Chapter 46:

The carriage exploded into a blazing inferno, sending shrapnel-like pieces of wood and beast-innards toward the mercenaries.

Franklin’s face warped in disgust as he spread his aura out in the form of a barrier; the sickening sound of beast flesh striking against his Aura further soured his mood.

Once the dust settled, Franklin turned to his side where Jen had, at some point, arrived.

She had a couple of scratches on her, but as expected of a member of his troop, she wasn’t seriously injured.

“Where?” He asked in a barely restrained voice.

“In the forest toward the west, they shouldn't have gotten far,” Jen replied solemnly.

Nodding his head, he turned to look toward his mercenaries. Twenty of his best men and women. Though he still thought that this number was a bit much, he was no longer as lax as before and neither were they.

Unlike a few minutes ago, there were no longer any laughs or snide remarks, but rather sharp eyes and clenched fists; their pride had been hurt. Now it was time to reclaim it.

“Hunt!” Franklin gave a short speech before disappearing into the night, his people followed suit.

…………………………………………

Rine laid wide awake staring holes into the unfamiliar ceiling above him. What was it that kept him awake? Was it the foreign bed? The bland food? Or the deafening sound of hundreds of strangers breathing deeply in their sleep?

Whatever the cause, the result was Rine’s constant shuffling from one position to another in search of just the right one so as to begin his slumber.

Faced with nothing better to do, he began to review the events of that day.

The process was oddly smooth; after arriving at the vanguard’s gathering hall, they proceeded to wait until the fortress was no longer accepting adventurers for the day.

Finally, orientation began and it basically involved splitting the adventurers into teams of eight consisting of two magicians and five warriors not including the leader who could be either.

Luckily for Rine, Calvin was included in his team.

After the team formation, they were informed of the duties they had to perform before, during, and after the war. Duties preceding the war mostly involved assisting the other units and training. The training was mostly in the form of team exercises that aimed to better the coordination between members. It also included learning basic battle commands and war tactics.

As for duties during the war, they were pretty self-explanatory.

The real surprise was the duties that came after the war. Apparently, those who showed exemplary performance during the battle would receive greater rewards than average.

Rewards ranged anywhere from simple Origin crystals to rank advancement and in some cases even recruitment into the Palace.

Once again, Rine turned to his other side still searching for that ideal position. He had gotten used to the sound of other people snoring so all he had to do was make himself comfortable, surely then sleep would come to him.

However as he closed his eyes in an attempt to lure slumber, he heard the faint sounds of someone crying.

Curious, he got up and headed toward the window. Upon opening it he saw a small boy his age sitting beneath it.

The boy had light red hair and was frail in frame with barely any meat on his bones. The little freckles dotting his face made the boy look younger than he was.

Rine immediately recognized who the boy was; Roe, his team’s other magician, also of the flame attribute. Almost all of the magicians belonging to the vanguard unit were flame magicians.

“Roe?” Rine called out carefully.

Shoulders flinching slightly, Roe turned around hesitantly before realizing who had called. “Oh, Rine it’s you,” He said with slight embarrassment as he wiped his face.

“What’s wrong?” Rine asked, sliding down to sit beside him.

“Nothing,” Roe turned his head to the side, avoiding eye contact.

Things grew awkward as both boys stayed silent for a while. Unsure of what to say, Rine decided to say nothing; opting instead to place a hand on Roe’s back.

Roe flinched again at the unexpected gesture, but soon he regained his calm.

A few more minutes pass with the two not sharing a single word. Finally, Roe cracked. “I miss my parents…”

Rine nodded lightly “Of course you would, it’s only natural.”

Roe peeked at Rine’s profile before asking. “What about you?”

Rine seemed to think about it for a while before saying. “I mean I probably would be missing them too, but the thing is, I don’t know your parents.”

Roe scoffed as Rine snickered.

With the tensions defused Rine spoke again. “I’ve actually never met my parents.”

Roe’s head snapped back in shock. “Really?”

“Yup, they left when I was young. Don’t even know what they look like.”

“Man… I’m sorry…”

“Nah, you’ve got nothing to do with it.”

Roe didn’t follow up and instead chose to ponder over what to say before speaking. “You’re pretty calm huh.”

“I guess? Maybe I’m just used to it. I still have my grandfather after all; I do miss him by the way.”

“No, not that. I meant in general. Even when I first saw you during the gathering, you always had a calm face on.”

“Did I?”

“Yup. Even when the soldier was talking about the whole battle appraisal thing,” Roe said as he took out his badge. On it was the number “178”. The number was assigned to an adventurer based on many different factors including the place they came from, personal strength, and guild rank.

Though not officially stated anywhere, most adventurers assumed that the number was actually a preliminary ranking with "1" being the strongest. But that made no sense for various reasons, after all the boy with the number “1” was a mere warrior. One would think that the very first rank would be occupied by a magician, but it wasn’t; because of this, a lot of people began doubting whether the number really signified strength.

