“Why don’t we properly introduce ourselves?” Most are not as comfortable as I with disregarding given names, and put a bit too much importance on the matter. So to make the atmosphere a little easier, I pushed for us to all share names. “As I said, I am Kazuma. This young lady is Lucy, she's not the most talkative, but a clever lass when she does. And the beautiful girl in the back is her older sister Rea. She’s fallen ill, so I'm afraid you won't be able to ride in the back. Please keep your distance from her for your health and hers; she acts deliriously on occasion, and I don't want any strange faces startling her.”
Sending a soft, concerned glance toward Ria, the performance seemed to have the desired effect. Ritz confirmed his social simplicity by openly puzzling before nodding in agreement.
“Right! I am Ritz Frennec, son of Tierce, son of Erat Frennec of the Frennec Merchant group. I've taken up the mantle of beast hunter to become worthy of protecting Frennec caravans as they travel across the wild. To protect human progress is the Patriarch’s will!” Setting his feet square and puffing out his chest, I wondered if how much weight the name Frennec carried. Castor had not mentioned it, but perhaps he had simply overlooked them.
Face, more tempered, stepped up to his side and gave some context.
“The Frennec does travel between regions, but do not make many waves, so it makes sense if you can't recall them clearly. In any case, Ritz’s grandfather was the last member of his family in the guild. He has aspirations to join them, but he is not as great a personage as he presents himself.” Shaking his head in an almost embarrassed manner, he continued as Ritz kept his proud stance. “I'm Corsair, I was raised in the same town as Ritz and Lukas. I've more or less always stuck by him to keep his big head out of trouble. It doesn't seem to work, but we're all still here.”
“If I listened to you, we never would have met Leitha. Who knows what would—”
“Right, let’s just drop it. No need for our life stories.” Corsair—possibly the Steve of this world—quickly cut Ritz off. It seemed both of us caught the sound of Leitha clenching her jaw. It seemed there was quite a story behind the four, but they cut away to the boring introductions.
“My name is Lukas. As Corsair said, I have been friends with him and Ritz since childhood. I intended to follow my father’s trade as a carpenter, however my younger sister’s ability was just as great as mine, so I have accompanied Ritz on his journey.” There seemed to be no shame in being usurped by a younger sibling. Between societal norms and a non-preference of the job, I could not tell which had greater say in his reaction. Well, just another little fact for me to file away.
“I am Leitha.” Ritz narrowed his eyes, and Corsair softly sighed. Her response was sad, but not unexpected to them.
Looking to meet her eyes, as one should in a proper introduction, she did not do so. Her long, dark brown hair was straight, somehow always avoiding falling into her face, despite her head pointing slightly down and to the side. Flicking purple eyes to me for moments before averting them again, Leitha spoke no further.
“Well, so it goes then. It is good to make acquaintances of you all.” Smiling I made a superfluous motion to command Sparky to speed up slightly. “Would one of you be so kind as to set a pace for our group? I would rather not dawdle.” I planned to be friendly, but not so much so that they would overstay their welcome. While they may have been able to tell me a few things of interest, completely crippling our movement speed was a bit much.
“There's no need to restrain yourself on our account. A burdened horse wouldn't be able to keep pace with us. Go your own speed and we’ll keep up.” Corsair’s offer was thoughtful, but I felt skeptical of the claim. The speed we moved at was really a function of comfort; the cart lacked shocks, and it would be a ridiculous oversight if Ria were to bite her tongue off.
Now that they were closer, I once focused my various modes of vision in on them to get a better reading of their general power levels.
“Hm?” Leitha raised her head and began glaring around sharply, but immediately dismissed my senses. Her companions looked to her, apparently having great faith in her observational abilities.
Yes, that’s quite incredible, but excuse me? My own senses can be sensed? And without use of magic either! This was complete and utter malarkey! How does it even register; at the very least, my
Magic was magic, and even if I couldn’t make sense of it, that was how things were. Not to mention that I didn’t have the most technical knowledge of how my powers worked in the first place.
However it seemed I would have to be a little cautious. From what I gleaned, while they were nowhere near the level of a cleric, the adventurers surpassed regular humans by a rather large margin. Depending on whether they were the world’s Swords of Darkness or Blue Rose I would need to begin taking note of those in the background if normal mortals could ascend to their rank. I was not yet an Overlord, able to ignore any local opposition.
Not that I had any ill intentions to the world, of course not! Ria and Tagalong Girl were rather poor analogs...although Ria did seem to be growing some horns, and as a prospective master of undeath I could probably—no, thinking along those lines is not good.
