“These people sure are persistent,” noted Esperanza on the evening of the next day. Not only had the feeling of being watched not diminished one bit, it actually intensified throughout the day, though she could tell instinctively that the source of that feeling was still some distance away, if inching closer throughout the day. All that was despite how she and her group had diverted their route further northwards through some of the denser woods in the region.
At the moment, the geography of the region actually played against her, as further north and west of their location was a small mountain range, which would take some time to traverse, probably enough for whoever was closing in on them to cover the rest of the distance between the two groups. Given her identity, Esperanza could not imagine that whoever was tracking her group meant anything good.
Sure, if it was Alissa, then that would be a possibility, but last she heard Alissa was stationed much further to the south-west from where she was, and shouldn’t be anywhere near the region. Besides, the timing was off. Even if Alissa somehow had the luck to find people she could trust enough to send to Esperanza, it was unlikely that she could do so in the short time since they had separated.
Based on those facts, she deduced that whoever was tracking them was likely related to the group’s recent activities. The only thing that came to mind from those was the group of Temple Guards and priests they killed in the dungeon. It was not impossible that one of them might be important enough that their death would not go unnoticed and might even leave a trace upon their killers.
It was not something unbelievable considering how Ephemera was set up. Esperanza herself possessed skills that allowed her to allow the souls of dead people to manifest into reality once more and carried around well over a thousand souls – demon, human, and beast ones all put together – within her [Soul Storage] at the moment. Skills that allowed others to notice such things were quite common in certain types of fiction she read before, and given how Ephemera seemed to have similarities to such fictional settings, it wouldn’t be out of place for similar skills to exist there as well.
By that point Esperanza was pretty much certain that whoever was tracking them did so on purpose. Otherwise the alteration to their route should have put some distance between them. This mysterious tracker was closing in pretty fast, and while Esperanza felt confident that her group could likely lose them by backtracking towards the east, she was in no mood to do so.
The idea of leaving behind someone who could trace her from such a far distance was an unacceptable risk to her group as a whole. Such a person would likely be able to repeat the feat even if she were to lose them this time, so instead Esperanza sought to deal with the matter in a more… permanent manner. Her group was a powerful one, she knew that, which gave her the confidence to do what she had in mind.
“We’ll head north-west towards the mountain range tomorrow. According to this map I got from the library back then, there should be a narrow valley around here,” said Esperanza as she pointed towards a section of the mountain range in question on the map using one finger. “We will head there while slowing our pace in a believable manner and engage our pursuers there.”
“An ambush, then, Exalted One?” asked Val-Kas’j as he looked at the map. The map was a relatively detailed one from the collection of the Library of Clearridge Academy. Esperanza had made a copy of the original to prevent any suspicion over a missing map. “We should manage to find some places to hide ourselves in such a valley.”
“That’s the plan, Val,” affirmed Esperanza with a nod. “Whoever is tracking us seems to be focused on me and Nali, so I will take him deeper into the mountain range to give the illusion that we’re still traveling unaware of the pursuers,” she added. “Once you spring the ambush on them, we will race back to support you. I will leave Dali and Gordy with you as well.”
“Understood, Exalted One,” stated Ani in approval. “If the skill they use to track us so far is indeed just focused on the two of you, this should lower their guard against our ambush.”
“I know we have grown powerful, but it’s better to be safe than sorry, especially since we have no idea on the mettle of our pursuers. You should take care to allow only those with good stealth skills to observe our pursuers from afar, and if their number and strength are pretty good, let them mostly pass through our ambush spot. Only spring the ambush against their rear after most of them have already passed, understand?”
“Your will be done, Exalted One,” said Tiesya. If there was one thing Esperanza could be certain about, it was that her people would indeed listen to her commands to the letter, due to the exalted status she held in their eyes as a Messenger from the Deities of Yore. Fortunately her people were not stupid either and knew when they would need to deviate from her orders when needed, so she was not too worried about them foolishly adhering to them when it was a bad call.
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With the arrangements done, the group turned in for the night. Esperanza noticed that their pursuers had remained at roughly the same distance since they stopped to rest. Perhaps they felt confident on catching up to the group the next day and had rested around the same time, then. Not that she cared all too much about it.
After all, should things go as planned, they’d be free of these pursuers by the end of the next day.
