Six days had passed since Jin left Anvil, and they still had about 17 more days to reach their destination.
During that time, Jin felt incredibly bored.
They did nothing but exchange a few words, mostly with Saint Park. As for Lamar, she barely paid Jin any attention and seemed completely uninterested in starting any kind of conversation.
They traveled for several hours each morning, then set up a camp at night, only to wake up the next day and repeat the same routine.
Even sleeping wasn't comfortable. It seemed like Jin had gotten used to the medical facility's mattress when he was staying there for a while, but now he was sleeping on the ground, using rocks as a pillow.
On the first day of the journey, Park and Jin gathered firewood from nearby trees and stored some in the carriage to use later when passing through areas without trees or signs of life.
The carriage drivers helped as well, but they were weird. They hadn't spoken a single word in the past six days; Jin even started to wonder if they were mute.
Their role was driving the carriage, while Jin handled the cooking since he was the only one who knew how to cook.
Park was responsible for setting up the camp in general. As for Lamar… she was completely useless and didn't help with the camp preparations even once.
Jin also noticed something very strange about her. Every night at midnight, she left the tent and returned the next morning covered in sweat and blood.
Although Jin suspected she never actually had time to sleep, she showed no signs of exhaustion, boredom, or fatigue; she was just emotionless.
When Jin tried to ask Park about her, he avoided the topic and simply said, "It's better if you don't know anything about her."
Her behavior made Jin feel uncomfortable sharing the same carriage with her during this journey.
On day 7, some Chaos creatures appeared in front of them, but Lamar easily dealt with them on her own.
At first, Jin was afraid of the Chaos creatures, but by the ninth night, his fear had completely vanished.
On day 8, Park and Lamar went out on their own, leaving Jin and the drivers alone.
As usual, none of the drivers spoke to Jin...
After several more hours, the two saints returned, and their clothes were covered in blood.
Jin wanted to ask them what had happened, but he stopped when one of the drivers shook his head as if to tell him not to ask.
It was the first time Jin had ever seen the driver react to anything.
On the morning of day 9, Jin woke up early to Park shaking his shoulder.
"Wake up, kid. We're leaving early today."
The driver was getting ready to leave, and for the first time since they started traveling, Lamar was also helping.
"What's going on? Why are we leaving so early?" Jin asked curiously.
Park answered as he held the last item from the ground,
"Let's just say there's a bad creature approaching us, and it would be difficult to deal with it without losing the carriage."
Jin's expression turned to panic. "Oh, what kind of creature is that..."
Lamar answered, "It's better for you to stop asking questions, we don't have much time."
Jin cursed her in his mind, then sat inside the carriage as they began to move.
Park sat beside him and said, "Listen, don't worry, that creature isn't terrifying but he is annoying because of its unpredictable movements. It's better for us to just leave him alone before he notices us."
Jin asked, "Then how did you know he was close?"
"We can sense the presence of the chaos creatures and we recognized this one in particular because we've encountered it before."
His answer made Jin think of something.
"If it's normal for Awakened saints to sense chaos creatures? Then how is that different from the Sharp Sense ability I gained from Amon's will?"
Jin wanted to ask the paper about the difference between the two, but he was afraid they might see it when he summoned it.
If that happened, Amon's secret would be exposed and he could be punished with death.
On days 10 and 11, nothing important happened. The road was safe, and the journey went smoothly.
On the morning of day 12, Jin decided to train a little, so he asked Park to spar with him to improve his skills, but he refused.
"It would be great to train with you, but I don't think you can train with either of us." He looked at Lamar.
"Why?" Jin asked.
He smiled gently. "Because you will die if you trained with one of us."
"I don't think it would be that hard. I just want a short spar."
"It's not that our training is difficult. It's just that your body wouldn't survive if your sword collided with ours."
Jin frowned. "How is that possible?"
Lamar answered while calmly tending to her nails, "Because our swords are cursed."
"Cursed? What do you mean?"
Park sighed. "It's hard to explain. Let's just say the gap between Saints and ordinary humans is huge.
It's not like the training with a commander like Morgan. Even new Awakened can suffer severe injuries… or lose their ability to fight forever."
"You'll understand better once you begin your lessons at the academy."
Jin nodded. "Alright, I understand," then he returned to train on his own.
From day 15 to day 18, their journey continued without any changes.
But on day 19, a small change happened.
They encountered a parade of carriages filled with Awakened and guards traveling in the opposite direction; they greeted Park and Lamar and chatted with them.
Jin was also listening to them.
"It was a truly wonderful night," one of the Awakened said proudly.
Park laughed. "So, did you guys manage to close that gate?"
"Yes. Saint Leonard handled it alone."
When Leonard's name was mentioned, Jin noticed Lamar suddenly seemed interested.
Park smiled, though it looked somewhat forced. "Yeah, that's expected of him."
One of the soldiers pointed at Jin. "Oh? Who's this boy?"
"He's a new student that is going to learn in Lucaria," Park replied.
The soldiers smiled widely and extended his hand. "That's wonderful. I hope you enjoy your time there."
Jin shook his hand. "Thank you."
After several more minutes of conversation, they all decided to camp together for the night.
While Park was setting up their tent, Jin approached him to ask about something that had caught his attention.
"Hmm, Park… who is Leonard?"
He smiled slightly. "I think you're a good listener."
"Heh… maybe?"
He scratched his head. "He's Lamar's brother."
"Really? I didn't know she had a brother. Is he a Saint too?"
Park smiled. "Yes. He's our team leader."
"Oh… it would be great to meet him someday."
Park's expression turned serious. "Look, Jin. Here's some advice for you: never try to meet him."
"Why?"
He looked at Jin calmly. "Another advice for you, sometimes it's better if you don't ask too many questions and mind your own business."
His expression was both serious and cold.
Jin didn't think he had such an expression, so he left him and went to sit in a corner, watching everyone set up their tents.
That night, everyone celebrated loudly. It was the first lively night Jin had seen since the journey began.
From day 20 to day 22, they passed through many villages near the borders of the capital city.
"Is this Lucaria?" Jin asked.
"No," Park replied. "These are just the surrounding villages."
"Wow… these villages look very wealthy."
Park smiled. "Yes. Lucaria is a city inhabited only by the rich."
Jin sighed. "Damn those rich people living happily."
Park laughed. "Well, I'm one of those rich people."
"How can you be rich without having a single guard or a palace?"
He looked confused. "Why would I need a guard? I'm already strong. And who said I don't own a palace? I actually have a large one."
Jin sighed again. "You're very lucky..."
Jin looked up at the sky and thought to himself,
"Then why were my parents poor?"
On day 23, they finally arrived at Lucaria.
Just the sight of its walls alone left Jin speechless…