When Thomas woke up, as he lay in bed all he could do was think about what he had read the night before. It all just seemed to perfect, almost like the author left out the more unsavory parts of the world. He needed to talk to Abigail about it. Balwyn may be the first actual city he had traveled to, and he knew that he was naïve to the world but there was no way everything worked that well. The book mentioned that there was still some skirmishes between the nations of Rathian and Valarus but other than that it seems like all the nations get along perfectly together. With a sigh he dropped the line of thinking until he could talk to Abigail about it.
After getting dressed and heading down to the small dining area in the inn they were staying at he waited for Abigail. He didn’t have to wait long before she showed up. After they ordered he finally got to ask, “I read that book you gave me, and I have a few questions.”
She motioned him to continue, so he asked “Why does everything seem so perfect? There’s no way that all the nations are that friendly to each other. So, what am I missing?”
She smiled and said “Glad you picked up on that, you’re right that book is good for giving you a good overview but the author either didn’t know or decided to leave out the unsavory parts. What she said about the Phoenix Empire is true, she did leave out the fact that they also keep a strong military presence on their shared borders. The Empire does mainly focus on attempting to reclaim the corrupted lands and does stay hands off of the other nations, but that military presence is also an implied threat. What she wrote about Helsara and Orie is pretty accurate. The only thing she didn’t mention is that outsiders who disrespect a clan will just disappear. The ruling families of both nations do work very tightly together and are loved by their people. No real issues with the other nations either.” Pausing to take a drink, and to make sure she wouldn’t be overheard, she continued saying. “Balmar is on pretty good terms with everyone but some of the lower nobility still have small shadow skirmishes with Rathian. There is some long standing blood feuds between some noble houses. They tried to keep it under wraps, so the Royal Families don’t step in, but they hire a few mercenaries to attack a town or drive a mana beast towards the other side. Mind you Rathian does the same. The author also didn’t mention that Balmar has some of the best enchanters compared to everyone else.”
She paused to eat some of the quickly cooling breakfast and to make sure Thomas was following. Seeing that he was she continued saying, “Rathian and Valarus, the nicest way I could put it is they hate each other. Elves view the Drow as tainted or corrupted elves while the Drow see the Elves as pompous and arrogant. They have had shadow war going on since the unifications or maybe even before. They keep it controlled so no one can say it’s a real war, but everyone in power knows what is actually happening. Rathian are great alchemists, but they really can be pretty arrogant and think they are superior to the other races. I think it has to do a lot with their natural life spans being some of the longest. It is normally only a problem with the younger nobility. That author said that the Valarus Queendom doesn’t have a specialty but that isn’t true. They are the best assassin’s money can buy and make some of the best poisons out there, it’s another reason why Rathian hates them. She was right about Keller kingdom too; they really do have the best resorts in the world and after we get this job done maybe we can visit. They also do have one of the best academies to learn how to be a personal bodyguard. Keller kingdom is also where most of the higher nobility meet or vacations.”
He really had no clue that Balmar, his kingdom, ever had issues with Rathian until he read it, but it seemed to be over with now. It also seemed like things were worse between Rathian and Valarus. He still thought it wasn’t as bad as it should or would be and said “It still seems to perfect. Yeah, it sounds like there is some fighting between nations but what about within the nations themselves. Isn’t there any issues with, I don’t know like, inheritances for nobility?”
She nodded and said “Something you need to understand is the higher nobility and royalty of all the nations normally get along rather well. They understand what it was like pre-Unification better than anyone else. They do what they must to prevent the populace from falling into disarray with pointless wars. Even Rathian’s and Valarus’s higher nobility act somewhat civilly towards each other. The only real issues come from the lower nobility, or the younger generations. Most of the time the higher nobility or royal family stay out of it unless it reaches a point that could cause lasting damage to the country as a whole. That doesn’t mean that there still aren’t some disputes between the nations, but it’s always handled in smaller conflicts and never escalated past a certain point. Stability is more profitable than war when you have a prosperous society like all of them have. There would have to be something absolutely major to happen to cause an actual war to break out.”
