I didn't expect to actually wake up before you did!"

"Yeah, I had a...dream last night..."

"A dream?"

"About my eldest sister, she was in a human kingdom called Re-something or whatever."

"Hmm...Well, at least we have a lead now! Even if it's only a dream we should check it out just in case it turns out to be true! Remember, you did have those 'future dreams' before!"

"Y-yeah...but I haven't been having them lately."

"Oh?"

"They've stopped after I quit using the Providence."

"Hmm...well enough of that. Go call the others in and tell them that breakfast is ready."

"Okay...they all outside?"

"Yup~ you were the last to wake up! We didn't want to disturb you since you were sleeping so soundly for once!" Lucia replied with a gentle smile.

Cecil nodded and walked out of the Wanderer. Outside, he saw Serilla training in the distance with Silver and Yuna. She was currently having a mock battle against the two.

He used Nature's Shift to silently approach and spectate the fight. From what he saw, Serilla was doing a good job holding her own against the 2.

After a few rounds of back and forth, Serilla released her Intent. When this happened, Silver and Yuna were finally having some difficulty. In the end though, Serilla exhausted herself before she could land an effective blow on Silver and was pinned under the large wolf's paws.

Yuna's support was just too effective and Silver was able to fight without needing to pay any mind to his defenses.

After standing up, Serilla stretched her body and retrieved her sword that Silver was able to know away. It was a little humiliating for her since it was the first time that her trusty partner was knocked away from her hands.

"Phew...fighting you both is still too hard for me..." Serilla said while reflecting on her earlier battle.

"Well, it's a two against one. Of course, you're gonna have some difficulty."

Hearing the familiar voice, Serilla immediately jolted in surprise before she quickly turned around.

"D-darling, you're awake! Good Morning!"

"Yeah, g'morning...well, breakfast is ready, so let's head in."

"M'kay~ but...I'm too tired...carry me, please?" Serilla pleaded with a cute whine.

"...Sure..." Cecil picked her up and the girl was immediately elated. She was just about to revel in the moment, but was then suddenly put back down.

"Eh?"

"We're inside already, go ask Lulu to use cleanse on you. I still haven't quite finished the drainage system for the bathroom so please bear with it for a while. I'll get it done as soon as possible."

"...Okay..." Serilla replied, a little unsatisfied. She was hoping that Cecil would carry her up to the carriage, but he instead had just used Nature's Shift to teleport inside of the carriage, cutting their lovey-dovey moment short to the point where it was literally over in the blink of an eye.

Once the group finished their breakfast, Silver began pulling the carriage towards their next destination. Cecil went to the bathroom partition and began working on making the drainage system and the small bath.

Well, it wasn't anything too complicated. All he had to do was drill a hole into the carriage's floor and make sure that it doesn't affect the spatial runic array inside the carriage.

It did take him a while to finish, but now that the drainage was done, he just needed to create the Magi-tech shower, create a small bath tub and toilet, with that their bathroom will be completed!

"I'll do that tomorrow, let's go make sure we're heading to the right place and since we aren't taking any adventure quests, we can kick back for a bit."

Cecil walked out of the bathroom and noticed that both girls were only lounging around in the living room area and doing their own things while Yuna was out on the driver's seat keeping Silver company.

Lucia had set up a small table in the middle of the room and was busy sewing their equipment while Serilla was meditating with her sword placed across her lap.

"Lulu, where are we heading?"

Lucia answered him without raising her head from the work she was doing, "We're heading to Garlhorne. It's a city that's had the most sightings of the humans for a while now. Judging by our speed, we might make it there in a week or so."

"Okay."

Cecil sat down on the couch across Serilla and pulled out Corruption. He activated the runes on the sword and began tempering his mind.

He was able to endure it better now so Cecil also began training his Mana and Ki at the same time. He circulated both energies within his body and closed his eyes to meditate while also concentrating his Sword Intent around his body.

There was another thing that Cecil noticed while he was training with the Corruption and tempering his mind, his Sword and Spear Intents had sharpened and improved. It wasn't only his Mana Sense that improved, but everything related to his mind had experienced a large improvement.

His thinking capacity, thought process, Mana Sense, Weapon Intent, and everything else had improved. He felt more in control and it was a good feeling to know that his abilities had visibly improved greatly.

The progress wasn't as fast as before, but Cecil still continued cultivating this way. If he piled up those small amounts of progress, it'll someday lead to a big gain, and that's just how cultivating was. He had to persevere and train hard in order to acquire even more strength.

He cultivated his Mana and Ki, while tempering his mind and his Intent with the Corruption. He was literally killing a couple of birds with a single stone right now.

Their days on the wagon passed just like this and the party didn't meet much trouble during their travels, other than the occasional monster attack and whatnot which they easily repelled. Before they knew it, a week or so had come and gone and the party finally reached Galhorne safely.