“I have an offer that might be of interest to you.”
Minoru’s eyes stared at the young woman before him as she pulled her hood down, revealing the calm, composed expression behind her platinum blonde hair that extended past her shoulders. The mantle she wore hid the rest of her figure in shadow, yet the details of her dark dress– accented by a silver trim– stood out just fine.
Minoru was silent for a few moments longer before, eventually, pulling himself to sit up, gazing back at the girl with half-lidded eyes.
“Who are you…?” He forced out.
“I am Ashe, a voyager.” She stated plainly, taking a seat down beside the fire, watching him intently. “You are aware of the infection, are you not?” She asked, although Minoru hardly reacted. He couldn’t muster any kind of acknowledgement of her words, yet his eyes told her the answer plainly. “I seek to end it. I do not desire to simply wipe out the monsters, but to dig out the root of it all, and rid Villesia of its clutches.” She explained. “And you, Minoru, are who I need.”
“...What do you want from me?” He asked pointedly, his eyes narrowing as he squeezed the handle of the greatsword in his hand.
“Gaia is tainted, and Villesia most of all. This infection has spread its claws all over the continent, and there is no telling how far it will go. Not even the people of Villesia know of its reach, how deeply rotten and fetid Gaia has become beneath the surface.” She looked deep into the hazy ink of Minoru’s pupils as they stared back at her. “I need your help, Minoru– traveler from the stars that you are. I will take you to the roots of this infection, and you will purify them, banishing the uncleanliness from Gaia’s body, healing her.”
Minoru’s knuckles went pale as he gripped the sword’s handle tighter. “What makes you think I’m going to go along with this?” He asked, a clear frustration in his tone.
“This is my offer to you, Minoru.”
“And what do I get out of it?”
“Ouroboros.” She stated plainly, the word giving Minoru pause. “You wish to find out more about them, do you not?”
“...And what do you know about them?”
She thought for a moment.
“Ouroboros are the infection. The infection is Ouroboros. They are one in the same.” She explained. “They are an ancient foe, one largely forgotten to the sands of time. Despite this, they are the sworn enemy of Villesians. They would gladly destroy all of Gaia if it meant wiping Villesians off of the map.”
“Why…? What could Villesians have possibly done to make them want that? What the hell pushes them to do this!?” Minoru’s voice was rife with anger, a deep-seated fury that scrambled all of his rational thinking.
“That, I do not know.” She admitted solemnly. “Ouroboros was defeated long ago by the Seven Champions, yet records of their existence elude us even to this day. They were a secret that was meant to be taken to the Champions’ graves. But now they have risen once more. I know not what has brought them back, only the threat their presence poses.” She looked at him once more, his furrowed brow knitted with rage as he cast his gaze downwards. “You seek revenge against them, do you not? For the atrocities they have committed against the innocents of this land, for the lives they have taken. This is my offer to you, Minoru.” She outstretched her hand, offering it to him. “Work with me, and we will see to it that Ouroboros is stopped, for good this time. We will do what the Champions could not.”
“Why me, though? I’m only just barely capable of using magic… If you know what happened in there…” He solemnly looked over his shoulder in the direction of the city behind him. “You’d know I couldn’t do anything against that… thing. I’m too weak…”
“You do not have to stay that way. Besides… You were summoned here for a reason, Minoru. The power to purify the infected roots lies solely with you.”
“What… do you mean…?”
“When you were summoned here, you were aflush with mana. The mana that opened up your streams. It had another purpose…” She scooted closer, leaning forward as she reached towards him, offering her palm. He hunched over slightly– his eyes wide– gripping onto Petra’s blade tightly, as if trying to guard it. His expression was like that of a threatened, wild animal– not helped by his disheveled hair and tattered clothes– as though he was about to strike at her. Hesitating for a moment, she spoke in a flat tone. “I will bestow upon you a chance to gain what is necessary to purify Gaia, to heal her. In return, I will assist you in finding Ouroboros. Together, we will put an end to them…”
After a few, frozen moments of watching her closely, studying the language of her body, glancing to her open palm and back to her face– collected and stilled with focus– his grip relaxed.
“Alright… If you can lead me to them, then I’ll accept.” His gaze sharpened, looking at her pointedly. “I understand, now… what I need to do…” He stated firmly, looking into her eyes with a fierce– almost wild– gaze of his own.
