In the history of the Southern continent, the idea of a safe place for humans doesn't exist.
Outside the cities, there are no villages, no towns, only a network of roads that are used by all and maintained by mages hired by the masses.
Throughout the continent, barely more than a hundred cities for humans to coexist.
The rest of the land belongs to different races, races which rule over their own environment with a body blessed to thrive in those places.
The lower third of the continent- Kalantia, is a land of forests with a constant war between the elves and their allies 'the druids', against Orcs and trolls who possess an endless greed within their stomachs.
The upper third is a mountain range that could hide over a hundred clover kingdoms within its peaks. A world for dwarves and goblins to fight off with their inventions under the bored gazes of Wvyerns and dragons.
And the middle half is the territory of beastkin who rule the plains and grasslands, leaving behind only a circular zone of empty mixed land plains in the center where humans live in their cities.
This was all the major history Asta could summarize from all the books he found.
And Currently he was sitting in the back of a cart, surrounded by hundreds of other carts on all sides as they together moved down a highway road maintained by mages.
No matter where he glanced, he could only see lines upon lines of carts filled with their own supplies and stalls.
This was no longer a caravan, this was a moving city, and he wouldn't be convinced otherwise.
"What a wierd civilization. But it feels oddly reassuring for some reason."
A small spark of electricity ran down Asta's hand as he spoke, his eyes stuck towards the road while he channeled Mana throughout his body.
It had only been 5 hours since the caravan moved on, but even now he had no idea about the people he was sharing his cart with.
All he knew was the cart's number and the identification he obtained at the tower, just those two alone were enough to grant him the permission to enter.
All this time he had just been sitting awkwardly in the back, sharing the vision and hearing from his real body to figure out the details in the meantime.
And there were three things he got to know,
"Those idiots(referring to blackbulls) just what sort of drama are they making this time."
Asta slowly raised his hand to eyebrows and squeezed, "why the heck are they making me marry Princia of all people!!"
Turns out, Princia declared her will to marry Asta despite his comatose state and that for some reason ended up getting a lot of support from citizens of clover kingdom.
Heck, almost all the squads supported her for some reason.
It made Asta believe this might be related to Princia's visit alongside Conrad about one and half week ago. But he still had a month to strengthen the link enough and stop the marriage.
Secondly, There was a peculiar figure who was dozing off in his territory right now.
"Sigh... I pity Vice-captain Nacht... He had to keep overlooking Andromelech. "
That's right, Androlmelech used the unconscious Asta and Liebe to gain free pass in clover kingdom and was currently lazing alongside Yami at the gambling den.
He even made a one-sided contract with Asta's real body, offering his loyalty for freedom so they wouldn't bother him.
Even now the guy was going around as he pleased, enjoying his carefree life as a Royal retainer thanks to some agreement with Julius and Lemiel.
And lastly, the biggest problem of them all, the very thought of which makes Asta frown from embarrassment.
"We like you!" were these words that came from Noelle's mouth during one of her visits.
...
"She said we... Not ' me' or 'I' but 'We' " Asta instinctively shivers and begans imagining.
" I was struggling with confessing to sister lily before... And now that I am not in control of my body... EVERYONE JUST KEEPS ******* CONFESSING!! "
...
Asta looks at his hands, his body turning black and white(comically) while he slumps backwards into a blanket.
The girls should have at least waited for him recover but NO... They just had confess their feelings when he can neither talk, nor reply.
Even so, the fact that he couldn't even get advice from his single seniors(Magna, Finral and Luck) was the most over the top punishment for him as the overthinking of what he should reply kept filling his mind.
Until eventually he blocked himself from his real body and took a deep stressful breath.
"Huff Why can't I have normal day after my reincarnation...? At least give me a few months to adapt!"
... Talking noises
"Hmmm? Maybe some normal talk help me calm my nerves. "
Locking onto the minimal sounds, Asta pulled himself on top of the cart.
He began looking around, noticing the caravan stopping one by one while the fortified carts were driven together to form a circular wall.
At the same time, he focused a little ki to enhance his ki sense, trying to observe the emotions around him.
And there were only a few emotions: Fear, Anxiety and Confusion.
"It looks like a monster wave is coming! "
"What are we gonna do!? We aren't even an military Caravan!"
"What else can we do except die? At least eat everything in our rations so those monsters get nothing!"
The nearby people's whispers entered Asta's ears, raising his vigilance even further.
Inwardly he clicked his tongue, his hand going to ruffle his hair while distant sounds of loud rumbling began flowing through the air.
"Sigh... Guess somethings dont change."
