The Road Ahead (3)
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Sylvan?
If I'm remembering this correctly, that was Julia’s birthplace.
A torrent of crooked necks and scrunched stares aligned themself in Oliver’s direction. The confusion in the atmosphere was now palpable, but it seemed like he’d been prepared for it.
“I know what you're all thinking, but the current situation really leaves us with no choice. There’s been a whole slew of unexpected developments with Liam in the past few weeks you see....”
His gaze almost fell to the floor with those fumbling words.
~Siiiiiighhhhh~
The red-haired man sitting directly across from me bellowed that unearthly sound after giving a glance to the strange symbol on my face.
“Well, we’re already here” Flynn shrugged before correcting his posture in the wooden chair. “There’s nothing we can do about it now, and I'm sure no one here has a problem with it, right?”
The ecstatic smiles lining the faces of their comrades made that question seem all but rhetorical.
“You have my thanks.” Oliver said, before giving a solemn bow.
“Now! Now! - There’s no need for all that melancholy. Just how long have we known each other? This little favor is practically nothing compared to what we’ve been through~” The floating Faerie chimed from her upside-down posture, a bold smirk now lining her mischievous lips.
“I’ll make it up to you someday, Myra.” Julia muttered
“Heh-Heh! I’m holding you to that!”
*CLANK CLANK*
The tinkling sound of silverware knocking on glass rang in my ears. It sounded from directly in front of me, where Flynn, spoon still in hand, was deliberately trying to suppress the once vibrant traces of playfulness in his features.
“It’s nice that we’re all in agreement here, but as for the issue at hand, the problem isn't going to Sylvan, it's actually our route. Since the druids and elves live in isolation, away from the governance of humans, we can’t just teleport over there.”
“Then that means we have to go through Fallon, right?” Jytte asked in anticipation.
“Exactly. That’s the problem, Fallon isn’t exactly normal right now, looks like our last visit there wasn’t enough to do the trick.”
A tense silence filled the air, it felt like all the adults present had suddenly locked onto the same train of thought. I could feel the uneasiness welling up inside my mother despite the distance between us, but she was managing to suppress that unpleasant emotion, in spite of herself. Instead, her concern was being directed towards Oliver.
His face had now dawned a ghastly mask of shock and awe. It was an expression I’d never seen him make before.
“....What...do you mean by that? Didn’t we defeat the irregular there all those years ago...before coming here?”
“........”
“Flynn...what’s going on?”
His tone was brash, yet somehow still calm. The eyes gathered here scurried to and fro between the two men, making it seem as if this was some kind of weaponized word game. That analogy would hardly suffice though, seeing as Flynn simply sat there lock-jawed with interlocked fingers supporting his chin.
Anybody could see that he wanted to say something, but the problem here was how he was going to convey that something, given the current situation and all. It was a rather precarious position to be in, and while I did feel a tinge of pity for the young lad, this was a good learning experience for me.
“Alright, let's just get this over with.” Myra said with a sigh, she floated between the two men, garnering all the attention in the room with nothing but the flamboyant pair of translucent wings flapping at her back.
“Myra, please! I need to kno-!”
“Okay, Okay, I got it, I understand.” She said, waving her hand dismissively.
Lowering herself to the round table, the small Faerie’s feet made contact with solid ground for the first time today. She looked as if she was pondering something, but after a few seconds she completely ditched the empathetic tactic that had yet to fully form in her mind.
“Here’s the truth Oliver...we did actually kill the irregular in Fallon before coming here four years ago, but, we’ve got another one of them on our hands. Well, its not just one, the guild’s been receiving more and more reports about irregular sightings in Ekin over the past few years. The current situation in Fallon is just one example of that but, apparently, the irregular that’s there now is even stronger than the one we fought last time.”
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“About B rank, they say...” Flynn chimed in from the side, filling the gap in Myra’s monologue.
“Then this is a lot worse than I thought. Is that why you all got here later than we planned?”
“Yeah, we had to make a little detour on our way here. Just like back then, the guild has issued an extermination order for the irregular that appeared in Fallon, but things aren’t exactly going smoothly this time around. The advance party was decimated, so now the quest’s been bumped up to a raid, and every raider in the immediate vicinity, levels two and above are eligible to participate.”
Gasps of shock filled the air, although the expressions were also coiled in a web of fear and confusion, the overall message was relayed loud and clear.
