Connor had apparently already thought of it. I should have expected that. Even if we didn’t know about the length of the journey, he would. And he was used to managing such things.


    “Hmm, I suppose he can be considered dependable.” Elena said as we had our lunch. That had been prepared by Alice. Connor had invited her along.


    “The two of them are taking care of us.” I noted.


    “I expect they don’t want you to leave. There are other adventuring groups in town, many would be happy to have you.”


    I shrugged, stuffing my mouth with some kind of fish. The bones didn’t even hurt. That was a nice thing to not have to worry about. I’d been scared of choking on fish bones back on earth.


    Now I knew that even if I missed one, it would not be able to hurt me.


    “I’m fine with what I have.” I commented. “And I know that’s why they’re doing this. If I am happy here, I won’t go elsewhere.”


    “Hmm.” Elena said as she finished her meal. A few minutes later, I was done too. The two of us got up and left, heading towards the hole in the wall. I wondered if people even used the gate. I hadn’t seen anyone go through there.


    There was probably a reason why. I would guess the City Lord charged too much for its use. Or it was too big and painful to open. The capital’s gate was like that. The thing was a thousand feet high and a hundred feet thick. Opening it required Rank 5s.


    The Emperor had ordered a ‘hidden’ entrance to be made the common route of entry instead. But that was not really important. The journey we were about to take was.


    Connor and Alice were waiting for us on the other side of the hole.


    “Did we keep you waiting long?’ I asked as I passed through it.


    “No, we are still waiting on a few others.” Alice said. “But since you’re here, and we have the time, do you mind if we explain some things about the Fast Fish? The members of our groups have already fought them before, but they can be difficult for those unaware of their tendencies.”


    I smiled. This was why I liked them. That was information I had wanted, and here she was giving it to me before I could ask.


    “That would be preferable.” I replied.


    Alice nodded. “The fish are small, very small. A couple of centimeters in length and less than one centimeter in width. The things gather in large schools, making it tempting to target many of them at once.”


    “Do not do that. Fast Fish have a tendency to dodge swords when you do that. Target a single fish and aim your sword where you think it will run to. Targeting more than one can be very difficult. If the aim is even a centimeter off, they will escape.”


    “Why are they so much trouble?” Elena asked, frowning. “I can see how they would be difficult to kill, but are they really so dangerous?”


    “The fish eat air crystals.” Alice answered. “The royal knights don’t like that. They want us to deal with them before they get to the mine and cause trouble.”


    That was an understatement. If these things ate air crystals, I was surprised they were even alive.


    “That’s it.” Connor interrupted. “Adrian’s here.”


    Alice nodded. “Well, it seems we are ready to go.”


    Elena and I looked at each other with puzzled expressions.


    “Is that a code?” I asked. “How does Adrian being here -”


    “Oh, he’s usually the last one.” Alice replied.


    “If you’re not here before him, you’re dead.” one of the men pronounced, a large smile on his face.


    “Or missing. That happened once.” another added.


    I realized what they were talking about. If someone was still left by the time Adrian managed to return, then they were either dead or missing. Or that was what tended to happen.


    “Did you actually count them?” I asked as we started walking.


    “Yes.” Connor chuckled. “But mentioning Adrian funny. Make us feel good. That help in long journey.”


    “I guess.” I said, not really understanding what he was talking about.


    After a few hours, it was clear. A journey on foot was boring. I had thought car journeys were bad. But walking was worse. After a while, there wasn’t even much to talk about. But the journey was expected to take days still.


    Connor had us practice swinging our swords as we walked, probably to just give us something to do. I followed his advice happily. Even Elena produced a knife from somewhere. Miss Emily had apparently given it to her.


    The new blade felt light in my arms. The thing barely seemed to exist. But when I did try it out on a random boulder, it split it in two very easily. The fact that there were boulders under the lake surprised me to begin with. I had thought it was just seaweed and fish, but there were some other things too.


    The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    What really captured my attention though were the fish. Even if Connor hadn’t prepared food for us, I was sure we would be fine. There was just that much fish around us. There had to be hundreds of schools, just going about their business as they made a rather striking picture.


    This was what people came to aquariums for. But such things really didn’t come close. There was just so much color and beauty that could not be captured behind glass. The lovely movements of the fish as they went about their business.


    A school of bright yellow fish ran under a school of larger red fish, forming circles among them. The larger red fish began to move around like they were dancing. The two stayed like that until the circle of yellow fish grew increasingly smaller.


    “That’s going to be trouble.” Alice remarked, her face looking like she had just seen a monster.


    “What is?”


    “The red fish. I forgot their names.”


    “Why would they be trouble?” I asked, confused.


    “Oh, the little yellow ones are trying to kill the red ones. And the red ones are signing. The little shits seem to have only one ability. Get bigger fish to come eat them.”


