Zad stood in front of a large boulder at the training grounds. He was breathing heavily, smoke emanating from the palm of his hand. He had his right hand pointed out while grabbing onto it with his left, increasing the mana flow, he aimed it at the boulder placed a few meters away from him. The reason he did this was to amplify the size of his fireball, so it could cover a greater distance when being launched at the enemy.
With a frustrated look, he said
"It's still too much magic for me to control, but if I'm not able to destroy a boulder as small as this, I'll only be dead weight and get in Ken's way."
Zad pondered to himself, thinking about the different ways he could use his magic when he remembered that he could try to imbue it within his sword.
"If I can do what Ken did, it would make my attacks a lot of useful and deadly."
Before Zad could draw his sword, he heard footsteps approaching him, from behind, he turned his body to see who it was only to see three strangers that he'd never met before. The one at the front who was closest to Zad came forward with a cheerful smile. He was light-skinned and had black wavy hair, the attire he wore stood out with a bow on his back.
Zad tightened the grip on his sword taking a step back, he approached Zad cautiously, making sure Zad didn't get the wrong idea, the person put his hands and said
"Woah, ease up there buddy, my name's Thane, couldn't help but notice you were training alone. How would you like to join us for a quick spar?"
Behind Thane were another two, one was a boy with light blue hair carrying a sword on his waist, the other was a girl with blonde hair carrying a staff most likely used to channel strong magic. Zad let go of his sword, and had no reason to refuse but wondered about something.
"Sorry, for being a bit on edge, there. I'm Zad. I wouldn't mind training with you and your friends over there, but may I ask you a question first?"
"Ask away I'll try to answer to the best of my ability."
"Judging by the clothes you're wearing, it looks like you three aren't from this domain what brings you here?"
Thane's cheerful smile flipped into a face full of sorrow.
"Well, if I were to tell you the truth, all I can say right now is I came for personal reasons. I won't lie to you, that's one of the only questions I can't really answer for you, sorry."
Zad knew something was up and chose not to pressure him on the subject.
"Alright, I understand. Let's get to training then!"
After the conversation ended, Thane smiled and walked towards his friends with Zad.
"Great, I'll introduce you to my friends the angry looking boy on the left is Elias and the not so threatening girl on the left is Fern. They're both my childhood friends so you won't need to worry about trusting them."
"Nice to meet you two, I'm Zad."
Elias stepped forward, looking carefully at Zad as if he was examining him.
"Are you really the person that was using a tremendous amount of fire magic? You don't look all that special to me."
Thane didn't seem happy about the comment Elias made.
"Elias, what have I told you about judging a book by it's cover. For that comment; you two are going to team up against Fern and myself. Now get into position, and we shall begin!"
Elias scoffed at Zad and said
"Don't hold me back."
[Meanwhile at the inn.]
Arthur had left to pick up some things for the inn. A frail but energetic grown man entered the inn, looking at Ken.
"So, I'm guessing you're the person that'll be accompanying me to the docks?"
Ken thinking about something else replied saying.
"Oh, so you must be the merchant, right?"
The merchant put out his hand.
"Yes, it's a pleasure to meet you."
Ken shook his hand.
"You too, the names Ken, what's yours?"
"Ah, my apologies, my name is Sirus, I'm a merchant that wanders these lands sharing my goods with just about anyone interested in them. I've been trying to get to the capital as soon as possible before they host the yearly tournament. Usually, that's the best time for us merchants to set up shop and sell everything we have."
"But these goblins put you behind schedule?"
"You could say that's one of the reasons... I'm bad at travelling, in general, taking a lot of wrong turns, ending up at the wrong destination, you name it."
Ken shook his head.
"Shall we get going then?"
Sirus responded with
"Yeah, it'd be nice to get there before it gets darker."
They both stepped outside, and Sirus got on his horse. The horse had a cart behind it which most likely contained all of Sirus's goods.
"That's a nice horse you have there, is this how most merchants get around?"
"When you reach a point where you can't handle all these wares without assistance, you're left with no other choice."
Ken and Sirus talked for a while as they eventually were no longer in the village, and departed for the docks.