Morning quickly arrived, Jacob and Xenia were geared and ready to leave the room by the time the coachman knocked on their door.

"The carriage will be ready in five minutes my lord."

Jacob gave a nod of approval and sat on his bed.

"You still haven’t told me what happened last night, young master." Xenia told him, brushing her wavy red hair lightly.

"Well nothing much, I just caught a thief."

"When did you become an officer of the law," she asked, turning her gaze to him.

"It was a little kid, it turns out his mother was sick, so I had to help—it was no issue. really." Jacob sighed and leaned backwards on the bed frame, he wondered slightly if he should’ve stayed a little longer to receive their appreciation.

He cut his thoughts short and decided he made the best decision, if he and Eren’s paths were to ever cross later in the future then it would be fate.

_ _ _

Before long they had left their room and made their way to the front office.

"There’s my handsome traveller! Jacob, was it?" Gelda exclaimed with open arms, her chin mole looking bigger than the previous day.

Jacob shrugged and furrowed his brows, Xenia smiled and bid farewell to the old-but-spry woman.

They both settled in the carriage and soon they were past the gates of Myren town.

"So, Levi—is there a way we can get to the sect without going through this forest." Jacob asked the coachman.

"Sure my lord."

"Then, let’s do that, I have a mission to fulfil, until I have done so, I will not be at rest."

The coachman acknowledged Jacob’s request and immediately steered the horses in an alternate direction.

They had traveled for hours, listening to the sounds of chirping birds, the whirling winds and the trotting and whinnying of the three horses that pulled the carriage.

Xenia spent most of her time in the lotus position, cultivating however she could.

Jacob on the other hand just sat there, either playing with his system UI, fiddling with a number of weapons or just testing out some of his affinities.

He seemed to take a liking to his fire affinity so he just tested it out however he could, the limit was his imagination. He would create constructs made entirely of fire, or send fireballs at random objects he saw along the way.

_ _ _ 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Somewhere along the road, a group of ten men, holding different weapons, hid in the bushes, a scout had already informed them that a carriage seemingly belonging to royalty was passing through that road.

"Listen you idiots—we have only one chance at this, if we get it right, we become filthy rich, is that understood?" The leader, a young man no older than thirty, with a full black beard and a shaved head spoke.

"YES SIR!" The rest of the gang chorused in unison.

They all resumed their camouflage positions and waited, not too long after, someone further ahead sent a signal—a bird sound.

"There it comes!" The leader said.

They all watched as a sizable carriage rolled towards them, pulled by three majestic steeds. This carriage was blue in color, and had gold plated fillings, its wheels entirely made of silver steel.

The leader of the gang momentarily day-dreamt of all the money they would get if they sold a carriage of such design and caliber.

They waited a few minutes until the carriage was close enough.

"Hold your horses, we go in 3, 2, 1..."

In a split second, they ambushed the carriage, five behind, five in front.

A shotgun was held to the face of the coachman, who held his hands up in surrender.

"Unmount your carriage and hand over all your gold, fool." The leader of the gang started, "And don’t even think of running."

"M—My—My Lord... it seems we are under attack again." The coachman said, carefully alighting from the carriage and standing off to the side, his hands still raised in surrender.

One of the bandits walked over to the side of the carriage and knocked on it, "We know you’re in there, we don’t wanna hurt you, just come out and do whatever we say."

Jacob sighed, he hadn’t gotten a full day’s rest since he left the castle and it was starting to annoy him.

He and Xenia slowly came down from the carriage, he looked ahead, and found five bandits lined up in front of the carriage, behind them was another five, all holding guns.

’This is a strange world, even common folk have guns here.’ Jacob mused, a faint smile playing on his lips for a second as he found it amusing.

"What do you want?" Jacob asked, looking at the leader of the gang.

"Well, since you’re asking, all we want is the carriage..." the leader started, "...and the horses." Jacob sighed but the man wasn’t done, "...and the gold, and the jewelry."

"So, your plan is to rob us dry in the middle of the road?" Jacob inquired, a confused look on his face.

"Basically." The man responded.

"And if I refuse?"

"Then you die."

"Is that so? Then I choose death, that is—if you’re able to kill me." Jacob responded, a wide grin on his face.

The gang leader looked a little nervous now, he could not understand why this tall, teenage boy was smiling, he and the rest of his crew exchanged glances, all equally in confusion.

Finally he spoke up, "It seems you do not understand the situation you are currently in, you either give us your riches, or you die!" He raised his voice, beads of sweat dripping down his forehead."

"You speak a great deal about death, you don’t know death like I do—I have been face to face with it—in its rawest form, so death—does not scare me!"

That sentence caused Xenia, who had her hand on her sheathed sword this whole time, to look at him with concern, surely the young master had never been face-to-face with death so she knew not of what he spoke about.

"Wha—" before the man could finish his sentence, Jacob waved his hand, their guns flew forcefully out of their hands, floating in the air.

Jacob waved his hand again, this time the guns spun around and faced them.

The men were already shaking in their boots after the scene that unfolded before them, some had even soiled themselves.

Jacob met the gaze of the gang leader one more time, and in a split second, the guns’ triggers were pulled, all at once.

Jacob smiled sinisterly, "Now that the scenario has changed, give me all your money, jewelry and belongings..." said Jacob, "...or you die."

All the men, completely engulfed by fear, hurriedly began to drop every single one of their valuables on the ground.

"W—Who are you?" The gang leader asked, his voice shaking.

"Well, I’m Jacob, of course. Now that I have what I need from you, get the fuck out of here." Jacob commanded.

They all turned around and scrambled away, each one running in a different direction, whimpering and yelling like they had just seen a ghost.

’For someone who spoke so much about death, he sure was afraid,’ Jacob thought as he dropped all the guns on the floor and re-entered the carriage.

The coachman collected himself, and they were back on their journey in no time.