Jilgan’s words had been a warning, but they—and his actions—had revealed much about how the Hogroth handled things. They didn’t trust non-dwarves, but as long as one knew one’s place, they wouldn’t go out of their way to be hostile. For now, understanding that was enough.
We walked around town, stocked up on blatantly overpriced food and supplemental equipment, then returned to the inn. The next morning, once I was sure Elena’s health points had recovered enough, we left town and made our way to the ruins while it was still dark out. The people in charge of the adventurers weren’t exactly friendly, but they weren’t unfriendly either, so the guards let us pass when I showed them my guild tag.
“How are you holding up, Elena?” I asked.
“I’m doing fine. Thank you for the concern, Alia.”
She looked pale. I knew it wasn’t just due to the desert climate or her physical condition; a significant part of it was all the violence and malice she’d been exposed to since our arrival. In this town, death was everywhere, and I would show no mercy to our enemies. But Elena wasn’t used to such things. While she was no stranger to killing, she’d never seen the ugliness of it all up close like this.
That was precisely why I’d taken her out of town.
“I’m okay,” she insisted, shaking her head as she looked at me. “I’m here because I want to be.”
“All right,” I murmured. I knew she was forcing herself to endure this, and if that was what she wanted, I would respect it.
She wasn’t just a fragile doll to be protected—she was a person acting of her own will.
We made the half-day journey to the ruins not to defeat monsters—though of course if any appeared we would kill them and harvest their parts—but to obtain precious materials exclusive to this region.
There was a rare and precious type of flower called deathroot that could be used to craft high-grade healing medicine. It could be found in the desert, but only in graveyards and the like, and even there it was unusual. According to my mistress, it could only bloom in arid climates and in the presence of miasma—though the reason it needed the latter was unclear.
Miasma was still not fully understood and there were various theories about its true nature. It materialized in places heavy with death and negative emotions, and acted as the source of power for undead monsters and fiends. Thus, since we needed a place rich in miasma to find deathroot, I figured Reisveil, with the many undead roaming about, was a safe bet.
It was dangerous, of course. Some monsters, like zombies and skeletons, were vulnerable to physical attacks and would be easy to handle. But incorporeal monsters like evil spirits would be difficult for most adventurers to even escape from, let alone fight.
But Elena and I were not like most adventurers. Weapons made of magic iron could damage evil spirits, even if they weren’t as effective as those made of mithril. Elemental spells were also effective, and the light sorcery spell Cleanse could even purify the miasma itself, blocking off the undead from their source of power.
“Alia, is this okay?” Elena asked me as she picked deathroot flowers, her expression serious.
“Yeah. We only use the petals, so you just need to cut off the flowers.”
“I understand.”
We’d left town early in the morning and arrived in the ruins in the evening. We’d taken light meals and naps, waited for the temperature to drop at night, then begun our foraging.
Ancient ruins like this were more dangerous the closer one got to their center. The outer perimeter was relatively safe—otherwise a town couldn’t have been built only a half day away. It would’ve been easier to find what we were looking for deeper in, where the miasma was thicker. But I could use my mana vision to spot pools of shadow-aspected mana, and by searching behind buildings, I could find deathroot with surprising ease, even in the outer areas.
This flower was also poisonous, and the toxin was tricky to deal with, so I would’ve preferred Elena not touch it—but she’d insisted. We weren’t both gathering; one of us always kept watch in case evil spirits appeared. Still, perhaps because of the many adventurers coming and going in this area, we hadn’t seen any undead monsters yet. Not even skeletons, let alone evil spirits. Perhaps the life force that humans possessed could also dispel miasma to some extent.
It was also likely that the main reason that we could find the flowers so easily wasn’t my mana vision, but rather the simple fact that not many people were gathering them in the first place.
Once we’d gathered a good number of petals, I put them into Shadow Storage. I noticed Elena staring at a nearby wall, a puzzled look on her face.
“Elena?” I called out.
“Oh, I just... I felt this before too,” she said, sounding a bit unsure. “Something like...vibrations, coming from the other side of the wall.”
“Vibrations?”
I approached the wall, but Detection wasn’t picking anything up, so I gingerly touched it with my fingers and focused on the other side. And, indeed, I felt faint vibrations. Maybe Elena had noticed because she’d been near the ground as she picked flowers? I put an ear to the ground to confirm and realized that the vibrations sounded like combat.
