Chương 418: Chapter 391. Ashley's Day Of Travel

Ashley Garrett's Point of View" Remember, don't panic. No matter what you do, never stop thinking about what you'll do next! Once you lose any semblance of a plan, you'll just be a sitting duck!" Our new teacher, Old Man Ben, continued to instruct Jaime on how to fight with her new weapon as opposed to her Magic, meanwhile, the rest of us just continued to spar as we've made our way West from Phoenix Tail.

It's been 2 days so far and we'll be reaching the forest where it's said that the Demons are taking as their new home. Or camping... To be honest, I'm still not quite sure what it is the Demons are doing in the forest to the West... I'm not sure if anyone is. From what I understand, there hasn't been any reports of the Demons stretching themselves out from the forest. No missing persons, no murders or break-ins to any properties. Only the deaths of the Adventurers that walked into the forest that day...

Then the ones who attacked after. It doesn't make too much sense to me, just like it doesn't to everyone else... Well, expect for Luke, he seems to think they somehow know the Hero is coming, so the Demons obviously want to fight him. Seems like a dumb way to think, but who knows? Maybe he's right? / CLANG! /" Woah!"

We currently were all sitting and watching Jaime and Ben have a sparring match, Ben has been walking circles around us since we're only practicing our Martial Arts Skills instead of using any Magic or Job-Related Abilities. To think we've been training for so long and we're still being treated like amateurs. Granted, Laura and I are able to go toe to toe for a while, but eventually, Ben finds a way to poke at a hole in our defenses. Thankfully, I've noticed that today, it's taken him longer to beat me!

I made sure to practice what he told me to! Only... Now... There's even more things he's picking out that are weaknesses. I wonder why Mr. Mark never told me about these things? Though I guess his eyesight is bad? He does walk around with those monocles when he needs to read. / CLANG! thump. /" Ah!"" Well, that's the end for the morning session. You're doing better, but I think that's just from the fact that you were a total beginner when we started. You'll need to keep at it to get better.

Don't forget to do the Kata I taught you. Form and muscle memory is important when in an actual fight. Alright! Dismissed! Let's get ready to continue the journey!" With the end of our training session, we all began to handle our tasks that were assigned to us. Jaime and Lucy are in charge of the tents we use, Luke and Jessie are in charge of placing everything back onto the carriage. Old man Ben is in charge of handling the horses and feeding them.

Finally, Laura and I were in charge of procuring water from the stream we're nearby. Laura quickly brought the big, empty barrel down to the stream I was already standing at the bank of." Okay, get behind it, Ashley. Then, I'll make sure the lid's off."" Okay!" Wet... cool... I did as Laura asked and got into the stream, last night, Laura took on this role. We've decided to change our job for the barrel every time. We thought it'd be fun. Thankfully, the stream isn't too cold, despite the weather beginning to cool.

Apparently, it was quite cold last night, according to Laura at least. Before long, the barrel of water was full." Okay, time to take it out."" Got it!" Grip! Lift! With Laura's direction, I quickly picked up the barrel and placed it on the bank of the stream." Good, now then. Restore!" Laura placed her hand inside the barrel and cast a Healing Spell in the water. This is the way we have drinkable water immediately! Laura's Spell acts like instant boiling!

It takes out any and all bacteria or germs inside the water. Honestly, I wish I could use this kind of Magic as well. It'd make camping out like this a dream back in our world. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings." Okay, we're all good to go. Can you carry it back?"" Yup! Sure thing!" Lift! weight... And then we entered the roles that have been consistent since this system started. Laura disinfects the water and I carry the full barrel back to the carriage.

We'll all be drinking from it for the rest of the day and use the rest for the horses as well to make soup or some other type of meal that will be able to fill all of our stomachs for dinner. Sure, the barrel weighs an okay amount, but with my Job strengthening me, I could carry 10 of these without breaking a sweat! We quickly made our way back to an empty campsite, along with everyone waiting for us! It looks like they just finished putting the pots and pans away." Oh, good, you're back!

