Three days passed quickly. Kahari practically slept through the first day, rousing only to eat, drink, and use the bathroom. On the second day he got a shower and finally changed out of his old, ragged clothes. On the third he set them aside to be washed while inspecting the rest of his equipment. On the morning of the day they were to leave, Kahari finally dressed to leave Ixul. Heartseeker still sat on the desk where he had left it, and while he hesitated for a moment, upon grabbing the weapon it just felt right in his hands. He had a simple leather sheath to put over the blade. Mostly so that carrying it was less dangerous to those around him. After putting on the rest of his armor, and packing his spare weapons into his Bag, except for his new bow and the arrows to go with it, he joined the others in the hall.

Bedora had exchanged her old, and somewhat damaged scale mail for a suit made of chain. Quilted cloth, probably interwoven cotten, was beneath it. She had normal metal greaves and gauntlets to go with them, rather than chain gloves and gauntlets. They matched what she had worn previously, maybe they had a special meaning to her. Nissa had upgraded from pretty much no armor to something made from Monster Boar leather. It was lightweight and flexible, but resilient and good for long journeys. Chara for her part was wearing a similar set of Monster Boar leather, though she had fingerless gloves, likely to aid in puppeting Fotia and Pagos, as he had learned they were actually nicknamed. Their damaged pieces had been replaced, new dresses sewn for them, and their weapons were now made from Solar and Lunar steel respectively. Solar and Lunar steel were slightly better materials than Orb Weaver Chitin at their base, with strong elemental affinities that oppose one another. He was sure the armor under their dresses had similarly been upgraded, enhancing both their power and mobility.

All in all the four of them were relatively well balanced for a party of four, though they lacked the recommended balance and composition by Association standard. Generally people moved in groups of five to seven, with a specific spread of classes and roles. There were successful parties as small as three, the smallest the Association would allow to actually be linked, and as large as thirty. While the limit seemed arbitrary to Kahari, apparently because to some extent XP and quest rewards were shared among the party, getting too big made it impossible to advance because of some diminishing return problem, so the Association capped parties at thirty, although they did recommend not going above ten. This led to the creation of clans, and guilds. Clans were generally more tight knit and combat focused than guilds, where guilds were larger and offered services beyond just mercenary or adventurer work. Like the Night Talons, who ran a smuggling and crime operation throughout this section of the continent.

The Association had already smashed many of their operations, capturing or killing hundreds of Night Talon members in the past few months. These operations were being kept up even as forces for the assault on Fota were gathering here in Ixual. There was still a few months before they were going to move, as gathering enough forces for a siege took time, especially as it was an army of Association members, no outside mercenaries or armies were being allowed. As Bedora had officially listed them as a party, they were now part of ‘Operation Shadow Cat’, and bore runes that would give a three day warning before the final planning and march was planned to take place.

In the time until then, their little party of four was going to be focused on training up, getting as much new equipment, and power as they could before the fight. It was unlikely they’d be part of the main assault force, given their relative low levels, but they’d still have a place in the assault, especially as numbers were needed. As it stood the number of Adventurers in Ixul was increasing by the day. Soon the city would have more adventures in it than anywhere other than maybe the Association’s floating city, a veritable superfortress filled with the top powers the world over. That was what the people of Altesia assumed anyway, Kahari got the feeling that it may not be as extensive as people assumed, given the large numbers of interconnection pocket dimensions the Association used.

They filed out into the front lobby, which now had two more booths open to handle the additional flow of newcomers. The party stopped in front of one of the many quest boards, and looked for the mark being used to indicate that they were set in the Voston Hills. For Low Tier adventurers, it was mostly the same regardless of region. Extermination of troublesome monster nests, hunting of a specific monster, escort duty, material gathering, and one request for an adventurer party to assist in a mineral survey. In the end the party accepted three of these quests. An extermination order for a nest of F2 Soldier Wasps, and their E5 Queen. An extermination order for fifty Monster Boar that were threatening villages along the river that ran down from the mountains. And finally a delivery request, dropping off a supply of materials and processed essence to the Naiad Village in the mountains. While it was a little beyond the hills, the mountains weren’t messed with often enough to have their own area designation. Nissa seemed nervous about the last one, but neither Kahari or Chara pressed. Instead they waited as Bedora made sure the Association had them registered for the quests before stepping outside.

Before they made it to the Eastern Gate, a loud crack shook the air, and window panes around them. All four of them reached for weapons, or in Chara’s case, her marionettes, before Nissa raised a hand.

“Wait, wait. That’s...oh wow, they brought in the Night Witches…”

Floating in the air above Ixul was an island with a tower made of black stone. Three small figures jumped from the tower, a massive chain being pulled from the stone base of the island. They attached the chain to the tallest tower of Ixul Castle, before it fleshed and morphed into what seemed like...stairs? It was hard to tell from here, but it was no longer a chain, that was for sure.

“Night Witches?”

Chara asked as they all got moving again, eyes lingering on the tower that had appeared from nowhere. She seemed so small compared to the rest of them, but Kahari knew full well she was as dangerous as he was, maybe more so given she represented two foes in one.

“Clan from Estria, somewhere up near the great Ice Plains. Don’t know a ton about them, but they’ve got nearly a hundred fifty members. Focus on aerial stealth attacks, and AoE destruction. Supposedly every one of them can fly without equipment, but that’s more rumor than anything else. All I know is they’ve routed armies on their own, and last I’d heard were in Videl preparing for the next Ouroboros crusade. Guess the Association tapped them for this.”

