Chapter 19: The Journey (V)

"Nice to meet you too. Don't worry, Fenrir isn't dangerous, as long as you don't attack me at least."

...

...

"Yeah...I've heard about this...a soul contract isn't it?"

The woman looked at me, as if assessing something.

"Are you an mercenary?"

"No...I am just a traveler making my way up north."

Kara was quiet for a moment, as if thinking about something.

"Is Ulria on your way?"

*Ulria?...Isn't this a small town near the Grimveil-Sarien border?*

"This small border town? Yes that is on my way...why do you ask?"

"Because me and my family have the same goal...why don't you join us? We have a small carriage, so you would be traveling faster..."

*Why is she so nice? And she isn't even bothered about my mask...are there many people that wear them?*

She seemed to have noticed my distrust.

"I have a small favor to ask in return, you know...me, my 2 sisters and my mother cant fight. We only barely escaped an bandit ambush 1 week ago...you look very strong so..."

*Well...this makes sense...*

"Ok Kara, I will come with you..."

"Nice!"

"BUT! I will need you to be my guide as soon as we reach the city."

"Oh this wont be a problem, Ulria isn't the largest town and it's layout is really easy to memorise."

"Very well Kara, then let's go to your encampment..."

And so we did. I was very tense throughout the way, trying to spot an ambush as early as possible. I even gathered Mana around my fists just in case. Through my vision I could see that Kara possessed not one ounce of Mana, she didn't even have veins to transport it, so I relaxed a little.

*If they want to attack me, there should be no real problem with this one...but she could just be the bait...*

As we reached the camp my worries had flown out of the window. A small child came running up to us. She was maybe 10yo, stood at around 1 meter and had a round baby face that made my heart jump a little.

"Big sister!"

"Anja!"

They hugged each other and Kara lifted her of the ground, plugging the girl onto her shoulders.

*She is stronger than she looks...carrying the water with one hand and then just lifting her sister with the other...*

"Who is this scary looking lady...whaaa...is ttttthis a monster?"

She tried to hide on her sister's back.

*Not the brightest light on the candle?...oh god, I am just awful*

"This is Lena, and her companion Fenrir, don't worry they will protect us from now on, so that no evil demons can attack us again."

*Wait what? Didn't she say bandits?*

"The Bandits were demons?"

"Yes of course. The bandit problem in this area started around 2 months ago, ever since the demon realms have fallen, didn't you know that."

"Most of my life contained of living very reclusive, so I don't know the state the empire is in..."

*The realms have fallen?...I definitely need to gather more information's, but let's not ask too many questions...that would just seem suspicious.*

We now stood in the middle of the camp. If it could even be called a camp. The carriage stood on the left side of a small campfire. It was relatively old and the cover's cloth had some holes in it.

*But even affording a carriage should be quite pricey, so they cant be that poor. Even their clothing, aside from being dirty, looks more on the durable side.*

On the right side of the campfire was a small tent.

Then two other women came, each one with a horse on a leash behind them.

Kara started to wave at them.

"Mum!...Nila! I found someone to defend us!"

*She is definitely excited...does she want to be praised?*

They mustered me as they drew nearer. The mother must have been in her 40's while Nila was, like Kara, in her late teens or early adulthood.

*It's quite funny that I am 14yo and still bigger than all of them*

In the past months I had definitely grown a few centimeters, and my muscles became even more toned. If this continued, it wouldn't take me long to have the appearance of a giant.

The two women harnessed the horses back into the carriage and then came to us.

"Hello, I am Elen and this is my eldest daughter Nila. So Kara convinced you into guarding us along the way?"

"Yeah...my Name is Lena, and this is my little puppy Fenrir."

I hoped they would relax a little around Fenrir, if I picture him as cute, rather than the killing machine he is.

*And to be fair, he is just the cutest companion one can have...*

Anja jumped from her sister's back and slowly approached Fenrir.

*Please be nice to her.*

As she held her hand out, Fenrir snuffed on it and visibly relaxed. His eyes looked innocently at Anja.

"Good dog!"

She said and began stroking his head.

*Awwwww, you're the best Fenrir!**

I looked at Elen again.

"So when do we leave?"

"We only need to load the tent onto the carriage and then we are ready, but before we leave...please tell me why you wear this hood and the mask..."

She seemed to know that it was quite rude to ask something like this, but I could understand the suspicion.

"I've contracted Leprosy in my early childhood, so my face isn't nice to look at, I am sorry but showing it in the public...you know..."

"Oh god...I am very sorry to have asked, don't worry we wont judge you on that."

*She still looks a little bit like she doesn't fully believe me...but her last words seem to indicate that she wont ask any further. Did she only ask, so her eldest wouldn't look at me like I was some sort of evil being?*

Nila really looked at me like that, but ever since my explanation her eyes had changed. Now it was more a look of pity, but that didn't bother me.

After we packed up the tent, I loaded my backpack and Fenrir's saddlebag onto the carriage and sat myself, together with Elen onto the coachman's seat.

Nila, Kara and Anja sat in the back, while Fenrir ran besides the carriage, visibly loving the freedom he now had after we crept our way through the forest for such a long time.

*With this i will be faster on the border...maybe I am even a month earlier than expected...*

And so we began our ride to Ulria.