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1.5
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Aspen didn’t know much about other clans.
That wasn’t to say she was ignorant or arrogant. Merely… unaware of their ways and the lives they lived. Her job was to ensure the safety of Pineskeep, after all, anything beyond its borders wasn’t important to her work. She knew they shared the Greenhold with the likes of the Swamp Clan and the Flowers Clan, but she’d never volunteered to become an ambassador.
And then there were a few others she could recall.
The Berserkers of the Far South, who abandoned the Greenhold and moved to the snowy mountains after a fierce territorial dispute. How long ago had it been since then, three hundred years, a bit more?
Was the Blood War with their cousins that long ago?
It felt like it was just yesterday.
‘Focus Aspen. You may reminisce about it during your appointed leisure time.’ Wrinkling her nose in distaste, the captain tried to get as much fresh air as she could before heading further into the ruined outpost. Clearing out her nose as she organized the last of the information she’d received.
It wasn’t any surprise when she didn’t recognize the stranger’s clan when Basil reported to her about the incident.
She’d heard of Wargs.
She knew Orcs.
And the least said about Dwarves, the better.
But Aspen hadn’t heard about a ‘Human Clan’ in all of her five hundred years of age.
Some things made sense, others didn’t.
She knew for certain that the part about the strange effect his presence appeared to have on her brethren wasn’t a lie. Aspen herself suffered from the strong, unknown smell which seemingly permeated the man and caused her no small amount of frustration as she struggled to not give into a bout of violent sneezing.
Her men would never let her forget if she did.
But it only served to stoke her curiosity.
This creature… man… whatever he was, seemed to defy everything her Clan knew about life. And from the report she obtained from the young volunteer, Aspen was starting to think that maybe Jasmine’s paranoia wasn’t unfounded in this case, even though the captain highly doubted this… human had anything to do with the Mana Beasts.
Fighting alongside one of her clansmen.
Risking his own life to hold the line against an overwhelming force.
She could respect that.
She could understand someone who found they couldn’t sit idly by while a dangerous creature threatened innocent lives. But for all of her curiosity, there still remained the looming threat of the Beasts and how to deal with them.
‘We don’t have the manpower, or resources.’
It galled her to admit it, but Aspen’s operation, while organized and functional, wasn't large.
She could reliably guard and patrol the perimeter of Pineskeep and feed enough guards to defend the village from assault of smaller beasts. But a monster like the one she saw… It was too much, even her own attempt at killing it with the backing of an entire squad failed, the creature having slithered away to try another day.
At the end of the day, Aspen was no Hero.
And her care for her village would tie her down as a defender rather than allowing to become a maverick Hunter, the kind who would venture forth into the wilds and seek out the Beasts to slay them for glory, or whatever other personal reasons they had.
‘If we are lucky, the Governor’s plan will bear fruit.’
Jasmine had told her about it, of course.
Though the tale was doubtlessly marred by the girl’s own low opinion of the man and her own obsession, Aspen knew this crisis was beyond her ability to handle. Caladium was wise enough to realize that.
He, much like most of her kin, were prone to acting on their whimsy.
‘I wonder how many will come.’
It wasn’t like Pineskeep was a major town. It was a small village that barely interacted with others, far away from the Royal Capital and its surrounding cities deeper in their territory. Being so close to their frontier with the Swamp Clan meant that any help the Capital might send would take days to arrive.
They didn’t have that much time.
‘We have maybe a week.’
Mana Beasts didn’t need to eat. They didn’t need to sleep.
They only accumulated mana to survive, heal, and grow. The more mana they accumulated, the greater their influence became over their surroundings until they gained complete control over it. And from that point on, their lives would be all but ruined.
Luckily, they managed to wound this one before it grew beyond them.
But that was only temporary.
The creature would hide, lick its wounds, and return. The less said about the other, smaller one, the better. Spreading her men in the vain hope of finding either one of the beasts, letting the other one grow was possibly the worst thing they could do. Calling for Hunters, even if a long shot, was perhaps the best option they had.
‘And then there is the human.’
Sighing, the captain walked down the staircase leading down to the storage room.
She could already feel that uncomfortable itch in his nose.
‘It will be fine. Just go in, ask a few questions, and get out.’ The guards stationed outside looked… suitably tense. The constant exposure to that… disturbing presence likely had them feeling uneasy, both of them had their ears stuffed full of scraps of cloth or whatever they could find.
Aspen winced.
If her nose was acting up, she could only imagine how bad it was for someone whose mana sense was hearing.
“Captain.” They salute her.
She nodded.
“Have there been any issues?”
“Our… guest seems to have woken up. He is talking with the physician right now.” The one to the right spoke, shuddering in place.
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She could guess why.
“Zinnia?”
He nodded.
“Zinnia.”
Aspen sighed. Why did the only dedicated physician in their village have to be such an… outlier?
‘Hopefully she hasn’t scared him into unconsciousness.’ Opening the door, she took a deep steadying breath to trying and clear up her progressively worsening nose before stepping through the threshold and swiftly closing.
She saw the human first. Laid down on his back, face propped up against a sack of grains. Still wearing the full suit of armor he’d been reported to. More distressingly, Zinnia, their physician, was sitting on top of him, hands digging into the gap of the armor where the back of his shoulders was.
“What about this?”