Reaching forwards, he took her hand into his own, grasping it firmly.
“Very well.” She stated, closing her eyes. “Let us see if this path you have chosen accepts you as the one to walk it.”
Her hand grasping his, he tensed up as a light shone from her palm. Suddenly, the lines of his mana streams appeared all over him, glowing brightly– brighter than he had ever seen them.
And their shining, vibrant green had been replaced with a deep, unfathomable purple…
In the following instant, his eyes went wide as he could feel a sensation rushing through them, making them vibrate rapidly. Almost as if the streams were dilating, he felt a throbbing pain in his head as he grit his teeth.
“The pain will have passed by the time you wake up. Rest for now. I will explain when you awake.” Her words echoed as he felt unconsciousness take him, slipping into a deep slumber.
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From the inky blackness, Minoru saw visions. Visions of a great tree, his eyes almost blinded by the light it gave off. The tree expanded into the sky, far above the clouds, its canopy extending from horizon to horizon.
Lights flitted all about the tree’s great expanse, floating about, jolting through the air on brief occasions, not bound by anything in their surroundings. They were free to float as they wished.
Suddenly, he could feel a rumbling through his feet as the ground beneath him shook. As quickly as it began to shake, it began to rise, a section of the ground ascending through the air, the movement almost pushing him down.
As he looked up, he beheld the shape of the tree change, wood twisting and distorting, the sky-filling canopy twisting along with it.
From the mass of writhing and twisting wood, the form of a great wyrm emerged. No features could be made out from its glowing mass, save for its enormous maw– rows of sharp, brambly thorns suggesting a collection of teeth lining the inside.
It gazed upon Minoru as he stood upon the piece of earth held up by its innumerable, wooden limbs, its vastness dwarfing him completely.
A ringing resounded out from it. Not from its mouth, but rather it felt as though the ringing was coming from all around, every corner of the world it possibly could have come from. Although the ringing held no words, Minoru could understand it clearly within his mind.
Heal.
From the piece of earth he stood upon, an enormous root rose up, breaking apart the dirt as it inched closer and closer to him. At the tip of the wooden limb, a pink bud pointed towards him before unfurling and opening up to reveal a huge flower.
Instinctively, he reached out towards it, and in an instant multiple spindly, wirelike appendages extended out from the flower’s center, slowly pressing up against each of Minoru’s fingers. His purple mana streams shone brightly once again, as he felt a surge of energy run through them, a bright light shining from his fingertips. So brightly that it consumed his vision.
----------------------------------------
Gasping as he sat up, Minoru breathed heavily, rapidly as he caught his breath. Looking around, he noticed the sun shining through the trees above, the cool air of morning filtering through.
To his side, he noticed Ashe, sitting across from him with her head down, eyes shut peacefully.
As if simply looking in her direction was enough to wake her, she slowly opened her eyes, looking towards him.
“Did it go well?” She asked.
“...What?”
“Your meeting.” She explained. “With Gaia.”
“My… You mean that dream?”
She shook her head. “That was no dream. Gaia may be sick and tarnished as she is now, but the one you saw as you slept is her truest, purest self.” Looking at him, she gazed into his eyes. “Ah, I see… So it did go well.”
“What do you mean?”
“Look at your mana streams.”
Unsurely, Minoru began channeling mana through his body. Looking down at his hand he saw the strange, purple color of his mana streams extend across his limbs. Only now, they extended into his palm, and across his fingers. Their shape was different, too. Rather than a few orderly, almost completely straight lines, his were now clustered together in jagged brambles, looking as though they were branches running through his body.
A light shone on his chest, as well, bright enough so as to be slightly visible through his tattered clothing. The eerie purple glow of his mana streams seemed to extend all over his body now.
“What… is this?”
“I do not understand the process fully myself. All I know is that those summoned here like you were are capable of something nobody else is. Meeting with Gaia, she has deigned to unlock the true potential of your mana streams. Now, instead of simple streams to move and channel mana along– You, Minoru, are now the ‘root’ of your own mana.”
Looking down at himself, Minoru could feel a strange sensation. Like a dense collection of energy rising up through his body. He realized that this energy was coming from him, a feeling he had never felt before.
“...Why was I chosen for this?” He asked simply.
