As I left the headquarters, both Karak and Mahruss were on the floor, doing their best to stay conscious. The training was harsh, but neither of them gave even the slightest hint of a complaint, allowing me to work with them intensely, stopping only when Zolast and the rest left the dungeon.
Pity this time we weren't able to collect enough Experience for me to level up.
By the end of our training session, Karak was much better at splitting his attention between the immediate needs of his melee range and his surroundings; and Mahruss managed to learn not to react against every single clue that was provided by his Perception.
Though, I had to admit, his new class was surprisingly convenient. Once he learned how to use it properly, Perception would help him greatly in managing the casinos.
As I left them behind, I found myself facing another choice. What to do?
Admittedly, I thought about starting to target the cultists, maybe even experimenting with the Destruction mana to see if I could trigger that process of turning into a monster again.
Tempting.
Too tempting.
I could see the risks inherent to that process, but ultimately, it was my conscience, however shriveled, that stopped me from doing so. I had always believed in the existence of souls, but until the start of my magical adventure, it was just another piece of information from my raising, a theoretical concept with no real-life implications, relevant only after death.
What I had seen during the Promotion suggested that souls might have some relevance before death as well. I didn't know if what I saw was something that allowed people to actually live after death or if it was just the magical equivalent of blood…
I didn't have any evidence, but considering the wholesale rejection of the transformed individuals from the System, it wasn't hard to guess that such a transformation had more implications than just the physical ones.
I had no evidence, but I'd rather play it safe and assume the soul was the immortal kind, and the transformation changed it irrevocably.
Of course, that assumption brought about a very inconvenient conclusion. I couldn't go around pushing cultists until they transformed just to increase my Authority.
Even in my darkest period, I had my rules. No targeting civilians, no hard-drug trade, no human trafficking.
Adding no potential destruction of the immortal soul was not exactly an overreach.
Of course, this meant that, for once, I had nothing urgent to do.
Maybe, I could rest for a while.
Of course, that thought was a mistake. Not even a second after said thought crossed my mind, one of the message stones in my pocket warmed up, signaling an urgent situation. It was from one of my employees from Iron Trust, signaling something important was happening in Town Maell.
The fates really didn't wish for me to rest.
Fifteen minutes later, I was once again in Town Maell, dressed as a random warrior with a bow and a sword, though my bag had several other disguises that could be used as necessary. And, if they weren't enough, I could always steal one.
However, I took the long way around as I went to visit my employee, trying to get a sense of the changes that had affected the town.
The outer town was listless, which was not surprising due to the reckless response of eradicating the black market operations. The economy and property prices had recovered somewhat after their initial drop, but it was nowhere near the previous peak.
To my surprise, the inner town wasn't any better. The dungeon was surrounded by fewer soldiers. More importantly, distinctly, most of the adventurer headquarters were surprisingly lacking in movement. Not completely empty, but clearly operating at limited capacity.
An interesting change, one that wouldn't be triggered by the crackdown on the black market.
Interestingly, the same applied to the number of guards. The number of patrols was lower … but more importantly, the barracks was empty.
Curious, I slowed down to listen to the gossip, which allowed me to discover the reason in less than a minute. Apparently, a huge contingency of soldiers and guild members left the town, led by the Baron personally.
Unfortunately, while gossip was a quick way to gather information, it wasn't particularly accurate. I had to go near the mostly empty barracks and listen to the guards for that particular information.
Apparently, they went out to suppress some kind of cultist army that had attacked one of House Maell's trade caravans.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
Suspicious enough for me to go take a look. It made sense for House Maell to go and destroy the cultists in revenge … but it didn't make sense for the cultists to attack them in the first place. From what I had seen, they were very careful to limit their attacks to refugees and helpless villagers. Even my trade caravans were too well-defended for their taste.
Why would they suddenly attack the well-defended caravan of a noble house?
Either the cultists were suddenly changing their modus operandi, or House Maell was using that as an excuse to launch another operation.
Regardless, it was a situation I had to keep an eye on. Cultists were a big problem — both in general, and to me personally considering their source — and if it was an excuse for a secret mobilization, we were the likeliest target.
I sent a magical message to Zolast, one that would trigger a low-level alert among our high-ranking members that would tell them to get ready. After that, I followed the mobilizing force.
Finding the tracks of a large group of armored and mounted fighters in an open plain was an easy task, especially since they had four flying carts accompanying them, easily seen from a great distance.
They moved fast, just not fast enough to make catching up with them challenging. A trotting horse was not slow, but it was nothing compared to my speed.
