"Be safe…"
Miya was saying her final goodbyes to Alan.
"Yes, mom, I'll be fine." Alan smiled and reassured her.
Currently, Alan, Lucian, Miya and Gavin were standing next to the gates of the annex.
Lana, Miya's personal maid, worked in the restaurant, so she no longer remained by Miya's side.
It was time for Alan to finally leave this place.
His mother's face was streaming with tears, while Gavin silently stood by her side.
Alan glared at Gavin with sharp eyes, then mouthed.
'Don't try anything funny.'
Gavin simply smiled and nodded in response.
Alan was forced to tear his hateful eyes away, then both he and Lucian finally left the annex.
"Hah…" Alan let out a long breath.
Lucian turned to Alan with a raised brow. "Do you feel regret?"
"Huh?" Alan tilted his head. "Nah, why would I?"
As they were walking towards the carriage waiting for them, Alan turned around to look at the annex one last time.
"It's just that I'm finally leaving this place."
After all, Alan spent his entire life in this place, and finally leaving the annex, left Alan feeling a bittersweet feeling.
At the same time he was filled with anticipation, he knew the world was truly large, and he wanted to explore it all.
Leaving his thoughts behind, Alan and Lucian entered the carriage.
"Head to the main estate."
"Yes sir."
After Alan's command, the carriage drove off.
"Do you not feel anything?" Alan curiously asked.
"Hmm." Lucian thought for a moment. "I do, but I feel much more anticipation for all the fights we will get into."
"Right, you're a little screwed in the head as well." Alan scoffed, then looked out the window.
Then immediately widened his eyes.
"…Driver slow down a little."
As the carriage decelerated, Alan looked out the window, having a proper view.
Standing a distance away was the entire third battalion of the knight's order.
And all of them were saluting, at the front was Edward, smirking at Alan.
"What the hell are those idiots doing." Alan smiled, then stuck his hand out the window, waving back.
…
"We have arrived!" The carriage driver announced.
Alan simply nodded, then stepped out of the carriage, followed by Lucian.
After walking a bit, they ran into the other members of the main family.
"You're finally here, you worthless bastard." Alden remarked.
Standing in front of Alan were Alden, Alessia and lady Tanis.
"Are you all leaving now?" Alan asked, completely ignoring Alden.
"Indeed we are." Tanis replied, already stepping into the carriage.
After she left, Alan glanced towards Alessia, she seemed to be in a better mood after the two half siblings jumped Lucian.
"Where is the patriarch?" Alan looked around but couldn't see that man anywhere.
"Father? He already left last night."
"What the hell." Alan sighed and shook his head, that man always did things without any announcements.
"Anyway, where is our carriage."
Alden just stuck his thump to the side, glancing that way, Alan noticed a carriage right behind the carriage Alden was to be riding on.
It was smaller, but didn't seem of poor quality, but rather looked comfy.
"Nice." Alan nodded, despite being less luxurious, he didn't mind because he didn't care.
Alden looked at his carriage, and started entering it, Alessia was already long inside the carriage.
Pausing at the door, Alden glanced back at Alan.
"See you at the ceremony." Then closed the door behind him.
Alan just waved him off and walked towards his own carriage, alongside Lucian.
Entering the vehicle, he looked around.
It wasn't large, nor was it small, the seats were properly cushioned and large enough for Alan to sleep on.
Alan nodded in satisfaction, then seated himself.
Lucian seated himself across from Alan, as the two fell into a small silence.
"Yo, driver." Alan called out.
"Yes sir."
"How long would it take to reach the capital?"
"About a month, sir."
"I see, well, let's get going."
"Yes sir."
The carriage started moving.
Just the fact it took a month to reach the capital says a lot, considering Alan lived at the closest city to the capital.
As far as Alan knew, the size of the Northern continent should be equal to the size of Asia and Africa combined.
It was truly enormous, and the fact was the Northern continent was the smallest of the four continents was quite something.
"Hah…" Alan sighed. "Oi, the hell do we do for the next month inside this carriage."
"Hmm…" Lucian thought. "How about we fight?"
"What the fuck."
Alan shook his head, then turned his attention to his status, to a specific skill he developed.
[Gaze]
[Gaze: strike immense fear into those weaker than yourself, while pouring pressure on those equal to, or stronger than yourself
Requires eye contact.]
The skill was extremely useful when it came to hunting creatures weaker than himself, they would tremble before he even did anything.
But the drawback was he had to maintain eye contact the whole time, and the effect was weaker the stronger his enemies were.
Still, it was a useful skill that could be priceless in battle, where even a single moment matters.
"Wait." Alan suddenly said. "How much money did the patriarch give us?"
Lucian tilted his head. "Absolutely nothing."
"Oh, this son of a bi–"
***
A group of hooded figures peered over the cliff, looking down at the carriage traversing the plains.
"This should be a good find." The man at the front muttered.
The gathered figures were a group of bandits, who raided low noble carriages and took hostages to ransom money.
