By the time Ash's fever broke, three days had passed.
During that time, they had gone through the last of the mountain rations — and so, they bought more. Simple meals, dried goods, nothing fancy, but enough to get by.
The days had been peaceful. Too peaceful, almost.
No trouble, no surprises. Just rest.
Suspicious…
But Vael wasn't about to complain. For once, three whole days had gone by without something unexpected trying to kill them.
A rare feat.
They departed in the early morning, hoping to make the most of the daylight.
Ash rode with Kiera, sharing her bulkier horse, while Vael took point on Eclipse. They kept a steady pace — fast enough to cover ground, but slow enough to avoid tiring the animals too soon.
As they moved farther from the Alps, the cold mountain air gradually gave way to something gentler. Warmer. The sharp scent of pine faded, replaced by softer fragrances carried on the wind. The trees began to change, too — birch, maple, oak — a welcome shift for Vael and Kiera, who had grown used to the endless wall of conifers.
Their first day of travel passed without incident.
That night, they stopped at a small checkpoint and made camp.
As they settled in for the night, with the fire crackling softly and the horses resting nearby, Vael took a moment for himself.
He sat a little apart from the others, staring into the flames, letting the quiet of the checkpoint settle around him.
So much had happened since the day he regressed.
His family's desperate escape. The months of torture inside the lab. His blood-soaked evasion. The endless struggle to survive in the forest. The loss of his eye. The rebel camp. The march through the Alps.
And now… the final stretch.
It hadn't been a perfect path — far from it. He'd made mistakes, taken hits, faced doubts he hadn't expected.
But one thing had remained constant: he kept moving forward.
He had changed.
He was still changing.
And through it all, he had never stopped trying to become someone worthy of the second chance he'd been given.
The next days flew by like an arrow.
Days two, three, four, and five of their travels were as uneventful as the first.
The most exciting thing that happened was the snow finally disappearing as they moved into warmer regions.
They passed a few villages on the way but didn't bother stopping.
They had also left the forest trails behind, now following a straight road that would lead them to the capital city in about two days.
On the sixth day, they finally came across another group of travelers.
There were 8 of them—5 on horseback, 1 driving the carriage, and two riding in the carriage.
They were moving a bit slower than Eclipse and Sundance, so Vael, Kiera, and Ash quickly caught up.
As Vael reached their level, he peeked inside the carriage.
But before he could get a proper look, one of the men on horseback cut him off.
"Halt! Why do you approach this carriage?"
Vael wasn't one to back down from a fight—but even he could feel the difference in power between them.
'Peak Fourth Stage,' Kiera said in his mind.
Trying to ease the tension, Vael raised his hands slightly and replied with a casual smile,
"Oh, sorry, sir. I was just curious."
The man narrowed his eyes, but after a moment, he relaxed his grip on the reins.
"…Fine. Just don't try anything funny."
Vael gave a small nod and slowed his horse slightly, allowing the carriage to catch up beside him. He leaned in just enough to glance through the open window.
Inside were two young nobles — a boy and a girl, both around Vael's age. The girl had short, golden hair and wore a practical travel coat over an embroidered tunic. The boy, a bit more overdressed in a vest lined with silver thread, offered a polite smile the moment their eyes met.
"Curious traveler?" the girl asked, tilting her head with mild amusement.
"Guilty," Vael replied with a half-smile. "Didn't mean to cause trouble."
"You didn't," said the boy. "Gareth's just overprotective."
He motioned toward the rider who'd stopped Vael.
"I'm Lysar Ravenslow, and this is Edward Moonshine. We're childhood friends," said Lysar.
Without a second thought, Vael activated his Spatial Awareness to test out a trick he'd picked up recently.
As his brain was flooded with the familiar sensation, Vael focused on the riders' heartbeats.
Then, he analyzed whether their pulses shifted unnaturally—an indication of a lie.
But no. No lies whatsoever.
Of course, this method wasn't perfect.
A more powerful person could manually regulate their heartbeat with mana, or use a charm—or even an ability—to conceal their true state from others.
But for now, it was useful to have a built-in lie detector—flawed as it was, even if it sometimes led to incorrect judgments.
"So, where are you and your friends headed? The academy, I suppose," said Edward, giving a knowing look.
"That's right. You have no idea what we endured just to get the chance to be students," replied Vael with a sigh.
"Well, that's interesting! It means we might be classmates," said Lysar, smiling.
"Sure…" Vael responded, uncertain. "Let's meet again, yeah?"
Vael wasn't a fool. He knew nobles lived in a world of their own. They wouldn't allow commoners in the same class as them—let alone tribesmen and rebels, their supposed enemies.
That's when his thoughts drifted to the current state of the war.
Officially, a ceasefire was in place. Both sides were forbidden from attacking one another.
And yet, it still felt like war.
Vael had lived it himself.
His village—burned.
The lab.
The rebel camp.
There was no all-out war, no open declaration.
But there was fighting.
There was death.
And if the nobles of the Empire refused to acknowledge that the ceasefire was being broken, then war would break out again. Sooner or later.
With that thought, Vael separated from the carriage under Gareth's ever-watchful eye, and his group picked up the pace.