After a few hours of riding along the city, trailing behind slow carriages, and resisting the urge to stop for baked goods, they rode through the gates and were officially outside of Aldoria. They continued to follow the road to their destination, leaving their home behind for who knows how long.
Michael felt he was going to miss running around the house alone with Evelyn because he figured it was a small chance that she could transform in peace.
Stefan reached over and grabbed a sleeve of dried meat from their bag.
Ellis smacked his hand. "Already?"
"A man has to eat," he tore the piece with his teeth. "You can't tell me that you're not hungry too?"
"We just left Aldoria and you're already picking off our rations."
"Well, I'm starving and I see no more food stalls ready to serve us for the next hour."
Mave propped her feet across the wagon. "How long are we riding for?"
Ellis checked his map. "We'll have to camp a few times half-way through if that's what you're asking."
She groaned and instead laid on the wagon's seats.
Stefan reached behind him, rummaging for more snacks. "You think we're the only party assigned for the quest? They don't expect the four of us to take on a battalion of Falden soldiers, right?"
Ellis gave a glaring look at his helping handful of jerky. "No…that would be ridiculous. I assume top-parties like ours are already making their way too."
"So, we're just stopping some sort of political advance? Isn't this some royal business that's out of our league?"
"The royal guard has their own duties," Mave answered. "Stopping a possible attack fits in the agenda of an adventurer's quest."
"Why are you even concerned anyways?" Ellis added. "I thought your only worry was how much money we would make afterwards."
Stefan frowned. "Now you're making it sound like prostitution."
"Is there really a difference? We do what they say, we get paid in the end, that's the general deal for an adventurer."
"I'm saying that all of this could be solved by somebody else other than some broke adventurers. Let's say, I don't know, what about the Roundtable?"
"The Roundtable?"
Mave turned her head. "How do you know about the Roundtable?"
Stefan shrugged. "I have good ears and people talk a lot. Hard to believe anything could be kept a secret in the Adventuring guild."
Ellis was suddenly attentive. "I thought the Roundtable was a legend. They actually exist?"
"It exists," Mave said. "Been existing for a while. It's rare for any of them to show their face in public."
"You know them?"
"No, I don't, I've only heard small stories but they're very vague."
"This is great," Stefan clapped happily. "We can pass the time by telling each other legends of Wilmere."
Michael felt like he was being awfully quiet. Their conversations and voices had been zoning in and out of his brain. The rocky and bumpy road, the droning clopping sound from the horses, and the blurring color of green trees made him lost in thought. He didn't know how far they were from Aldoria but he's starting to become a little homesick. He enjoyed the time alone in the house he spent with Evelyn.
He always liked simple things yet each day feels like everything wants to change whenever he gets too comfortable.
Mave talked about a powerful mage raised in a powerful family. She was adored by everybody around her and was even fed with a golden spoon. That same person became the most powerful mage that Wilmere had ever seen and was recruited into the Roundtable. She's apparently the headmistress of Allux academy, a prestigious school filled with talented students.
The Roundtable were knights that were solely designed to protect the royal family and their ideals. Mave said a quest like this was too lowly for people like them. She had never seen them in person despite being a noble so that means they strictly accompanied the royal family only.
The last time they ever showed their face in public was during the annual gathering of Aldoria, to celebrate another year of the founding family. They weren't shown face-to-face, only a small glimpse from the castle walls. And that same day was the only time commoners and nobles could cross their discriminated border.
Mave also talked about a warrior that never lost a fight. He dedicates his life to the king and follows his orders to extreme duty. It was said that he stands tall and even has unparalleled strength.
There were more Roundtable Knights she could count for but it was too early for them to have their own stories. Even so, none of them casually walked in the streets in Aldoria and probably stood guard in the castle where the royal family lived. The only time they were allowed in public was to defend against large scale attacks that threatened the capital.
"Would you want to become a Roundtable, Mave?" Ellis asked. "The way you're describing them is as if you envy them. Do you not like your life as an adventurer?"
Mave rested her head to the sky. "Roundtable or adventurer, I would rather choose that other than working my life away as a noble."
"If Wilmere has a Roundtable," Michael finally spoke. "What does Falden have?"
"Nobody knows, that's why the king is scared." Ellis said. "We're sent out to test the waters, get reports on what type of firepower Falden had been building."
Stefan scoffed. "I heard their kingdom is nothing but a military with no freedom for its people."
"That's quite a rumor."
"Well, nobody would ever dare to step foot in there so I'm believing it."
Michael was never told about the ongoing war with Wilmere and Falden whenever he was a child. His mother didn't speak to him about politics or anything like that. He was only taught a basic education and literate skills. Was adventuring Wilmere's own way of recruiting people to fight for them?
Michael held onto his sling. "Have you guys fought against Falden before?"
There was only silence filled with the trotting of the horses. The winds whistled by his ears, waiting for a response from his party.
"No, we haven't," Ellis answered. "We've only come across bandits and other cocky adventurers like you saw. The difference is that they were just aiming to rob us of our gold. But if we're going to fight against Falden soldiers, they're going to be ordered to kill us. We had quests like this before and they all turned out to be false alarms. It just feels like today, we're not going to be so lucky."
Michael thought Ellis's tone was more serious than usual. Stefan was the strongest warrior that Michael had ever seen. He had created a blast through thin air that took out mana beasts in seconds. If Ellis made it sound like they were stronger than him, then they were definitely in some real trouble.
Michael didn't want to kill anyone. The idea of taking someone else's life had never crossed his mind. Was this how he was going to get stronger? By having to fight someone else to the death? He refused that idea, he wasn't even ready to fight somebody alone. To think there were people that existed that were actively trying to kill him was a terrifying thought. He wasn't someone that could be scared easily but this went over the boundaries of worry.
He didn't want to imagine his blade to be coated in blood.