“But … but can’t we use horses or something?” Beata asked in weak voice.

“Actually I think it will make the travel experience even worse.” Clayton jumped in, “One thing is to sit in a carriage, but it is completely different to ride a horse day after day. You can ask Steven how he felt when we arrived in Olava.”

“I … I would suggest you would rather walk.” Steven sighed and caressed Conny’s head.

“That bad?” She was shocked, “But can we at least not have these paintings on our faces? And this thing you made us chew tastes weird as well.”

“Let’s think.” Nick grinned, “Steven, what would be the first feature you would describe your wife with?”

“She is beautiful, kind…”

“Stop, just the first.” Nick interrupted, “So if someone is looking for her we should make her … Kate – your answer is?”

“Sigh, ugly.” Kate whispered while hugging her knees.

“Correct!” Nick clapped, “You will continue to have these paintings until we arrive to Mainland and your yellow teeth for the rest of the trip will remain the way they are now as well. Don’t forget, you will become ‘flowers of Aurora’ as soon as you are back home. I’ll wash off the paintings and your teeth, in fact, because of this treatment will become healthier and the yellow color will disappear later as well.”

“There will be no discussion about this.” He continued, “And there will be no discussion about our training twice a day. If I’m not wrong, there is a high possibility the caravan will get attacked and not only once or twice. It is a fat sheep in the middle of the forests and to protect ourselves we will have to protect it as well. Girls, you might have to kill some bad people in the upcoming months, so prepare yourselves!”

All of them, even Clayton was shocked at this revelation – on the river they almost felt as everything was over, but it might be that the most difficult part was still ahead. Only YunYun grabbed her sword tightly and excitedly thought about the upcoming adventures.

Nick was a bit worried his words were too harsh, but there was no way around it. Even though the last several days were pleasant and careless, it was time to concentrate and work hard. And they all had to bring their A game.

For the next days they stayed in a nearby tavern and, following Nick’s advice, both Maxwell sisters and Kate changed their clothing so their faces were not covered and accompanied by Steven started to walk long distances. They had to get used to twelve or even sixteen hour marathons and nine days was a perfect amount for such practice and, since their appearances were not directly hidden anymore, there was a low risk of them being discovered.

Nick, YunYun and Clayton were preparing supplies and arranging horses. They already decided that the horses would be mostly for carrying their luggage, but even then it had to be light. On the way to Beliz, while in the jungle, Nick cleaned his wristband and finally buried poor Isabel. He got rid of the ton garbage he accumulated during the trip and now was able to stack up on necessities and many back-up items like clothing and ropes. Clayton was long used to his way of storing items, but YunYun watched with big round eyes how large amounts of goods disappeared one after another. She couldn’t figure out how big his ‘meteorite ring’ was, but didn’t ask about it as well – one day he will tell her on his own.

Also Nick cleaned up Beliz’s alchemy shops, including the purchase of large amounts of beast cores, except this time he didn’t buy everything in one go, but stretched out his purchases through nine days. During the evenings he patiently refined different pastes and potions and, before sleep, Clayton and he with his ‘assistant’ YunYun time and time again went over the maps they acquired from Mercenary guild and many books he purchased around the city.

With the three of them doing the research, they were able to prepare much better for the upcoming months, while the rest were mostly training their physical endurance and testing out different kinds of footwear. Even if the ‘flowers’ had to wear men clothing and shoes, at least they could spent their time analyzing to find the most durable and comfortable shoes and boots.

Eight days later, in the evening, they arrived at the fair that was already being packed up and reported to vice caravan leader Rushdi. It turned out that the middle aged man fulfilled the duties of a guard leader well and already planned a spot for them.

They were assigned to a group of three merchants who also just joined the caravan and their position would be more towards the end of the procession.

After the group got acquainted with the merchants under their protection, YunYun asked in confusion, “How come everywhere in the city we can see slaves following their masters, but the merchants in this caravan only employ servants?”

“It was similar in the caravan we escorted through the desert.” Clayton said, “Well, they did transport slaves as wares though.”

“My guess is that the caravan members try to not bring slaves along because of the risk factor they represent.” Nick added, “Imagine traveling for hundreds or even thousands of kilometers without knowing if someone at your side would slit your throat during the night while you camp out in the wild. May be there are slaves who are content with their lives, but I would bet the majority resent their owners and would gladly make them pay in blood for the abuse.”

The slavery topic was always a very sensitive one, especially if someone tried to criticize it on Nestri continent which was basically the slaver’s paradise, therefore they put this discussion aside, at least for now.

