The trip through the mountain tunnel took nearly two hours at the leisurely pace the two women were forced to walk. In places like these it was always illegal to move at any speeds higher than a normal person was capable of achieving. Gwen explained that there have been incidents of Warrior based Classers that have high strength and dexterity, but low intelligence, thus a low mental speed, accidentally killing civilians. Every time it happened, nations like Cardona became a little stricter about people using their advanced attributes in populated places.
According to Gwen, Saldeya was different from Cardona in many ways, but the largest was a definite ‘survival of the fittest’ mentality. If this tunnel were not sharing a border with Cardona, there would likely be no speed limits. But, as it was sharing the border, Gwen said that Cardona had likely put pressure on Saldeya to enforce these movement limitations to ensure that their citizens weren’t killed when crossing the border. Merchants didn’t frequently travel between the two nations, but it happened often enough that the precaution was necessary.
Cardona and Sladeya weren't exactly enemies, but Gwen said that the Queen was known to be incredibly outspoken against Saldeya's expansionist tendencies. From the single day she had spent with Alana Swanson, Kelsey had no trouble believing that was true. There was no doubt that two countries warring against one another did absolutely nothing to prepare humanity for their eventual fight against the Myrdon or The Inventor.
As Kelsey and Gwen exited the tunnel and officially entered Saldeya, Kelsey’s eyes widened in absolute shock. She had arrived in Cardona, and everything she had seen thus far had pointed to the fact that Anoura was uniformly lush and green region filled with forests and woods without any seasons. At least, no seasons that she had seen yet.
Saldeya was completely different; it was a vast desert filled with large trees made from a pale white crystal.
Stepping out of the tunnel, Kelsey and Gwen were met with the large, seemingly endless, desert that filled their entire vision. Right outside the tunnel began a well-constructed stone pathway that rested right above the desert sands. The road twisted and turned around the crystal trees and dunes of sand as it vanished into the distance.
Other than the crystal trees, there was no signs of flora or fauna that Kelsey could see, nor any in her domain. It was as if the entire desert were barren.
That wasn't to say there was nothing to see as they exited the tunnel. On either side of the road directly outside of the tunnel were a few dozen small buildings made entirely of sandstone and clay. As Kelsey inspected them, she realized that they were shops that serviced merchants and travelers from Cardona. They seemed to primarily sell clothing and other desert supplies such as canteens, food, and tents that were specifically designed for use in the desert. Kelsey also saw a building with a small stable that appeared to be selling o renting camels.
“Welcome to Saldeya!” Gwen said in an overly jovial tone. “Home to bandits, thugs, and all-around shitty people. Have you ever thought to yourself, ‘I sure would like to get kidnapped, beaten, and then sold into completely legal slavery!’? Well, in Saldeya, you can!”
Without missing a beat, Gwen spun around and gestured to the desert in front of them. "Do you like getting sand everywhere? Do you like being miserable? Well, do I have the place for you! Visit Saldeya today and hate yourself tomorrow!"
Gwen was saying these things quite loudly, and Kelsey could see that the Saldeyan merchants and guards were staring at her with hate and venom in their eyes. Kelsey quickly motioned for Gwen to stop her less than subtle taunting, and thankfully, she did, but not before getting in one more jab at the surrounding citizens.
"You're right, I'm sorry! I shouldn't be shouting these things; I should write them down! It's not like any of them can read anyway! Did I mention, Saldeya is home to not three, not two, not one, but zero schools for formal education? It's true!" Gwen said with fake excitement.
Once she said the last part, she spun back around and fell in step with Kelsey. "Sorry. I just... really hate it here." She said with disgust in her voice.
"Oh? Do you? Couldn't tell." Kesley teased, trying to lighten the mood.
Based on a brief glance around, Kelsey didn't think they had anything to worry about. The people that surrounded them were all in Gold rank or lower, but it never hurt to be too careful.
Trying to change the subject and get the people to stop staring at them, Kelsey decided to start a new conversation. “Which way do we need to go? And should we buy a map?”
