A couple of days passed and we finally made it to the foot of the Grand Mountains, which indeed lived up to its name.
Along the way, only Helen managed to lay down her pride and ask Arthur for some clarification on the feint step. He went over it slowly, explaining what the timing of the interval between the last right foot and the left foot should be and how to properly balance the output of mana into both feet so you could go the way you're aiming. The whole time, I could almost see the ears of the other three idiots getting bigger as they tried to suck in the information that Arthur gave her, nodding while taking mental notes.
The first one to succeed was Jasmine. She seemed like the cold, genius type. I guess it was true.
She pulled us aside one day, nearly blushing, while we were taking reading and writing lessons on the back of the carriage with mother and asked us to watch.
We had to take a small stop so the carriages wouldn't leave us behind. After successfully demonstrating the feint step to us, Arthur applauded saying, "Amazing! You learned it so quickly!"
"Congratulations on learning it, Ms. Flamesworth," I said, clapping.
It's one of the most basic techniques Arthur developed in his last life, but I wasn't going to tell her that.
She responded curtly saying, "It was nothing", but the upward curvature of her lips and the slight, proud twitch of her nose showed otherwise.
Haha, she's happy, I thought to myself.
By the time we'd arrived at the foot of the Grand Mountains, all four of the idiots managed to learn the technique, changing it slightly to fit their own fighting style.
The next step of the journey was ascending up the mountains. Luckily, there was a path around two carriages wide that circled around the mountain, eventually leading to the teleportation gate at the top.
The front carriage included Durden, holding the reins in the front, with father besides him to keep him company. This carriage held most of our luggage. Helen was currently seated on the top of the second carriage, the one me and Arthur were riding in, scouting for any abnormalities.
Angela sat in the back carriage with Mother, me and Arthur, while Adam walked behind us, keeping guard. While Jasmine steered the carriage, I kept noticing how she turned her head back and stared at us, almost making *jiii* sounds. Is she expecting us to show her other techniques or something? Every time we met her gaze, she quickly turned her head back to the front.
What is she, five?
Speaking of age, we turned 4 on the first leg of our journey to the foot of the Grand Mountains. I don't know when Mother prepared a cake, or where she even put it(or if it's even edible!), but I didn't complain, put on a big smile, and thanked her and everyone else.
While everyone gave me a hug or a pat on the back, Jasmine surprised us then when she handed me two small daggers a bit big for me, and Arthur a short knife, simply declaring, "Presents."
Aw, she cares about us.
Fortunately, the journey up the mountain was rather uneventful. Arthur spent a lot of my time reading my book on mana manipulation, trying to find more discrepancies between mana and Ki while I meditated.
While I was meditating, I was interrupted by Helen's alarmed voice.
"BANDITS! PREPARE TO ENGAGE!" she shouted, as a rumble of footsteps invaded the right and rear.
"Submit, O' wind and follow my will. I command and gather you around in protection. Wind Barrier!" Instantly I, and Arthur, felt a gust of wind forming a tornado around Mother, Angela, Arthur and I. Then the gust bent into a sphere around us.
Angela was holding out her wand, concentrating on keeping the barrier active while arrows constantly bombarded the barrier, only to get redirected to a different direction.
My mother pulled us in close, trying to shield us using her body from whatever might get through. Thankfully, her efforts didn't seem to be necessary as the barrier held strong.
In a matter of seconds, the tarp covering the carriage was torn to shreds and I got a better view of the situation at hand.
We were completely surrounded.
YOU ARE READING
TBATE - Brother's Once More
FanfictionWhat if the indomitable and cold-hearted King Grey hadn't actually been alone? What if he and his most trusted ally had been together through everything? King Grey had sealed his heart from anyone. Anyone with the exception of his right hand, and mo...
