“Everyone who isn’t wounded, help me by picking up the dead quickly! Those who need to stay behind to bring the wagons to Mythtide, stay behind! This is going to be a one-way trip!” I shouted.

“What the hell are you yelling about, lad? Let us bury our dead and get on our way. More soldiers are sure to show up soon.” one of the Gnomes said.

“I’m opening a portal to The Guild’s hall in Mythtide. Get ready. I won’t be able to hold it long!”

“What?!” a few of them shouted in surprise.

The others began shouting to gather the dead. The five bodies, two Beastkin, two Gnomes, and a Human, were laid next to one another. The group's younger members began to pick the bodies up, two per Human and Beastkin, and a single massive man held the dead Gnome couple in his arms.

“We’re ready!” the massive man with the Gnomes yelled.

The gateway easily slid into my mind and filled with the Void nodes. I imaged the front wall of The Guild, to the right of the doors, and the final click came as I released the spell. The three-meter tall door opened up between myself and those holding onto the dead. The group ran into the portal before I could say anything.

I looked through the portal in horror. I saw Vylria and a hooded man standing next to her, staring at the portal. Vylria seeing the dead, shouted something and ran towards the portal. I wasn’t sure if she could see me. I was on the other side of the portal from where the group ran into.

The hooded man shouted something and pointed at the portal, and began running forward. The large man with the Gnomes still in his arms, Kicked the hooded figure out of his way and yelled back for me to close the portal.

I snapped out of it and released the construct, the doorway snapping shut.

“Thank you, warrior-mage. Those five should have enough time for the Resurrection spell to be used on them. We will never forget this kindness. Unfortunately, if a squad of soldiers finds us, we’ll be in a pickle. There will be more soon. We need to salvage what we can from the burnt wreckage and get moving. Is there any way you can escort us to Mythtide?”

“I’m sorry, I can’t. I need to head to Meckingmoor to meet a friend.”

“I understand. Take care. We’ve heard more of the Akhusite Kingdom’s army marching south. The Adventurer’s Guild doesn’t protect Meckingmoor, so be careful and take care of yourself, lad, and thank you again for saving our friends’ and loved ones’ lives.” said one of the female Humans.

I helped them pack the carriages with their unburnt belongings into the other three wagons. With lesser people, they had more room inside them. They left shortly after, waving the entire time until they crested the horizon.

“It might be best if you wear the Glimmer Cape, Luin. We may run into more of these assholes sooner than later.”

She didn’t argue, the cape covering her entire body and head. Luin had to curl her tail around her body a bit, but that was the only issue. It was getting dark, so hopefully, no one could see the glimmer the cape put off if you looked closely.

We stopped and moved to the center of a cluster of trees when it grew darker. Storm clouds above us threatened to release their anger. I created another underground campsite, this time making small chimneys for air, with coverings on their top, in case it did rain.

The cracking thunder awoke me sometime in the night. Reaching down and touching the floor confirmed my worry. I cursed as water had found its way down into the campsite. I created a large void below our room and made small holes at the bottom of the steps and around the edges of our room. The water slowly drained away, and I cursed myself again for not stocking more dry wood in the backpack. It was getting a bit chilly down here.

I lay awake for a while, listening to the storm raging outside, and hoped the hooded figure didn’t hurt the big man who had kicked him. Deep down, I was hoping that the hooded figure wasn’t one of the Hunters who were after me. Luin’s now louder snoring, due to her bigger body and the raging storm outside, lauded me to drift back into slumber.

We left our underground campsite the following morning and continued southwest along the dirt road. Luin continued to wear the Glimmer Cape. A few more wagons passed us, but I hadn’t seen any Beastkin, or other unsavory races, as they were called. Every time we spotted soldiers in the distance, Luin would walk on the other side of me so that they couldn’t catch any of the glimmer the cape produced when the user moved.

As the sun in the sky passed its zenith and began to head towards the horizon, we spotted the odd-shaped city in the distance. We could also make out fires blazing to the north of the city. A modest size army was camping around those fires in the fields. Behind the camp, on the horizon, were more soldiers heading towards the camp.

Getting closer to what I assumed was Meckingmoor, I studied the tall thin towers all over the city past its walls. At first, I thought they were Dungeon’s spires, but I caught sight of smoke coming out of their tops. The thin towers were some type of chimney.

On its walls, I began to make out what I assumed was some type of cannon every few meters. They looked like old naval cannons, possibly the same type the slaver’s vessel had on them. The walls were covered in them for as far as I could see on the walls. I didn’t have to wonder why the Akhusite soldiers hadn’t been able to push into the city.

As we continued walking towards the city, I heard shouting and a metallic clanging coming from behind us. Turning around, I spotted a group of five soldiers in the familiar dark red armor running towards me from the field to the south.

“Stop! No one is to enter Meckingmoor by the orders of the Akhusite King!”

“Don’t move a muscle, Luin,” I whispered.

I stood there and waited for the group to approach. When they drew their weapons, I summoned two Rank 2 Ice Lances that floated above my head and a regular Fireball in my left hand.

The soldiers, seeing the spells at the ready, stopped ten meters out from me before the man in the more detailed armor spoke again. “You may not enter Meckingmoor adventurer. Please turn around and go back from where you came.”

“From my understanding, this isn’t the Akhusite Kingdom. You plan on attacking the city soon, by the looks of it. Your king has this insane idea that anyone other than the Humans deserves to die.

