The battlefield was quiet now...
Well, there were only the shallow, uneven breaths of the men who had attacked them.
Rayven looked around at the weakened bodies of the slave traders, then at the dim firelight lighting up Thyruz’s face.
They all understood without speaking.
"Take everything," Rayven said without guilt.
Miki didn’t hesitate.
She moved from one body to the next, stripping them of swords, their leather armor, boots, and bracers. Nara, on the other hand, led the horses away from the clearing, tying them together in a neat line.
Even the small pouches of coins were collected, no point leaving any valuables behind.
Unfortunately, they only have a dozen silver coins with a handful of copper ones...
Thyruz then took his time removing the heavier armor from the warriors while muttering under his breath about the quality of the metal.
"Mediocre. But still worth selling."
Rayven chuckled at this sudden jab at their equipment, but he was quite happy about this result.
When they were done, the seven attackers were left in nothing but their undergarments. Rayven made sure that those who were still breathing had their ropes around their wrists and ankles tightly.
After that, he worked with everyone to drag them to the treeline.
They had selected an open area, so it took them quite some time to get to the nearby trees.
Then, one by one, they were tied to separate trunks.
The forest was quiet now, but the distant howl of wolves would surely make this area noisy very soon.
"If they’re lucky," Thyruz said, looking at them without a shred of pity, "someone will find them before the wolves do."
He hated slave traders, and he didn’t plan to show them any mercy at all.
After some thought, he decided to break their shoulder and knee joints to ensure that they wouldn’t be able to survive...
Rayven didn’t comment on this since he wasn’t in the mood for mercy as well... Especially not with the way they had spoken about Miki and Nara.
As they were going through the looted bags, something caught Rayven’s attention.
It was a small, flat metal plate, etched with some lines and curves that seemed just like a large emblem.
Thyruz’s brows lifted. "That’s a Spell Rune Model."
Rayven turned it over in his hands. "Spell Rune Model?"
The old man nodded as he stepped closer...
He already knew that Rayven would still act clueless after seeing this.
Still, he didn’t mind giving him an explanation. Perhaps, someday, Rayven would learn to trust him and tell him the truth...
"Ahem... It’s what lets most magicians cast spells. This is a low-quality or poorly made thought..." He replied. ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ noⅴelfire.net
"Ohhh... You already mentioned the Spell Rune..." Rayven muttered as he recalled their previous conversations.
"Yes... Without one, even the talented can only control mana within their bodies... Still, common-tier runes aren’t cheap. But they were accessible if you had the coin, and that’s what’s important." Thyruz replied.
"Now that you’ve mentioned it, I remembered how Nara was learning how to use magic before." Rayven said.
At these words, Nara replied.
"You remembered correctly. However, aside from being too difficult to learn, my teachers could only teach me the common or basic Spells at most. There’s basically no future to that, so I decided to just take on the sword path. It’s much better for me." Nara replied while beaming...
She knew that she had made the best decision for that.
"Right... I think you’ve mentioned that anything above the basic level is locked behind noble families and the great guilds or something." Rayven muttered.
Thyruz leaned in and observed the Spell Rune Model for some time...
"This one... doesn’t look too complicated. Ahh! I remember that this Spell Rune Model should help you learn a Spell similar to your Mana Flick. It’s a bit crude compared to yours, but it has more power. It should be called Mana Jab... You should learn this as well."
Rayven’s fingers tightened around the rune.
Obviously, he didn’t need the model since he didn’t need access to Spell Runes just to cast spells.
His magic came from a different source altogether, something none of them could know. That was his secret, and it would remain that way.
Still, having this could be useful. Very useful. He might be able to sell it for money!
"I’ll try to study it." Rayven replied.
Just like that, they continued on their journey with several more horses in tow to ensure that they could work on shift and lessen the burden on their bodies.
The days that followed brought more travel and more fights, though nothing serious.
They met traders, wandering hunters, and the occasional caravan headed the same way.
Once, a pack of mutated wolves tried to rush them at dusk...
They were wolves the size of bears, with bone-like spikes along their spines... However, Nara’s sword skills and Miki’s blades handled two of them before they could close in, while Rayven’s well-placed Mana Flick scattered the rest into the woods.
With each passing day, their little group grew more comfortable with each other.
They ate together, shared watch duties, and even traded stories on some nights.
The road was long, but it was not dull... Somehow, Rayven started enjoying their company.
However, their journey had soon come to an end...
Rayven had finally seen the walls of Hesa City!
Somewhere in there... his relatives were waiting. Or at least, that’s what he believed.