I should hurry up and convert Ulna to our cause, she will be much easier to persuade, much easier than when I recruited Vertere, Since we need more people, for whatever the Febritust kingdom may bring... this is the moment to strike.

Glancing over at Alleus, she stared daggers at me.

It seems she caught wind of what I was about to do.

Looking back down, I continued digging into the soil with the bastard sword.

Well, I should change up the pace and take my time with recruiting Ulna the mage.

"Are you still planning to head to the kingdom of Jansoara?" Alleus asked, as she used her Cusped Falchion to dig up a grave.

"I’m not sure, I would like to accompany hero Incus if possible." Said Ulna the betrayed mage, as she dragged a body into the grave she dug.

"If you want to accompany the great hero Incus then I can help you with that." I said in a joking tone.

Dropping the body into the grave, Ulna then looked at me.

"Can you really?" She asked, grabbing my hands.

In the side of my eye, Vertere was looking down at our hands as Alleus gave a sigh.

Nodding to Ulna’s question, I replied:

"Of course, we forgot to mention it but we’re actually her secret body guards... appointed by the king." It’s not one of my best lies but I’m sure her desperateness will cloud her judgment.

And like a soft melody playing to my ear, Ulna gave her answer:

"I’m a mage of great talents and skills, I’ll do anything to accompany Incus so please let me join you!"

Putting my hand over my mouth, hiding my wide grin, I nodded.

"Well then, all of you to do is one thing... put your unwavering trust in me."

Pausing for a moment, she stared at me with a confused look.

"Put my trust in you? Shouldn’t I be vowing to Incus instead?"

"Yes, you must put your trust in me." I pointed at myself with my thumb.

She paused for a moment again.

"I don’t know, this is starting get a little strange... I’m starting to doubt whether you really who you say you are." Ulna stepped back.

"I am who I say I am, you must put your trust in... me!" I pointed at myself again, and stared at Alleus and Vertere.

Immediately, they both got onto their knees.

"You must... put your trust in him!" They both said in unison.

"In me!" I pointed at myself again.

Grabbing a sword from one of her dead party member’s body, she used it as a shovel to push the dirt into the hole.

"I shall put my trust in you, but if we’re to accompany hero Incus, I suppose we should hurry up and bury these guys."

After a while, we had finished burying all of them.

Clasping her hands together, she got on her knees to start praying.

I also clasped my hands together after seeing Alleus and Vertere do the same.

***

The next day, Incus began to continue her journey.

As we were walking down the dirt path, I noticed that Ulna was fidgeting.

"Why are we walking in plain sight, shouldn’t we be jumping from tree to tree or something?"

Before I could give a reply, Vertere an answered her question for me:

"That’s because I made us look invisible with my illusionary magic, so we don’t have to worry about her noticing us." He said proudly, waving his finger around.

Looking behind me, Lieur was holding her broken bow.

Slowing her steps Alleus placed her hand around her, but was slapped away.

"Don’t pester me, I don’t need your shallow sympathy." Looking at me, Lieur looked down to the side.

Before we could continue our journey, Incus suddenly stopped.

Standing just a bit off to the side, we saw that a broken bridge was swaying as a water fall splashed in the back.

Looking around, Incus then squatted.

"Ulna use your wind magic to propel us to the other side—!"

Jumping up in the sky, Incus was already halfway to the other side.

"Rising gale!" Ulna pulled out a golden wand.

A vortex of wind suddenly rose up as we were carried to the other side.

Seeing that Lieur wasn’t focused, I grabbed her by the hand.

As we flew to the other side, particles of water brushed against my skin.

Falling to the ground on the other side of the bridge, my eyes widened.

Incus had summoned the lightning hero sword and was in a running stance. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

"Do you have a spell to speed us up!" I rushed towards Ulna, still holding Lieur by the hand.

Raising her wand she uttered:

"Cloaked wind!" A rush of gale then wrapped around all of us.

Incus then blitzed forward with lightning fast speed.

Digging our feet into the soil, we chased after her.

Raising Lieur into the air, I carried her on my back.

As minutes passed, Vertere was slowly falling behind.

Using her vanishing maneuver technique, Alleus picked him up and carried him.

"L-Let me go!" Vertere wailed around, attempting to break free.

"Stop moving around, you clearly can’t keep running so just shut up!"

Incus then picked up the pace, and so did we.

"Ulna, how long can you sustain this spell!" I shouted, running next to her.

"I can keep this going for an hour, as long as I have enough mana to sustain me."

Soon a village came into to view.

Rolling and skidding on the ground, I began grasping for air.

Thankfully Incus had stopped and the draft had written that she was going to stay in this village for a bit.

Walking into the village, there was multiple training grounds set up around the place.

A person had then walked in front of Incus.

"Hello there visitor, welcome to the sword village. May I know your purpose for your visit?"

Pulling something from under her chest plate, Incus dropped a few golden coins into the boy’s hand.

"Just looking for an Inn to stay at." Incus looked around.

Putting the golden coins away, the boy pointed towards a direction we an open palm.

"I that’s the case then come and follow me great patriot."