<div id="left_window"><img src="img/lw_000.png"></div>
<div id="main">
Bhavacakra Brewing Storm is an IF (Interactive Novel).
<img src="img/the_Author.png" alt="I am the author." align="right">
This story takes shortly after the end of <a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/1121000/Bhavacakra_Maco/" target="_blank">Bhavacakra Maco</a>.
As she returns to Loche, her hometown, a cold welcome awaits for her from her half brother. After helping him out, she recollects what she has learned.
And that is it.
This is a short story that will answer several things from Bhavacakra Maco, the game.
Please note that, for the best experience, a FHD screen resolution is recommend (1920 x 1080).
<div class="start_button"><a data-passage="Monologue"><img src="img/start_button.png"></a></div>
</div><<if tags().includes("tbar")>>\
<div id="topbar"><div id="bbblock"><div id="bbtext">Bhavacakra Brewing Storm 2023 April update (Final) | <<link "💾">><<script>>UI.saves()<</script>><</link>> | <<link "☢️">><<script>>state.restart();<<endscript>><</link>> | <<link "🔇">>
<<set $mute to !$mute>>
<<run SimpleAudio.select(':all').mute($mute);>>
<</link>></div></div></div><</if>>\
<<script>>
$(document).one(":passagedisplay", function (event) {
if ($("#topbar").length) {
$("#passages").css("margin-top", $("#topbar").outerHeight() + 10);
} else {
$("#passages").css("margin-top", 0);
}
});
<</script>>\<div id="left_window"><img src="img/lw_001.png"></div>
<<audio "walking" volume 0.6 play loop>>
<div id="main">
Maco is walking in middle of night. Thankfully, there is a full moon, thus it isn't as dark as it should be.
The night sky is also beautiful. It is marvellous to look at.
She appears to pay no attention to the night sky however and continues to walk at a steady pace to somewhere.
She is returning to Loche, her hometown. She left her hometown after convincing her father that she should never be discussed in a sucession debate because there is an elder brother 11 years senior.
She left her home in order to avoid any potential conflicts. It's been 3 years since. She is now 21 years old. Why is she returning now then?
There are several reasons.
One, her father has passed away. Her brother has taken over the seat of Loche mayor. There should be no more sucession debate.
Two, after her adventures, she has learned a lot. She has learned a lot about herself as well as the state of the world.
She feels that she needs to settle down and wait for her time because ... she is too good. Whatever she has done, she has excelled at it. She has gained fame without barely trying. She has earned the trust of Etonia guild as well as Cizna guild. She earned a connection to Jordin royalty even.
She has influenced a little too much. It is time to bow out. There are, of course, other reasons.
[[Back home at last]]
</div><<cacheaudio "walking" "sound/walking_in_forest.ogg">>
<<cacheaudio "fireplace" "sound/fireplace.ogg">>
<<cacheaudio "cricket" "sound/cricket_sound.ogg">>
<<cacheaudio "forest" "sound/forest_day.ogg">>
<<cacheaudio "doorbell" "sound/door_bell.ogg">>
<<cacheaudio "crowd" "sound/crowd.ogg">>
<<cacheaudio "wind" "sound/wind.ogg">>
<<cacheaudio "wolves" "sound/howling-wolves.ogg">>
<<cacheaudio "sword_clash" "sound/sword-block-combo.ogg">>
<<cacheaudio "hurricane" "sound/hurricane.ogg">>
<<set $mute to false>><div id="left_window"><img src="img/lw_002.png"></div>
<div id="main">
<<audio "walking" stop>>
<<audio "fireplace" volume 0.6 play loop>>
"You are ... back," Marco tells her. His voice is troubled, Maco could tell.
Marco is her half brother. He is 11 years older and is the current mayor of Loche. It is a noble position that is recongized by Etonian monarchy.
In other words, upon their father's death, the nobility has passed down to Marco, not Maco. Etonian nobility does not pass down to female heirs unless she marries a nobleman. An exception to that rule would have been if Maco became the mayor in which case she would have retained her nobility.
Therefore, at this very moment, Maco isn't a noble but Marco is.
She speaks, "I am sorry to visit you at this hour."
He does not respond.
"I feel that something is amiss. There are less houses that are lit."
In fact, far less.
He finally opens his mouth after clearing his throat.
"Some business deals ... have gone sour. Some villagers have left."
She is aware of that he has been pushing hard for some exports, which are mainly either uncured or cured leather. In fact, he has been undercutting competitors.
While a solid decision to make, she assumes that his actions have ruined relationships with others.
"What has happened?" She asks regardless.
He lets out a long sigh, looking clearly frustrated. He tells her, "The mayor of Ryin has made a formal complaint that hunters from our village were entering their land. He demanded a compensation."
There is a short moment of silence before he resumes.
"Then our traders got attacked by Red turban bandits at the Ezona pass. Not just once mind you. It was as if bandits were specifically targetting our traders."
//He has earned enemies, alright//, Maco thinks.
He continues, "It's been this way for a while. There hasn't been income for a while as well. I haven't been able to pay wages, and some have departed the place."
"I don't think you've told me everything though," She tells him.
"What?" He seems confused.
"How many parties have you held?"
He does not answer. Instead, he downcast his eyes.
Her father told Maco that he was not fit to rule. She thought that he was simply trying to convince her to take up the seat of Loche mayor.
In the end, her father was correct; he is not fit to rule. Alas, he is the mayor now. Maco, as a female, fallen, noblewoman, no longer has the right to usurp his seat legally.
The only way would be that she marries a nobleman and becomes a noblewoman. Only then she'd have casus belli to usurp his seat.
But she isn't going to go that far. She has no interest first of all because there is simply no point.
The world is going to end in about two decades after all.
"I can help you," She purposes.
He looks confused as he twists his head.
"What? How?"
"I am a pretty good mage."
In fact, probably one of the most powerful mages in the world when it comes to ice magic.
He crosses his fingers.
"But you are just a girl -" He corrects himself right away. "You are just a woman."
"I've battled things you wouldn't believe. I've survived many battles. I've killed. I have connections with Etonia as well as Cizna guild."
He seems quite shocked to hear that.
"I have connections," She concludes, "I can certainly help you."
He feels his sister is lying. However, lying about guild connections is easy to find out. He feels she wouldn't lie about something that can easily be proven.
Besides, he is desperate.
"How can you help me?" He inquires her with a shimmer of hope in his eyes which are sparkling by the reflections of dancing fire.
"Tomorrow, I will pay a visit to Etonia guild. I have friends there. I will bring some guild members to Loche and form an escort party which will protect your caravan."
His eyes are doubtful, but then "tomorrow" she said. It can't just be an empty promise, he realizes.
"I also know the mayor of Ryin very well."
At this point, he realizes.
"Right, he was your fiance," He almost utters. "Right...."
[[A moment passes...]]
</div><div id="left_window"><img src="img/lw_003.png"></div>
<div id="main">
He finally smiles. After letting out a long sigh, he cracks his fingers and relaxes his shoulders.
"Can I count on you then?" He asks with full of hope in his eyes.
She gives him a firm nod but -
"I want to make few things clear."
His face darkens quickly. "What?" He wonders.
"I am not exactly coming back. I mean I am going to reside in Loche but I am not coming back into the family tree."
Meaning Marco cannot use her for a political marriage.
And he looks disappointed.
"Maco, the mayor of Ryin is still unmarried. I've heard that he now has a fiancee from the Gignac but the gossips say he still wants you."
The marriage would certainly completely repair the broken relationship with Ryin. She shakes her head however.
"Brother, I've arranged the engagement. I am not breaking it."
He looks utterly confused. "What? How?"
"As I've just told you, I've gone through a lot of things. Good news is that I am on good terms with him even now. So, don't worry about repairing the relationship."
He isn't smiling as brightly as before, but the doom and gloom dominating him prior has appeared to have subsided.
"Very well," He accepts, "I will leave everything to you."
He has no other option anyway.
"Right, is my room still here? I'd like to stay here for a night. Then I will find an unoccupied house tomorrow."
"Your room ..., it's gone. It's been renovated as a maids' room."
"I see no maids right now though." Then she realizes. "They've been let go, I see."
He nods weakly.
She should have known since it was him who opened the door himself. Normally, a maid would have opened it.
"There is a small, tidy, house that you can use. In fact, it's yours."
"Let me guess, one of your girlfriends'?
He avoids an eye contact. Bingo.
As she stands up from the sofa, she tells him.
"I don't mind you having women, but keep to three at the most. Keeping women cost money, lots."
He scratches his head. "I do know," He says weakly. It must be pretty awkward to hear such a remark from his half sister.
"Good night," She says as she turns around to leave the manor.
"Good night. The house is to your right as soon as you exit. You can't really miss it."
"Right."
[[To her new home]]
</div><div id="left_window"><img src="img/lw_004.png"></div>
<div id="main">
<<audio "fireplace" stop>>
<<audio "cricket" volume 0.6 play loop>>
"The crickets are at full force tonight."
Maco stares into the night sky. The small house is clean and well-kept. There isn't even any dust, meaning it was used until recently.
Was it right to have come back? She doubts for a moment. Shaking her head, she whispers to herself.
"This is probably for the best."
She has always had a strong affinity to the elemental ice. Thus, she is able to cast ice magic with such a potency that a simple ice arrow magic becomes devastating.
But, as she has found out, she has no affinity to ice. She IS ice. She is an ice elemental. Basically, in a literal sense, she is made of elemental ice.
She is also a weapon of mass destruction designed by Gods. In fact, she is one of the buttons that could trigger "the genesis war" as scholars put it.
The world is governed by several Gods. There are four elemental Gods in fire, water, earth, and wind. Then there are supreme Gods in life and death.
Finally, there are several odd Gods which humans have created, such as the God of Hatred and the God of Affection. Then there is the genesis war.
From what she has learned from grand libraries, a genesis war resets the world. A race will come to its end, and a new race will dominate the surface.
Before mankind, there was the lizardmen who now appears to be lurking deep underground. She has managed to meet a single lizardman in a cave. It has claimed that there are others but they are no longer allowed on the surface due to losing the genesis war.
From records she has managed to gather, mankind has survived a genesis war about 400 years ago from now. But the survival came at a cost of losing almost all advacements. Those few who survived formed nations which still stand firm today.
Maco feels that mankind may survive yet another genesis war but at a great cost. If mankind is not going to survive and is going to be banished into underground, then she may have to do something.
"................." She moves her eyes away from the night sky.
She realizes that age is just a number to her, for she is not a human being. An elemental has no concept of age. It neither is born nor dies. It always exists. She also knows that she cannot procreate because she has never had her period. Her body has the shape of a woman but it's incapable of functioning as a woman.
The primary reason she has come back to Loche is to stay low. She cannot get killed. Well, an elemental does not die. However, her mortal body is one of keys to trigger a genesis war. The moment her mortal body fades away, she will be immediately reborn as a raging ice elemental and will freeze the whole world, ending mankind at once.
She cannot let that happen. Therefore, she has chosen to return to Loche and keep a low profile until the right moment.
She might as well help her half-brother out meanwhile, she figures.
Knowledge is like salt. Too much of it is harmful to you. And she knows too much. She feels like she has to do something right now, but there is nothing that can be done right now. She has to wait, probably about two decades.
"This is going to be a really long wait. It's the worst kind of a brewing storm," She complains as she stands up from her chair and shuts the window.
"Time to get some sleep. I have lots to do tomorrow."
[[Next day]]
</div><div id="left_window"><img src="img/lw_005.png"></div>
<div id="main">
<<audio "cricket" stop>>
<<audio "forest" volume 0.6 play loop>>
<img src="img/Loche_overview.jpg">
Loche is a small village of about 100 population. It sits in middle of a forest south of Eton, the capital of Etoina. From Loche to Eton, it'd take a full day of walking by feet. One simply needs to take straight North to reach there.
Ryin is also about a day away, but one needs to take a left turn once out of the forest.
Overall, while the location of the village is decent, it is mostly a forgotten village at the moment.
It is predominantly a hunting village. Some do farm corns, but it's for self-consumption. Thanks to hunting, meat is aplenty.
Maco notices the dire situation of the village because no one is out at the moment. Normally, some night hunters would be returning now and day hunters would be going out.
None of that is currently happening, meaning the village is not hunting at all.
"This is worse than I thought," She says to herself.
She has two ojectives. One, she needs to meet the mayor of Ryin to smooth out the broken relationship between him and Marco.
Two, she needs to visit Eton guild.
"Before that though...."
She feels she needs to pay a visit to Margaret. So far, she has listened to Marco's story only. He wouldn't have told her everything, she feels.
[[Off she goes.]]
</div><div id="left_window"><img src="img/lw_006.png"></div>
<div id="main">
<<audio "forest" stop>>
<<audio "doorbell" volume 1 play>>
"Lady Maco?!"
Margaret exclaims as she sees Maco entering her shop.
"Hello, Margaret. How are things?" She beams a grin at her.
"Come in, come in!"
She runs the only grocery store in Loche. The shop acts also as a trading outpost for outsiders. While her shop receives barely any outside traffic, it is there. The village is known for its quality leather after all.
Her shop deals mostly in food which is free for everyone in Loche. Her profit comes from exports. A tiny portion of her profit comes from selling hunting gears. Almost all residents in Loche craft their own gears.
It is worthwhile to mention that she is Macro's mistress. It's a hush subject, but everyone seems to know.
"Are you back or are you just visiting?" She asks eagerly. She is generally a happy person, but Maco senses that there is a tint of ugency in her voice as if she is expecting her to be back.
"I am back, for real."