“Is the appraisal really important?” Rine asked, scratching his cheek.

Once more shocked by Rine’s question, Roe spat back. “Of course! Nevermind the extra Origin crystals, the real prize is being recruited by the palace. Any magician who joins the palace would be set for life. Just imagine it! The number of Crystals we’d get as a regular salary would be more than the rewards we’ll get for participating in this war. Let alone the fame and reputation. Hell, even the women…” Roe’s face reddened slightly.

“Hmm,” Rine said, not offering much of a reply. “So the wind palace is pretty cool huh.”

“Wind palace?” Roe asked.

“Yeah?”

“Who said anything about that one, I’m talking about the fire palace. Weren't you paying attention to the orientation?”

“Ughh,”

“Don’t you know that Fire magicians can’t join the wind palace? I mean it’s pretty obvious.”

Rine did a double-take. It, in fact, was pretty clear. The place was called “The Wind Palace” after all.

“Man when I first figured out I was a fire magician, I desperately pleaded with my parents, day in and day out to move to the lands of fire, but they wouldn’t have it.”

Rine thought back to when he first pulled off a fire spell. He had been so ecstatic about finally succeeding that he never thought of what it meant to be a fire magician in the lands of wind.

When a magician first starts learning the ways of manipulating Origin, the first thing they are taught is affinity. Each magician will naturally lean toward a certain Element. Once they find their preferred element they would no longer be able to master a second. Many have tried, none have succeeded.

“But then how would you gain the notice of the Fire palace? Won’t we be their enemies?” Rine asked as he thought about something else.

“Of course it’s not a problem, the Wind palace will be doing the same thing after all. Why do you think all the fire magicians like you and me are on the front lines?”

“Aha.”

“Yup, they call it an exchange program and it is done through schools. Speaking of which. What’s the name of your school?”

“You sure know a lot,” Rine said, hoping to change the conversation’s topic.

“Of course I do, I’ve studied a lot,” Roe bragged as he took something out of his pocket. It was a fruit of some kind; resembling grapes, he plucked one out and plopped it into his mouth.

“Where’d you get that?” Rine asked as he felt his stomach growl. It was around this time that Cort would usually feed him one of the fish he caught to brew Carson’s medicine. Of course, he’d often end up vomiting it back again, but still…

“Stole it from one of the older kids, he and his buddies were annoying me so I just got back at them a bit,” Roe bragged as he plopped another one in his mouth.

“Give me one.”

“No.”

“You legally have to,” Rine said with a smug smile.

“Why?”

“Cause it’s a bribe.”

“Why would I need to bribe you?”

“Cause if you don’t I’m gonna tell on you for stealing.”

“Snitch!”

“Sorry, Roe. Desperate times call for desperate measures~,” Rine said before drawing closer to him.

The two boys began wrestling, completely forgetting the feelings of anxiety they had earlier. The sweetness of making fast friends with someone their age momentarily masked the bitterness of the situation they were in.

Unfortunately, their quarreling did not last for long as another adventurer who had just begun her patrol discovered them.

“Hey, you two! Get back to sleep!”

…………………………………………

“What now?” Lucy screamed to Rain as they hurriedly ran through the forest. Lucy was growing more exhausted by the second due to not only supporting her own weight but also that of merchant Todd’s son, who continued to struggle against her.

Thankfully the boy was a lot younger and thus smaller than her, making carrying him an easy enough task.

“Keep running for now!” Rain shot back as she frantically began pulling talismans out of her storage ring. Now sober, the extreme nature of her actions finally dawned on her.

“Shit shit shit!” Lucy said as she felt the presence of the mercenaries drawing closer.

“Mghm! Mghmmmm!” Merchant Todd’s son said as he wildly kicked about. Fortunately, the rag they had stuffed into his mouth ensured that the boy could not scream for help.

“Shit shit shit!” Rain mimicked her friend as she also dashed forward. Every now and then she would stick a talisman on a tree, though even she herself seemed unsure of what she was doing.

…………………………………………

“Damnit!” Franklin yelled as he shielded his team from another explosive talisman. They were speeding through the forest, gaining distance on their target; the fact that the paper talismans were increasing in frequency also seemed to lend credence to this.

“A distance away, straight ahead. We should be able to see them after a few minutes!” A member of his force, named Soot, said aloud.

Soot was a wind magician and the troop’s main scout. He could track a mouse even with a day’s worth of distance away. His trademark spell was {Scent Track} where he used the surrounding Origin to focus on the scent of his targets, this allowed him to get a general direction of where they were.

“Go faster. Keep ignoring the Talisman bombs!” Franklin ordered as he furiously pursued his prey. The anger and shame that came from being tricked by Fox were building, causing him to be more rash than usual.

This would prove to be his downfall.

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