Luckily the march through the coastal swamp didn't constitute too much of the duo's time, as their route had them head back inland. After a rigorous hour of traveling, Nirou and Laska reached a small riverside village. All the houses being made of mud brick, it was the definition of backwater. This was apparently the home of the aforementioned fisherman that she rented the shack from. She stopped briefly to thank him once more and see off her horse for a final time. Nirou's presence drew a couple of confused looks, but no one bothered to pry.

That slight distraction out of the way, the two's journey continued along an established path through the now regular jungle. Wide enough for a cart and then some, it was quite a pleasant sight compared to the abject wilderness of before. The road had obviously been worn down by centuries of foot traffic, and was likely to be the only comfortable way to progress through the jungle at all. While the heat and humidity wore on Nirou, he was just glad that he wasn't going to be carrying all their stuff on a hike through the foliage.

"This road is the main thoroughfare between Anjdrahm's capital and their Western border." Laska explains, breaking the silence of their journey. "It's really the only reasonable way across the jungle at all, so it's been widened to accommodate both merchant caravans and military companies. Everyone heading to the capital from the west uses this road, which makes it a prime target for highwaymen. Traveling its whole length on foot, we're sure to run into some at least once."

"That's not good to hear." Nirou replies, nervous at even the prospect of being confronted by thieves. He realized of course how detrimental a reaction that was given the duo's eventual goal, but he wasn't ready to just man up quite yet. "Is there any chance we can avoid them entirely?"

"I hope not." Laska answers, not missing a beat. "We really need to come across some, or we'll be in trouble."

The girl didn't turn around to see Nirou squinting in confusion at this remark, but after a moment of silence she seemed to realize an explanation would be necessary and she continued.

"We only have that sack of food and tea that will last us a few days." Laska explains. "While we might be able to make it all the way to Rajandra if we ration very carefully, we have no money at all. That means no lodging, we're spending every night outside. More than uncomfortable, it's dangerous. We could get attacked by wild beasts or the mentioned bandits. So we'd have to have one of us stay up to keep watch each half of the night. Assuming we run into no trouble whatsoever this way, we might be able to reach the capital tired, hungry, and weak. That isn't a very desirable best case scenario."

"I'm still not following." The young man admits. "I get that we're in a tight spot. But why would you want us to get robbed on top of that?"

"I have no intention of being robbed. The only thieves that would stake out the low hanging fruit of this road are weaklings. I can dispatch them easily. And once they are dealt with, whatever the late thieves had on their persons becomes ours. The sooner we get targeted, the better. Our journey gets much easier."

Nirou couldn't help but be unnerved. This girl was at least a couple of years younger than him, yet calmly declared her plan to get attacked and then kill her assailants and take their stuff. It was so completely unlike anything in his own world that he had ever seen. The thought would never have crossed his mind. Was it the standard for this world, or was it in Laksa's nature to be callous?

"I'm... not sure I can be part of killing people so easily." Nirou hesitantly responds. "I've never even been in a fight before or anything."

"You just need to be able to swing that sword at anyone who does the same to you." Laska states bluntly. "I don't expect you to have the stomach to kill, given how you could barely stand a little blood just days ago. Just worry about keeping yourself safe. I can handle the rest."

"Are you sure?" the young man quickly followed up, unable to help himself. This was a girl even younger than him they were talking about. "How can you be so confident? We could be attacked at any time, and what if it's a bunch of them? Even if you're as strong as you think you are, you could get overwhelmed."

Nirou wasn't trying to insult the girl's pride or anything, he could tell just from seeing her practice her moves that she was quite strong. He was just liable to voice his worries by blurting out statements that called one's abilities into question. He was so used to doing this to himself that it had seeped over to his interactions with others. As legitimate worries as they were, they never went over well.

"I'll not have my prowess doubted by you of all people." Laska's eyebrows narrowed in annoyance. "Maybe you don't quite understand what it means to be a noble in this world, so I will do the favor of informing you. When a single fortunate gift can lift you a number of social strata, how do you think noble families still exist? From the time I was a child I've been honing my skills in combat and giving away my own blood on a regular basis. I've built up a dozen blessings and trained until their use was second nature. The only way to keep from getting usurped is to stay stronger than any challengers, it's that simple."

Obviously Nirou had some misgivings about Laska espousing a worldview that could be taken to a logical conclusion of her having simply failed. But it seems she didn't see it that way. She still saw herself as in the game, down but not out. And who was he to argue? He had merely accepted his own greatest setback in his home world. He didn't fight back. He gave up. What would he know about the logic of a winner?

