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Chapter 141 - Vol. 3 - Chapter 6

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At the tall Northern Gate of Titan protected by the Imperial Guards that stood on patrol to check on the people entering inside, a woman that was wearing a warm black coat, visible equipped for the cold in the North, accompanied by a small creature that reached her chest height were glancing at the gate.

"Would you believe me if I told you this is the first time I look at the Northen Gate up-close?" asked the young woman, amazed by the sheer size of Titan's Walls that give the impression they will never break.

"Me neither. I mostly used the South Gate to move toward Moroiz on an Adventure and toward Dewars."

"To be honest, the Golden Gate in the South looks far better and maintained. Or am I just biased right now?"

"I don't know Mistress, it seems the same to me." commented the small creature walking side by side with the young woman, and slowly they passed past the Northern Gate without being asked by the guards a single thing, being allowed to pass freely.

'Maybe it's because they recognise me as a Citizen of the city? Tsk, I really look like a peasant girl right now, not even knowing the rules of the City I've been living in for two year.'

What was outside of the Northern Gate was a cleared road, and she walked on the side to avoid an unfortunate accident of the carriages moving toward the North with various goods, and in this way the journey began toward Silverpine Forest.

Left and Right she could see the Exterior City where the peasants of the country lived close under the protection of Titan, but now because of the winter, there was no activity whatsoever.

The first part of the journey was your average hike taken by foot, which was rather slow because of the snow, the surrounding farmlands of Titan, which was the main food source of the city, was silent, but the villages surrounding Titan were decent.

Where her eyes looked she could see the children play around in snow, the carriages moving toward other cities in the North or returning to Titan, and it even so happened that a group of kids that were playing close to the road, moved toward her.

"Miss, miss. Do you want some guides around these places? We can take you swiftly out of this part of the road and move toward the other part of the road."

Once they could see Fayrene's face, they took some steps back and began looking in a nervous manner, starting to whisper to one another.

"Isn't the lady, a noblewoman? Wouldn't we get in trouble if we disturb her?"

"I am not a noble, so no need to be afraid."

"Ohhh, miss, you are really beautiful. Do you want to become my wife? I will be a Knight in the future, and will be able to protect you against the bad nobles." asked a kid that was already love-struck by Fayrene's appearance.

Hearing this kid, it made Fayrene chuckle finding him cute, but Vek who heard such words directly thought of what Mathias told him, to protect her, and stepping toward them, he opened his crocodile snout which made them back off.

*Poc* Fayrene gave him a slap behind the head, which made him confused as he stared at her.

"Why are you scaring the kids?"

"They are annoying."

"They are cute, not annoying. This isn't how you should behave with kids."

"But …"

"Hah, let's move on. You've scared them this time, next time when we return you should apologize for being mean." sighed Fayrene while scolding Vek a little bit for his hostile behavior.

"Mean? Me? Lord Mathias told me to protect you Mistress."

*Chuckle* "How could some kids about 8-10 years old be a threat to me?"

"... My bad."

"It's fine, let's see if I can get those kids to come back."

Fayrene tried to wave toward those kids who went into hiding, but with no success as they pointed toward Vek, and with a sigh, she continued on her way, and on the Royal Road the various small villages that depended on Titan's protection were quite a sight.

'As far as the villages around Titan fulfill their role as the breadbasket for the big city, things seem to be going the right way for them. Especially with the Imperial Guards protecting them and being close to the hotspot of Black and Red Knights.' thought Fayrene to herself, when

All of those things entered into Fayrene's eyes that could feel the peacefulness of those villages, a calm that was enhanced by the winter's snow, and after a couple of hours of walking, the villages at her back were barely discernible from the distance.

She continued on steadily along with her kobold companion, Vek, who admired the sceneries with a curious mind, even checking at some frozen plants that he picked up, placing them in his mouth and spitting them later on in a comical way.

"Are you some puppy or something? Why are you sniffing and eating so many strange things?"

