Several days passed as the group continued their journey. While they did have a delay during their travel due to the weather refusing to stop raining down upon them to such a degree that vision became an issue. Having not been lucky enough to find a cave they did the best they could with their supplies and some trees as overhead protection.

During the day and a half of rain that had delayed them, Victor heard a lot of stories from, nearly everyone that was with him. He even shared some of his own, choosing to stick to fairy tale type stories instead of ones based on his real life. Dorun was especially interested in the story of the sword in the stone, even though Victor was sure he told the story exactly as it would go if he read it from the proper source.

With the sun returning as morning began, the group gathered up everything to continue on their path.

“I haven’t spent that much time in the rain since….” Victor began before pausing a short moment, “I actually can’t remember the last time. Normally I just stay inside if it’s raining.”

“I like the rain,” Ruuz exclaimed, “Mostly because of the smell it creates and the sound as it falls. Something about it is more relaxing than anything mom or dad ever had me try. I know they just want what’s best, but why doesn’t that ever include this sort of thing? Is it really that bad to think you’re fine where you’re at?”

Ruuz kept asking the same questions of Victor as everyone, except Alena who was checking her traps, finished packing everything so they could continue. Dorun, as usual, was insistent that Victor not be bothered with such mundane tasks when he could do it instead. This lead him to be the focus of Ruuz's attention while everyone packed her carrying pack.

“Parents have the fortune and misfortune of having made more mistakes than their children, especially when they are growing up. I know mine have. Just remember a good parent will do all they can so you won’t fall into the same hole they found on their journey of life, but they know in the end you have to choose if you trust the advice or if you will jump in the hole willingly.”

Victor smirked a bit as he spoke some words he remembered from some book he once read.

“That said, some parents might want you to think there is a hole where there is none because they think your life is actually theirs to live. Basically, they might think it's better if you assume that it was the wrong path.”

Ruuz looked up at Victor, about to speak when two things happened at once.

Doliy placed the pack on Ruuz at the same time that Alena returned carrying three small critters that reminded Victor of a mix between a squirrel and a guinea pig.

“No mana cores,” Alena exclaimed as she returned, “But they are on the large side so we can probably use the hide to patch something if we are careful about skinning them.”

“Do what you like. We’re almost ready to go anyway.” Victor stated as he grabbed his spear.

Unlike before, Victor had decided on storing something else away in case they were caught up in another rainstorm. Something that he tested during their stationary time. A log from the fire that had been burning.

Even hours after being hidden away, the heat remained and the wood was aflame almost instantly as if it had never been gone. He knew that fire needed fuel, heat, and air so it made sense that as long as the log was hot enough finding air again would allow it to catch fire.

Because of this, he decided, unless they got something too big to carry or valuable enough to hide, this would be the best use of his card for the time being.

It wasn’t long before everyone was on their way down the road.

“We’re making good progress, even with that rain delay,” Doliy attested, “I bet we'll be there before too long. If I remember right there is only one place worth note between here and there anyway. Unless you want to take a few extra days for the longer route. That path has a lot of places with inns we could stay to cut down on camping.

“No,” Alena exclaimed before catching herself, “I mean no let’s just go the shortest route. The sooner we get there the sooner we can work hard and earn our freedom. I don’t know why we are with you two, but is there a reason that we would want to take longer? Is it something that unimportant to you?”

Ruuz ran ahead a little bit, until she was next to Victor, ignoring Alena's questions, “I want to take my time. If we take the longer route I can learn more about his foolhardy logic. I don’t agree with how he treats you slaves, but at least now I understand it. I wonder what other slave owners would think of it.”

“They would likely think I'm a fool.”

“Master is no fool.”

Dorun's face had its serious look, as usual, “My master has wisdom that a simple slave like myself can’t understand. It will only be a matter of time before people realize he is right.”

“Maybe, but I wouldn't hold my breath,” Victor said softly, “Back home it took a long time for things to get to where we are now. The funny thing is everyone thinks their life is the ideal. The people in the past will always be looked at as if they lived the life of fools. The next generation will think the same of us and they will be seen as fools by those who come after them.”