Margaret claps her hands once, and a genuine smile appears on her face.
"Oh, my Goddess! Such good news!" She exclaims joyfully.
"How are things?"
At this point, her face darkens which is quite rare. It's simply rare to see her down. After making sure that no one is around, she locks the front door. She runs back behind the stone counter and appears to be organizing her thoughts.
"A lot happened ever since you left," She says gravely.
According to Margaret, Macro set a goal for Loche. His goal was that he wanted the village to be upgraded to a town. He publically announced his intention to bring in people. His goal was 500 population.
In order for that to happen, the village needed jobs, a lot more jobs. For Loche, there were two kind of jobs that could be created with ease. One was hunting for leather and meat. The other was lumber.
However, previous mayors had chosen not to damage the forest by over-hunting, and Loche has traditionally cut down trees only when it was absolutely necessary or when nearby trees were overgrown.
Macro chose to ingore the tradition and recruited hunters and lumberjacks from outside.
The neighboring town, Ryin, was the first to suffer the damage because the new hunters knew barely how things worked in Loche and certainly didn't know the boundary. In search for more animals, they ventured deeper into the forst and actually managed to reach Ryin by accident.
"Oh, boy." Maco shakes her head.
"Local hunters filed a complaint against Macro, Lady Maco. They claimed that he was going too far."
"I am sure that Macro would ignore such a complaint."
Margaret's silence confirms her.
"How many have left? Maco inquires to which Margaret folds her arms and begins to count in her head.
"I think ... about eleven?"
"What happened to the new hunters and lumberjacks?"
"They've all left since jobs dried up."
Maco groans. The meeting with the mayor of Ryin might not go too well, she thinks.
"Lady Maco," She calls her out with a grave tone.
"Yes?"
"When others find out that you've come back, they might back you."
Maco immediately narrows her eyes at once. She knows what Margaret means. Her father used to tell her often that, when a noble loses supports of his own people, his time will be cut short.
"I am not a noble anymore," She responds although she knows well that the people of Loche won't care about the detail.
Maco has always been loved by the people of Loche. She has always been their little princess. Most importantly, she has shown, repeatedly, that she has the qualities as a leader.
Macro has never shown that; he has always been busy chasing women's butts. To be frank, it's not the worst quality as a man. But his desire for women has been a little excessive.
The situation seems dire overall.
"I do not wish to overthrow my brother," Maco insists.
Besides, a female noble family leader is frowned upon by other noble families. There are some exceptions but this wouldn't be it.
What concerns her the most at this point is that the people of Loche may simply not care about the details, go ahead, and overthrow Marco.
"Tell them not to do anything. I want you to gather prominent members of the community in a few days. I will talk to them myself."
"In a few days?"
"I have somethings to do right now. I am going to depart for Eton."
"I see."
"Just tell them to stay down."
Margaret looks concerned. "I don't know if I can convince them..."
"Tell them it's an order," Maco speaks with authority.
Margaret tenses up, sensing that Maco is deadly serious. "Yes, ma'am!" She barks to comply.
Maco turns around, walks toward the front door, and is about to open.
"Lady Maco," Margaret calls her out gently.
Maco's head turns slightly. "Yes?"
"Please save Marco. I know he has his faults but he has been kind to me and I love him."
"And he is my brother. I will do whatever I can to save him."
[[Maco unlocks the door and leaves.]]
</div><div id="left_window"><img src="img/lw_007.png"></div>
<div id="main">
<<audio "forest" volume 0.6 play loop>>
Maco crosses her arms as soon as she is out of the shop.
Perhaps she shouldn't have come back. She soon shakes her head at the thought. If she hadn't come back, there was a good chance that Macro would be killed during an uprising. With her presence, there is a good chance to save his life.
To be brutally honest, she does not have any sympathy for her half-brother. However, as she knows that she cannot procreate, Macro is the only one who can continue on the Loche boodline. He has to survive and he has to remain the mayor.
At this point, she feels there is no point in meeting the mayor of Ryin. Stabilizing Loche has to come first.
"Not going to be easy, this," She complains and adds, "But, then, nothing in life is."
[[To Eton!]]
</div><div id="left_window"><img src="img/lw_008.png"></div>
<div id="main">
<<audio "forest" stop>>
<<audio "crowd" volume 0.6 play loop>>
The road to Eton is completely safe to a point that a woman like Maco can casually walk without being assaulted.
Guards from Eton do regular patrols of the area, and there are some patrols from Ryin as well. Overall, the whole road is very safe.
<img src="img/Eton_overview.png">
Eton is the capital of Etonia.
With population of approximately, 7,000 people, the city ranks 3rd in population. It is also a trade hub. Overall, the city is very active both day and night.
The purpose of Maco's visit to the capital is to visit the guild. Specifically, she needs to meet with Leona, the guildmaster.
The reason is that she needs some members of the guild to form an escort party for a trade caravan. She is powerful enough, but protecting others is another story.
[[As Maco approaches the guild...]]
</div><div id="left_window"><img src="img/lw_009.png"></div>
<div id="main">
As Maco approaches the guild, she spots a familiar face.
"Sion?" She calls out to which the eldery figure responses.
"Look who's here," She speaks slowly. Whether she is surprised, it's hard to tell.
Sion is a 74 year-old water mage who used to be the healer of the guild in her prime. She retired in her early 50s and became a dedicated guild receptionist / clerk. It appeared as if she was passing her baton to Jasmin who joined the guild as an archer initially.
"I thought you retired."
"I had. Jasmin married and left. So, I am here to fill the gap while a new replacement is found."
Maco is actually mildly surprised that she married and simply left. It looked like she had finally found her place as a guild receptionist. But, then, she made it very clear that her ultimate goal was finding a rich guy to marry and live a life of luxury.
"At least married a rich guy?"
Sion chuckles. "A traveling merchant, I was told. I don't know much because I wasn't there. I really don't know what got into the lass. Too eager to marry if you ask me."
If Maco recalls correctly, she was determined to marry before she'd hit 29. She was 20 when she joined the guild. She had plenty of years left still. It feels really strange that she married this soon and simply left.
But, in the end, she's gone, the end of her story.
"How is everyone doing?"
"The same as usual, I suppose. Since Jack left, we've been short on personnel. Even Leona is working now." Sion twists her head slightly sideways and asks. "Are you coming back?"
"No, may I speak to Leona?"
"Go in. You know where to find her. She has just come back from a mission though. You may find her cranky."
"Got it."
This spells bad news though for Maco. The guild appears to be very busy, meaning she may not be able to request a few extra members to help her out on the matter.
[[Time to meet Leona, the guildmaster.]]
</div><div id="left_window"><img src="img/lw_010.png"></div>
<div id="main">
<<audio "crowd" stop>>
Leona is sort or relaxing on a sofa. Her arms are spread out wide, and so are her legs. Her head is bent backwards. She has her legs on a table in front of her even. All in all, she is looking clearly beat and does not want to be bothered.
"Long time no see," Leona says with an exhausted voice.
"It's been 2 and half years, I believe."
"Given how things have been going around here, I can bet my ass that you've come at a bad time."
"What's been happening?"
"It's those fucking Red turban bandits again."
"Haven't we defeated them?"
The guild had indeed defeated Red turban bandits about 2 years ago.
"We did," Leona says, growling, "The ones we did defeat were an organized crime gang. This one, we are dealing is a very unorganized one. They've been hitting everything they see passing through Ezona pass."
According to Leona, because so many cases have been open, the guild has been overworked to bones. There have been so many jobs posted and there aren't enough guild members to handle all.
It certainly doesn't help that Ezona under Jack's rule has been growing steadily. Number of trading caravans between Eton and Ezona has skyrocketed.
"You mean to imply that you were protecting a trading caravan?"
To which Leona nods weakly.
Leona, as the guild leader, doesn't tend to take on common jobs. The mere fact that she was out protecting a trading caravan means that she had to do it due to lack of manpower.
"So, beat me. What have you come here for?" She asks with a defeated voice.
Maco tells her the situation, reluctantly.
"Well." Leona sighs deeply. "Good news is that that is one of the jobs we've been taking on. Bad news is that I cannot spare any men for you."
"What is the waiting time?"
Leona chuckles. "At least four months."
Ouchie.
Maco sits on the sofa in front of her. Leona is so off her guard that she can see her underwear through her legs.
"So, how has been the life treating you?" Leona asks as she finally bends her head back to face Maco. She soon notices that her legs are open and closes them.
"Could be better, could be worse," Maco replies stoically.
"Your half-brother, Marco, he sucks," Leona spells out bluntly out of blue. "I've heard some gossips coming from Loche."
Maco sags her shoulders. "Which is exactly why I am here." She doesn't deny Leona's statement.
Then a moment of silence falls between them. Having nothing to talk about for the moment, Maco changes the subject.
"I saw Sion outside."
"Oh, yeah, she's back. I hate to bring her back from retirement, but Jasmin left on a very short notice."
"I was told that she married a traveling merchant and left. What happened exactly?"
Leona folds her arms. "I am not exactly sure what got into her but I did notice that she was getting a little antsy when male guild members are around."
Maco rolls her eyes as she gives it a thought. "Are you implying that she was getting frustrated by lack of attention from eligible males?"
"Hah!" Leona exclaims joyfully as her palm strikes her knee. "I love it when a person catches on as fast as you do." She adds, "In my eyes, Jasmin was getting real frustrated by lack of interests from guys. I think she had her eyes on Baba who is believed to be a fallen noble."
"Out of her league," Maco says to which Leona gives a firm nod.
Leona explains, "It is my understanding that Jasmin was trying to hook up one of male members from the guild. Having absolutely no success on that front, she got the first guy she could from outside."
"So, the merchant agreed the marriage?"
"The dude is 38 years old. He, too, was desperate. A traveling merchant isn't exactly fancied by women."
"I see."
The main issue with traveling merchants is that, well, they travel all the time. Their wives must choose to either travel with them or stay home without seeing their husbands for months if not years. That is if they ever come back at all.
As a direct result of their life style, traveling merchants tend to have a lot of affairs.
Maco does not see the marriage ending well for Jasmin due to several factors but gives her blessing regardless. "I hope she will find her happiness."
"I hope so as well."
The short girls' talk about love brightens the overall mood a bit, and Leona becomes more cooperative.
"I tell you what," She tells Maco. "We are busy as fuck but we do have two members who are currently sort of slacking."
"Not good enough for the job, huh."
Leona laughes and tells her, "Man, you catch on way too fast." She explains, "Yes, they aren't exactly good enough to pull it off. You've met one, it's Otol. The other is a new member who recently joined. Her name is Petra. She is a water mage, so a healer."
If Maco's memories are correct, Otol is a warrior. So, the party composition is good. She does not want to do the job if she can, but it seems there isn't much of a choice.
"Why don't you ask Luca?" Leona tells her, noticing that Maco looks not quite satisfied.
"Luca?"
"Yeah, she's registered here as a guild member but only as a part-timer. I think she lives in Loche?"
"She does?"
"You didn't know?"
Luca is a scholar from Alca. She was banished from the city after going against its mayor. Maco eventually rescued her and brought her to Loche. It's been years since. She figured that she has moved on and left the village.
"I didn't know she'd stick around."
"Well, she is a scholar. A quiet place like Loche would suit her, I guess. That's why she insists on being a part-time member so that she'd have time for her studies, I assume."
Leona's explanation makes sense. More importantly, Luka is a decent lightning mage.
"I don't think she'd take on such a job, but, if it comes from you, she may," Leona adds.
"I think I will do just that. I will talk to Luka."
"Goods." Leona nods. "Then I am going to tell Otol and Petra get ready for a job. Now, I don't need to tell you, right?"
"I won't let them get killed."
Leona beams a smile at her. "Attagirl. They really do need the experience. Can't keep finding lost pets and level up."
[[Meeting with the two.]]
</div><div id="left_window"><img src="img/lw_011.png"></div>
<div id="main">
After waiting a bit outside, she is greeted by two people. She recognizes neither of them.
The guy is pretty tall and equipped with decent gears. With spiked reddish brown hair and a stonly look. he does look the part at least.
The girl has a slight shy look on her with pinkish hair long enough to touch her shoulders. She is wearing a simple dress with a wand on her belt. Her gears are very basic with her wand looking the most expensive part.
She also notices that she has rather large boobs.
Male mages tend to favor staffs, and females tend to favor wands. Staffs and wands are basically the same. They exist to amplify magical affinity to an element. Staffs, having a bigger mass, tend to amplify better. At the same time, wands allow women to be fashionable since they can mostly be hidden when equipped on a belt.
Maco uses neither since she doesn't need any magical amplification.
"I am assuming you are Otol and Petra."
They nod.
"Nice to meet you, Maco," says Petra.
"It's an honor to meet you again," says Otol.
Maco twists her head slightly. Otol she met a few years ago looked like a kid. Otol she is seeing now looks like a man.
"Otol, you hit your growth period?"
"Aye, ma'am. I was just a midget a few years ago."
He grew a lot, A LOT. He also looks the part. It's hard to believe that Leona feels he isn't qualified for an escort job.
"How good are you, Otol?" She asks frankly. No time to go around the question, she feels because the sun is going down at the moment.
Maco doesn't really need to sleep frequently, so she can travel at night. However, for these two, they will need a good night's sleep. They might need to depart tomorrow morning.
Otol grins as he scratches the back of his head. "Not quite good, I am afraid. My family is a low noble, so they were able to get me decent equipment, but I haven't really had any real experience."
That makes sense, she feels.
"Have you killed a man?"
Otol shakes his head.
"Are you ready to kill men? The nature of the job demands it."
