In the late afternoon, a cart drawn by a pair of Armored Steel Boars had just passed through the city gates of the City of Growing Iron. Headed east, the carriage had the sun to the back. Aside from the coachman, there were four passengers, a couple with their child and bags full of items and a young dark-haired man.
The young man looked back at the city they had just left with a complex look in his eyes. As their hometown was getting farther away, a couple of dots, one black and one silver, that were right next to a paw print on his right hand lit up. At the same time, with a slight disturbance in the air, the rough outline of a cat took shape on the young man's lap, and a barely noticeable dark figure settled down on his head with a tail swinging down his neck. After only a moment, there was a solid mass of what looked like quicksilver in the shape of a cat. It lay down, looking in the same direction as the young man, with its tail hanging down to the side and its body taking on a light shimmering orange hue in the late, almost dusk sun.
The silvery grey cat tilted its head to look at the young man's face out of the corner of its eyes. "It's finally time, huh?" it said with slight nostalgia in its voice.
"Considering all the preparations we have made, I still feel way too nervous, but at the same time, incredibly excited just imagining all the things we're going to discover," the young man said in response.
"Yeaa, Toz, let's get them...!" A tiny voice that sounded barely awake could be heard from the young man's head.
"Lucy... Didn't you sleep the entirety of yesterday? Why are you still tired?"
"I can't help it. I am still growing!"
"...you mean like how you've grown two millimeters in two years?" the shimmering cat said sarcastically.
"You! Just! Wait!"
The black cat was about to jump down from Toz's head and attack in anger. Only experience from previous bouts and soft head pats stopped him.
While they traveled onward, the family occasionally peeked at the young man and his spirit beasts, and after a short while, they reached the entrance to a forest just as the city disappeared on the horizon.
The trees at the edge were a few meters in height and thin with droopy branches. The trees were copper colored with bright green shiny leaves. Deeper in the forest, the trees increased in size and had a darker color, almost as if the light didn't work on them. Fortunately, the road curved around the deeper, darker parts and passed through the relatively sparse areas.
As the carriage entered a slightly darker stretch of the road, the sound of branches snapping sounded. The boars grew restless and started huffing. The passengers felt eyes piercing the veil of darkness surrounding them, and a cold sweat began running down the family's backs. The only one who was somewhat relaxed was the black-haired young man, though he had a slight frown.
"Stop right there! It seems you have forgotten to pay for passage through here!"
A large bearded man jumped out of the forest, startling the boars and the passengers and stopping the carriage. As he indirectly started robbing the travelers, other bandits surrounded the carriage, about twenty of them, all dressed in black clothes and most in leather armor.
"Wha... What are you talking about?!" the coachman spluttered, not entirely realizing the danger he was in.
"Haha! Hand over your valuables without resistance, and we won't take your lives, is what I'm talking about," the lead bandit said.
A deep sigh resounded out from the back, and some bandits with greater perception and fear of death felt a chill and started unconsciously backing off step by step.
"Nil."
"You got it, boss"
As the bandits, who were already scared, to begin with, heard this voice, they knew their worst fears were confirmed, especially when they saw a figure of flowing silver appear beside the coachman. At this point, most bandits had dropped to their knees and bowed down. The leader and a few bandits closer to him looked around in confusion.
"What are you doing?! It's just a cat. Get up!"
"'...Just a cat.' He says..."
"He doesn't even know the main players. Why did he come here?"
In response to the leader's outburst, the other bandits sighed and grumbled about their bad luck.
The cat seeing how not everyone bowed down and moved out of the way, tilted its head before a ferocious glint appeared in its eyes before gracefully leaping off the cart.
"Gahack!"
*Thud*
The cat landed on the chest of the large, bearded bandit leader and pushed him to the ground. The bandit, completely overpowered, was left foaming at the mouth in a pit on the road.
"Maxwell, what is this idiot?" the silver cat pointed to the fainted man and asked a nearby bandit.
"We apologize, silver boss. He came to the area a couple of days ago and beat up a few guys so he could start his own gang," the nearby bandit answered with his forehead pressed to the ground.
"He has a pretty strong spirit beast, so we were unable to stop him..." another bandit quickly followed up.
After pondering for a little while, the cat seemed to have reached a decision.
"I'm in a good mood today, so I'll let you off, provided you know what to do next. I will also count on you guys to hold the fort while we are away. As long as you don't go overboard, you can continue."
'"Yes, sir!'" The bandits said in chorus.
Seeing the light of redemption shining on them, the kneeling bandits pounced on the bearded bandit's companions, who were still in shock. With the number difference, it didn't take long before there was a pile of tied-up men by the side of the road and a large pile of spatial rings gathered next to them. One of the original bandits took it upon himself to hand those rings over to the young man in the back of the carriage, who accepted them and put them in one of the pockets on his jacket. Surprisingly the pocket didn't seem to bulge or get any bigger.
Seeing this, the cat nodded with satisfaction before smacking the bearded man under him and sauntering back to the carriage.
While all the bandits stood beside the road and bowed to the person in the back, the coachman carefully hinted for the boars to start moving. Seeing no one oppose, he increased the speed to what it was before they were stopped by the bandits.
While the coachman focused on driving the carriage to take his mind off what had just happened, the family inside looked at the cat and its master with mixed feelings. The child stared with wide-eyed admiration while the parents shifted around uneasily in their seats with slight fear in their eyes.
The man in question, however, leaned back with closed eyes while petting the silvery ball of fur in his lap, seemingly oblivious to his surroundings.
With the trouble out of the way and the carriage moving peacefully onwards, the two parents slowly relaxed while the kid grew sleepy due to the carriage's gentle rocking and the darkening sky.
After dropping off the family at a farm, Toz realized they were getting closer and asked the driver,
"How far?" with one hint of impatience and two hints of excitement in his voice.
"We're getting close. About forty minutes left. You don't look like a merchant, so why are you headed to a flow city? Aiming to become a mercenary with that cat of yours?"
"I see. No, or maybe if I run out of money and need some funds, but the plan is to become an explorer."
"I completely understand. Youngsters should have dreams, just don't forget your roots, kid," the driver smiled fondly while thinking of his past self.
As dawn broke, the City of Flowing Bronze could be seen on the horizon.