"I'm not stupid." she went on. "I ran away from Temat's band because I know when I'm outmatched. But that's only for now. I will become stronger, and put an end to him. Before him, any thieves on this road are mere pebbles."

"Sorry." Nirou sheepishly apologized. "I'm just nervous about all of this. But I guess I should trust you to know what you're doing."

The mood remained a bit strained among the duo for a while. They talked infrequently, preferring to focus on making progress. Each day they would walk unceasingly, stopping only for a few minutes at noon to rest and take their meager nourishment. Once the sun began to set, they would find a nearby nook in the jungle that could serve their purposes and made camp. Even the nights were warm, so luckily they didn't even need to bother with a fire. They would just take turns under a single cloth blanket as the other one kept an eye and ear out into the surrounding darkness for any strange movement.

Nirou was unnerved somewhat at staying up for hours in the darkness alone, but he kept his mind off of it with his Bloodshape practice. The darkness was even helpful, since he became used to controlling the blood with no visual reference at all. He was just getting a sense for blood itself. By the time his shift would come to an end, he was tired enough to have no trouble sleeping until the two departed in the morning. Though in the beginning he did wonder if Laska was also unnerved by the darkness.

On the third day of walking, an hour or so after finishing lunch, Laska's hopes were answered. On a curved portion of the road that cut off visibility, four men came into view. They were lightly clothed given the climate, but still wrapped their heads in cloth to obscure their faces. Squatting here on the road, it was obvious that they were local brigands. While Nirou started to sweat even more than he had been from the heat, Laska got an expectant grin on her face at the sight.

"Hand the sack over along with any other valuables you have." one of the men orders, as the other three move to surround the duo. They all pull chipped old swords out, scimitar types. It must be the style in this region.

Laska doesn't pretend to comply or even bother to give a line of banter. She instantly lunges forward while drawing her rapier and impales the man that spoke. He tried to make a slash at her himself, but he wasn't prepared for such a quick attack, and his swipe is at empty air after her sword is already withdrawn. The man falls to the ground, already seemingly done for.

While Nirou wanted to wonder how Laska managed to take the man out so efficiently, he was far too preoccupied panicking. He set down the sack and drew the sword he had, for all the good his shaking hands did him. This was the real deal. Life or death combat. One person had already died in front of him. He was just barely able to keep himself from being overwhelmed by nausea by focusing on his adrenaline high and fear for his life. He couldn't afford to be distracted right now.

Luckily the other men were mainly focused on Laska, having just seen her kill their comrade in a flash. Two of them rushed her at once from opposite sides, swinging their swords near simultaneously. The slashes were coming from opposite sides, it would be nearly impossible to dodge both. So they thought.

Laska made an impressive jump, flipping over one of the men's swings and above him entirely. She held out her rapier as she did so, but despite hitting nothing the man dropped his sword and yelped in pain. His arm began bleeding, as if pierced by some unseen force. His scream was cut short as his head become the landing spot for his opponent, an impressive show of balance. Before he could shake her off the girl let herself drop with her weapon pointed downward, plunging right into his neck. Wasting no time, she pulled it straight back out and let the body drop to face down the other man that had charged at her. He was making another pass, this time forcing Laska to parry his swings with her own sword.

Yet with each swipe, the man's arm got a new wound right through it. After five instances, he couldn't take the abuse any more and grasped his arm in pain. He backed away slightly, understandably in fear of the mysterious manner in which he had been attacked. Laska went completely against common sense and threw her rapier like a dart after the retreating bandit, who was able to duck out of the way just in time. But his relief was short-lived, as the weapon flew back in a straight line towards Laska's hand. The path of which saw it using his head as a partial medium. She then made her way over to remove the rapier from his skull, as it was having trouble jostling itself free.

The final brigand watched the beginning of the confrontation intently looking for an opening, but quickly decided to focus elsewhere once his companions were clearly outclassed. Taking immediate note of the big soft target nearby trembling in fear, he closed in for a stroke of his blade.

Nirou was afraid. He could see the man clear as day, the attack coming right at him. It was now or never. He couldn't hesitate, he had to protect his own life. With no elegance to speak of, the young man channeled all those hours he had spent swinging the sword as hard as he possibly could and made his desperate counterattack.

Luck was on his side, as Nirou had a reach advantage. His arm got his sword farther out, and it resulted in his slash hitting home. The bandit's unarmored torso took the full brunt of Nirou's reckless swing, and the man went right down. However, Nirou wasn't unscathed. The brigand's attack landed at the same time as his, though the shorter reach meant only his arm was cut. But it was a significant cut.