He makes a fist and punches his chest. "I won't be a greenhorn for much longer. I am ready."
Nodding at him, Maco's attention turns to Petra.
"Petra, the water mage, yes?"
Petra nods. Water mages are almost always healers because elemental water can regulate a lot of internal bodily functions. Healing comes natural to them in additional to poison removal.
It doesn't mean they can't cast offensive spells, but water mages tend to be healers exclusively. After all, you don't want your healer to be exhausted when you need them.
Maco notices that her standing posture is not very lady-like. For an example, she isn't closing her legs. Her family is likely farmers. That aspect doesn't matter, however, in combat, so there is no need to bring it up.
"Leona told me you joined recently. How recent?"
"I joined the guild a month ago. I am 16."
Speaking of which -
"How old are you, Otol?" Maco asks.
"18, ma'am."
"Petra, any experience in combat?"
She shakes her head. "I've fought a few wild boars. That's about the only combat experience I've had."
Maco folds her arms. A headache, she is about to have. She feels that, even if Luca joins, these two won't be safe. She'd have to tag along.
"What has Leona told you about the mission?"
"An escort job for a trading caravan, we will go through Ezona pass," Otol answers and Petra nods along.
"True, and it won't be easy. It's guaranteed that we will face waves of bandits. I am not really sure you are ready for that."
These two are way too inexperienced, she feels. At this point, it might be better to bring only Luca with her. At least she can look after herself.
"I am aware that we are greenhorns," Otol explains, "That's why you are tagging along, no? You are a legend around here."
Maco isn't sure what kind of stories have been told about her and she doesn't care. She sighs in the end. It looks as if Leona has successfully managed to put them under a training session.
//You win, Leona,// she thinks.
"It looks like the sun is about to go down," She tells them. "We will depart tomorrow morning."
"I can actually depart right now," Otol claims. "I haven't been doing much, if at all, lately."
Maco looks at Petra, asking for her opinion silently. But she doesn't catch the message. Thus, Maco asks directly.
"Can we depart right now, Petra?"
In response, she glances at the sun. "Are we going to Ezona pass right now?"
"No, we will stop by at Loche to pick up the caravan."
"Loche?" Petra looks confused. "Where is Loche?"
Otol folds his arms and scratches his chin slowly. "I do recall hearing about it...."
"It's a small village south of here, a day worth of travel."
"There is a village south of here? How come I never knew that?" Petra sounds very surprised.
"Petra, can you go now? If not, we will depart tomorrow."
"I can go. Not the first time I spent a night outside. Had to do that to protect farms from foxes and whatnot."
So, there goes her background. She is indeed a farmer. Her wand must have cost a fortune for her family.
"Alright then, let's not waste time. We are leaving, now."
Otol throws a casual slaute while Petra simply nods.
[[And they depart Eton.]]
</div><div id="left_window"><img src="img/lw_012.png"></div>
<div id="main">
<<audio "cricket" volume 0.6 play loop>>
Traveling at night as long as the road is safe is actually not too bad. It's actually more enjoyable than day time travels.
At least, that has been true for Maco. She can enjoy crickets while making her journey. She, being an ice elemental, has a night vision as well. Thus, night or day, it matters little for her. She is able to see even under complete darkness.
And it looks like these two are used to night travels as well. Petra is clearly comfortable walking in dim light, and Otol doesn't seem to care much about it, either.
That is good because they will be attacked at night most likely, and it's one less thing to worry about.
"Which noble family are you from, Otol?" Maco asks. He did tell her he was a from a low noble.
"Hah," He cracks a brief laugh. "My full name is Otol Creel and I am the third son. We serve the Kyston family which serves directly under the Eton family."
"I see. I can see why you joined the guild then."
Being a third son of a low noble means he won't inherit any wealth. Therefore, he has to build his own career. Thankfully, his family was generous enough to have given him decent equipment to begin with.
"Your family must be kind to you," Maco remarks.
"Good parents mostly," He replies, "My brothers were against the idea."
Maco doesn't answer to that. It can be pretty brutal when it comes to departing members of a noble family.
Yes, Otol is no longer a part of the Creel family. He is 18 and a third son. He's been let go. He carries his last name still but he won't proclaim it proudly until he becomes successful enough.
"Petra, which family are you from?"
"Just some farming family right outside of Eton."
Maco looks at her wand again. It's a decent one. She wouldn't call it good. However, for a farmer's daughter, that wand of hers seems very expensive.
Mage equipment have always been expensive because they require hard-to-obtain compnents.
For an example, for magical staffs and wands, its prime material, wood, must be able to absorb magic adequately. Such a kind of wood isn't common. In other words, mage staffs and wands are extra expensive.
"I assume your parents are supportive of your choice in joining the guild?"
Petra halts walking momentarily. "Father was against the idea. My mum wanted me to join the guild," She explains.
The fact that she calls her dad "father" and calls her mother "mum" must mean that she's friendly with her mother while not so much with her father.
"How about your own opinion? Did your mother push you or did you want to join the guild?"
This time, Petra stops at once. She turns slowly toward Maco. Otol stops as a result.
"Nobody has asked me that...., like ever." She tells her weakly. She sounds surprised.
"Your opinion matters, no?"
Otol and Petra looks at each other as if it's a whole new concept for them.
Maco, at this point, realizes that this career choice was neither's decision. They've been forced into this. Perhaps Otol hasn't been entirely forced, but Petra has been. The bottom line is that neither can go home. She knows why for Otol. As for Petra, it seems clear that she has a story to tell.
She is not going to force it however.
"Life is never easy for anyone," She whispers to herself while staring at a Moon in the night sky.
[[Arriving in Loche.]]
</div><div id="left_window"><img src="img/lw_006.png"></div>
<div id="main">
<<audio "cricket" stop>>
Since they left Eton late evening, they arrive in Loche at next night. The first order of the business is getting a place to sleep for Otol and Petra. Therefore, she visits Margaret's shop.
The door is initially locked but knocking it a few times gently is enough for Margaret to unlock and let them in.
"Lady Maco! You are back!" She, as usual, joyfully greets her.
"Nothing happened, I hope?"
"No, ma'am. The people have actually calmed down that you are here."
"Good."
Margaret's attention moves toward the two people behind Maco.
"These are...?"
"Eton guild members, Otol and Petra."
She looks confused as if she doens't know why Maco has brought them with her.
"You will have orders to fulfill, no? These two and I will escort a trading caravan to Ezona."
Margaret twists her head. "I do have a few runs that haven't gone out due to the lack of escorts, but how did you know that it'd go to Ezona?"
"Marco indirectly implied that it's Ezona. Besides, where else would a trading caravan from Loche go to?"
Indeed, if any place needs leather or lumber, it'd be Ezona since it's located in an arid zone. Everywhere else can generally satisfy their own needs for leather and lumber internally.
"By the way, Margaret, does a woman named Luca live in Loche?"
"Luca? Oh, yes, she does. I remember her since it's very rare to see a new face. She loves cured venisons.
"Can you bring her to me? I need to talk to her right away."
Margaret hesitates a bit. "Lady Maco, the others are also waiting," She reminds her.
"I will talk to them after taking to Luca."
Her face brightens up. "I see." Then she turns to Otol and Petra. "Now, you two, come with me. Are you okay with sharing the same bed?"
Otol startles visually while Petra brushes.
"Not a couple?"
"No!" Otol exclaims in panic.
"Oopie, sorry. Come with me anyway."
And they leave the shop. Before long, someone knocks the door, and a familiar face walks in.
[[Meet Luca.]]
</div><div id="left_window"><img src="img/lw_013.png"></div>
<div id="main">
"Long time no see, Maco."
A silver haired, slander, woman enters the shop. She is wearing a high collar jacket that has been better days. With a pair of purple tights, she isn't exactly looking charming but interestingly she looks the part as a scholar.
"Indeed, I didn't think you'd stick around in Loche."
Luca beams a grin at her. "It is a quiet place. Not a bad place for someone like me to be."
She is a scholar specilized in goblin language. There is no goblin around this area however. They are found mostly on Alcella island. They could be found elsewhere, but there is only one known goblin civilization, and that's on Alcella island.
"I've registered myself as a part-time guild member at Eton. I need the occasional income."
"So, I've heard. Now, the reason I called you here at this hour is that I would like to ask you to join me in escorting a trading caravan. The destination is Ezona, meaning we will see combat."
Luca seems to give it a thought but answers pretty much instantly.
"You've saved my life. You've given me a shelter. I cannot refuse you," She says sincerely.
"You can refuse. I am not forcing you to. I am asking you. It's not a huge deal even if you refuse."
Luca nods. "True, I could refuse. I am not gonna. When do we leave?"
"In the morning."
"I see. I will get ready."
"Alright."
[[Time to meet the people of Loche.]]
</div><div id="left_window"><img src="img/lw_014.png"></div>
<div id="main">
About 15 people have gathered in a backroom which Margaret has prepared. It looks as if it is not the first time this room has been used since those in the room seem used to it.
"Lady Maco! You are back!"
"Thank, God."
Maco recgonizes all of them. She grew up watching them hunt, and a few of them taught her several techniques even.
"I've been told that there are problems," She speaks, "And I am aware of some issues. Let's hear what you have to say first."
As soon as she speaks, the room becomes dead silent, showing respect for her. Once she is done, a man raises his hand, and Maco nods at him, allowing him to speak.
He speaks, "Lady Maco, I will be frank. Marco hasn't got a clue."
Others nod along.
According to him, he has put a tax on sales. Traditionally, Loche had never had taxes on sales
"How does that even work?" Maco wonders. "We don't even use coins within the village."
"Precisely, Lady Maco," He agrees. "Allow me to explain."
Marco has apparently placed a 10% tax on sales. The thing is that goods are free for villagers within Loche. What Marco wants is a sales tax when a hunter sells his goods in Eton or Ryin.
Hunters from Loche tend to bring their goods and sell them in other markets. Eton and Ryin being closest, it's where they sell most of time. Marco expects hunters to be honest with what they sell and bring him tax.
Basically, it is not enforceable.
"We don't have a problem with the tax itself," He claims, "What we do have an issue with that he is spending the money for gifts to his women."
Others agree strongly.
"He has Margaret. What more does he want?!" Another man exclaims from back.
Maco knows that her brother wants a noblewoman as his wife in order to strengthen his ties to the nobility. Margaret will forever remain as his mistress most likely at this point.
"How were the new hunters and lumberjacks he brought in?" She inquires.
"They were rude. They were shitheads," A man responds angrily.
"I am glad that they are gone," A woman agrees.
"The village doesn't have the infrastructure to support 500 people. It was a stupid idea," Another says.
"Yeah, you can't just bring in a few hundreds of people into a small vilage like Loche and expect it to be a smooth ride," Yet another chips in.
Maco clears her throat, and the room becomes silent. She, then speaks, "Marco is doing what he think is good for Loche. He is obviously new to the job. I will advise him."
They murmur for a moment, and one of them speaks up.
"Lady Maco, we want him gone. We want you to take his seat."
Maco narrows her eyes. She expected this. She now needs threads carefully.
"It was my father's will that he inherits the seat." It's a lie actually. Her father wanted her to inherit the seat. "And I intend to keep it that way."
Even before the people would respond, she quickly speaks up again.
"But I do see your concerns. I will give my advice to him right away. Let us see how he fares from now on. If you don't like him still, then we can discuss alternatives."
They murmur again, a bit louder this time.
She adds, "I will always be with you. I guarantee that at least."
Their voices die down eventually, and one of them speaks up.
"Very well, Lady Maco. We trust your words. We will not rise against him, for the time being."
"Thank you. Now, there is another matter I wish to discuss."
They tense up.
"I am wondering whether those who left the village are coming back."
"They will come back if they find out that Marco is gone. I don't think they'd come back otherwise," One of them replies.
"Are you able to contact them?"
"No, m'lady. But they wouldn't have gone far. Ryin is the likely destination."
Eleven people may not be insignificant to other settlements. However, for Loche, it's 10% of total population. Maco feels it's important to get back them if possible.
At the same time, however, it is not on a priority list. There are too many to do at this point.
Sighing silently, she decides to forget about them.
"I will be departing for Ezona with a trading caravan. If you have anything to sell, make sure to infrom Margaret before morning. And don't worry about the sales tax. It's as good as gone."
"Thank you, m'lady."
[[Time to have a chat with Marco.]]
</div><div id="left_window"><img src="img/lw_003.png"></div>
<div id="main">
<<audio "fireplace" volume 0.6 play loop>>
She is back at the Loche manor with Macro in front of her. The large house is eerily silent. Such a large house like this isn't meant for a single person to live in.
"How are things?" He inquires her with a careful look on his eyes. He should be aware of the dire situation he finds himself in. Otherwise, he'd be a real fool.
"I have good and bad news. You pick."
After a short moment of silence, he chooses to hear good news first.
"I have two members from Eton guild, and we will depart for Ezona tomorrow morning. I fully expect to make it to the destination safely. You will get your money."
He lets out a long sigh after hearing her and a faint grin energes from his otherwise dark face. It is absolutely critical that he receives any sort of income right now because, right now, he is completely broke. He is so broke that he had to let maids go.
"And bad news?"
"Brother, are you aware that the people of Loche are about to throw you out?"
He narrows his eyes immediately. He does not panic however, meaning he's likely aware.
He confesses, "I've had a hunch since hunters stopped communicating with me a while ago."
"Father used to tell us not to lose support of our people. You've lost the support of our people."
He drops his head, sighing. "I guess you will take my seat?" He accetps defeat.