    I frowned. “But the yellow fish are -” The words faded from my mouth. Mana rolled around in great quantities, as if preparing the way for some great beast. I was sure it was stronger than me, and not by a little to move mana in such a way.


    “Don’t attack. Don’t move. Don’t even breathe.” Alice whispered, holding my hand and pulling me away. I followed willingly, coming to stop as the fish came into sight. Fighting that thing was not on my list of things to do.


    The fish was great, several times larger than the big poisonous fish. Two tails emerged from its body, one made of mana and another physical. I could even tell the spells upon them. The tails would work together to give the fish great speed. I wondered just how fast it would be. Perhaps it could compete with a plane.


    The group stood as still as they could, watching as the big fish opened its mouth and ate the yellow fish and the red fish. With a loud sound that seemed to echo through the lake, it left, not bothering to eat anything else. I had a feeling it felt tricked by the red fish.


    Alice breathed a sigh of relief.


    “That close.” Connor remarked.


    “Oh, you think?!” Alice explained. “I can hardly believe that we forgot to tell them about those little red fuckers. I swear, if I could just kill the bunch of them -”


    Connor put his hands on her shoulders. “The fish left.”


    Alice breathed out angrily, turning to me. “If you see any, and I mean any of those little red fuckers, tell us at once. There are beasts that won’t be as kind.”


    I looked at the place the fish had died. The other schools had not moved in, almost as if they too were scared the big fish would come back.


    “I don’t think I will forget that one.” I remarked. This place was beautiful. That scene, the yellow fish circling the red fish, had been beautiful. And apparently just as dangerous.


    The journey was much quieter after that. But I did practice waving my sword around. That was basically what the sword forms came to when we were walking. Swinging the sword a dozen different ways.


    “Am I ready for the spell yet?” I asked Connor once we made camp for the night.


    The giant of a man looked at me. “Yes. But the spell not help.”


    I did not sleep well that night. The mattress Connor had brought was fine, if a bit too soft. But thoughts of red fish singing, and the bigger fish that came to eat them kept me awake. The fish had died as a defense mechanism. Just to keep their killers from getting away with it.


    That seemed like something I should remember.


    sc


    The next day was much the same as the previous one. Connor said that we should reach the mine by the end of today. But the journey would be more dangerous now. There were powerful beasts here. The royal knights kept them away, but this part of the lake had higher amounts of mana. And that meant stronger beasts.


    I took the opportunity to count my mana again. I felt like I could sense my mana cloak a bit now. There seemed to be something on my body. But that could just as easily be my imagination.


    The count came up to be the same. But that was not why I had done this. Spending mana like this seemed to give me a better sense of mana. I had seen that effect. I couldn’t tell how much mana a person had, but I could kind of compare it better. If I did it enough times, maybe I would reach that level.


    Miss Emily had demonstrated a surprising amount of control. I would need as much. The barrier to Rank 6 demanded it. The royal bloodline supposedly removed that, but I didn’t want to take the risk. Having less than the required mana control for a rank also sounded stupid.


    Connor taught me the spell after breakfast. I practiced it as we walked. Doing so was easy. And he was right, it wasn’t good. The spell gave me a small, very small boost by using mana. The boost was so small that I barely noticed it.


    The mana expense was similar. I kept it activated, just to see if it mattered. And what a spell felt like. The thing had come far more easily than I had expected.


    Just standing the right way and willing it to happen. That was all it took. But it also had limited use. I couldn’t sense the ‘spell structure’ as Miss Emily had called it. Connor told me that it took practice. That I had to have better senses for mana before I could do such a thing.


    A disappointment that.


    Elena was having a good time with her own mana spell. Alice and she had an actual fight, to test their spells against each other. Elena won.


    I had not expected it. Alice hadn’t either. But Elena was good. And her spell was strong. The second she activated it, she all but disappeared. Even I couldn’t see her. There did not seem to be any indication in the mana.


    As far as I could tell, she had just disappeared. A moment later, she was holding a knife to Alice’s neck. I started having a small shield around me after that. I wasn’t really worried about Elena, but there were other beasts here.


    What if one of them had similar powers? The thing could sneak in and kill me before I would even notice. Connor even seemed to approve. A lot of awakened apparently wore them. Elena told me that the Viscount had found a way to hide his. And that she had heard of assassins that could kill through the shields.


    I was not surprised. But I was worried. There were scary things out there. But it made me want to improve my mana sense even more. I kept on conjuring as many bolts of darkness as I could, emptying my mana and refilling it. That seemed to do it.


    Heck, I could have sworn that I was much more sensitive to mana by the time we actually reached the mine. Or maybe that was just the amount of air crystals displaying their mana.


    Or maybe I was just scared of the knight. The Rank 5 royal knight with a rose painted on his armor.


    The same one that was staring at me right now.