I ate breakfast and packed up my supplies that I had bought yesterday before heading out. The area I was going to was a wilderness that was close to multiple human settlements. Since it was an E-rank quest, there wasn't much in the way of danger. It was more of a test of my skills. The deadly animals and monsters that were once there had either been hunted or driven out. Leaving only low level monsters that were either left for starting adventurers to practice on or ones that bred too quickly to ever truly be exterminated. The only reason I took the quest was simply to test out my druid skills. The fact that it was close to the city was a bonus. If anything bad happened or if my cover was blown, I may be able to make it back there before anything horrible befell me.
Like before, I left the school with the shift change and didn't have any problems. Before the sun had fully risen, I had already made my way through the city and was heading down a road that took me in the direction I needed to go. There are many roads that left the capital, so finding one that went in the direction I wanted was pretty easy. It basically followed the river and went to the East, away from the sea so I even got to see some long, flat riverboats filled with goods drifting toward the capital.
I was currently following a slow-moving Caravan that had left slightly before me. I thought about mixing in with the Caravan and offering my services, like I had read about in fantasy books, but one look from the guards had kept me a little more distance. Even so, I was enjoying the trip. This is the first time I traveled by myself in this world and it was a different experience. I got to set my own pace, didn't have to rush about or have to split my attention between conversations and if something caught my interest I either went to check it out or cast 'Animalistic' to enhance my vision to see it more clearly.
I needed to get use to some of the animal traits that the spell offered. It was extremely versatile but without practice it was useless in combat. Take increasing my eyesight for example. I could see like an eagle and things almost two miles away became clear. But in doing so, I found that I was having trouble focusing on what I was doing, like walking. I stumbled a few times in the process of learning. I probably looked like a drunkard stumbling behind the Caravan and I saw a few of the guards chuckling at my misfortune.
It was a very pleasant trip. Nothing horrible happened, probably because of all the guards with the caravan, and it was nice not having to worry about being attacked. I followed them for as long as I could, until our paths deviated from one another.
My route was a small side trail. Because it was less traveled, there was overgrowth and weeds along and on the pathway. I kept my eye out for any herbs that I could find. It was unlikely however, because it was still a traveled path. The one I was specifically looking for was called the 'ever-changing chameleon fruit'. As the name implies, it's hard to find because it could blend into its surroundings and change shape. The only way to really tell it apart was its smell. For all their stealth, their smell was the one thing they couldn't change. It smelt of freshly dug earth. Since it was a smell in the wild, most travelers tended to overlook it.
As I began to move through the more wild area, I noticed it was alive with noise. I could hear discussions from different trees that had probably been going on for centuries. Animals chittering about nonsensical things. It was actually quite interesting. And I could see how druids could be great scouts or the worst, as they got lost in all the noise. I felt totally comfortable in the forest. Which was odd because I grew up in the city and the closest thing I've ever come to a wilderness was the park. But having animals run around me having full on discussions while the trees watched over them like protective parents was oddly soothing.
While on the path, I decided to test out 'animalistic' for speed. I selected the jackrabbit's speed and felt my legs elongate a little. I found that I could run in a straight line fairly easily. My new jog speed was actually close to a full speed run in my human form. And, I could sprint close to sixty miles an hour for short bursts. It was turning that was the issue. I know rabbits are known for their agility but I fell a few times as I tried changing directions. Simply trying to shift my weight and make a turn at that speed was going to take more practice. I traveled for another hour before I decided to start my hunt.
Although I only needed the one fruit, there were other herbs that grew around here like the 'Dragon Tails' which were flowers that required a lot of sunlight so they tended to grow in open fields or the 'Weeping Lilies' that grew along the banks of streams. There's probably a half dozen common herbs in this area but they tended to be obvious so finding any was unlikely. Still, maybe I could get lucky. I thought of using my Luck stat but the four was still grayed out and I just didn't know the repercussions of over using it. What happens if it goes down to zero? Will something cataclysmic happen?
Instead, I came up with a plan. I used my spell 'Call Animals' and soon found myself surrounded by small furry animals and hand-sized birds. Out of all the animals I've met so far, birds seem to be the happiest but a little flighty, pun intended. The little guys running around my feet were a close second. I also cast 'Whispering from the Trees and Mountains'. It gave the locations of monsters within an area. I let my new friends know to avoid those areas and with some bribes of seeds, nuts and cheap berries, I had an army of small animals scurrying through the forest looking for a fruit that smelled like dirt.
I spent the rest of my day searching through the woods with them. Using the different animals as helpers and giving them nuts or berries to keep them motivated helped me find two of the chameleon fruits and one Death Cap. The Death Caps were a mushroom that were highly poisonous. I didn't really have a use for it but figured I could sell it or discard it later. The squirrel that found it looked so happy that I simply rewarded it and stuffed the mushroom in my bag.
I decided to stay the night and enjoy the clear sky. I set up camp, practiced my cooking and then headed to bed. I cast 'Den of the Lone Wolf' and the ground near me formed more of a burrow than a cave but it was dry and with a spectral wolf guarding me I was fairly safe.