“That’s...a lot of firepower, can’t imagine anything could stop them.”

“You’d be surprised. The Titan’s down in Stroacor have magic that can sustain such an assault. They’re called ‘God-Killers’ for a reason. Been quiet for nearly half a millennium now, but even Oroborus maintains diplomacy with them.”

Bedora’s voice had a note of bitterness to it. Most of the Amazonian race was enslaved by the Titans of Stroacor. It was only the ones that had fled to the Plaidian islands that still had a government. It was a constant source of tension from the descendents of the Amazonian refugees, and the coast still saw constant raids and skirmishes over the matter.

“Let’s get moving. The Voston Hills aren’t too far away, but we want to get out there soon. So many adventurers are going to be restless, and there’s going to be plenty of competition over the monsters for a good week trip around Ixul.”

Bedora shut down any attempt from Kahari to question exactly what she knew about Stroacor. It was obviously a touchy subject, and he wasn’t going to press. It wasn’t even important right now, Stroacor was months away with plenty of nations between here and there. It was no threat to Altesia at the moment.

The group was practically shoved out of the East gate, which was clogged with merchants and Adventurers trying to get into the city. It seemed the people in Videl had heard about the pending war, and with so many Adventurers gathering, it was attracting many, many merchants to profit from it all. Ixul would be growing fat off the taxes and entry fees, Kahari even spotted some Raptoride and Cyclopean merchants among the numerous wagons. He’d never seen them before, if they were common in Ixul, they never passed by Seras if they headed further south at all. He wasn’t surprised if they didn’t. Ixul was the major stopover before the Captial, and Xinas to the south was the hub for trade with the southern nations. Not a lot of merchants that weren’t local moved between Xinas and Ixul, let alone Xinas and the capital.

While the roads were clogged on the way in, almost no one was heading eastward, so once they got past the throng closest to the gate, they had it pretty easy going. The houses and camps that normally surrounded the walls were more packed than ever, but they seemed to be handling the strain. For now. Kahari imagined the taverns and inns around the city, both inside and outside of it, were going to be seeing plenty of business from this. Even as they walked, they could hear quiet muttering from the waiting line as they all talked about the one thing no one could have missed. The giant floating tower of the Night Witches. Kahari had to admit, such a thing was well worth talking about.

Even as they walked a few figures were flying high overhead. They flew close enough Kahari could make them out. All three were wearing black clothing, two with blue bands on their arm, and one with red. The one with red led the group, wings made of fire spreading out from her back. She had blond hair, and pale skin. She was too far away to make out the color of her eyes. One of her companions was a beautiful demon girl, maybe a Greater Demon, with lilac skin, dark hair, curved horns, and bat-like wings extending from her back. The final was a blue skinned man with hair that looked like water flowing down his shoulder. He had wings seemingly made of ice, or some kind of crystal, extending from his back. The trio passed by moving quickly, before banking and circling the city. It seemed to Kahari that they were showing off, that they enjoyed some of the attention their theatrics created. Maybe that was why the tower had appeared the way it had, he’d have to ask them if he ever got the chance.

“If the Night Witches are here, I wonder if they’ll take command from Zatitus.”

“Eh, I doubt it. Zatitus isn’t even the highest rank we know of in the operation, but as a Warlord he’s got certain talents for leading large scale battles. Bet he’ll just have them act semi-independently from the rest of the force.”

“You’re on, loser buys the winner a Crepe or Ice Cream.”

“Deal!”

“Crepes?”

“And Chara a Crepe.”

“Really?”

“Yes! She hasn’t had one yet, and everyone should have one.”

“Nissa, you’re obsessed.”

“I resent that, the Goddess of Sweets curse you.”

“No such Goddess exists.”

“Yet.”

“You can’t have her curse me if she doesn’t exist.”

“I can when she does.”

“If she does.”

“Are they always like this?”

Chara fell back to talk to Kahari as the siblings in front of them continued to playfully bicker. He just laughed and shook his head.

“Pretty much, you get used to it. They argue and fight all the time, but I would rather be on their side than against them. It’s all playful, I’ve never seen them seriously angry at each other.”

Chara was silent for a moment, tightening her hood around her face as the sun broke out from behind the clouds.

“Reminds me of my clutch.”

“Clutch?”

“Lamia-dyn are raised in clutches, usually there’s only two or three of us per parent, but all the kids hatch around the same time every year. Start of summer, though Winter Born are said to be touched by one of our gods.”

“Must be strange. I had two younger sisters, but we were a year apart. While there were plenty of other kids in Seras we...well, we weren’t all raised together. Different families, different homes.”

“Until we’re adults, we sleep in a big communal home. We know our parents of course, but we don’t live with them. Your way sounds...lonely.”

“It can be at times, but it encourages families to be closer together. It works for us.”

“If you say so.”

As they continued to talk, two other groups of flying Night Witches flew overhead. Each group was different from the last, and Kahari couldn’t help but watch them go. He saw a dizzying array of different races among them, but they all wore the same black clothing and/or armor. He was certain now it was a uniform, and as he watched the third group fly into the distance, he wondered just how strong the Night Talon’s were to prompt a response of this level.