Chapter 17
Eva Lemuria-16 years old
It has been six months since I ran away from the Academy and since then I have been keeping my head down. I have mostly stayed out in the wilderness for the first three months surviving off the land. Afterward, I would only go into towns when I needed supplies. I would always wear some plain clothes with a hood on. I would also avoid bringing my halberd into town with me because I know its to recognizable. I have to be careful because I never know when someone in the crowd is actually a shadow guard. I have mostly been walking on my journey because I don't want a black lighting bolt to be spotted flying over the sky. Also on the ground, I can fight and beast that attacks me. At this moment I have several mana hearts in a bag slung over my shoulder. They are all 5th to 7th tier mana hearts and some other tails, but I should be able to get a good amount of money when I reach the adventures guild I'm headed towards now.
It has actually been a full month since I've been in a town or village. I have been following a road that's supposed to lead me to the last town until I reach the kingdoms boarder. I probably could have made it there a long time ago, but I have been walking the entire way. Sometimes I wouldn't even follow any roads and just walk through any forest or open plain. There is supposed to be a large town filled with adventurers and kingdom guards where I'm headed towards now.
I finally reach the end of the road, but there is nothing in front of me. The dirt path just ends and there's only a patch of grass in front of me. I set my things on the ground and I shift straight upwards. I unshift when I am high enough and look all around, but I see no town or anything besides the grass fields for miles. I then look down to prepare for my landing. I notice as I'm falling that at the end of the road there is a large circular patch of grass that is greener and full of more life than all the grass around it. I land on the ground after a quick blast of flames from my feet to slow my fall. I realize the town was here before but it's gone now and seems to have been covered up.
A month earlier I had inquired from the last townspeople about this village and from the way they talked about this town, this town most have been here one month ago. I'm truly confused because even if the town was destroyed by someone or something there would be evidence. Instead, there is nothing here. There is no rubble, no building foundations, and no signs of life at all. I don't know if this has been reported already or not, but I need to tell someone. I walk over to my things and grab them before looking north and shifting. I immediately fly upwards and then race towards the north. I know from some olds maps I saw in my history class that the border is a vertical line here so if I keep moving either north or south I should reach one of our border towns eventually.
As I'm flying through the air I notice some signs of life walking in the same direction I'm moving. I notice they're humans from the electric signatures I see them as in my shift form. I'm not sure if they are the ones responsible or if they're travelers like myself so I decide to confront them. I aim for in front of their path and land. All they would see is a black lightning bolt striking the ground and then a woman walking towards them. They do take up defensive positions and get in a formation of two swordsmen in the front and male archer in the middle and a female mage in the back. I notice both the archer and the mage have short swords too so they must understand the importance of being prepared. I stab my halberds blunt end in the ground and drop my bag on the ground before raising my hand to show no danger. I walk a little forward and stop to show I want to talk.
“Who are you and where did you come from? There was just a strange flash of black and then you appeared.” Adventure swordsmen 1
“My name is Eva a 5th tier adventurer. I just came from where a town was supposed to be south of here and noticed you coming from the same direction so I thought I'd ask you if you know anything.” They lower their weapons but do not get out of formation.
“We are a group of adventures that took a scouting mission to confirm a missing town. About one week ago it was reported so it took us a while to reach the supposed location, but we saw nothing there. We thought we might have gone the wrong way so we are headed back to our town about 3 days from here.” Adventure Swordsmen 2
“I see. So you weren't able to notice it then? The grass in the area was healthier than all the grass that surrounded it. It was also too tall for grass that could have grown in less than a month.”
“How is that possible? No, we didn't notice it, but this just means we probably did find the right location there's just something weird going on. We really need to report this as soon as possible.”Adventure Swordsmen 1
“Do you mind if I follow behind you guys till the next town. I would rather not have to search for it. Don't worry ill take care of myself and just follow a bit behind.” I was going to ask if I could join them till I realized its better to keep my distance to keep myself hidden. I cant risk much interaction until I'm in another country. They look at each other as if having a silent conversation before they nod one by one. I'll be honest that I am somewhat jealous of their familiarity with each other. I wish I could have something like that or someone like that.
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“We don't mind if you follow behind. I hope you don't mind we will keep a close eye on you just in case though.” Adventure Swordsmen 2
I nod my head to accept this deal since I'm really the only one that's benefiting from it. I walk back and grab my things before stepping aside to let them pass me and when they're a little ahead of me I begin to follow behind them. They seem like a party that is very experienced working together. There movements all seem in sync and each one is paying attention to a different direction. I wonder what rank they are individually. Either way they must be a trusted group if the adventures guild had assigned them a personal mission of checking a entire towns safety.