We can fill up our canteens now!" Lucy greeted us with an empty canteen. We all have one so we can drink as we like. After filling everyone's canteens up, we quickly got into the carriage and began to make our trek further West. Now that we were all in the carriage. Well... I say "carriage", but it's more of a cart if I'm being honest. We decided to buy a basic cart that a Merchant would use, since we all thought the carriage with the Insignia of the Royal Family would make us a target...

Well, "more" of a target to the Demons than usual. With that, we've gotten 4 horses to pull it, because of all the extra weight. It's all been pretty fine so far, even though Jessie was quite weary about using the cart. Something about the wheels being "fragile". But the road out West is quite smooth compared to the roads we took to get here. I'd wager that his fears were a bit unfounded. Perhaps he's just had one too many bad experiences beforehand? Ben was all for getting a cart after all.

And now we've all piled up into the cart and the horses have begun to walk along the road. The distribution of everyone was quite simple, the men were in the front and us girls were sitting in the back amongst ourselves." It'll still take another day and a half to get to the forest. The plan is still the same that we discussed before we left."" Yeah, yeah, I know. It's just going to be a pain to walk the rest of the way when we do get there." Jessie and Ben were speaking about the plan we've all come to agree on.

It's nothing too crazy, there's now a small, makeshift village before the forest that the Guild had packed full of Adventurers to act as a buffer in case the Demons ever tried approaching Phoenix Tail. As for the Adventurers, most were fast runners to transmit information, though there's also some focused on attacking. Including some that can use Defensive Spells to defend the village for a few weeks from anything that attempts to attack it from the outside.

So far, they haven't needed to use those Spells, but who can really say if it'll be useless in time? We plan to keep our horses and the cart there and only take the bare essentials for when we enter the forest." I've never been a fan of hiking..."" Yeah, you really didn't go out much back in our world, did you, Laura?" Laura seemed to be dreading the hike we'd need to make to the forest. But this also made me think of a question I've wondered." Speaking of which, it was rare to get you to come out with us all.

What were you doing during all of those weekends?" Laura's eyes went big for a moment, before she answered my question." I was studying. I had a college I wanted to go to. I actually got accepted before we ended up coming here to Gaia. I was going to surprise everyone a few days after that graduation party... Too late now, I guess? Right?"" Why didn't you ever tell us it was to study? We would've joined you, Laura. I always thought your parents were really strict."" They were... In some ways...

But I was much stricter with myself when it came to my studying... I had to be."" Why is that?" Lucy was quick to say what I wanted to say. Again, Laura seemed off by what we've asked her. Almost like she wasn't expecting to have to answer something like the question Lucy just asked. I mean, I think it was a simple question? What has her so spooked? Again, almost trying to find the words, Laura took a moment before she answered Lucy's question." Well. John... Always told me about the college he wanted to get into.

And he always took the time to study to make sure he could pass the entrance exam for it. 2 days before the party, he got his acceptance letter."" You're quite sly, you know that?" I said what I thought in the moment. I mean seriously... She couldn't have told us about the news he had? I mean, I know John had that argument with her before we got teleported here and he said that he didn't really view us as his Friends... But still, we all liked him... It would've been nice to know we had limited time with him.

It would've only been the summer, but still... One of us could've confessed to him and he might've even accepted if we explained to him how we felt... He's always been kind after all. He helped me when I sprained my ankle... I still think about that day a lot... And that was when he had no idea who I was. Thinking about this is just making me sad about how everything happened back in high school..." Well... All's fair in Love and War, right?" Laura seemed to want to play it off with a joke, but still...

She could've let us know! From that point on, it was a free for all in the back of the cart, we had her spill the beans on quite a few things she's never told us about John before... Jaime even used a Lie Detection Spell to know if she had fibbed to us or not. Still, she only ever gave exact answers, she rarely added anything on top of what she said... Only when we pushed for more information, did she add a few details.

It was beginning to feel like a real interrogation, with me playing the bad cop to Lucy's good cop. Thankfully, because us girls were entertained, the traveling didn't feel as long as usual. That was a good silver lining, compared to what we found when we arrived at the village to keep our cart and horses at least.