“What do you mean “extra fee”?!” Favia was flabbergasted and didn’t know what to do. The guard sas clearly abusing his authority, but she was in a hurry, and didn’t have time to deal with it properly. Or connections… It was really fortunate she was given enough money, otherwise she didn’t know what she’d do.

“Fine. Here” She gave the extra five coins to the guard.

“Enjoy your time in the town!” He said, smiling, as if he didn’t just extort her. She passed the gate silently. It was quite a sight, actually. High stone walls appropriate for the town bordering the unexplored and dangerous territories of the monster forest. Towers for archers and mages put at regular intervals. The gates were appropriate as well. Made of metal and wood (and possibly enchanted), they looked like they could take even the most dangerous monster in the forest head on. And the baron’s mansion at the centre looked more like another fortification than a place to live. That was also where she was headed.

‘Now, I just need to find my way there, I’ll figure the rest when I get there’ She reassured herself. She decided to just go in the direction of the mansion.

…

She was, once again, standing in front of a gate. Somewhat smaller one, but much more decorated, and this time, very obviously magical. It practically oozed magic power. Mana, as most called it. It was only not glowing, otherwise, the picture would be complete. It had one guard standing in front of it. Once again, much better looking, with obviously better equipment. A proper chainmail, infused with a bit of magical power, the same went for the sword.

“State your business”. The guard clearly noticed her as well.

“I am here to seek an audience with the baron, it is a matter of extreme urgency” She wasn’t sure how those words came to her. Well, she knew where they had come from, but didn’t expect the knowledge to just pop up at such a convenient moment. Well, it wasn’t important right now.

“Do you have an appointment ” He was clearly following some procedure.

“No” – Obviously, she didn’t – “But it is truly urgent. There is a high risk of a monster attack.”

“Ok, I’ll notify someone”. He said apathetically. He quite clearly wasn’t thrilled by the perspective of wasting his time. He still turned and pulled some string on the wall near the gate. A short time after, a man in the butler uniform appeared. At least, she thought it was a butler uniform. It wasn’t exactly what she remembered a butler uniform to look like. But it did bear some resemblance.

“This girl here says there is some emergency somewhere in the east, in some village. Something about monsters and forest and migration or something. She wants to meet the baron” Said the guard with a dismissive attitude. It was clear he didn’t really care, he just didn’t want to be blamed if anything happened.

“I see. I’ll relay this to the lord”. The butler was equally apathetic. Favia was starting to lose faith in the idea. It probably was better if she tried to deal with it herself. But it was too late. She could only wait and hope for the best now.

Soon, a butler came back.

“Please, come in, I’ll take you to the lord. He doesn’t have much time, so be quick” He turned and started walking, without even looking to check if she understood and followed him.

The baron, or, at least, Favia assumed he was, was very clearly a rich man. He was dressed in fabric that looked like it cost more than her whole village made in a year. That was the first thing that stood out to her. The second was that he was surprisingly well-built. She was half expecting him to be at least somewhat out of shape. Yet, despite the clear signs of ageing, he was clearly keeping himself in shape.

“Make it quick. I don’t have time for the leisurely discussions” He looked up from his desk and at Favia.

“Yes. I have reasons to believe that the monster migration is occurring in the forest nearby. This area is about to become orders of magnitude more dangerous. My village, as the easternmost one, requires special assistance in handling the situation. At least, before some kind of permanent solution is found”. She tried her best to look confident while relaying the information. She really hoped she wouldn’t have to waste time arguing for the credibility of her statements here.

“… I see…” – The baron looked thoughtful. – “Well, my personal troops are away from the town at the moment, so it’ll take at least a few days to notify them. But I can make sure an investigation party is ready sometime next week. Other than that, I’ll see what I can do” It was hard to tell whether he’d believed her and taken her seriously or not. That bit about his personal troops being away was certainly suspicious… But it was quite clear that there was little she could do about it. Trying to make a scene here would only make the situation worse and cut the chances at actual help.

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“Thank you for hearing me out” She bowed slightly, hoping it was close enough to what she was supposed to do here.

“Yes, yes” he waved dismissively at her.

She was, once again, led by the butler, this time in the opposite direction.

…

She had to run again, Favia realised. She already ran for a few hours to get to the town, and the fact that she could use magic to stave off fatigue was the only reason she was in such a good condition. And now she had to do it again. She was good at manipulating magic, for a basically self-taught person from a small village, at least, but not that good. It was going to take a toll on her.

