Jensen’s ears twitched and his eyes snapped open as he heard someone approach. He felt a weight on his body; he looked to his right and found Elda asleep at his side resting on him.

He looked up and it was still very early in the morning... the sun had not even risen yet.

He considered waking Elda but just as the person got closer, her eyes snapped open too.

Her sword appeared in her hands as she also focused on the person approaching, ready to attack, even though she had barely woken up.

"Relax... It is Talia." Jensen smiled and placed his hand on her sword.

She calmed down, but she remained on guard until she confirmed it was Talia and only then did she relax.

Talia came closer, she was surprised to find Elda resting close to Jensen. She could also tell they had most likely slept there.

She knew Elda’s history after all she had been there when Elda was granted the bloodline, so she was certain that they had no previous relationship.

’So why does he allow her to sleep on his shoulder?’ Talia wondered as her eyes stole a quick glance at the creased clothes of his shoulder.

’So, he is not as cold as he seems,’ she thought but her face did not change. She bowed respectfully.

"My Lord, we will soon be leaving for the town... Do you wish to join us?"

Jensen fell silent as he considered it... He wanted to return to the town as fast as possible but at the same time, he wanted to increase his strength.

’Wait... I can still train normally with mana stones, right?’ Jensen asked himself.

He reached into his spatial ring and pulled out a mana stone.

He closed his eyes and focused on the mana inside the stone. He slowly drew it out and once he was successful, he moved the mana through his body, refining it, before finally moving it to his mana core.

’I see. I can indeed train normally... but it is far slower than using blood energy,’ he pondered. ’I guess that works too even if the attack does not happen instantly, I can still spend the time training.’

He looked up at Talia. "Yes... I will be joining you. Come back and call me when you are ready to leave."

Talia nodded and took her leave.

Once she was gone, Elda asked the question on her mind.

"Can I come with you now?" Elda said. "I promise I will not hold you back."

Jensen fell silent for a second before shaking his head. "No, I need you here. This is where we will set up our home and while you are definitely skilled, you are still too weak to be of help."

Elda’s face dropped... She really wanted to go with Jensen. She opened her mouth to speak, but Jensen spoke first.

"A lot of fights at your level will be happening here so take this as a chance to level up as much as possible and I promise you, once you are powerful enough, I will not stop you from coming."

Elda did not try to speak immediately. She took a deep breath before she finally answered.

"Yes, Master. I will make you proud."

"Good." Jensen nodded as he slowly rose, beaconing to Elda to follow him.

He checked on Aiko and Kairi, but they were still fast asleep, so he let them be after leaving instructions for them with Elda.

Before long, Jensen, Elda, and Talia stood beside an off-road truck.

"Goodbye, Master. I will get as strong as possible to follow you." Elda promised before leaving to continue her training.

Talia got into the driver’s seat while Jensen got into the passenger seat.

She started the car and it suddenly lunged forward, catching Jensen off guard and almost throwing him forward.

He turned toward her. "You cannot drive?"

Talia nodded, embarrassed.

"Then why are you driving?"

"I thought you wanted to keep your identity hidden, so I sent the driver for this truck back and..." Talia explained.

Jensen sighed and closed his eyes; he considered just flying but he just sighed.

’This is going to be a long, bumpy ride.’

***

While Jensen made his way back to the town, Kairi finally woke.

Her eyes slowly opened as the morning sunlight filtered through the tent roof above her.

For a few seconds, she simply stared upward blankly then yesterday’s events rushed back into her mind.

The funeral... The attack... The escape and everything else.

’The last thing I remember is falling asleep on Young Master Jensen’s shoulder.’ As the thought kicked in, and Kairi sat upright immediately.

A moment later, she realized someone else was standing at the entrance of the unfamiliar tent, just staring at her.

She immediately pulled out her katana from his spatial ring as her eyes focused on the woman standing at the entrance with a spear in hand.

All she could see on her face were her black hair and cold, expressionless eyes.

Elda.

"You are awake," Elda said calmly. "My name is Elda and I have been left in charge of you by Master."

Kairi frowned slightly. "How long was I asleep?"

"I do not know... a while."

Kairi clicked her tongue internally... that answer told her absolutely nothing.

"Where is Young Miss Aiko?" she asked quickly.

"Asleep in the next tent."

"And Young Master Jensen?"

"He left for town this morning with Lady Talia."

Kairi paused. She was sure she had heard the name before, but she could not place it.

"Please, Miss Elda, where are we?" Kairi finally stood up.

"This is the Morvath family camp," Elda answered simply. "The forest around this area is dangerous so don’t wander too far from camp unless you want to die."

Her tone remained completely flat, but Kairi could tell she was serious.

"What kind of danger?" Kairi asked.

"Beasts... Bandits... and other stuff." Elda answered casually. "Just follow me and I will show you around."

Kairi nodded and followed behind her and the moment they stepped outside, Kairi’s eyes narrowed.

She did not know what she was expecting, but it looked different from her expectations.

Workers moved around, seeming to get ready for the day’s work. She noticed they glanced at her, but the moment their eyes reached Elda, they turned away faster.

The camp looked less like a temporary hideout and more like the foundation of a military operation.

Elda pointed out locations around the camp... From the private cafeteria used by members of the Morvath family to the public ones the rest of the camp used.

As they walked deeper into the camp, Kairi quietly observed everything.

Elda eventually led them outside the camp to where the workers seemed to be heading.

They walked for a while until they reached the location where several workers were already digging into the ground while a young man with two swords stood nearby, just watching.

Kairi’s eyes narrowed further before she asked, "What are they searching for?"

"I do not know," Elda answered simply.

From her expressionless face, Kairi could not tell if it was truth or lie but if she had to guess, Elda had most likely been ordered not to speak of it to anyone.

What Kairi did not know was that Elda genuinely did not know the full details nor did she care to find out and as far as she was concerned, her master’s order was to get stronger.

Knowing the details did not seem to have any correlation with that.

Some workers glanced nervously toward Kairi before quickly lowering their heads again and returned to work.

After introducing her to Roden, they began their walk back to camp.

Just as they stepped inside, Kairi’s senses suddenly sharpened.

Something was walking toward them.