There was a soft moan.
“Yeah, that’s the place. Been bothering me for a while.”
The physician hummed.
“And if I do this?”
“Oww! A bit too much there, I’m not made of metal, woman!”
Aspen blinked owlishly.
What had she walked into?
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“You appear to have accumulated a great deal of tension. Are you sure this couldn’t be a sign of suffering a long term illness?”
The man in armor beneath her groaned.
“For the last time. I am not dying!”
The physician sighed, pressing on the gaps of the armor less forcefully.
“And if I do this?”
“Ahh, that… well, feels pretty good.”
Aspen, patience running thin, cleared her throat.
“Am I interrupting something?”
Looking up from her seat, the physician didn’t seem at all bothered by the fact she’d been caught fondling a patient, instead, she barely moved from her spot, giving the captain an inquisitive once over.
“Ah, good afternoon Captain. Have you come afoul of some form of contagious plague? Coughing can lead to all sorts of debilitating illnesses. Or perhaps you have been struck by a beast and your inner organs are…”
Aspen waved her off.
“Neither injured, nor sick.”
The other elf sighed.
“Disappointing.”
The captain rolled her eyes in exasperation.
“A physician should be happy when her patients are in good health. Also, I’m sure you shouldn’t be mounting one like a beast of burden.”
Zinnia gave her a mutinous look.
“The patient complained of back pains.”
As if that explained the preposterous position they found themselves in. One she was unwilling to dwell on because she felt her nose was starting to clog, and the less time she spent trying to ward off the… eccentric physician from giving her a check up the more productive she would be with it.
“Either way, I would like a word with the patient.”
“I’m here, you know.” Said patient groaned.
Zinnia sighed.
“I suppose we can continue later then.” Dusting off her robes, the younger elf took her leave, grumbling under breath as she closed the door with a bit more force than strictly necessary.
“Is she… always like that?”
The captain waved him off.
“Zinnia… has always marched to the beat of her own drum. I wouldn’t hold it against her. Her fascination with death and pestilence is harmless so long as you aren’t actually dead.” At which point the woman would do all sorts of… stomach turning things to discern the cause of said death.
All to amuse herself.
“You folks need more hobbies.”
“That is her hobby, I’m afraid.” Aspen deadpanned.
Sitting across from her, the human didn’t look particularly dangerous. His posture was relaxed and he hadn’t made any sudden moves. She feared that separating him from his weapon might have sent the wrong impression as to their intentions, but the man seemed completely at ease being in her presence.
“So, you have questions for me?”
Ah there it was, the penchant for perceptiveness that she’d been told.
“Indeed, though I must apologize for your… current circumstances. There were no other places we could have stashed you, and our people seem to have… adverse reactions to your presence.”
The man sighed.
“Yeah, that sounds about right. The others doing okay?”
“If you mean the elves who have been accompanying you, yes, they are safe and recovering from their ordeal. What you three pulled off was nothing short of suicidal, I hope you understand? Even if you were successful.”
She expected him to defend himself.
“Yeah, figured it was a long shot. Glad it worked. What happens now? You guys manage to kill the damn turkey?”
He was… very nonchalant regarding his own death.
But she appreciated the bluntness.
“Unfortunately, no. Mana Beasts are frustratingly durable. We managed to chase it away and shaved off a good part of its accumulated power, but once it shrunk it ran away before we could corner it. I’m afraid that tracking it is beyond our abilities at present.”
Mana Beasts were only noticeable because of their massive reserves, after all.
Too little and they weren’t any different from a tree or animal in the forest.
“So, rather than a goose chase you guys are building up your defenses.”
The Captain quirked an eyebrow.
“Are you familiar with the protocol?”
“We do something similar back home. You find one of the big bastards, you run back home and warn everyone so they can prepare, build up your defenses, then hold out until someone better prepared can show up to handle it.”
That was… quite an accurate descriptor.
“You have experience dealing with Mana Beasts then?”
That might actually be an unforeseen boon, but she kept her optimism under control.
“Not… Mana Beasts. At least I don’t think they’re the same thing. Yours kinda take over mana, right? The ones I know don’t control mana like that, they spread it like wildfire. They’re also pretty big. Larger than that turkey anyway.” He shuddered, as if recalling a bad memory.
She too might have.
‘Larger than that beast?’
It wasn’t the largest reported case she knew of.
But the way he talked about them, she had the impression that the ones he had in mind were of a completely different magnitude.
“So, what do we do now?”
“We?” She repeated.
The human rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.
“Well, I don’t exactly have a place to stay. Eartips, I mean Hemlock, was gonna help me leave the forest, so we were gonna go back to his place and pick up some things. I can’t very well just abuse you guys’ hospitality and leave you in trouble though. Would be mighty rude of me.”
She felt his lips curl slightly.
“Quite a heroic mindset.” Like the ones her parents would tell her stories of.
The man in armor groaned.
“Please don’t say that. It’s embarrassing.”
She offered him a hand.
“Very well, then on behalf of the Pineskeep Guard. Consider yourself conscripted.” They needed all the help they could get, and if he was offering, then she would be a fool to reject it. Better yet, it gave her an excuse to keep an eye on the outside.
A silver lining to this entire debacle, if there was one.
Aspen’s nose twitched.
“Hey, you okay ther-”
She sneezed.