Setting Out
Stepping into the city, the brothers started looking around, before one of the elves, Darvus, addressed them.
"The marketplace is over that way, what exactly did you want to buy? Oh, by the way, you said you had to abandon your supplies to run away, I do hope money was not one of them." Darvus asked with concern.
"Unfortunately yes it was, that was one of the things I wished to talk about. I was hoping to get some valis by selling one of my swords. It has a steel core but is coated by a thick layer of silver, so that should net us some valis right?" Cassian decided to sell his Silver Sword to get money for supplies, he felt it a shame, but honestly, it didn't matter. The monsters of Danmachi world did not share the same weakness to silver as the ones from Witcher, meaning the silver sword was pretty much useless and weaker than the steel sword he had. Plus the weapons he had on him were crap by danmachi standards, only comparable to what level ones would wield.
"You have a silver coated sword? I can't imagine that being practical, was it a decorative sword?" Silver is way too soft to make a good sword, it would bend and be ruined easily if clashed with a steel sword.
"Pretty much, yeah, it was one of the prizes I won in a swordsmanship competition, was meant to be kept as a memento of sorts, but I don't really care much for it, so if it makes our journey to Orario smooth, I'm willing to sell it." Nico could only dumbfoundedly stare at the amount of bullshit his brother was spewing with utmost confidence.
"There is a trading post close by where you can sell pretty much everything of value, the owner is also more or less trustworthy, as trustworthy a merchant can be, but at least he won't try to rip you off too much." Vina suggested and Cassian agreed. They went there and Cassian got to selling the sword, while Nico struck up a conversation with Vina and Corin.
Cassian exited the shop with a bag of 60,000 valis. Not a bad amount, probably less than what he could have earned by haggling but he didn't really care at the moment as long as it was enough to reach and set them up in Orario.
2 hours went by as they shopped, buying various items for the road. Food, water, a map, bags to pack everything in, various other things, and even a few health potions for wounds they may sustain. 15,000 spent valis later they were ready to depart. Nico wanted to stay a while, after all, it's not every day you find yourself in a fantasy elven city, but Cassian denied it. They didn't have a steady source of money at the moment and he preferred to get to Orario where this wouldn't be a problem with the dungeon in reach. He would rather not become destitute after all.
Although he definitely could see where Nico was coming from. The forest city was amazing and its inhabitants equally so. All around were elves, they filled the bridges and the large posts built around the larger trees to allow gatherings of lots of people. Everywhere he looked, he could only see pointy ears and elven features. The source material certainly was not exaggerating the elves' beauty.
Even the least attractive elf he could see would at least pass for an average-looking person back home, and the more beautiful ones? Well, let's just say the models back home didn't stand a chance. He caught himself multiple times staring and marveling at their beauty. It got to the point where he had to position one of the smaller bags around his waist to hide a certain feature proudly making itself known.
'Note to self, Teenage hormones coupled with the boosted libido of a Witcher does not make a pleasant combination!' Cassian was beyond annoyed. This was not a problem in his old body, sure he had needs in it, but now it seemed he had the hormones of 5 teenagers flooding his body.
'I am NOT looking forward to meeting the amazons!' That notion filled him with dread. If the modest elves were this bad, what would happen to him when he saw the barely dressed amazons? 'I need to find a way to deal with this problem. Maybe a potion that would dampen my libido? Haah, I'll think about it when we reach Orario.'
Now it was finally time to set off on their journey to their awaited adventure.
The elven trio guided the brothers to the exit of the city where a paved road lay and bid them good luck on their journey.
"Be careful around the Kaios desert, it's filled with bandits and slavers in addition to monsters. It calmed down a bit after Freya familia swept through that place, but it's still dangerous." Was the warning they received, meaning Event of Episode Freya apparently already took place and was over.
With that, they set off on the road. It would take them around 2 weeks to reach Orario at their pace.