Macro isn't exactly a capable ruler, but that is because he has been compared to Maco whose raw abilities are so far supieror that their father was willing to risk everything to make her the family head of the Loche which is highly frowned upon Etonian nobility. The nobles simply do not like female family heads. In addition, Macro is 11 years older than her. Their father attempting to seat Maco as their family head was simply unheard of. Maco knew this. Thus, she backed out forcefully by removing herself from the family tree entirely.
Macro was aware that Maco removed herself. Even so, he has feared his sister's shadow. Even when she had been gone, he still feared his sister's eventual return. His only way to fight her was to enrich Loche to a point that the people of Loche would support him to a point of worshipping him. Alas, his plans failed utterly. He simply lacked the vision and has several unshakable bad habits, one of which is that he is a womanizer.
Perhaps, what made the overall sitution worse for him was that he didn't have any advisers, not that he'd have been willing to shell put the coins to hire one. He'd rather spend the money on women. In short, he believed he could have done it.
"No, I will never take your seat," Maco declares.
He raises his head to face Maco. "But why?"
"Because I am just a girl."
He stands up from his seat at once, looking insulted. He points at her and raises his voice. "Just a girl, you claim?! You come here, and the people started to immediately listen to you. And I know what father really wanted. He wanted you to take over!"
She remains calm and slowly looks up face him. "Sit. Down," She commands with a grave voice. At the same time, he feels as if a chilly breeze has surrounded him and it forces him to sit down. He feels defeated utterly already.
"Fine, you win, girl. You do what you gotta do." He cracks a hysterically laugh as he speaks.
"You do what I tell you, and I can guarantee that you will remain as the mayor of Loche, and thus a noble."
He sags his shoulders. "But why? Why go this length to help me? What do you gain from this?"
"Is it so inconceivable for you that a sister is trying to help her brother out? We are a family. I am just a girl. Once I am married, I will be gone. But you must carry on the Loche."
He blinks his eyes vacantly. He seems moved by her speech in fact. Traces of tears gather up at the bottom of his eyes.
She does have a point, he feels. She is "just a girl". Once married, she has to leave now that he is the family head. There is truth in her words. It's better to help him for the sake of the village.
"I know what I am good at," She claims, "So, use me while I am here."
He blinks repeatedly, resisting his gathering tears. He rubs his face a few times and lets out a long sigh. "Maco, I must apologize. In all these years, I thought you were planning to take my seat."
"I do not blame you for that. A noble must be skeptical."
A moment of silence passes as Marco relaxes and unwinds. His facial expression as well as his body language are far mroe relaxed.
"Very well, sister." For the first time, he calls Maco sister. "What must I do?"
"First of all, the sales tax must be abolished."
"Done," He replies promptly.
"Secondly, do you love Margaret?"
He twists his head at an unexpected question. "What?"
"Do you love her?"
He crosses his figners. "You want me to marry her?"
"I do understand that you want to marry a noblewoman. However, the support of the people is more important. Without it, you can't be a noble to begin with. Margaret is a likable figure to the villagers. Marrying her, thus making her your first wife, would certainly please others."
He remains silent and refuses to give a firm answer.
"Once she is made your wife, she will smooth things out for you even if you make few mistakes. I won't be here forever. When I am gone, she will act as a buffer zone between you and the villagers. I say you need her more than she needs you."
Indeed, Margaret has no ambition. She is a simple and honest woman. The villagers know this. They may not trust him but will trust her.
"I do love her," He admits eventually. "Which is why I've taken her as my mistress. She is my first love actually." He cracks a chuckle and then takes a deep breath. He declares, "Very well, tomorrow, I will abolosh the tax and announce the engagement."
He has always liked women and has invited many women to Loche for parties and other things. However, he isn't a fool enough to be able to see that he has gone too far. This is a close call or a wake-up call one may say. For the time being at least, he does feel he needs to stay away from women.
"Good, we will depart very early in morning. Make the announcements after we depart."
"Very well."
[[Back home.]]
</div><div id="left_window"><img src="img/lw_004.png"></div>
<div id="main">
<<audio "fireplace" stop>>
<<audio "cricket" volume 0.6 play loop>>
She is back home.
"It's been a long day."
That is an understatement. It has been only three days since she arrived and it feels like years have passed. She has barely slept since. A normal, mortal, human being would be severely exhausted at this point.
She opens the only window in the room and sits down by a table like before. Enjoying the songs of crickets, she remains silent.
"So far, so good," She whispers to herself.
There was an aspect she didn't discuss with him back there. It was his habit of chasing women. However, she feels that the job should now fall onto Margaret. If he does indeed love her as he claims, then Margaret should be able to restrain him to a degree.
His sister barking at him to restain from women isn't going to work, she feels. She also did not expect Marco to fall in the line that easily. The situation must have been quite desperate.
"Will he keep up though," She wonders out loudly. "If so, for how long, I wonder."
Regardless, she has done what she can for the time being.
"Much to do tomorrow. Time to get some sleep," She says, blissfully downplaying a fact that she has been busy ever since arrvial.
[[Tomorrow morning.]]
</div><div id="left_window"><img src="img/lw_015.png"></div>
<div id="main">
<<audio "cricket" stop>>
<<audio "forest" volume 0.6 play loop>>
When Maco steps outside of her house, she is greeted with a sight of three people around a small wooden cart.
Margaret, Otol, and Petra are around the cart. Otol has been apparently uploading bags of leathers into the cart.
//It's good to see some human activities in Loche//, she thinks.
As a hunting village, families tend to have their own schedules, meaning, unlike a farming settlement where one would see mass of activities together as a group, one'd rarely see mass activities here. It is hard to see a group of three people at once in Loche.
She approaches them.
"Lady Maco, good morning," Margaret greets her joyfully as usual.
Sweeping seveal beads of sweats off his forehead, Otol greets her positively, "We are ready to go, ma'am."
"I will bring a bull," Margaret says as she turns and starts to walk away.
"Wait," Maco calls her up.
"Yes?"
"No bull. We are going to pull the cart by hand."
The three seem surprised.
"You can't be serious? It's around 7 days of walk to Ezona," Petra argues.
"Lady Maco, may I ask why?" Margaret inquires politely.
"The bandits will target the bull. It's one of their tactics. No need to waste a livestock," Maco explains.
Otol folds his arms and looks down at the cart, clearly thinking how long he could pull it.
"But, Lady Maco," Margaret talks back, "As Petra said, it's 7 days of walk to Ezona. One cannot pull a cart for that long without consequences."
"I am fully aware. When I said we were going to pull the cart by hand, I didn't mean our hands."
"Oh?" The threee now look utterly confused.
Maco opens one of her hands and faces it downwards to the ground. Her palm begins to shine in a bright bluish color. At this point, she kneels down on one knee and her palm touches the ground. She stands up right away. The glow on her palm is gone at this point.
Where her glowing palm touched, something starts to come out of it. Initially, it looks like an ice cube that is about 2cm in diameter. Then it starts to enlarge itself progressively and starts to divide itself into more cubes.
[[The summon]]
</div><div id="left_window"><img src="img/lw_016.png"></div>
<div id="main">
In a matter of about 60 seconds, what they see in the end is a small ice elemental that looks like blocks of ice cubes connected together by nothing. In other words, magic. Its size is that of a pre-teen but a lot more bulkier.
"It's a lesser ice elemental," Maco proclaims, and the three are awestruck. What they had just observed was a rare kind of magic. In fact, even a very high level mage may not be able to do what she has just done.
That is because of a simple fact that summoning an elemental requires a high level of an elemental affinity. No matter how good a mage would be, if he lacks the required elemental affinity, he won't be able to summon an elemental no matter how much he tries. There is no way around this.
The reason is very simple. When one summons an elemental, he is trying to place the elemental under his command. And, in order to command an elemental, the caster needs to be fairly high in the chain of command within the elemental plane, or the caster has to have high enough of an affinity that his corresponding element likes him enough.
In other words, humans by their very own nature of belonging to the material plane cannot really command an elemental. They may be able to summon one and forage a contract to command it for a price however. Binding an elemental would require addtioinal steps.
In Maco's case, she has summoned it and placed it under her command without any contract because she herself is an ice elemental to begin with. She is not just an ice elemental, either. She is the ice elemental in the elemental plane. She is one of the highest ranked elementals. The only beings that'd outrank her would be those from the celestial plane AKA Gods.
Thankfully, none of the three is well versed in magic and lore. Thus, they are unable to tell the difference. Additionally, she has summoned a lesser, small, elemental. Even if they tell others what they saw, it would not be too surreeal since binding a lesser elemental is entirely possible for a human mage.
"Can I summon a water elemental, too?" Petra asks with amused eyes fixed at the lesser ice elemental. It is, cutely, looking right back at her. The ice elemental is made of several ice cubes which are constantly in motion ever slightly. It's like the cubes are floating in air. On its head, there are a pair of glowing dots.
"Your affinity to water elemental needs to be high enough," Maco explains.
"How could one test that?" Petra wonders out loudly.
"The better affinity you have with an elemental, the lesser stamina you are going to require when you cast magic. So, we will find out soon enough," Maco tells her.
Sadly, even without any testing, Maco knows that Petra's affinity to water is rather weak. She could sense it. But that doesn't mean she has to ruin her hopes. An elemental affinity is not something one can train to get better at. The connection is established at birth and remains unaltered for the duration of one's life.
"Anyway, we are going to let the elemental -"
Suddenly, Petra cuts her off. "Are we going to name him?"
"Ah?"
"Name him?"
"It is not a pet. And it has no gender," Maco says.
"Awwwww....," Petra mutters with a sulky pout. "I used to have so many goats.... They were so cute...." She seems to be missing her days as a farmer.
Otol, taking a note on Petra's mild despair, urges Maco. "Why don't you let her name it?"
"Sure, why not. Name it, Petra." While there is no point, there isn't harm in naming it, either. Let her be, she thinks.
"Yay!" Petra jumps joyfully once and bends down for a careful look at the lesser elemental. Again, it is looking directly at her as if it's curious as to why she is showing so much interest in it. A lesser elemental has no ability to speak at all. It also does not posses high enough intelligence for a language, either. For better or worse, all it can do is stare as a mean of communication to humans.
"Gaoh?" Peta blurts out.
"Gaoh?" And Otrol repeats. Maco couldn't care less.
"Yeah, if it barks, I think it's gonna bark 'GA-OH!'?"
"It can bark?" Otol wonders, genuinely.
With an index finger on her temple, Maco shakes her head weakly. "Let them be," She whispers to herself as she turns her attention to Margaret.
"Lady Maco, I hope you realize that how important this trade run is going to be." Her voice is grave.
"I am fully aware. Macro doesn't even have a single copper coin to his name right now, does he."
Margaret nods in confirmation and then adds, "The earning from this trade will be literaly godsend for him. Speaking of which, the overall value of the trade is 2 gold coins and 5 silver. Since we are late, we can expect some haggling from their end."
Understanding what she is trying to say, Maco asks, "What is the acceptable value right now?"
"I'd really prefer if you could get the full 2g and 5s. However, as long as you can get over 2 gold coins, I will be happy at this point."
Maco glances over at Otol and Petra. Otol is apparently trying to make the ice elemental bark somehow. He shakes it once and then tries to mock it. Petra is playing along.
//They are kids.//
Then Leona's words hit her rather hard.
//I cannot let them die,// She recalls.
"It shall be done, Margaret. The trade will be made, and you will get at least 2 gold coins in return," Maco delcares. Her voice carries determination.
"Thank you, Lady Maco."
It is, at this point that, Luca dashes to join them.
"Sorry, a bit late," She apologizes casually. "I had few researches to wrap up." She carries a large leather bag usually when she is out on adventure. This time, though, she isn't carrying it. A wand is, in fact, all she is carrying.
"Your bag? I thought you always carry it when going out for a prolonged period," Maco inquires in case she has somehow forgotten one of her most important equipment.
"I carry my research papers in the bag which I doubt I will need for this trip. The bag is not light, either, so it's better for me not to carry it this time."
//Good enough,// Maco thinks.
Luca is a fairly decent lightning mage. Her affinity lies with the wind element. But it seems there is a spark in her soul which has altered the outcome of her magic into lightning. Makes sense since she is a highly educated person as a scholar should be.
She could summon a wind spirit, Maco thinks. A spirit is even weaker than a lesser elemental. But the mere fact that a human could call upon another being from an entirely different plane is a feat on its own.
"Lady Maco," Margaret calls out. She had went into her shop while Maco was conversing with Luca.
"Yes?"
She is carrying a beige bag, just like other bags in the cart.
"This is the food for the journey. It should be enoigh for eight days, just in case," She explains. "Sadly, the content is salted dried meat pieces only. Please eat some veggies at Ezona."
"Thank you, Margaret."
Otol is quick to notice the situation and dashes in, taking the bag and places it on top of other bags.
"It's our rations," Maco informs him, and he nods back. Petra is still playing with the elemental. It is also the moment Luca notices the elemental.
"An ice elemental? Lesser?" She mumbles and asks Maco. "You summoned it, I reckon?" She gives her a nod.
Luca is a scholar and is a mage. She realizes the implications swiftly.
"I'd love to have seen the blinding magic. It's not easy." She sounds as if she has attempted to summon an elemental before. Meanwhile, Maco remains silent. There is no need to drag this topic on. Noticing Maco's refusal to talk, Luca cleares her throat and moves on because she is thinking that Maco doesn't want a lengthy scholarly talk at the moment. After all, they are about to depart for a journey.
"Shall we go?" Luca suggests casually.
"Yes, let's."
