69 Faceslapping

The carriage was moving faster and faster to escape from the angry spirit beast. Wind magic had accumulated on the person who was chasing after the carriage and they shot a blade of wind on the leg of the baskahound.

The basakhound seemed to lose its balance for a moment before balancing itself with its tail. It slid for a moment before the masked person sped up with their mount to the side of the carriage. Wind magic surrounded both the person and their mount so being faster than the baskahound wasn't too hard.

The masked person jumped from their mount and landed on top my carriage with a thunk before firing off a steady stream of arrows from their quiver. I couldn't see what was happening but the sounds were enough to clue me into what was happening.

Since there could be spies I was not allowed to use magic. All I could do was helplessly sit here and hope then Ren would protect me like he always had.

[ But why was Sora here? ]

" You in the carriage are you okay? " called the familiar voice.

" mm just shaken, " I said in a short and feminine tone.

A few more arrow sounds were heard before an ear piercing screech was sounded from the baskahound.

Next, there was the flash of water and another whoosh from a wind blade. Not being able to see was making me nervous so I poked my head out the window.

Ki carriage was coming up from behind followed by the rest of the carriages they were a fair distance away but they were close enough to cause some long distant damage.

The baskahound had an eye missing and blood trailing from its tail. It looked like it just about had enough of the barrage as it jumped off the road and headed into the forest to the left of us.

We kept racing for a little longer before Ren pulled the cart over.

As the carriage stopped I was thrown into the side of the wall. A slight bit of blood was trickling from my eyebrow as I had unsteadily walked out of the carriage.

I was caught quickly by Sora who was currently disguised.

" YUNA!" Ren called in his disguised voice.

He ran up to take me away from Sora.

" Your name young hero?" I said clutching my head.

" I didn't realize there was such a fair maiden in this carriage. I am truly glad I have come to your rescue. My name doesn't matter I shall be leaving now" Sora said with a blush and a bow.

[ How cheesy! ]

I thought to myself as the rest of the carriages caught up.

" No wait, please stay a little, you are this one's savior" I said in my faux lady voice.

" I could not do such a thing!" Sora struggled out the worlds.

[ This side of Sora is really funny! He is acting like those dumb guards. A little payback for him trying to kill me won't hurt, right? ]

I felt Sora's body temperature instantly rise and he touched my back before standing me back up gently.

" You should sit d..do..down! I'm leaving!" Sora said as he covered his face with one hand and raced into the forest.

[ It looks like he believes I am not Yuki. We shouldn't be followed anymore ]

I could feel Ren trying to stop his killing aura and looked at him before I winked.

Ki and Wen raced up to my side as Kibble's voice reverberated inside my mind. "You okay Yuki?"

[ Just a bump on my head and you? ]

" Alive and shaken" Kibbles responded.

I ended up explaining what happened to Wen and Ki as they checked through the stock to make sure nothing was missing.

The rest of the trip was uneventful and we finally made it back to the town that my grandfather lived just outside of.

We said our goodbyes to Wen and his team as they took their cart to the auction house before sending someone ahead with the goods for my grandfather's estate and a message of my soon to be a safe return.

I had to get changed out of the women's clothes so we went to an inn while Ren disappeared for a while and snuck in through my window with some new gear for me. It was black leather adventuring gear as well as some hidden daggers.

Ki and Ren spent an incense stick of time lecturing me on how to use them as well as staying away from Sora in future and not letting adventurers that I don't know follow me in future.

They had also told me to make sure to explain what had happened while we were away to grandfather and it would be best if I kowtowed outside of his door for several hours in self-punishment. They even went so far as to say that the training I would be having when I returned was doubled.

I felt like a deflated balloon but I was glad everyone was safe.

We stayed in the inn that night and bright and early the next day Ki, Ren, Kibbles and I walked back to my grandfather's estate.

Along the way Ki, Ren and I were throwing daggers at nearby trees while Kibbles fetched them to improve his speed.

The trip back to my grandfather's estate was much quicker then I had originally thought. It must have been due to the fact that Kibbles and I had taken the forest route and before we knew it there was a big iron fence.

We had finally made it back.

Grandfather was standing outside with rows and rows of guards and his arms crossed. I started feeling terrible nervous for some reason as we got closer. As soon as we reached near the gate both Ki and Ren kneeled down. I followed their lead quickly.

" Good work" Reo said to Ki and Ren.

He walked up to me asked me to stand before a crisp slap followed by a burning sensation landed on my face.

I held my cheek and looked up at Reo.

Tears were threatening to leak from his stubborn eyes.

" YOU STUPID BOY!" Reo said losing his temper as he wrapped his arms around me.

" You may very well be my only family left. Do you understand how worried I was?" Reo whispered in my ear and gripped me tighter.

I was honestly dumbfounded out of any words I wanted to say as my cheek stung. I cleared my throat and whispered, " I am sorry grandfather".

Grandfather hugged me for a few minutes more before standing up.

He cleared his throat and said " Your training will be doubled"

" Yes sir" I replied.

" You will not have breakfast until you practice 100 sword strokes each morning," Reo said with an eyebrow raised.

"Yes sir" I replied.

" No more worrying this old man!" Reo finished on.

" Yes Sir!" I shouted before saluting.

The guards behind Reo all had tears in their eyes and they stood up a little straighter.

" Right! Everyone here give me ten laps around the estate" Grandfather shouted before looking over at Kibbles, Ren, Ki and myself.

" YES SIR" all the guards, the maids, and even the butler replied.

" You three follow me," Grandfather said before turning around and began to walk to the front of the estate.

I watched as even the butler had stretched to begin running.

Grandfather had obviously run a very tight ship but everyone seemed to be having a lot of fun as we walked passed.

There was one thing everyone had in common with each other her and that was the reverence they had for my grandfather.

We made our way inside the empty house and made our way to a meeting room. It was filled with maps and scrolls as well as old pieces of armor and a roundtable for meetings. The whole room had a smell of books and dust.

Grandfather asked us all to sit down and prepared some tea from a small stove that was in the corner.

"Nothing beats a tea you have made yourself," Reo said as he prepared the tea leaves. His movements were hypnotizing as we all sat around quietly and watched.

He placed some teacups in front of us all and did a full tea ceremony. From the looks on Ki and Ren's faces, this was something he did normally as they did not even seem slightly surprised.

Finally, after the tea was made Reo pulled out a stone from a fake book on the shelf and inserted it into the table.

The table glowed with various runes that were previously hidden.

Grandfather had noticed my shock and only said " Wind magic voice cancellation."

He sat down in his seat and took a sip of tea before Ki, Ren and I all tried ours. Even Kibbles had his own seat where grandfather had given him some milk.

The tea was delicious. It was sort of like a mint tea back from Earth. I made sure to savor it.

" Now… I will give you the choice to tell me everything, including your strange relationship with that Kithun to that boy who nearly killed you. Or I will do my best to fill in the blanks" Reo said with a sigh.

" If you don't tell me I can only help so much. Ki and Ren are your subordinates so I will not ask them. I want to hear it from you." Reo said again and took another sip of tea.

[ What do I do? ]