1 week passed. They were currently passing through the outskirts of the Kaios Desert. The brothers spent most of their time either talking about their new circumstances or experimenting and exploring their abilities. Nico was completely absorbed in researching the intricacies of his magic and thinking of ways to develop new spells. Cassian on the other hand got familiar with his body and was now even more comfortable in it than his old one. The witcher signs still fascinated him, even after trying them out many times.
Their journey was peaceful. They met a few travelers on the road when they were passing by Beltane, but after getting near the Kaios desert, the roads became empty. With his hearing, Cassian detected a few desert worms under the ground but opted not to provoke them as he did not remember how strong they were. However, their peaceful journey was coming to an end.
"Nico, stay alert, we're about to run into an ambush, probably bandits." Cassian whispered to Nico and told him to act nonchalant. With his hearing, he could detect 4 people hiding in the trees about 300 meters from here. Nico instantly stopped daydreaming and went on guard, but also did his best to be inconspicuous.
'4 of them. Judging by the fact that they are getting into position, they know we're coming. They must've seen us from afar. According to the map, we are approaching a village named Visteria, are they on watch out? They are making a ton of noise so them being some sort of high-level assassins is out of the books.' Cassian was on edge, ready to draw his blade at a moment's notice.
However, he was surprised that when they approached, the assumed bandits came out on their own instead of launching a sneak attack. They were rugged, with dark tanned skin indicating their desert origins. Any thoughts about them being non-hostile went out the window when the brothers saw the malicious looks they were wearing and the brandished weapons. That's when one of the men started talking.
"Well, lookie here, a couple of little elves on the road alone, ripe for the picking. Lucky us, thought we got shafted to the boring job while the others prepared to raid that village, but a goldmine went and delivered itself to us." Guffawed the biggest one, with the others grinning beside him, eyes alight with greed.
'Well this is annoying, I can tell they're low-level by their attire and carefree stances, despite seeing me carrying a blade, but it will still be annoying incapacitating them. If they're level 2 tho…' Cassian was thinking of the best ways to deal with them, while Nico tensed in nervousness. He had plenty of fighting experience since his brother forced him to attend that kickboxing club, but this was different. Tho his magic gave him confidence.
"Who are you and what do you want?" Was the calm reply that answered them with narrowed eyes.
"Oohh, feisty, are we? That glare would have been scary if it wasn't coming from a dainty elf kid, haha. Well, it's quite simple, we're from the Resheph familia and you are going to become our good little slaves. After all, pretty elf boy toys are something the nobles would shell out any amount of valis for!" The leader started laughing along with the other three as if it were the funniest joke in the world.
Cassian and Nico instantly tensed up when they recognized the familia. It was one that was introduced in Episode Freya and the most worrying thing was their strength. They distinctly remember Resheph familia's members being stated to all be at minimum level 2 with a couple of level 3s and even a level 4 mixed in.
'This is bad, very bad. We are nowhere strong enough to fight against 4 level 2s and if the others show up we're screwed.' Cassian was doing his best to think of a plan, while Nico got ready to fight for their lives. He was afraid but like hell he'd let his older brother down!
"Hah! It seems you boys realized just how screwed you are. What do you say, surrender and we won't harm ya too much, though some of the guys may play around with you a little, you look pretty enough, hahaha!" At that Cassian was filled with anger. For these scum to even suggest doing such a thing to his little brother was unacceptable. Any hesitation he might have had about taking their lives vanished then and there. But actually accomplishing would be problematic.
"Ah damn, looks like they've still got some fight in 'em. Let's get 'em boys but don't do damage that potions can't heal!" The four immediately charged and the brothers got ready to fight to the death.
The leader was the first to approach Cassian who was at the front, swinging his mace casually with a smirking face. Cassian sidestepped it and swung his sword at the leader's neck, instantly decapitating him.
'Eh?'
'What the hell just happened?!' Was the thought going through the heads of everyone at that moment as they froze.
