Isekai: The Eight Soul Fragments

Draxus had left the main group to head towards the northern part of the Quisterion kingdom. He rode in one of the two carriages that he had bought along with the shared money of his friends. Although the training regime was supposed to be purely solo, it didn't mean exactly that. He's solely in-charge of his own self and actions during the two month period. It's still within range to bring in his friends that will adventure and train with him during that time. Now, he's in one of the two carriages that are moving towards the north. The one handling the reins are Audrey and her cousin. Draxus was simply riding the carriage while playing Chinese poker with three other friends.

"Drax, bout time to reveal?" Draxus kept pondering while adjusting his cards to make a nice combination, seeing his set, he wasn't really satisfied. "Hmm..." The guy who called him out patiently waited to make his move. "Here, one pair, one pair, and straight." The three had relieved expressions as their cards aren't inferior to him at the very least. "One pair, two pairs, and three of a kind." The one who said that was a young boy around the age of sixteen. He had gray hair with mixed yellow in it. He has yellow eyes and somewhat loose clothing and jacket. He was named Keith Nagual, one of Draxus's close friends. Another one of his friends who had galaxy blue hair and eyes that shine like the moonlight sky revealed his cards. "Three of a kind, full house, straight flush. That went pretty badly for you Drax." Draxus who saw those cards sighed in resignation. "You've been hogging all the luck lately Wesley." The boy, with similar age to Keith, laughed as he scratched his head over the sweeping victory against Draxus. He is named Wesley Sirius, he has an aura where he himself is the personification of the night sky. His clothes are somewhat fitting with a bit of extra space. It was colored white and navy blue with black shorts. The last one had red hair and maroon eye color. He had casual wear that's meant for going out for the day. "I got one pair, one pair, and flush, at least a little better than Drax." That person's name was Jevil Kane and he has tendencies to start a commotion against someone via trash talk. "With that, it means I had lost huh? So, what's the question?" Keith, Wesley, and Jevil pondered for a bit and thought of something. They were playing a game where if someone loses, the other three will ask a question. Wesley was the first one to ask Draxus. "What do you think of this world?" Draxus pondered for a bit before giving an answer. "Honestly, I'm really happy that I got brought to this new world, though I may have trouble when it comes to coming back home which I kinda want to but like, we'd have to wait for the research to be complete. But I love this world so far." Wesley who heard the answer nodded in agreement to Draxus's opinion. Keith was the second one to think of something while smiling. "If given the chance, would you bring your family to this world?" Draxus who is in favor of it nodded immediately. "Of course, that way, they can forget about work and live in luxury." Keith agreed and voiced his own opinion. "True, if we can just bring our parents here once we get really rich then there is no need to worry don't you think?" Wesley also nodded and crossed his arms. Jevil finally thought of a question while showing a mischievous smile. "What about..." Draxus turned his gaze to Jevil who was thinking very deeply. "How are you with the princess?" Draxus who received a sudden curveball blushed and stood up from instinct. "Y-you!" Jevil who saw Draxus panicking simply laughed and told him eagerly. "Come on~! Answer~! Answer~! Everyone's been interested since the time we saw you having your sleeve tugged by the princess!" Draxus who heard Jevil's statement turned his gaze away to try and escape the questioning. But since he realized that he lost the hand means there was no escape route at all. He sat back down while blushing a little. "Well... The thing is that, I can't really be rash with someone like her." Keith who got interested asked for a bit more. "Details please?" Draxus flinched a little before giving a clearer explanation to them. Three other people who are also members became interested and turned to him. Audrey, and her cousin as well heard the topic and turned their gazes to him. "Guah... Everyone's listening attentively huh?" Draxus who couldn't bear the stares aimed at him and almost shrunk down. However, he shrugged it all off and began explaining. "First of all, yeah, I did talk to her a lot after the battle against Ulysses. Within that time, it was mainly exchanging information between worlds. Then it progressed to talking about ourselves or so, after that it simply moved to talking about magic." Draxus started pondering a little while talking about things that he did for her. Keith who suddenly remembered something that he overheard showed a grin and told Draxus about it. "Speaking of which, Draxus acts like a gentleman to her. Pauleen told him that he's going for a nice catch." Draxus who heard that when [Wha!!?] with a major shock to the conversation. Jevil showed an even deeper mischievous smile expressed his opinion while laughing. "Wait, since she's a princess it shouldn't be [Nice catch!] but [Caught a big one!]" The rest of the group started laughing noisily while Draxus was there turning red. Draxus vowed to his heart to learn steeling himself from shame.

