I like driving. I still need to find out how to get onto the Autobahn. They themselves were open. But the on and off ramps into evacuated zones were not. This means I drive country roads until I cross over into the A zone and then I can put my foot to the metal. They cannot be controlling all the country roads in the country permanently. Radio does not report long traffic jams, contrary to my expectations. It does report an unusually high number of minor accidents though. Monsters? Unmaintained roads? People forgetting how to drive in a few weeks?
I am going slow. An aura sense is not like hearing or smelling. It takes effort to sense a monster reliably. That is not compatible with fast and safe driving. And I am internally shaken. Did I need to kill her? If I want to survive, yes, I did.
The Network, in hindsight, either screwed up or has been using me as bait. I could not have escaped Rademacher, nor me being honest, a sound von Bülow. My own government used me as a guinea pig, or rather used my eagerness to get a posh posting and my pride in abilities derived from a video game to turn myself into a guinea pig. I do not regret it. I have taken a qualitative step upwards. I told her that the world is not just. My ancestors and the ancestors of people I used to work with every day potentially shot at each other. Does that make them evil?
In consequence, is that what we are? Have I, a pawn of a mysterious force, simply slain a pawn of the government?
I pull over into a deserted parking space. This road seems to have been touristic before the incident to feature parking for tourists to admire the scenery. I do not need bathroom breaks. Cats do.
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And the forest at night speaks of peace. I no longer really fear the night. If I meet a bronze or silver rank monster that can hide its aura, I will die, day or night.
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A non-descript man works on separating the layers of his aura and sending out two last emotional pushes coupled with a direction.
In a a disused barn people bartering look up. „The cops“ – „No, just an animal. We have owls in these woods.“
The man looks one way, lifts an eyebrow. „Adorable“ he mutters to himself.
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I need to clear my head. I don’t think there are monsters in these woods, but thinking is not knowing. The cats look tired and have returned to their basket. But should I not return, they’d be trapped. I wind down a window and fill it with a mesh made with [Equip the Army] clasped to the car from both sides. If I do not return, it will decay within a few hours.
I walk into the night that is just right, not cold, not warm, with a clear sky and a nice moon. That reminds me. I look up and decide to teleport 2 meters up. This is fun. I could repeat the feat of my escape.
I am seeing a trace. Bright, but not as bright as an iron rank trace would be. Someone with one essence? Should I stay or should I go? Tactically speaking I should go, but strategically speaking I need allies. So I follow the trace and see a barn. It is full of iron rank people. So many that I can sense them at this distance. Something is very, very fishy. I don’t meet any essence user for a week and now a barn in the middle of nowhere with dozens of wizards? The conclusion is horrible. I am not master of my own decisions. I hesitate. It is no use. They can trace me. If I anger them too much they can do things I will not like, foremost of them a phone call to the GDN.
The door is guarded by a duo of men bearing a large resemblence to one another. One of them is looking into a crystal lifts his gaze and starts with a pause for breath „Hello. You are earlier than we were told to expect you. Why are you alone? Trouble on the road? And why are you a man?“