Return of the Fallen Volume 3 Chapter 1
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Author: Blue_Rat
Volume 3 ch1
*Schick*
With a final swing of his sword, Kazuki sliced the head off of an odd-looking creature, killing it instantly.
Kazuki and the others had been traveling for a little over a week and had encountered a new and strange beast every single day. The further north they traveled, the more monsters they seemed to encounter.
Being so far out north, most of the land could be considered unsettled. From here to the Rin mountain range, there were only 2 other cities. Besides that, there were only a few dozen villages scattered about here and there.
On the ground strewn about were 5 monster corpses. Each one was left in pieces after Kazuki and the others had finished them off. These creatures resembled armadillos mixed with a hyena. With an armored and rounded back, these creatures would roll themselves at an enemy and with enough speed they would launch themselves high into the air and try to pounce on you. Underneath their bodies was a few large pincers, that dripped with nauseous liquid.
Neither Kazuki nor Nunully could identify these beast’s as the two had never seen them before. That could be said for all the creatures they encountered since leaving Edngaul. One would wonder how there can be any villages or other small settlements with so many monsters but after dealing with them personally, it was easy to figure out.
Each creature, no matter big or small was incredibly weak. Even a hunting party of 2 or 3 average men should be able to deal with most of these creatures. Maybe if the number was increased slightly then there could be a problem but as it stands, the beast’s so far was light work.
After setting up camp for the night and feeding the horses, everyone sat around and chatted leisurely. Asuna. Danny and Shin had laid down early and fallen asleep as they would be the first to stand guard for the night. Sitting on a nearby chair that Sam had made with his power, Kazuki wiped his blade clean. It was important to maintain your equipment out here, especially when you didn’t know if you’d be able to purchase a replacement in the next town or not.
After taking care of his blade, Kazuki pulled out a map and began examining it.
Mei sat down beside him and curiously gazed at the map with him.
“Big bro, where are we right now?”
Kazuki pointed near a body of water.
“You see this blue spot? That’s a river that flows over a hundred miles south, and over here is a village called, mm It’s smudged. Anyway, we’re on this road here. We’re only a few miles away from that river. If we continue following this road, we’ll reach this city in about a month.”
“Big bro, what city is it?”
“Mm, It’s called Gentis. Once we get there we should be able to find a few books about Mage stages and how to grow our strength. From there we’ll practice while on the road and we should all have entered the second stage by then.”
Kazuki guesstimate wasn’t far off. Sam had already taken half a step into the Elemental Stage. His strength had grown a bit and he could clearly use earth energy more efficiently. Even now he was relaxing with Kimi but his Kazuki could sense the earth element as though it had a mind of its own slowly flowing into Sam’s body. Sam’s strength was growing little by little every day as magical energy was being absorbed into his muscles, bones, etc. To fully step into the elemental stage one would simply need to absorb enough energy.
If the first stage of becoming a Mage was simply unlocking your power, the second stage was even easier. The only annoying thing was it required either an abundance of time so that your body could absorb enough energy naturally. Of course, there was a way to speed it up by meditating in a place with a large amount of energy but those places were rare.
Kazuki also knew of a quicker way but that way required ki.
As night fell, Danny, Asuna, and Shin awoke and guarded everyone.
Kazuki was about to head to sleep when someone called out to him. Of course, he already knew who it was.
Sitting down next to Tsura, Kazuki asked.
“Is she having a nightmare again.”
Tsura nodded pitifully.
“After her father died, she never got a chance to properly mourn as we were constantly struggling through the forest. Then when we got to Edngaul, she was overwhelmed and excited to see and experience all of the new things there. Even though we are being attacked every day by weird creatures, since they are so weak, it doesn’t exactly feel dangerous. Because of this, Mei has begun to relax and her mind is wandering.”
Kazuki listened quietly to her explanation. It all made sense. Now that things were relatively calm, it was only natural for grief to finally hit her. Kazuki was actually surprised it hadn’t happened sooner.
“Papa, papa.”
Mei squirmed restlessly in her sleep and a few tears streamed down her face while she called out to her father in her dreams. Tsura could only stroke her head gently as she bit her lower lip in anguish.