“But how do they know what it was like?” He asked confused. The Unification happened over sixteen hundred years ago. No one should know what it was like.
“One of the things we will talk about during mana training is what improving your mana can do for you. One of them is increase your lifespan by a lot. To get to my point across I will have to explain it somewhat I will use the Elves as an example. Elves and Drow both naturally live longer than the other races, right? The Rathian king, Rhett Rathian is the grandson of the man who fought through the Unification. His father was born a few hundred after it and grew up listening to what it was like, even King Rhett heard it from his grandfather when he was a child. The previous king of Rathian, Rowan Rathian willingly stepped down on his own to let his son take charge. In elven years and being a A-ranked Rowan is considered old but will still live for a while longer, he will live for almost triple his natural life span. Roughly twelve hundred years. We will talk about it more later I got off topic a bit but what I am getting at is the royals and higher nobility of all the kingdoms and empire are in the same boat, they are only a few generations away from what happened. They are still taught in detail what it was like during and before the Unification. It is one of the most important thing they are taught growing up. It is drilled into them that they all must stay vigilant against the demons, if they come back it could lead to a fate worse than death.” When Abigail finished speaking, she seemed like she was drained from the explanation, or maybe like she was remembering something. Either way Thomas didn’t ask anything else.
With that they finished their meal in silence as Thomas processed that explanation. It would have made more sense to him that there would be more fighting, people were greedy after all. It seemed like it wasn’t as bad as he thought it would be though, it was still hard for him to wrap his mind around all the politics involved in it. He just hoped that he wouldn’t have to deal with any nobility at all, if he got forced into a situation where he would, he would leave it to Abigail to handle.
After they finished eating, they headed to the guild since they were leaving today. Heading to the stables in the back Thomas went and got Mila who started bouncing around when she saw him. The stable hand had already given her breakfast, so she was ready to go. Abigail summoned the saddle that she got from Steffen and handed it to him. Inspecting the piece, he found it was some sort of leather that seemed rather durable. He noticed small runes on different parts of it. When questioned Abigail explained that the runes reduced his weight and made it more comfortable for Mila as she ran. It took him a few tries to get it right but luckily Mila was just as interested in him getting it on correctly.
Abigail who was watching all this chuckled at their antics and said, “I am going to go check in with the guild and let them know we are heading out.”
As she went to do that Thomas looked at the saddled that was now completely and correctly on Mila. It was rather simple, it reached around her neck, and clasped close around her chest. It had simple foot holds, a hand hold, with a strap to tied yourself down on her if needed. There was also a spot to tie down other objects if needed. It didn’t cover a lot, but it seemed like it also helped protect some of her lower neck and heart. It wasn’t armor but at least it was something.
Looking at Mila he said, “You ready to give this a try?”
She nodded so he placed one foot in the stirrup and threw his leg over. After getting settled he put the waist strap on and saw that it could be quickly released if need. Once on, he patted her neck, and she started walking around the courtyard getting used to his weight. Not that it seemed like she had any issue with him on her back. She picked up speed and ran around as fast she could in the enclosed space. They kept at it until Abigail came out of the back door and waved him over.
She said “Looks like we are going to be delayed for a day. The guild master wants me to hand over the symbol we found in the tower and give a report about my findings so far. The local Enforcer I am supposed to hand it off to won’t be back until tomorrow morning.”
Stolen story; please report.
He thought for a moment before asking “How did he find out so fast?”
She said “Oh right, most large guild branches have a linked information network. It can send messages and other information between guild branches, don’t ask me how it works though because I have no clue. I relayed a brief message on my findings to him yesterday and now he wants a full report.”
Mila seemed upset that she was being left out of the conversation and an audible huff sound. He reached down and patted her neck and said, “Since we are free, I think we will go take a quest.” That seemed to make Mila happy.
Abigail nodded “Sounds fun, I will go do some shopping then. We are still sparring later.”
