Ning caught up with the group not even half an hour later. Once he t them, he let one of the soldiers ride the horse and got into the carriage himself.
"What happened? You were late," Mari said, who was in the middle of teaching Shara a few things.
"Got caught up because of sothing. Nothing to worry about," he said. He let Mari continue her teaching while he spent so free ti thinking about what he would have to do next.
If he was going to end up making enemies in every city he went to, that would be disastrous for him at so point. Not everyone would be so foolish to let him do what he wanted while he made his escape. So would stop him right away and attack.
Ning didn't fear physical fights, but who knew what powers so of those people might have. If soone had the power to turn him into a baby, there would be nothing he could do.
He would have to think more carefully about how he approached things in the future, making sure not to create too many enemies.
But that would have to wait, as he needed to spend his ti right now helping Shara. After a bit of rest, he taught Shara on his own, then moved on to training.
They finally finished training late in the afternoon, by which point most of Shara's body was bleeding and in a lot of pain. She would heal later, but it still hurt to be wounded so much.
She endured the pain and continued training through it. She understood by now that the training was going to be intense, and she was here to handle anything and everything that ca her way.
In the next city they reached, Ning didn't enter the taverns to find his clients. Instead, he set up in the military camp where they were staying.
From the camp, he promoted himself as a cheap Spirit Detective, so people could co and have him help them. Mari had nothing to do, so she set up her own station as well.
She would channel other people's spirit energy to gain so of her own. She needed that at the very least if she wanted to continue healing others. She had been running out of energy and needed to get so back.
Not many people ca around this ti. Setting himself up in such a harsh location wasn't a great way to attract custors. But still, there were enough people for him to get a few quests and earn a bit of points.
That's all anyone could ask for, anyway.
The days passed, and the rainy season ca in strong. Outside the mountains, even with the rain, it wasn't as cold. But the days were less sunny, and the constantly wet timber made it hard to cook much of anything.
They stayed wherever they could when it was raining, even in small towns and villages, and left when it looked like it wasn't going to rain.
They encountered a few bandits, but it didn't take long for any of them to realize they were completely outmatched by the fighters they t. So, their travel was mostly safe through the Kingdom of Lenes.
After traveling like this for a month and a half, they finally arrived at the border between Lenes and the Golhlog Empire. Due to the relationship between the two nations, it was relatively easy to enter the Golhlog Empire, but they couldn't do so while wearing the empire's armor and weapons.
Instead, they lted down all of the armor they had before crossing, turning it all into steel nuggets they intended to sell in the Golhlog Empire.
Romus quickly assud the identity of the son of a minor noble family from the north of Lenes, being sent on his first assignnt outside the family as a rchant.
Mari beca his wife, and Shara was the maid they had brought along for her.
Ning didn't want to be the butler, but given the circumstances, he had to act as one. Thankfully, they didn't need to prove their identities with any sort of identification, so they were more or less free to enter.
Now that they had, it was going to be a little more difficult. They weren't passing as a group of soldiers, but rather as a hired rcenary group ant to guard the rchandise and their client.
They began staying in more lavish taverns to appear noble-born, and they ate only exquisite als. Selling the steel nuggets where they could, they had more than enough money to continue living such a lifestyle.
Ning still didn't miss out on teaching Shara when he could, and her lessons were only getting harder. The more she learned, the more she could be taught.
Shara beca an incredible fighter within a month, able to hold her own against any of the soldiers in their group.
She constantly sparred with the others to train, and she was winning more battles than she was losing. The soldiers themselves were stunned by her improvents, and many even wanted Ning to train them.
Ning didn't imdiately accept their requests, instead considering if there was any rit to doing so. After much thought, he decided to agree on one condition.
"I am going to make Shara the Empress. When the ti cos, should there be a battle, you will fight to protect her," Ning said to the soldiers. "Accept that, and I'll make you the greatest fighters the continent has ever seen. Sword, spear, axe—it doesn't matter. If you want to learn it, I'll teach it. Just say the oath."
So took their ti to consider, but others were already convinced by Shara's progress. They had witnessed her transformation firsthand and were ready to accept.
One after another, they all gave their word. The oath wasn't binding, but to Ning, that was enough. These were soldiers who stood by their words.
So, Ning accepted their words and began teaching them as well.
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