“Hurry up, Akagi!”
She was only a few steps ahead of me, but she still had her head turned back around, her hands impatiently waving me on.
“Seriously? You and your loot are the only reason we didn’t get here earlier!”
Her eyes narrowed.
“My loot? Don’t you mean our loot?”
Still running, she pointed accusingly at the brooch hanging at my neck.
“I… fair enough.”
I wanted to say that she had gotten the better end of the deal, what with the nearly full set of light plate armor she now sported over her dress. However, I knew that my share of the spoils was at least comparable in value.
It had been an incredibly lucky drop. Before, our kills had yielded little more than some gold, a few refinement stones, and the sallet helmet currently resting on Isabella’s head. Incredibly, the last bone snake had dropped not only the breastplate and gauntlets for the armor set Isabella’s helmet was from, but it had also given me my brooch. Isabella’s thirst for loot, as it was, had turned out to be very profitable.
Show tooltip for Accessory 1.
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The Seer’s Eye (Rare)
Grants +15% mana regeneration while not in combat.
One of many such stones created by Andras Fern, the greatest Black Mage of the Mirathic age, this Seer’s Eye was once able to halve a mage’s mana recovery time. It has since lost much of its luster, but a small portion of its original power remains.
Effect does not stack with additional copies of the same item.
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The brooch was set in silver and fastened with a simple leather strap. The stone itself had all the qualities of amber, save for its deep, black color. Yet despite its current beauty, this was apparently how it looked after “losing much of its luster.” I could only imagine how it had appeared when it was still newly made.
I reached up and wrapped my fingers around it. The stone was slightly warm to the touch.
“The knights are falling back! They’ve been defeated!”
A horn blared, its low, baleful tone carrying over the entirety of the eastern wall.
“Man the battlements! Ready spears!”
“Ballistae, loaded!”
Isabella and I were still a ways out from the gatehouse, but the enhanced hearing granted to us by our elongated ears allowed us to make out the shouted words.
To say the least, the scene around the gates was a hectic one. Throngs of people had been lined up on either side of the central promenade, a long, straight road that led through the gates towards the center of the city. But now, with Roumen’s knights out of action and impending doom growing ever closer, everyone had begun to disperse. At the same time, a number of stragglers were still making their way into the city, adding to the crowd.
I could see no sign of D.K. as we got closer, but I didn’t think it necessary to try and contact him just yet; it was safe to assume that he had already gone deeper into the city.
“Yo. Are those… Snow Elves?”
We had neared the gate, and inquiring heads were turning to watch us as we passed.
“Snow Elves? Don’t they start at level 25?”
“Maybe they’re here to kill the slime?”
Neither Isabella or I stopped to answer these questions; we simply pressed on, weaving our way into and through the crowd.
“Akagi. Akagi, can you hear me?”
“It’s a bit hard with all this commotion around us, but yes, I can hear you.”
“Okay, good! Do you think it’d be easier if we tried to go from the wall?”
“What do you mean?”
“We’re Elves. We should be able to take a fall like that without issue.”
“Are you sure? It’s a pretty high jump…”
Nothing we’d seen or done so far indicated that Elves were any hardier than Humans were.
“Well…”
The horn sounded again.
“Close the gates!”
Isabella chuckled.
“We don’t exactly have a choice anymore, do we?”
“I guess not.”
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
My eyes were still on the gate, and it appeared that everyone had made it inside the city. I could see no further stragglers, and watched as the iron portcullis began to lower.
And yet, someone was now running towards the gate. It was an elderly man, dressed in red merchant’s clothes, his feathered, black cap covering what was almost certainly a balding head.
“Wait, please! Open the gate!”
He had reached the mouth of the tunnel in the gatehouse, and the guards on either side moved in to stop him. Their attention drawn to the scene, many of the people who had just passed through the gates stood still to listen.
“What are you doing, old man?”
“Get back, it’s dangerous!”
“Please! My granddaughter is still out there with my son! My son… he has a bad leg, and he can’t run. Please! Please, I need to get out there! I haven’t seen them come into the city. Please let me through!”
“I said, get back! There’s a monster on its way, and we’re not letting anyone else outside.”
“Please!”
The man looked fervently around him, at the faces of bystanders turned nervously in his direction.
“My granddaughter, my son! Please! Please, someone help me find them! They both have red hair… and green eyes… Someone...”
“What makes you so sure they’re at risk at all? The lands around the city are wide enough that the slime might not even cross paths with them.”
“They were going to the ranch!”
At this, the guard bit his lip, and a pained expression spread onto his face. When he spoke again, it was in a far gentler tone.
“I see. I’m sorry, but they probably didn’t make it. There’s nothing you can do, and we aren’t going to let you run out and throw your life away.”
