The next morning, Earl awakened in his mother's embrace. His face was squished into her exposed breasts and a bit of dried milk was left by his lips.
Today, Earl woke up earlier than usual. He carefully moved his small body to not wake his mother up and placed the fluffy blanket back on her sleeping figure. They had slept on the carriage for the night. The seats of the carriage could be pushed together to form a makeshift bed, so their sleep was actually very comfortable.
Earl found the sight of his mother's sleeping face very cute. He resisted the urge to touch her and exited the carriage.
The sky was still dark when Earl stepped out of the carriage. There was something different about early mornings that made one feel refreshed. The dark sky that slowly turned bright. The sound of birds chirping and leaves rustling. There was a fresh smell in the air accompanied by the scent of burnt wood from the campfire last night.
When he looked over, he found that Sheryl was awake. She was standing by a corner, swinging her sword. Her sword was a beautiful one. It resembled a katana from his previous life. The blade was a crystal pink, almost translucent in colour. The hilt was gold in colour, and the handle was a crimson red. It matched her perfectly.
Earl found himself breathless at the sight of her beautiful swordsmanship. Every swing would leave afterimages. He could feel the intent and concentration behind every swing. Her eyes were focused and she was in the zone. Her red kimono and pink hair would flutter from her movements. It was more of a dance than swordsmanship. Perhaps this is what they called sword dance.
It was unknown how long Earl watched her for. When Sheryl finished her practice, the sky was already many shades brighter. She wiped some sweat off her forehead and approached Earl.
"It was beautiful," Earl said. "Your swordsmanship."
Sheryl chuckled while covering her lips with one of her sleeves. "Thank you but it's quite rude to watch someone practice from afar like that, you know?"
"Ah, is that so? My deepest apologies." Earl bowed his head slightly like a proper noble.
"No no, it's nothing. I'm perfectly fine with it, but it might be different with other Adepts." Sheryl said while waving her hand. When they were standing close by at this distance, Sheryl was only a head taller than Earl. "Is it okay for you to come outside like this without your mother?"
"Mother needs her beauty sleep, and despite how I look, I am very strong!" Earl told her.
Sheryl laughed again and petted Earl's head unconsciously, "Hehe."
Earl did not mind her hand and watched her facial expression. Her eyes were narrowed because of her smiling face and her head was slightly tilted to the side. It was very cute, and her touch was very soft too on top of that.
"Now I get to pet you too!"
"Ah? Okay."
After this little interaction, the others soon awakened and they continued their journey into the Beast Kingdom.
They had continued on to be on their way for several hours now. Earl was reading a book in the carriage because he was bored of watching the trees outside.
Opposite of him, Ari was also doing her own thing. She had her eyes closed and an incomplete halo was floating on top of her head. The halo was purple in colour, the same shade as her eyes and it was made up of many runes. Earl did not have the slightest clue of what she was doing, but he knew it had to be something complicated. Just looking at the halo would make him dizzy.
It was something she has been doing for the longest time, Earl could not remember. Compared to before, the halo was much more detailed with runes and beautiful now. It was just inches away from completion. He had a hunch that something big would happen when her halo was completed.
"Bandits." She told him with a smile. For some reason, the smile sent chills down his spine.
Outside, dozens of bandits surrounded the carriage. They were all mixed of different races, but the majority were humans.
The Wild Roses' face turned serious.
Sheryl unsheathed her pink katana, Paula readied her magic, Alexia took out her daggers, and Brenda took out her battleaxe.
"Hehe, what a treat we have today. Such pretty girls we can have fun with!" A bandit said.
"The carriage looks luxurious too. Must have some nobles inside... More fun for us!"
The bandits wore typical bandit uniform. An unremarkable brown tunic with pants to match. They all held different beaten down weapons.
After the Wild Rose took a moment the observe their attackers, they relaxed.
"Tch! Just some flies." Brenda said and spat on the ground.
"Hehe, you can say that again when we have 'fun'." A bandit who appeared to be their leader said. He was unremarkable like all the others and raised his hand. "Boys! Attack!"
Paula sighed from the side. "Why do we have to deal with these flies? I thought bandits had more common sense and were at least informed of Adventurers passing through now?"
"You expect too much from them," Sheryl said from the side and stepped forward, holding her katana in one hand. "I'll deal with them."
"Just a little girl wants to deal with us alone? You underestimate us!"
Sheryl merely shook her little head. Her red eyes lit up like a lantern and she swung her sword horizontally.
Plop. Plop. Plop.
In an instant, all of the several dozen bandits were decapitated before they could even approach the carriage. Heads with their eyes opened rolled on the ground. Their headless bodies fell onto the ground, blood spilling out everywhere and pooled together to create a mini-ring of blood around the carriage.
Inside the carriage, Earl's face was grim. This was the first time he had seen such a gruesome scene. "...Scary."
Ari didn't cover Earl's eyes to let him see their fate. In this world, death was a common thing and it was better to expose her son to this sort of thing early.