Otherworld Adventure

On the next day, Matheus and the group quickly made their way out of the city at the break of dawn.

They left early after only getting a night's rest in the city. Cecilia had informed Matheus last night that through the teleportation formation, they were able to save a few months of travel.

From their current location to the Revertia Kingdom's border, it only required a month or so to get there on their mounts. The rugged terrain of the neutral territory was hard to traverse on for normal mounts, but luckily for them, the city they were at had a few specialized mounts that they were able to buy.

Matheus didn't have any credits on him but luckily, Celestina was gracious enough to lend him some money to buy a landwyrm. It was basically a large lizard that could breathe fire and traverse easily across the rugged terrain of the neutral territory that was located between the Regulus and Revertia kingdoms.

It had small deteriorated wings that could also be used to shield its rider from the arduous climate. It had a pretty broad back that could fit in a large saddle that could seat 2-3 people on it. 3 people if you didn't count in all of the baggage it would be carrying.

Matheus was currently riding on this large monster but he wasn't the one who was handling the reins, it was Celestina. The little woman was seated right in front of him at the moment, handling the large landwyrm that she decided to name Suo.

"It's easy, right? It's like riding a horse!" Celestina called out to Matheus who was sitting behind her.

"Y-Yeah, hahaha..." Matheus nervously replied.

He had one of his arms wrapped firmly around her waist at the moment. It was his first time mounting on a monster that wasn't a horse so he was feeling very much unstable while riding it. Even though he had the chance to try riding many different monsters when he was back in Silvaria Kingdom because of his youngest sister, he never went out of his way to do so.

The landwyrm was also traveling at a speed that was much faster than any horse he had ever ridden on so Matheus was still a little nervous. It was a good thing that the landwyrm had its small wings blocking the front of them, if not, they'd be buffeted by the winds and dirt.

Celestina was grinning from ear-to-ear until she finally noticed that the young man behind her had his arm wrapped around her. She immediately stiffened up and her face flushed red.

'O-oh no...'

Matheus still wasn't paying attention to this because he was too busy trying to maintain his balance on the constantly rocking landwyrm. The only way he was able to stabilize himself was to put an arm around Celestina while his other arm grasped tightly on the edge of the large saddle.

"S-sorry, Celes, I'm still not used to it. Just give me a bit more time and I'll be able to take over!"

"N-n-no problem...take as long as you want..." Celestina said as she shyly put a hand on top of the arm that Matheus had wrapped around her waist. "Th-there's a boulder ahead, brace yourself, I'm gonna have Suo jump!"

"Eh? O-okay!"

Ahead of them, Matheus could see another mount that was even larger than the one they were riding on, lumbering forward. It was the one that the old knight captain had acquired for Cecilia and the others. It was a higher species of landwyrms known as Titanwyrms.

The monster boasted a much bigger body than its smaller counterpart and was able to carry a large howdah on its back. This was where Cecilia and the other people in her group were currently resting on in leisure. Their large mount was moving stably enough that they didn't experience the rocking that Matheus and Celestina had to go through.

Cecilia, who was on the edge of the howdah, couldn't help but look over at her sister and Matheus in amus.e.m.e.nt. She could see the young man was trying to stabilize himself while riding on the landwyrm with her sister. She couldn't help but smile when she saw how intimately close the two were.

"Oh my~ Nice going, Sir Matheus, taking advantage of my sister like that~! Ufufufu, looks like my hunch was right, my sister is interested in that young man. She's being a bit more courageous than usual!"

"What's that, milady?" One of her attendants asked.

"It's nothing~"

"Milady, if I may be a little...impertinent... shouldn't we warn that man to keep away from Lady Celestina?"

"Tch, just mind your own businesses and let her do as she pleases."

"But milady, she is still your sister and you both are—"

Cecilia immediately cut off the attendant's words, "Enough! I'm the only one in the family who needs to worry about who I have to marry or partner up with, but my sister does not! Father and Mother have been pushing her to find a spouse already and since she may have found a potential husband, I won't meddle in things and ruin her chance so you shouldn't either!"

"O-Of course milady, as you wish..."

Cecilia returned to leisurely sitting around while admiring the scenery. The captain was handling the reins of the large titanwyrm while the other knights were in pairs riding on their landwyrms.

The three landwyrms were situated behind and on either side of the titanwyrm. The knights were positioned on the sides while Celestina and Matheus were positioned at the rear.