[[Away they went.]]
</div><div id="left_window"><img src="img/lw_017.png"></div>
<div id="main">
The sight is probably weird for a lot of people. An elemental is dragging a cart while being escorted by four people.
Yes, one does not see this everyday.
"Let us talk about our roles," Maco speaks. "Otol, your primary task is to protect the cart. That is your primary task. You do not have to worry about us."
"Yes, ma'am."
She adds, "And, if you feel that your life is under a great threat, just withdraw. I do not want you to risk your life. Is that understood?"
He hesitates to answer this time however. "But, ma'am, I am the only melee in the group."
"False, I can perform melee."
He glances back at Maco with a doubtful look but does not dismiss her claim outright.
"You don't even have a sowrd though?" He points out, which is true. She used to carry a short sword but no longer since her magic is power enough that she no longer needs to use a sword.
Regardless, the truth of the matter is that Maco is a far superior swordsman than Otol is, at least at the moment.
"True, but I can always summon an ice sword to use it. That's why I no longer carry a sword. It's one less thing to worry about."
Otol seems not quite convinced but does not argue further.
"And Petra," Maco calls out.
"Yes?"
"When a fight occurs, I want you to cast water magic on opponents. It doesn't need to be powerful. Just make them wet."
Petra furrows her eyebrows and cocks her head, unable to understand exactly why. Reading her face, Maco explains.
"Luca can cast lightning magic. Her magic is extra powerful against wet targets."
Otol and Petra tilt their heads in confusion. "How come?"
The very concept of electricity does not exist in this world. Maco also does not know what electricity is. All she knows, for a fact, is that lightning has a stunning effect on wet targets. This is from her experience.
"I am surprised you know that," Luca interjects. "Even I, a lightning mage, haven't figured that out for many years."
"Probably because no one asks or even expects a water mage to cast offensive spells," Maco explains.
Nodding, Luca replies, "Indeed, I happened to find it out after dealing with wet monsters." She, then, turns her attention to Petra. "Do you even know any offensive water spell?"
Petra places her index finger on her lips, thinking. A moment later, she answers, "I do recall using magic to create water to kill fire."
"That should be enough," Luca says with a nod.
With the roles settled, Maco moves on with another topic.
"I want you to know that we will not rest at Ryin. We will be camping outside."
Interestingly, none of the members has an issue with it.
For Otol, he has been wanting an adventurous life, so such an idea for camping excites him rather. For Petra, as a farmer, sleeping outside is norm for her. Finally, for Luca, as a scholar specialized in goblin language, she frequently has had outdoor trips where she had to sleep under bushes in order to hide herself from goblins.
"Good," Maco remarks. They are used to night and fine with outdoor camping. In spite of the obvious lack of experience from Otol and Petra, the basic foundation to be adventurers is there, she feels.
Of course, the real reason for her choosing to camp outside is simple. She doesn't have the coins. She does have coins for a single room for a few days but she certainly doesn't have the coins for four people. Choosing to stay at an inn also means paying for meals as well. Simply put, she has no money for it.
And, so, they walk through Ryin without stopping at an inn and reach Ezona pass in a day and half.
[[To Ezona pass]]
</div><div id="left_window"><img src="img/lw_018.png"></div>
<div id="main">
<<audio "forest" stop>>
Ezona pass is a narrow zigzag mountain road. Legends say that a hundred miners took 15 years to crave out rocks to form the road. Before the road, there was no easy way for Western Etonia to connect Eastern Etonia.
According to a written history book from Eton grand library, Western Etonia used to be completely abandoned. That was until a few brave mountaineers made a trip to cross the high mountains and reached there.
And they found salt, rock salt to be precise.
Salt is a very important commodity. You can live without sugar but you cannot live without salt. It is essential to life and also essential for a lot of things. Sea of this world is not salty. Therefore, an access to salt is something every civilization seeks to establish.
The desire for a stable salt supply made what looked seemingly impossile possible, paving a road through high mountains. That is the history of Ezona pass.
Of course, every history has a dark side.
The creation of Ezona pass has given birth to "Red turban bandits". The pass is very rocky, stiff, and narrow. In other words, it is a perfect place for an ambush.
Disgruntled commoners have since found Ezona pass an ideal base to hide and steal. For some unknown reasons, they've decided on using red turbans as a part of their uniform.
Red turban bandits have existed almost as long as Etonia itself in different forms.
There have been attempts to exterminate them. However, whenever the fire was extinguished, new fire arose soon after. In fact, it has been only a few years since the guild and Maco destroyed Red turban bandits. It certainly hasn't taken long for them to regroup again.
"We are going to camp here for half a day," Maco declares as she scans her surroundings. The entrance to Ezona pass is only a few hours from Ryin.
Otol and Petra stretch out and exclaim, "Finally!"
It takes a day to reach Ryin from Loche. As she did not want to stay an inn, the best place to camp is this location, the start of Ezona pass because it is forbidden to camp on the roads nearby Eton. Such a rule has been made in order to reduce litter.
[[Camping before hell]]
</div><div id="left_window"><img src="img/lw_019.png"></div>
<div id="main">
<<audio "fireplace" volume 0.6 play loop>>
"Venison jerky!" Luca cries out of joy as she finds what she wants from the ration sack. "I love these!"
"Margaret did mention that you love venison dried meat," Maco says.
Luca grabs a handful in her hands as she moves back to the camp fire. "The only meats I ate in Alcella were from stews. Meat in stews doesn't feel and taste like real meat," She explains while chewing a long piece of a venison jekry piece. She chews for a bit and cries out in joy. "I can taste the meat in full! It's so tender also in spite of it being a dried meat jekry.
Maco favors boar jekry which contains more fat. But it is true that venison meat in general is more tender.
"I can't believe food is free in Loche," Luca remarks.
"What?" Otol raises his voice in surprise. "Food is free?"
"It's a system we have back in Loche," Maco explains. "It's a system that works because the population is only a hundred."
According to her, the system is that everyone contributes a little to a overall food stock, and that donated food is then distributed for free of charge to its local residents. This system helps widows, pregnant single mothers as well as elders who can no longer work.
"They donate raw resources though," She notes while taking a boar jerky out of the ration sack. "It's down to Margaret who has to make them into ediable stuff."
Margaret is not a hunter but she is a good chef. Perhaps a chef is not the right word. She is very good at making dried meats and a few basic dishes.
"Really? I have to thank her then," Luca says while happy chewing the jekry. She has already gone through one third of her potion.
Meanwhile, Otol glances at Petra who is already sleeping. "She hasn't eaten anything," He remarks.
"That's why we are taking half a day off. She will have her time to eat once she wakes up," Maco explains, to which Otol hits his fist on his palm upon the realization.
"Gosh, it's gonna be hell soon," Luca says while looking up. "Ezona pass is not easy."
"Is it that bad?" Otol wonders, innocently. //It can't be that bad//, he thinks.
Maco and Luca exchanges a glance. Oh, they know.
"Rest up," Maco eventually tells Otol. "And make sure that Petra eats something."
"Got it," He replies promptly.
[[Ezona pass]]
</div><div id="left_window"><img src="img/lw_020.png"></div>
<div id="main">
<<audio "fireplace" stop>>
<<audio "wind" volume 0.4 play loop>>
"Um, this isn't exactly a road...," Otol mutters.
Ezona pass is ... rough. The ground is uneven to a point that the cart was having a hard time staying even, jolting up and down violently at times.
What's worse: the whole area is so full of opportunities for an ambush.
"We are going to have to be on alert the whole time? For days?" Petra also complains, now realizing the size of the task at hands. Neither has crossed the pass before. Otol is on high alert meanwhile with his bastard sword out in his hand already.
"Calm down," Maco tells them. "The bandits don't generally ambush here."
"How do you know?" Petra asks.
Luca answers instead of Maco. "This isn't where their base is. You will start to see glimpse of watchtowers from afar when close enough. That's where we will be on guard. You don't carry heavy loads for days in a place like this on foot."
"We may still be attacked by small games however," Maco interjects. "Wolves are around."
Petra hurriedly scans her surroundings. Thankfully, there is nothing of note. Their journey into the pass is peaceful in the first day.
Then -
"Wolves!" Otol bellows.
[[Wolves]]
</div><div id="left_window"><img src="img/lw_021.png"></div>
<div id="main">
<<audio "wolves" volume 0.6 play>>
Four wolves, quite possibly more behind them are spotted.
"Otol, take front! Petra, be ready to cast waster!" Maco barks orders as she stood by the cart. "Luca, be ready and look after Petra!"
"Got it!" Luca promptly replies.
A wolf jumps high and strike down on Otol from the sky. Petra casts water but misses by a wide margin. Luca doesn't care however. A sizzling sound followed by a thundering is heard as the wolf that made the first jump is burnt to crisp. The now black wolf stands still for a moment before collapsing sideways.
This is just a beginning however. Seven more wolves jump in, and chaos reigns.
Otol is swinging his sword but he is connecting none of his swings. It is never easy to strike down wolves to begin with since they are nimble creatures. To make the situation worse for him, he has never hunted small games. It's one thing to be able to hit a humanoid. It's another to be able to hit fast moving targets. The hitboxes are completely different.
"Damn it!" He utters as he swings widely and hits none. "Fuck!" He swears as he loses a grip of his sword almost. Wolves are fighting back one after another, quickly dashing in and attempting to take a bite out of him. His armor has, so far, prevented it from happening.
Petra casts water a few times but, again, misses all. In fact, she manages to pour water on Otol by mistake. He is in no condition to file a complaint however as he is just too busy swinging his blade. Meanwhile, Luca is pointing her wand at the wolves but is hesitating to cast her lightning magic due to a risk of friendly fire. A fact that Otol is now wet makes her more reluctant.
Observing the situation, Maco sighs. She has no choice but to meddle in. She makes a fist at which point a short but wide blade grows out of her four knuckle joints. The blade is semi-translucent and has a faint bluish tint to it: It is ice. Then she dashes at a surprising speed. Her target simply does not see its upcoming doom.
A wolf cries as its body is sliced clean horizontally by Maco's blade. Then its two body pieces begin to be enveloped by rapidly growing ice crystals. Within seconds, two piece of ice blocks containing the wolf pieces fall onto the ground. The now dead wolf has its eyes open still within the ice crystal. Its iris indicates that it may still be alive.
The other wolves halt momentarily due to the sudden turn of the event. Not missing the opportunity, Otol swings his sword once more downwards and slices another wolf clean in half.
"Gotcha!" He bellows with joy.
The rest of the wolves take several steps back while growling at the group aggressively. Eventually, they turn back and dash away from the scene.
"Phew." Otol sweeps sweats from his forehead. "Everyone alright?" He beams a bright smile at the others. He's happy, for sure. Maco, however, is not. Petra was completely useless, and Otol seemed to know nothing about an actual battle. Just swinging a weapon wasn't it. However, she isn't going to go into a lecture mode. She's rather let him learn on his own. Besides, it isn't time and place to lecture someone at this point.
He either learns or gets hurt, worse gets killed.
She turns to Petra and tells her, "You missed every shot."
Petra sags her shoulders and drops her head. "I am sorry," She apologizes weakly.
"How did you aim?"
"What?"
"Did you aim your wand at your target?"
"Yeah?" Petra tilts her head in confusion.
"Can you cast it just so we can see what kind of magic it is?"
"Sure."
As Petra points her wand to a random spot in the air, the tip of the wand begins to shimmer weakly for a moment. Then a blob of water appears in the air as if it's under zero gravity. The blob of water falls down soon after. There is some seconds of delay between summoning of water and its fall. For nimble targets like wolves, the way her spell is cast would never work because they would simply evade before the spell fully forms and pours down. It probably won't work on humans, either.
"I see the issue," Maco remarks.
Everyone uses magic differently because they have different imaginations.
For Petra, when she casts her water magic, she is imaging holding a bucket and then puring it down. Therefore, aiming her wand at wolves wouldn't have worked. She should have aimed her wand a bit higher so that water would fall upon them. That way, a target won't immediately notice the forming water. Still, such a method would work only on stationary targets.
It is entirely possible to correct how she imagines the water spell but not on a short notice. Therefore, for the time being at least, the best way to correct her is to tell her to aim a bit higher than she would nornally do.
After Maco explains what was wrong with her aiming, Petra punches her fist into her palm with a big "Ah!".
"If you are willing, I can teach you how your water spell can become much more effective. But you may not be able to do it right away," Maco tells her while approaching the wolve corpses. She signals Otol and Luca to come over.
"Do any of you have experience with skinning animals?" She asks them, to which neither nods. "Fine, I will have to skin it then." She summons a small knife made of ice in her hand and kneels down to skin it.
"You are skinning them? What for?" Otol wonders.
"Better than dried meats, you know." Luca answers.
"Ah, right."
"Right," Maco adds. "We have no need for its skin. Wolves are common enough. But the meat, we could use."
Luca looks at Maco's use of her ice element curiously after she approaches them. "You are really comfortable with using your element, Maco," She remarks casually.
Using magic, any form of magic, drains one's stamina. Therefore, for mages, they don't tend to waste magic on mundane activities during high alert situations. For Maco though, using her ice magic doesn't cost any stamina at all which has enabled her to incorporate ice magic into her daily life.
"My affinity to ice is pretty high," Maco answers indifferently.
"Must be extremely high to be able to summon tools made of your element," Luca adds.
"Let's camp for the day," Maco suggests out of nowhere, changing the subject. Everyone is surprised.
"Really?"
"Yeah, why not? The meat will go bad soon. We have no way of perversing it."