“There’s a fight happening,” I said, looking at her questioningly. “What should we do?”
It could be dangerous monsters, but it could also be that someone was under attack. If this was an adventurer who’d run afoul of peril, that was their own problem. My role was to protect Elena. But if this was someone truly in need of help, Elena would be loath to leave them to their fate. I figured it wouldn’t hurt to at least take a look.
“Let’s at least check,” she said. “It would be prudent to know what it is in case it happens again next time we’re here.”
“Got it.”
We left the ruined building and headed toward the road, where the vibrations were coming from. I couldn’t sense any monsters nearby—it felt unnatural. Though the moon was out, Elena didn’t have Night Vision, so I was careful not to get too far ahead of her. I slowly approached the road. On the far side, two humanoid figures were under attack by over ten beetle and caterpillar monsters.
Were these civilians or adventurers? I enhanced my mana vision with Boost, and for a moment, I could glimpse their faces. Familiar faces.
“What’s happening?” Elena asked as I returned to her.
“It’s those two boys,” I said. “The Krus and the dark elf.”
Elena’s expression shifted subtly.
Those two were probably adventurers. While they were surrounded by a significant number of monsters, the resolve to fight was part of being an adventurer. I would’ve helped any adventurers in danger within Claydale borders, but in a foreign land like this, I had no obligation to save them, especially when it would expose Elena to danger.
Elena, too, was likely unsure how much trust to place in the pair. They’d tried to warn us of danger earlier, but they were still residents of Cutlass, after all.
Since she didn’t seem able to come to a decision, I was about to abandon them to deal with their own problems when I caught sight of a cloud of sand approaching from the opposite side of the road.
“There’s something there,” I said.
“More monsters?” Elena asked.
Several giant beetles were barreling down the road, but they weren’t alone. The figure of a beastman was running in front of them. Not only that, but there was a faint scent on the wind—a scent I was familiar with.
“It smells like bug lure,” I said, frowning.
“Huh?”
I’d used that exact scent before, long ago, to lure insect-type monsters in a dungeon and trap a certain member of the Northern Border District branch of the Assassin’s Guild. Had that beastman set up a trap for these boys too? If this was a fight between enemies, it was none of my business. But if it was just a robbery or someone settling a grudge, that was different. Though I had no means of knowing either way.
“Elena?”
This was a lawless land where might made right and whatever faction held power decided what could and couldn’t happen. For that exact reason, we had to decide for ourselves what we wanted to do. But we had to settle on a single course of action, and so I wanted to leave it to the princess.
It took her only a moment to analyze the situation, our feelings, and everything else. She looked toward the approaching beetles and beastmen, and said, “Let’s wait.”
She had us stand on the side of the road and wait to see what the beastman would do. If these were decent people in an honest fight, they wouldn’t want to involve anyone else, and we would be able to see that much. Even just a glimpse of conscience would do. We just needed to see that, and we wouldn’t interfere.
But...
“Alia!”
The catfolk man spotted us and, without warning, threw a bag in our direction. That had to be a scented lure! Was he trying to eliminate witnesses?
He grinned and made for a nearby building, then began to climb.
At this sign of hostility, I threw my sickle pendulum at the airborne bag, hooked it, and spun it back toward the beastman.
“What?!” he yelled.
“Pain,” I chanted.
Stunned by the phantom pain, the beastman slipped from the wall he’d been climbing. The lure fell nearby, and the beetles rushed forth, engulfing the man. He sank into the swarm with cries of agony.
“Let’s help them, Alia,” Elena said.
“Got it. Can you cast it?” I asked.
“I can get it to go off, at least...”
“All right. I’ll go on ahead.”
I confirmed there were no monsters near Elena, then took off running to help the two boys. A guard normally shouldn’t leave her charge’s side, but I knew she had a plan to get us out of this situation.
The Krus and dark elf boys were under attack by over ten insect-type monsters. It looked like they were just barely managing; the dark elf seemed quite capable, but the Krus boy wasn’t as skilled and appeared injured. Since the dark elf had to protect his companion, he probably couldn’t afford to use major attacks like combat techniques, as those would leave him momentarily vulnerable.
Excited by the scented lure, the bugs wouldn’t flee, which only prolonged the stalemate. But I wasn’t going to interfere with that—instead, I headed straight for the root of the problem, focusing my mana vision as I ran. Mixed in with the presence of the boys and the insects was colored mana of a very specific shape.