Ashe thought about this for a moment. “I do not know how Gaia ascertains who is worthy to become a ‘root,’ I know only that she has deemed you fit to bear this responsibility.” She explained.
Looking down at his body again– the roots of his mana disappearing as he dispelled the mana he channeled– his face twisted into something of a strange, rueful expression, yet mixed in was a profound… emptiness. One that, when Ashe saw it in his eyes, she was given pause.
“I guess there’s only one thing I can do, then…” He breathed out, looking back up at her, a determined look in his eyes. “Where do we go first?”
----------------------------------------
The fires that had consumed Ludmilia had long since died out by now. With as many people saved from the destruction as possible, things were starting to calm down, somewhat. Civillians were sheltered as much as possible outside of the city. Mourning, they held onto each other, praying desperately for their lost.
Gazing at the scene that remained of Ludmilia, Dedrick clenched his fist tight. Minoru, Petra, Milo… none of them had been found. Morning had broken, and still they were nowhere to be seen.
He overheard talk of the sounds of a huge, destructive battle having taken place deeper into the city, with a tower being knocked over. By their words, the plaza with the clock tower was nearly entirely destroyed.
“Excuse me.” He interjected, gaining the attention of the two men discussing this. “I apologize for butting in, but I must know, was there anyone found among the rubble there?”
One of the men looked to the other, who seemed to wrack his brain in response. “Mmmh… I know I remember hearing that they found three bodies there. One of them was the city’s pastor. Such a damn shame to find him in that state…” He lamented.
“Who were the other two?” Dedrick asked pointedly.
“Hmm…? Agh, I don’t know if they were identified, but I think I remember hearing they were a seraut and a halfling. Apparently they were voyagers, looked like they died fighting something.”
Dedrick felt his heart sink.
“I see… Thank you.” He stated plainly, walking away.
“Sir Dedrick?” One of the Draetani soldiers asked as he approached. Dedrick had his head down, a hand to his forehead as he grit his teeth in frustration.
“It’s nothing.” He stated plainly. “Get the carriage ready, we’re returning to Draetan.” He ordered as he solemnly boarded their carriage. He didn’t care if his own carriage was left behind in the burned and destroyed city.
As he sat down in the back of the carriage, however, a single thought crossed his mind.
“Where is Minoru?”
----------------------------------------
The roads of the forest were long as Minoru walked beside Ashe. The journey was quiet, as the two reached the end of the forest, emerging out and heading north. By Ashe’s own words, she had been able to ascertain the location of at least two of the main sources of the infection, rotted roots that had grown so fetid and putrid so as to begin spontaneously giving rise to monsters.
One was in the southwest, beneath the Dubrilan Empire, and the other was to the north, in Camelot. There were more, without question, but she admitted that her information on this front was severely limited, Ouroboros simply hadn’t made their presence known for long enough to make it easy to figure out their locations.
Besides that, their route at the moment was clear: Head north until reaching the border between Trachezam and Swatesia, pass through the latter until reaching Faegarde– a long country that acted as a border between Camelot and the nations to its immediate south– and pass through to the kingdom that laid at the northernmost point of the eastern half of Villesia.
The route was relatively simple, all things considered. Thankfully, there was a caravan path that ran from the north and south of Trachezam– quite the large country– giving them a good space to slip into Swatesia's territory.
As they walked along, Minoru looked at his palm once more, channeling the mana that welled up from his body, gazing into the deep purple of his mana roots.
She looked to them as well, before turning her gaze to his eyes as he spoke.
“Did Gaia choosing me do this? Change their color, I mean…”
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
She shook her head. “No. To tell the truth, this is the first time I have seen such a color. I had assumed it was simply what you always had. Do you happen to have an idea what could have caused a change like this, Minoru?”
He thought back. The smell of fire and smoke surrounded him, as he was shoved facefirst into the ground. He writhed, pushed against the concrete of the burning city.
Minoru.
And yet even through the adrenaline that coursed through his veins he could do naught but struggle, as that searing pain cut through the flesh upon his back, carving and branding him.
Minoru.
Every motion made upon his back felt like a blade of lava running through his skin, carving through only to cauterize those same carvings in the exact instant they were made.
“Minoru–!” Ashe’s voice got through.