Ignoring such silly thoughts, I drew my mind back to reality to wait and observe.
“Something passed over us...it was only for a fraction of a second, but there was a presence. Not a good one either. I can’t be sure, but it may have been observing us while we were hunting the things in the grass.” Leitha slowly spoke, with the other three tensed up with their hands on their weapons. After staying still for a moment, she swept her head back and forth across the plains. “I can feel it no longer; but it is unlikely that it has left for good, whatever it is.”
“We’ll keep on our toes then.” Corsair set the arrow that had flown into his hand back in the quiver. “Leitha has been gifted with an incredible sense of her surroundings. She’s what keeps us safe and alert when we’re out in the wilds. If nothing else, she will make the journey safer for you.”
“That’s good to know. Now why don’t one of you set our pace?” I figured I shouldn’t act as though I was full of trust towards Leitha in just moments, so I ‘dismissed’ her concerns, and once again encouraged them to take the lead.
“If you insist.” Lukas began walking rather briskly, apparently not fond of dithering.
With a jolt, the cart took after him, and the other adventurers were left to jog to catch up to with our sudden departure. I admit that they moved a decent clip; even Vamp would only be able to slightly exceed their speed without dropping into his maximum gait. Well sadly Vamp’s tier fell behind my own— keeping up with human adventurers was a piece of cake.
It also served to prove our abilities. After taking off the four readjusted their positions, Lukas falling to the back and Ritz replacing him on point. Corsair seemed on the verge of rebuking their larger companion, but after several minutes of Sparky easily sustaining the pace, his gaze changed to the horse.
“That’s a rather fine horse you have there. I wouldn’t think it able to keep up with a cart on its back like this.”
“Yes, *Sparky* is quite magnificent. It may be all the excess herbs I’ve fed him over the years. As a novice alchemist, not all my mixtures are successful, but *Sparky*’s constitution is strong enough that he enjoys even the most pungent of my mistakes.” Making up a story on the spot, began thinking of making it a reality at some point. The chances that any studies on the long term effects of potion and reagent consumption were low, and it would be an interesting subject to delve into.
Unfortunately, Sparky didn’t actually consume any material. He could technically, but like a titan it would need to be regurgitated. I didn’t want to waste any materials on his specious metabolism, especially since I wholly replaced him on occasion.
Internally sighing, I figured it would be some time before I got to try any long term experiments. Even if the basis was unfounded, the ruse made enough sense for Corsair.
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“Oh so you’re an alchemist then?”
“*So, you’re interested in my potions and*— Ah, yes I am. Though not a master of the craft, I made us plenty of coin in our hometown. Unfortunately between making it and keeping it, I’d never much time for learning about other town-ships. Perhaps you could tell us a bit about his area?”
“Certainly! This is the range of the Frennec group, a land with a rich and storied history!” Ritz jumped in from the front, eager to join in the conversation.
A sudden burst of expositional fireworks exploded, but they did not captivate me wholly. Taking advantage of the sudden distraction, Leitha stepped closer to Corsair and nudged him. The low-key, nigh-accidental manner, a narrowed glare, and lips that read ‘The horse’; I may not have been aware of all the intimacies of their nonverbal cues just yet, but the fact Leitha was suspicious may as well have been put into writing.
Corsair grabbed her shoulder, lightly putting on some pressure in acknowledgement. Not seeming too surprised, his gaze returned to the horse as if hoping to uncover its secrets.
That wouldn’t work, or at least I hoped not. In any case, other than a mildly hostile aura from Leitha, I couldn’t sense any malice or nervousness. I could listen to Ritz begin rambling without worry.
And ramble he did. Not that there was nothing of value, but taking out praises of the Patriarch and ‘as the grandson of Erat Frennec’, the conversation would have been a third as long. Half of the substance also happened to be about the trade routes the Frennec group ran, although that was somewhat illuminating. Medean provided almost all the timber required in the 14th Chapter, and with the cheap price of wood, carpenters could naturally make their mark.
While the cream rose to the top as masterful craftsmen, those less skilled were still present in an overabundance. They even had a plank-maker’s guild. An entire guild devoted to making planks! They didn’t even diversify into beams! Considering it was better to ship pre-cut planks instead of raw timber elsewhere, it made good sense to do it all at the site of production en masse. Nevertheless, I found the prospect quite novel.
Behind me, Tagalong Girl found our situation less enjoyable. Though her stoic reticence softened, no longer averting her eyes from our new traveling companions, she certainly did not seem happy...even less so than usual.