Thomas dismounted and started to follow Abigail inside. Mila walked right behind him, shrugging, he went into the guild. Abigail said goodbye and told them be safe as she left to head off into Balwyn’s shopping districts.
Looking at the guild quest board he was looking at the D and C-ranked quests. Looking at a few he asked Mila who was sitting beside him “Looks like there is one for hunting stone-tailed moles and its twenty coppers per kill. What do you think?” Receiving a nod from Mila he read the quest details just to make sure it was a compatible one that wouldn’t put them in too much danger.
They went to an open receptionist and handed over the quest and guild card. The woman manning the desk looked over the quest and then put his card in a slot next to her. She started speaking saying “Be careful, they normally are in burrows of four to six but sometimes there are more. They are nocturnal so they should be sleeping in their burrows currently. Also, grassland wolves hunt them and can show up when adventures are killing them to try and get easy prey. Even if it’s just stealing one mole corpse before running off.”
Thomas was curious about what she was doing with his guild card because back in Les they didn’t do that when taking a quest. They just took the quest sheet and marked who accepted it. Either way that seemed like a question for later as she handed him his card back.
“Thanks!” With that they left the guild. Hopping on Mila they headed towards the city gates. It surprised Thomas that he didn’t get more looks from riding on the back of a massive cat. As he paid attention to some of the other people. As he passed people, he realized that yes, Mila was a rarity, but they would only get a quick glance before people went back to what they were doing. It was still early in the morning, so the streets were just starting to get busy.
At the gate to head to the lower district he was surprised when he saw a massive man with an even bigger bear heading in the direction of the guild. The few people on the street gave the man and bear a wide birth as they passed. Thomas nodded to them as they passed each which the man and bear returned. That would explain why they only got a few looks as they traveled if those are the types of mounts people see.
It got him curious about what other mounts are in the guild stables. He should take a peek into the stable later to see what all different types of mounts there are. He never really paid attention to the other mounts, but he was curious. The few stalls he looked into only had horses in them, but he guessed there was probably a few interesting mounts deeper in.
Once they got out of the city, he spoke to Mila saying, “We need to head south, the quest said they are found in some of the smaller hills around the farmlands.” He pointed out the direction they needed to go. Once they reached the opens fields around the town, Mila stopped holding back and ran. He could feel the excitement radiating off of her as she ran around the large farmlands. Thankfully she made sure not to run into any fields that had actual farms on them.
After only ten minutes Mila slowed down to a more controlled pace only slightly faster than Thomas’s normal jog. An hour later the flat land started to have small hills and the distance between the farm fields started to increase. They continued to head south and kept a steady pace looking for any signs of the stone-tailed moles. The quest said they would go onto the farm fields and eat the crops. The best way to spot them was looking for trails through the grass and damage to nearby crops.
The thigh high grass that they were in didn’t hinder their movements, but they were counting on it helping them find signs of their movements. After another hour of traveling around the area they finally found tracks that cut through the grass and into one of the fields. He patted Mila and said, “Let me walk on foot now.”
She stopped and he dismounted, readjusting his sword and pack Thomas started following the trail. Following the matted grass with Mila trailing behind him. After following the trail for a while it led to a hill with an opening at the bottom. He knew he found the place based off of the fresh track marks leading into the hole. It matched the information that was on the quest. It looked like they found their first burrow. Mila walked closer and started sniffing the area around the entrance.
He whispered to Mila saying “Stay back. This will be dangerous.”
He looked back at the large cat, and he could clearly see a look of disbelief on her face. Then she pulled her lip back showing her long fangs and then lifted her paw showing off her long claws. He stifled a laugh and, in a whisper, said “Okay okay. I get it. You are dangerous too but please be careful.”
Approaching the opening he ran into his first problem. The opening was only three feet wide, too small for him to fit. Mila walked up to the opening, but Thomas waved her back. Whispering “I don’t know enough about these monsters to have you go in and it’s too dangerous. I have an idea that should work.”
