CHAPTER 401: ARC 6, CHAPTER 17: COUNTRY ROADS

"Come to the Northervint Lakeside Tower, behind the overgrown chapel. Experimental mushrooms have mutated to be more sentient and have destroyed research equipment.

Eight gold per mushroom kill. May keep the mushrooms to cook, brackets, they’re safely edible," Jotou read one of the commissions in the guild.

"We’re heading to Casten Castle, not wherever that is," Fumeko corrected with a cup of coffee in hand. The guild itself was waking up into a morning stupor yet was still functioning as busy as it was last night.

Rays of morning light gleamed from windows up high as if the heavens themselves smiled on all those who walked in here with the most boisterous and shiny adventuring attire; which was odd since in no way would the sunlight hit the small building like this from the outside...

"Well, it’s slightly northeast from Casten Castle," Hotaru pointed on the map she had laid out on their table beside the commission board. "We need to go northwest from here, but none of these roads are the least bit straight."

"What if we just go through here?" Asobi pointed with her wand and made a straight line from their location to the castle with five illusions marching on it. "It’s just a lot of trees and there’ll be a village nearby through too."

"Nay, the perils that skulk within these untamed lands shall sooner rend our bodies asunder than any order of traversal that one may be able to accomplish.

Tis a domicile not only for undergrowth and greenery that yearns for the heaven’s heights, but as well as all manner of beasts of savagery. What lies more, the fiends, the lusus naturae, the monsters of old tales and fables," Tiffany disagreed.

"Hap! Claimed!" some young man with spiky brown hair and a circlet ripped the commission sheet from behind Jotou; another of the same poster appeared out of thin air right behind it, replacing the tear.

"Yeah, we weren’t claiming that buddy," Jotou paid no mind.

"Sooner if nightfall reveals its visage, one may find their ire to be plenteous," Tiffany continued.

"Hey couldn’t help but overhearing," the young man budded in. "You lot’re heading northwards through the woodlands? Friendly advice, might not want to do that. Lot of problems, especially at night."

Tiffany shot the man a wide-eyed glare, "The void hadst spoken prior to thy advance mortal. Thou darest challenge mine reputable erudition? I stand not for such impertinence!"

A nervous sweat went down the young man’s temple as he slowly took a few steps back, "Uhh... I’ve got to go meet up with my party... By the way," he regained some composure, "What do you lot go by? Party name?"

"We don’t really have one," Fumeko replied.

"Ah, something will come up, it’s usual in the beginning. Nice meeting you," he said awkwardly as his eyeline met Tiffany’s again before he backed off.

Hotaru’s ears drooped, "Beginning? We’re nearly a year in as adventurers," she whined slightly.

"Let’s come up with a name then!" Asobi giddied. "The Starshowers! No. Glimmers of Hope! No. The Underdogs! No. Explosion! No wait, that’s just a word," she contemplated further.

Fumeko muttered, "Do we really need a name? We’ve been doing fine so far."

"Not necessarily, but it’s a good identifier to have. It’s better than being referred to as ’the Thundering Blade’s’ party," the redhead side-eyed with a little shade.

Jotou glared back with half-lidded eyes, "Oh what’s the problem? Didn’t have much of an issue with it back when."

"Maybe it was to help with your-"

"Aru we have a castle to get to and daylight not to lose, pick the best route to go through," Fumeko interjected.

"Fine, yeesh," Hotaru focused her attention back on the map. "This road looks longer because it winds a lot, but it’s still the shortest distance to Wensteter Village which we will have to stay in for the night.

Asking around, taverns, inns, empty rooms and places are plenty in most of South End. We can even cut through some of the bends in the road if we don’t mind trekking through some woodland.

Worst case scenario, night comes along and we just have to keep going in the dark till we reach the village."

"What manner of steed can trek one through these feral woodlands?" Tiffany examined the map.

"No steeds at all," Hotaru raised her head. "It’s all on foot."

"W-what?" Tiffany blinked.