After some time, the group had lunch and continued travelling north until they arrived to the nearest town on the north called Beryll. The time was already dusk so they didn't have any choice but to simply find an inn to lodge. They separated to two groups while Draxus decided to go solo on a different inn. He entered a store for accessories and browsed the items that are in there. "Welcome~!" A clerk gave her greeting which Draxus returned with a smile. The clerk walked towards Draxus and asked him if he needed something. "Is it an accessory for you sir? Or is it for someone?" Draxus looked around and gave his answer to the clerk. "It's for myself, I'd like something that matches my clothes." The clerk gave a smile and led him to a section for watches and necklaces. "Very well, this way sir." Draxus followed the clerk and saw a few watches that are made beautifully with some kind of ore. He gained interest to a white watch and asked the clerk about it. "What about this one?" The clerk who heard Draxus's words moved around and took out the watch that gained his interest. "This watch is made out of painted leather, but it has tinges of mithril and blue gemstones." After hearing the details, Draxus pondered for a bit. "Can I try it on?" The clerk then helped him wear and adjust the watch. "Feels pretty nice, how much for this?" The clerk thought for a few seconds before giving him the price. "It's ninety-nine silver." Draxus handed over a gold coin to the clerk. "I'll take it." After buying the watch, he asked for info regarding inns and left the store while greeting the clerk one more time.

It was around sunset so he went to the fountain of the town which signifies the center. He then went to the western direction and found a luxurious inn which he entered. It was known that the inn he entered was famous due to the delicious meals that were provided, along with a bathhouse. "Welcome to Sanctuary Inn~! Are you staying for the night?" Draxus immediately nodded in response and gave a question. "How much for one night?" The innkeeper, who had azure hair, green eyes, and at an age that's close to Draxus answered. "It's two silver and fifty copper coins including daily meals." Draxus calculated a little bit before giving out his answer. "Forty days please." He took out a gold coin and placed it over the reception table. "Thank you very much, here's the key to your room. By the way, did you have dinner yet?" Draxus replied negatively to that question which got the innkeeper to give a response with a smile. "Then, for today's dinner will be on the house for you." Draxus who got the hospitality thanked the innkeeper. "Dinner will be on six, so you should check out your room if you'd like." Draxus thanked the innkeeper once again and moved up to the second floor to find his room. After entering the room, he gained the feeling of nostalgia due to the design being similar to his old room in the other world. There was a single cabinet next to the bed holding some compartments to store some stuff in there. On top of it is a small plate and a candle placed on top of it. The lighting of the candle isn't particularly needed since Draxus could just use the flashlight on his smartphone. Throughout the room, it was decorated with a nice carpet and a table with a chair below a window.

It was somewhat plain, but Draxus tend to enjoy these kinds of feelings of living in basic stuff. He hung his jacket on the chair and changed his clothes to something that's more casual. Afterwards, he placed his bag next to the cabinet near his bed. He brought out his laptop and placed it on the table. He then played a certain game as a form of a break. "Been a while since I placed [Genshin]... I wonder what's new here..." He played a bit of Genshin while waiting for dinner.

After dinner, he took a long bath and relaxed completely on the inn. After the bath, Draxus went back to his bed and looked for things in his cellphone. "Damn... Things really have gone nicely so far, I wonder what it's going to be like tomorrow?" He thought about planning his training regime tomorrow but due to the drowsiness, he fell asleep instead.