Online In Another World

Picking himself up, he brushed the dirt from his pants and began picking up the scattered firewood before moving on, now holding a heightened sense of caution with the prospect of what he nicknamed "super bears" on the prowl.

It reforged the way he saw Julius' stories that were always told in a jovial manner as if they were just simple encounters.

All those times he talked about fighting bears…he meant things like this?!...I am deeply sorry for any disrespect I've shown over the years, Father! He thought.

Somehow, he found his way back to the carriage, surprised to see that Vandread had fully skinned the massive tiger and already seemed to separate the pieces of its body into portions.

Vandread glanced back at the sound of his audible footsteps approaching, "Oh, you made it back? Set the firewood down right there."

Did you expect me not to return?! He thought.

He nodded and placed the wood down on the spot cleared of leaves and twigs, shuffling it into a proper starting place for a campfire.

Sitting across from Vandread, he watched as the insociable man retrieved unknown tools with the intent of starting a fire, but he decided to take the initiative and do it himself.

As he pointed his staff towards the firewood, he invoked a simple manifestation of flame magic, lighting the fresh material on fire as a healthy flame was born.

"--" Vandread watched.

He looked at the man with a smile as if waiting for a compliment of any sort.

Vandread seems to notice as he placed a large chunk of the tiger meat on a contraption above the flame, "...Not bad."

Even that simple, two-word compliment was enough for him as he happily nodded. He watched as Vandread handled the actual cooking of the tiger meat, though there wasn't much to it besides letting the meat cook.

"Here."

A large chunk of freshly cooked meat was handed to him by Vandread, who already began eating a portion he served himself.

He gulped, accepting it with a small nod, "Thanks."

As he bit into the meat, he found it incredibly tough to chew–it wasn't just difficult to chew, but tearing it from the actual rest of the serving was difficult.

"Ghh…"

He had to pull his head back while biting onto it to tear a piece off, then the process of chewing made his jaw tired.

On the other hand, Vandread was eating it as if it were a tender meat, casually biting and swallowing it while maintaining that ever-bored expression.

…He makes it look so easy. He's probably used to eating stuff like this, isn't he? He wondered.

As he swallowed a large chunk, having to hit his own chest to help it go down, he let out a breath before looking at the man, "You're an adventurer, right?"

"--" Vandread looked up at him, "Yeah."

"You're from Milligarde, then? I assume so since you know my father…" He asked.

Vandread ate another piece of meat before answering, "Vasmoria."

"Vasmoria…?" He repeated.

He'd only read about it in books, but it was regarded as the "sister land" to Milligarde, but he didn't know much else about it aside from the fact Celly studied there and it was famous for its magical achievements.

"Eat your dinner. We've got a long ride ahead of us," Vandread told him.

"Right…"

I miss Celly, he sulked to himself, coming to the realization just what kind of journey was ahead of him.

After finishing a big enough serving, he realized his mouth was dry–to which Vandread seemed to guess as much as a canteen was tossed to him.

"--!" He caught it in his arms, "Thanks?"

Vandread didn't say anything to him as he watched for a moment before taking the cap off of the leather canteen, gulping the water that was stored inside.

While he was hydrating himself, he watched as the quiet man began wrapping the leftover servings of meat into peculiar, silver wrappings.

"...How's that going to stay good? It's a lot of meat…" He asked.

Vandread bundled all of the wrapped meat together into one package, taking back the canteen as he moved back towards the carriage, "It's a special type of material that slows down degradation. There are other uses for it, but it'll keep perishable rations like this good for months."

"That sounds convenient," he said.

He followed Vandread back into the carriage, which was still being led by the sole mare that didn't even look tired in the slightest yet–not having even laid down during their outing for food.

There was a cabinet built above the seats within the wooden transport, to which the man stored the wrapped meat into.

Back into the carriage, the safety of its walls proved just comfortable enough to make him realize how tired he had become. The turning of the wheels began once again, starting off slowly as the steed trotted forward.

Vandread noticed the tiredness in his eyes, opening his book as he looked across at the young boy, "Get some rest while it's quiet."

"…Yeah," he yawned.

Using his green cloak as a blanket, he wrapped it around his body and leaned back against the seat, closing his eyes for some much appreciated rest.

The dreams he experienced were forgotten by the time he woke up, which happened quite abrasively as a grating sound met his ears.

It was like metal scraping against metal in a sharp hiss, causing him to groggily blink, opening his eyes as a sparse bit of the morning sunlight peeked through the curtains.

As he looked forward with a yawn, he saw the source of the abrasive sound: the man was sharpening one of his knives.

"...Morning," he yawned.

"--" Vandread didn't reply.

It was definitely easy to wake up quickly as the interior of a carriage was the most comfortable place, with the constant moving of the room itself.

He stood up, pulling the curtain back as he glanced out of the window. The sight he was met with wasn't anything familiar in the slightest.

It was a complete atmosphere of thick fog; it blinded any scenery to be seen as he was left perplexed.

"...Where are we?" He asked.