Part Twenty-Six

After a lengthy discussion, last night's Wraith attack was eventually written off as an isolated incident. None of us felt that it was indicative of something worse going on here, though it did finally convince everyone that we should clear out of the city as soon as possible. There were too many powerful monsters nearby for us to feel safe any longer, and this was the final straw. If Regis hadn’t been there, we all probably would’ve died, or worse.

“Kuuuu~. Kuuuuuu~! Kyuuuuuuuuuuu~.”

Which was why I was currently lavishing him with affection, something he’d been confused about at first, but soon took to like a duck to water. He also seemed to love belly rubs, further confirming his dog-like tendencies in my head.

“Kuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu~.”

“Wow, I’ve never seen him this happy just to be petted.” If looks could kill, Alicia would’ve just murdered me a thousand times over.

“The spite in that sentence was palpable.”

“Yeah? Well, I wanna pet the fox! Why won’t he let me pet him!? He likes you! What’s wrong with me?”

“K-kuu?”

“See what you’ve done? You’ve gone and scared him again. You really need to work on your anger management skills.”

“Ah, uh, eh, rrraaaaahhhh!”

“See what I meant, Regis? Alicia’s a hothead. You gotta be careful around people like her or you’ll set them off.”

“Ku ku!”

“Stop turning him against meeeeee!”

Poor Alicia. She’s so caught up in her temper that she hasn’t noticed how Regis is looking at her. Looks like our little mascot enjoys teasing her as much as I do. You don’t think that’s my fault, do you? No. No! Foxes are supposed to be mischievous creatures. I’m sure he was already like this. Yeah.

The three of us were currently riding in the bed of the pickup truck we’d had to find after someone managed to blow all the tires on our last one. There hadn’t quite been enough room in the cab for all five of us, so I’d volunteered to sit in the bed for this trip, and Alicia had joined me for…reasons. Which were probably obvious by now.

“Come on Regis. Wouldn’t you want to be pet by a pretty girl instead of Michael? Hm? Please?”

“Wow. Way to compliment both yourself and put me down at the same time. You narcissist.”

“Ku!”

“Wha!? Why’re both of you looking at me like that!? W-what did I do?”

“Who knows. Who knows…”

“That’s not an answer!”

“Kukyu~!”

“See?”

“Rrrrrrrrr!!!”

Okay, I guess that’s enough of that. I don’t want to push her so far she has an aneurysm. I went back to scratching Regis between his ears, something he really liked, and he soon calmed down and went back to cooing cutely in my lap. At the end of the day, I think Regis liked Alicia, but he just didn’t want to admit it after how he’d acted towards her at first. But then again, that was just a guess on my part. Who knows what he was really thinking.

***

“Huh, that’s odd. There’s a car on the road ahead of us.”

“Really? That is odd. Do you see anything else?”

“Uh-uh. Just a car on the road, though it looks abandoned.”

“Then it probably is. It’s unusual, but nothing we haven’t seen before.”

My experience said that most highways would be mostly clear of cars, since most people who were driving managed to get out in time. Though that wasn’t always the case, as we’d seen a number of large road-blocking wrecks here and there. They were always a pain since clearing the wreckage wasn’t worth the time and effort, but detours were annoying in their own way.

So seeing a single car on the road was weird, but not much else. We’d probably stop to check it out, but I was sure it would come to nothing. ……….why do I feel like I just jinxed myself?

***

Because I had.

What we’d found was not an abandoned vehicle, but a fresh wreck. The front hood and engine block were completely crushed in, and all the windows were blown out. There was also blood on the seats, and something had punctured the gas tank. The smell of gasoline was nearly overwhelming.

“Well, this isn’t what I expected to find out here.”

“What the hell happened here!? This looks like someone drove this car into a brick wall and just walked away with the wall. What did they even hit to cause this much damage?”

“…Whatever happened here happened recently. The blood's still not dry, and there’s still gas on the road.”

I’ll admit I’m not exactly a qualified detective, but it didn’t take a genius to figure out what happened here. Something, most likely a monster, ambushed the people in this car, injuring or killing at least one passenger. The only real issue with this theory was that there weren’t any signs of blood on the road, which made it harder to track where the attackers or any survivors went.

Looking around, I couldn’t spot anything that would make for a good ambush point. There were no buildings in eyeshot, nor any foliage that would provide adequate cover.

Actually, how did they even hit whatever it was without noticing it? Something still feels off, but I can’t guess what.

“Any guesses as to what happened here-?” ………I can’t move. What the hell is going on!?

I’d been midsentence when some overpowering force caused me to completely seize up. I couldn’t even feel my own body like this. And the worst part was that Gwyn hadn’t noticed. He continued to answer my interrupted question as if it was natural.

“Many, but each is less likely than the last. I don’t think there was a second vehicle since there doesn’t seem to be any extra wreckage, but I can’t understand what actually happened. From the damage to the front of the car, they must’ve struck something with incredible force, but then why wasn’t the other party damaged as well? Even if it was a massive monster, why isn’t there any blood?”

“Quite the conundrum, is it not?”

Someone, or something, I didn’t know, began speaking at a time I could not, continuing the conversation with Gwyn in my voice. All I could do was stand there, unable to see whoever had frozen me. I couldn’t even tell if the girls were okay or not.

