23. Trouble on the Journey

'Holy shit... a life-saving item.' Zions' eyes widened in surprise, seeing the information about the silver pendant.

Sarah put it on happily, "It's so pretty! I love it!" She grinned.

Aala blushed but smiled happily and then moved the other box toward Zion, "And this one is for you." She smiled at him as well.

Zion tilted his head, then used his nose to push the box open to look in it. He was confused seeing the small silver fox head item so he analysed it.

[[Item: Fae Familiar Armour

Rank: C

+15 AGI

+25 DEF

+15 STR

Ability: Shape Adjustment - Changes shape and size depending on the beast wearing it.

Description: An item specially made for the familiars of fairies. When not in use, it becomes a simple item that can be changed in appearance depending on the crafter's choice

Weakness: It takes at least 5 seconds to form around the pet, which is not suitable for emergencies.]]

Aala took the armour out, and it was shaped like an ear clip. Nothing that would hurt his ear, and it would allow him to keep full use of his ear.

"I had a lot of trouble figuring out what shape to make it. Most people make it a collar, but I didn't want to do that for yours." Aala smiled and helped Zion clip it on.

"I just went with a simple fox head design. Is that okay?" She asked.

Zion smiled as he twitched his ear. He barely even noticed it was there, he figured he could get used to it pretty quickly, '"It's perfect. I like this better than a collar."' He told her, and she giggled happily, her wings flapping lightly behind her.

"You know, tomorrow we head to Zotine Academy in Wogas City. Will you be going there, Aala?" Sarah asked.

"I asked father if I could. He talked for a long while about how humans are rude and mean towards other species and how Fae are often targeted..." Aala looked down while Sarah sighed sadly, "Oh, that's okay. We will see you when we visit home after 3 months." She smiled faintly as she tried to be cheerful.

Aala smiled faintly back at her, "Yeah, we will see each other again. It's not like you're going forever." She giggled.

The trio spent some more time together before they finally said goodnight, and they returned to the house. Tomorrow was the tip to the Academy.

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Thankfully, Zion and Sarah didn't sleep in and got up on time to help pack the carriage. Abraham and Lauren were coming along too. After all, it was their baby girl's first time leaving their home for more than a few days.

She would be spending 5 years at the Academy with a break to visit home every 3 months for a single week, for 4 visits a year. Sarah and Zion climbed into the carriage with Lauren while Abraham sat in the driver's seat and urged the horses forward.

The carriage lurched forward a bit as it started moving. It would take them about 10 days to travel from Dalry Town to Wogas City because they had to go around Hollow Forest.

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On the 5th day of travelling, Zion suddenly raised his head with perked ears. Seeing this, Sarah immediately banged on the carriage's wall twice quickly to let her father know Zion had noticed something.

The carriage stopped seconds after the knock, and they became silent.

Zion frowned as he listened, then quickly stood up, 'Equip.' Immediately, the silver clips fox eyes lit up, and it expanded, becoming a light silver armor to cover him. Sarah knew this meant trouble, so she banged on the carriage again before pulling out her sword and stepping out with Zion.

Her father was already down and had his sword out as well, as they both stood at the carriage's door.

Zion turned his head to their left, closest to Abraham's location, and snarled before barking in warning.

Abraham turned just in time to deflect an arrow coming at him. A few more arrows flew at them, but Abraham blocked all of them.

When that attack failed, a group of 4 bandits came out of the tree-line. Two had bows, one had twin daggers, while the last had a sizeable double-bladed axe.

The axe guy scoffed, "Damn. That fox gave the attack away, It's a pretty good sense of hearing for a failed dog. Now, give us all your valuable items. Oh, and if you have a woman in there, we will take her too." The guy gave a disgusting smirk.

Zion frowned at them, 'Failed dog? Really? That's the best he came up with? Analysis.'

[[Species: Human

Name: Rob Williams

Age: 36

Rank: D

HP: 450/450

STR: 38

AGI: 26

DEF: 33

Weakness: His left arm has been previously injured, leaving it weakened.]]

After scanning all of them, this Rob guy was the most dangerous. The others were all rank E; he was the only one at rank D, so he was the main problem.

Zion relayed the information of their ranks and weaknesses, to Sarah and Abraham, and then Zion rushed towards the archers. Due to him being faster, he was the better choice to take out the long rangers.

Sarah stayed by the carriage, watching the the dagger guy and Abraham went after Rob while Lauren, from the inside of the carriage, cast a protection spell.

In the past, Lauren was a Rank C Light Mage; however due to an incident, she couldn't use strong light magic anymore and could only do minimal protection and purification spells. She couldn't even use any illusion spells anymor,e which the light element is well known for, so she was now reduced to a minor support type.