Hilt pces a rge box under the bench seat. She still won't tell me what's in it though. It seems retively heavy, judging by how hard she's struggling with it. We decided to rent a multi-group carriage, we don't need some fancy carriage for a day long ride. The note Ronny gave me said Maria was st seen near the Demon King's castle, I'm guessing it's the rge building leaned against the somewhere, strange the king lets a demon settle so close to his territory.

  "Do we really have to travel more?" Teir asks.

  "Yes, this isn't a vacation anymore." I tell her.

  "Then why can't we just send a letter to my dad or something?" Teir compins, "He could just come get us."

  "No Teir. I know it's tiring but just bear with it for a little longer." I say.

  Teir lets out a loud groan and stumbles over to the carriage. We both step into the carriage, Teir moves to the very back. I stay closer to the entrance, I don't know who we're sharing this carriage with and I'm definitely not trapping myself with them. As Hilt hops into the carriage, the driver comes around to the back.

  "Sorry for the wait dies, the other group should be here soon." He says.

  This driver is a small, older man. He's kind and helpful. Our old driver was the complete opposite, strange how such different people can have the same job.

  "It's fine, we're not in much of a rush." Hilt tells him.

  The driver walks back to his seat, leaving the three of us alone. The carriage bench is draped in a torn, red cloth. It's uncomfortable, but I can't compin, mostly because I picked this one out. My eyes can't help but to drift to Hilt's box. I do wonder what's in that thing. I should just ask... But knowing her, even asking could piss her off. It's better to just leave it alone, I'll find out eventually.

  A rge man cd in familiar armor stomps over and pulls his leg into the carriage. The carriage tilts as he pushes himself up inside and plops down across me and Hilt. He takes his helmet off and pces it beside him, it's the boar man from before. A few seconds ter a much smaller, but still quite rge, man hops into the carriage. His darker skin and bald head blend well together. I didn't catch a good look but I think that's the guy that asked if I needed help at Ronny's stand. They're a group, aren't they?

  The carriage smells of sweat now, wearing that armor all the time must be hot. This is just my luck! I just hope these guys don't recognize me! What could they even be using a carriage for? The boar's a bcksmith and the guy seemed like he was a native that basically never left town. One of them did grab a bounty poster, maybe they're just going the same direction as us.

  "You're the girl from this morning, right?" The guy asks, pointing directly towards me.

  "I don't know what you're talking about." I shrug.

  "Oh, I must be confused." He says, leaning back in his seat, "Are you sure? I swear I've seen you before."

  The boar strokes his chin while staring at me. He leans in slightly before sitting back.

  "I agree, you look exactly like her." He says.

  "Do you know these guys?" Hilt whispers to me.

  "They're some scammers I met at the shopping district this morning." I tell her.

  Hilt shrugs and slides over to Teir, leaving me with the guys. The driver comes back around, his hands csped together.

  "Good, you're all here. Is everyone ready to set off?" He asks, walking off, not allowing any of us to answer.

  A few moments ter, a loud crack rings through the air. The carriage jolts a bit before slowly moving forward. I'd go sit next to Hilt and Teir but I really don't trust these guys. They're definitely not good guys, everything I've seen of them has been some type of scam. Whether it be a shitty neckce or staging a fight.

  "What takes you three on the road?" The boar asks.

  "We're just travelling." I tell them.

  "In the demon territory?" He ughs, "Sure you are."

  The other man doesn't seem as amused as the boar. I didn't really think about our predicament. Travelers probably wouldn't share a carriage around here, and the weather has just been getting worse all day. It hasn't been like this in about a month.

  "What's in the box then?" The boar asks.

  "Why would you want to know?" I scowl.

  "Just curious." He shrugs.

  "It's food." Hilt says.

  "Show us then." The other man says.

  Hilt stands up and walks over to her box. She pulls it out from under the bench and reaches for the tches. Just as she's about to pull it out, the carriage bumps a little, sliding it to the back of the carriage.

  "Oops. Guess I can't show." She sighs.

  The two men sit still for a while. It's nice, them being so quiet. I don't like small talk all that much. I'm a little awkward sometimes too, like the first few days after I met Caleb. It was just so cool to see somebody with that much potential! His aura was so strong... Hopefully we can find him soon, I still owe him some magic lessons.

  The human man stands up and sits next to me. What could he want now?

  "Would you happen to be this women?" He asks, pulling out a piece of paper.

  On the paper is a photo of Maria. Are these guys also going after her? They must think I'm her then, we do kind of look alike.

  "No." I tell him.

  "Darn, I guess you did say you weren't the dy from earlier." He says, "We must've missed her."

  "Are you going after her bounty?" I ask him.

  "Yeah. How'd you know she had a bounty?" He asks me.

  I really shouldn't tell him this, but maybe we could work together? Having these guys on our side would be easier than having them against us, and we could always ditch them whenever Cole and Caleb come around.

  "We're actually going after her too." I mutter.

  "Really?" The boar scoffs, "You three don't look like the kind to take on something like this."

  A loud crash comes from outside of the carriage. I pull back the cloth covering the top and sides of the carriage. A rge, red beam of magic shoots down to the ground. It pierces through the ground for a few seconds before slowly dissipating, leaving only a rge demon dy. The ground beneath her is scorched and charred. After a while of standing there, she looks around her, noticing our carriage. The carriage had stopped moving after the crash.

  The dy slowly walks towards our carriage.

  "We should get out of here!" I tell the others.

  She doesn't looks like someone who's just gonna chat. I have to get Teir and Hilt out of here. The air feels heavy as she approaches. It's hard to breathe, it hurts honestly. She steps up to the back, peeking in and staring at us. She's tall, maybe even taller than Cole, and her sword is no different. Her hand presses down on the carriage, leaning all of us towards her.

  "Who are you?" She asks, her voice is deep and raspy.

  "We're just travelers!" The boar yells.

  She lets her hand off of the carriage and steps back, looking at me and Hilt. She slowly draws her sword and taps the tip of it on my shin, even though I'm not cut, it hurts. The aura around her bde itself hurts!