“Mei is quite strong, much, much stronger then I was at this age, that’s a fact.”
Kazuki held Mei’s hand and imparted some of his ki into her. Mei’s restless movements suddenly became calm and warmth filled her body, soothing her. A few more tears streamed down her face before stopping. Calling out one more time.
“Papa.”
Mei settled in and drifted back into a deep sleep.
Tsura did her best to try and smile as she thanked him but Kazuki shook his head.
“No need to thank me.”
Tsura nodded.
Kazuki got up and turned away for a moment.
“Tsura.”
Tsura looked up at Kazuki’s back.
“Tsura…your a good mother…if only…nevermind. Good night.”
As shadows from the fire danced off of his figure, Tsura couldn’t help but feel that he looked lonely. She couldn’t see his face at the moment but as a mother, a pure instinct flickered in her heart for a moment. Tsura held Mei closely and hugged her.
A myriad of thoughts flashed in her head.
(Husband, if only we could have met this young man sooner.)
—————————————————————————
“Your Majesty, it is done.”
A young woman kneeled before King Garn and gave a report.
“As you predicted, the boy has gone to the guild. If we weren’t looking for it then he and his friends would have flown completely under our noses. Since you didn’t release wanted posters or spread their information, just as planned they came out of hiding on their own. With the natural rules of the Guild Hall, you have to register with your real information. So the only way they could do this was by changing the information. I had my people follow your instructions and we looked out for any changes. Usually, there’s one or two over the course of a year but in a small town called Edngaul, 8 such changes happened all at once. This much activity was beyond strange and once I pulled the information sure enough.”
The young woman held a crystal orb and activated it. It hovered in the air and a blue holographic image was shown. Several images appeared one by one, revealing Kazuki and the faces of the others.
“Your Majesty, how did you know?”
Garn sat on his throne contemplating something. Slowly he opened his eyes.
“By not releasing their information to the public, it only gave them a few options, this path was just one of them. If you weren’t looking for changes in the Guild Hall, their actions would have gone unnoticed and none of this would have amounted to anything. However, I did not expect them to be so far north.”
“My King, should I send a squad after them?”
“Hehe, absolutely. I still require a bit more time until I’m fully healed, until then send some men.”
The young woman nodded before mentioning the last bit of news.
“The Dome is complete my King.”
(Finally.)
“Good. Its time to activate it.”
The woman felt a cold chill run up her spine and she hesitated. Garn could see that she was trembling slightly and asked.
“What is the problem?”
“Your majesty it’s…it’s just that it hasn’t been tested. If something goes wrong, the power we’ve contained within it could be amplified severalfold and it could destroy the city.”
Garn snorted in contempt.
“Hmpf, I designed it personally. There’s not a creature in this world that knows what it is and isn’t capable of, knows what can happen with it and what will happen with it. Unless…do you doubt me?”
The young woman felt those words penetrate her chest and cold sweat poured from her head as a deep fear gripped her. She quickly prostrated on the floor and shouted.
“Never My King!”
Garn stamped his scepter onto the ground.
*Bang*
“Good, now leave my presence before I lose patience.”
The woman bowed profusely before running out of the room post-haste.
Garn felt annoyed but wouldn’t let it ruin his good mood. Now that the Dome was completed his power grew once more.
Garn took his scepter and inserted its base into a certain spot on the floor near the bottom of his throne. Like a key fitting a lock, Garn turned his scepter 90 degrees.
*Click*
The entire throne Garn sat on began to rotate and the roof above, as well as the wall to the side, folded itself away, tucking itself behind other walls. In front of Garn, a large dome several miles around outstretched in front of him. This was where the Beast core had exploded and spread it’s pure but deadly magical energy out. The blast had killed thousands and the pure magical energy left behind spread out further and killed those who came into contact with it. Garn had to quickly seal its powers away but he was one man. He tasked every laborer builder mage and inscriptionist to help. The result was millions of gold Zeni gone and a huge Dome was built in the middle of the city.
(With this, no one will be capable of killing me in my city.)
Garn filled his scepter with power and willed it forth. A single word lingered in his mind.
(Activate!)
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