He almost jumped, as all of the sensations surrounding him disappeared. It was as though he had entered an entirely different place in the moments before. He looked to the girl beside him as she looked at him pointedly.
“Ah… Sorry– what did you say, again?”
She gave him a strange look, before speaking once again. “Nevermind. It was nothing important. For now, let us focus on getting to the next town.”
“...Right. Okay.” He affirmed, continuing to walk alongside her.
----------------------------------------
Reaching the edge of the mountain range where Ludmilia had rested upon was no short endeavor, and the silence between the two only made the time stretch on longer. Despite having left in the morning, the two only made it this far by about noon.
Eventually Ashe spoke plainly. “There.” Prompting Minoru to look to the horizon that their path led them down. Indeed, there was a village, resting peacefully in the plains that stretched outwards from the Harnewentian Mountains.
Once it was in sight, the two were able to push ahead the rest of the way, coming upon the entrance where a single guard– armed with a spear– welcomed them in.
It was… a surreal experience, to say the least, for Minoru to step into this village. A shallow creek ran through the town, children ran past the two, people simply… went about their lives. Of course, he couldn’t expect them to be aware of what had happened, the fire hadn’t escaped from Ludmilia’s dense dome of leaves. Not to mention that, tucked away in the mountains as it was, it was hardly possible for anyone here to have been capable of knowing what was going on in the city at any given time.
This village, though… To be so close to a monster hotspot like Ludmilia, and have little to no defenses… At this point, it was unfathomable to him.
“Let us go to the armorer. You will need some new equipment from now on.” Ashe spoke, gesturing to the sound of metal striking metal, the sound of a blacksmith at work.
He looked at her, before reaching into one of his pockets, pulling out a small coinbag and looking through it and finding a scant few gold coins, about three in total. “I… think I should have enough to get some more stuff…?”
“If not, I can help shore up the costs. Whatever it takes to make sure we are prepared.” She offered.
----------------------------------------
“Y’wanna know when the caravans pass through?” The blacksmith spoke as Ashe spoke with him, Minoru off to the side browsing his selection. Rubbing the back of his neck, he continued as he sat up. “Sorry, miss. Those don’t got a route going through here, you’ll have to head further out. There’s a town not too far west of here. If you hurry along, you should be able to catch the caravans as they go through.”
“I see. Thank you.”
Glancing over his shoulder towards Minoru, the blacksmith leaned forwards on one of his knees. “If you don’t mind me askin’... what in the world happened to your friend over there? Fella looks like he had a run-in with Tarrasque…” He muttered out, Minoru not hearing as he took a few practice swings with a particular sword he had drawn from the smith’s collection. “Not t’mention that look in his eye…”
Ashe looked to him as well. The gaping, torn hole in the back of Minoru’s gambeson was clear as day, revealing his bare skin to the world, as well as the markings left behind. Oddly enough, he didn’t seem to be particularly bothered by them, as they had ceased to look like burned scars. Now, in their place, a symbol that looked as though it had been painted in red took their place.
In the middle was the rough shape of an eye, vertically aligned with a dot in the center. Surrounding it were various triangular markings, contained within a pattern with the vague suggestion of a sealed cup or chalice. At its base, it had the shape of an arrow pointing downwards, the point surrounded by more triangular shapes.
Ashe didn’t get to observe it for long as Minoru turned around, but she could have sworn she saw a faint, deep red glow about it.
As Minoru returned with a shield and a broadsword, she looked at him curiously. “You already have a sword, do you not?” She asked, glancing to the greatsword that he had set down nearby her.
A solemn expression adorned his face as he cast his gaze down towards it as well.
“That sword… isn’t mine.” Was all he said.
----------------------------------------
Their stay in the village was short lived after their small stint shopping for supplies– namely food. Minoru had adorned himself with new weapons, replaced his torn and ruined gambeson with a lighter cloth shirt– simply for the cheaper price– and now wore a cloak similar to the mantle Ashe had, a deep blue in its coloration.
On his back, as well, he carried Petra's sword, now wrapped up and concealed in a large cloth.
Minoru had long since lost track of the time of year, and with his own bag of belongings left in Dedrick’s carriage– which he had no idea on the state of– he didn’t have his phone on him in order to keep up with the time. Based on the weather, though, winter would be coming soon.
It wasn’t the most pleasant experience to simply walk through dry, open plains in silence, and Minoru looked to Ashe as he spoke.
