Jason arrived at the mission location two days later.
Standing with Jason were three other sturdy warriors. Before them stood their employer, Svenge. He gave no surname, saying only that he was a high-ranking member of the Dawson Chamber of Commerce and that a transfer required him to travel from the southernmost end of the Dark Alliance to Fenlai City.
Svenge already had two guards: a Seventh-level Warrior with a longsword on his back, and an archer of the seventh rank.
There was also a coachman, whom Jason estimated to have the strength of a Fifth-level Warrior.
The three men who had taken the mission alongside Jason were all Sixth-level Warriors, around thirty years old. Jason was the youngest of the group.
Svenge looked each adventurer over, letting his gaze linger on Jason a little longer, but said nothing.
Finally, he spoke. "Everyone, I am headed to Fenlai City to take up a post. Thank you in advance for doing your best to escort me. I will provide food and horses for the journey, but since time is short, we may have very little rest each night. Please bear with it. Once we reach Fenlai City, I, Svenge, will reward you generously."
When Jason and the other three nodded their agreement, Svenge called for everyone to set out.
After they had traveled for a while, Jason discreetly used Soul Probe to examine Svenge's soul. As expected, he could not sense it. Svenge was at least a mage at the peak of the sixth rank.
The twelve kingdoms and thirty-two duchies west of the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts were divided between two alliances, the Light Alliance and the Dark Alliance.
According to Svenge's plan, their route would take them through five kingdoms and eleven duchies. They would follow the main road straight north, stopping only briefly in each nation's capital. When they spent the night in the wild, they would take turns resting for four hours.
Their mounts were ordinary horses, while Svenge rode in an unassuming carriage. The journey was expected to take more than half a month.
Only after two days on the road did Jason realize that the mission seemed rather difficult. No wonder the receptionist had looked as though he wanted to say something but held back.
"It's only fun when there's a challenge." Jason didn't mind. He had magic scrolls to save his life, and more than one.
Another startled Bloodthirsty War Boar ran out. The two Sixth-level Warriors riding at the front leaped from their horses and killed it with one strike each. They then dug out its magicite core, mounted up, and caught up with the party again.
This was the third mishap. The previous one had involved a Shadowmouse of the fourth rank, which had sprung straight from the road onto the underside of the carriage when it slowed on a rough mountain path.
Jason's senses had detected it, and after he warned Svenge, Svenge got out to inspect the carriage, allowing them to kill it.
Of course, Jason didn't believe a Shadowmouse of the fourth rank could kill Svenge, but if it had actually made it inside the carriage, it would certainly have caused some chaos.
Finally, on the third day, Svenge and his party reached Grewenhaus City, the capital of the Grewenhaus Duchy.
It was already evening when they entered the city, and they planned to spend the night there.
They reserved a private dining room, and all eight sat down together.
Svenge paid no mind to the adventurers' rough manners, but before they ate, the archer used a special method to test every dish in turn. He even spot-checked the cups and utensils.
The meal was delicious, but everyone was very quiet.
Seeing Svenge's concern, Jason, having accepted the mission, felt he should do some of the things a guard was supposed to do. After dinner, when he went to the toilet before bed, he used Soul Probe to check the surroundings and found nothing unusual.
He then returned to the room. The four adventurers slept in the same room.
When he walked in, the other three adventurers were breathing evenly and appeared to be fast asleep. They didn't even notice the sound of Jason closing the door.
"What did that Jason fellow do?" Svenge asked.
"When I saw him go to the toilet, there was a faint, strange fluctuation of magical power inside. He might have been sending a signal."
The coachman standing before Svenge cultivated both magic and combat skills. His dark-element battle-qi and magic were both at the fifth rank, and he was especially skilled at sensing and assassination.
"A Seventh-level Warrior concealed his strength to join our group. Sure enough, he's up to no good," said the Seventh-level Warrior.
Svenge nodded as well. "I was going to wait and see what he wanted to do, but now that we've confirmed he's a Seventh-level Warrior, let's deal with him sooner rather than later. He's too strong for us to control."
The archer complained, "Does that guy think we're idiots? A Seventh-level Warrior dares to go undercover and thinks we won't notice?"
The next day, Jason traveled with the group as usual. They rode hard as before, occasionally stopping to let the horses rest.
Toward evening, as they passed a hill, the group stopped again and prepared to light a fire and eat, as usual.
Then Jason realized he was surrounded.
Svenge was not the only one who had discovered that Jason was a Seventh-level Warrior. The three adventurers were also battle-hardened men with sharp eyes, and they had realized Jason was concealing his strength even earlier than Svenge.
"Tell me what you know. How is Haniefei planning to ambush and kill me? If the information satisfies me, I can let you go," Svenge said calmly.
Jason looked around at the others.
"Sorry, Mr. Svenge. I left home to travel, and I don't know the person you're talking about. Also, my surname is Rhein." Jason gave a brief explanation, then took out his clan emblem.
He wasn't the sort who liked to be mysterious. In a situation like this, he could simply reveal his identity. As a royal family, the Rhine Clan still carried considerable weight in the outside world.
Svenge frowned. He knew members of the Rhine Clan, but he had no way to confirm whether the clan emblem in Jason's hand was genuine.
The emblems of major clans were made with magic and had certain protections against counterfeiting, but only the relevant people could tell the difference.
In the end, Svenge could only compromise. He had no need to risk killing a suspected member of the Rhine Clan-he had heard before that members of the Rhine Clan were few and precious, and that every one of them was exceptionally gifted.
Jason took out a magicite core of the fifth rank and tossed it in front of him as a token payment for the horse he was riding. However, he thought they might suspect there was something wrong with it and not take it at all.
"In the end, I still have to travel alone. But this is a little more carefree, too." By the following evening, Jason had reached a city on the border of the Grewenhaus Duchy.
Jason had previously spent a year in the Sunset Mountain Range because he had stopped and started along the way to hone his martial skills, and had traveled on foot through dense forest.
Now that he was riding a horse along the main road, even an ordinary horse was enough to get him to his destination, Fenlai City, within two months, even without rushing.
Jason had already bought maps of the countries in both alliances, intending to spend more time exploring the cities along the way.
In the original story, Linley had spent the early part of the story in the Fenlai Kingdom and later wiped out both churches outright. There had been no account of the customs and ways of life in the other kingdoms.
Leading his horse and eating skewers he had bought by the roadside, he found they tasted good.
"What a pity I don't have an Interspatial Ring. Otherwise, I could bring some souvenirs and local specialties home for my family." Jason looked at the goods along the road and lamented that his pack couldn't hold them. "How about writing home instead? When did I last write? I think it was three months ago."
Jason had earlier planned to write home as soon as he reached the Dark Alliance, but he had forgotten because he was busy taking the mission.