Another problem with long journeys was that it didn’t allow the people to take a meaningful rest. The people were always tired and the exertion was not something that everyone could get used to after all the time that they spent travelling. Sickness and fatigue was only a matter of time and yet the servants kept themselves from complaining until it was too much to bear for them.

Zach on the other hand was all too familiar with these things. He had read many history books that stated how even armies came to a ruin because of the hardships of the environment or the exertions of the long journeys. Therefore, he could spot the symptoms of the hysteria and confusion taking root in the minds of his people. To ease out some of their worries, Zach began to tell some stories to the people along his journeys and after meal times every day. These stories were diverse and opened up new horizons for the people of this world since most of the stories were too new for them just like Zach’s inventions.

The stories he told these people were in fact the stories he remembered from his previous world. The most popular amongst those stories turned out to be the story of Harry Potter, the boy mage who fought against the most powerful black wizard of all times. Of course, the story he told these people had a few changes from the original and clicked with their world instead of his previous one.

Whenever they stopped for dinner and Zach began to tell his stories around the campfire, Diana was the one who acted the most excited instead of the servants of the Luther family. She would sit quietly like a purring cat next to him and gazed at Zach with her wondrously big eyes as if wanting to pry out all his secrets from within him.

Zach knew that these stories were only a temporary solution but it was enough to keep their minds occupied for some more time because this allowed him to wash off some of the negative emotions that had accumulated in their hearts.

…

One day around the time when the sun was at its highest, a sentry stationed by Bruce around their camping site returned in a hurry to make an urgent report to Diana since the sentry couldn’t find Bruce. 𝐞𝐨𝘃𝐞𝐥.

“Young lady, it looks like there is a battle ahead if we continue along the same path for a few dozen minutes. There are constant cries coming from that direction and the clinking of weapons suggests that the battle is still ongoing. The scout is still out there monitoring the situation but I came back here to report on the situation. Tell us what to do.”

Diana was at a loss for words for this wasn’t her decision to make at all. Up until this point these kinds of decisions were all made by Zach unilaterally and he had yet to be wrong. There was a possibility that his intuition was really strong or he had an ability to sense these things. Therefore she cast a questioning look towards Zach in order to ascertain his thoughts regarding the situation that was cooking up in their path.

Another reason that she had decided to ask Zach was that he had been taking detours in the face of such situations after the battle with panther as if he was reluctant to participate in more fights with the lives of his people at stake. As a result, the journey that was supposed to take only a few weeks had turned into a journey encompassing more than two months.

She wanted to know if the status quo he had established was still going to be followed or not.

Contrary to her expectations, Zach didn’t decide on a detour this time. He knew the condition of the people was getting worse and a detour now could throw them off track for a week at the very least. Therefore, Zach decided on checking out the situation this time before making his decision.

Instead of sending his people who were already exhausted to the battlefield to scout for more information, Zach took several of his best soldiers and Diana with him. They rode on fine destriers and galloped their way towards the source of the sounds of battle.

Unlike what Diana and the soldiers were expecting, Zach didn’t even get close to the battle and stopped a long way away from the ground zero. He took out the binoculars that the system still allowed him to use and put its lens in front of his eyes in order to take a glance at the situation on the battlefield.

Unlike what he had expected, the battle wasn’t between two human forces at all. Instead a raging battle was taking place between a small force of a few dozen soldiers and almost a dozen mantises that were the size of a small house. Their blades looked like long saw toothed swords that chopped off wood and metal alike. The human force wasn’t even close to the mantis in terms of battle prowess. The huge beasts were the ones who had the upper hand as the human force was busy running away from the dozen or so mantises frantically as if their lives depended on it. None of them even dared to attack the mantises at their backs.

“They look like it would be trouble dealing with them. I wonder if that small number of people will be able to deal with the beasts hunting them.” Zach wondered aloud as he looked at the scene through the binoculars.

Diana who wasn’t sure what was going on couldn’t understand Zach’s words at all. Therefore she took the binoculars from Zach and took a look through it at the scene of battle that was still a little too far to witness the details.

“Umu~ The beasts chasing after those people should be the Iron Mantises. I wonder what kind of bad luck they were born with to encounter more than a dozen Iron Mantises at the same time.” Diana mumbled as she took in the details of the battle in order to provide a better outlook on the situation to Zach who would be making the final decision on this matter.

“Are these beasts strong?” asked Zach curiously since he didn’t believe that they were as much trouble as they didn’t even look as strong as the bear he had fought in the forest.

“They are. The Iron Mantis is known for its incredibly strong defense that can’t be breached by a mage below C rank. Not only are they incredibly sturdy, the blade like arms are capable of cutting metal like they are cutting through butter. On top of that, their stamina is incredibly high and they are extremely vengeful. Once provoked, they will chase the target to the ends of the world to chop it into a dozen pieces with their sharp blades. Experts believe that it is better to avoid this kind of beast entirely and not engage in head-to-head combat with it because the probability of suffering a loss is incredibly high against this kind of persistent beast. Thankfully they don’t usually operate in groups. This time seems to be a special situation. I wonder if these people did something to earn the ire of the group of beasts.”

Diana seemed to be especially knowledgeable about the beasts as she had displayed this kind of knowledge at several events. Zach wondered if this was the result of the study she had carried out during her rebellious phase when she insisted on becoming a mage to get rid of the troubles of the Luther family and to break her unfair engagement.

Still he appreciated the fact that there was someone with him who was able to cater for his ignorance regarding the world. Now that Luna was in a coma and the system had proved to be useless at more than one event, Diana was a welcome sight.

Diana was staring at Zach as she waited for his response. She wanted to know what his decision regarding this battle would be. She was planning to advise Zach not to interfere with the battle if his reasoning behind it turned out to be a weak thing like morality or kindness towards fellow humans. She wouldn’t let him risk the lives of her people to save strangers just to earn their thanks.

“We are about to settle down in a new and foreign environment in this Mesore State. Nobody here knows of the Luther family or the Zach who dared to offend the royal family. We will be foreign invaders and newcomers are always looked down upon on someone else’s home turf. I don’t want to experience the humiliation of being a newcomer in a place like this. So, if through this incident we are able to showcase our strength in front of the residents of this place, I think that it would be a fortuitous opportunity for us. It would give us a chance to develop more rapidly than we can through normal means. We will definitely be respected for the time we decide to spend here if the indigenous people know of our strength. Money and power are the ultimate measure of one’s strength in any place inhabited by humans. I am sure that this place will be no different. Therefore, I am going to go out of my way to help these people solve their insect problem.”

Zach explained his intention to Diana instead of giving her the direct order. He believed that Diana would second the decision he made on her own after she understood the underlying reason behind his decision.