Second World

Vincenzu's followers immediately ran towards their young master, shouting his name with concern all the way. Even the two that Jack had beaten before were limping over.

The two guards watched Vincenzu's body that was far away. They looked at each other.

"No damage," one of the guards said.

"No damage," the other confirmed.

The two then said to Jack, "Well, Mister Marquess from Themisphere. Please don't cause any more trouble. We will overlook this."

"Thank you for your leniency, kind guards," Jack replied with a slight bow. "But I'm afraid those people will just come and make trouble for us again"

"Let's go warn them," One of the guards offered.

"Let's," The other agreed.

They then went over to Vincenzu's group. They had been annoyed by Vincenzu's condescending attitude. They also liked Jack's polite attitude. Now that an opportunity arose for them to scold Vincenzu, they were happy to do it.

When Vincenzu's group showed themselves, Jack had been asking Peniel in his mind, whether it would be a problem for him to assault other players here. Peniel said that starting from Earl, one received certain diplomatic immunity in friendly countries as long as the offense was not too severe. Hitting lower-rank nobles for a defensive purpose without causing any loss of HP could be considered a not severe offense. That's why Jack dared to assault Vincenzu and his followers.

With the guards warning Vincenzu's group, they didn't dare to come to bother Jack and Grace anymore. They gave the two hostile glares from afar.

"They said they will come at us once we leave the capital," Grace said.

"Oh, I sincerely hope they do," Jack replied.

"You are angry," Grace said with a teasing smile.

"What? Why do you say that?"

"The way you hit that young master, it was filled with anger."

"You are imagining things," Jack said.

"I can't read his mind if he doesn't let me, but I can feel his feeling," Peniel said. "He indeed was angry at that time."

"Oh? I wonder what you are angry about?" Grace said again, with a wider smile.

"Let's go find an inn. It's very late already. We will depart for my quest tomorrow," Jack said and walked to where their driver was still waiting for them.

Grace and Peniel giggled before following him.

Jack asked the driver to take them to the best inn in this capital. The inn the driver took them to look more like a modern hotel. It was ten storeys tall. It was one of the tallest buildings Jack had seen when they first arrived in this capital. It had a spacious lobby and a restaurant inside. It even had a huge swimming pool. Jack felt as if he was back in the modern world again.

Jack rented two rooms, one for him and one for Grace. The room cost him five gold coins each. Grace thought it was a waste to spend so many coins just for a night of sleep. Jack told her to just take it easy, it's not like they visit this place every day. This might probably be the only time they stayed here. He used his coins to pay for Grace's room as well. Grace wanted to pay him back but he insisted she kept her coins.

*

The next morning, the driver that had been chauffeuring them yesterday was on standby in front of the hotel. He was grinning widely after seeing Jack and Grace coming out of the inn. He definitely had been waiting for them on purpose.

Jack didn't mind. It was better to have a guide rather than looking for this capital's exit by themselves. The driver took them to a huge cave tunnel. Jack saw at the end of this tunnel what looked like a station. Many steam-powered vehicles were parked at that station. The same steam-powered vehicles that they had seen when they were dining at the restaurant up on the mountain. These steam-powered vehicles were larger than the ones that were used inside the capital.

The driver dropped them beside this station. Jack gave him an extra gold coin for his service, which made up his day. He waved the two goodbyes and asked them to find him in case they visited this capital again.

Jack and Grace walked into the station and saw that there was a path for travelers who wish to travel on foot. They could already see the outside from where they were. They also saw one of the large trains on stand-by at one side of the stations. People were lining up to get on the train.

As was agreed yesterday, they asked around for the service of the steam-powered vehicle. Jack showed the map coordinates to someone who might be the station master. This station master then brought Jack to one of the steam-powered vehicles with a standby driver.

The station master explained that the coordinates that Jack showed were in the wilderness that had no road access. So, the vehicle could only take Jack close to that spot. It would take the vehicles two days to get there. He estimated that Jack still needed another three days of riding to reach the marked location.

Jack thanked the station master. The fee for the vehicles was paid upfront. Jack paid the fee which was four gold coins.

"You see? You have been swindled by that driver from the city," Grace said to Jack. "Four gold coins were worth two full days of travel. You paid more than that just for yesterday."

Jack said not to worry about it so much. They could easily get that number of coins back.

*

After a few hours of travel, Jack started to regret taking the carriage. Because unlike the carriage inside the city, this carriage that traveled outside cannot stop. If the occupants jumped down from the carriage, the service is considered done and the carriage will return to the station. This meant that they couldn't grind for exp as they journeyed.

The monsters they saw in their journey are still low-level, so it's no big loss there. What Jack regretted was that many of the monsters they saw are new ones. He might need to come back again to hunt those monsters if he wanted to complete his monster books collection.

They only saw the monsters from afar. The roads that this carriage traveled on seemed to be enchanted so monsters didn't come near. They also occasionally saw players travel using their steeds along this road, it provided them with safe passage to go to other towns or cities connected by these roads.

'Truly a different experience,' Jack thought of those players on the road.

While Jack was lamenting his loss in slaying new monsters, Grace seemed to be enjoying the ride. Seeing her satisfied expression, Jack didn't think too much about the loss. He could always come back later.

Jack ended up practicing his skills since there were not many things to do other than chatting with Grace and the carriage's driver. It's a good thing the carriage was open air, so he could throw his skills and spells outside. If it was a closed vehicle, he wouldn't be able to do it without damaging the interior. Of course, he took care to aim his skills at unoccupied spaces. It would be a problem if he accidentally hit the passing people.

When Jack started doing it, Grace also followed. The two ended up tossing their skills around. The driver turned and looked at the two with worry. 'What kind of customers do I get this time? Why can't they act like normal passengers?' He thought.

*

As had been estimated by the stationmaster, The journey by carriage took them two days. The driver told them the place he dropped them was the closest he could get them to the coordinates they mentioned. Jack thanked the driver, he also gave the driver a tip of one gold coin, which Grace again thought of as being a spendthrift act.

The driver was beaming with a smile from the tip. He wished them luck before turning back and riding away.

Jack and Grace summoned their steeds to resume their journey. As usual, Pandora had to adjust her speed to the speed of Grace's rare steed. She huffed with dissatisfaction as she had to slow herself down to a canter.

They were now out of the road so monsters were abundant. Most were still below their level, though, around level 30. Jack only went to kill it if it was a new monster not yet recorded in his monster books.

After a while of traveling and slaying monsters, Grace asked, "Are they still following?"

Since they left Balgadur, Jack had seen a group of blue dots following behind them from his radar. But since they were on a road, it was not strange. It could just be some carriages traveling on the same road at the same speed. However, after leaving the carriage and entering the true wilderness, these blue dots were still tailing them. They were certain then that they were followed.

"Yes," Jack replied with a grin.