Narratively, and perhaps ethically, and I suppose I was stuck in a bit of a bad spot. Had she been naive and chipper, she could be reigned back upon entering the dangerous world, but still be upbeat. However the typical transformation for her dour countenance was to foster storge, but that undermined the whole independence angle. Maturation, and at the same time preserving childhood— without being overly forceful with my own ideas.
Well, in the moment I could best express that by whimsically demanding she listen to something she’d rather not to develop her abilities so in the future she could be independent. It makes sense if you think about it just enough.
“Lucy, since we can’t continue our lessons, why not learn from another teacher at the moment? Pay a bit more attention to the history of this area.”
“If you say Kazuma.”
“Knowledge is the Patriarch’s gift, Lucy! You’re lucky to have a brother-in-law who knows the value of an education, most do not have the blessing of such. Why don’t I speak on something more interesting to your young ears then?” I chuckled slightly as Ritz moved back from the front to walking along Tagalong Girl’s side, who slumped deeper into one of the bags of clothing.
“I’ll tell you a tale of our fight with an ankheg. (Upon its description I have changed its name to ankheg for comprehension’s sake; though do take note of the description as there are several differences from the traditional depiction.)
“It was not long ago at all, maybe five weeks back…”
“Seven.” Lukas flatly interjected. “Afterwards we spent a week waiting for a boat, and it’s been five and three days since getting off at Rofvnan.”
“Seven weeks then, not that it changes what happened. We were making our way south and stopped in Terdri on our way to resupply and sell a few of our catches. It’s not the largest town, but being on the water it gets its fair share of business. Normally it is filled with the hustle of people readying their goods to be ferried downstream; however this time, we arrived to find a settlement abandoned in the wake of disaster.”
I smiled as Corsair chuckled and Leitha rolled her eyes. Unfortunately the embellishments didn’t do much for Tagalong Girl, but she at least seemed to be paying some attention. Not that Ritz would notice either way.
“The Patriarch did not completely abandon Terdri, but none can argue that there were at least severe damages to the outskirts. Trails of collapsed earth shook many foundations, causing a great deal of destruction. Dozens of trenches from tunnels led towards the market district, with craters that could swallow a wagon, not a small cart like this, but a real covered wagon that takes four oxen to pull.
“Now though we are beast hunters, we still had never before heard of a creature that would do such a thing. Monsters typically trouble travelers, and keep well away from large settlements, so we knew that whatever we were against, it has a temper. As we couldn’t let it run rampant— and the prospects of a reward was almost self evident— we went about questioning the townsfolk for leads.”
“Though even before we listened to the reports Leitha had her suspicions.” Corsair reminded “We weren’t going into this completely blind, and a couple eyewitness testimonies aren’t really enough for our profession. Remember to be safe in your travels, there are things even we wouldn’t want to tangle with. If not for Leitha, we would not have stopped.”
“Well she was; let’s not get us diluting the tale of the ankheg.”
“If this is supposed to be a ‘lesson’ of any sort, it would be better if you talked more of our procedures in handling problems. The way you’re telling it, it will only be of aid if she ends up fighting one.”
“Alright, alright…” Ritz easily caved to Corsair, though he didn’t seem to take the meaning of it to heart. Leitha seemed to have witnessed the scene many times before; Corsair sighing, his crusade to have his friend acknowledge her failing for the umpteenth time. Like myself, Lukas watched them all carefully without intervention, with a resigned pity. Ritz, oblivious to many of the undertones hesitated only slightly to clear his throat and pick up the story again. “Then let us elaborate on information gathering. Corsair put down the words of the townsfolk, but I shall lift them up again. Without a doubt, knowledge is the first step in combating the unknown. Splitting up to cover more ground, Lukas and I walked through the wreckage— those in need are more receptive to those with kinder hearts. If those in trouble have something you need, it helps to offer tribute yourself first, which unfortunately isn’t a skill everyone has. While sharing a bit of the meat we’d hunted, we received first-hand accounts from those camping in the wreckage of their homes.
“Four meters long, yet it’s body was two feet thick at it’s widest, it looked like a flattened termite of monstrous size. We were told it had many legs, though the exact count varied from six to dozens, but all agreed each foot had vicious hooks. That, and it had large, flat mandibles bigger than your chest, which it used to tear into the market stalls. Apparently, the creature had an appetite for meat, thank the Patriarch that it did not take the effort of dragging too many away.
“It was mostly content with grabbing a freshly butchered cow or pig, but the damage to the city was great. Even when the guard became aware of the threat, it did not remain long enough to engage no matter how fast they responded. It slowly whittled away at Terdri.”