“Hey, Ashe? Do you mind if I ask– what’s your stake in all of this?”
“In purifying and healing Gaia, you mean?” She asked, receiving a nod from Minoru in response. "It is quite simple, really. I do not wish to see a beautiful land such as Villesia tarnished and ruined like this. The death of innocents and destruction of this land that Ouroboros perpetuates is abhorrent. I cannot abide by it."
"I see." He replied plainly. "I understand that, but… How were you able to allow me to meet with Gaia? What's your connection to her?" Ashe was silent for a few moments following his question. "Is that too personal of a question?"
"No, it is nothing like that. How do I put this…" She seemed perplexed. "I believe I would be best described as an apostle. Although… I might be seen as quite heretical, by the church's standards."
"Heretical how?"
"I believe in very old teachings related to Gaia. Most consider her to be simply another part of the cosmos, governed by the Burning One and the Fell Star."
"And what about you?"
"My people and I… The way we see it, Gaia is all we can truly know. You saw it for yourself, did you not? The way she reached from horizon to horizon, how she shone with a magnificent glow, how her mere presence elevated everything to a truly blissful state of utter tranquility…" She spoke wistfully, as if remembering better days. “As simple residents of this world, we recognize Gaia as our All-Mother. She is that which all life sprung forth from, and that which it shall return home to.” Gazing up at the sky, the clouds rolling above, she developed a curiously melancholy tone. “As Gaians, we know our own mother. But what can we know about the sun? The moon? The stars? How can we, small and innocent as we are, understand them, like we do our home?”
Minoru looked at her for a moment longer, before turning his gaze back towards the road ahead, replying in a soft tone.
“I don’t think it’s all that unknowable. In the grand scheme of things, the planets are pretty small, compared to the stars…”
He thought back, years ago, to a time when he was young, when he was living in Hokkaido…
A time when his mother was there.
He remembered the cold wind of the winter morning, as his mother and father stood side-by-side, his father holding him up upon his shoulders. He was only five at the time.
He remembered looking out across the water, at the huge spacecraft as it prepared to launch. It was bigger than any kind he had seen in his cartoons, or the ones he messily drew in crayon, and yet from this distance it looked so small. He could reach out, and his small hand would almost obscure it from his view.
His mother excitedly told him to watch, and as his eyes gazed upon the it, great plumes of fire and steam burst out from beneath the towering craft. It only took mere seconds before its form flew into the sky and escaped his view, its figure becoming smaller and smaller as it spread its wings and left its home.
Although a relatively minor footnote in the history of humanity’s voyages into the stars, reading about Sputnik, Voyager 1, Apollo 11… mere words on a page couldn’t measure up to the wonder instilled in his childhood mind as he watched the Akatsuki soar into the heavens, reaching to the stars.
He wondered if anyone on Gaia would see something so grand in their lifetimes.
“When you think about it, we’re only a few steps away… we just gotta… reach for it…” He recounted nostalgically, looking up into the blue sky, knowing that this world’s own vast, unknowable sea of stars awaited its people.
“It sounds as though you have seen it for yourself.” She replied with a curious yet soft smile. “Have the people of your world done such a thing?”
“Well… the furthest we’ve gone is our own moon, but we’ve sent lots of things out further. Machines that can tell us about other words, ones that can take pictures of what they see, or ones that carry our memories and our history with them… We haven’t discovered a fraction of what’s out there, but we’re learning, bit by bit.”
She wore a content expression, as she looked out towards the sky as well once more.
“I suppose my opinion might need a little reconsideration, then.”
----------------------------------------
-Three Days Later-
After traveling a few days by foot, the two reached the town mentioned to them. It was currently the day before the carriage was supposed to arrive, if everything was going according to schedule.
The two sat in a humble tavern, a few other patrons milling about as Ashe produced a map, laying it out on their table.
“So, we’re going to be going over into Swatesia once we reach Themis, right?” He asked, pointing towards a town to the north of their location, the closest to the northeastern corner of Trachezam, which was bordered by Swatesia to the east and Morgania to the north. “It seems like we’d have a more direct path going through Morgania, wouldn’t we?”
Indeed, Minoru was right. Heading directly north from the town they were meant to visit, they only needed to pass through Morgania and Faegarde in order to reach Camelot.