It took Thomas longer than he wanted but he managed to get a decent pile of wood and dead grass together. The grasslands didn’t offer a lot of options, but he did find a few piece of scrap wood that came from the farms nearby. Pilling the wood and other burnable things up in the entrance. He pulled out a fire started, and he ignited the pile. Once the fire was starting to burn, he grabbed handfuls of green grass and tossed them on the now blazing fire.
He was satisfied by the dark smoke the started billowing out of it. Except for the fact that most of it wasn’t going into the burrow. Until Mila came to the rescue and created a constant gust of wind, blowing it into the opening. Dropping his bag out of the way Thomas pulled his sword and got ready for combat.
Soon enough, a screeching sound followed by something plowed through the fire that effectively putting it out as it ran out the entrance. It only took Thomas a second to confirm it was a stone-tailed mole. It was a four-legged monster with a tail as long as its four-foot body, feet that were clearly used for digging and a face that reminded him of a rat. It had short brown fur, only standing a few feet tall, it all matched the description he read.
After he confirmed it was what they were hunting for he lunged, aiming his sword towards the monster’s shoulder, between its collarbone and neck with a thrust to the heart. The monster was still disoriented from the smoke, so it went down easily. Three more of the monsters came out in rapid succession, Thomas had to raise his blade to block a long tail that came towards his side. When the tail met blade, it felt like he was blocking a strike from a club. It hit harder and faster than he thought the small monster could hit.
As he was backing off to keep all three in sight, when four green tinted blades of wind mana flew in from the side catching the leading mole. It dropped in a squeal of pain, but not letting the distraction go to waste Thomas attacked the left most one with a downward cut, slicing cleanly through the neck. Mila was closing in on the last one when Thomas tried to come from behind but was intercepted by three more that came out of the burrow. The last one was twice as big as all the previous ones, it seemed to squeeze out of the entrance of the burrow.
He had to block another strike and reset, he was glad that Mila followed him and backed off. She did manage to kill the other one before she had to retreat if he base it off her bloody mouth and the fact it wasn’t moving anymore. Closing in again the leading mole lashed out with its tail that he blocked, countering by kicking it in the face stunning it. He tried to finish it off, but he had to block another tail strike from its partner. Mila came in and lashed out with another four wind slashes, this time Thomas got to see her do it. Four of her claws glowed green as she lashed out sending the crescent arch of wind mana that looked like a swipe of her claws but in mana form.
The larger stone-tailed mole finally acted; its tail lashed out intercepting Mila’s attack. Its tail appeared to be encased in stone as the wind attack broke against it. Thomas stopped holding back when he saw that it was a mana beast, a real threat. Letting his mana course through his body in his strengthening technique, and he pushed his mana to coat his blade. He was ready for a real fight. Lancing forward towards the mana beast, with his increased speed he killed one of the normal ones as Mila copied him but went for the last normal one. The mana beast focused on him and sent a jab with its stone covered tail. Dodging under it, he lashed out with slash. It retreated out of range with a twist of its body, sending its tail around. Getting his blade up to block he learned his mistake when tail and sword met. The attack was heavy and already being unstable he was sent tumbling. Rolling to his feet he had to instantly roll out of the way again as a fist sized stone spike came flying towards him.
Getting back to his feet he was ready to charge when the fight was already over. Mila was mauling the mana beast and finished it off by snapping its neck. He guessed she managed to catch it by surprise when it was focused on him. Walking up to Mila she was licking her paws clean, Thomas pulled out his water skin to help and said “Well you made that look easy. Nice job with the mana attacks too.” After getting her cleaned up he looked around the small battlefield.
Looking back to Mila he said, “Well lets clean this up and what do you say about we hunt some more?” She purred in response to his question. It felt like forever since the last time he took a quest and had a fight. It was refreshing, he already noticed improvements with his fighting ability. It was nice to seeing that even the small amount of training was showing its worth.
With a wide smile he asked Mila, “You ready to finish here and continue our hunt?” The toothy smile he received from Mila was all he needed in answer.