While others were arranging their stay for the night, Nick went around the nearby merchants and guards to greet them and become acquainted. With a sad face he refused the invites for drinks explaining they had strict own rules, but promised to cook for them from time to time when they’ll be on the way. Other guards were quite friendly as well – they will have to work together for months and sometimes in harsh conditions, therefore it was always good to make another friend.

During the night there were no unexpected events and soon after the sunrise the long caravan started moving towards west. The seven ‘Southern mercenaries’ were deeply impressed by the grandeur of over two kilometer long snake that consisted of countless carriages moving along the wide road. Hundreds of merchants and servants were sitting on those or walking at the side making it look even more busy and impressive.

Already yesterday evening other guards informed Nick that the leaders of the caravan usually were located in the front, because it was the safest spot. The bandit and robber attacks usually targeted the end or the middle of the carriage line and they should soon be on their guard against the lowlifes from Beliz.

Earlier Nick already reported this information to his friends, but they couldn’t understand how few random bandits could threaten anyone here. There were more than five hundred guards and during the day almost everyone was awake. In addition, there were even some Qi masters, although Nick was told that most of them were elderly men and usually hanged out the front of the caravan together with the leaders.

But soon they learned the simple and may be even laughable tactics of the local ‘raiders’. In packs of ten or sometimes up to fifteen people, they were making ‘surprise’ attacks against the caravan. Of course, there was no real surprise because they all together charged from behind some rocks or out from the jungle with their weapons held high and threateningly shouting.

The following procedure of these attacks was even more primitive. While six to eight were holding back the guards, the rest tried to grab a sack or two with random goods from carriages and as soon as they successfully ran away, the rest fell back as well, usually even not getting hurt and without inflicting wounds on the guards.

It was obvious that the both sides tried to mostly defend and the attacks with their weapons were more parries than stabs or slashes. Still, the guards took pride in their job every time they drove robbers away and the merchants breathed in relief that only a small amount of goods was lost.

“What the hell was that?” Clayton whispered looking at the disappearing backs of already third group in the nearby jungle.

“The guards probably don’t want to get injured because they still have over two months on the road while the robbers just grab random cheap stuff to sell off in Beliz right after they return.” Nick shook his head, “The caravan leaders also don’t care much since the loot is basically laughable.”

YunYun was not surprised or shocked, but deeply disappointed because up until now all the attacks happened a couple hundred meters away and she didn’t even have a chance to stretch her limbs.

“Listen, boys!” Nick turned to the girls and then whispered, “Even if these attacks are harmless to those guards, we can still be injured if someone swings a weapon at us. If anyone comes near – never hold back! Remember what Clayton and Steven taught you. Stick to your formation!”

The weird robbers didn’t let YunYun down for long and some kilometers further made an attack at one of the carriages under their protection. As usual, they charged out of the jungle roaring loudly and ran towards the panicked merchant who joined the caravan for the first time.

But no one understood what happened when in blink of an eye the attack was over and the ‘Southern mercenaries’ continued to walk along the slowly moving horses. The only thing reminding of the previous incident was the blood covering three of them and multiple mutilated corpses at the side of the road.

When the onlookers tried to remember what just transpired, the best they could put together was that suddenly two shorter guards disappeared from their spots and appeared at the further end of the attackers and behind them several bandits fell to the ground cleaved in halves. While the both taller mercenaries elegantly stabbed two bandits each, the group of three others simultaneously slashed their swords on the head of one of the attackers making it explode like a water melon and then, while letting out low shout each, jumped over to already stabbed ones and repeated their bloody action. Thus the three of them already bathed in blood when the two shorter ones returned and seemingly tried to calm down the blood lust of their three colleagues.

This scene was too shocking and was witnessed not only by the people in caravan, but by those hidden in the jungle as well.

This was against the rules! They were performing these negligible robberies for years and, because of the meager value of the goods, even the government forces didn’t pay attention to them, not to speak about caravan leaders. But now suddenly there were people murdering them for no reason!

After this incident attacks suddenly stopped and merchants happily continued their way, but the more experienced guards shook their heads and sighed. It was unlikely this was over.

When the caravan made the first stop before the sunset, a guard called Nick over to meet some others. There were gathered around forty to fifty guards who were guarding carriages closer to Nick and his company and clearly saw what transpired during the day.

Nick already guessed what they wanted to talk about, but there was simply no other way – they had to act the way they did. He couldn’t let the girls ‘spar’ with the attackers, because they would simply die. The only thing he could do was to kill as many bandits as he could and the little beast called YunYun gladly helped out. Luckily Clayton and Steven were guarding the three girls carefully and parried any attack that went their way and even let them make a slash or two on their own. This was the reason for the seemingly bloody massacre.