A while later Matheus was finally able to adapt himself to the new mount and had taken over the reins from Celestina. She was still giving him pointers on how to maneuver the beast so she was still sitting with him in the large saddle.

She still felt the lingering heat on her waist and couldn't help smiling a little. Matheus had noticed this, but the usually blank-faced girl had begun to show more and more emotions on her face the longer they got to know each other.

It was a rather pleasant journey through the rugged terrain, except for the fact that the sun was glaring down on them. It was a good thing that Matheus had listened to the old captain's words and stripped away his armor and wore ice-enchanted clothing to stave away the sweltering heat.

All of his armor was currently packed away in his luggage and he was able to purchase a few of these clothing only because he had been able to sell a few of his belongings. Celestina also helped him open up a bank account to convert the excess money he had gotten from the trade into credits.

It was his first time seeing the universal currency of this world and it severely intrigued him. The banks of this world were functioned the same as the banks from Earth. The only catch was that the banks in this world used magic.

A few days into their journey, everyone was currently resting since night had fallen. The climate in this unpleasant place was fluctuating between hot and cold as the day and night cycled. It was deep into the evening and the temperature was starting to decline so they stopped to pitch camp.

It was impossible to move during the night when the temperatures were so low. The landwyrms and the titanwyrm also grew sluggish in the cold so they wouldn't be able to move anyway.

While they were setting up camp, Matheus felt off about something and he quickly grabbed his glaive.

"Celes, go alert everyone else...I feel danger approaching..." Matheus said.

"Huh? O-okay!"

Matheus quickly got himself ready. He wasn't certain that there was anything out there in the dark, but he just felt a faint feeling as if something was looming over their campsite at the moment.

Celestina had put up a few defensive spells and enchantments to ward off any monsters from getting too close but there was this impending sense of danger that Matheus had suddenly started feeling just a few moments ago.

Rather than not acting on this gut feeling of his, it was better if he notified everyone and if nothing happened then it was only a false alarm.

Matheus concentrated on his surroundings and tried to pick up any sort of sign that could indicate whether or not something was out there.

Celestina soon notified the captain and he immediately had the other knights form a circle around Cecilia and her attendants. He immediately walked over next to Matheus and ask, "What is it do you feel, lad?"

"...I'm not sure Sir Oscar, but I detected killing intent being directed at us earlier...it's gone for now but there's this feeling of being watched that's bugging me..." Matheus replied. Celestina wasn't the only one who had been trying to get to know him.

The knight captain had been rather impressed by Matheus's combat prowess and had similarly been chatting with him from time to time while occasionally inviting him for a drink. He had gotten to know the other knights in the group and was now well acquainted with the captain.

"I felt the killing intent as well. I don't believe that they are human and it could just be some monsters... Also, I don't feel like we're being watched, or maybe it's just because I'm getting too old?"

"Celes—uh, I mean, Lady Celestina put up a monster-warding magic spell earlier, right?"

"Yes, she did, but if it was a high-ranked monster then it wouldn't affect them—Ah!"

"If it is a high-ranked monster, then wouldn't it be a bigger problem?" Matheus calmly said.

"...I just hope that isn't the case... if we had to move, it'd be hard because the landwyrm species have a very hard time moving in the cold. If the night wasn't as cold as it is here, then we wouldn't have to worry about relocating campsites..." Knight-Captain Oscar said.

Oscar thought for a moment before he went to gather the other knights together, "I'm sure you all sensed the brief killing intent that was directed at us a moment ago. Here's the plan, we'll stay on guard and rotate shifts. Ron, Blake, and Heather, you three go and rest up first. Matheus, Don, and I will take the first shift. Remember one thing everybody, if you can confirm that there is something out there, immediately alert everyone, and don't try to be a hero..."

"Yes sir!" The knights replied in unison while Matheus only nodded in agreement.

After giving out the orders, Oscar went to inform Cecilia about what Matheus and everyone sensed earlier and the precautions that they were going to take.

The other landwyrms were sleeping around the larger titanwyrm while they were supposed to be camping a few meters away. As for Celestina, Cecilia, and her attendants, they were requested to sleep together on the titanwyrm's howdah.

Matheus walked back over to where he sensed the gaze was coming from. He leaned back on the sleeping landwyrm and tightly clutched onto his glaive as he glared back out into the darkness ahead of him.

"This is gonna be a sleepless night..."