Asta ultimately was unable to endure his sense of duty as a knight and leapt down the stopped cart.
[Forced Mission: Hero of the Caravan started]
[Description: Prevent the Caravan's destruction]
[Reward: high class treatment throughout the remaining journey, link strength +5, trait- Mana blessing(Basic) ]
With the familiar ring of a mission, Asta began walking towards the edge with a lightly cautious expression.
He could see the panicking guards, meaning this wasn't something like a normal monster wave. And by the noticeable despair on the face of mages only made that judgement stronger.
However amidst that chaos, Asta stops a guard.
"What do you want!? Can't yo—"
"Give me your sword."
"Huh...? Why would I give you my sword?"
"If you want to survive... Hand it over."
Asta spreaded a wave of bloodlust upon the guard, terrifying him into fainting on the spot.
Then with a quick swipe, he grabbed the sword and scabbard from the guard's waist, grasping it while he walked towards the wall.
And then suddenly, the mana in his body began racing throughout his body, forming static sparks pulsing from his skin and turning his eyes blue from electricity.
Drag...
"Well, here goes Nothing."
BOOM!!
A single stomp of his foot sent Asta flying above the wall carts, flinging him onto the other side where he was greeted by a lines of guards and knights.
His sudden appearance startled the knights making them towards him in shock but he was only focused on the approaching dust cloud.
Just a bit of focus and Asta could figure the appearance of most of the approaching monsters. He found their appearance similar to armored insects with hundreds of sharp thorns across their heavy shells.
"Phew... * locks eyes * ZETTAN!!"
A aura of lightning formed on the sword, turning into blade of lightning the next instant as a single swung sent a flying arc towards the monsters.
The frontal insects couldn't even react as their bodies were split into two horizontal halves. Meanwhile the ones behind them were left paralyzed from electricity, halting them and turning the wave into a chaos filled stampede.
"Don't just stand there, you morons! Kill all insects who got flipped!"
The soldiers nodded at Asta's command and got to work, breaking their defensive formation for a spearhead one.
The flipper insects were pierced with dozens of spears and swords before they could get back on their feet, their soft joints becoming opens targets to attack.
Meanwhile Asta jumped towards the mountain of corpses, leaping on top of it and looked ahead at the approaching Monaters with a grin.
"Let's see how much I can push this body!"
He did a little stretching, cracking his knuckles and bones in preparation for what's to come.
Then as Electricity flowed through his body and his reflexes fastened. He leaned forward and leapt towards the wave.
The first swing beheaded a beetle, the second one cut the legs of many.
And soon enough, Asta was speed blitzing through the area, chopping the armored beasts's legs and using their bodies, as a makeshift wall formed from their piling bodies.
However maybe it was because his nerves were overstimulated. Asta failed to react to a slightly leaner insect among the horde.
Before he knew it, Asta's ki sense suddenly detected bloodlust between the mindless insects, making him turn his head in panic.
"A ant... with wings?"
Clang!!
The swift claws of the winged Ant like creature broke Asta's sword the moment it clashed, breaking through his block as his chest was caved in from a impact beside the slash mark on his chest.
But he didn't get hit for nothing, as before he was flung away, Asta used his fingers to cast a projectile type magic and blastes the ant in the face with dart of lightning.
The moment the projectile struck, the ant 's nerves exploded, leaving it in a half dead state.
Meanwhile Asta crashed into a beetle corpse and bounced backwards like tossed pebble, barely managing to land on his feet.
He looked ahead, coughing out a mouthfull of blood. He was behind the first corpse wall, surrounded by soldiers and guards who instantly came to his aid.
"Can you move, sir? " One of the guards respectively asked, "I doubt we will hold much longer without you."
However Asta just smiled, wiping blood from the corners of his mouth, " Don't worry about me, I have had worse... Find me a weapon instead."
The guard nodded and handed Asta his spear before joining the other soldiers in defending.
Meanwhile Asta was gauging out the damage to his ribs. He was pretty sure he had at least a few fractures but nothing lethal enough to hinder him.
This is what he gets for relying on his skills with no care for his body.
"Tch! Whatever...i would just not get hit again, that's the end of it."
As he slowly got used to the pain, Asta stood up and slowly began walking forward.
His speed was fastening with each step, turning from slow walking to normal and then to a sprint within the spam of ten seconds.
The lightning also returned to his body, this time also extending to the tip of the spear instead of ending at the end of fingers, forming a extended lighting coating on the spearhead as a result.
He had learned this technique while returning to hage but never really used it that much. It was also originally a sword technique.
Nevertheless now that he once more lacking the insane strength of developed devil body, even tricks like these might help out once in while.