“Technically, yes. However, Morgania is home to the unseelie fae. I doubt you have had much contact with them, but passing directly through their territory would only leave us targets of their antics.”
“What do you mean?”
“Fae are… tricky by nature. They enjoy pranks and messing with people they can catch unaware. Normally, these are quite harmless, and unseelie fae have gotten better about it over the years, but…” She pondered her words for a second. “Unseelies can have a difficult time with restraint. It isn’t uncommon for some of their pranks to go ‘too far,’ so to speak. People who get too close to Morgania go missing all the time. Not to mention…” She trails off for a moment, considering her words carefully. “The Lady of the Lake.”
“Let me guess, she’s Morgan le Fa–?” He began, before she quickly hushed him with a finger to his mouth.
“I must ask of you, Minoru, to not so eagerly hasten your own approaching death. I only just saved you a few days ago, and I would rather you see our deal through before getting yourself killed.” When she had made sure he got her message loud and clear, she pulled her hand back. “Names are a powerful force, not to be trifled with. They assign an identity to something, put it into rigid terms we can understand and control… But if the owner of that name is unbounded by those terms, saying it may very well do nothing but bring their attention towards you.”
“I see… Then, what’s the deal with her?”
“The Witch of Winter has been around for many years. The sister to King Arthur of Camelot eventually broke away from the kingdom when he became one of the Seven Champions. Morgania formed around where she eventually settled.” She let go of a tense breath. “It is best to keep this discussion brief. Suffice to say, the Leader of the Unseelie is not to be trifled with.” She finished.
Minoru couldn’t quite place why, but Ashe’s tense body language and tone conveyed to him that this was as far as she wished to discuss the topic. Not to mention the strange intonation in her voice when she had to refer to the Lady of the Lake. Admittedly, something had been putting him off, too. In only the past few moments, he could have sworn he felt a cold digit trace its way down the length of his neck. He was going to shiver, but it was as though his body was bound the whole time, until the feeling pulled away from his skin.
He nodded, and Ashe let a sigh leave her mouth. “Good.”
“By the way, you keep mentioning these ‘Seven Champions,’ who are they?”
“Right, you would not know of them.” She mused. “In short, the Seven Champions were mortals of great renown and power, conscripted by Solaris and Lunaris to fight Ouroboros. They were revered for the power they held, and how they fought to protect the people of Villesia. Unfortunately, their deeds in fighting and defeating Ouroboros have gone unappreciated, as this war was largely waged in secret, and thus many people don’t even know who they were fighting.”
“Even acts of heroism get lost to time, huh?”
“Indeed.” She mused before continuing. “The Champions were made up of seven heroes from across Villesia:
Arthur, the Saint King and champion of Lunaris, who led and protected his home of Camelot. Even now, he watches over his domain.
Sitonai, the Hunter and champion of Lunaris, who hunted down and slew a dragon with her own hands to protect her village.
Iskandar, the Conquerer and champion of Solaris, who conquered the entirety of the Dubrilan desert before moving north, claiming ownership of nearly the entire western island of Villesia.
Jeanne, the Faithful and champion of Lunaris, who fought back against Iskandar’s reign and single-handedly managed to push his empire back.
Karna, the Third Eye and champion of Solaris, who crafted much of the technology we use today, and sparked an industrial revolution.
Scheherazade, the Enchantress and champion of Solaris, who foretold her enemies’ destruction and could control armies with a single wave of her hand, forcing men to change sides and fight their allies.
And the Flower Knight, a champion beholden to no god, who was the mightiest warrior in Villesia’s history.”
“And this is who we’re supposed to measure up to, huh?” Minoru spoke aloud.
“Regardless of what they did in life, the fact remains that although they stamped out Ouroboros for a time, they did not permanently rid Villesia of them. We are the only ones who can finish what they started.”
“Right.” He affirmed with a sigh. “So, where exactly are these roots that we’re looking for? You said you knew where two of them were, right?”
“Yes, however… we are unfortunately working off of our best guesses.” She admitted. “I do not doubt that there could also be another root in Ludmilia. However, it is likely that Ouroboros will be keeping watch on there for a while, and we are ill-equipped to go up against them right now.” She rattled off. “Not to mention that, in all honesty, you finding out something was going on there was more than likely a fluke. I doubt they’ll make the same mistakes twice.”