‘I don’t really have a choice, do I. It is questionable whether the baron will help. He may or may not have a good reason, but it doesn’t make my situation any better. I have to relay the news, and I have to go back to the forest. It’s the only chance I see for getting through this. At least the town is notified, so I did the right thing’. She comforted herself. And so she ran. First through the town, then along the dirt road to the village. It would’ve been quite a pleasant experience, the view was nice, and the wind was pleasant in the summer, if not for the urgency of the situation.

When the village came into view, Favia almost breathed a sigh of relief. There wasn’t any apparent danger to it quite yet. Though it was quite clear it was in a state of emergency. There was almost no one in the fields beside a few fittest young men, and there was even someone at a gate, either as a guard or a watchman, likely both. Never in her life did she remember anyone bothering about it. It was the easternmost village in the country (or so she heard), right near the still unexplored forest, that had monsters in it, but they rarely, if ever, strayed outside of it, and for those cases, the wall was more than enough. It was barely even a wall, more like a fence. Much less than one’d expect from what was basically a frontier village.

“I hope you bring good news”. Surprisingly, or perhaps not, it was the same hunter who trained her two years back, that was now standing at the gate.

“Unfortunately, no, Bernard” – she stopped – “The baron doesn’t have any manpower to spare right now. He promised to send a party to investigate what’s happening in the forest, sometime next week”. It surprised her just how calm she was saying that. Maybe it was the run that cooled her head somewhat?

“But by the time they figure it out and decide what to do, the village may be gone already! Isn’t he supposed to protect us? That’s what we pay taxes for!” Bernard was not as cool hearing about it as her.

“I know. I am planning to go investigate myself, after some rest. And maybe Duran needs help. How is he, by the way? Did he return with any new information?”

“No, he’s not back yet”.

“I see”. Seeing as the silence was about to become awkward, Favia decided to go. She went directly to her home. Which turned out to be remarkably unchanged. She was half expecting to come back and find it destroyed or something, even if she rationally understood that it was unlikely. She didn’t have the energy to marvel at the building though, exhaustion creeping in. She dropped on her bed almost immediately after reaching it. A kind of a luxury being an only child provided. She could hear her mother doing something just outside, but at this point, she didn’t really care.

…

She was in the forest again. And it was different yet again. This time, danger was clearly in the air. At least, that’s how she felt, as she tried to trek as quietly as possible. She even used magic to cover up her tracks and her scent, despite how mentally taxing it was to do it for an extended period of time. She already passed by a few of the cat monsters like she fought before. One had spikes, like that one, and the other two had bat wings and horns. She could deal with them, but didn’t want to waste time and risk attracting something stronger. So she kept on hiding as much as she could. She wasn’t completely sure what she was searching for, but she hoped that following the high concentration of magic will lead her to the clue. What she was not prepared for, though, was for the world to start growing quiet. She didn’t notice at first, because of how concentrated she was on not making any sounds, but her surroundings were becoming unnaturally quiet. Especially for a forest mid monster migration. She did notice, however, when the familiar jet black structure came into view. ‘What!? How is it here? It’s not night’. It was a strange spectacle, to say the least. The light of the sun illuminating the structure, which appeared noticeably two-dimensional in the light. Weirdly, this time, her memory had nothing to say about the view. ‘Maybe I can find something there’. She had no idea whether it was going to help. But at this point it was, probably, her best chance.

She cautiously stepped inside the corridor. ‘This is quite unnerving’. She stepped very carefully, waiting for the world to go white once again, and for her to find herself outside. But the moment never came. She went farther and farther, and, eventually, the end of the tunnel came into view. ‘Wait, is this it?’ She couldn’t help but feel disappointed. But she had to investigate. She carefully approached the wall. When, all of a sudden, with a weird shrieking sound, it went down, revealing the passage. ‘What? I didn’t feel any magic there! And my head isn’t itching to give me new information about this. What is going on here?’ On the other side of the apparent door? Gate? Was some kind of room. It had some things that were pretty normal, apart from how they looked, like chairs and tables, as well as a number of things, the purpose of which was unclear. ‘Well, this is something…’ She looked around and noticed what looked like a door at the side. In the absence of any better ideas, she decided to proceed further in. Which she did.

“Welcome to the outpost #181” Suddenly, she heard a weird voice. It was speaking some weird language, she didn’t know, but, weirdly, she understood it. She felt a headache listening to it. Like the parts of what she knew were in a conflict with each other.