"We’ll be travelling like most adventurers here do. Even when we started, we still had to walk all around Kria for a good bit," Hotaru answered.

"Yeah, but we could afford carriages pretty quickly. We can’t hire a carriage to get us close at least? We can more than pay a fee," Jotou argued.

"It’s not about fees, it’s just incredibly difficult. Like I already said, these are old roads, and carriages are not meant for them anymore. Horsaroaches and other mounts would be fine, but none of us know how to ride them."

Hotaru sighed and scanned over the map again, "We could save some time by hiring a carriage to take us to here, before the majority of the windy path, but that’s as close as we can get.

At that point, going on foot and going in a carriage is about the same speed anyhow—walking might even save us more time."

"It’ll be like a real adventure, so cheer up!" Asobi beamed.

_

"My feet hurt..." Asobi wobbled along the dirt paths of yellowish brown that cut through the forests. Roots and shrubs were invading the path in abundance, but barely sparce enough to still call it a clear road.

With backpacks and all, they trekked along the twisting roads. "It’s been about two hours, just a little more," Hotaru checked her watch, then looked to the sky—her crimson ears wiggled.

"How much is a little more?" Fumeko queried.

"Oh, maybe three or four more hours before we reach Wensteter Village."

"May I perchance request one so charitable to be mine chariot?" Tiffany lifted each foot after the other weightily.

Jotou lifted one foot and bent her leg backwards to stretch a tad, keeping pace with the others, "There’s a lot of trees and patches of open spaces, let’s just find one and sit down for a bit."

Before she finished the sentence, two drops of water splashed onto her nose. One by one dark spots appeared along the path. The drizzle was carried by a slight wind that quickly turned into a light rain within seconds.

"Noooooooooooo," Asobi wailed into the sky.

"Damn Burntish weather," Fumeko walked next to Tiffany.

"-oooo, wait," Asobi tugged on the sides of her enchanted top hat as the brim of it expanded and popped out with cloth hidden in compartments within, creating a wide umbrella. "I’m okay!"

Tiffany looked up and slowly voiced little echoes that rippled around herself and the brunette, creating an umbrella of sound. Hotaru felt her ears twitch when she got too close to the humming blonde and the echo-umbrella was at a lower height.

The redhead turned to hear a sizzling noise as Jotou’s head, hair and hands sparked with lightning—each drop turning into steam as it hit her and the rest sliding off her adventuring attire.

Hotaru then looked to Asobi... No, rather it was a slight glare. Even so, the wolf-woman stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the elf and took shelter under her hat.

"She can’t hold this for long," Fumeko informed, her voice a little wobbly.

"It’s just a light shower, no lightning," Jotou looked back down from facing up, "It’s not gonna get heavy, let’s just keep going."

So they continued down the winding path, that slowly got muddy as they trekked. They were halted however, by small creatures crossing the path.

Four roundish grey blobs with two stubs for legs marched across. Their arms were similar to fern leaves and fern was indeed sprouting out of their upper body to their heads in varying sizes.

Rain droplets bounced off their leaves that they shook as they skittered into the other side of the forest. "They seem to be heading to a pond over there," Fumeko squinted through the shrubbery, "Should we rest there?"

All of a sudden from the direction, winged grey fish flew past their heads, chased by a large spiky toad that hopped through the shrubs and gave up. It let out a guttural croak at the five and hopped back.

"Let’s just keep going..." Jotou moved along.

_

The rain cleared up the further along they went, but the grounds around were damp and every plant was wet. "Our clothes won’t get dirty so-"

"Proclaim for thyself," Tiffany frowned at her muddied shoes.

"You can just sit on Aru’s lap," Fumeko suggested.

Tiffany scoffed and blushed a little, "How unseemly!"

"It’s just for a while, I don’t really mind," Hotaru replied. "Unless you want to walk still, we’re only a couple of hours away now."

Tiffany pouted. "Alas, obligation asserts that I must concede..."

