The Rise of the Sword Expert
Journey to the Empire

If the days I usually go through with taking care of paperwork, training, and other things that make it difficult

to sleep. This is that last day. For the next few months, I'll be out of paperwork.

My dad will take care of it, and Willian runs it, manages it. His work will keep him busy.

Maybe he'll yell in between his work. Then Bastian will overcome it with friendly eyes full of suspicion and pressure.

Tanka yawned beside me. Four hours of travel and he didn't fly made him tired. He said that his wings were very numb if they didn't fly long enough. That's why I told him to fly in the horse-drawn carriage.

I turned the book I read. Light book, about all the legends to pass the time. After talking to Verion long enough I chose to read the book, then he looked at the mystical egg his father had given him.

"My dad never showed anything cool like this." Maybe he felt annoyed at his father, so I saw a frown on his usual gentle face.

"Thinking about what was given to him, your father just thought it wouldn't be of any use to you."

I turned over the books I had read.

"That's right" he replied weakly.

"Compared to that egg, your father gave you a snack of 250 stones where the fire. Is that less?"

Using his index finger he scratched the right cheek in embarrassment.

"Say it's a snack a bit too." He faces out of the car. Just the arid we passed.

"Because your father hasn't given you his main meal yet." I smiled mysteriously.

She was curious, but looking at my tightly shut mouth with a mysterious smile she held back her will.

Duk! Duk!

The barren cobblestone streets of Sanktessy make for an uncomfortable ride. The mystic egg shook, then Verion hugged her to keep the egg comfortable.

"Boring."

The sleepy Tanka is not for sleeping. He always woke up with a train shake. Throughout the course of the Sanktessy region, almost entirely cobbled roads, highways were minimal.

DUK!

That's a big shake. Verion's head jerked backwards. To be honest, I wanted to laugh as her body fell backwards in a funny pose.

"I'm sorry for this inconvenience, Verion. "

"It's normal when I'm a priest."

A pastor must often travel to bless, or purify, and heal. What Verion said was the truth, not because it made my little heart feel at ease.

Using a horse carriage is not as comfortable as riding a horse. But if I choose to ride a horse for the Empire, then my family will become a subject of ridicule again. A chariot with a family crest reflects who the master is. Tell me who his master is.

That's why Verion and I are splitting up at Veranses. Because each of us carries a surname.

The sky slowly blackened. We decided to set up a tent in the middle of the desert. If monsters attack, the common thing here is desert lizards. They are easy to defeat, just that it is quite troublesome because of the group.

They look alike

"Raptor."

I unconsciously said it.

"What's? The raptor?"

Verion heard it. I lied to her.

"Hunger I said." With a small smile.

"Obviously you said Raptor, Akion. What'sthat?"

Tanka sitting on my shoulder must have heard it more clearly. But I won't tell them what a Raptor is, they won't know.

"So soon they'll definitely call us to eat." His reply was calm not to mind the Raptor earlier.

Not long after, a soldier asked me, will I eat inside the tent or outside.

I told him we were going to eat out. The stars in the desert are usually more and clearly visible, eating out makes me able to enjoy a different atmosphere.

**

"The proposal of engagement will be there."

He can be replaced with a more capable one. Trade unions are difficult to interfere with the nobility, they have strong people with various skills.

Back to Verion's murmur. He had no friends to chat with as I focused on reading or pretending to sleep.

I brought some books that looked interesting in my eyes, and some of them were romance novels.

That's what Verion read. She read a book titled Flowers in the Count family forging a love for her Knight.

That's impossible in a noble family. Most of them are married on the basis of profits. If they love each other, that is a benefit in itself.

So, it seemed that he announced that the Count's daughter would get a proposal from another family.

"You'll also later get proposals from other noble families." I nodded while she was busy reading the book she was holding.

"What, Akion?"

"You'll get proposals from other families. You're the only Marquis in the family, they know how rich you are, and there are no other competitors. Then if any girl in the Empire sees your face, they'll probably like it enough."

I purposely lowered it a little on the last part.

"And they'll surround me like I'm an heirloom?"

I'm nodding. That's the usual thing. Marriage strengthens two families.

"Did the Marquis ever mention him?"

Duk! The car shook again.

"My father's thoughts are very idealistic. You can guess where it will be."

I laughed without a sound.

"Then, what about you?"

He wants to equalize our fate.

"My father set me free."

He nodded, then his eyes seemed to glow looking at me curiously.

"Didn't you get a proposal from the crown princess?"

I'm nodding. It was very shocking news, all the nobles even the public knew and talked about it. A princess of the Crown would be betrothed to the second son of a poor Baron who had nothing.

People thought I was very lucky to get the proposal, and considered the emperor's family too humble to accept this lowly me.

However, the most shocking news was, I refused to become the fiancee of the Crown Princess.

Didn't I not know myself, daring to reject such a valuable proposal. Dare to sell expensively to the Imperial family. Dare to embarrass them.

All their fingers pointed at me, and their mouths rebuked as if I were a sinner. I became more and more famous because of it.

The reason Akion rejected her was because he felt that the princess should not be related to him. Akion's a little inferior to Baron Einhs. But the biggest reason, was because he was uncomfortable with the princess's persona.

"Akion, we're young. We shouldn't be thinking about marriage right now." Verion's eyes narrowed as he laughed.

I laugh at this too. I totally agree with him. There are still many goals to be achieved.

Getting married is a different business that I didn't even think about.

"Look at you two, stupid single men laughing at his solitude." Tanka sneered while folding both hands.

At that time the sun was getting higher, the journey to the capital still took about two weeks.

The days we did were to practice, rest, eat, and continue the journey again.

Unexpectedly there was an incident that was forced to make us slow down the trip a little.

"FIRE!"

"DEFUSE!"

"To-long..uk...."

"Mom .. huwee.. ma-ma ...."

Black smoke poked high into the sky. All emotions gathered there, sounds of crying and pain filled him. I looked at the giant fire.