Gwen glanced around at the nearby shops. “If we were traveling on the roads, I’d have no problem getting us there, but since you’ll be taking us, yeah… we should probably pick up a map. I know the general direction, but it may be hard unless we just follow the roads.”
“Alright, no problem, there's a store two streets down that sells maps.” Kelsey said, pointing in the direction of the shop she had seen in her domain.
Gwen nodded and started walking in that direction while grumbling under her breath. “I hope I get a domain when my second class advances, it's so convenient… flight would be nice too.”
Kelsey just smiled and followed Gwen. She knew that coming back to Saldeya must be bringing up some unpleasant memories for Gwen, so Kelsey was going to do her best not to bring up any old wounds on their way to relocate the Guild.
Ten minutes later, Kelsey and Gwen had purchased their map from an incredibly friendly woman who had told them exactly the direction they needed to go. The headquarters for The Librarians was its own compound about 30 miles east of a city called Grasm.
As the pair of women walked around the small settlement, Kelsey became aware of a small group of dirty thugs following them. Kelsey assumed they were bandits, or some other kind of asshole looking to kidnap the two women. But, even as they finished their shopping and began walking towards the edge of the desert, the group made no move to intercept them. They simply watched with careful eyes despite the fact that Kelsey had been extremely careful not to show that she had seen them with a domain.
Now that Kelsey and Gwen had a map and Kelsey had decided to ignore the bandits, they walked to the edge of the very small shopping area. Once there, Gwen hopped into Kelsey’s arms and rose into the air, flying southeast in the direction of the headquarters.
As they were flying, Kelsey considered telling Gwen about the bandits, but didn't want to worry her. For all she knew, they were waiting for them to leave the village, and now that Kelsey and Gwen had flown away, they would simply forget about the two women. Kelsey didn't see any reason to involve Gwen in something like that when it was clear she was already struggling being back in Saldeya as it was.
The guild was a little over 1,200 kilometers away, which meant that Kelsey could make it there in less than an hour if she knew exactly where she was going, but sadly, she had to slow down and frequently check the map for landmarks. This was an incredibly difficult challenge, because Kelsey and Gwen were flying over an endless ocean of sand and crystal, which meant that the only reasonable landmarks were villages, towns, and cities constructed by people.
During one of their brief breaks to check for landmarks, Kelsey remarked, “You know, from up here, the desert and crystal trees are actually quite beautiful. If it weren’t so damn hot, this place wouldn’t be too bad.”
Gwen’s face darkened. “Yeah, except for the people and laws too…”
Right... Probably shouldn't have said that.
“I promise we won't be here long, a couple days at most.” Kelsey said with what she hoped was a reassuring smile.
It seemed to work as Gwen grinned up at her. “You’re right. Sorry. This place just brings up some unpleasant memories.”
“It’s okay. I understand. Let's find the guild and get out of here.” Kelsey said as she stored the map and repositioned Gwen to begin flying again.
It was into the middle of the afternoon when the pair finally arrived in the sky above their destination, The Librarian’s Guild headquarters.
Below them was a large collection of quaint stone buildings all packed together in extremely close proximity. The grounds of the compound were surrounded by a ten-meter-tall sandstone wall with a wooden gate that faced the western direction, towards the city of Grasm.
All in all, the headquarters were not all that interesting, just a collection of buildings sitting in the desert. The most interesting thing about the guild’s headquarters was their method of food production. Being this close to a city, Kelsey assumed that they would have just traded for their food, but apparently not.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
On the eastern side of the compound, she saw a large stone platform that held fresh soil on top of it. She could see that there were currently three people tending to the small field. One of them was a water creator that was carefully misting the growing produce. One of the others seemed to be a worker class that was slowly channeling mana into the crops. The last of the three members was the most interesting. They seemed to be a plant mage of some sort, using mana to increase the speed at which the crops grew by an astronomical amount. In just the few seconds Kelsey watched, it appeared that the crops had gone through days, or weeks of growth.
Kelsey could see dozens of people moving in between the stone buildings, their hands filled to the brim with various books and documents. Each and every one of them were wearing long white robes with the embroidered silver symbol of an open book and quill.
