บท 22: Situation
Standing over the sea of corpses, Aldrik thinks to himself. 'This is unnatural behavior; Giant Snakes are meant to be a lone wolf type enemy. Why did the death of the one we hunted cause so much to come to us? And where were they hiding all this time?'
Looking around, Aldrik sighs. "Maria! Get down so we can do something about these corpses."
Jumping down and being cushioned by the belly of a random serpent, Maria looks at Oroth's Dagger. "I thought you said that was bad for combat?"
"It is; it's blunt as hell and weak. It'll break if I use it as a weapon. As you can see, it is much more useful for transportation." Aldrik bluntly replies as he returns it to his soul.
"That aside, what do we do with these corpses? There's at least thirty here." Nem shouts from the tip of the beam.
"Welp, let's get ready to skin them, drain them of their blood, and harvest their remaining eye. It'll take a while, but hey, at least we profited well from this." Aldrik states while cracking his knuckles and summoning a tiny dagger for himself and Maria.
Jumping down from the beam, Nem conjures herself a dagger before preparing to harvest the goods.
...
- ??? POV -
A man shuffles along the unending cave as the darkness swallows all within its grasp. Leaning against the rocks, the peculiar man smiles. "Ho? It appears the serpents have died. Fascinating."
Laughing to himself, the man continues down the dark cave without a light. "I wonder, I wonder who it was? A Grade 6, perhaps?"
As he talked to himself, a tiny serpent slithered towards him and up his leg. Curling around his arm, he brings his head closer to it.
His face broke into a crooked smile as he laughed. "Ah, wonderful! Wonderful, indeed! You have done well, little snake. To use Oroth's Dagger, who could it be? My dear, is it you, Aldrik?"
...
- Aldrik POV -
Darkness spread throughout the Dead Forest as the sun retreated over the horizon. Lying down on the dirt below, Aldrik pants heavily. "God above, that was... I didn't think it'd be so taxing."
Lying on the floor next to him, Nem coughs a couple of times before stringing a sentence, "At least... we're done. All that work will surely give us... a good payday."
Standing upwards while breathing heavily, Maria hangs her arms down. "That was tedious. It's good that I have high endurance because of my proficiency."
"That dagger of yours... seriously useful. Where'd... you get it?" Nem pants, barely able to breathe.
"It's called Oroth's Dagger. Don't worry... about where I got it from." Aldrik responds while getting up to his feet. "Right, let me just quickly find where the horses are."
Taking out Oroth's Dagger, Aldrik makes a portal from the floor to the top of the beam. Looking for the secondary beam Nem created for the horses, Aldrik finds it almost immediately. "Right, we're heading West. Maria, pick up Nem since she won't be able to walk for a while."
Going back through the portal, all three begin their journey back to the horses.
Looking back at the bloody battlefield, Aldrik begins to think. 'Were we set up? Unlikely, that man in the market did not reek of death or fate. Even now, I sense it. We're not safe. We need to return to the academy as soon as possible.'
After walking for an hour, the heavily exhausted Aldrik could barely get up on his horse as darkness swallowed everything. Barely able to see, Nem creates two lanterns and a matchstick. Lighting the way, they return to the village to rest.
"Aldrik?" Maria asks.
"What is it?" Aldrik states while focusing on the lights of the village.
"Are we being hunted?" She states calmly.
"Not sure; we'll leave the village by dawn, and you're coming with us to see Lady Loux." Aldrik sternly speaks. Seeing his expression, she nods her head.
"What happened was too unnatural. Who was it?" Maria says while squinting her eyes. Aldrik looks at her and sighs. Her ability to read emotions was very useful as she noticed something was off about him.
"I used to know someone who could control serpents. He is a very dangerous man if you can even consider him one. I don't know what happened to him, but we're in big trouble if he's here." Aldrik reveals.
"Will we be okay?" Nem asks with a fearful expression. Seeing Aldriks strategic usage of weapons and calling someone dangerous seemed to have conflicted her about their situation.
"We'll be fine as long as we avoid the dark. We're near the village, so let's get to the inn and rest in our room. As for you, Maria, I'm sure you have your own room somewhere." Aldrik calmly responds.
Maria nods her head as they arrive at the village. Trotting past the guard, who seemed not to care, they eventually arrive at the inn. Hopping off the horses, they take them to a nearby stable before walking towards the inn.
Entering the establishment, the lady from earlier welcomes them. "All of you seem to be tired. Shall I open the door for you?"
"Please." Aldrik begs.
Entering their respective rooms, Nem bids Maria goodbye as Aldrik gets comfortable on the floor, and Nem locks the door. Collapsing onto the bed, Nem leaves the lantern next to her.
"You going to turn it off?" Aldrik asks.
"You said we'll be safe if we avoid the dark." she retorts.
"Fair." Aldrik says as he prepares to sleep. Looking at him being comfortable, Nem shakes her head and sighs before trying to sleep herself.
...
"Alright, so let me get this straight. Over thirty Giant Snakes attacked you over the death of a single one?" Lady Loux says in shock.
"All three of us can attest to that fact." Aldrik states with Nem and Maria by his side.
"That is unusual; it is no wonder some of our students recently disappeared when dealing with the Giant Snakes. I thought they were weak, but could they have been ambushed instead?" she thinks to herself.
Aldrik sighs before speaking, "Maria, Nem. Please leave the room. Lady Loux, please activate the silence spell once they're out."
Realizing this could be about the possible suspect, Maria signals to Nem that they should leave. What he knows might be sensitive. Exiting the room as the silence spell is activated, Aldrik sighs.
"I'm not too sure, so don't take my words seriously, but it could've been by a man named Orias." Aldrik said as he sat down in the chair.
"Orias? I don't recognize that name. Is he from your old world?" Lady Loux questions.
"Yes, he disappeared one day off the face of the Earth. We had the magical capabilities of finding anyone anywhere within a continent, even as a corpse, yet no matter how far and wide we searched, no trace of him was left as if he turned to dust." Pouring himself a drink, Aldrik took a sip and continued. "If it's him, be careful. He's extremely dangerous. I don't know if he transmigrated the same method I did, but if he retains his old power, we should avoid him at all costs."
Drinking the rest of the cup, Aldrik slams it down before stating, "That man I could never beat. Keep that in mind."
"I will. I'll burn his name into my mind and see what I can do about him. Do you think this world can defeat him?" Lady Loux asked while swirling a glass of alcohol.
"Yes, most certainly. Architecture might be the one thing he cannot defeat." Aldrik smiles before saying, "Which is exactly why I wanted you to know this."
Smiling to herself, Lady Loux downs the glass of alcohol.
"By the way, we harvested all the serpent's remains so that we might crash the market for a bit." Aldrik bluntly states.
Choking on the alcohol, Lady Loux begins to cough.
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