"That carriage is something only lower-class nobles ride in." The bandit leader told his followers, as they nodded.
The leader was a rank 2, he was confident in handling this, after all it wasn't his first time doing something like this.
"Let's go." At his command, the group of eight bandits jumped down.
…
"Halt!" Eight hooded figures suddenly appeared on the path.
The driver immediately stopped pouring mana into the carriage, causing the carriage to come to an abrupt stop.
"This is a hostage!" The man at the front yelled. "If you value your life, leave the carriage behind and run!"
But the driver didn't budge, instead he looked almost bored.
"Young masters." The driver spoke. "There is a situation."
The bandit leader tilted his head in confusion, normally the driver would leave all dignity and flee.
Before his thoughts progressed any further.
Bang
The carriage door burst open.
"Finally!" The young man jumped out. "After a whole ass week, something is happening, I was starting to die out of boredom!"
The bandits all took in the man's features.
Tall, with messy shoulder-length hair and a lean physique.
But their brains went blank the moment they saw his eyes.
Bright violet eyes holding a vertical pupil in its centre.
No one failed to recognise what it meant, after all, only one family in the entire Northern continent possessed those eyes.
"Shit…" The leader muttered, his face becoming paler by the second, he already long realised the young man wasn't someone he could handle.
'Why was a Zevril even in such a carriage…' He thought with frustration, although he had no idea this was the infamous bastard of the family.
Who was the Zevril family? The literal descendants of a hero, their bloodline itself was made for fighting.
And currently, a certain Zevril was making a name for himself in the Eastern continent, Alvin Nyx Zevril.
Leaving his thoughts aside, the man hurriedly lowered his head.
"I–I apologise, it was a mist–"
Before he finished talking he saw something, Alan's violet eyes began shimmering, his vertical pupils narrowed to slits.
[Gaze]
Immediately he stopped speaking, his heart was gripped by inexplainable fear, simultaneously his entire body was being pressed down.
Thump
His knees dropped to the ground as he knelt.
His heart hammering against his chest as if to escape, still he couldn't tear away his gaze from Alan's.
His subordinates weren't stupid, the second their leader dropped, all of them hurriedly turned around and tried fleeing.
"Where are you all going?"
But were stopped by another young man, his pure white hair was parted into layering curtains, while his teal eyes calmly looked at the bandits.
In his hand was an intimidating scythe made from pure ice.
Instantly, they stopped resisting and knelt down.
"Hey Lucian."
"Yes."
"How much money did you say that bastard gave us?"
"Nothing."
"That's right." Alan grinned. "But I think I found a perfect way of making some money."
Step Step
Alan approached the still trembling leader, then placed his hand on his shoulder.
"Say." Alan looked down at him. "You wouldn't happen to have a base around here, would you?"
"N–no…"
"Oh? Why is that?"
"W–w–we are wandering bandits…"
"I see, I see." Alan nodded. "So, where would you keep, let's say, your money?"
"In our dimensional artifact…"
"Ah… Is that so, you see, my friend and I are in dire need of some money."
"Yes..."
"So, would you kindly spare some cash for us?" Alan innocently smiled.
Hesitant, the bandit channelled mana into a ring he was wearing, but seeing that Alan's face twisted.
Trembling, the bandit slowly removed the ring before handing it to Alan with shaky hands, seeing this Alan immediately smiled brightly.
"What about your friends?" Alan looked up. "Surely, they have some money to spare."
Anyone would think Alan was the bandit rather than the eight men in front of him, at least the carriage driver thought so.
Too scared to even object, the other bandits slowly removed their own dimensional equipments, from rings to bracelets, and handed it over to Lucian.
"Wow! You guys are so kind!" Alan smiled then turned towards the carriage.
Then stopped and looked back with a devious smile.
"Your clothes also look quite nice..."
The bandit leader gulped loudly.
...
"Let's go!"
"Yes sir!"
The carriage drove off, leaving behind a group of eight men.
Wearing nothing but their underwear.
"It was my first day too..." One of the men muttered.
...
"Hehe~" Alan gigged, holding the artifacts in his hands. "Lucian, how much money did we make?"
"Hmm, about a hundred and twenty gold." Lucian replied.
The artifacts all held quite personal items to their previous owners, but Alan and Lucian didn't care and took the money, planning to sell the items as well as the artifacts.
"Great!" Alan smiled.
The currency of the Northern continent was pretty simple.
A hundred copper coins, equal to one silver.
A hundred silver coins, equal to one gold.
A thousand gold coins equals one platinum.
Alan touched his necklace, pouring his mana into it, then within moments, the artifacts in front of him got sucked into it.
It was an interesting process to see, and having a dimension artifact was truly useful.
Alan stacked it with clothes, even noblemen's attires, weapons and a lot of necessities, Lucian did the same thing.
Sighing, Alan leaned into his seat, blankly staring out the window.
"Are we there yet?"
"It's only been a week."
"Are we there yet?"
"It's been five seconds."
"Are we th—"
"Shut up."