“Home sweet home.” Gwen said sardonically.
Kelsey nodded and slowly lowered Gwen and herself down in front of the gate. As they were falling, one of the guards that was stationed behind the gate saw them and started to sound the alarm.
Gwen was quick to react. “Thomas! Thomas! It’s me! It’s Gwen! Don’t sound the alarm, everything is fine!” she shouted loudly.
“Go ahead and take us to Thomas.” Gwen said to Kelsey after she got the guards attention.
Not wanting to make the young man nervous, Kelsey lowered Gwen and herself extremely slowly into the compound.
As they landed, Gwen immediately hopped out of Kelsey’s arms and ran up to Thomas to give him a hug which he returned excitedly. Thomas was young, maybe 16 or 17 years old, with light blonde hair and green eyes. He had a boyish face and build; and despite the fact that he was wearing a full set of steel scaled armor, Kelsey couldn’t help but see him as a child.
He’s so young… she thought as she identified him.
[Warrior - lvl 144]
As Kelsey saw the boy’s level, she instantly knew that his past must be riddled with misfortune. That, or he was a freak like Kelsey who just liked fighting monsters. People in this world got their classes at 12 years old, and that means he gained 143 levels in 4 or 5 years, as a child. Even more significant than that, she could see a single indication that he had ever even been hurt by a monster. No scars, no limp, no scuffed armor, nothing. If she hadn't known any better, she would have assumed he was a Magus with a Mageblood body like herself.
After Gwen and Thomas hugged, they started talking, but Kelsey wasn’t listening.
She was focused on something she had noticed in her domain as they were landing. Roughly seven kilometers away, traveling on the road from the direction of Grasm, Kelsey saw a contingent of heavily armored men and women wearing mismatched sets of gear. They were all riding on some sort of desert air boat. It had a large propeller on the back powered by a complex monster core machine that someone was powering with their personal mana.
On the boat itself there were only 12 people, and they were all crammed together. The boat was only 15 - 20 meters long and a few meters wide. The small boat also had no interior section, they were all standing on the deck with cloth coverings over their mouths and goggles over their eyes.
Whoever they were, they didn’t appear to be friendly. But, they also didn’t appear, at least from this distance, to be very strong.
Not feeling too worried about their arrival, Kelsey casually walked up to Gwen and whispered into her ear. “Hey, there are some people who look like bandits on their way. They’re about six and half to seven kilometers out. They will be here in seven to eight minutes. They don’t seem particularly strong. They’re traveling on something like a boat with a propeller on the back.”
Gwen nodded once, also not seeming to be worried. “Sand Raiders. Do you see an emblem or symbol anywhere?” she asked quietly.
Kelsey quickly checked her domain and saw that they did in fact have an emblem painted on the side of the sand boat.
“Yeah, there is an emblem painted on the side of the boat. It looks like a hand holding a golden coin. It’s difficult to tell, the entire thing is in yellow paint.” Kelsey answered.
Gwen nodded again. “Yeah, that’s the Golden Hand. They likely heard I was back in Saldeya from one of their contacts at the border and are planning to ambush me.” she said without a hint of worry in her voice.
Oh, maybe I should have told her about the thugs watching us... oh well.
The young man, Thomas piped up at hearing this. “The Golden hand, what could they possibly want?” he asked exasperatedly.
Gwen shook her head in disbelief. “I have no idea… Hey Thomas, why don’t you gather everyone up and have them meet us here. I have some news I’d like to share.”
The boy nodded and threw Gwen a sloppy salute before running off to gather the other Librarians.
As he left, Gwen turned to Kelsey, a serious expression on her face. “I have a favor to ask of you, Kel.”
Sensing the shift in her demeanor, Kelsey answered seriously as well. “Anything.”
“When the raiders get here, don’t attack them, no matter what happens. I need to deal with Amos myself.” Gwen said. “I know exactly why they’re here.”
Kelsey didn’t know who, or what, an Amos was, but she quickly agreed. “No problem. What do you want me to do if I’m not going to fight?”
