Instead of exiting the forest, they traced back the path where they came from and with the help of Astrophos and Nina, they were able to travel silently. Ginehart also sent some of his men to act as decoys and take the usual path.
Inside the carriage, Sigmond stayed with Cygnus since he was a patient and Nina who was not used to riding a horse. Astrophos refused to be cooped up in a place where he could possibly die so he decided to just stay out and sat with Mr. C in front.
"I heard that you are from Moonvale," the doctor started a conversation. "That's a pretty far place from the capital and yet you still dared to travel without knowing the dangers you might face."
Nina frowned at how the man was talking to them. "Well, if we knew then we would not have continued with this stupid journey!" her voice rose as she gave the man a glare.
"I'm sorry, it was because we never informed our family that we were going to the capital. That's why we lack knowledge of how the road is. It was our negligence." Cygnus looked apologetic while he was holding back his sister who was looking darkly at the doctor. "My parents were against me registering as a mage at the Magic Tower but I really wanted to become a mage and learn more about magic, that's why we left without informing them." His head bowed down because he could not look at the doctor who was clearly scrutinizing them.
Nina held her brother's hand then they heard the doctor sigh. "Then you technically ran away from home and now you've encountered these kinds of things. But I think you would have been better off on your own if you did not associate yourself with the major."
Cygnus raised his head and met the doctor's eyes, "What do you mean?" His voice suddenly trembled.
"The major's life and work is a bit chaotic and he attracts chaos wherever he goes," the doctor simply answered. He squinted at the man's trembling lips before sighing again. "You should have not agreed with his deal."
Cygnus was stunned for a while before he spoke. "It was for our convenience that we accepted his offer since we also need protection. We have a Grand Mage with us but even he admitted that it is better to have more people protecting us, so we had no other choice but to agree."
"There's nothing we can do about that now. You're already entangled with his affairs so we will make sure that you reach the capital in one piece." Sigmond moved his eyes from them to the scenery outside.
Cygnus's eyes widened when a realization suddenly hit him, "Are you perhaps saying that the attack was meant for the major?" He looked at the back of the man's head but the doctor did not give him an answer. Nina was also stunned to silence when he understood what was going on.
Cygnus leaned on the seat and laughed. He could not believe that they were caught in the major's mess when they thought that they were being targeted because they were on their way to the capital to register as mages. It turned out that that was not the case.
After half a day of traveling, Major Ginehart stopped and so did the others. He looked behind him then guided his horse towards the window of the carriage. He knocked on it and the doctor parted the curtain. The major frowned so he peeked inside only to see that the other two did not even look at his direction.
"We will be entering a mountain pass that goes around the entire plains of Sufmis. It will be a long and uncomfortable journey and it would take us at least seven days if the weather stays dry but if it rains, it will take us longer to reach the town," Ginehart explained.
"Alright," the doctor nodded. After informing them, the major rode around before he ordered them to move. The mountain pass was a way carved on the Hurmis mountain range which was used to avoid the plains.
This path was often used but because of the number of accidents that happened in that place, travelers avoided taking the path and would instead hire bodyguards that will protect them throughout the journey and risk the Sufmis plains.
The journey was indeed rough and they could not rest properly since they didn't have a place where they could spread out. On the fifth day of their journey, they finally reached the Hurmis Deep, which was a valley in between two mountains. They'll be spending two days in the valley before they reach the town of Alfonso where the rest of Major Ginehart's men were stationed.
Not long after they stopped for a rest, a bird sounded from the distance and it slowly descended to land on the major's arms. He petted the messenger bird and fed it a piece of bread before he took the piece of paper that was tied on one of its legs.
His eyebrows furrowed after reading the content of the paper. He then burned the paper and went to look for Cygnus and the others. "They've found that the group we sent are decoys. Some of them might have already figured out that we took this route, so we will be moving fast and take short rests in between. If we encounter magic users that can use control magic again, we will be at a disadvantage because I'm sure that they will be coming for us with a larger group."
After he relayed the information, their somewhat leisure travel turned tense. The sound of hoofs beating the ground echoed through the valley as they did not rest for the night. Their goal was to reach the town in the shortest period before their enemies could catch up to them.
At midday the next day, they finally saw the end of the valley but they also saw some people who were waiting for them and before they knew it, they were already under the barrage of different magic. Astrophos, in the nick of time, casted a wide range anti-magic barrier that intercepted the attack.
Cygnus came out from the carriage to help reinforce the barrier. Nina also did not waste time and created several bombs on her hands then sent them flying towards their attackers. After the several explosions, Ginehart finally sent his men forward using the dust as cover. After the barrier was down, Astrophos did not waste time as he mumbled a spell which created the widest magic circle he could that covered the entire area where their enemies stood, then he let loose.
Unlike his first attacks during the fights they had, this magic circle created large spear-like stones that shook the ground when it hit the ground. This gave the soldiers the opening to attack their assailants. After the spell was executed, Astrophos fell and kneeled on the ground while gasping for air. Using two wide range spells simultaneously drained a lot of his mana.
"Why are these people so persistent!?" Nina complained while throwing explosion spells towards the enemy. Violet magic circles simultaneously appeared above the enemies followed by black balls that dropped from them and exploded once it made contact with the ground.