"Aaagh!" Nirou groaned in pain as he dropped to his knees and used his opposite arm to try and press down on the wound. The sudden pain nearly made him completely forget any discomfort with blood he might have still had as he got his hand bloodier than it had ever been. Tears welled up in the corner of his eyes, and he tried to control his breathing. Freaking out would only make things worse.

By this point, Laska had finished off the other three men. The whole confrontation had been less than fifteen seconds. She quickly ran over to Nirou to check the damage.

"It shouldn't be lethal. He didn't get an artery. You'll be alright." she encourages the young man after scoping out the wound. Though he already knew that, given that he wasn't quickly dying. It was still rough to weather this pain for the first time. "Try to use your blessing to keep from losing any more blood. This is what you really need it for, to be able to deal with this."

Powering through the searing pain in his arm, Nirou focused on the feeling of the blood there. Using Bloodshape, he tried to keep it inside his body. The veins were naturally too numerous and complicated for perfection, but he knew the general way things were supposed to go and facilitated the movement of blood in the right direction. That much was fine, as the standing blood could clot over like it's supposed to. The process was faster even, with no blood escaping and keeping the wound open.

After what seemed like an hour, Nirou was able to loosen his focus on his blood and let it take its natural course. He tied a loose cloth around his arm for a bit of pressure, but other than that he was fine. Laska had stood by patiently watching.

"And that's with the minimum level of practice." she says, breaking the longstanding silence. "Imagine what you can do with true mastery. You're exceedingly lucky, you know. A five star blessing is an exceptional gift. The four star spell that I summoned you with is the rarest I've ever gotten."

"What were the abilities you used to beat those guys?" Nirou asked, now that the topic was brought up. He sat back against a nearby tree to rest after stressing himself all this time. "I couldn't tell what was happening."

"Improved Jump, Improved Balance. Both one star blessings. I use them for superior mobility in battle. Phantom Blade Projection. My most fearsome ability, a three star blessing. I can extend an invisible replica of my weapon's blade anywhere within a radius equal to its length. I used it to skewer the first bandit a second time from the inside, and then hit the others while we exchanged blows. Finally, my Returning Rapier is a two star artifact. It will return straight to my hand at will."

Nirou listened as the girl listed off all these things she could do as if it were normal. And from what she said, there were still even more abilities he had yet to see. He felt a bit foolish for doubting her before. She took out three of these guys like nothing.

"These bandits likely had never tributed." Laska moves on, rummaging through the corpses' pockets. "Those without a proper education rarely ever get the chance to learn how. And if they had, they would surely have a greater standing than mere highway robbers. One of the reasons Temat and his band have come to prominence is that they subvert this bit of common sense."

Laska takes no shame in looting the corpses of the bandits and comes away with a decent collection of coins that look like they're made of copper. On top of that, she takes all of their swords and a few trinkets they had on them.

"They probably hit a couple of travelers before us. This amount is more than enough to get us to the capital comfortably. We could even afford a change of clothes once we're there."

Nirou can't help but feel a bit bad about stripping the dead of all they're worth. Apparently enough that the notion was readable on his face.

"There's no reason to pity them, Nirou." Laska assured. "They chose this path and simply came to the natural end of it. Their wealth will sustain us, while their bodies will sustain the jungle creatures. Come, if we can reach a town by nightfall we can spend the night inside again."

The girl sticks her hand out to the seated man, offering him help up. With some hesitation Nirou takes it, though she can't actually help too much given the gap in size. He still does most of the work standing up. But the thought is still appreciated. He picks the sack with their food and drink in it back up, and gets ready to keep moving.

Avoiding any further thoughts about the fallen men as he passes them by, Nirou distracts himself by thinking of his new power. He didn't have a great frame of reference, since he had never had an injury of that degree before. But he knew enough to realize how significant this was. Beyond himself, he could potentially save others from bleeding out with practice.

During his thoughts, he was shocked at how easily he could think of dealing with blood now. How the fear of it was nearly gone entirely. If he was only able to manage this as a result of his power, that means he never would have gotten over his fear back in his old world. So was he thankful for coming here? For getting the opportunity to overcome his greatest failure? It might be a bit too early to be thinking of such things. The two of them still had a very long road ahead.

For now, Nirou and Laska just marched along it as quickly as they could out of the desire to finally get a good night's sleep again.