Gwen’s face stayed incredibly serious. “I need you to make an entrance.”
***
The hot desert sun was beating down on Amos’ head as he looked towards the horizon and saw the first signs of the Librarian’s filthy compound. He had just gotten word that Gwen’s guild identification was used to cross into Saldeya. If she was back, he was going to pay her a little visit. Depending on how fast she was traveling, it should take her anywhere between two days and two weeks to make it to her precious guild’s headquarters.
That gives us plenty of time to break into that guild and take as many hostages as we want. Amos thought gleefully.
He hated that bitch Gwen, and her stupid sister with a burning passion. They had all been friends when they were kids, but they had both abandoned him when they decided to become adventurers and help people. He couldn’t understand why they would decide to take up arms to help the very people that caused them all the pain and punishment they went through. They were idiots.
He heard through some rumors that Gwen had reached the Immortal ranks a few years ago, but he didn’t believe it. Amos had been focusing on leveling as much as possible, and he had only reached level 250 with his group six months ago. No way those two little girls could have done it by themselves years before him, it was simply impossible.
He had also heard a rumor that said The Librarian’s had lost all of their Immortal members, which means that if Gwen was actually alive, she had never even become an Immortal.
Amos smiled at the thought of finally being stronger than the woman who had scorned him. He was finally going to take what was his. He was finally going to get what he had worked so hard for all those years ago, and it was going to be… delicious.
Glancing around at his crew, he saw that many of them were practically dancing with excitement now that they could see the headquarters. They should be arriving in about a minute, and he needed his men on their toes.
“Alright men! When we get there, I need you focused. Disembark as quickly as possible and surround those damn walls. I’ll get us through the gate!” he shouted over the sound of the violent wind being pushed out of the propeller.
A chorus of acknowledgement rang out from the other raiders.
“Our goal is hostages! If any of you kill a single one of them, I’ll be killing you! And don’t worry, I’ll let you have all the fun you want with them while we wait for my target!” Amos shouted again.
This announcement brought a huge cheer from the raiders. Amos smiled, he always knew the best ways to get his crew enthused about a job. Having nothing else to say, Amos waited the last few seconds for them to make it to the gates.
As they arrived, the engine on the boat was shut down, and his crew began to disembark.
He was the last to set foot off the small boat and onto the sands below,, and as he did, he felt a massive shockwave burst through the tall walls surrounding the compound, sending stone shards scattering in every direction. Mere moments after the walls exploded, a massive wave of ice appeared out of thin air and spread across the desert sands.
He and his crew immediately began stumbling, and falling, none of them having any experience walking, much less fighting on ice.
Bloody hell, where did all this ice come from? What is going on? The Librarians don’t have an ice mage strong enough to do this.
As he shakily rose to his feet, Amos found the answer. Standing atop a giant metal pillar were two women. One of them was his target, Gwen, looking nearly as young as the day she had abandoned him. Her long, luscious black hair that fell to her waist. Her piercing blue eyes that could see into his soul. And most importantly of all, her perfect body that he couldn’t wait to get his hands on. The rage and anger that had filled his head before vanished as he saw her, and lust took its place. He began laughing maniacally, overjoyed that he had finally found his muse once again.
This woman was finally going to be his and he would let no one stand in his way this time.
His laughing stopped abruptly as Gwen acted. With a casual grace, she raised her hand into the air, and a burst of mana unlike anything he had ever seen before exploded out of her. As the mana was spent, dozens of star shaped metal blades formed around her, floating, gently spinning in the air. A moment later, she waved her hand in the direction of the stumbling raiders and the blades exploded away from her and flew through the air, cutting his entire crew into pieces in mere moments.
He glanced around at his fallen men, every single one of them was dead in bloody piles on the icy ground. None of them were spared. But, he was alive. She had let him live. She must want to be with me too!
He looked up at the tall metal pillar and locked eyes with Gwen, who was staring directly at him, eyes filled with hate and loathing.
Amos smiled. You have truly returned, my queen.