******************************
“They are still proceeding in the same direction, at the same pace, Your Eminence,” reported Sister Nadia near noon the following day. She had been keeping a constant watch over their quarry with her skills throughout the day. “At the rate we are going, we should be able to catch up to them close to the evening, around when they would reach the mountain range.”
“And they made no changes in the direction they are heading in?” asked Bishop Uther for confirmation. Since their targets seemed to be unaware of the pursuit, his expedition had been able to take a route which would allow them to head their quarry off. They had to cut their way through some uninhabited regions, but his expedition was more than powerful enough to do so quickly.
“They have headed in the same direction since yesterday, Your Eminence,” said Sister Nadia. “I have been able to discern two clear targets with traces of the Young Master’s Soul Lantern. They are clearly traveling together and so far I have seen no sign that they are trying to obfuscate their path or otherwise avoid us.”
“That is good. Have everyone continue on at this pace. Make sure to pace yourselves. I want everyone ready to fight when we catch up to them later,” said the Bishop after some thought. He had worried whether the quarry was aware of their pursuit since some creatures – or high tier classes, for that matter – were known to be particularly sensitive to any attention being paid to them. While skills like Sister Nadia’s methods of soul tracking should be exempt from such things, there were always exceptions.
From the looks of it, however, the quarry had no such sensitivity. If they were aware that they were being tracked, they should have changed their direction instead of continuing on a path which would allow the expedition to catch up to them easily. As it was, while the monastery’s expedition was not traveling that much faster than their quarry, they still managed to shorten the distance between them since their respective paths would converge around the mountain range.
It was a blessing from the Gods he would happily accept, especially since it will allow him to accost those likely responsible for the death of his beloved son a bit sooner. The Bishop had no worries about the potential enemy’s capabilities. He doubted that they got away unscathed against Father Poligenes and the rest of the expedition, and besides, the force he brought with him was not only over twice the number of the dungeon expedition team, but also far superior in power.
The dungeon expedition team was composed of talented youngsters who reached their third tiers early and three fourth tiers who were middling amongst their number, at best, with Father Poligenes being the only truly powerful one. On the other hand, the Bishop was not only more powerful than any of them, but he also brought six other veteran fourth tiers with him.
Similarly, the rest of the expedition’s members – with the sole exception of the inquisitors who served as their trackers – were older veterans who had fought in skirmishes against the demons. They might have lacked the talent of the youngsters in the dungeon expedition team, but they made up for that with experience and skills that had been honed through their decades of life.
If Bishop Uther had taken any three fourth tier and twenty-one third tiers from his group at random and pitted them against the team that went into the dungeon, he had full confidence that his group of veterans would handily defeat the youngsters with minimal to no casualties on their side. As such, he was not too concerned about the quarry’s strength.
After all, if they turned out to be overwhelming in number, his people would notice them from afar and they could adjust their plans as needed.
The monastery’s expedition team made good time towards the mountain range, and reached the entrance of a narrow valley between two mountains around an hour or so before sunset. They spotted little in terms of tracks, which meant that their quarry was either intelligent enough to hide their tracks or were so light-footed and skilled so as not to leave any tracks behind.
“Are they still going in the same direction?” he asked Sister Nadia to confirm once more. Now that they were so close he was brimming with the desire to go forth and unleash holy wrath upon those responsible for his son’s death, but he held his urges back. He was experienced and knew that such urges were not to be followed.
Haste made for waste and it was better to prepare properly to ensure success instead.
“They are, Your Eminence. Probably no more than ten to fifteen minutes ahead of us. I can feel them moving deeper in this valley before us,” reported Sister Nadia after a few moments. That report affirmed the Bishop’s decision on the spot.
“Then we proceed onwards. Tread lightly. We do not want to alert our quarry to our presence prematurely,” he commanded the expedition group. They moved into the valley, which was fortunately wide enough to allow them to walk five abreast, keeping up their speed but maintaining a good amount of stealth while they did so. For a group of heavily armed and armored individuals, they could move with surprising quietness.
They found the first traces of passage from their quarry as they walked further into the valley. The marks were slight and well-hidden, but people were never perfect, and in the cramped quarters of the valley it was easy to miss out on some signs of passage. From the signs, the group’s trackers concluded that they were probably following a group of around ten people or so, or at least humanoid beasts.
The Bishop’s suspicion mostly lay with the demons or his enemies within the kingdom, as beasts wouldn’t have the intelligence to attempt hiding their tracks. Even so, the small number of the quarry encouraged him and he silently ordered the expedition group to continue deeper into the valley.