As the wagon trailed down the mountain, the amount of snow gradually decreased until it was replaced entirely by a cerulean grass. The strange color piqued Lucas’ curiosity, but it was only surface level. Sure, it was long and wavy and looked cool, but it was still just grass, and it was everywhere. Presumably it took on that strange hue because it didn’t just rely on photosynthesis, and instead also took in magic or something. Magic was blue, right? That’s the color it’s often associated with, anyway, so getting a blue-green grass meant that its source of nutrients was both the sun and magic.

Probably.

Anyway, he had failed to convince Mr. Barolt that going to wizard school was a terrible idea. In fact, he had failed to even argue with him. Before he could even so much as raise a single concern, the man notified him that he had already been accepted to the University. The pretentious man then immediately walked him out to a horse-drawn wagon – which was already packed with all the supplies it needed – as well as a driver to drive it and a very ominous-looking guard dressed up in metal and monster bones – and sent him off on his grand journey. Alongside him was a plain looking driver who couldn’t be a day over 40, or a day under 38, and a guard armored up in black steel and monster bones. It was the type of armor that would make a kid tremble and shake and run away in fear. That, or it would make them think dressing up like some edge lord would make them look cool. Especially his helmet. It appeared to be made of the same black steel the rest of his armor was made of, and it had a visor that completely hid his face, as well as two long, bony horns protruding from the top of it.

But this journey wasn’t about the expensive looking guard, it was all about him, the Barolt family’s newest hopeful wizard. It was definitely a great idea to send him, the crazy, would-be murderer son to a school full of other people. Let him learn knowledge that he shouldn’t have, and give him the chance to make powerful social connections with other insanely powerful magicians. Yeah, great idea, Mr. Barolt. Fantastic. If Xandrious wasn’t dead, this excursion would have no doubt ended horribly. Luckily for him, his son was dead, replaced by Lucas, the master of English and the manager of a burger joint. Truly, he was prime wizard material.

Well, he joked about it, but it was true that he put in all that work and had nothing to show for it. Maybe he was finally getting a windfall of sorts for all his previous efforts, even if that windfall was a reward he never would’ve expected.

Although even that reward wasn’t exactly something he desired. Now, one might ask why Lucas thought learning magic at University was a bad idea? Surely he should be excited to learn about the new world! He could find ways to cast new magic and become magic king, wizard emperor, or whatever this world’s highest mystical title was.

No, he didn’t want to do any of that, because accomplishing a feat like that sounded like a never-ending nightmare. For starters, the University was at the capital, which was no doubt the hub for all the obnoxious and pretentious nobles of the country. Being stuck in the body of a noble himself, he would no doubt have to interact with them constantly. Then there was the fact that many people have likely heard rumors about Xandrious’ revenge plots, so he’d have to deal with a bunch strangers who had preconceived opinions of him. People would try to involve him in their own shady business dealings since they’d see a new jack-ass noble, while others would already be planning to chase him out of the college since he’d be a bad influence, or something along those lines.

Of course there was always the possibility that high-society would want nothing to do with him, but nothing has gone the way he wanted it to since arriving here, and he doubted that would change at the capital. And that was just the start of his problems in the capital! No doubt there would be other noble students at the University, and they’d also likely be a nuisance as well.

And the University itself would also probably give him numerous stress headaches. Yes, he wanted to learn about magic. Yes, he wanted to become powerful enough to live in a nice little secluded cabin in a nice magical forest or whatever. Maybe. Plans for the later stages of his life here were kind of put on hold since he had no idea what to expect from this world yet.

But no, he didn’t want to attend University for a second time! He’d done that once already, and it was Terrible with a capital “T.” Yes, there were very good parts about University – he’d enjoyed reading all that literature, and some of the friends he made there were great! Some being the operating word there.

No doubt his classes schedule would look something like this; One of them would be fun, two of them would be required, and another one would just be downright awful. For every fun class lesson on Forming Ice Magic and How to Become the Ultimate Ice Magician, there would be a class on Magic Theory: Where does it all Come from? and Where to Gather the Best Plants for Potions and then an oddly obtuse class about something like Geographical Magical Nodes and the Importance of Location or some nonsense.

Freaking hell-biscuits, Lucas only wanted to know how to use his ice magic, he didn’t want to learn why it worked or what plants he should be eating or if his magic would be 10% more efficient if he lived in some dreary ice fields full of horrible monsters beyond human comprehension. But they’d make sure he had all that information anyway, and if he didn’t, they’d refuse to let him graduate until he did.

Oh, and that’s not even to mention the people, but he was already annoyed that he’d have to be dealing with nobles. Just thinking about dealing with obnoxious professors and dumb undergrads was something he didn’t even want to think about right now.

So he didn’t. He turned his attention to the plains that he was currently traveling in. Small knolls dotted the grassy plains here and there, and on top of them various wildflowers sprouted. They were nothing like the flowers back on Earth, and even if they had been, he wouldn’t be able to name any of them. He was never much of a plant person; he could appreciate their colors and what they did for the planet, but learning their names would be too bothersome when he had better things to do. But thanks to those flowers, the otherwise mostly blue-green landscape had a burst of color. Oranges, reds, pinks, pretty much every color imaginable was here. It was all very picturesque, and if this scenery was on Earth, there would be countless photos of it online, taken by amateur and professional photographers alike. Lucas wanted nothing more than to take the person who planted that dingy garden back in the village and show them what an actually nice flower arrangement looked like.