“Well if you haven’t looked at my ears, I’m not a human. So I warn you now, I will go where I please, and if you try and stop me, Your families will be unable to morn over your bodies, as nothing will remain of you. If you move closer to the city, I promise you that I will defend it to my dying breath.”

“You can’t! The Adventurer’s Guild’s rules forbid its members from entering political engagements!”

That was a surprise. Was he telling me the truth? Had Lastaf or Hiroaki forgotten to mention that detail about The Guild? It’s better to ask for forgiveness, I guess. I dismissed the fireball, reached up, and tore my white medallion off my neck, the leather cord holding it quickly breaking. I tossed the medallion inside my bag.

“Guess If I quit, the rules don’t apply.”

“But, but the rules of war,” the nicely dressed man, what I assumed was an officer, began to sweat and look around as he kept muttering, ‘but.”

“You can remove the cloak, Luin. These bastards won’t stop us.”

The soldiers looked at me oddly before Luin removed the cloak from around her and tossed it over to me. I placed it back in my side bag and waved goodbye to the five idiots. I kept the Ice lances hovering above for a few moments until we were far enough away. Then I dismissed them.

I heard their leader begin shouting something again from behind but did not attempt to see what he was going on about. That proved a fool’s error, as an arrow slammed into my lower back, just below my backpack.

I screamed out in pain and spun around. Three of the soldiers were now charging toward us. I had no patience to deal with them, I reached behind my back and tried to pull the arrow out, but it wouldn't budge and was incredibly painful to touch.

The arrow forgotten, I summoned a blue Fireball, the three soldiers turning into a pink mist a moment later. Their leader and archer seeing their soldiers go down in a blink of thunderous sound, began running towards their camp.

“Take care of them, Luin. I can’t run with this arrow inside me. If you grow tired, don’t use any more spells!”

Luin took off surprisingly fast towards the fleeing men. She dashed in front and around them quickly, cutting off their retreat. I watched as she dodged an arrow and slowly moved towards the two men. The leader finally got out his sword, but it was too late. I heard Luin shout something, and bouts of fire came forth from her mouth. She swept the flamethrower-type attack across both men, who began to scream as they tried covering their faces.

Not a moment later, the pile of body parts on the road and the two Luin had killed began to glow green and formed into gems. I watched as Luin walked up to the two bodies and picked the gems up, tossing them into her mouth. I winced as I turned and walked over and did the same thing.

[ System Notification ]

Three Rank C Jade Cores has given 48 Energy

5% Bonus: 2

15 Energy converted to 150 Mana

Skeletal System: 82/300

I was curious as to why humanoids gave lower-ranked cores than monsters. Did it depend on the level of their class? Luin came running over and pointed behind her. The camp of soldiers had seen what we had done, and many of them were now rushing towards us.

“Pull the arrow out, Luin. We need to run to the city, now!”

I screamed in agony as Luin pulled the arrow from my lower back. She showed me the arrow a moment later. The barbed end had a decent chunk of my flesh hanging from it. I grabbed the arrow and threw it away in rage before yelling to run to the city.

Luin took off, and I hobbled behind her. I threw on my Speed Aura and began to keep up, but the pain radiating from my back was excruciating. I looked over my shoulder to see the closest soldiers still plenty of distance away. Looking over her shoulder, Luin spotted me far behind, turned around, and came back to me.

“Go! I’ll make it. The healing is just taking its sweet time.”

“No! I will protect, papa,” she said before scooping me up and putting me over her shoulder. She then turned and began running towards the city. I began screaming as I bounced up and down on her shoulder. I could feel the wound heal, then tear as I was jolted.

A few minutes later, we made it to the city's gates, where what I guessed were Gnome guards standing outside and waving for us to enter a small side door at the main gate’s side.

I heard the door slam behind us, someone yelling for a healer, and various other shouts. Luin finally knelt and allowed me to tumble off her back. I screamed when I felt the wound open yet again.

Moments later, a female Gnome barked out orders for the guards to roll me over, and then I felt sweet relief a moment later. Rolling back onto my back, I gasped out a thank you to the healer.

“Many thanks for killing those self-righteous ninnies, but when The Guild hears about this, there will be hell for you to pay,” said the Gnome healer.

“I quit, then. Why the hell would The Guild allow people to be slaughtered?”

“Did you not read and sign The Guild’s Charter when you joined?”

“Nope, no idea what that is.”

“Oh boy! We got an unenforced here!” shouted two of the Gnome guards to the side.

“What the hell is an unenforced?” I asked.

“Someone not bound to the rules of The Guild, if what you say is correct.

“What’s stopping those dicks outside from preventing its people from joining The Guild without this charter and forcing them to join their army? Wouldn’t that give them an advantage?” I asked.

“If the kingdom tried to do that, then The Guild would stop supporting the clearing of the three dungeons in their capital and move all their members to another location.”

“Couldn’t the kingdom just raise their own adventurers to clear the dungeons? I still don’t see why these rules would stop me from helping those in need,” I said.

“Only those high in levels can teleport inside dungeons. Only the high-ranked individuals inside The Guild can call in reinforcements from neighboring towns and cities. I’m not privy to why this is the way it is, but these rules protect all members of The Guild from political issues.

“If the kingdom were to lose its adventurers, the dungeons could go critical and release a monster wave. In a city like the Akhusite Capital, that could turn deadly quickly,” said the female Gnome.

“I see. The politics here make little sense to me. Thank you again for healing me. Could you point me to someone named Jarrax?”

“Why the hell would you want to see that old grumpy fleabag?”

“Fleabag?”