In the morning, I ate my breakfast before heading back. The ground burrow was reforming as I walked away. I felt more energized from this excursion. I ran using 'Animalistic' to increase my speed. I was going to practice doing everyday things until it became more natural. Plus, I didn't want to eat my cooking for lunch. The six hour journey turned into a three hour one. It would have been quicker but I stopped to help a couple fix their wagon. I didn't actually have any skill at it, but after casting two spells, I had enough strength to lift their wagon. Once done, it made it much easier for them to repair.
I just needed to drop off one of these fruits at Barton's Merchant Guild and then get my reward from mine. I was in such a good mood by the time I got back. I headed straight to the merchant building. I didn't notice the strangeness inside the building until I walked half-way through it. It was then that I got a glimpse of their workers. At first it was just one but then more showed up around me. All of them had black worms crawling on, through and in their skin, just like the lady I saw on the street before.
I looked around and noticed that there were over twenty infected helpers that had worms crawling on them. But they weren't the only ones in here. There were over a hundred middle aged women that were shopping. From the look of it, this shop was having a massive sale that was bringing in a lot of shoppers.
There was a constant stream of people coming and going. This place is, after all, in one of the more popular areas. They dealt in all common goods that everybody would use and with half or more off their prices, even I wanted to buy some stuff.
I watched as the attendants helped different customers, all of them saying the same thing as if preprogrammed. They would go and grab any items requested and be very attentive. If denied they hovered around that person. Whenever a person's hand touched theirs a worm would crawl onto it. Once on, they would scooch around until they found a certain spot and then the worms would sink into their skin. They quickly disappeared from sight and I couldn't see anything abnormal at a glance. Even in my display, it read that they were healthy. It wasn't until I tried the new diagnostic 'Magic Point' display that I saw a tiny black dot sitting on another glowing spot on one of the newly infected people. The glow looked like a focal point of where smaller magical energies met up. But it was like trying to pick out a dark spot on the sun and I knew there was no way of truly telling how many were infected by whatever these things were. I needed to leave and get help.
I had already decided not to give them the fruit. I didn't know what these things wanted it for but it probably wasn't anything good. Right now I was trying to leave without drawing any notice to myself but an attendant came up to help me before I could get out of the door.
As she asked me if I needed help, I saw her inching closer. Saying 'No' and shaking my head 'No' didn't dissuade her. Instead, she offered me a free sample. A new drink, she insisted was delicious but had come from a foreign land so it was in short supply. I think she was trying to indicate that if I didn't drink it now I would never get another chance, which didn't make much sense since they were giving it away.
She held out a cup and I could see that a little black worm was squirming within a clear liquid. It looked like tequila except this worm was still moving.
I politely refused and made my way to the door. As I got closer to the door, and I thought I was going to make it, a different attendant grabbed my hand. I heard her say something about my skin being ultra-smooth and did I use a certain brand that they offered as I tried to shake her off. I already knew it was too late. The damage had already been done.
I felt as though I had been zapped by static electricity and saw her fall twitching to the ground. Every attendant in the shop, don't need this, stopped and turned in unison to stare at me as I ran out the door.
I knew from school that some parasites could be linked mentally with others of their kind and the way everybody reacted when the sales lady fell indicated that these little worms, were that type. How connected they were, varied from type to type but I couldn't risk being stopped.
I ducked into an alleyway, then another, until I was fairly sure I wasn't being followed and that I was alone. I recast 'Masquerade' and changed into my fox form and tossed the dress my friends made over the bunny outfit. And then, I strutted out of the alleyway.
Unlike the nervous behavior I had in my prior form, this one tended to be a bit more ummm... Outgoing. My hips tended to move in ways that were a bit more sensual than I was used to. I wasn't sure if it was because of the tail being longer or if I somehow messed up on making the spell. Even though it made me a bit uncomfortable, it also added a layer to my disguise so I didn't plan on fixing it.
I kept my diagnostic up as I walked onto the main road. I was still in the merchant district so the streets were busy with people. Over half those people had more prevalent black spots moving inside their bodies. It wasn't just a small dot like the lady in the shop had but instead it seemed to be hundreds of them clustered together. They seem to feed of the magical energy within the person or at least need it since they tended to be wherever there were concentrations of it.
Why didn't the precogs, diviners, or anybody with identification magic detect this? From what I was told in class, the city had taken precautions for such things. This shouldn't be happening.
Whatever was going on it was bigger than I could handle alone. I needed help. I thought of all the people I had met that might be in positions that could be of assistance. They'd have to believe in something apparently only I was seeing. The princess had connections to a lot of people but our last dinner made me think that there'd be strings attached to any help she offered. There were the princes but I didn't trust them either. My friends would probably believe me but I never really asked what their parents did or how powerful their families were. It'd be nice if they could deal with it and take all the credit.
In the end, it all fell back to trust. I'd at least tell my friends and get their opinion. I needed to get back to the school as soon as possible. It was too early for me to use the back entrance. I needed to change into the real me and then get back without being stopped. I decided to rent a room at an inn. My beast forms wouldn't get me in the main entrance of the school and I needed privacy to change.
Finding one took a bit longer than I'd have liked but after looking into three inns I finally found one that had a shopkeeper that wasn't obviously infected. I checked in, changed and left. I kept spare clothes and a set of daggers in my storage ring.
Now I just needed to get back without being noticed by any princes.
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