“Yes. It’s like a puzzle with no real answer. We’re missing something here.”

“Yeees, like where the corpses went? Or maybe what caused the crash? Oh, or even why this happened in the first place.”

“Exactly! On their own, each mystery isn’t that strange, but taken together, it paints a rather odd and beguiling picture. Like someone is using pieces from multiple jigsaws.” Gwyn, realize it.

“My, that sounds rather troublesome. Whoever is responsible for this must be quite the character. I would even go so far as to say they could be downright mind-boggling!”

“Well, I wouldn’t go that far. It’s probably just the result of a monster attack. There’s plenty of odd things happening around these parts. This’ll be just one more on top of that.” …..Help.

“I see, I see. What splendid deductive reasoning! But I have to ask one more thing. When did you realize that you were no longer alone?”

“About the time my companions stopped talking. Also, you may have copied his voice, but Michael doesn’t speak in such a boisterous or overly dramatic manner. You may want to work on that if you intend to continue this nonsense.”

“Ahahahaha, my bad, my bad. I simply noticed a chance for mischief, and was unable to stop myself. I have taken note of my folly, and shall work to correct my errant behavior in the future.”

“Understandable, but could you release my companions now? I fear they may suffer ill effects from your spell.”

“Ah, my apologies. I shall release them forthwith!”

The speaker snapped their fingers, and the restrictive force that had held me in place was suddenly gone. I whirled around while taking several steps away from the man, only to stop in place at the utter oddness of him.

I’m not a fashion guru, but this guy's choice of dress was atrocious. He’d covered his face with a veil, like what a dancer would wear, and had paired it with a pair of overalls. Only a pair of overalls. I’m ninety percent sure he wasn’t wearing a stich of fabric underneath them. All that, combined with the massively oversized staff in his hand, painted a rather odd picture. A picture of a lunatic.

Everyone else was equally stunned. If he was using his appearance as a weapon, then it would be a perfect distraction against any human opponent. Though, I had the sense he just liked what he was wearing.

“Hello, hello! Speaking eye-to-eye is important when meeting new people! After all, first impressions make-or-break fifty percent of all relationships!”

…………What?

“Ehem, are you responsible for this?”

“No! Not at all! Never! But I know what is!”

We held our breath, waiting for the mystery man to say who it was, but he never did. Seconds ticked by, until Gwen screamed at him to answer.

“Mn, manners! Have your elders not taught you how to be polite?”

“Tch, what the hell is this freak sayin'?”

“He has a point Gwen. That wasn’t exactly the best moment to act up. Please accept my apology on my sister's behalf. We’ve had a rather stressful few days lately.”

“I see, I see! Then all is forgiven! But to answer your question, I do indeed know where the perpetrators of this particular accident reside! In fact, it is not that far! A mile that way, by way of the crow!”

The man used his staff to point off into the distance, though I still didn’t see anything of interest out there. Then, he twirled around and pointed the staff back at Gwyn.

“An idea! Aha! I shall give you a quest! A quest to slay the vile monsters lying in wait to ambush the unwary travelers of this road! Yes, a quest!”

This guy’s insane. I think we should get out of here as quickly as-.

“And like any good quest, there shall be magnificent rewards upon completion!”

Never mind. I love this guy.

“Until then, I shall stay here, awaiting your successful completion of this quest! Now go, brave adventurers! Destiny awaits!”

With those final words, the strange man hopped on top of the wrecked car, seeming intent to sit there until the end of the world. Or until we returned. Whichever came first. Hopefully the later, as the world probably couldn’t handle a second apocalypse.

“So, what do we do? We could just go along with it. If it seems dangerous, then we can just leave. I doubt this guy will chase us down if that happens. If we just ignore him straight away, he could even throw some sort of tantrum.”

“Mn, he does seem to be a carefree spirit. Still, what he said bothers me. Whatever’s responsible for that crash seems to be rather nasty if what he said is anything to go by. Should we really risk it?”

“…Let’s just check it out. We’ve done crazier shit lately, so why not?”

“That…is a very dangerous mindset to have. However, I cannot come up with a legitimate reason to not go through with this, at least for the moment. And again, this man is clearly dangerous, though I know not in what way.”

With our direction decided, we got back in the truck and headed off in the direction the man had specified, driving through an overgrown field as we went. And even though he was soon out of view, I couldn’t shake the feeling that the man was still watching us.

***

“What a wonderful discovery. To think that there was a Seed in such an inauspicious place as this. And one so close to the first threshold. I simply must inform the Master. Ahahaha, what a marvelous Era we live in! A time of great upheaval indeed! Ahahahahahahaha!”

The Necromancer known as Edulácu Dés Vándás jumped off the roof of the wrecked vehicle he’d temporarily decided to use as a seat. He’d been continuing his never-ending journey when he’d discovered a rather intriguing group of individuals, and hadn’t been able to resist the urge to mess with them. He’d snuck up behind them, and used a safer version of the Grudge Magic Spell [Seize] to prevent the others from moving, all while he talked with one of them while disguising his voice.

As for why he did all that, well he didn’t know. He’d seen something, and decided to mess with it. That was the same mentality of a child, and a particularly ill-behaved one at that. As for why he was in England, well that was because his journey continued, and would do so until it was done. And not even he could say when that would be.