~ CHAPTER 280

"Someone came," Raksha'va said with a hoarse voice. "I feared none of our messengers would make it."

I frowned. "We didn't come because of any messengers. We were already on our way here when we saw the smoke in the distance and the bodies piled up by the walls. We decided to come help when we saw that the city was cut off."

Raksha'va's expression dropped at the news, but she quickly recovered. "Come inside. We'll discuss what happened and see if you can help. It's nice to see you again, Lilith."

I looked at her karma as we followed her into the gate. [Karma - 26,486 Positive]

But wait, why is her karma not capped out like mine? My karma stopped incrementing once it hit ten thousand, but hers was well over double that. I remember her karma being only a few thousand lower the last time I saw her, but it was still increasing? Did this mean the cap that I'm stuck at isn't the true cap? I frowned and put it aside for now. I had bigger problems to worry about. I'll have to speculate about this later.

Everyone from my team started pulling back once the entire caravan had fully entered the walls of Traehall. The familiar streets greeted me, but the city looked like it was in shambles. The city was an adventurer town, but right now, there wasn't much movement. People were lying against the walls, fully geared but with nowhere to go. Most of the people I could see were low-leveled, not the usual mix of low to medium-leveled people that had been walking around. My friends now outpaced most of the people here, and even the succubi girls were higher level than a lot of the people hanging around in the streets.

Raksha'va noticed my attention. "It's too dangerous for most people to leave the city. There are demons everywhere outside, so only the higher-level people are even able to leave. There have already been a lot of casualties." She looked over me and my group appraisingly. "All of you have gotten a lot stronger since I last saw you. Maybe you'll be able to help us with our problems."

"How bad have things gotten?" I asked.

She let out a weary sigh. "Food is tight. Half of everyone going out is trying to find wild vegetables to bring back that may have survived the fires. Most of the game has been scared away or killed by the demons in the area."

"What's the other half doing?" I asked.

"We think this happened because of a dungeon break in an unidentified demon dungeon. If we can find it, we may be able to cut off the source of them. We don't know where it is yet, though." She looked at me with appraising eyes.

"Which is where my [First Explorer] title comes in?" I asked, guessing the reason for her stare.

Raksha'va nodded. "Indeed. We already have a few people looking, but we need all the help we can get. You've also proven capable of handling the demons, at least during the day..."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"The demons swarm at night. We need to be vigilant to look out for anyone coming back and fight off any of the bigger demons at nightfall. Flying demons have been an issue as well. We've been going through arrows like mad," she replied.

"Hey! Back up! Stand back!" one of the merchants yelled at the crowd that was growing around his wagon.

Raksha'va grumbled and stomped over. "Enough! Everyone back away! We will properly ration the food they brought, but I'll have your heads if a brawl starts in the middle of the city!" Raksha'va continued to be intimidating as hell. The crowd immediately dispersed and the merchant looked relieved to have some breathing room. It looked like things were quite dicey right now.

Tenna and Kino ran up to me. "Lilith! Will you take us to Meena and Twill's shop now? I want to make sure they're okay with everything going on."

I looked over at Raksha'va. She looked busy directing the merchants around. She was taking inventory and finding out how to best use the materials and goods they brought with them. Cecilia and Fellia had already dragged the crates of weapons off our carriage, and I saw a look of relief cross Raksha'va's face. It seems the weapons were going to be quite the boon right now.

I turned back to Tenna. "Sure. One moment first. I need to talk with my friends and Raksha'va, and then we'll take you there. Don't go looking for it alone. Things seem tense in the city right now."

Tenna frowned but nodded. "I understand, but please be quick. I'm worried about my cousins."

I ran over to Cecilia, who was in the middle of pulling another crate off our carriage. "Hey, Cecilia. I'm going to lead Tenna and Kino over to Meena and Twill's place. I'll leave Sibyl's team with you and take my team with me."

"You're leaving the market group with me though, right? I could use Fellia's help, and right now, we could use Gwen and Quinn's hands," she asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, I'm taking the twins, Bella, Silva, and Mimi."

Cecilia glanced at the crowd of irritated adventurers. "Can you leave Silva with us? I don't trust things to stay smooth right now if all of our strongest people go with you. Where should we meet up later?"

I nodded. "That's fine. We'll meet in the adventurer's guild in a bell or two."

"Okay, just be careful walking the streets right now. People seem desperate. I'll reserve a meeting room in the guild and look into accommodations. In this kind of situation, the inns could be bursting full or completely empty, depending," Cecilia said.

"Great, sounds like a plan for now. Go ahead and tell Raksha'va I'll be back soon if she asks. You can also tell her that we're at Meena and Twill's smithy if she needs us urgently," I said.

"Okay," Cecilia replied before focusing back on the crates she was unloading.

I quickly gathered the groups. "Sibyl, you're in charge of team two. Silva, at Cecilia's request, you'll be with Sibyl this time. She's in charge though. Her team needs to get used to her giving orders."

"What about Eira's team?" Raya asked.

"Oh, thanks for reminding me. Uh... Sibyl, consult with Eira and see what she wants to do. I'm not technically in charge of her group, but we should work together if we can."

"Got it. I'll see what she wants to do and send Raya to coordinate. She's good at stuff like that," Sibyl replied.

"Great. I'll meet all of you at the adventurer's guild in a bell or two. Watch the wagons and carriage. Make sure nothing happens to the market team," I told her.