“I don’t understand what you mean master. Surely you aren’t foolish.”

Walking along Victor thought to himself quietly, trying to ignore how both Ruuz and Dorun stared at him as they waited for a response.

“I am not sure if I am going to explain this well, but I’ll try,” Victor said with waning confidence.

“If I remember right an elf can see generations of humans born, live, and die like I would with a cat. No matter how you might try to teach your kids your way of thinking, their life isn't yours and they don't experience things how you did. A big example is the children raised on war think different than those raised with peace."

“Everyone has different lives, even if only slightly. This is why it happens. It's because... Well...... even though what happened before built you up you see it as foolish since......”

Victor once again went quiet. The group covered quite a distance without him even knowing how to continue with his thoughts. He worried that he wouldn't be able to finish his thought process properly since they wouldn't understand him trying to explain video games and their slow difficulty build that would make you look back and think how easy the start seemed later.

“A tree.”

The voice was a little quiet so Victor nearly missed it when Alena spoke up.

“What about a tree?”

“I think you’re trying to say it’s like a tree,” Alena continued, “If you like I can say what I think you meant.”

Nodding his head Victor let Alena become the focus of attention.

“A tree has different stages of life, just like people, and when it is past one it no longer thinks about what it used to be.”

“As a seed, it isn’t even a tree yet, just a potential tree. A life that, while a lot can already be decided, has potential that you can't know about until it grows. Some seeds from strong trees end up weak for a reason you don't notice.”

“Eventually it starts to sprout up. It has shown it can survive, but can still be destroyed if something unexpected happens or something that wants what it can provide, usually destroying it for its own needs.”

“Over time it can become a sapling and a full-grown tree. Once there it has its life and does what it can. Maybe it grows fruit, maybe it makes sap, maybe eventually it becomes lumber. Eventually though no matter how strong it will die and just rot away and where it rots can allow new seeds to grow. The old tree will no longer be there and the new ones will never know that the last trees were ever there or that they helped make the land what it became to allow them to grow.”

"So something like once a tree no longer has the fears it would as a seed it sees the fears it used to have as something they shouldn't even think about."

“Is that close to what you meant?"

Victor smiled and thought he might give her a couple copper for helping him.

“Very close,” Victor agreed, “Think of the forest instead of just one tree though. The size, color, and what it produces always changes from year to year despite them being the same trees. You know they are the same trees, but the soil, sun, rain, and many other options can impact its growth enough that you notice. Just like the people of the world might seem close to the same but they are never the same completely.”

“Even all of us. Think back ten years ago. I can’t imagine any of us were exactly the same as we were back then. Some more than others but...”

The conversation continued to flow naturally with mild disagreements that would occasionally escalate and voices would be raised.

When that happened to loudly or often, Doliys magic would prevent it from going any further, as she would silence them all for just a bit, offering a slight smile each time she did without a word.

Looking over the papers once again, Elya let out a sigh. She had been the one to interview both the slave and the adventurer, but she still didn’t want to believe the outcome.

Having convinced herself, before interviewing Tarin, that the slave had done something horrible and was just trying to not be executed, she was sure that the survivors' words would prove her assumption. Instead, it had just made the slaves' words all the more certain.

She couldn’t help, but slam her hands on her desk, drawing the eyes of the elf in the corner, “It doesn’t make sense.”

“Would some tea help you? You’ve been at this for a long time and the higher ups…”

“The higher ups know that I like to do all of this as well as I can. There has to be something I am missing because the other option is…. It’s….. The other option can’t be true.”

Pouring some fresh tea into a cup on Elyas desk, the elf also put down something to eat before flipping a timekeeper, “I’ll be back about when this runs out of sand to pick up the dishes. The master sergeant would like for you to be done by that time. Especially since you are supposed to be leaving today.”

Watching the servant leaving her office, Elya was tempted to throw the tea across the room but stopped herself.

She had been pushed to find anything that would show proof that the slave was a liar, but there was nothing there that couldn't easily be explained away. This was especially true after doing the second interview.

The adventurer who survived his party verified practically every word that was said and didn’t contradict anything. He did have a few different takes on things, but that was to be expected considering the situation both parties were in. Something like how two people could have a different perception of a persons size based on how intimidating they seemed.

