-Chapter Twenty-

A Nobleman’s Sojourn

It was in the dead of the night that Aelius slipped back into the encampment compound and snuck to his party’s tent before entering. There were only a few hours of darkness left after his escapades, and he could feel this young and untempered body of his begin to give way under the stress of staying awake too long. As soon as he ducked in through the curtain flaps, he came straight face-to-face with a sleeping Aria seated at a chair, her neck tilted at a painful angle against her shoulder, her arms clutching her wand tightly. His eyes crossed the room to notice Lia was sound asleep in her bedding. Maybe he was delirious from being sleep deprived, but he had to suppress the urge to chuckle. No doubt judging by the sight, Aria had tried to keep watch for Aelius to return in order to keep them safe, but she eventually fell asleep since he took too long. They might squabble and fight but it was surprising that she’s been listening to his words so well in the last week they’ve been together. She’s really making it hard for him to cast her out. As he gazed at her face, he found it was so serene. Unlike all the times she wore a glare or a playful expression, now there was pure nothingness. The absence of such frightening emotions left a very beautiful face. Suddenly jolting himself out of it, Aelius scratched the back of his head and sighed. It would’ve been bad if someone had attacked the tent while she was asleep, especially with her mask left off. He nervously reached forward and tried to, as delicately as he could, slip his hands around Aria’s slumped body and then carry her to her bedding. Though she moaned in discomfort for a moment, Aelius was relieved to see she didn’t wake up. He took her place at the chair at the entry, shutting his eyes for a moment. Just a moment to relieve the tiredness and then he continued to keep watch.

Before he had realised it, Aelius had dozed off at some point and suddenly shook awake as his head dropped from the back of the chair he was resting his head on, and his eyes shot open to be met with glaring sunlight. The bustling chatter of crowds softly faded into his ears as his mind returned to him. He quickly sat up and looked around the tent to see Aria and Lia were nowhere to be found. Perhaps they were outside? He turned his head again to suddenly find a pair of amber eyes looking straight into his, almost unbearably close and flinched in fright.

“Gah!” he exclaimed and then covered his mouth, looking at the person opposite him with wide eyes.

“You’ve laxened, Aelius, I’m disappointed. To fall asleep and make a noise when someone sneaks up on you... Where did that stone-cold killer go?” A familiar voice scolded him as the face pulled away and the young, red-haired woman floated away. Giving him a look of disdain, she crossed her arms and straightened her back with a huff.

“Asura!” Aelius exclaimed and a subtle look of glee and joy crossed his face. “Welcome back! How do you feel?”

“Hmph,” she turned away. “You still haven’t constructed my body yet. I hope you’ve had fun with it while my consciousness was stuck in the Spirit Realm. What an absolutely deplorable master.” She looked at him with a frown. “And what the hell happened to your body?” She turned her nose upwards.

“Ah… well, things happened, I guess,” he shrugged with a warm chuckle. “And I know, I’ll get you your body constructed sooner than later, I promise.”

“…Yes, you better. It’s suffocating like this.”

Upon slipping through the curtains of the tent just as he did that previous night, the afternoon sun glared into his eyes from overhead as he heard his footsteps crunch on the grass beneath him. The chatter of the crowd grew louder, now sounding like some sort of show was going on as “ohhhhs” and “wahhs” could be heard up and down. Aelius narrowed his eyes as he saw all the Mercenaries gathered in a small crowd at the centre of the court yard. His mask already donned, he slowly approached them and arrived at the outer edge, tapping a tall man watching the faisco from afar on the shoulder.

“Huh?” the scruffy, long black-haired man glanced over with a raised brow for his brown eyes to land on Aelius. For a short moment, an odd frown was sat on his face but it quickly turned into fright. “Oh Goddess!” he jumped and quickly shuffled aside to make a path for Aelius. “Hey! Everyone get out the way!” He shouted and the remaining Mercenaries turned to do the exact same, forming a path for Aelius to approach the centre. He found their reactions strangely odd, but ignored it and continued forward. As he drew closer to the centre, a small hint of curiosity stabbing at him, his eyes widened to find Aria in the small ring, wielding her staff against one of the Mercenaries.

“What the hell is going on here!?” he exclaimed as Aria’s opponent dashed forward with twin blades. From the short moment he took to observe, Aelius concluded the man was one of the other party leaders. Before the man reached Aria, Aelius propelled himself forward with wind magic at a frightening speed. No one watching could see the quick shadow of him sending a kick into the opponent’s gut and he was sent into the courtyard wall, kicking up dust.

