This group of armed men was more than enough to make Adrian feel safe. He was finally ready to start his journey.

Before leaving, Adrian took a long walking trip around his town to make sure everything was fine.

Most of the old, broken buildings were already repaired and occupied. New businesses were popping up everywhere. Some people had opened small restaurants, while most of the others opened inns to house the traveling merchants.

Adrian walked to the outskirts of the residential area. This used to be nothing but empty, dry, barren farmland.

Now, there were multiple large tents pitched in the dirt. He saw plenty of people living out there because the town simply did not have enough houses for the surging population.

He did not really know what to do about the housing crisis just yet. He decided he would think of a proper plan to expand his territory’s borders later. For now, he had other important things to handle. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

His land was stable. It thrived on trade. Just by selling iron and steel, his people could afford plenty of food and still save up a lot of coins. He was very happy with how things were progressing.

It was finally time to leave.

Adrian packed his things and prepared his carriage. He did not rent this one. He had Damian buy it directly from Viscount Alexander’s territory.

Adrian did not care who built it, as long as it looked good and Damian made sure that it looked great.

The inside had incredibly nice cushions on both sides. The windows could be opened to let the breeze in or closed tight to block the dust. It even had thick curtains for privacy.

The only issue was that this carriage did not have any suspension. Just like most vehicles in this era, the ride was going to be extremely bumpy. Adrian could not do much about that right now, so he just accepted his fate and climbed inside.

The twenty mercenaries rode their own horses and formed a protective perimeter. Adrian paid the mercenary group 20 silver coins a day, which meant that each one of them could take 1 silver with them per day but he didn’t really care about how they distributed it. That was their issue, not his.

One silver coin a day was a massive payout per person. It let the older adventurers make serious money without risking their lives in dangerous dungeons every single day. Escorting a noble along established trade routes was basically a paid vacation for them.

Adrian, Aria, and Claire climbed into the main carriage. They stuffed their extra clothes and supplies into the storage compartment built right under the wooden seats.

"This is really soft, Papa." Aria said, bouncing slightly on the velvet cushions.

"Enjoy it while we are stopped." Adrian chuckled. "Once we start moving, it is going to feel like we are sitting in a wooden barrel rolling down a rocky hill."

A second carriage followed right behind them. This one was purely for carrying heavy goods. It held their cooking utensils, Claire’s heavy knight armor, and a lot of extra supplies.

Adrian had hidden multiple wooden boxes of silver coins inside the second carriage. No one else knew the silver was in there except for him and Damian.

The convoy slowly moved out of Oresfall and headed toward Viscount Alexander’s territory. The journey was loud and rocky, exactly like Adrian warned.

A few hours later, they spotted another large armed convoy traveling down the same main road. Felicia and Bastian were riding inside the central carriage.

They were heading to the capital to start their own business with their fathers’ permission.

Felicia spotted Adrian through the window and ordered her driver to match their pace.

"Baron Adrian." Felicia smiled, leaning out of her carriage window. "Are you heading to the capital as well?"

"Just traveling to gather some resources." Adrian said. "Good to see you, Lady Felicia."

"Would you mind if we joined your convoy?" she asked. "There is safety in numbers."

"Sure." Adrian nodded. "We would be happy to have you."

He did not see any negative side to traveling with more armed guards. There was no reason to reject them.

Adrian booked a room for the night at a roadside inn. He completely ignored the Viscount’s estate nearby. He just wanted to sleep without dealing with exhausting noble politics.

They hit the road again early the next morning. Felicia and Bastian’s carriage rolled right behind Adrian’s.

Adrian mostly kept to himself and read his magic theory books.

He did notice Claire going out of her way to avoid Bastian every time they stopped for a break. She would literally walk in the opposite direction the second her brother stepped out.

Adrian kept his mouth shut. Digging into someone’s messy family drama was not his job.

A few hours later, the convoy rolled into a dense stretch of woods.

Loud shouts suddenly erupted from the front lines. The horses shrieked and the carriages slammed to a halt.

Adrian rubbed his temples and let out a long sigh.

’Of course.’ he thought. ’Traveling in a carriage automatically spawns bandits. Yay.’

He stayed inside and just rolled down his window to look ahead.

Claire did not waste a second. She kicked the carriage door open and hit the dirt with her sword already drawn.

Adrian looked past his mercenary escort. A massive group of armed men stood right in the middle of the road.

There were at least forty bandits rushing out from the treeline.

A bandit group this large was actually pretty rare. But Adrian was not worried at all. It was the mercenaries’ job to handle this exact situation.

"Claire, stay near the carriage and protect Aria," Adrian ordered. "Let the mercenaries take care of this. After all, that’s why I’m paying them."

"Understood," Claire said, taking a defensive stance by the wooden wheels.

Besides his twenty mercenaries, Felicia and Bastian had brought twenty trained soldiers to protect them. That gave the defenders thirty armed men in total.

Adrian leaned against the window frame. ’How did these bandits even think they could fight thirty armed men?’ he thought.