Sibyl's team consisted of Raya, Nelly, Kal'daeryn, Lorriene, and Silva right now. Bella, the twins, and Mimi would be with me, escorting Tenna and Kino to Meena and Twill's place. I wasn't sure entirely what the plan was, but things were a bit hectic around here. I had hoped to be able to explain the succubi thing to the two of them, but that might need to wait.

I gathered my team, waved over Tenna and Kino, and started to head over to the smithy. The streets were more crowded than usual for Traehall, but they were a lot easier to navigate than the capital had been when we visited. Pretty much everyone inside were low to medium level. Most of them would have a lot of trouble with the demons we fought on the way in without coordination. Not to mention the superhuman coordination of the succubi girls. I had a feeling that Eira's team would grow quickly in this environment. I just hoped all of us came out of it unscathed.

"There it is," Torien said to Tenna while pointing at the wide building at the end of the street. The smithy seemed active right now. Smoke from the furnace was burning, and the inside of the shop was already lit up to help with the fading daylight.

The familiar bell clinked when we entered the shop, and a very tired looking Meena looked up from her work fitting arrowheads to shafts at the main desk of the smithy. "Tenna? What are you doing here?" she asked, shocked.

"Cousin!" Tenna said happily with her arms outstretched. "I'm so happy to see you safe! I was worried with how difficult it had been getting through the gates!"

Meena dropped what she was doing and climbed to her feet before coming over and collapsing in Tenna's arms. "It's been awful this last week! Things had been going fine, but then something happened with a dungeon outside, and now we're trapped in the city with demons at the gates! Ever since the adventurer's guild's guildmaster has been ordering obscene amounts of arrows. We haven't been able to make anything else since this all started!"

Tenna hugged Meena tight and patted her on the back. "Don't worry, cousin. I'm here to help! There were problems in the capital, so I sold everything and came here as soon as I finished registering that thing you found."

Meena lit up. "It went through!? The claim is ours?"

"It is! All ours. You'll have to show me where the two of you found it... once everything else has blown over," Tenna said.

Meena slumped. "I'm really worried about that, cousin... Things are looking bad here. It might be best to skip town if you were able to get here safely."

Tenna shook her head and then glanced back at me. "I think things are headed the right direction actually... I have a good feeling Lilith and her friends will be able to turn the tide and clear things up here."

The younger mousegirl looked past her cousin and smiled as she saw me. "Lilith! You've returned. I see you did a good job delivering our package to my cousin." She looked back at Tenna. "She didn't break the seal, did she?"

Tenna laughed. "Of course not! Lilith has been nothing but professional. She even escorted me here on request!"

I wasn't sure if I agreed with professional... Tenna had watched a few of the orgies that had happened even if she hadn't participated... yet.

"I have another batch of arrowheads... wait, Tenna?

 What are you doing here?" Twill asked excitedly.

"I'm—"

Before Tenna could actually answer, Twill cut her off. "Thank the gods! Please help me with these arrowheads. I need a break! I've been doing nothing but these fiddly things all week, and I need to rest. I feel like I'm going to get heat exhaustion back there!"

Tenna chuckled. "No problem, Twill. You'll have to show me your smithy. My apprentice Kino here is a master of arrowheads."

"She means that she makes me do all of them because she hates them too," Kino said with an amused tone.

"You've had lots of practice!" Tenna said confidently.

Twill put down the bucket and collapsed onto Tenna. "Thank you so much, cousin. Thank you for coming to save us!"

"Come on, Twill. You're getting me all grimy." Tenna shook her head with a smile before turning back to me. "Hey, Lilith. I'll talk to them about the thing later. Make sure you come back to the smithy when you get some time and at least one of us will be ready for it. Make sure you send Gwen along at some point too. She was telling me about some of the smith work she's done and I'd like to take her on as another apprentice if we have the space for it."

"Another apprentice?" Meena asked curiously. "You told me in your letters that Kino would be your last one."

Tenna grinned. "That's part of what we need to talk about tonight. Trust me. When I explain everything, you'll be dying to get in on it."

"Arrowheads first!" Twill grumbled. "I am so sick of these. I need to take a break and that means someone else needs to work the furnace and bellows."

"Sure, sure. Lilith will make time for us, she promised. But right now, she has a lot of people that want her ear. Oh, before you go, though..." Tenna pulled out a slip of paper and placed it on the counter before uncorking the inkwell that was there. "I need to give you your completion papers for the guild. I'd say you made this trip much easier than expected despite the trouble at the gates of Traehall. I'm sure anyone else would have turned us around and I'd have been left wondering about my cousins." She finished signing the papers and held them out. "You can pick up your gold when you turn in the quest. Don't forget to come back though! We have more business between us."

I laughed and took the papers. "Of course. You've been very clear about how you feel about my offer. Make sure you talk with Kino about what he wants to do as well. He seemed interested."

Kino jolted upright and turned to look at me with shock. "I... but..."

I waved off his words. "Talk with her about it. I'd accept you if that's what you want."

"O- okay, Miss Baphomet," Kino said with a flushed face.

Torien took the paperwork from me and looked it over. "Everything looks good. We'll turn this into the guild. We're headed back there next after we've finished here."

"Do any of you need anything from our smith?" Meena asked while eyeing Torien's well-used bow. "You've put a lot of wear on that. Perhaps you need a new one?"

Torien chuckled. "Actually, I think what I need the most right now is arrows."

Twill groaned and left the room angrily.

----------------------------------------