“Lius!” Aria exclaimed, lowering her staff quickly.

“Where’s Lia? And what’s going on here?” he asked.

“Oh…” Aria blinked. “Lia’s safe, she’s at the canteen waiting. As for this, well… they wanted to test our party strength,” she shrugged, gesturing nearby and Aelius turned his eyes to notice three unconscious bodies already laying on the ground. He sharply inhaled before he gave a deep sigh.

“You didn’t have to, you know,” he softly spoke to her and her mask tilted to the ground along with her head.

“I’m unfamiliar with Mercenary customs… I thought maybe a duel would shut them all up but one after the other just kept coming.”

“It’s okay,” Aelius assured her as he turned away and made his way out of the ring. “Just follow me.”

“Okay,” Aria calmly nodded. The onlookers simply watched and whispered as the two left them without paying any attention to them, making their way to the canteen instead. As Aelius arrived, he found Lia waiting patiently at one of the tables and a small smile turned up at the corner of his lips.

“Gahh!” A man’s hoarse voice gasped for breath, suddenly waking up to a dozen arms pulling him up to his feet.

“Captain! You okay?” A younger man’s voice exclaimed and the captain reached up to his temple.

“What in the world…” he squinted his eyes, vaguely recalling his fight with Mercenary Ria being interrupted by someone else. Searing pain ran through his stomach and up his back as his teammates help him slowly limp back to their tent.

“What happened?” he asked through short gasps of breath, still unable to catch it.

“Mercenary Lius interrupted the fight,” someone explained and the captain sighed.

“Yeah! What’s up with that, captain!? Who just jumps in to a duel and-”

“Silence,” the captain growled. “They’re all just children and Lius is the one leading them. It was us who pressured her into a duel to prove her worth. If I were her party leader, I’d be angry too.” He took another sharp breath. “With this, he’s proved he’s the strongest here. Even if it was a surprise attack, with that caliber, I wouldn’t have won against him head-on anyways.” The captain looked up to the Noble’s house. “With Lius here, perhaps we really do have a hope of getting through the Hamadia region successfully.”

Since the duel took place between Aria and the other party leaders, most of the Mercenaries have started to respect their party a bit more, as well as keep their distance. Thanks to the peace and quiet, the remaining day went by quickly and finally the morning for departure came. A convoy spanning a hundred metres long with a dozen wagons and carriages, some holding goods and some holding people, set out of the city gate and into the new region. Before Aelius and his party can reach the Northernmost City of Farrien Kingdom, Sepha, a city on par with Farrien Capital, they have to pass through the other two regions under the Aerianne Archduchy, the regions of Leina and Byna. Leina and Byna lay adjacent to each other, both bordering the Hamadia Region to the West and the East respectively. Before they reach Hamadia however, the convoy will have to get through the region bordering the Farrien Capital, Dorien, a smaller and modest region belonging to a Baron. After Dorien, they must cross Colefield which preludes the Hamadia Region. It will take five days to reach Hamadia, by estimation. Once they reach Hamadia, it may take as little as five, or up to ten days to reach the other side of Hamadia, depending on what type of trouble they may or may not encounter. Once they get out of Hamadia and reach Leina, the convoy will have reached its destination. The first three days quickly passed, with the convoy typically setting up camp in the forests. The Daniesich family had hired a knowledgeable survival expert to manage all the logistics of their journey. The management was good, it seems all the Mercenaries had to do was fight, and that’s indeed what they did best. Aelius found himself hunting the occasional deer or moose at the end of each day. Doing so made him recall his life in the wilderness with Violet, up in the snowy mountains. For just a short period of time, he had been detached from this world, and he had been happy. But he has important things to protect, he knows that now, so he’ll still fight to save the world. As long as he can keep his loved ones alive and happy. By the fourth day, the convoy had quickly settled into a rhythm with Lia typically hiding away with the staff on one of the rear wagons, and Aria and Aelius sitting on the roof of another further up. The remaining Mercenaries would follow along on horses or on foot and by the end of the day, exhaustion would have been built up from travelling. The night came, and Aelius observed they had already set foot into Colefield.

“Stop! Let’s make camp!” the survivalist leading the convoy at the front, named Owen, called out. It wouldn’t come as a shock if they encountered danger tonight, unlike the previous nights, as they were now in Colefield, the region before Hamadia. It won’t necessarily be as dangerous as Hamadia, but there may be some danger nonetheless.