Looking down at the scroll in her hands she moved through each word hoping, despite all expectations, that something would reveal itself to have a hidden meaning that would show itself to her. She even traced each word with her fingers as she read, a bad habit she got into when she learned how to write.

The paper indicated that Tarin was the last member of the adventuring party known as the Rising Flames. This information was verified by visiting the guild.

Except for Tarin all of the paired crystals that belonged to the group had been broken. Adventurers getting in over their head weren’t unheard of, but the slave returning with a story about what happened was. If not for Tarin's survival and statement, Elya thought the slave would have been killed shortly after his arrival.

Taking out some ink and paper, Elya started to write the core points from the statements.

The party was going off to deal with a request, but before they could get there found a beast and killed it.

Tapping at the end of the line Elya nodded her head a little bit, thinking about how this was a very common occurrence. It was quite often that people returned from a trip with some sort of beast or resource in addition to whatever they had been requested to do.

Next, according to Tarin, but not the slave, he was the first one to be attacked. This could easily be overlooked as something that the beastkin would be more likely to remember. At least Elya assumed as much based on when she had something similar happen once, but she tried to force it out of her mind as she continued.

From there the group got into a defensive formation and attempted to get their situation figured out.

This is where things, slightly, were different between the two.

Both parties agreed that the man went behind the group and attacked them, but there was one noticeable difference.

While the slave said that he was being threatened and had a blade to his face just before the attack, Tarin claimed otherwise. The beastkin claimed that just after the knives were thrown and embedded themselves into two of his teammates that he heard the man talking about freeing the slave.

"That doesn't make sense though," Elya said mostly to herself.

"If..... if that man was going to free the slave why didn't he? Is the man able to free them? Was it a lie to get him to keep quiet before being attacked? Did he change his mind after?"

Thinking over all the possibilities that she had already been thinking of, Elya took a sip from her tea and let out a deep breath as she continued.

The rest of the information was minor without any real purpose, at least in her opinion.

Tarin said he ran as ordered by the group leader, but the slave said that there was never an order to flee.

Without Tarin to observe until the end of the situation, she only had the slave's words to go by for how the leader of the group met her end. The woman's end was what made Elya doubt the slave was being wholly honest, but she did realize it could just be that he saw things or remembered things improperly.

"The guild said that Eliessa had defensive magic. They don't specify if it is passive or not, but... it seems anytime someone attacked her it was stopped by a mana barrier of sorts. Very shortly after a new one forms in its place, leaving her vulnerable only for a short period of time"

Drawing several stick figures on a paper she starts drawing a circle around one, the next with the circle breaking apart, then skipping the third she draws a circle around the fourth.

"If the guild's records are true, then you need to attack in rapid succession to be able to hurt her, but he managed it if the slave isn't lying at least."

Tapping on the drawings, she thought, "To beat someone to death with his fists the man would either need to be so strong that a single hit would be all it needs, fast enough to hit her repeatedly in the short time she has no protection, or perhaps have some magic that can get through her defenses. Even then she would be likely to fight back."

Looking at the timekeeper in the corner of her desk, Elya took out a fresh scroll of paper and started to write her final report.

While she used a lot of words she was able to bring it down to a few core points.

1: There is no proof that the slave is lying.

2: Whoever did this to the group is likely someone to be wary of.

3: This person who did this likely has a dangerous or unique form of magic.

4: She would like for the slaves remaining contract to be bought by the military in case further information is required.

5: Put out a reward for the man, once they can get a good enough sketch of him, dead or alive, but with a higher alive reward.

Elya had just finished rolling up the report when the elf returned.

"Do you have the report for me ma'am?"

Handing it over to the elf, she remained silent.

"Very good. Would you like for me to say anything or do anything on my way to hand this in?"

Thinking for a short moment, Elya spoke, "Tell the soldiers coming with me to stop doing mana drain. Any of them who are caught doing so when I go to collect them will have their pay docked. If you see Cylla remind her she still isn't being paid for her next fifteen days of work. We can't let our troops forget to take location into account when doing a full discharge and that orchard... Well, I'm sure she will remember."