This was not something good.
“Why weren’t we notified beforehand? Isn’t this a serious threat?” Julia piped up, her features slowly began contorting into a gentle intensity.
“I suppose you could say it was just a matter of priority. Based on those letters we exchanged, I thought you all had your hands full. Besides, we don’t know much about those things, but we do know that they only show up near heavily populated areas. Zale doesn’t exactly check all those boxes.”
Her eyes flickered with a hint of disbelief before she ultimately swallowed the disappointment.
“Flynn, how long has the guild been aware of all this?” Oliver asked with a stern stare.
“Mhhmmm.....For at least the last two or so years, things did calm down a little after our last battle in Fallon, but that didn’t last very long. Irregulars are becoming more common nowadays and the guild is dead set on resolving this before it starts getting out of hand.”
“How many casualties have we suffered?”
“As of right now, ninetee-”
“It’s twenty-five" Jytte answered abruptly, the fluffy ears standing atop her head went limp with her reply. “I overheard Allen confirming the identities of the other six bodies when we were leaving Fallon earlier.”
“Damn it...” The wooden table creaked under the weight of Oliver’s burled fist.
“If I’d known earlier then -”
“Then you’d what, Oliver!?” Myra exclaimed in irritation.
She floated up to meet his burning gaze with a pensive stare of her own.
“You’re a father now, you have a wife and child, there would’ve been no point in you rushing off to fight something like that. We all know how strong you are, but that doesn’t mean you’re invincible. You had your hands full here, that’s all it was.”
Her words must have penetrated all the self-loathing that was usually absent from his calculating mind. A dreadful sigh escaped him, but it was enough to return the glint of hope to his eyes.
“You’re right Myra, I got a little carried away there; thank you.”
“Don’t mention it~ I'm just reeling you a little, we all know you need it every once in a while, right, Julia?”
“Yes, I suppose you beat me to it this time...” Julia replied, smiling in admonition.
“Well, there you have it!” Flynn exclaimed before explosively throwing his hands into the air.
“The fastest way to Sylvan is through Fallon, but another irregular’s popped up in that city. Judging by your reactions, I trust you want to get Liam treated as soon as possible, no?”
Both of them turned to spare me a glance before nodding in agreement.
“Well then, I suppose we have no choice then do we? Nobody knows what’s wrong with Liam, but we don’t know all that much about the irregulars either. I suppose it's best to just kill two birds with one stone.” The Faerie’s words echoed through the room, resonating with all who were present.
“Flynn, is Allen still in Fallon?” Oliver quizzed despite his mounting anxiety.
“Yeah, he’s the one coordinating the efforts for this raid. It should take place in a little over a week from now, so if we leave early, we might be able to make it in time.”
“I see, we still have a few loose ends to tie off before leaving here, but we should be able to make it in the nick of time – What? What is it Myra?”
Without warning, she abruptly cut off his sentence to float up in front of his face with a determined look in her eyes. Just going off the way she was staring, it was almost like she wasn’t even looking at him at all.
“You don’t usually get this anxious about a fight. Is it because you’ll be bringing your family along this time?”
“Myra - that’s....”
The small creature giggled at the startled sight of my flustered father.
“Well, we can’t exactly blame you, this is an emergency after all. But hey! We’ve got your back; it’s been a while, but we haven’t exactly been doing nothing all this time you know. Julia should be able to handle herself, and I don’t think we’ll have any problems watching over Liam. This might get a little rough but, we’ll protect your family for you – leader.”
That word she used at the tail end of her sentence was rather new to me, but it only served to remind me that Oliver was a man of many talents despite how he usually acts.
“I’m counting on you.” He said with a smirk that betrayed confidence.
“Pardon me....”
Just when it seemed as if the rather foreboding discussion was about to conclude, Beatrice spoke up at the last second. As soon as the curious stares aligned themselves in her direction, she posed the question that had been keeping me on the literal edge of my seat this entire time.
“I’ve heard you use that word before but...what exactly is an irregular? Is it some kind of rare monster?”
The Ember Fangs exchanged brief glances with each other before chuckling at the realization. Their entire conversation was taking place above our heads this entire time.
“Well, I suppose you deserve an answer to that, Beatrice.”
Oliver answered with a flick to his glasses. “Let's see, where exactly should we start?”