"Wow, didn’t think to bring a tarp? How underprepared of you," Jotou glanced around, examining the vicinity.

Hotaru side-eyed, "I didn’t expect it to rain today or that we would need to have a picnic. I just overestimated how much we could walk."

"Really? Wouldn’t that be obvious?" Jotou sassed.

The redhead’s tail spiked, "Paranoia doesn’t necessarily mean planned for, not everyone behaves like you. In fact, you can just strip off your jacket and lay it for Tiffany for a while; there, enough of a plan for you?"

"Sorry, I’ll plan things for you next time, I don’t do that a lot," Jotou crossed her arms and said sarcastically.

"Can we not?" Fumeko held the bridge of her nose.

"Sorry," Hotaru sighed. "We’ll take some time to sit, then I can splash us all some rejuvenation and we can get to the village by dusk- Where did Sobi go?"

"Everyone look!" Asobi walked out of the bushes, her hands cupped as if she was holding something—besides the wand in between her fingers.

Everyone peered over the cage of her fingers to see a green frog with dark blotches. "Sobi, put that thing back, we don’t know if it’s poisonous!" Hotaru scolded.

"If it’s poisonous, wouldn’t I be poisoned right now?" Asobi tiled her head.

"It’s too late, let’s leave her behind," Fumeko took a few steps forward. "Are you kidding me..." she pulled out her dagger.

Absorbing the moisture off the ground and sizzling as a result, leaving a trail of sludge, were dozens of somewhat rapidly moving slimes of greyish-green hues.

Jotou turned and unsheathed her blade in sparks. Like extremely fast slugs, each was about as big as someone’s forearm. Their cores were barely protected.

Jotou made no pause as she swung her blade at them like they were golf balls. Casting her zap spell, they were very easily fried into oddly congealed gloop. Fumeko opted not to crouch down to stab every little one of these things and let the blonde handle the work.

"Ahem," Tiffany stepped forward, making the other three take ten steps back from her. "Dearest young maiden, I beseech thou to retreat," she posed with a few fingers hovering over her eyepatch.

Jotou turned her head and hastily moved aside into the shrubs and ferns. Tiffany laughed boisterously at the approaching slimes, "Dareth I say, ye be an adventurer’s first true vanquish. How splendid for thee all to be mine catalyst.

Return to the unliving as when you first were born into the daylight of this realm," a ripple of transparent white waved up Tiffany’s eye. "I, Stella Vespertillio, shall ferry thee into the dark crevices of the void where even starlight dare not-"

"JUST KILL THEM ALREADY!" Fumeko shouted as the slimes were a bounce away from possibly dissolve and melt parts of the posing blonde.

Tiffany’s brows furrowed in annoyance, "Rush me Not!!!!" Her final word blasted into an echo that squashed a crater into the earth and burst the dozens of slimes away.

She looked up and screamed again, sending any slimes that were knocked airborne backwards and into each other. They were blasted and gathered into a clump on the ground, almost fused together... But it still moved?

The gelatinous form of multiple slimes coagulated and fused together, forming up into one large shapeless entity that struggled forward—now the size of a couple of carriages. The slime cores were in various spots in the creature—none of them looked remotely injured.

It loomed from afar at Tiffany- "CHFHFHFHCFIZZLE..." Only for a few seconds that is, before it sizzled and evaporated surrounded by yellow electricity. Whatever content was not disintegrated, slopped like condensed gelatine onto the ground.

The slime cores were charred and none moved any longer. Jotou pulled her blade back, barely batting an eye, "Yeah, had a hunch sound wasn’t gonna do much against jelly."

Tiffany’s widened eye lowered, "D-did I make it worse?"

Jotou sheathed her sword, "No, it made it easier to stab them all in one go and fried them, so it was better actually. You did good," she praised and turned towards the path once more.

Tiffany nodded as the other three walked towards and past her, prompting Tiffany to catch up.

Jotou starched an arm, "Let’s just force our feet a little and keep going till we get to the village already."

Hotaru sighed, "Agreed."