"What are you guys waiting for?" Alex asked keeping a poker face.
"So Gabriel had feelings for Rebecca all this while and you didn't tell me, I thought we were friends" Lynx shook his head.
"They finally confessed their feelings, I thought Gabriel would never be open about it, it's a little surprising," Max said.
"Huh! You knew about it!!!' Lynx shouted.
"In the real world, not here, it was a long time ago," Max said.
"It hasn't been that long since we met Rebecca, let's keep moving we are going to lose them at this rate," Alex said as he saw Gabriel and Rebecca ahead.
'I really thought I heard my name, I guess I heard wrong' Melissa mumbled as she followed them.
...
The group was now done with their shopping and now they were heading for the gate, carriages are hired close to the gate and it was still morning so they would find someone heading for Zenith City.
The group made sure to stock up on food and water just in case, they bought bread, meat, roasted potatoes, some veggies to eat with the meat, and something called crunchy clusters, a type of biscuit that none of them had ever seen in the real world but it was delicious and cheap.
"They are 10 carriages here, maybe we should buy a carriage and travel by ourselves" Melissa spoke as they stopped.
"Yeah I like your idea, so we can get lost and never find our way back right!!" Alex sneered.
"We have maps, we'll definitely find our way back," Max said.
"We can only view places we have visited before, so we don't actually know which way to Zenith City and we can't rely on trial and error to reach there," Alex said.
"We should have bought a map," Rebecca said.
"Let's just go with the carriage available, and we should properly go with an open carriage so we'll be able to monitor our surroundings and watch out for bandits," Gabriel said.
"He's right, and I do hope we come across them, I'm going to open holes in their skulls" Lynx snorted.
"Before opening holes in skulls, hand over your share of the money, we need to pay for the ride," Alex said.
"We haven't even approached the rider or asked how much the ride cost? you are still angry that you didn't receive any share of the money for the quest" Lynx said.
"I'm not angry, we already traveled once so I know how much it costs" Alex spoke.
"It might be different, I don't know if you guys noticed but since we came here for real, the price of items went up, the price of everything went up," Max said.
"Then let's talk to the rider," Gabriel said and they walked towards the first carriage.
"Are you guys going somewhere?" the rider spoke before they could speak to him, he was a young man probably in his late twenties.
"Yes, we are going to Zenith City" Gabriel replied.
"Zenith City...all of you?" the man asked.
"Yes"
"Ohh, I can take you guys there, but you know it'll cost a lot right, you guys are six, and recently beast attacks have been more frequent," the man said.
"We are all warriors so you don't need to be afraid, and she's an S-rank adventurer," Max said as he pointed at Melissa.
"What!! she's an S-rank adventurer, what the heck are you talking about, don't think lying to me will make the ride cheaper" the man blurted.
"Don't listen to him, he's just joking, how much for the ride?" Melissa asked.
"For the six of you, I'll take 3,000 coins each, and besides I'm also a seasoned warrior so you guys would be safe in my hands," the man said.
"We'll take the ride, can we leave immediately?" Alex asked.
"Sure climb on let's head out," the man said and the group climbed in one after the other, the carriage was an open carriage but the space was enough to fit ten people and two horses were required to move the carriage.
"Are you guys ready?"
"Yes"
"Okay here we go" the man muttered as his horses began to move, they moved slowly at first because they were in the city.
"Max don't go telling everyone that I'm an S-rank adventurer" Melissa whispered in his ears.
"I didn't mean to, I'm sorry"
"I'm not angry at you, it's just that most S-rank are proud and usually like to show off which makes people afraid of them, I don't want people to think of me like that, especially now that this is our lives"
"Ohh, okay" Max whispered.
The horses began to move at full speed and in no time they were already in the forest path where they were ambushed last time.
Alex knew from last time that to get to Zenith City, they would have to pass through a small village and then a mountain before getting there but last time they never made it there so he didn't know what the environment looked like but the rider probably knew.
Alex opened his map and was staring at it for a few seconds, the darkness covering the map of their location was slowly fading away, from the map they weren't moving very fast but in reality, the horses were running at full speed.
The horses had been running non-stop for a few minutes now and in no time they were back at the spot they last remember.
"I think it's around this place that we were attacked, Alex was going to use his coins to enroll a bunch of NPCs in a magic academy and we were attacked," Lynx said.
"It's my money, not yours, and besides I don't think it's here, it's still a little further away from here," Alex said.
"Let's be on the lookout, just in case" Gabriel spoke.
"On the lookout for what, I thought you said you were warriors, are you guys scared after all?" the man chuckled.
"We aren't scared of beasts, we are just being careful so what happened last time won't repeat itself," Max said.
"Rebecca, you are really calm, you realize we might be attacked again right?" Alex asked her.
"I'm calm because there's no one around to attack us, I can't even sense a single heartbeat in the forest," Rebecca said.
"Heartbeat, wait you said something about that when you found the goblins," Max said.
"I can sense the heartbeat of humans or beast, though I can't tell the difference yet but I'll work on that," Rebecca said.
"You don't have to be hard on yourself, you did great learning it" Gabriel spoke.
"That's the most amusing part, I didn't learn it, I just knew I was able to do and I did, though I don't know how" Rebecca replied.
"Then people can't sneak behind you, you already know they are coming," Max said.
"Yes, but for some reason I can't hear Alex's heartbeat"
"Obviously you can't, I'm an assassin, sneaking from behind is what I do, hehehe"
"Don't be so smug about it Alex, since we have nothing to worry about, we should enjoy the ride" Gabriel said.
"What if the bandits have someone like Alex who is good at sneaking in, it just pop in my head for a sec," Lynx said.
"Even if they do, Rebecca would be able to hear the rest of their heartbeat, one assassin can't beat all seven of us," Max said.
"I think they can, if they play their card right but they won't be able to defeat Melissa" Alex muttered.
"How would one assassin defeat us?" Max asked.
"Uhmmm guys, I think some things are moving in the forest, and they are quite fast" Rebecca spoke as she stood up.
"Are you sure?" Alex asked.
"Yes, there's something in the forest and they are fast, I can sense up to 20 heartbeats," Rebecca said.
"It's nothing to be worried about, when you guys said you were warriors I honestly didn't but she's a mage right, to be able to sense living beings from far away?" the rider asked.
"So you know what they are?" Lynx asked immediately.
"Yes, they are monkeys, they are usually found around the area of the forest and they are harmless unless you disturb them first, and even if you do all they do is throw things at you, but some might have dangerous objects" the rider explained.
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