"Of course ma'am."

Taking the report, the elf left. While the lack of an earring indicated he wasn't a slave, sometimes she wondered if he was a former slave, considering how he took to being ordered around.

Pushing that thought aside she started to gather some basic supplies for what would be a long trip to the capital. Each location that was large enough to train and dispatch troops was expected to send some to the capital for the upcoming tournament and festivities. She had to make sure that nothing was forgotten during the trip as, for some, this would be their first time traveling such a distance as part of the military.

The sun was high in the sky, beating down on everyone after several days of travel. Without any trees for shade, the heat beat down upon them as the group walked down the road. The lack of trees had been bad enough that the stored wood had been used to cook the morning meal.

"There seem to be more people on the roads now," Victor stated as they continued.

"That's because we're nearing the capital," Doliy confirmed, "Skies Watch is a place where a lot of people come for many reasons. The biggest one for people from other countries is coming up soon and that means even more people than usual will be there."

"I would tell you to keep your most valuable item hidden away with your magic," Alena chuckled, "but I'd rather not hide in your little storage pocket."

Victor smirked a bit. Since his speech about why he wanted his slaves to earn money, Alena had been a bit more vocal and friendly with him.

Every day she would try to do something to earn either a bit of favor or extra coin it seemed. This day was no different in that regard, but when she brought him the corpse of a beast she killed he placed it away in his card like usual. The problem was that the card seemed to reject it. Instead of storing it away as he expected it vanished, only to instantly return.

Having no idea what had caused this he claimed that it looked too tasty to store away and they had taken to letting Dorun carry and butcher it as they traveled, to the best of his ability.

When he got the chance, however, Victor took out his card. All at once, there were three things different compared to his expectations.

The entire card looked like it had a bit of a shine on it that it didn't before. Not quite like the shiny variants of trading cards that he remembered from when he would play the magical community tcg, but something that was subtle and coated the entire card front and back.

On the right was no longer the rectangle that he noticed was slowly filling up over time. There was no longer anything in its place and the picture in the center of the card was bigger than before thanks to the extra room it provided.

It was that picture however that was most baffling. Since having seen it he hadn't been sure what to make of it. It was the first time, as far as he remembered, that there was something in it that he hadn't placed into it, but it was something he recognized the moment he saw it, even before reading the label.

"Master?"

The word snapped Victor out of his distracted thought as he looked to the side.

"Sorry I got a bit distracted. Did you say something?"

"Yes master," Dorun said, "There is a group of trees up ahead so we thought we would enjoy the mid-day meal with the beast you had me butcher. There is a small group of people there already so I thought I would ask if you want anything done before we get there?"

Tapping his pouch, Victor felt his card as he thought.

"I can't think of anything we need to hide and it would be awkward to explain if something happens where I need to take whatever I hide away out."

"Understood master," Dorun said with a thumbs up. A small gesture he had picked up from Victor during their travels.

"Right. Just let me think for a bit for now. Just let me know when lunch is ready or if there is something important I need to deal with. Otherwise, just give me a while."

With a nod from Dorun, Victor separated himself to the side of a tree that was opposite everyone else as they prepared lunch.

Victor hoped since he normally wouldn't ask for privacy, that this would be allowed to him as he took out the card and turned it over in his hand.

The shine was new but subtle enough that it shouldn't draw too much attention, Victor thought to himself.

Tracing his fingers along with the number written on the back, he turned it over and started to trace it over the picture on it. Then he traced it over the words labeling it one by one.

"Card two."

The pictured card was just like his first one when he had gotten it. Bland and colorless with nothing of note, but he had seen what happened over time with this first card.

After a moment, Victor reminded himself of a few things.

When his card appeared it was like this and over time became what it was. He assumed that the new card would do the same thing, but had concerns on if it was some upgrade that would leave him unable to use the card while it rebuilt itself. He had seen in games where when you upgrade something it requires time to build itself up, leaving it unable to be used.

That concern was pushed away, however, by the fact that he didn't plan to use the card as it was. With that in mind, he took a deep breath and mentally commanded card two to appear.