After the tents were set up and the Daniesvich staff had finished cooking their dinner, Aelius, Aria and Lia had hidden away into their tent as always to eat their food. Aelius was the first to finish and stepped out, approaching the large campfire which dozens of Mercenaries hung around. Hearty laughter and cheers could be heard as Aelius joined them, taking a seat next to Owen and the Mercenaries talking to him looked to Aelius with a moment of discomfort. Owen blinked between them for a moment before he gave Aelius a warm smile and a wave.

“Hiya, how you doing?” Owen was a relatively handsome man in his late thirties and carried himself with confidence, but was also mild mannered and modest.

“Normal,” Aelius answered as he looked into the campfire, taking in the sparking flames.

“Hehe,” Owen wryly chuckled. “I heard you’re the A-rank on this trip. I never would’ve expected someone so young to be A-rank,” he began to say, leaning to Aelius. “Some of the other Mercs told me how they saw you send the Fanden Captain flying in a duel.”

“I indeed did,” Aelius merely answered.

“Well, I’ll be leaving your well-being-”

“Sure,” Aelius rose to his feet and began to walk away, leaving Owen in a daze, looking at the boy in confusion.

“He’s always like that, don’t worry, Owen. The kid doesn’t really open up,” someone consoled him.

“Right,” Owen chuckled as he watched Aelius disappear into the forest, and then he suddenly felt his ears tingle.

“Awoooooooo!” A dozen howls came into earshot from the distance and Owen sprung to his feet.

“There’s a pack of wolves nearby! Mercs, have your weapons on-hand! I’m going to inform the Daniesvich’s to stay in their tent. If we get attacked, make sure to have someone guard the entrance!” he exclaimed and waddled off at speed to the main tent in the centre of the camp.

After returning from the Daniesvich tent, Owen found most of the Mercs were up-in-arms, vigilantly eyeing up the tree line of the forest around them. Their tents were set up in a conveniently nice little clearing, which was better than being in the trees itself, but still left them prone to ambushes. The silence became almost nerve-wracking, and for a moment, Owen could see the doubt cross some of Mercenary’s faces, their brows raising and their faces twisting as nothing came. Yet his instinct, or perhaps years of experience in this industry told him without a doubt that if they all let loose of their strength now, they’d come to regret it. And almost like it was on cue, the deafening silence was sliced apart by a single, shrill howl from what was far closer than when Owen had first heard the wolves’ cries. A dozen of the Mercenaries sprung to their feet, raising their weapons and quickly getting into a formation around the outer perimetre of the Daniesvich tent, quickly forming a defensive line. Owen hid at the back behind them, scanning the forest line for the wolves to make their encroach, when suddenly, a group of wolves came shooting out of the trees at them, roaring thunderously. There were roughly about eight or nine of them, and as soon as they got close, a dozen of the Mercenaries ran forward to meet them in combat. The three party leaders were swiftly giving orders for their members to take positions, quickly surrounding and isolating each of the wolves to then kill them. It wouldn’t have been an issue if they were normal wolves, but such wolves only lived in snowy mountains. The wolves found in the forests of places like Colefield could be either at as low as the Second Ring if one was lucky, or if they were unlucky, at the Fifth Ring. Owen’s fear came true as a large wolf, triple the size of the first wave, appeared at the forest edge, menacingly growling at all of them, freezing all of the Mercenaries for a moment as they all laid eyes on it, until the three party leaders screamed at the top of their lungs for the Mercenaries to move. It was a bad situation, as everyone was already occupied with the smaller wolves. Owen was wondering what to do about the large wolf when a figure stepped past him, a young girl wearing a light blue cloak, wielding a staff. She slipped past the dozens of small wolves to face the large wolf alone, and Owen screamed out.

“Get back!! It’s dangerous!” he shouted as the wolf raised its paw and came swinging down the girl. “Shit! No!” Owen called out in horror as the paw struck. The force was so strong it sent wind blowing out in all directions, kicking up dust and blinding Owen for a moment, but as his eyes reopened, he gasped in shock to see the girl had erected a Physical Barrier, quickly parrying the wolf and sending it off balance. In rapid succession, she raised her staff again and tree roots from all around them shot out to bind the wolf. It had no chance to react amidst the recoil from her barrier, unable to resist as all of its movements were locked off, and then without missing a beat, the girl began to chant and gather a monstrous amount of Mana form around her.

