Ash forest

The journey to the capital would not take too long since he was in a carriage. There was 160 km from his small hometown to the capital, which meant it would take 10 hours with a horse carriage. Many other towns and villages would take much longer to go there, as the capital was located in the country's northern part.

The road towards the capital was pretty dangerous these days, as many bandits would lay in wait since they knew many rich noblemen would move towards the capital. Bandits were pretty attracted to rich men, as they became bandits just to get more money. The most dangerous part of their journey would be the forest they would go through halfway. That is a forest well known for its many bandits and thieves.

Arthur's carriage didn't have any guards. The reason for that is very simple. It is because his family had no money for that. Another reason would be that the carriage would look like a rich nobleman's carriage if there were some guards around it.

The journey up to the dangerous forest was very peaceful. No one had come to try and disturb them. They had met many other nobles on the way, though, and many of them had fancy carriages with many guards around. They would definitely be prime targets for the bandits and the thieves.

"Young man, we will be going through ash forest now. I will pray for no troubles!" The carriage driver said with a serious look. Normally he would not dare go through this forest, but he had been paid a hefty amount of money by Arthur's family.

"Mhm!" Arthur might not have been out a lot, but he still had heard rumors of the forest. He was not really scared, but he was not too happy about going in there either.

Going into the forest, Arthur started to be more vigilant. His eyes scanned all around him, trying to find anything out of place. He could not see much, though, as most of the sun's rays had been blocked out by the tall and majestic trees. A few rays were shining through here and there, but it was not enough to light up everything.

As they moved deeper and deeper into the forest, Arthur started to feel more and more uncomfortable. He had the feeling of someone watching them with hungry eyes. This, in turn, made him more vigilant than he had been up to now, and he scanned the surroundings more thoroughly.

Looking around, he could not really see anything. Suddenly though, a small flash came from deep within the forest. It was not a flash from the sun. It was a flash of light that looked like the sun was reflected by metal.

Arthur squinted his eyes at the spot where the flash came from. At first, he saw nothing, but suddenly, another flash came, and he saw a shadow moving.

"It seems like we are not alone!" Arthur whispered to the carriage driver in a low voice. "Don't panic, though. As far as I can see, there are not too many!" Arthur hurriedly said as he did not want to have the carriage driver panic. He was also confident in his own battle power, as he had been training with his father for many years.

"O-Okay!" The carriage driver had fear written all over his face, but he decided he would trust Arthur for now.

They just kept going like nothing had happened to them. Arthur could easily see that the carriage driver was quite anxious at this moment. He had no idea of what to do about this situation.

"By the way, I never got your name!" Arthur tried starting a conversation, as he did not want the driver to be anxious. Even though he started the conversation though, he was still vigilant about his surroundings.

"My name is Bruno!" He gave him a wry smile. He was not stupid. He easily saw what Arthur was trying to do.

"Oh Bruno, my name is Arthur. Thank you for taking care of me!" Arthur said as he bowed his head to Bruno.

"Oh no no, don't bow your head to this old man. I am not worthy!" The old man was a commoner, and he could not afford to take the bow of a noble, even if it was only a baron.

"STOOOP!"

Before Arthur could say anymore, a man jumped in front of the carriage and yelled. This man looked quite normal, as he had commoner clothes on. The only difference between him and a commoner was the knife hanging at his waist.

"How may we help you, my good sir!" Bruno said with a smile. It was obvious it was a bandit, but he did not want to do anything to start a fight if he could avoid it.

"Nothing much, just hand over all your valuables!" The man said as he looked at the carriage with a grin.

"I am sorry to disappoint you, good sir, but we do not have any valuables here!" Bruno said with a wry smile. He was telling the truth, as Arthur's sword was the most valuable thing here.

"Search the carriage!" The man suddenly yelled as some other people walked out from within the forest.

There were now six bandits in total, all wearing the same kind of clothes. They had varying weapons, but most looked worn out and dull. At the moment, none of them could see Arthur, as he was inside the carriage, and the leader of the bandits probably thought that there was a normal and weak noble inside the carriage.

The bandits that had appeared from within the forest moved towards the carriage. One of them arrived first, pulled on the carriage door handle, and opened it.

*Puchi*

Before he could react, a beautiful sword had pierced through his skull. Blood sprayed out from the bandit's head, and he fell to the ground. Laying on the ground, the bandit's bloodied face still had a look of disbelief.

A small red streamed out of the bandit and moved inside of the carriage. It penetrated through Arthur's head, and it made Arthur feel and warm feeling go through his body, which energized his body. 'Is this the Aura my father, talked about?' Arthur thought to himself.

"Oh, sorry if I wounded this guest!" Arthur walked out of the carriage and said with a fake surprised look. "I hope other guests won't be offended by this!" He said, looking very regretful.

"You bastard! How dare you!" The bandit yelled out, obviously enraged. "Everyone, kill this son of a bitch!"

All of the bandits immediately rushed straight at Arthur. All of them showing enraged looks and wanting to tear Arthur apart.

The first to appear in front of him was a small man who had two worn-out daggers. He was most definitely their assassin. This man sliced at Arthur's neck, trying to go for the one-hit kill. Too bad for him, though, as Arthur had already anticipated this. He took a step to the side to avoid the dagger while slashing down with the sword.

Seeing this, the assassin panicked and tried to avoid the strike. He was too slow, though, as the sword connected with his leg, which was, in turn, cut off. Now the assassin could do absolutely nothing, as he was lying on the ground, bleeding out without his leg. Arthur did not concern himself with the assassin anymore, though, as two more bandits appeared in front of him. He knew the assassin was doomed no matter what, so he focused his attention on the two new opponents.

One of them was quite big, around 2 meters tall, with a huge two-handed hammer. While the other was around the height of Arthur, and he was holding what looked like a dull seax. With these two opponents nearing him, he could feel an invisible pressure, as this would be very hard for him to win.

The first of the two to arrive was the big man. He came running, swinging the hammer overhead, and smashing it down towards Arthur's head. Arthur simply took a step back to avoid the strike, getting ready to counter. Before he could do that, though, the guy with the seax appeared.

He slashed at Arthur's head. Arthur could barely react as he bent his neck to avoid the strike, but it still scratched Arthur's cheek, as a small thin cut could now be seen on his cheek.

Before he could react, the big guy came swinging with the hammer once again. This time it came from the side and aimed for Arthur's torso.

"ARGH!!"

It connected, and it sent Arthur flying to the side. He landed two meters to the side, down on one knee. After not even a breath time, the seax guy came over and slashed at Arthur's open neck.