"Hmm," Otol folds his arms. "True." Then he wets his lips, thinking of roasting meat. Tasty indeed.
"The wolf attack means there isn't actually any bandits around the area. We might as well take some more rest before heading further in. We may not be able to rest later," Maco explains, and everyone nods along in agreement.
Thus, they get to work on setting up a camp.
[[Camping for the day]]
</div><div id="left_window"><img src="img/lw_022.png"></div>
<div id="main">
<<audio "wind" stop>>
<<audio "fireplace" volume 0.4 play loop>>
"Man, nice, real nice," Otol fires a compliment after a compliment as he devours the wolf meat that has been cooked with fire.
Indeed, nothing beats a fleshly acquired red meat being cooked by a campfire. With a bit of salt added on top, the taste is heavenly. It's simple and highly delicious. Ideally, some veggies would be nice here but such is only a luxury.
Both Petra and Luca seem to be enjoying the meat as well.
"I never got to eat much meat as a farmer," Petra says. "I never knew just roasting meat and a bit of salt on top of it would taste this good."
"What? For real?" Otol raises his voice in surprise. "Don't farmers have lots of animals?"
"Animals that produce milk and other products. We rarely kill them for meat. Even when we do kill an old animal, meat is sold right away. We might get some scrap and put in a soup or a pie. That's pretty much it," She says while continuously eating away a piece after a piece.
Otol glances at Petra as he falls silent. As a noble, even if his family is a low noble, food has always been aplenty for him. Granted, he did not eat meat daily but had consumed meat quite regularly.
Meanwhile, Luca seems to ignore their conversation completely and is minding her own business which is eating and observing Gaoh.
Gaoh is the name of the lesser ice elemental, given, or insisted, by Petra.
A lesser elemental is, to put it simply, stupid. It doesn't have high enough intelligence for a language, nor is it smart enough to understand anything that goes on around it. In its mind, there is only one command given by Maco.
Pull the cart when ordered.
It will pull the cart when it is attacked. It will still pull the cart when it is being destroyed.
Right now, it is standing still, vacantly staring into air.
Luca scans the elemental with her eyes and recalls her experience in summoning a wind spirit which looks like a will-o'-the-wisp.
She had the worst experience in doing so. She had most of her stamina drained from summining the spirit, and then the spirit went againt her and hurt her.
The spirit claimed that it was socializing when she summoned it and that it was pissed. She had to apologize several times to get it off her back.
Her affinity to wind is not too bad. From 1 to 10, 10 being the best, She grades herself at about 6 which is above average. Even then, summoning a mere spirit is her limit.
Elemental hierarchy would go like this.
Spirits 🡆 Lesser elemental 🡆 Elemental 🡆 Greater Elemental 🡆 Golems 🡆 ???
At least, that is what she thinks.
"9 or 10?" She whispers to herself.
Once they are done eating, a nap time comes. Overall, they rest for a full day before moving on.
While Maco could have attempted to teach Petra a new way of using her water magic, she has chosen not to in order not to mess up anything for her because the hardest part of the journey is yet to come.
Attempting to retain her now will likely end up her becoming a complete deadweight for the time being. She is wanting to avoid such situation. Granted, she doesn't feel Petra will make any meaningful contributions but it will still be better if she could hit a target or two.
"Ready to depart?" Maco asks the others who are finishing up their preparations.
"Yes!" Otol replies enthusiastically.
"Yep," Luca says casually.
"Yes," And Petra answers timidly.
Finally, Gaoh walks and stands in front of the cart very slowly, then grabs the handle equally slowly as well, lifting it up eventually. Petra beams a smile as she watches it.
"Onward!" Maco declares.
[[Red turban bandits part 1]]
</div><div id="left_window"><img src="img/lw_023.png"></div>
<div id="main">
<<audio "fireplace" stop>>
It has taken them about a day and half of casual journey until -
"Watchtowers!" Otol points and exclaims.
They are approaching what people refer as "the choke point" where it is very much guaranteed that any passing merchants would be attacked.
And, surely enough, arrows rain from above.
"Take cover!" Maco barks an order as she summons a thin block of ice to act as a shield. Meanwhile, Luca takes Petra and ducks behind the cart. As for Otol, he takes out his sword and takes a defensive stance.
The arrows rain for good ten seconds or so. Otol is swirling his sword in front of him in order to deflect incoming arrows at him. Meanwhile, the lesser ice elemental, Gaoh, doesn't even react to the raining arrows. Arrows are bouncing off it in fact, leaving absolutely no damage to its hardened ice body.
The arrow rain continues for a few more rounds, then it stops entirely.
"Anyone hurt?" Maco asks everyone while still keeping her ice shield well positioned to cover. There are tens of arrows stuck on her shield.
"We are fine," Luca replies.
"I am also fine," Otol agrees. There is a single arrow stuck in his shoulder but it apparently did not pierce his armor and is simply dangling. "What now? Why did they stop?"
"This is what they do," Maco answers. "It is a warning. Normal merchants have two choices at this point. Continue forth and negotiate for a toll or abandon their cart and turn away."
"No merchant would turn away surely?"
"True, everyone expects it, so they negotiate."
"So, are we going to negotiate?"
"We won't." Simply because Maco doesn't have the money. Instead, she begins to inform them of her plan.
[[Facing the bandits]]
</div><div id="left_window"><img src="img/lw_024.jpg"></div>
<div id="main">
A group of bandits await them as they approach. They look menacing enough. There are about four bandits blocking the pass. There are more behind them.
"Don't come any closer!" The one on front barks. "A gold coin is the toll! Place the coin on ground and back off!"
He looks to be a leader at the scene. He has a rather large scar by his mouth and is bald. He looks like he has been through a lot. He has his sword out already and it's resting on his shoulder, ready to be drawn.
The others behind him look menacing as well, fixing their eyes firmly on the group ahead of them.
"Don't come closer, I said!" He barks again, seeing Maco isn't stopping. In fact, she is dashing toward him at speed he can't believe initially.
"The fuck?!" He utters. He did not expect them to attack. "Lads! Attack!"
Then a flash of light dominates the area followed by loud thundering roars. One of the bandits scream in pain as he is struck by lightning. He isn't down but isn't in a condition to fight.
"Bullsh-" The leader, surprised by the sudden attack, is taken back. But he has no time to swear as he hurries to block an attack from Maco. Her attack has come from below from a blindspot. Apparently, she was aiming for his jugular. It is a highly trained movement, usually by an assassin.
Otol, meanwhile, has engaged with another bandit. They've been exchanging blows but none has gained any upperhand. He doesn't appear to be in rush however and is content in locking his opponent down on a spot.
Soon enough, water is dumped at the bandit at which point he utters, "What the?!" It is at this point, Otol jumps backwards as a bolt of lightning hits the bandit. He is unable to even scream as he is badly electrocuted.
"Lads! Backup!" He bellows as he is unable to shake Maco off. She continues to attack him from such a close range that his bastard sword is utterly useless. All he can do at this moment is either dodge or block her attacks, She is aiming for vital spots at every opportunity that he simply can't endure a hit and initiate a counter.
In other words, he firmly believes that a hit from her would be his end or critical wound him in the best case.
As more bandits flock into the scene, Maco and Otol quickly back off before being surrounded. The leader is finally given a breather and he wipes off beads of sweat off his forehead. He scans his vicinity and has found two down.
"I am pissed, I am royally pissed!" He exclaims, his voice full of anger indeed.
"Good," Maco responds rather casually. "Because you are about to get even more pissed."
"The fuck are you talking about?"
"I thank you for gathering in one spot," Maco tells him stoically. Her face is devoid of any emotions which sends a chill down to his spine.
It is the moment where Luca points her wand firmly in the sky and shouts powerfully, "THUNDERSTORM!" The tip of her wand shines brightly as she becomes enveloped in a light green aura which is being sucked into her wand.
The bandit leader opens his eyes widely, realizing what is about to happen to them. He inhales deeply and shouts, "Scatter you fuck wits!"
Alas, too late.
A giant lightning strikes down on them, followed by plethora of smaller lightning. The bandits scream out of sheer pain of being electrocuted and a few are instantly burnt to crisp. Those who somehow managed to dash away from the spot are struck down by Maco's ice arrows. It is massacre.
After casting the spell, Luca is unable to balance herself due to sudden drainage of her stamina. Her stamina isn't completely drained but at least one third has been drained in an instant. She sways around as if she is drunk, and Petra supports her.
"You okay?!" Petra asks urgently.
"Yeah..., I will be fine," Luca answers weakly. "I am just a bit tired."
It takes a while for smokes to clear. Once cleared, only a lone fgure is still standing, and he is the leader who is seemingly covered with soil.
"An earth mage, I see," Maco remarks indifferently. She is not surprised because she felt that he wasn't giving everything during the melee early on. But then, neither did she.
Soil withdraws progressively from him, revealing him knelt down with his bastard sword struck in the ground as a support in front of him.
It is not rare at all for an earth mage to become a melee fighter because of a common spell known as stoneskin which hardens one's skin. This spell is very useful for melee fighters as it allows them down to wear a light armor while retaining an ability to resist cuts and bruises.
The stoneskin spell itself is as good as wearing a chainmail in its most basic form. If trained enough and with high enough affinity, it could be as good as a plate mail and beyond.
The bandit leader stands up slowly and scans his vcinity to see all of his comrades down, either dead or nearly dead. Basically, none has made it.
"You are all dead," He declares while gritting his teeth and pulls out his bastard sword from the ground. His eyes are vividly filled with anger.
Just as Maco takes a step forward to face him, Otol interjects. "I'd like to fight him."
//You don't stand a chance,// Maco is about to tell him but she has a change of her heart. //Why not//, she thinks.
"Be my guest," She tells him instead. She will help him if he needs it. He needs the experience, she figures.
Otol walks toward the bandit leader as he steadies his sword with both hands. With a brief shout, he dashes toward him and broadly swings his sword which the bandit leader blocks it with ease. Once blocking Otol's initial blow, the bandit leader smoothly deflects his blade and swings from below, forcing Otol to jump backwards to dodge. Sadly, this is as far as his offensive goes because, from this point on, the bandit leader bombards him with an attack after an attack.
Whenever Otol attempted to go offensive, his attempts are foiled at every opportunity, meaning the bandit leader is seeing right through him.
Maco folds her arms. It's not that the bandit leader is so good that he is seeing right through him. She feels that he may have had a similar training. On top of that, it seems clear that the bamdit leader has had far more experience than Otol. This explains why he was having a hard time against her since her attack patterns are certainly not from commonly known noble training regimen.
In a way, the bandit leader could well be what future Otol might end up becoming. She furrows her eyebrows upon that line of thought. It is an entirely possible scenario. If Otol fails to make a name for himself within Eton guild, he would fall out of favor and would eventually find another career which won't be easy, given he has probably no other skills. Being a random mercenary for some petty coins would be an option for him. Being an independent mercenary is a hard work however with a good chance of never making even. Poverty could soon follow.
"Otol!" She calls him out but he is too busy to reply. But she continues anyway. "Randomize your pattern!"
"What...?!" He shouts back in confusion. Regardless, after a short while, he successfully sneaks in an attack which is dodged easily. But that is a start. Now realziing what she meant, Otol begins to randomize his attacks. Until now, he had followed what he was taught strictly. It has been a force of habit more than anything else. Now that he has seen the light, so to speak, he is able to lodge in more attacks. However, the bandit leader is clearly superior in all aspects as a fighter. In addition, he is an earth mage. Even if Otol manages to strike him, it won't do much of damage.
And, before long, Otol's sword flies away from his hand. It is this moment Maco makes a swift dash toward the two with her ice blade summoned on upper knuckle bones.
[[Boss fight]]
</div><div id="left_window"><img src="img/lw_025.jpg"></div>
<div id="main">
<<audio "sword_clash" volume 0.6 play>>
"What the hell are you?!" He bellows as he hastily blocks and deflects several swift attacks from Maco in quick succession.
The overall flow of the fight hasn't changed from the previous fight they had. However, now that the bandit boss is using earth magic, stoneskin, he is basically now ignoring a lot of incoming strikes and pushing forward.
With stoneskin, his skin now looks as if it has dried up. Some creases, like you see from cracks of dried ground, can be seen.
Doubts fill in his eyes as he gives everything to fight Maco. It's like day and night. She is nothing like Otol he fought just a moment ago. It's clear that she was going easy on him before.
She is faster, more agile, and deadlier. She has landed several hits on him already, but his stoneskin has saved him so far.
Unlike Otol who always made big swings, Maco's attacks are short and quick. At the same time, her attacks have been really deadly, aiming only vital spots. If it isn't for his stoneskin spell, he would be bleeding badly right now.
It's clear that she knows human anatomy very well. A single successful hit would be all it takes a human down, perhaps not instantly but one would bleed to death without adequate treatments.
The bandit leader is sweating like crazy and is breathing hard. He attempts to attack, but she dodges so easily that -
"The fuck...," Otol mutters. It feels like he is looking at a fight between him and the bandit leader a moment ago, except that the roles are now reversed.
"She's really good, you know."
It's Luca's voice. She adds, "She fought an entire army of city Alca castle guards. She beat'em anyway. Granted, she wasn't alone at that time and had some friends. But it doesn't change the fact that she was on front line."
"But I thought she was a mage?" Otol says with his eyes fixed at their fight as if he is trying to learn anything from it, somehow. Her fighting style and his own are basically polar opposite. Thus, learning anything from the way she fights seems pointless. Still, he can't take his eyes off the scene.