"They are frozen, I can't get their full scent to recognize them for certain."

"What if you stumble on a poisonous one?"

"I am immune to small doses of poisoning."

"I see, good to know."

Some of those plants were useful while others were not, simply being discarded by the young kobold, who was doing his "Side-Quest" by becoming a low-key Herbalist.

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The number of people going forward on the Royal Road was also lower than when she started the journey, even though she was still walking on the main road toward Toulmont Duchy. This change gave her the feeling that only she, Vek and the carriages passing at a fast speed were around the road. Nevertheless, it didn't change much in her approach, but once night arrived, she was conflicted.

"Should we try to find a tavern or a cabin to spend the night?"

"If you want, we can look for something like that since we only reached the forest entrance. But I don't mind sleeping in the forest." remarked Vek with confidence in his voice, while Fayrene wasn't so sure about sleeping in the Forest since God knew what monsters lurked in the shadow.

"Wait, let's not hurry with a camp in the forest. Let's try to find some signs that might lead toward a Tavern. Things like those are quite offen placed in such checkpoints in the Royal Road, a place that travellers can use to recover their strength."

"I really don't mind encamping in the forest. But, you are the leader, Mistress."

"Then let's continue looking at the first part of the forest, using the road, it can't be that empty since people are passing by. A tavern will for certain be around."

It was a simple thought that she made after noticing that once she passed the villages around Titan, there was only the road ahead along with the scenery to keep her warm. However, the road wasn't one to have build-up snow, being used traversed, and this fact made her believe she and Vek weren't the only ones on this journey.

The atmosphere got a bit somber when the cries of the owls and other predatory birds got to her ears, it reminded her of the time when she was just a young girl with a bag on her hands, and a small dream.

The trees covered by the snow started to seemingly move along with the winds, and she with some deep breaths barely got used to this feeling.

"This is a bit scary."

"This isn't scary at all, the image of that monster and the evil human is with me even now. The way it morphed into something similar to a demon that my ancestors would mention in their stories."

"The bear and the Warlock?"

"Yes, has Lord Mathias told you about his fight against that monster?"

"A bit, but he didn't go into too much detail. Probably for my own sake."

'That's because he knows I remember our encounter with that monstrous bear.'

'In fact I remember everything from the fight with the monster. Still, from what Mat told me, there has been a change that we didn't experience the first time, the necromancer and the manner that monster morphed and evolved.'

'Even when I fought that monster with Mathias, I saw its twisted transformation similar to the demons of the myths in the book.'

She moved past those thoughts and continued talking about other subjects, trying to hit a talk to keep her mind occupied on this long journey and she found after some questions a common subject they could discuss. From what their fears were to things they didn't like when going outside, such as monsters that could appear on their path.

The books Mathias brought to her from the Ruins inside Gravelmark Heights belonging to a Great Mage feed her with a lot of knowledge and in a way, she found it was better to check on the monsters she learned with other people, in this case, Vek.

"Mistress, I don't know a lot about monsters, those dangerous beasts with no intelligence, I have some idea about the other nonhuman species living in the Empire from what stories my ancestors have recorded, but that's all. I am far more clueless about those things than you are."

"Then why are you so calm right now? Weren't kobolds supposed to feel fear rather rapidly?"

"I am scared too about having to spend the night in the wilderness, but after I place some traps around our camp, I will be fine."

"Are you prepared for encamping outside? Don't get me started, let's see if we can find a tavern."

She used her arcane power to make some light around herself, and still, on the main road, the group at least heard the sound of people, which from what Fayrene could hear were players that were discussing how they should approach hunting around this Hunting Ground.

"Guys, guys. Some attention please."

"Sure, boss."

"So, from the information we gathered, this place is still too high-level for us. Most mobs in this place are level 54-70, I hear from the other teams in the tavern that if we go deeper the difficulty increases exponentially, with the monsters reaching level 70-90, a wipe feast for any noob team."

