∼ Day 95 ∼

Even though the Ebonwoods were beyond massive, it didn't take us long before we stumbled upon a wide and worn road. Finding the journey suddenly much more relaxing, our group admired the sights of the forest as we passed colossal trees towering into the sky, both beautiful and alien forest creatures, and the many wonders of the forest's magical nature.

However, we didn't get to do this for long as the sudden passing of caravans, groups, and riders atop all kinds of mounts brought us out of our reverie. I was awe-struck by all the various races I saw. There were nagas, greenskins, huge gnolls, even what appeared to be fae, and a host of other races.

We had been initially extremely tense as we saw others in the distance, but to our surprise, the monsters in the first caravan pulled by some massive bestial stags only gave us a few stares before hurriedly looking the other way. While most of those stares definitely were directed as Mia, they clearly weren't of adoration but almost what I suspected to be fear.

Why that was, I hadn't the faintest idea as Mia wasn't all that strong again. Well, at least not to many of the larger and much stronger monsters we passed who seemed to refuse to make eye-contact with her.

But other than that curiosity, it made sense. Where there were roads, there was civilization, and where there was a civilization there were people and merchants. Although all those who traveled the same road back and forth were monsters, it made sense that they wouldn't portray hostility unless needed.

But still, I had Mia adorn a gown to hide her appearance. It clearly had some meaning that I didn't know off, so for now I thought it best to not show it so openly. As such, I doubted any of the monsters we passed would bat an eye or give us unnecessary attention,

Well, that was only if those we encountered were merchants and mercenaries rather than bandits, such as the group that sprung of the forest after about three days after we had entered the forest and begun down this road.

I wondered why they had targeted specifically us, and not the dozens of other caravans and groups who must've also traveled this part of the road, plus that they had been carrying loads of cargo while we didn't. But as I listened in on the whispers of our assailants, it became rather obvious as to why.

"Boss, are you sure about this?" One of the hooded figures whispered to a taller and lanky figure who seemed to be the leader. "They barely seem to have anything on them... Is this really worth the risk, what if the Forest Guard gets wind of thi-"

"Shut it. As I said before, the intel said that they had no sigil." The tall and lanky figure spat, and I could feel his eyes under the hood roam over our group. "The forest guard couldn't care less if they found them dead."

"Ah! So that's what 'they' were..." I suddenly realized, remembering back to the many caravans that had passed by our group which all bore this same curious fist-sized sigil on their caravans or whatever equivalent they traveled with.

I had initially just thought of them as a sign of allegiance to Ebongrave, but in truth, they now seemed more like something of a safeguard or tool to ward off thieves and bandits on the road. Although I didn't exactly know what their function was, I guessed it to be more of a symbol of status rather than a defensive talisman.

"Besides, look at that one, I'd say they have more than some valuables - Ke-ke-ke," The leader snickered, pointing a crooked finger at Mia's cowled figure. "There are women to be had."

Suddenly deadpanning, all emotion vanished from my face.

I merely looked to Mia, not sparing the man who had just sentence himself to death another glance.

"You can have this one," I said simply, my voice and face unreadable. "And yes... you don't need to hold back - take your time."

The complete and utter stillness in my voice caused the surroundings to almost seem like they chilled, my aura also reflecting the unnerving sense of impending doom.

"Gladly." Mia nodded before her expression took a complete turn.

Taking an unconscious step back in apprehension, the leader gulped audibly, now much warier than just a moment before as he watched Mia and Bob descend from their mounts.

In Bob's eyes, pure and unadulterated anger could be seen which was terrifying in its own right when coming from his massive figure and crimson-red cleaver strung to his back that radiated a sense of destruction and ruination. However, in Mia's ruby eyes, something much more terrifying could be seen.

The promise of a long and truly agonizing death...

***

Bursting into the room of the guardhouse, the panting figure of a troll could be seen.

Sighing expansively, the large battle-scarred bugbear decked out in mail armor laid down his comically small book compared to his huge frame on the desk in front of him.

"What is it Qvivvick?" The gruff bugbear asked annoyedly.

Catching his breath, the troll fumbled with a piece of parchment he drew from a satchel at his hip. But upon feeling the impatient stare from his guard captain boring holes in him, Qvivvick quickly sobered up and managed to fully unroll it.

"Ahem- This is a report of a bandit attack on the main road of the lowlands... the Dark Cape Brotherhood to be exact," Qvivvick reported, reading through the parchment to be sure.

"Why has this brought all the way back to base?" The guard captain of the forest guards grumbled. "Can't the patrolling guards stationed at the Lowland's main intersection handle this - no?"

He paused suddenly.

"Wait... those bastards didn't attack a merchant's caravan, did they?!" The massive bugbear all of a sudden flared as he rose to his feet, towering over the much smaller troll.

"Um- n-no, sir. It-it doesn't seem so..." Quivvick stuttered, craning his neck to look upwards as even though as a troll he was already large, the massive bugbear guard captain was a behemoth in his own right.

"Then what? Spit it out recruit."

"The report states that the entire band of bandits was wiped out, a forty-plus group - and they weren't weak as there wasn't a single fighter under the 4th-tier..."

"The Dark Cape Brotherhood must've really brought their best even though they're one of the smallest syndicates. Not surprising how desperate they've been as of late," The guard captain nodded. "But there's got to be more to it than that if the patrolling guards send this back to base. "

"This isn't wholly uncommon after all," He explained. "It wouldn't be the first time bandits bit off more than they could chew."