“Ice Goddess of the South, Frosta, hear my heed. With sharp claws, pierce my opponents so their hearts may never feel warmth again.” Above her head, an ice missile the size of a wagon quickly crystalised.

“Wind God Anemos, hear my call, run wild and free like doctrine of the gale.” Wind magic quickly applied to the icicle and shot forward faster than the eye could see and like a javelin, pierced the wolf straight through its chest. It howled in pain but its cries grew quiet after a moment, its body falling weaker and weaker until finally it collapsed over, unmoving and deceased. Owen could only watch on in awe at what he had just witnessed.

With the large wolf dead, the remaining wolves appeared to have lost all their morale and were quickly dispatched without much further effort from the remaining Mercenaries. Owen gave a deep breath, looking over the corpses of the wolves from behind the defensive line.

“Whew…” one of the party leaders approached Owen, with three of his underlings in tow. “Good job calling the wolves out before they invaded. It would’ve been a mess if you hadn’t warned us in time,” he gave Owen a pat on the shoulder and Owen returned a warm smile. As always, watching members of the Adventurer Guild fight never ceased to amaze him.

“But where the hell did that A-rank go when we needed him? Gah, did he run off?” one of the underlings spat distastefully, looking around the camp but saw no sign of Lius. A moment of realisation crossed Owen’s mind. What was more impressive than the teamwork between the parties who took out the smaller wolves was the young girl who single-handedly slew the Fifth Ring monster. Such a feat would mean she herself was at the Fifth Ring, for it died to her like mere prey without even being able to put up a fight, and that very girl locked eyes with him from behind her mask afar and approached him, raising her head.

“Do you know where Lius is?” she asked and panic settled in to Owen.

“I remember! Before the wolves invaded, he ran off into the forest alone!” Owen recalled when Lius suddenly stood up as the wolves began howling and disappeared into the trees. “He went in the direction that the wolves came!”

“Shit! Really!?” the party leader opposite Owen exclaimed. “He could be in trouble right now! Team, let’s go!” The group of seven quickly grabbed their arms again and ran off to the trees with Owen leading them. He noticed that the girl with the staff merely stayed within the camp, only watching them as they ran off. He found it odd she wasn’t running alongside with them out of concern, but maybe she was exhausted from her fight against the Fifth Ring wolf? He didn’t think much more of it, he was too concerned about Lius. He may have been assigned A-rank by the Guild, but the truth still remained that he was a boy in his mid-teens, even if he didn’t act like it. As the small group went deeper into the trees, Owen felt worry stab at him.

“I knew something was fishy. There’s no way a kid that young could be better than the rest of us, who have spent years in this business,” one of the party members said with a disapproving shake of his head while they travelled through the trees.

“You shouldn’t speak like that. Whatever his judgement may be aside, he does have the strength of an A-rank,” the party leader scolded his member who then clicked his tongue and looked away.

“Whatever.” As they went deeper into the trees, Owen began smell the horrid stench of blood, so nauseating it was almost overwhelming.

“I think we’re getting closer,” Owen remarked, and at the nod of the party leader, the seven members began to pick up their pace. They were close now, Owen could feel it. With each step, his heart beat louder and louder, until they finally crossed the forest line into another another clearing. As soon as Owen stepped out, he gasped in horror at the sight before him. What was to be green grass was like a red sea. The forest was dyed crimson with dozens of corpses; incomparably more corpses than the amount of wolves that had invaded the camp. At a first glance, Owen could tell there was over thirty of them, but he had no time to count the fallen bodies of the wolves. Standing at the centre of them all was a young masked teenager, looking up at the sky. The party leader took a step forward and Lius immediately spun his head, raising his blade in instinct, but quickly lowered it again upon seeing it just was them.

“W-what in the word…” Owen looked around in awe. In addition the thirty carcusses of the smaller wolves, two bodies of the Fifth Ring wolves lay in the corner as well.

“Sorry,” Lius began to say as he approached them, covered like a curtain in deep red. “I let some of them through. Were there any casualties?” he asked, and the party member who had been badmouthing Lius until now huffed.

“No, we managed to fend them off,” he said, turning his head to the side and crossing his arms.

“That’s good to hear,” Lius nodded. “Shall we return?” he suggested, and the party leader and Owen exchanged glances before nodding.

“Yeah, let’s head back.”