A/N Alexander is 18 mentally by the end of this chapter and 1 year older than arthur physically when arthur is born.
Alexander Pov
the trip to Ashbern was around 6 months, As I'm still an Infant they didn't particularly want to bring me through a teleportation gate as well as the fact they wanted to spend time bonding with me which was actually fun watching their antics which usually involved reminding Adam of an embarrassing moment or Durden thumping him on the head with his staff if he did something stupid while holding me or being a bad influence on me. usually, when I was taking a "nap" I was just refining my mana channels, and veins with the meager influence on mana I had due to the Blessing and my Learning speed, and also because of my inhuman learning speed I had already learned to crawl a month into the journey to Ashbern but I kept it a secret because I don't want to stick out just yet, also I may have had the control over my body to a good extent so far but crawling more than a few meters left me in a dull soreness for 3 days so I avoided doing that.
A couple of days later and I was sitting on Adams's shoulders as he walked around to stretch his legs after sitting on the wagon for a few hours, he slipped on a rock when he yawned after walking for a bit I obviously fell off only to get caught by Durden after Angela slowed my fall with a wind spell she had kept ready as nobody trusted Adam him around me without supervision.
After Durden caught me he gently passed me to Hellen and she cradled me in her arms, I saw Jasmin hand Durden a staff that was clearly kept for this exact situation, He spun the old "staff" that more closely resembled a club as he looked Adam in the eyes looking down on him because of his massive stature and his disappointment.
Adam Krensh Pov
"Durden what are you doing with that staff!?" I questioned with a fear for my life like I was liked in a room alone with multiple S-class mana beasts.
Durden just looked at me tightening his grip on the staff, all he did was smile with a terrifying amount of earth mana pouring off him as the ground cracked with each step closer to me, I swear there was Demon behind him smiling at me with a murderous look in its eyes.
"Id recommend augmenting yourself, you might die." Jasmine's voice came from behind me sounding colder than ever.
needless to say, I did as she said, and then promptly shit myself and fainted when I saw the mana reinforced staff crack from his grip strength alone combined with the killing intent the rest from the others.
Alexander shard Pov
If Angela and Jasmin hadn't used wind magic and Hellen grabbing the staff to slow Durden's swing at Adam might have died. He did wake up 15 min later but Durden was being dragged behind the wagon on a spare plank because of the smell, luckily when he woke up we were near a stream, and he hand spare clothes in his bag. Anytime he tried to take me anywhere or carry me Durden just looked at him and he acted like he never asked.
the rest of the trip was rather uneventful. there were some bandits that showed up every now and then but ran the second Hellen shot a wind arrow Angela made between their legs. other than that though it was a smooth trip but Durden did manage to find out I could crawl when he saw me crawl over to drink from a canteen at midnight last week though, in the morning he told them what I did and they didn't believe him until they looked over at me crawling to the shade under a tree nearby.
"HE CAN CRAWL!?" they all yelled at once.
After that Durden pulled out a thin cloak and tied me to his back and I have to say the view is not bad at all, also now I can join the others looking down on Adam if he does something stupid. A week later I was on Durden's shoulders when Adam slipped got scared and fell when he was taking a piss on a bush and jumped at him Durden looked at him in disappointment and I laughed at him which was also my first genuine laugh, which could only be described as me cackling like a mad man. Adams's face was happy that he made me laugh but beat red at the fact that this is the second time unknown to him that he was witnessed pissing on himself like a fountain.
2 Months Later
We arrived in Ashbern fully intact excluding Adams's dignity, I could now crawl without issue and could balance on my feet for just a bit, hopefully, I can walk soon crawling like this is fine for my physicals age but mentality, it's draining. after a bit, we arrived at the center of the town where Hellen called out.
"Reynolds!! Surprise!!" she shouted and he looked over to see his old adventuring party and his face was, of course, dumbfounded as he slapped himself and rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't losing his mind. He then ran up to the others and shook their hand and gave them a hug missing his old friends, when he went up to greet Durden he saw me sitting on his shoulders.
"DURDEN YOU HAVE A KID!??" he shouted in shock eyes wide.
"Not exactly." Hellen said as she grabbed his shoulder. "we found him on an investigation mission into an A-class dungeon, he was just laying there in the middle of a frozen cavern not crying and not even cold, then before we could take him out of there an Ice Wyvern showed up, walled the kid off from us then it died from its ice breath feeding back somehow." she summarized how they found me.
"What?" he just replied utterly confused.
"you can ask Durden about it later, but anyways we decided to adopt him as our own, Jasmine and I named him Alexander Shard," Hellen said pointing to me. to which I just smiled at him with a dumb grin fitting a 10-month-old baby.
Reynolds still confused but going with the flow just invited is back to his home to rest and see his wife which to the shock of the party revealed she was 7 months pregnant. And just like that, we all ran to their Leywin household.