Chapter 180 - Port Town

After a few days inside the carriage, even the excitement of Drannor and Ameria decreased considerably since they were sick of staying inside that small box. They weren't complaining, but they sure were sighing a lot. Even though that was the only discomfort they had to endure, the maids and the guards were taking care of all the other problems.

"Hey, Zaos, do you want to spar a little bit after we stop?" Drannor asked.

"Spar? At night? While we were supposed to be on guard duty?" Zaos asked. "I thought you couldn't get more stupid, but I have clearly underestimated you."

"Come on, I can see that you are getting out of shape," Drannor said. "You need some exercise." 

"If you want some exercise, you can always run behind the carriages in full armor," Zaos said. "Speaking of exercise, this is a golden time for you to put good use to your archer skills. Why don't you try them?"

"Why would I bring my bow when I am on a diplomatic mission?" Ameria asked.

"Then ask the question: did you bring your bow?" Zaos asked.

Ameria looked away because she didn't want to lie. It was evident that she had planned to hunt some animals along the way. Still, she had planned to do that at a later date. Once, she is sure that they can't return to the castle because she had disobeyed her father. Although Zaos didn't treat him all that well, the captain of the guards, his name was Erean, could cancel the trip whenever he saw fit.

The entourage stopped on the first five nights and rented several rooms in some villages and towns along the path. From the sixth night on, they wouldn't be able to do that every day anymore, and until they reached the ocean, they still had seven more days of traveling.

On the first night, they had to camp, Zaos left the carriage and decided to walk around the place. Although he could sense everything approaching in a three hundred meters radius, it wasn't a bad idea to feel the area with his eyes. Ameria and her attendants would sleep in the carriages. In contrast, the others would take turns watching the camp and sleeping below some trips. At some point, Drannor approached and then decided to ask something that had been bothering him.

"Hey, is that presence nearby?" Drannor whispered.

"Probably, I can only feel it now and then," Zaos replied. "Now is not one of the times."

"I kept an eye on things around us, and I couldn't see anything following us," Drannor said. "So, how can a human being follow us at that speed without a horse or a carriage."

"I have no idea," Zaos replied.

Once Zaos got used to the area, he found a comfortable place near the campfire and then grabbed his notes and started to work. In the last few months, he had tried thousands of combinations, but only five of them actually worked. Sometimes, Zaos couldn't help but wonder if it would be easier just to go to the north and then question some demon god followers for the spells they use.

"Woah, you write the symbols so fast…" Ameria approached and then said.

"You write them faster than I can imagine them in my head, isn't that weird?" Drannor asked.

Zaos sighed. They sure were bored out of their minds… Still, Zaos couldn't complain since they rarely got on his way in those last five days.

"That is the result of studying, researching, and trying hard every single day for months," Zaos said. "Anyone can do this much if they show as much dedication."

"Can you activate them by writing them down on paper?" Ameria asked.

"No," Zaos replied.

"Then what is the point of writing down the formulae?" Ameria asked.

"Because I need to know what type of combinations I already tried, and it is easier to organize this way," Zaos said. "I can't just try random combinations in my head because even if they fail, they will consume my mana."

"Yeah, but isn't it hard to recognize the order of the symbols anyway?" Drannor asked.

"Not for me," Zaos replied.

"Why?" Drannor asked.

"Because I studied, researched, and tried hard for several months," Zaos replied.

Zaos thought those words alone wouldn't be enough to convince that hard work was the answer for practically everything. Still, much to his surprise, Drannor, and Ameria sat down and began to meditate. While recovering their mana, they were also trying to draw the symbols on their heads faster than usual. When they got bored, they tried that several times during the next few days.

After traveling for a few days, Zaos learned a few things. While the West side of the country had many mountains and mines, the Eastside mainly focused on raising cattle and agriculture. It was no wonder they couldn't find villages and towns every day anymore. In that part of the kingdom, the number of farms and their sizes were immense. That kind of information couldn't be learned just by looking at maps, so Zaos truly was learning more about the kingdom than he had imagined that he would eventually. It was kind of risky to have a part of the country like that. Still, it was only obvious that things would eventually turn that way since that part of the country hadn't been attacked in decades. Once every two days, Zaos would find a fortress near some town in the distance. Still, it didn't look that reliable and probably wasn't well garrisoned, for that matter.

Eventually, the entourage finally arrived in the Castirra port town. The place was probably the largest city Zaos had seen after the capital, and it also was bustling with life. Unfortunately, he wasn't looking forward all that much to the things he would be able to see there, and the reason for that is that he didn't make any progress in his research during those twelve days. Fortunately, his bad mood worked well to make sure that one would get too close to the carriages when they were passing through the city and he was on foot.