"Guild Leader, we should move carefully, I have this feeling this place isn't right, even in our hunt we barely got to the safety to recover our resources."

"Shhh, quiet, I hear some footsteps in the distance." exclaimed the one who looked to be the guild leader, a man in his mid-twenties, with brown short hair, and black eyes, wearing leather armor and wielding a bastard sword in his right hand.

The moment he said that everyone in his group formed by 4 other players, reacted, turning to be ready for a confrontation, however what he saw in the distance from the Royal Road, was a black-haired woman with winter clothes, a comfy black cape that was wrapped around her body, getting to her knees level, but from her pants and boots, they clearly saw hunting gear similar to theirs.

Her appearance was pleasant to the eye, but the guild leader, Fang, a player with his level 60, looked at Fayrene with observant eyes before turning his attention to the small creature who had sharp, reptilian eyes. The creature was wearing child-sized winter clothes, but at his waist, he could see two sharp daggers.

[Fayrene - Lv. ???] [Vek - Lv. ???]

'She is a player, white nameplate, but that creature is a silver named creature with gold fragments, semi-named NPC. Interesting combo, her familiar maybe?'

Thinking that, in his mind, he started observing closer the two strange duo, before hearing the woman's charming voice.

"Excuse me, can you tell me if there are any taverns in the surrounding area?"

Hearing Fayrene's voice, the group of guys looked at the woman with interest, before their eyes went on Fang, their guild leader, who nodded calmly, replying to Fayrene who was illuminating the path forward using her Arcane Power.

"From the main road a couple of meters forward, you will see the placards guiding you to the checkpoint of this zone. Make sure you set your respawning point to the tavern before you go hunting in this forest."

"Is this forest dangerous?" asked Fayrene with a calm voice, trying to mask her nervousness while talking with the players using a persona similar to a player girl she used to watch on the Live Streams.

"Yea, the hunting ground evolved. When everything started, I heard this place was a beginner's leveling ground, with level 10-25 mobs, nothing out of the ordinary.

But since last month, after the NPC's had a fight in the region, from what the tavern Innkeeper mentioned, afraid, this region was attacked by undead."

"Things degenerated for the bad."

Nodding her head at what Fang told her, taking it as great information, she later got to hear about the new changes and how the monsters evolved turning stronger as if they suffered from a change, but the players took it as something the system did, to increase the level of hunting grounds, and make it challenging for them to level up.

Before she took her leave, moving toward the tavern, Fang invited her to his party.

"Hey, can you wait for a bit? I want to propose something to you."

"Mhmm?"

Fayrene stopped in her steps, turning her head at Fang, who cleared his throat, before telling her as normal as he could be in those moments while facing her.

"I don't know what your level or class is, but your gear doesn't look low-level. If you want you can team up with my group since we'll be here for some days, until we upscale the levels of the hunting ground."

"Afterwards, we will go to Toulmont since I heard there are more appropriate hunting grounds for each level."

"Sorry, but I have a quest, I'll just stop at the tavern and wait for the morning before I take off." declined Fayrene while shaking her head, trying to act as normal she could be in those moments, but nervousness was running all over her body.

"Ohhh, you have a quest around these places? That's quite rare, most of us high-rankers barely get quests from the NPC's especially when it comes to places we are interested in. But, I guess this makes things more interesting? Sorry for the rant, good luck with your quest."

"Thank you for the information, and likewise, good luck with your hunting." replied Fayrene in a calm way, continuing her journey using the directions given by Fang, while the group of boys all turned their heads to watch Fayrene's backside.

"Tsk, that annoying cape, I bet she got a big ass."

"She has the perfect boob size."

"Noo, her face is perfect."

"Stop it you idiots, why are you such simps? You make me look bad. Still, that girl is hot, but not to the point I'll start acting like a fool. Got it?"

"Sorry." apologized the whole group of guys to Fang, who was watching Fayrene walk off in the distance.

***

A/N: Simping is bad, don't be a simp, a White-Knight.

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