Restart Again: Volume 2 by Adam Scott (best adventure books to read .TXT) 📗

What do you know about me, exactly? Many of my endeavors are not intended for public knowledge,” she asked, exactly as humorlessly as I had hoped.

“Just stories, is all! Everybody in Kaldan knows how great of a warrior you are!” Marten replied, flustered. “Lux is just giving me a hard time, don’t pay him any mind.”

“Don’t be modest!” I countered with a devilish grin. “Just the other day, you were telling us all how much you—”

“That’s enough out of you!” he shouted back at me. Hana and I both began to laugh while Valandra watched in puzzled silence. “It’s shameful, what you’re doing! Trying to embarrass me in front of our guest! Shameful!” He wagged his finger energetically as he scolded me, which only served to strengthen my laughter.

I heard Lia hop down from the back of the wagon, and turned my attention to her as I wiped a tear from my eye. She cut a striking figure as she came into view, with the dark green of her armor contrasting against the silver vine-like ornamentation which sparkled brilliantly in the sunlight. Hana gasped as her daughter appeared, but Marten was too busy in his condemnations of me to notice until she took her place beside me.

“Marlia, darling, you look so...strong,” her mother said softly.

“Of course I do!” Lia exclaimed. “I’ve been training every day with Lux!”

“Well yes, but...look at you!” Marten motioned up and down towards her. He looked at me in wonder. “You bought this for her?”

I nodded. “The best way to keep her safe was to teach her how to protect herself. She needed some equipment to do that effectively, so I had it made for her.”

“It suits you,” Valandra told her with a small nod of approval.

Lia looked between the faces of everyone observing her and scrunched up her face. “Why are you all looking at me like that? It’s just armor! It looks just like Lux’s,” she yelled, spinning on her heel to walk towards the head of the wagon. “Shouldn’t we be leaving right about now?”

I caught her shoulder before she could escape and stopped her in place. “Yes, we should be leaving soon. It’s time to say our goodbyes.” Her shoulders slumped as she let out a long sigh, but she eventually turned and rejoined the group.

Lia hugged each of her parents in turn. “I’ll be back again before you know it!” she declared. Hana pulled her in for a second hug, and Marten stepped forward to shake my hand.

“Thank you for everything,” he said in a low voice. “Hana and I will consider what you’ve told us. We won’t spend a copper of what you gave us without good cause.”

I nodded. “Keep an ear to the ground, and do whatever you have to do to stay safe.”

Lia returned to my side, and I smiled down to her. “Are you ready to go?”

“Ready!” she said happily. She bounced excitedly to the front of the wagon and climbed to the driver’s bench, taking a seat next to Valandra’s spot.

Valandra regarded the Corells a final time. “I will do everything in my power to keep your daughter safe. You have my word.”

“WE,” I corrected loudly as I moved to follow Lia, “will do everything in OUR power to keep your daughter safe.” Climbing past Lia, I moved to the interior of the wagon and sat down on the long bench. Valandra took her spot up front a moment later. She looked between us expectantly, and we both nodded in reply. Taking the reins in hand she spurred our horse into motion, and the wagon began to rumble down the dirt road.

---

Our first day of travel passed by quickly. I spent my time in the back of the wagon, perpetually thankful that our trip wouldn’t be made on foot again. The ability to rest during our travels allowed me to rework the training plans I had made for Lia. Without the worry of saving energy for a full day of walking, I could pack more lessons into even longer sessions. I knew the idea would be met with groans and complaints, but I suspected that Lia had grown to enjoy the work despite her protests.

While I planned, Lia and Valandra talked at the front of the wagon. Lia buried her with questions for most of the day. They started out simple: “Where are you from? How old are you? What’s your favorite fruit? Do you have any siblings?” Valandra answered them all directly, but never inquired about anything in return. Once the rapid-fire inquisition ended, the gaps in their conversation lengthened, but the subject matter of the questions grew more serious. “Do you enjoy working for the King? How did you become so strong? How did you get the position as leader of the Trinity Guard?”

Though my focus was elsewhere, I still managed to catch the more pertinent information about our new companion. She was thirty-four, a fact that surprised me; I had unconsciously placed her in her mid-twenties alongside Lia and myself. She had a younger sister who had recently moved away from the capitol. Her family had lived in Yoria for generations, though they had been of little renown until she was appointed as the King’s Shield.

The story of her ascension to the Trinity Guard was particularly interesting. At a young age she found that she had a knack for physical activities, having grown much faster than the children around her. After training by herself for years she was accepted as a city guard on her sixteenth birthday, the youngest age allowed. From there, her progression was simple: find the next highest ranking person, learn the responsibilities of their post, and defeat them in a sparring match in front of their superior officer. Her strategy had been so effective that she rose to her current position before her twenty-first birthday.

I found the most interesting aspect of her story to be the way in which she told it. There was no arrogance in her voice