10 Minutes Later—
Clack!
Clack!
The sound of multiple horseshoes stepping on the soft dirt echoed throughout the entire grass fields as Syla and her carriage traveled amidst the fertile greenery, she sat on the edge of the carriage, leaning her body towards the open space beside her while looking at the scenery.
Fortunately that day, the weather was perfect, while the sun was shining brightly, the clouds abundance in the sky makes makes most of the area beneath it nicely shaded, the wind wasn't too hot nor was it too cold, and from what Syla observed after living for 18 years, it seems like this world's seasons are quite similar to earth, even the calendar system and day names were the same.
'If months and days have the same name, does that mean there's someone who also reincarnated before me? Or is it just a coincidence? After all, if other worlds exists, then what's stopping it from having more? An infinite amount of worlds meant that at some point, there will be a reoccurring phenomenon at every moments, such as the name of months and day in this world being the same with earth.' Syla thought, she briefly wondered what other worlds would look like.
If a fantasy world exists, so does other ones, there might be a world where technology has peaked, or a world where there's nothing but hideous creatures with no sign of intelligence, a world where death worked overtime to guide every souls that unfortunately born there, or a world where death got fired from its job.
'Such things happened with or without a reason, and— I guess unlike others, i personally witnessed the reason as to why everything existed.' Syla then remembered her encounter with the 'man' that claimed to be God, right before her reincarnation.
Chirp! Chirp!
Syla arrived at the part of the road where the entrance of a thick forest was right beside her, when she was moving along the path, with the countless trees accompanying her throughout the trip, she could hear the calming melody of birds chirping within the forest, her tail continuously swayed as Syla heard the singing birds calling for their mates.
'It's lively.' She thought.
Then, while she was focusing on her ears, hearing the quiet howl of wolves, rustling bushes from mammals, and the buzzing hum of flying insects, Syla noticed a carriage heading towards her.
It was a fancy carriage, one that was coated with white dye and embroidered with intricate curves and designs, no matter how she looked at it, Syla couldn't guess anything except for the fact that it was a carriage for noble, or atleast someone within the same hierarchy and authority.
Syla peeked from the little window that was at the front of the carriage where she could see the driver, when the driver realized that Syla was peeking behind him, he knew that she was looking at the noble carriage.
"Be careful miss, if you gaze at them intensely, they'll assumed you're a bad person." The driver said.
"Huh? Oh.. I see." Syla responded, a little confused, but accepted it regardless.
'I mean, i could see why? I guess? Being a noble means you're an important person, so maybe there's many assassins that wants to come for them– That's also why they have a lot of guards around the carriage..' Syla thought as she saw the armored knights riding horses beside the white carriage.
"Are they knights?" Syla asked.
"Yes, most nobles have personal knights under their territory, though the amount of knights that they're allowed to have depends on their noble status." The driver replied with a smile.
"Hoohh, so nobles have a hierarchy too? Like Dukes? Marquis? something like that?" Syla asked again.
"That's right, you're quite knowledgeable miss." The driver complimented Syla.
"Haha.. I read a lot of books when i was little." Syla chuckled, she felt a little flustered from the praise.
"That's unexpected– Sshh, they'll pass us now, be quiet for now." The driver suddenly told Syla to duck and stay inside the carriage, Syla also noticed the noble carriage getting closer, so she followed her driver's order and sat down again.
As the noble carriage arrived right infront of her carriage, Syla could see her driver bowing to show respect through the tiny window, she also heard the sound of horses galloping and the wooden carriage wheels rolling through the dirt road while hitting a couple pebbles along its way.
Thankfully, there was no exchange in conversation with the noble knights, they seemed to ignore Syla's driver and kept on moving, when Syla could finally see the back of the noble carriage when they had passed them, Syla noticed that one of the knight turned their head back towards her.
'Hm? Is he looking at me?' Syla said to herself.
Despite her mind assuming that the knights must've have been curious about her, they didn't stop on their way and eventually ignored Syla before they turned and disappeared from her vision, obstructed by the trees.
'Did they get suspicious because im hiding my face?' She thought.
"They must be going to Direwell right?" Syla said to the driver.
"Most likely, my guess is that they're from the house of Frillia, the noble family that managed most of the land around here and also the one that governed the city of Aerdawn, though Direwell isn't specifically written as their territory, they still have some authority over it- Think of it as the mayor's mayor." The driver explained.
"Hoooh.. So nobles have their own land? How large is this 'Frilla' territory?" Syla wondered.
"Hmm, well let's see– If i remember correctly, they take a few percentage of taxes from Direwell, Beakwood, and Redani– Aswell with a couple villages around here like Hayville." The driver responded while also remembering his old knowledge.
"Redani? Where is that?" Syla was intrigued upon hearing the name of towns that she never knew before.
"Redani is on the Northeast side from Direwell, and if you didn't know about Aerdawn yet, its a city on the West, our destination- Beakwood, is kind of like a checkpoint, it'll take approximately 3 days to reach Aerdawn if you leave from Beakwood" The carriage driver explained.
"To be honest with you, i don't know much about Beakwood, even though its not that far away from Direwell, not many people chose that town as their destination.. Im not quite sure as for the reason why, but keep it in mind that you should be careful." He added.
"I see, i'll remember it.. But that was interesting, you're saying it like you've been to these places a lot, how long have you been traveling?" Syla asked the driver, curious with his experience and also the reason to his knowledge.
"Hahaha, is that so? Well, you're not wrong, although i usually carried more than just one passenger, i've been working as a carriage driver for a few years now, i used to be a farmer in Direwell, but i guess you could say my heart aches for the wilderness, so i quit and decided to become a carriage driver, now that im almost reaching my 40's, it's only natural i knew a lot of interesting places." The carriage driver answered honestly, his face looked happy that Syla had asked him the question.
"That's amazing– But if i may ask, were you scared when you traveled for the first time?" Syla said, she was glancing at the scenery occassionally while also waiting for the driver's reply.
"Ahh yeah, of course– I was scared, everyone's scared when they tried things for the first time, i always thought now that i became a carriage driver, what if i get attacked by some bandits or monsters?! It would be nice if one of your passengers was an adventurer, but sometimes, you get a carriage full of just normal people, and when that happens, i always prayed that nothing would happen on our way towards the destination—
"But if im being honest, being able to travel to different places everyday is a childhood dream, and even if the risks were high, im already prepared with whatever that may happened– I've dealed with enough accidents when working, but as you can see, i still survived till this day, and im forever grateful for it, because i can keep seeing my family's face whenever i went back home."
Syla's heart was moved when she heard the carriage driver's answer, she thought that he was a brave man, a man that knew the risk of his job and yet still continues to do it, his story was similar to Syla, someone who dreamed about travelling to the edge of the world, meeting all kinds of dangers, people, magics, and wonders. She knew about all the risks and the same with the carriage driver, Syla was also prepared for it.
As the carriage weaved through the forest entrance, Syla finally left the endlessly stretched trees behind, she was back to the same grassy fields and cliffs in the distance, mountains that pierced the clouds, trees that looked colossal, and the occassional slimes she encountered on the sideroad makes her journey even more thrilling.
Syla stopped her conversation with the carriage driver after complimenting each other, and they both goes back to their previous quiet self, Syla watched the scenery calmly and the driver also let the breezy winds hit his face as the horses galloped towards the seemingly never ending dirt path.