“Concurrently, Leitha and I worked on finding us a reward, and more tactical knowledge of the situation.” Corsair took over the story, with an almost rehearsed air. “Town guards aren’t always the most motivated near Medean, acting as lackeys for a Disciple if the Church has judged the settlement worthy of having the protection. But in this case, with an almost imminent threat to the integrity of the town, we had the blessing of the Patriarch, Disciple Rentra, and the guards themselves. Take advantages when they’re available, and capitalize on those moments when you and someone else can benefit together. From our hunt we had claws and scales that sold easily, ready to become quality armaments, and even managed to collect a few donations for what we would need to catch the creature.
“After getting collecting information on attacks in the surroundings, and a few general patterns on how it reacted when confronted, we met up again to discuss our plan.”
“Ankhegs are monstrous and bloodthirsty, but they are naught but overgrown insects! If it spots a threat, its instinct is to scurry back into the hole from whence it came. While we felt confident in our ability to engage it due to this, we needed to end it!”
“So we set up a trap. Heading out of town to the east, we brought an old bull as bait.” Unexpectedly, Lukas joined in after one of Ritz’s segments. His voice, like the rest, was starting to become a bit faster than usual. The retelling was so-so, but they were reliving the thrill. I guess you had to have been there.
“While it was some rough work, after butchering it out in the fields, we put in some cords of thin rope. It wasn’t our primary plan, but every bit helps, and redundancies are important. We prepared several arrows with long coils attached to them as well— for Leitha, not myself; I’m good with a bow, but she could strike a fly in flight.”
“So with the bull slaughtered, all that remained was the wait for it to return. According to the guard, it attacked every few days, and already three had passed without any sign of it. Like the spider for the fly, we waited patiently for its arrival—”
“Though he suggested we try something else after half a day of waiting.”
“Luckily we didn't pay our impulsive leader any heed this time. Our waiting bore fruit early the next morning; Leitha sensed the tremors in the earth, waking us before it arrived. If she wasn't so quick about it, we may have all been eaten; but in an instant we were up and ready to fight.”
“There’s no sensation like awakening as the earth begins to shudder beneath you. Fumbling to arm ourselves as the tremors grew in strength, we’d barely gotten our weapons in hand when the ankheg burst forth. The descriptions given by villagers are usually embellished, but that was not the case. Mandibles like broadswords sank deep into oxen hide, almost bisecting it.
“The simple-minded creature hoped to grab an easy meal and retreat, however it fell into our trap. The layers of firm cord caught along the jagged edges of its mouth, slowing its retreat.”
“It wasn't enough though. Our weapons merely shied off the carapace upon striking. Only Lukas’ hammer could leave any impression, and with four limbs its primal flailing could keep us at bay.”
“Only the many trials we surpassed together under the watchful eye of the Patriarch suggested that we had a chance against the ankheg. Yet that is more than enough for the faithful! Pressing in close, I locked its left arms down with my sword. Using all my weight, I ended up right against the chitinous hide—the cold ichor could be felt rushing inside the beast even through armor. It was a foul thing not meant to be in the warmth of the sun.” Ritz pulled out his sword and began playing out his part of the battle.
Now that he had it out, I realized the weight of the little blade. The base looked to be more a hexagonal shape than diamond—unless it was made with a super-light fantasy metal, or aluminum, it would weigh more than a normal sword a foot longer than it.
They were approaching the climax, but I only lent them half an ear; I'd lived better stories in my time. Instead, I watched the dry earth crack when Ritz stepped into a wholehearted swing, even as he kept pace. His muscles tensing, before a chaotic finish.
Lukas presented a few swings as well, not putting as much power into it, but also exhibiting a mechanical level of control.
Corsair took over the story as Ritz got caught up in replicating the battle. With his eyes closed, he reenacted his moves, almost in his own world, except for the fact he followed Corsair’s cues. If not for the bowman taking time to tell the actions of Lukas and Leitha, it would almost appear as if Ritz was fighting an invisible ankheg.
For me that would tell a much truer story, given their mediocre mastery of a language I wasn't truly fluent in, but it sufficed for Tagalong Girl. She may not have been enraptured, it managed to hold her attention.
Perhaps I could teach her a bit about their differences in styles; she was in part a visual learner. It would be good to capitalize on the demonstration while the memory was fresh. I didn't want to tip my hand too badly though, and voicing criticisms and weaknesses of their group could be a bit gauche.
Well, I'd see what time it was when we made camp.
For the time being, I let Ritz and Corsair tell their long-winded tale of whittling down the ankheg.