“The air here smells funny.” Balak commented as he took in a deep breath.
“You’ve just gotten too used to breathing in the salty air of sea, idiot.” His brother, Barak, chided and nudged him in the side.
Behind the two brothers, Lance and Nasir alighted from the ship that had carried them all the way to the Central Continent. The ship had docked in a private, hidden port that belonged to one of Ashtar’s men on the continent. Right now, the man was waiting for them a few steps away.
“Young masters. Welcome to the Central Continent.” The bald man bowed slightly with a smile on his face. His name was Garn, and he was a C rank mage. His strength was not a big deal, but he boasted a large number of connections on the Central Continent. That was one of the things that made Lance’s father value the man so much.
Lance only nodded at the middle aged man, but did not speak. Instead, Nasir stepped forward and took control of the situation.
“Hello, Sir Garn. Thank you for facilitating out trip.” Nasir shook hands with the man.
“Oh, it is no worries. I have prepared a carriage for you that runs to one of the trade hubs where you can get a lot of information to continue your trip.” Garn smiled and handed over a map to Nasir. Nasir gladly accepted the map and opened it to spot a plotted path where they would take.
“We will be travelling through the Desolate Lands?” Nasir looked up with a quirked brow.
“Yes, that is the fastest route to Fort Bender, the place where you will get what you need. You will mostly travel through its outskirts, but towards the last week or so, you will need to cut through a part of the Desolate Lands in order to get onto the proper path to Fort Bender. Taking a detour will take up too much time.” Garn explained for Nasir. His voice did not waver, which meant that he was speaking the truth.
There was no need for Garn to lie. He benefited a lot from Ashtar’s business ventures, so guaranteeing proper passage for Ashtar’s people would surely earn him some points.
The man did not realize that Lance and the others were Demons, as they were using the Iridescent Crystals to hide their true forms. He thought that they were like him, humans who had defected to the side of the Demons after being promised riches and other things.
“I see.” Nasir rubbed his chin as he tried to recall some mental maps from before he was captured by Ashtar. When he was still a free man, the Desolate Lands did not exist. The war had still been ongoing at that point in time.
“Very well, then. We shall set off immediately. I thank you for your help.” Nasir rolled up the map and nodded at Garn before turning to motion to the boys. Garn led them to the carriage that had been prepared for them.
Before long, they were on their way. The carriage travelled through an underground tunnel that eventually emerged from a discrete location between two boulders. One would not know that something hid there, as there was a runic formation there to conceal the path.
“Hmm, that is convenient.” Barak hummed as he looked out from the window. Only a few moments had passed and he had already lost sight of the secret passage.
“True.” Balak nodded as he peered over his brother’s shoulder. “What do you think, Lance?” The short haired boy turned to look at Lance, but only saw that the mentioned boy was lost in his thoughts. He turned to Barak and nudged him before pointing at Lance.
“Leave him be, he is lost in thought.” Barak did not know what to do and simply decided to let Lance be.
“This boy… Still fawning over a girl? I thought our goal was to take over the world, not drool over girls!” Balak groaned and fell into his seat. His words drew Nasir’s attention. The A rank fighter simply shook his head and chose not to comment.
“I’m not fawning over anyone.” Lance suddenly spoke up. “I’m just thinking. And besides that, who said we were taking over the world?!” He glared at Balak.
“Is that not what we are doing? Even now, troops are being mobilized to strike at the Central Continent.” This time, Barak jumped in to defend his brother.
“Humph! Our kind are just too greedy. The Demon Continent is already big enough to satisfy our needs.” Lance scoffed and folded his arms.
“True, but that does not change anything at the moment.”
As the three boys discussed the matter, Nasir silently listened to their arguments. Personally, he dreaded what was to come, but he was unable to break free of the bindings of his service to Ashtar at the moment. Perhaps when he arrived in civilization proper, he could find a way.
‘But surely, Ashtar must have made countermeasures if he was willing to let me leave with his son.’ Nasir bit his lower lip in thought. As he thought, the boys argued, and their journey continued.
.
.
A week later…
“Ah! This road is so bad!” One of the coachmen that sat in front of the carriage carrying the three Demon boys and Nasir, complained as the tires of the carriage got stuck in yet another ditch. He hopped off from his seat and stepped down, before using magic to smoothen the road underneath the carriage.
“Why did we stop?” After a minute, Nasir’s head popped out from the window and asked.
“A-Ah, Sir Nasir, give me a moment. I am trying to make a rune that will automatically smoothen the road underneath the tires.” The man quickly explained.
“Alright. Make it quick.” Nasir nodded and returned into the carriage. He then explained the situation to the boys.
“Ugh. We are taking much longer than we should on this trip!” Barak threw his head back and complained. Before anyone could reply him however, the carriage suddenly trembled.
“A battle is going on not far from here. I will go and check it out.” Nasir suddenly said and exited the carriage.
“S-sir Nasir-“
“Continue your work. I will handle it.” Nasir cut off the man before walking off. They were currently in a rocky pass, so his view of the distance was limited. He needed to make his way to high ground in order to find out the cause of this battle.
Whoosh!
Nasir’s body was whisked away by a black cloud, and he vanished. The black cloud of smoke reappeared several miles away, on the top of a small peak, but that was enough for Nasir to get a good view.
The peak he was standing on was on the path that they would need to pass. They would make their way through a cliffside with a steep drop-off, so it was a good idea to check this site out first. He needed to make sure it would be safe enough for them to pass through.
“Strange, this area should be relatively uninhabited. And the monsters here should only be around High C rank at best.” Nasir muttered to himself as he surveyed the surroundings. The fluctuations he had felt from the distance, when calculated according to what he knew, gave off the power of B rank fighters. So he was wondering what would have caused it.
‘Perhaps a confrontation between two rivals?’ He wondered as he looked around.
Boom!
The ground shook once again up ahead, and a giant smoke cloud that was shaped like a mushroom rose into the air. Tiny pebbles were blasted around, and a few pinged against the rocky pass near him.
‘The fluctuations of battle there might affect the integrity of this pass. I must stop them at once!’ Nasir quickly decided, and rushed towards the battle site. He flew in a mass of black smoke that looked like a shadow when passing. It was an application of an obscure branch of magic, Shadow Magic. It was called Shadow Travel by most people, as it seemed like Nasir was able to travel anywhere that a shadow was present at insane speeds.
In mere moments, Nasir had arrived at the site of battle that was still covered with the cloud of smoke. He silently crept into the cover of the smoky dust to quietly take out the fighters, but was shocked by the sight he ended up coming across.