It was an impressive force. Almost a thousand combatants, the smoothness of their movement would suggest that even the weakest of them had a rudimentary combat class and were above level thirty. Their armament was not as uniform as I would have expected, and the gaps between different groups made it clear that it was not one unified army, but an alliance.
Exactly half of the group wore the colors of the House Maell, three hundred and fifty of them behind their lord, while a hundred and fifty of them, armed with bows, were following an older man I recognized from the meeting I had gatecrashed.
The uncle of the baron, responsible for dealing with the guildmasters while the Baron deals with the mysterious youth.
The other half was made of the guild members, who, unlike the house guards, looked bored and reluctant. Understandably so, since they wouldn't be looking forward to a battle with no reward. They were a part of the group for a simple reason.
As guilds, they were legally obligated to defend the town against external threats. One of the prices they had to pay for their relative independence.
I followed them from a distance, still not confident that they wouldn't change direction to deliver a surprise attack on Town Yoentia. However, as they continued their speedy movement for half an hour without changing direction, I started to feel confident in my assumption.
Combined with their lack of supply carts, I was slowly getting convinced that their aim was indeed not our town. With that determined, I decided to move forward a bit, leaving the army behind in order to check their destination.
Their direct movement gave me a good clue about their destination. I used my speed to leave them behind, hoping that going in their general direction would give me a chance to find their destination.
Finding their ultimate destination didn't take long. A small army of cultists had occupied a hilltop, with their wards in place to keep the beasts away — stronger than usual. Not too far away from their defensive position, there were burning remains of a small village, the walls shattered, and their inhabitants either kidnapped or slaughtered.
"Reprehensible yet suspicious," I murmured as I examined the situation from a great distance. It was the first time I had seen the cultists actually staying on the surface rather than using one of their secret tunnels to escape.
Even considering their connections with the military that turned a blind eye to their activities, this didn't make any sense.
They were crazy, but assuming crazy meant stupid was never a good idea.
I was tempted to sneak into the town, but after some consideration, I decided against it. The wards that they had built to keep themselves safe from the beasts were strong enough to hide several other problems in their nature.
I limited myself to watching them from a distance, hoping to find evidence to show that I was being paranoid.
For once, I was hoping that things would go smoothly without my interference.
Was that too much to ask?
Apparently, it was too much. Around the hill, I saw many cultists, obviously crazy and undisciplined, the kind that could easily be cut down by a dedicated military force regardless of their individual strength boost.
However, that pattern didn't apply to the cultists at the center of the formation. From the great distance I had been observing them at, there was not a lot I could see even with my Perception. However, some of the details, like their skilled and confident gait could still be discerned.
Or the fact that, under their rags, they were wearing armor.
A nasty trap.
I needed to go and have a talk with Zolast to come up with a plan. But, before that, I needed to slow down the approaching military force.
Of course, not by walking to them and having a talk. An indirect warning would work better. I picked a nice hill, about half a mile away from them, and pulled a red mana stone from a sealed pouch. The moment I pulled that, the beasts around me acted agitated, ignoring the Charisma trick I had been relying on as a method of concealment.
After several extended practices, it took me less than a second to drain the mana.
[Archery of Destruction (7/X)]
Before the first beast could even get near, I nocked the bow, and let my Skill do its work. A red arrow flew, far faster than anyone could react, passed right next to the head of the baron, giving the perfect impression of a lucky escape as it buried to the shoulder of one on the bodyguards.
Of course, it was not an accident. My Perception had allowed me to read the wind perfectly. Combined with the expertise given to me by my skill, a trick shot against a target moving on a straight line was almost trivial.
Just to be sure it held, while the archers pulled their bows to send a blind rain of arrows to my current station, I hit the crowd with a wave of Charisma, triggering a wave of blind panic. The soldiers were strong and experienced enough to ignore it.
Their horses, not so much. The Baron might have had the necessary skill to control the situation, but his near-death slowed him down just enough for them to lose most of the horses, giving me the precious time I needed to strategize with Zolast — but not without making a stop by a certain location to prepare another surprise.
Luckily, they were close enough for me to make it there in good time.
Meanwhile, Baron Maell, in his anger, ordered several guards to my location to find his assailant, but it was meaningless. With my Speed, I had already left that location before the arrows touched the ground.
I run, hoping that a mysterious assassination attempt from a mysterious cultist would be enough to warn them about the extraordinary situation, enough to prevent them from just barging in.
Hopefully.