Hesitating, Quivvick face scrunched as he re-read the report to be sure.

"Well, the circumstances you see..." He paused. "There's actually no trace of the attacked party having suffered any damage or losses in the conflict... and... the state of the bandit's bodies are..."

"Spit it out already." The bugbear grew impatient.

"The report just describes the corpses as barely recognizable..." He muttered.

Frowning, the bugbear adopted a contemplative expression. Although it seemed that all was well and right as no Ebongrave licensed caravans had been attacked and that fewer bandits on the roads were always a good thing, this whole ordeal still intrigued the bored captain a great deal.

"Quivvick, mobilize a squadron, we'll go and take a look." The guard captain said, slinging a large studded metal club to his hip. "I trust that the scene has remained untouched, correct?"

"Y-yes, sir..." He stuttered, moving aside so the captain could move past and outside.

***

It didn't take long before the guard captain and a squadron of ten heavily armored guards riding on wargs made their way to the scene of slaughter.

"-Damn... the report wasn't lying..." The captain said, frowning at the scene of carnage before him as even some of the guards behind started to look queasy.

And that saying something as they were all of warrior monster races.

Scattered all around, were corpses in every state of dismemberment imaginable.

Some looked like they had literally just exploded, while others looked like their final moments in the world had been excruciatingly long and agonizing. But something specific of notice was that they all had the distinct feature of lacking blood, what pieces left of their bodies looking as if they had been desiccated.

Climbing down from his warg, the guard captain crouched beside a corpse he couldn't exactly figure out had died. To his experienced eyes, it seemed that the corpse had been pierced by some awkwardly shaped blade from a slew of different angles. However, the odd thing was, that the wounds all indicated toward them having come from inside the body rather than outside...

Many other corpses in fact shared this trait now that he looked closer, baffling the older veteran. Looking thoughtful, the captain scratched at his furry chin in thought.

"Inga! Get over here." He bellowed, not taking his eyes off the corpse.

It didn't take long before a scrawny figure in dark robes scurried over to the crouching guard captain who still towered over him even when he was crouched.

Inga was a drow mage of noble line and an incredibly talented one at that. Having ended up in service of the city lord from the reputable house Menethil, Inga was sent to the Forest Guards to garner some experience of the world outside the city's walls, otherwise, such a prodigy like him would've never been let outside the gates before maturing fully.

As such, it was the guard captain's responsibility to bring him everywhere he went, and make sure of his safety.

"Get closer and take a look at this," He ordered with an encouraging hand gesture. "See if you can sense if any magic had been at play here."

Clearly hesitant, Inga took a few slow steps forward, his squeamish nature starting to show itself as he stared down at the brutalized corpse. It was something that the guard captain had tried desperately to beat out of him ever since he came under his service and supervision, but it never really seemed to work no matter what he did or subjected the brat to.

Taking a step back, the captain let the small mage do his work as his pupils began swirling with blackness.

Turning to the guard captain, the darkness disappeared, and Inga nodded resolutely.

"There's definitely magical residue on the corpse, however, it's unlike anything I've ever felt or senses before..." He hesitated. "It seems almost ancient... primal... Honestly, from how the magic residue was left, it also doesn't seem like it came from any external attack where magic would've left behind a bit of mana, but instead, it feels like the magic had fused with the body and been launched from inside..."

Scratching his furry chin like he always did when contemplating, the guard captain thought Inga's words over.

"Can you sense if the mage was stronger or weaker than you?"

Shaking his head, Inga clenched his robes.

"I'm not very versed in magical sensing yet," He explained. "And such gauging it's already very vague in the first place, but taking into consideration the fact that this corpse had been a 4th-tier monster and the small amount of mana I can sense, the mage could either be on par with me or far - far greater than me. But I honestly can't know for sure."

Nodding, the captain went over to another corpse, this one looking like it had just up and exploded from the head-down.

"T-this one wasn't killed by magic... but I don't know what else it could've been though..." Inga croaked disgustedly, trying to hold in his bile.

"I know - This was done by blade..." The captain muttered absentmindedly, stunning the smaller drow.

"H-how can a blade do... this," He stuttered, pointing weakly to the utter carnage of the corpse.

"Only one type of warrior could've done something like this..." The guard captain frowned. "A certain terrifying and dangerous type..."

‹ Xavier Tal'chor ›

I scowled at Bob who was absentmindedly picking his own nose.

"Bob ∼ what did I say about picking your own nose?"

Freezing, he turned his head stiffly towards me, finger still deep his the depths of his nose.

"Uh... impolite and nasty..." He said, hurriedly pulling his finger out of his nose and now looking downcast at his lack of self-control. "Sorwy Masta..."

Shaking my head, I couldn't help but smile at the big lovable brute.

"It's okay, but remember - As chief, you need to present yourself as such, right?"

"Ah! Yes, Masta." He exclaimed, his face suddenly trying to look as stern and imposing as he could, but it only added to it all.

Taking his sudden enthusiasm as excitement, his feline mount beneath him, apparently also sharing his airheaded trait, started bolting forward playfully, Bob suddenly having to hold onto dear life as he struggled to stay on.

The chime of a mirthful giggle drew me to look at Mia who looked onwards at the situation with undisguised bemusement even though most of her face was covered under her cowl.

Shaking my head with exasperation at their antics, I sighed. But the mood was infectious nonetheless, so I quickly found myself laughing with them.