Over the past few days Callum and his hunters had tracked the beasts but about a day south of Farhaven they themselves were assaulted by an even larger pack. Though they had escaped with only minor injuries it revealed that there was a much bigger problem brewing south of the town than they had initially thought.

Rikia had reached out to the denizens and confirmed that this was not their doing. But it was still definitely outside of the norm. It was not unheard of for beasts to try their luck with raiding the town's food supply but both attacks targeted people not the storage houses. Something was afoot here and they were planning to get to the bottom of it.

Elas sat under a tree while flipping through a massive encyclopaedia of lesser alchemical ingredients as he waited for Luka to finish getting his men together for the scouting expedition. All five of his students sat around him eyes closed in meditation as they tried to use their mage heart for the first time.

An average mage apprentice would get the hang of using their mage heart in about a week but none of his students were anywhere near as gifted as the average apprentice in the area of magic. They would probably spend most of the trip grappling with the concept of manually controlling an organ they have never used before. He described the process to them but just as with anything concerning one's own body it was a personal matter that few can help with.

Baron Rein had lent him five transport wagons and ten coachmen. At first Elas had planned for two wagons given it was what he needed for his purpose but hearing that he will be visiting North Point the people of Farhaven had quickly drafted a laundry list of things they needed. Elas should have honestly expected it as he himself had given anyone going to the city a list of things he needed to buy. Now it was his turn to do the chore.

The fact that a town the size of Farhaven only needed five wagons for its shopping was a testament to both its self-sufficiency and its monetary poverty. The quality of life in the town was probably better than the majority of the empire given the relative abundance of food, water and shelter but actual coin was something even the baron had in short supply.

One would think a town built in a frozen woodland would be starving but the Coven of Winterroot’s name was not just for show. The coven like many of the oldest mage organizations had an agricultural focus and the root crops they had tended to for millennia can grow even in ice if need be. Of course they still grew far better and faster on more hospitable soil.

The frontmost wagon was lined with fur mats as it was the one Elas and his students were going to stay in while the others were for goods and were mostly empty except for a few crates of vigor potions Elas planned to sell in order to afford his workshop.

He might have acted like he had all the money in the world in front of Argis but at this point Elas was dangerously low on coin much like the rest of the town. Farhaven had operated for decades with barter and IOUs which worked well enough for the average citizen that rarely if ever participated in the empire's greater economy. But Elas had a constant need to import ingredients for his potions. He had a feeling most of the coin floating around town came from him as he once had a sizable fortune when he first arrived in town more than half a century ago.

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It didn't take long before two dozen soldiers and three hunters were gathered around the wagons and it was time to leave. Two dozen soldiers might seem like a small number to send when Farhaven was such a large town but this was more than a tenth of the town's professional soldiers. Dedicated warriors were incredibly expensive to train and equip which was why Farhaven relied on a rotating militia of its combat capable citizens to make up the numbers. Professional warriors were more akin to elite shock infantry meant to deal with anything too dangerous for the militia.

The empire as a whole was deficient in professional warriors as the Eternal Emperor is a mage himself and his crown was primarily focused on magical development. As such the Eternal Empire relied heavily on magic artillery and its soldiers were mostly relegated to being meat shields for the backline. It was not until fairly recently that the imperial army started shifting its priorities towards the warriors to make up for the decrease in capable mages.

Who knew that when magic runs out it all comes back to beating each other to death with sticks. The blessing might make soldiers stronger but even without magic goring someone with a blade still works unlike magic spells.

They left the town with little fanfare and headed south through the dirt road that snaked through the wilderness. The soldiers and even Luka himself walked on foot as Farhaven had no warhorses and the warriors could probably out pace a horse anyway not to mention bringing untrained horses against beasts would be the height of folly.

Each soldier was armed with a two meter long halberd with a shaft made of great northern pine wood and heads made of enchanted steel; it was specially designed to deal with large beasts that were Farhaven's primary threat. The halberds were actually quite a bit better than the average imperial soldier's weapon which was not the same situation with their armor. They mostly wore thick gambesons made of some hardy fibrous shrub and an assortment of metal armor pieces they inherited from predecessors. It was better than nothing but definitely subpar.

The only exception was Luka who wore a complete set of metal armor complete with a shimmering blue cape. He might have been trying to hide his past with all the designs in his armor scratched off but only a fool wouldn't see that he came from a wealthy martial family. Elas had a good idea which family he came from but if Luka was not willing to tell then so be it. Everyone in Farhaven had their reasons for traveling to one of the most remote corners of the world.

The first day of travel came and went without incident. They reached the general area where the hunters got attacked by noon of the second day as they moved substantially slower with the wagon and supplies than the hunters with nothing but their bows and the clothes on their back.

The wagons formed a circle and the coachmen took out wooden stakes and boards to turn the caravan into a makeshift fort. They would be staying with the Elas’s students to guard the wagons. The coachmen were capable combatants as the northern roads were far from safe. But they were nowhere near as capable as the soldiers and would only get in the way in case things got serious.

After the hunters had scouted the area around the campsite and confirmed there was no danger the expedition team plunged into the wilderness eager to put a stop to whatever endangered Farhaven.