"That guy is a mage as well," Luca retorts. "Being a mage doesn't mean they all stay back and simply cast spells." She adds, "Although I think he trained only one spell, stoneskin. But then, that's all a melee fighter needs."
She has observed Maco for a while even back during their journey on Alcella island. She has always preferred melee over pure magic which wasn't common but wasn't that rare, either although, given her high affinity to ice, it would make sense to use magic over melee.
The bandit leader is slow being pushed back. He is sweating and breathing heavily. Despite being entirely on offense, he hasn't been connecting any of his attacks and is becoming desperate to turn the tide of the fight in any way.
"Fucking bitch...!" He curses as he digs a tip of his boot and uses dirt to halt Maco's strikes. Sadly, Ezona pass is a very rocky place with very little soil for plants to grow. Therefore, his dirty fighting trick fails to conjure any meaning advantage. In fact, what Maco does in retaliation pisses him off even more; she smurks at him.
"WHY YOU - I WILL RAPE YOU!"
"As if you are even capable of doing that," She retorts. This is coming from a girl who looks like she can't hurt a bug.
The others could see a vein popping on his forehead. Alas, his sheer anger has nowhere to go. In fact, anger is the last thing he needs to worry about because his stoneskin spell has just started breaking apart.
"What the?!" He utters. Maco's blade has just cut a line on his cheek which is supposed to be hardened as steel by the spell. Her short blade attached to her upper knuckle bones are now glowing slightly which is probably the cause. A fluke? He wants to believe so but that thought is quickly dispelled when she manages to make a cut deep enough to bleed on his arm. It is no fluke. She is somehow applying enough damage to penestrate his defense. Is it just sheer force though? He has doubts.
On surface at least, Maco has a very slender build. One can easily suspect her as a rich girl who has rarely seen any physical labor. Additionally, he hasn't felt any strong physical force when being struck. It has to be something else, probably magic. Whatever it is, he is unable to understand what is going on fully. What he does know, at this point, that he has to do something or he is done. He has thought about retreating. Alas, his ego simply cannot let him do that. He is a grown man. Fleeing from a girl such as Maco is simply too much.
"Ok, fine, whatever!" He blurts as he sees Maco approaching with her blade ready to strike. He has come up with a plan. So far, he has been at a great disadvantage due to his weapon reach. His sword is a bastard sword which is basically slightly smaller than a two-handed sword. In other words, it's long and somewhat unwieldy. Maco's blade, however, acts more like a dagger. Its reach is short but very nimble.
Normally, he would have been able to keep a dagger user at bay by keeping his distance. However, Maco is just so much more agile that he can't keep his distance. Therefore, his only option now is -
He drops his sword and pulls out a dagger from back of his belt. Just as Maco aims for his jugular, he aims for her shoulder as a counter. He is not aiming for a vital spot but nevertheless he expects Maco to dodge.
But she doesn't.
"Ugk!" The bandit leader lets out a painful utter. By sound of his utter, one can tell that blood is quickly flooding his mouth and throat. His counter aimed at her shoulder is a miss, just barely. As he begins to choke on his own blood, his consciousness begins to fade swiftly. He wonders how her blade is able to penestrate his stoneskin. He simply fails to understand how it is possible.
Blood gushes out of the bandit leader as Maco pulls her blade out of his neck. He initially falls onto her hopelessly at which point she puts him down to the ground gently. His flicking eyes fixed at Maco suggest that he is still alive and conscious. Not for long however.
"H-Ho-" He tries really hard to speak. She gives no answer. Instead, she scans the area. She's actually looking at the two watch towers ahead. There are a few archers stationed but they aren't firing arrows. Whatever their intentions are, she can't just leave them as they are since they pose a threat. She looks back at Luca.
"Can you do another?"
Ambiguous but Luca seems to catch on.
"I will pass out," She responds.
"Do it."
Luca sighs. Maco did talk to her about this. She is about to cast second thunder storm spell but in a wider area so that it will damage or even collapse the watch towers. It won't completely drain her stamina, but she will pass out for sure. She knows that much because casting two big spells a day at her level is too much.
Regardless, she points her wand at a spot inbetween the two watchtowers and then takes a deep breath.
Just like the last time, the tip of her wand shines brightly as she becomes enveloped in a light green aura which is being sucked into her wand. This time though, she flips backwards and passes out at once. Petra catches her.
A dark cloud appears between the two watch towers. It gets larger and larger with louder thundering from within. Several smaller lightning can also be seen.
At one point, the dark cloud begins to swirl and swiftly expands itself, basically turning into a miniature hurricane.
[[Going haywire]]
</div><div id="left_window"><img src="img/lw_026.jpg"></div>
<div id="main">
<<audio "hurricane" volume 0.6 play>>
It is a little surreal that a violent hurricane is pillaging only a limited and designated area. It seems it's not strong enough to outright destory the watch towers however.
There are a few archers who have been thrown off the towers and are literally in the air, hopelessly dangling in no man's land. And there are some who are holding onto whatever they can so that they won't be blown away.
As the hurricane calms down, one of the watchtowers cramble progressively. The other still stands but just barely. A saving grace for them is a fact that there is little dust as a tower falls since soil itself is scarce.
"I don't think they are going to pose any threat now," Maco concludes and signals Otol and the others. "Let's go."
Luca is on the cart, passed out.
Their journey is smooth from this point on.
Eventually, they are going down on the pass which means they've finally passed the choke point and are about to reach Ezona. The distance between Ezona and the choke point is less than a day worth of walking.
Petra points her index finger joyfully. "A city! Ezona!"
A port city of Ezona comes into their view from afar. They are still far away but their destination is within their reach. The city is a mere large dot at this point.
Unlike joyful Petra, Otol has his shoulders slumped with visible displeasure on his face.
"I was useless," He declares.
"Be real," Maco responds. "The bandits may have not been formally trained but they had real world experience. You had none."
It looks like he is about to retort but no words comes out of his mouth.
"Let's camp for the night. We are about to make our final push," She says.
"Would be it safe here to camp with?" Petra says. "I mean the tower is still in sight."
"They won't be recovering anytime soon," Maco says, and Petra isn't about to argue.
Luca wakes up about an hour after a campfire is setup. It is dusk and it is increaingly getting darker.
"Oh, hey, I am still alive," is the first sentence she spits out as soon as her eyelids shoot up.
"You expected the end?" Petra, who is sitting down by the cart close to Gaoh, looks up as she responds.
"You never know in combat."
"How are you feeling?"
"Perfectly fine. It was simply my stamina running out. Two big spells in a short span of time will do that for you."
She gets up quickly and performs a simple and swift workout as if checking to see whether anything is amiss with her physique. Once everything seems to be fine, she nods to herself. Then she digs into the bags in the cart as if looking for something.
"There you go, my favorite jerky!"
She, then, settles down next to Petra and begins to chew. She looks around.
"By the by, where are Maco and Otol?"
"She went out to take a look at how the bandits are doing. She told us that she should be back soon. As for Otol, I think he is training a bit further away from the camp."
"Training? A bit late, eh?"
"He did complain how useless he was."
Luca chuckles. "True that."
//He might as well not been here and wouldn't have made a difference// is what she wants to say but she keeps that to herself.
The two girls go silent afterwards. Crackling from the campfire is all that entertains them.
[[Meanwhile...]]
</div><div id="left_window"><img src="img/lw_027.jpg"></div>
<div id="main">
<<audio "hurricane" stop>>
Maco is silently walking toward the choke point. It looks like she is far enough from the camp.
She stops and looks at the direction of the lone watchtower afar. The air around her is ominously for some reason.
Soon enough, her right arm reaches out forward, and she speaks.
"Elementals, come forth."
Then three portals appear right behind her. What appears to be an ice golem, an ice hound, and an ice elemental appear. However, these look very sinister. It is stark contrast from Gaoh which looks dumb and innocent.
"Go forth, and eliminate any humans in your path."
The ones Maco has just summoned are: An elder ice golem, an elder ice elemental, and an elder icehound. A golem is a melee focused brute. An elemental is generally a magic user. A hound is a predator type of being that tends to chase down. Being elders of their types, these are extraordinarily strong foes. It would take enormous efforts from a group of very high ranking adventurers to take one of them down.
No human could ever summon these because these sit very high in elemental hierarchy.
Why is she sending three of them then?
Simply put, no matter how strong one is, if he is fighting a group of creatures whose hearts are set on fleeing at all cost, it is never easy to annihilate them all. One or two or even more are bound to be successful in escaping. She wants to avoid that scenario. The icehound is, especially, a very agile hound-like elemental. It would easily catch anyone who might escape.
As she gives out her order, the golem and the hound turn around at once and depart. Meanwhile, the elder ice elemental, having far higher intelligence than the two, shows respect by placing its sharp drill-like arm toward its chest before turning around to join the others.
And Maco turns back and walks away in opposite direction toward the camp.
[[Another meanwhile...]]
</div><div id="left_window"><img src="img/lw_028.jpg"></div>
<div id="main">
"Fuck..."
Otol is just staring at the night sky.
"Fuck...!"
"FUCK!"
Each time he utters the word, it gets louder.
Watching what Maco has done has had him made question his whole life. Really, what the fuck has he trained for? He was unable to defeat even one ordinary bandit.
Hell, he couldn't even slay a wolf on his own.
Really, what the hell has he trained for?
There is one fact he really hates now; It's that he was and still is a greenhorn, for he has failed to kill anyone.
For warriors, killing an enemy has always counted as a starting point of a long journey. Otol believes in this, thus he has yet to even begin his journey in his mind.
"For fuck's sake...," He laments. Taking a deep breath, he places his hands on his waist and looks down at purplish ground.
There is one positive take from this however. It is that he now feels the need to be better. Until this, he had felt safe. He had felt that there wasn't much to do for him to be successful.
How wrong he was. At least, he has realized this fast enough.
[[Ezona in sight]]
</div><div id="left_window"><img src="img/lw_029.jpg"></div>
<div id="main">
Ezona is the only port city within Etonia. That is due to a fact that Eastern Etonia where most of their settlements exist have high cliff shores. Western Etonia is the only region where its shores are low enough for a port to exist.
Additionally, and perhaps the most importantly, Etonia itself has never had a dire need for a port. Yes, it would be nice to have it but majority of their import and export have been with Cizna and Jordin empire which they share land borders.
Western Etonia is steppe and lacks forests. It's hard to grow anything but potato. While livable if must, most of population within Etonia prefer Eastern Etonia where the land is just far more fertile.
Ezona exists for two reasons.
One, it is built on a rock salt mine. Salt is vital commodity.
Two, its location allows easy trade with Alcella republic. It's safe to say that Alcella republic needs Ezona more than Ezona needs them.
Everyone needs salt afterall, and Alcella island has very little rock salt deposit.
Now, due to Red turban bandits and the difficulty of being able to pass Ezona pass, there is an unspoken chasm between East and West Etonians.
Basically, West Etonians, those who live in Ezona predominantly, do not consider themselves to be a part of Etonia. There has been rarely anyone relocating to West from East and vice versa.
Furthermore, Etonian monarchy has given Ezona complete autonomy and has never really cared about the place at all for hundreds of years.
Famine in Ezona? They had to look after themselves.
A ship snuk? Etonia has no navy to assist.
Ezona has had to do everything on their own and survive while trading with Alcella. Rightfully so, the citizens of Ezona do not have high opinions of Etonia itself.
They've lived on their own so far fine afterall.
This chasm is going to result in Westen Etonia delcaring unilateral independence in 20 years, but that is for another story.
[[Enter Ezona]]
</div><div id="left_window"><img src="img/lw_030.jpg"></div>
<div id="main">
<img src="img/Ezona.jpg">
"Aw, finally- !!" Luca stretches her arms upwards
"I want some soup," Petra complains.
Otol says not a word but he keenly looks around, scanning the city. It must be his first time visiting the city.
Ezona and its surrounding areas lack trees, thus no woods for structures. This has resulted in a quite different architectural philosophy compared to those found from Eastern Etonia.
No wood is present in any of buildings. Instead, it's all mortar and bricks which they have more than enough lying around due to the rock salt mine.
The city looks fairly tame in traffic. However, it does seem quite busy where the dock is. Ships are coming in and out with sailors carrying out crates of goods. The goods are acrtively going in and out constantly, indicating a healthy condition of Ezona's trading.
Meanwhile, there appears to be two taverns: One by the dock and another by near exit of the city. The one by the dock is clearly and obviously busier.
"We take a full day off now," Maco announces. "Do make sure that you consume some salads. I demand it."
"Yes, ma'am," The girls reply at once.
"Use the tavern by the road. Let's avoid the one sailors would use," She adds.
It makes to sense to avoid sailors especially when they are likely drunk.
Once the group disperses, Maco and Gaoh carrying the cart approach a man nearby a warehouse. She informs him that she has a delivery to make.
The man lays a suspicious glance on the elemental. It's certainly not everyday you see an elemental doing labor. It's something you'd see only in magic shops or the scholar's guild.
"From Loche?" Regardless, the man reads a notebook in his hand. It takes a bit. "Wow, it is late. Way late."
"I am aware. Bandits," She says in her defense.
"Sorry, but being late is late. Can't alter that."
"How much will you pay for it?"
Folding arms, the man groans in thoughts. "A gold and two silver pieces," He responds eventually, adding, "The best I can do. I don't actually need your delivery at this point. I am banking for a future order."
It's way too low. Margaret wanted at least two gold pieces. However, she accepts.
"Fine, but a gold piece."
"What?" He blurts out, confused. She has just lowered the price.
"In exchange, can you dump four salt bags into the cart?"
"A salt stack is 2 silver and 3 copper pieces."