We keep walking until it starts to turn dark and we reach the edge of a forest. They decide to set up camp on the outer edge of the forest. They start a fire and have a prepared meal while casually chatting. I decide to climb a tree right on the edge of the forest. I secure myself to a branch and then close my eyes to rest. I feel as if I'm only two-thirds asleep because I still need to be aware of my surroundings. I don't fully trust the adventures the same way they don't fully trust me. The next day they pack up their things and begin moving through the forest. I follow behind them while keeping myself in their view so they don't react to me disappearing. As we walked through the forest the group was only attacked by 7th and 6th tier beasts. They were all easily dealt with minimal effort by the group and I only had to defend myself when a beast would attack me. They were all weak enough that I did not have to use any mana. We spent another night in the forest before making it out the next day. We had reached the town before it got dark out luckily. I then followed the group of adventures as they made their way straight to the adventures guild.
As we walked through the town I did my best to keep my head down and hope I don't get noticed by anyone. I know the chances are slim, but you never know when there's a shadow guard watching. They were always the best at finding me as a kid. I observe the town and notice it's a very peaceful place. It seems like everyone knows everyone else here. Guards presence also seem to be high here since it's a border town. Not a single person seems panicked or even slightly worried that a neighboring town had just disappeared. The guild must have done an excellent job keeping this information concealed.
We immediately reach the guild building in the center of the town. Its smaller compared to the capitals. It still has its own charm and seems to be one of the nicer buildings in this town. I follow inside and all eyes turn our way. Everyone seems to recognize the four adventures while they give me a skeptical look. A receptionist notices the adventures and gets up to probably inform the guild manager. A middle-aged man with brown hair comes out.
“Its good that you've all returned safe and sound. Come to the back and give a verbal report. Who's that behind you?” Guild Manager
“She's another adventure that came to report the missing town, sir. She ran into us and we allowed her to follow us to report her findings.” Adventurer Swordsmen 2
“Ok Miss please follow me to the back and you can all give your reports at the same time.” I follow them to a back room with a desk in it and we all stand in front of it as the manager sits behind while grabbing a pen and paper to record our reports. “Ok, I'll start with the Miss so you can go get signed in afterward and do as you like.” He is probably going to ask for a report on me from the Adventures team since they are trusted and I am an unknown, but I cooperate because I have no reason not to cooperate.
“Right I was planning on going to the missing town so I can sell some mana hearts and tails. I was also planning on staying awhile to rank up before visiting the dwarven kingdom over the mountains. I had reached the end of the road where it ended abruptly. I used a technique to get in the air to look around for the town when I saw only grass all around. The only difference was that the grass underneath me was different from the rest. It had more life in the patch of grass than the grass in its surroundings. This patch of grass was in the location of where the town was supposed to be and it was also the size of the town. There was no signs of destruction or even building foundations. There was just tall grass that could not normally grow in less than thirty days. That is the time it took me to reach that town from the last. After that I headed towards this town to report it when I ran into these adventures.”
“I see. Thank you for coming to tell us. You can go and sign in now if you want.” Guild Manager
I leave the room and head towards the receptionist. It's the same guy that had informed the guild manager earlier. I tell him I want to sign in before I give him my information. He looks up their records they have on me. I then give them the mana hearts and tails that I have collected. He goes through everything that I have and then tells me the results.
“Congratulations Miss Eva with these mana hearts and tails as proof of subjugations you would need to take only one more 4th tier mission to rank up. Would you like to take one now?” Guild Receptionist
“Yah I’ll accept a mission, but I won't go on it until tomorrow. Thanks.”
I left the receptionist counter and made my way to the board with 4th tier missions I want to find one like the missions that I have been taking with no chance for other beast to show up. I look for a while analyzing each mission and the best one I could find is a 4th tier with a ten percent chance of something unknown happening. I decide I don't want to waste my time here so I accept the mission. The mission is for subjugating a flame bull ape. I remember lessons on this mana beast from Shadow so I should be fine. I thought of staying in town to find out about what happened to the missing town. I quickly turned down that idea because I know something weird like this will defiantly draw people to investigate it from the capital. I’ll finish the mission so I can move up to 4th tier and then I’ll go across the border.
After I accept the mission I immediately leave the adventurers guild building and enter an inn. It's not high class although its also not a shack. I came here for one reason and its to take my first bath in a month. I am in luck because the Inn has a room and I can reserve the bath for myself. As I sit in the bath I think of how I have been alone for six months. All this time I have either been alone in the wilderness or alone in an inn. Tomorrow I will finish that mission as quickly as possible so I can move on to somewhere it wont matter if I'm recognized.