Cassian was beyond confused. 'Weren't these guys supposed to be level 2 at least? Was the novel exaggerating? Episode Freya clearly stated that…Episode Freya…Wait, didn't that elf tell us that Freya familia recently swept through Kaios desert?! And wasn't Resheph familia completely wiped out except for their god by them?'
'These are new recruits!' It instantly hit Cassian after remembering the events. The Resheph familia was slaughtered down to only their god remaining. These must be new people recruited by him! And that means they were a bunch of weak, fresh level 1s. Cassian felt stupid for getting ready to die a moment before.
"Shit! He's got a falna too! Attack him together and kill him!" One of the bandits finally woke up from their shock at seeing their impromptu leader be decapitated. They immediately charged at him, but Cassian found their movements slow and clumsy. He wasn't a good swordsman himself, not yet as he had not gotten much training in, but his natural prodigal talent was enough for these guys.
He ducked under the first bandit's slash and lashed out with a kick which sent him flying backwards. The other two came at him with some coordination but it was sloppy. He jumped to the side and jammed his sword through the temple of the one on his right, before kicking the still-standing corpse and sending it into the man standing next to it, disorienting him.
While he was throwing the corpse aside, Cassian rushed him and messily sliced his throat, crumpling him to the ground with his hands trying to stop the bleeding somehow.
With these two done, he went to the final one who was rolling on the ground with busted ribs. Cassian's current physical prowess was on par with a peak level one, people who only got a falna and were at the bottom of level 1 stood no chance against him, despite his inexperience.
The last bandit saw him approaching and immediately started pleading for his life, horrified. "W-Wait, Wait! P-Please don't kill me, man, they forced me to come with them! I didn't even like them! Please I'll do anything!"
"Anything huh? Then tell me everything about the Resheph familia and that village that was mentioned." Cassian then subtly used Axii to make the bandit more forthcoming without him noticing. Normally this wouldn't work, Axii is currently too weak to influence people in normal circumstances, but with the bandit scared out of his wits and desperately wanting to live, his mind was vulnerable. The fact that he would probably sell out his familia without Axii anyway helped.
"Okay Okay! I'll tell you everything! Resheph recently got wiped and all his previous members died out! He recruited us and promised everything we could take everything we wanted. There are 32 of us in total and we are raiding this village to pillage it. All the men will be killed, while women and children used as playthings and sold as slaves for some sweet payout! 24 are raiding the village while one group of 4 was stationed at each side of the village roads to deal with travelers who happened to pass by!"
"What level are the rest of your familia?"
"All of us are level 1, I swear! That clown only recruited us recently!"
"Hmm, well that is good to know." With that he concluded the interrogation and immediately stabbed the last bandit between the eyes, killing him.
'We need to hurry to the village now to save them and kill the rest of them… wait 'we'?... Shit! Nico!' With that Cassian came out of the tunnel vision he had been under and remembered his brother. He had just watched him kill 4 men out of nowhere.
Turning to him, he saw what he feared. Nico was looking at him with a horrified expression, apparently already puking his guts out at seeing gore for the first time like this. Cassian immediately cursed himself for forgetting him, but at least was glad to see that for all the horror at his actions, his little brother was at least not looking at him with fear, as if he was a monster.
"Nic-" " WHAT THE HELL?!" Cassian winced at the shout. "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?! THEY ATTACKED US AND THEN YOU SUDDENLY KILLED THEM AS IF KILLING BUGS! YOU EVEN KILLED THE LAST ONE IN COLD BLOOD!"
"Nico, they were bad people and trying to enslave us-" "I know that! And I know what you did was necessary, I'm asking how you could kill 4 people and not even blink an eye?! As if it was insignificant?!"
Cassian looked at his brother with sadness and frustration. He didn't want to tell him this. He swore to never do, but the circumstances changed. The normal life he wanted for his brother was now out of the question. And in this cutthroat world, he couldn't shelter him from the evils of the world. So with difficulty, he opened his mouth…
"Because this was not my first time killing.."
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