"Which is why I lowered the price. Make it at least three bags then."
She is expecting to sell the salt bags at profit in Eton. She doesn't know how much of profit but does know that it will net some profit.
The man groans as he considers. He would essentially be taking her hide delivery at a gold and 7 silver pieces if he went ahead with her proposal. It would be 5 silver pieces over the initial proposal.
"Two bags," He suggests.
"Two and half bags," She fires back.
For him, this isn't a bad deal. Sooner or later, an order for hides will come in, and he would be able to meet the order in an instant.
"Fine, two and half," He accepts and adds, "I am just gonna inspect the goods. You alright with that?"
She beams a grin. "Of course."
After a moment -
"Alright, everything is in order," He says and signals two workers in the vicinity who dashes toward him. "Get these into the warehouse B and bring out two and half bags of salt."
They nod at once and get to work, taking bags of hides on their shoulders. As they disappear into a warehouse, he brings out a tiny bag of coins. He takes out a single gold coin out of it and hands it over to her.
"Thank you." Maco accepts it.
"How is the pass? I heard that it's been getting ugly," He inquires as he places the bag of coins back onto his belt.
"They were going at another cart, so we were able to sneak through without much ado," She lies.
"Lucky you. I wish you luck the second time also."
"I saw some mercs hanging around. They are probably going back to Eton. I reckon I should be able to hire them on the cheap."
"Hmm, true."
The two workers are back with two and half bags of salt. They dump them into the cart carelessly. Well, it's bags of salt afterall. No harm done.
"Thank you for your business."
"Likewise," The man replies.
Before leaving, she checks the salt bags just to make sure they are indeed salts. And they are.
"Alright then...."
The task is done. If she was alone, she would have left the city at this point. Alas, she has companions.
Whether to join them or just meet them tomorrow, she pounders the options. Then -
"Oh? Lass?"
A voice calls her out from behind, and Maco recgonizes the voice.
[[Meet....?]]
</div><div id="left_window"><img src="img/lw_031.jpg"></div>
<div id="main">
"Richard," Maco replies, turning around.
A man in mid 30s stands before her. With a stylish mustache and a pair of sunglasses, he looks more like a playboy. It's worthwhile to mention that the guy is also huge with very wide shoulders.
"Lass, it's been a while."
"Jack doing well?"
He beams a bemused grin. "The same as always. Doing his job while slacking."
Jack is the current mayor of Ezona, and Richard is his general. Maco assisted Jack to take over as a new mayor a few years ago.
As for Richard himself, he used to be a member of Eton guild when Leona's father was still in charge. He didn't see eye-to-eye with Leona's father and eventually left the guild to become a mercenary.
It was Maco who persuaded him to join Jack.
"How is the city?"
Richard chuckles. "The dog is sly. He has a knock for it. It's doing very well."
He explains further that Jack has rooted out internal corruption as soon as he took the seat and then has worked together boosting economy.
"The last mayor ran a total shitshow. So, the bar was very low to begin with. Still he has been received very well," He adds. He glaces at the ice elemental, looking dumb and simply holding the cart handles.
"I am actually here for an investigation. There has been reports that someone was going around with an ice elemental," He explains with a brief laugh.
"I see. Hard to beleive that the general himself would investigate."
"Lesser or not, an elemental is tough to deal with. Sending some ordinary soldiers could turn out to be a waste of lives."
Richard himself has a weak affinity to wind. He is mostly a warrior however and uses his wind magic to mainly boost his agility.
He changes subject. "By the by, did you pass through Ezona pass?"
"Aye."
"How was the journey? I've been hearing that they've getting naughty."
"All dead."
He freezes at once. Then he laughes out loudly. Maco has no reason to lie to him since he knows what she is capable of already.
"I give half a month before bandits regroup," He declares.
"That soon? Can't you keep an outpost there?"
"We could but not allowed to. Out of jurisdiction, so to speak. Do you wish to see the mayor? He is a busy man, but I am certain that he would see you at any moment."
"No, I've got my own things to worry about which has nothing to do with him."
"I see. So be it then. I do ask you to leave soon unless you un-summon the elemental. It's not good for the public order."
"I will depart tomorrow morning if that's alright with you." She would rather not unsommon and summon again because she doesn't want anyone to see her summoning it. If anyone with some knowledge of magic happens to observe her summoning of an elemental, he would break out because she is not using magic to summon. There would be no magic circle and there would be no binding magic.
Summoning an elemental or a spirit is something that is usually done well prepared within a lab or something.
Richard strokes his chin in consideration. "I was hoping for sooner but I will make do. I will let guards know." He, then, turns around, waving his hand, "So long, lass."
"Thanks. See you around, Richard."
She stares at Richard's back as he progressively vanishes into the street. She folds her arms as she considers her options. The message was clear; they want her gone ASAP with a valid reason.
She considers her options. The truth is that she could leave right now if it weren't for her companions.
"Hmm..."
Undoing the arm fold, she swiftly begins to walk toward the only exit of the city.
[[And so...]]
</div><div id="left_window"><img src="img/lw_032.jpg"></div>
<div id="main">
There are two taverns in Ezona. One is located near the docks where tired sailors would quench their thirst with ale. The other is located on near the exit of the city where merchants would normally stay.
Obviously, it is clear which one would have more order which was why Maco instructed her companions to stay at the tavern near the exit.
Upon arrival of the tavern near the exit, she finds Luca, merrily consuming her mug of presumably ale at a table. She notices Maco's arrival and waves her hand with glee.
"Hey!" She exclaims.
"Where are the others?" Maco asks as she approaches the table. Luca isn't just having ale. There are side dishes on the table which are salted roasted beans and a salted piece of cooked fish.
The tavern, for the moment, is rather quiet. Given it's day time, it's understandable. There are Luca and only one other customer in a corner who is quietly drinking ale.
"Would you like to join?" Luca offers graciously. "As for the two, I don't know. They left the tavern a while ago."
"Are the rooms paid for?"
"Aye."
Then there is nothing to be concerned about. Therefore -
"Can we leave right now?" Maco drops the bombshell at Luca who blinks a few times, looking shocked. However, she does not retort. Instead, she pleads, "Can I at least finish these?"
"No."
Luca sags her shoulders in disappointment. But she gets up pretty much instantly, dusts off her butt and checks whether her wand is on her belt.
"I might have to pee several times on the way, but I am good to go," She declares.
And just like that Maco leaves Otol and Petra behind.
"Is it really okay to leave them behind?" Luca inquires carefully as if not wanting to get on Maco's bad side. In return, Maco explains to her why she is leaving early.
"I was told by the chief guard to leave ASAP due to me having an elemental with me. He feared for public safety. I could see why. If a group of children attempted to play with it, it could end pretty badly," She explains.
Such children may not have bad intentions. However, for elementals, any attempts to approach them would register as aggression.
"Makes sense," Luca agrees. "You could unsummon and resummon it later but binding an elemental is never easy anyway, so I can see why you want to keep it summoned."
Maco doesn't respond, silently agreeing with her. She adds, "Otol and Petra are old enough. Besides, the pass is safe now. They should be able to make it back to Eton with ease."
Luca nods along.
"I do feel sorry that I had to cut your relaxing moment too soon," She points out in an apologetic tone. "I will buy you the same at Butt tail."
"Butt tail" is the name of Eton's only tavern. Tarvens in this world tend to have vulgar names almost always.
"You know what, I will take you up on that. It did cost me a copper and half after all."
In this world, 10 silver coins translated to a gold coin. And there is no higher than gold coins. When it comes to copper coins which is used primarily used by common folks for daily to daily activities, 10 copper coins still translates to a silver coin. However, half and quarter coins exist. In fact, a copper coin itself is made up with four quarter coin pieces. They act like puzzle pieces where four quarter copper pieces would assemble into a single copper coin.
This variety in copper coin allows more stable day-to-day trading for the vast majority of people.
Anyway, the journey back to Eton has been smooth, and they have arrived at Eton without any troubles.
The first thing she does upon arriving at Eton is selling her salt stacks, and she does so with the first general goods merchant she sees near the gate.
She shows the salt stacks as she inquires for a quote. "How much would you pay these? Two and hald stacks of salt."
The merchant, a man who is about early 40s, inspects the goods carefully. "These look fresh."
"Should be. I've just arrived from Ezona."
He folds his arms. "I thought the pass was heavily contests..." And falls into some thoughts but soon snaps out. "Whatever. Good because supply has been low. I will buy all at 2 silver 5 coppers for a full bag and a silver for the half bag."
The total would make 6 silver coins.
"Add three more copper coins," Maco suggests.
The merchant taps his foot, groaning, but agrees soon enough. He wants to move the salt quickly before anyone. That is one way to turn more profit. When people find out that the pass has become safe, some contested goods would go down in price due to supply being met. He wants to act before salt price stabilizes.
"Fine, six silver and three copper." He pulls out his coin purse off his leather belt and counts the payment, handing them over once done.
Verifying the payment, she puts the coins into her own coin bag on her belt and orders the element to unload the bags.
Soon enough, the transaction is complete, and Maco approaches Luca who has been standing a distance away.
"We going back to Loche or hitting the tavern?" She inquires.
In total, Maco has acquired a gold, six silver, and three copper coins. She takes out a silver and three copper and place them in another, smaller, coin bag; this is her own purse. Only a gold and five silver coins are going to Margaret apparently.
Then she takes out five copper coins from her own purse and hand them over Luca.
"Not much, I am sorry, but this is your share," She adds while handing them over. It is indeed not much. A silver coin would have been more appropriate. Even then it would be below the standard rate. For an example, if this was an official guild task, Luca would have been paid at least three silver coins.
But Luca accepts the payment anyway without any compliment. She, however, asks, "You paying for the tarvern, right?"
"Fine, but let us return to Loche and hand over the money first."
"Not gonna argue with that. I guess they need the money, fast."
Indeed.
[[The final page of this story]]
</div><div id="left_window"><img src="img/lw_033.jpg"></div>
<div id="main">
<img src="img/tavern_scene.jpg">
"Cheers!" Luca exclaims joyfully.
"Cheers," Maco responds rather cooly.
They have returned from Loche, handing over the much needed money for the village. While Maco was unable to obtain the full amount, she was still able to get the village a gold and five silver pieces which is far cry from the expected full amount two gold and five silver pieces.
Still, regardless, Margaret was more than happy to see any kind of income at this point. Quite frankly, even if the village hired mercenaries, it was questionable wheher they could have made it. Giving Eton guild the job would have taken too long also. The village desperately required any form of cash flow because it was completely, utterly, dry and Maco has just made it possible.
Luca finishes half of her mug in one shot, letting out an exalted cry of joy as she slams it down on the table.
"So good! This is worth living for!" She yells. Maco, on the other hands, calmly takes a long sip and that is it.
Minding her own business, Luca raises her hand to call a waiter, or in this case, the waitress Lotta. She is a well-known waitress at Butt tail. She is known to wear a rather short skirt and generally allows men to take a peak as long as there is no physical contact. Basically, it's the simple rule of "It's fine to look but no touch.".
It is safe to say that Lotta is the mascot of Butt tail, and the owner knows this, paying her handsomely and dealing with any complaints from her swiftly and soundly.
<img src="img/tavern_scene_2.jpg">
"What can I get ya?" Lotta asks cheerfully once she reaches the table.
"One more mug of ale, and what side dishes do you have that go well with drinks?"
"For ale? Probably salted dried potato or just dried potato with gravy. They are half a coin piece each. A dish comes with 10 pieces of them," She says. "We do have extra large which costs a quarter more, 20 pieces."
"I will take an extra large of salted!"
"Got it, and you Miss?" Lotta looks at Maco.
"The latter with gravy please, just regular size."
"Got it. Be right back." The waitress, Lotta, elegantly walks around to take more orders and eventually ends up at the front counter where she relays orders. During her walk, a few male customers slowers their upper body to take a peak which she is clearly aware but doesn't retaliate.
"Man, not easy being a waitress, either, eh?" Luca remarks after observing.
"I am pretty sure she knows what she is doing," Maco replies.
"Well, obviously. Never in my life have I worn a skirt that short," Luca says with a snicker. "You also wear a skirt that's pretty short."
In Maco's case though, she isn't exactly wearing a skirt.
"I am wearing a tunic actually, a long tunic. My body is petite enough to make it as if I am wearing a one-piece dress and I am wearing a pair of shorts underneath."
Luca lowers her body to look under the table to check out.
"You might really want to wear longer shorts then," She says as she comes back up. "Because, right now, you look as if you are wearing nothing but undergarments."
"I will take it under consideration," Maco replies as she takes another long sip at ale. "How is the life treating you, Luca?"
Lotta approaches the table and carefully places the plates for the two and walks away. Luca rubs her hands and swiftly devours three pieces of dried potato pieces in a matter of seconds while Maco dips her potato piece into gravy and elegantly takes a bite.
"Well, it's Loche, you know. It's quiet. Too quiet," Luca remarks. "But we, scholars, can deal with super quietness."
Maco has always felt that, given Luca's lively personality, she wouldn't be able to take it in Loche. And Luca seems to have read her mind.
"I know how energeric I can be," She says. "But, when I focus on my studies, I am still as a rock."
"What have you been studying?"
"It's been mostly refining Golbin language further and perhaps a little bit of studying further into my magic."
Maco hopes that she will have time to do some research on her own as well. She has a lot of subjects that could really use further diving. She recons she will have some years until shit hits the fan, figuratively speaking.
They continue to converse and salted potato pieces on Luca's dish are vanishing at an alarming speed.
!!!Thank you for reading this short story.
</div>