The man fell to the ground, his fingers clawing at the sides of his head.
“No. No!”
Isabella punched me in the arm.
“Oy! Akagi, let’s go! The faster we move, the better our chances of finding them alive.”
“Right.”
Isabella grabbed my hand as she had done when we’d first met, and dragged me off towards the grey brick stairs leading up to the wall.
There were two such staircases, one on either side of the gatehouse, and they were arranged so that they formed a trapezoid with the wall and ground. It was a small detail, but I realized that this was a defensive measure. If an enemy made it through the gate, they would have to walk an extra distance – however small – before they could get to the defenders on the wall.
We were headed to the staircase on the left; when we reached it, we found that its base was completely devoid of people. Everyone had either retreated further into the city, or was watching the scene that was still playing out at the foot of the gate.
I gritted my teeth, just as Isabella clicked her tongue.
“No guards? Sweet.”
Without slowing down, she hopped onto the steps, and we started to swiftly ascend.
When we made our way to the top, we were met by the sight of heavily defended battlements. The wall was lined with soldiers, some with crossbows and others with spears and shields.
But where the Elven NPCs in the Garden and Catacombs all looked like elites, dressed in silvery plate armor and thick, red cloaks, these guards were clearly common soldiers, with only chainmail and kettle hats to protect them. Still, they looked competent enough, as the group standing closest to us were all thickly muscled, their sun-tanned skin a testament to the long, grueling hours they spent guarding the city.
Of course, Roumen’s defenses would not depend on soldiers alone. Spaced along the wall, with only a few dozen meters between each one, were giant ballistae, oversized crossbows that stood as tall as three grown men and were perhaps twice that as long. As far as I could see, every single one on this side of the wall was loaded and ready to fire.
All of this against a single slime. Did we really have any reason to worry?
“Isabella…”
“Hey! What are you doing up here? Are you… You’re… You’re Snow Elves.”
A guard had noticed us and had made his way over, his spear lowered in warning. But when he realized what we were, he stopped dead in his tracks.
“What’s going on?”
The second voice came from a short distance away; the source was a portly man dressed in an obnoxiously shiny suit of armor. He carried his helmet under one arm – the blue and white plumes coming off the top of it suggested that he held an important position. In his free hand, he held a spyglass, and he tapped at it with his finger.
He walked with a clear air of superiority about him, and his steel boots clattered loudly as they hit the stones beneath them.
“The enemy is only a kilometer away now, get back to your post!”
“C – captain! These two. Just now, they came up onto the wall.”
“Women?”
He scoffed.
“What does it matter? Just send them… back… down…”
His face contorted in disgust. I traced his gaze to my ears.
“Snow Elves. What the fuck do you want?”
“We’re here to help… sir.”
Isabella took extra care to stress the last word.
“We don’t need your help, Elf.”
“Yeah? Then why such a mighty display?”
Isabella stretched out her arm and gestured at the closest Ballista.
“You’ve manned at least a dozen of these. A bit overdone if you can easily deal with the problem.”
“Pff.”
The guard captain spat at Isabella’s feet.
“How typical of your kind. Always lording about, thinking yourselves superior to everyone else. We are not children, and do not constantly require your help. Leave.”
“Captain. Forgive my impudence, but not even our knights were able to stop it. They even had enchanters with them, mobile artillery! But they lost! Snow Elves… they’re powerful, right? Perhaps we do need their help.”
The guard captain ignored the soldier, or at least pretended to do so. He glared at us.
“Just fuck off.”
“Hey!”
Isabella put her hands on her hips, and her voice was indignant.
“What’s wrong with you? Why aren’t you willing to accept our help?”
“Because you’re Snow Elf scum, that’s why. The only reason you’re allowed in this city at all is because so many of our idiot commoners – such as this fool here – worship you and your ilk. If I had my way, you’d be run out of here like the pale sewer rats you are.”
“This is uncalled for, don’t you think?”
“Yeah? And this is your final warning. Fuck off.”
From my angle, I saw the corner of Isabella’s lip twitching violently.
“Mmmmm. Mmm! So that’s how it’s going to be. Well! Tough luck. We’re still going out there, thank you very much. And thank you in advance for the spyglass.”
The guard captain narrowed his eyes.
“Huh? What are you –“
Isabella lept forward and brought her knee to the guard captain’s chest, knocking the wind out of him with a sickening crunch. The moment she landed, and before any of the soldiers could react, she reached for the captain’s spyglass and wrenched it from his grasp.
“Akagi, come on!”
A little taken aback by the suddenness of it all – but nonetheless alert – I went after her, following suit as she jumped over the edge of the wall, falling to the ground below.