Now, what was really strange though, was that his [Observation 0] skill wasn’t actively hindering what he could see. This field was full of everything he expected it to be full of, and wasn’t lacking anything obvious. Was it only supposed to hinder him indoors or something? Obviously it affected him in the cabin, and in the cave as well, but had it really affected him in the manor? I mean, he couldn’t find the toilet paper that one time, but he found it immediately after the guard pointed it out.

But no matter what he theorized, it never made sense, so he made the profound decision to give up on understanding it. This haphazard curse of his seemed to play by its own rules. Perhaps he could look up some curses at the University and see if they had any information about it, but he wouldn’t set his expectations too high. A skill like [Observation 0] doesn’t sound magical in the slightest, and as far as he could tell no one shared his game-like system. Not that he’d asked any of them, but no one brought it up in casual conversation, either. It was probably some dumb quirk that some God gave him for kicks and giggles, and the system was that God’s way of trying to make sure he had at least some sort of advantage in this world.

Just thinking about his situation curled his stomach, so once again he looked for a distraction, and the scenery provided that in spades. Besides the flowers, and the hills, and the grass, there were also some trees here and there, but they were the same trees that he had already seen before, just without snow covering them. They were nothing new, thus not worth noting. But, they did provide ample shade, so when this wagon did eventually stop for a break, no doubt it’d be stopping under one such tree.

Not that the road actually went under any trees, much less their shadows. This neglected dirt path barely even existed at all. The wagon barely fit on it, and if any other travelers appeared on it, it would be a mess moving aside into the tall grass so that they could pass. Not that other people were even expected, if the state of the road was anything to go by.

With the road in such a neglected state, and with the lack of people around, Lucas assumed they’d run into some neat wildlife. Maybe an elk with horns made of mythril, or a bear that spewed fire from its mouth, or a herd of badgers running around with tiny little knives in their paws.

None of those appeared, but he did see a humanoid figure in the distance tending to some flowers on the knoll. But as soon as it looked up and saw him watching, it launched itself into a tree and disappeared. It was a bit unnerving, watching the creature instantly merge into the tree as easily as one cup of water could be added to another.

“Oh, a dryad, neat,” the driver whistled. “Not every day you see that.”

The guard grunted in response to the driver, and did nothing more. That person hadn’t said a single word the entire ride. It could be worse, though. Behind their monstrous-looking helmet, they could have just been sleeping the entire time. At least that grunt confirmed they were awake.

“Where’s all the wildlife?” Lucas asked.

“Oh, they know to stay away from the roads,” the driver said.

Lucas reluctantly accepted the answer. He knew many animals on Earth would avoid human trails, but he also knew that there were animals like deer and possums that were either dumb enough – or smart enough depending on perspective – to interact with humans. The fact that there wasn’t a magical lightning lizard brazen enough to rest by a road shocked him.

“So, we’re not going to see any?” Lucas asked, both relieved and disappointed. All his experiences with the local animals had been terrible so far, but it was a shame he didn’t get to see any neat looking wildlife. Curiosity mandated that he see something neat while he was on the road,

“I sure hope so, but if we do see any, that’s what Lord Barolt paid this guy for,” the driver said as he nodded towards the guard.

“Great. So what’s his deal, anyway?”

The driver shrugged. “He’s an A rank adventurer that rich people like to hire. Apparently monsters don’t like him much.”

Why would an A rank adventurer be conveniently located and hired by Mr. Barolt was Lucas’ next question, but he doubted the driver would know the answer to that question. He gave the guard a side glance, and he just sat there, cross-legged with his head tilted down, seemingly uninterested in everything around him. Truly he was what every edgy teenage goth aspired to be as they sat around mumbling to themselves in 8th grade math class.

“That’s not a great explanation,” Lucas said.

“Whenever he’s around, animals and monsters tend to hide. He kills the ones that don’t. That’s all I know,” the driver said.

“You wanna spill your secrets?” Lucas asked the guard. The guy briefly looked up at Lucas, snorted, shook his head, and then went back to ignoring the world.

“Worth a try, I guess,” Lucas said with a sigh. Maybe he could somehow convince Mr. Barolt to hire this guy forever. If this guy was a walking monster-be-gone spray can, that would solve a lot of Lucas’ problems. After that fight with the Mirage Wolf, he was positive he didn’t want to fight any other magical creature if he could help it. He’d be sure to ask Mr. Barolt about that as soon as he got the chance.

“You know, Lord Xandrious--”

“Please, just call me Dry,” Lucas said with a groan. He’d decided on the name himself, and it wasn’t a great one, but it would have to do. Xandrious was too awful of a name to tolerate having to hear it more than he had to, and Xander was almost as bad. Dry was juuuuust tolerable enough name-wise, even though it sounded like some dude’s Re**it handle.

“Lord Dry, we’ve been on the road for about half a day now. The horses need some rest. Can we stop for lunch soon?”

“What? Why are you asking me?”

“Because you’re the noble here, and I was paid to,” the driver said.

“Great. I know nothing about traveling by wagon. Just do whatever it is you need to do,” Lucas groaned.

“Will do, Lord Dry,” the driver said, mixing his casual tone with Lucas’ formal title.

The man quickly lead the wagon off course, and set it under the shade of a tree. Lucas entirely expected someone or something to ambush them, but no one did. Instead, they had a peaceful lunch consisting of mystery meat and sliced wheat bread. Or at least, Lucas and the driver did. The guard didn’t eat at all, instead choosing to sit in the wagon and keep doing whatever he was doing.

Lucas wasn’t complaining, though. It was a nice change of pace. He liked the idea of not being attacked simply for existing. It was great. Fantastic, even. Hopefully this peaceful trend would make itself cozy, sit by the campfire, sing a few songs, and keep him company throughout the entire trip.