“We did get extraordinarily lucky, all things considered…”
“What we know for now is that there is one most likely near Durbila’s capital, and one to the north of Camelot.”
“Any idea on how many others there are?”
“Currently? Our working theory is ten.”
“So that’s eight unaccounted for…” Minoru muttered out. “You’re definitely not making this easy on me, huh?” He joked.
She looked at him quizzically, before returning to speaking. “Once we purify the root that lies in Camelot, it would be best for us to travel west from there. I have an… informant. She is stationed in Garland, and will be able to provide us with crucial information. It would be best to get you in contact with her as quickly as possible.” She explained, pointing to a small country on the western island of Villesia, one which was bordered by four other nations. “Additionally, once we reach Camelot, I would like to look for more people to bolster our numbers if possible. Forming a voyaging party will be an invaluable asset.”
“A voyaging party, huh…? Yeah, that seems like a good idea…” He mused, his tone taking on a melancholic mood.
She studied his expression for a moment as he gazed down at the map on the table. He hadn’t said much during their trip to the village, which didn’t bother her all too much, but his expressions that showed such a deep melancholy often put her off. It wasn’t unexpected for her. She knew well that something had happened in Ludmilia that deeply affected him, but she arrived too late to know exactly what. His mood changes were perplexing to her, but she wondered if it was truly something she should concern herself with.
Of course, he was an important asset. It would be unwise to allow any underlying issues to boil over.
“Anything else I should know?” Minoru asked.
She shook her head. “No, I believe that covers the major details.”
“Right…” He leaned back in his seat. “Well, all we can do is hope this all goes off without a hitch.” Rubbing the back of his head, he looked at her pointedly. “I’ll do my best.”
She paused for a moment, looking into the darkness of his eyes.
She couldn’t see a bottom to the voids within them.
“Yes. I will as well.”
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The two purchased two rooms for the night at the tavern. As they prepared to turn in for the night, Ashe approached Minoru as he moved to open his door.
“Minoru, I must ask you something.”
“Hm?”
“This mission of mine is dangerous. Extremely so. No normal person would be able to undertake it. That’s why I wish to ask– Are you facing any kind of conflicts that could distract you?”
“What do you mean?”
She closed her eyes, breathing out through her nose. “I simply wish to know if you will be able to handle this journey you’ve undertaken.”
He turned his head back forwards, staring blankly towards the door before him. He let out a huff as if he wanted to laugh, and yet a smile didn’t form on his lips.
“Honestly, I have no idea. I’m summoned to this world against my will, and then I nearly have everything taken from me, only to be thrust back into the thick of it? To tell you the truth, Ashe…” He looked towards her again. “I don’t know… I don’t know what’s pushing me. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. Any sensible person would’ve turned down your offer, but… Nothing really… makes sense to me anymore.” He took in a deep, prolonged breath, before letting it go. “So… Yeah, that’s about the best answer I can give you. Will I actually get this done, save the world, be a hero? Who knows.” He shrugged. “I could just as easily fail horribly and die in a ditch somewhere.”
The corners of his mouth only curled up the slightest amounts– so subtly that it hardly looked like his expression changed at all– as he gave a weak, rueful laugh.
“I fail to see the humor in such a statement.” Ashe replied flatly.
Minoru was silent for a moment, glancing away from her. “Yeah… Sorry, forget I said that. I think I’m just tired. Been traveling for too long.” He rubbed his eyes. “I’ll just go to bed.”
“That might be a good idea.” She conceded. She recognized she wouldn’t be getting any insights for now. “Sleep well.” She finished with a curt bow, as he entered his room.
She listened for a moment longer, hearing a tired sigh from the other side of the door, before she left for her own room.
“Did I choose the right person?” She thought to herself.
Seeing her shadow move away from the crack at the bottom of his door, Minoru leaned forwards as he sat down on the bed in his room, putting his head in his hands. He didn’t feel tired at all, truthfully even though he could hardly sleep whenever they stopped and set up a makeshift camp on their journey here. Even now, as he lied down on the bed, it was like he was wide awake.
He got up and paced around the room. Absentmindedly checking the nearby dresser’s drawers, checking the closet, even looking underneath the bed multiple times.
He wouldn’t be sleeping anytime soon.