Traveling (1) (Revised) – A New World Arc (17)

The next day:

We finished spending time with Fumiko, this got us in the graces of the local lord, I know he values Fumiko as well aside from his riches and power. He is still a foul person that wants to use his daughter for his gain but he does care in his sick way. The closer we get to her the higher the chances of us being able to kill the local lord are so it's a win-win for us at least. With her current condition, I am not sure how will she react to her father's death. Will she process it like a child? Or will she take it like an adult? I wonder if there is a good and reliable way to cure her illness. She can be a strong warrior and ally for us.

"Don't worry about it. I will be the one handling Fumiko. You handle Lord Welcia and the other Lord."- I guess Hana should explain it to her. But I wonder why.

!It is because Hana knows more about being social and having a social life than you do Hikaru. I will suggest you get better at social stuff ASAP if you want to do that yourself, but that's an impossible task, considering your past life!- Great, Sia is mocking me again! But I think I deserved it. My past life may have been shitty, but it's no excuse for being an idiot

"Sia can be so funny sometimes! But, that aside, you shouldn't worry one bit about this Hikaru, I got this"- Hana gave me a slight chuckle over the telepathic link.

We are in the same room as Lord Welcia and are now announcing our departure from the city of Welcia.

"Well, a day has passed. The carriage will be ready shortly, if you want to, you can spend a little more time with Fumiko here"- He pointed to a chair where Fumiko was playing with some dolls. When I am having these types of internal monologues I am usually mind empty and staring into the void

Hana went up to Fumiko and started to play with her.

"Mr. Welcia. Do you mind if Hikaru goes to pack all of our stuff for this journey ahead? I will take care of Fumiko while Hikaru deals with the packing. Is that ok with you?"- Hana asked Lord Welcia while giving him a slight smile.

"OK, do whatever, but make sure you 2 keep your promise to me. Ok?"- He coughed before turning away from us.

"Sure, we always keep our promises"- He is willing to do almost anything for power, this corrupt old geezer, may look young on the outside but he is using magic to make himself that way.

!Confirmed, I can detect magic in unusual areas of his skin which means he uses magic to maintain it.!

"Thanks for confirming my hunch Sia"

"So, when are we going?"- Fumiko asked, wait, are we going to bring her along too? Well, it seems logical, I think we discussed this too, but I may have zoned out before and forgotten about it.

"Well, if she wants to go, then she will go, I can't refuse my baby like that, can I?"- The lord looked towards Fumiko.

"Of course, she can go with us. Hikaru, go and pack stuff faster, don't stare at us"- I went to the room where I was packing, well, not packing but checking for anything that might be out of place in the room. The room is pretty small and the bed is only for 2 people, I am used to sharing a bed with Hana by now, we always shared beds as kids and even recently before coming into this world.

"Sia, do you detect anything out of the ordinary here?"- Looking around I can see the painting seem to have eyes of their own.

!Analysis complete: Detected a Rare Skill called Monitor and Abuse, this perk gives you the power to monitor anyone through a painting of something that has a place for eyes, you 2 were monitored but nothing happened since this skill can't interfere with a legendary skill or higher!

"Why didn't you tell me this earlier Sia?"- We were monitored without knowing huh?

!It wasn't necessary. This is the same skill that is making the Local lord feel sick. The abuse part of the name applies to both the caster and the receiver!- This is interesting.

I grabbed some clothes that I thought we would need and some other stuff from the room and put them in a bag.

I went downstairs again to see Fumiko and Hana ready to head out

"Come on Hikaru, it's already late, let's head out"- Hana, Fumiko, and I walked to the carriage and now we are headed for the city of Ikrel.

"Hikaru, I want to ask you something, what kind of things did my dad tell you to do to the lord Ikrel? I hope those aren't bad things..."- Fumiko paused for a second and then looked at the ground. Seems like her mind has reverted to that of a 12 or 13-year-old

"No, they just wanted to have a chat and he sent us as an envoys since we are strong and people won't dare try anything funny like they do to other envoys."- Fumiko looked at me confused, well this is the excuse that I came up with but it seems like she ain't having this one.

"What is an envoy, is it like someone that my father sends out to do work for him, as official lord works in his stead, oh. I remember he told me to give you 2 this. Now it makes sense"- Fumiko handed us a piece of paper with the stamp of Lord Welcia's house emblem on it.

"Yeah, I remember that we needed this, thank you Fumiko"- Hana moved seats from sitting with me to sitting with Fumiko on her lap.

"I love it when Hana holds me on her lap!"- Not fair, why does she get to enjoy this, Hana is right about making the bed and the house more comfortable.

"Jealous Hikaru? Maybe someday this could be you"- Hana laughed at me over the telepathic network.

"The bed is too rough at night like you said, Lord's Welcia's bed was the only decent one. Plus we already slept in the same bed multiple times."- I replied to her. I turned to look outside the carriage window and wanted myself to drift.

The carriage moves slowly, after that no one comments anything.

We made a stop at night, I made sure the area was safe and I started to cook food, some meat from my Spatial Storage.

"What is that?"- Fumiko pointed towards the meat. I got out some seasoning and then started to cook the meat while seasoning it and putting some vegetables to steam as well.

"It's meat that only monsters can eat. Humans will get sick if they eat it. If you want I can cook some food with ingredients that are safe for humans"- I looked at Fumiko while cooking

"I want to try it too. I don't care!"- I don't know what to say

!Just serve the meat, I will explain later!

It took 1 hour for the meat to cook and half an hour for the vegetables to steam.

I served everyone a plate of wolf meat and steamed vegetables. I hope that the driver of the carriage and Fumiko survive eating the wolf meat, I read that it is toxic for humans

!Not really, with the skill Predator you eliminate any bacteria, fungi, or anything that would hurt a human from there so it's safe to eat. At least this batch. Be sure to always use the skill Predator to remove bacteria from it and other dangerous stuff.!

"Well, thanks for the confirmation, Sia! You made me not have a heart attack."

We spend the rest of the night around the fire.

At night, Hana and I were standing guard in shifts.

At one point through the night:

"Can't you sleep Hikaru?"- It was Hana's turn to keep watch his time but I was restless.

"I can't sleep. Still, think about mom. Does she hate me or something, I can always feel that from her gaze. Whenever she looks at me I can feel the hatred in her eyes, like I am the problem here"- I sat near Hana, and she wrapped her right hand around me and sat closer to me.

"Don't worry, she will come to terms with things shortly. I know it's not easy and I can't do much but just go to sleep for now."- Hana moved a little closer to me and gave me a small kiss on my cheek.

I don't know what happened, but that seemed to calm me down, or maybe just the effects of her skill but I am not complaining, I could fall asleep in under a minute.

And this is how our first day of traveling ended.