I finally came to a decision last night, that I will accept the title of the Knight of Ceipheed. It was a tough one, though, because it meant leaving my home and family.
Mother took it better than I expected her to. She was very helpful, considering that she helped me with packing and such. I was very thankful that Father didn't take all of his horses with him on his trip. I would've been forced to either pay the fare and take a carriage to Saillune, or I would have had to foot it, and with the urgency of this quest, that just wouldn't do.
After I packed and loaded my things, it was quite early. I still hadn't gotten to sleep any, but if I took the first day of travel lightly, I could probably make it at least a third of the way before I had to find a place and turn in for the day. Then the next, I could travel a bit harder and probably go a bit farther than today. Most likely, with this pace, I would be able to make it in Saillune on the third day of riding.
With all the careful planning and with the money mother was kind enough to give me for inn stays and meals, I was betting that this would be a much easier trip than the usual caravans my father had taken me on. I don't have anything that would interest any bandits or anything.
Of course, that's what I thought before I left home.
My Lord is an honest person. At least he is to me, though I doubt it to any others. That's probably because I'm his General. I don't know. It's just that I know what he feels when he feels it, and what he wants when he wants it. Maybe I'm supposed to take care of those needs for him. Grausherra is competent enough to take care of himself though during this. I can tell that he doesn't like the fact that there is major movements going on in Saillune itself. Especially since Gaav and Phibrizo are involved.
Because of his uneasiness, I took it upon myself to find out what's going on. That'll lighten the load on his shoulders a bit.
That was, of course, before I realized that Lei Magnus was here in Saillune. What's up with him and that apprentice of his that's here with him? Well, that's what I'm here for. He's getting in the way of my work to cause chaos in the royal family of Saillune, and I don't like that at all.
That's alright though. I've gotten something that Phibrizo couldn't get. I wasn't about to let the Hellmaster's meddling screw up my plans, so with a bit of poking and prodding with the leftovers of what happened, I twisted my plan around and used the current situation to my advantage, and got myself into the palace of Saillune itself. Let's just see Phibrizo do that one!
When I said that I had expected things to go well when I left home, I really meant it. I have helped my dad with planning his caravans for years, so this wasn't much different. I had some experience with trips of this kind, unfortunately I had a lot more time to plan them, unlike this trip.
I'm being commanded by Ceipheed to make my way to Saillune - I have no knowledge of my next orders afterwards, though. I guess I'll receive them upon arrival.
The first night of travel went through just fine, except for me falling asleep a couple of times while on horseback. For some reason, though, I felt completely safe. It was the second day of travel that had given me problems, though.
First it was the bandits.
They were taken care of, with a bit of work. I know some simple spells, but that's about it. Mother did pack one of the spellbooks that we had in the shop, though, saying that she would compensate for it. With some work, I'll probably be able to pull off some of the more powerful spells in the book. Elmekia Flame, in particular, caught my eye. It seems to be a powerful, yet useful spell. I'll have to learn and understand Elmekia Lance first, though, which I've been struggling to do.
Anyway, the bandits were taken care of with a flare arrow. I'm not all that good with it, and I still have to recite the incantation to cast it completely, but otherwise, I did a decent job with it, and took care of them long enough to escape.
I traveled to the next town on my planned route. It ended up being a small village named Woodsland. It was aptly named as well, being that the forest hid it. The only way I was familiar with the small town - if it could be called that - was that it was on my dad's routes for selling his goods. Unfortunately I didn't see the skies growing dark that evening, since I was preoccupied while watching for bandits.
That next day, though, was much worse. It was my fault for not noticing the change of the weather the evening before, but what could I have done? I had to continue my trek.
The storm was horrendous. I've never seen anything like it before. Maybe I'm just being tested, who knows... It's probably something on that scale, though. Even though I was slowed down for a good amount of the trip. In fact, I had to stop and take shelter a couple of times. The storm did clear after awhile, though, which I was thankful for, so I continued my way to Saillune, but this time at a faster pace, so I could try to get there before nightfall - which I thankfully did.
After an endless search of no clues, I thought that this task was going to be a hopeless search. I walked through the palace on a cold, boring night, contemplating the idea of returning to my Lord and trying to make amends to him in some other way. This plan was flawless on getting his spirits up, of course, as things seem to go sometimes, I happen to not have the luck I expected, and am able to find nothing on Phibrizo's plans. These must be very important, being that he's keeping so quiet with it.
"Mother, Lei Magnus said it himself. We will lose the war at this pace. We beg for your help."
When I heard the voice speaking in the room I passed, my heart skipped a beat. How did he get in here?! Of course, that was my first thought; my second was the realization of who was with him. Though it seemed like I had a sudden stroke of good luck, I didn't want any involvement with Her.
"You Beg For Help, But Are You Willing To Pay The Price Required?"
"Of course! We'd pay anything to win this war."
"But Mazoku Winning Over Ryuzoku Does Not Benefit My Interests."
I was worried now. She has come to walk on the earth as well. We may possibly win this war now, but knowing how chaos is itself, She may mean the end for us as well. I had best return to Grausherra to tell him my new and important discovery.