The Start of The War (3)

The rain finally stopped. Little dew formed on the leaves of the trees and the ground was still wet from the rain, forming small puddles on the ground.

Ryth had given some of loot from yesterday's hunts to Lady Elsa, who received them with gratitude.

The rest of the team quickly finished packing their belongings before setting off, with Ryth leading the way.

The loot that Ryth had given to Lady Elsa was his plan to make Lady Elsa disguised herself as a merchant. And the loot will act as her items to be "sold".

Lady Elsa had placed the loot inside her spatial magic. She did not think there were any flaws with Ryth's plan, except for means of transportation.

As a merchant, she would need to have a cart for her goods. If she appears without a cart, it would look suspicious and the guards may question her identity.

Just as Lady Elsa was about to voice out her concerns to Ryth, someone suddenly let out a piercing scream, not far from them.

"AARGH!"

"KYAA!"

"Oh no! Don't get near me!"

"The cart! Protect it at all cost!"

Ryth and the team immediately went on defense mode.

"Daedalus!" shouted Ryth.

"Alright!"

"WOOSH!" Blue light gushed out, spreading over their surroundings. Red and yellow dots started to appear on Ryth's minima. "200 meters from us! 3 o'clock!"

Ryth turned to Lady Elsa. "Did you hear that, Lady Elsa?! A cart!"

Lady Elsa's expression turned solemn. She nodded, she understood what Ryth meant. She quickly changed her appearance, using her face-changing spell. Her long elven ears were now hidden and replaced with two fox ears. "All of you ten people here! Follow me!"

The ten men that were closest to Lady Elsa nodded their heads. They too used their face-changing spells to change their appearance. They then followed Lady Elsa from behind.

Ryth hold out his arm when Llyod tried to join in. He looked back at the rest of the team and commanded, "The rest of you will wait here. Let's leave this matter to Lady Elsa."

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"Ugh! Stay away from us!" Shouted a middle-aged man, hugging his daughter with his left hand. His right hand was swinging a sword desperately, trying to make the monsters to not come any closer to them.

"Dad, I'm scared..."

"It's gonna be alright. Dad will protect you!" Although, his right hand was trembling uncontrollably, he said those words in serious expression. He did not want his daughter to become more scared.

The adventurer he had hired were already dead. The monsters were too strong. He had hired only rank F adventurers because he did not expect the monsters here to be quite strong. The chance of encountering strong monsters was actually low. He was, unfortunately, "lucky" to encounter these strong monsters.

"RAARRG!" the monsters were getting closer to both father and daughter. The father hugged his daughter tightly in his arms. He wanted his daughter to run away while he distract the monsters. Just as he was about to push his daughter away to safety and shout to her to run, a blue circle suddenly appear on the ground.

"WOOSH!"

The man was shocked. He did not know what was the blue 'thing' that surrounds him and his daughter. But he could feel the warmth and could sense how safe he was inside the 'thing'.

The monsters tried to attack them, but to no avail. The 'thing' that protected the man and daughter was very strong, as hard as a rock.

"RAAAARGH!" the monsters screamed angrily. They seems furious that none of their attacks reached the man and daughter. Before the monsters could continue their attacks, there were a sudden rain of arrows pelting on them. After the sudden rain of arrows had stopped, five men in black hoodies suddenly jumped in and slaughter the monsters with their swords. The monsters looked like chickens being slaughtered. They died, falling heavily to the ground.

After the monsters were eliminated, the 'thing' that was guarding the man and daughter vanishes into thin air.

With a trembling voice, the middle-aged man asked, as he hugged his equally scared daughter, "Who… who are you people?!"

The five men only stared at him quietly. They then made a gesture towards the woods and announced, "This is our leader."

Slowly, another person, surrounded by another five men walked out, carrying bows in his hand. That person also wore a black hoodie. He then looked straight at the man to reveal a beautiful face. It was a female!

Her expression was cold and serene, enhancing the sense of calmness around her. The woman elegantly bowed her head and introduced herself, "My name is Rena. I apologise if my men had scared you. I'm a merchant from far away."

She smiled as she continued, "We were exploring the forests when we heard the screams. We were glad that we were able to make it in time."

The middle-aged man hurriedly stood up on his feet. Although, he was still trembling, he muster all of his strength, just to thank their savior. He pulled up his daughter to stand beside him. "It's alright, Rose. Come. Let's stand up and thank our savior."

His daughter looked around 6-7 years old. She was wearing a pretty red dress with a flower pattern on her skirt.

The girl gripped the hem of her dress tightly as she bowed down, her eyes still shimmering with tears at the corner. "Th-thank you for saving my dad and me," she said softly.

The man patted his daughter on the head, proud of her bravery and politeness. He then bowed deeply as well, as he held his daughter's hand tightly. "I'm Yatar. And I too am a merchant."

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Yatar and little Rose," Rena who was actually Lady Elsa in disguise, smiled at the both of them. "Don't be so stiff. Do relax. Are you hurt?"

Yatar's grip on his daughter's hand loosen a bit. He heaved a sigh of relief, realizing that Lady Elsa and her men were good people. He replied, "No, we're fine..."

Lady Elsa nodded. "Why don't you go back to your cart and have a rest? You must have been exhausted and still in shock after what had happened."

She looked down at the corpses of the fallen adventurers and let out a sigh. "We would need to make a proper burial for these men. They were worthy of being brave."

Lady Elsa then gave a discreet sign to the ten men, who quickly gathered the corpses and looked for a place to bury them.

Yatar was surprised to see how swift they were working. He gestured Lady Elsa to join him," Ah yes, why don't you come inside too? I know it's a bit cramped but I hope you don't mind."

"It's alright." Lady Elsa said as she smiled beautifully. The three of them got inside the cart.

They sat across on another. The man sat next to his daughter while Lady Elsa across them. Lady Elsa opened the conversation by asking, "How's your daughter? Has she calm down?"

Yatar looked down at his daughter, who was hugging his waist from the side. "She's still in shock but I'm sure that she will be fine after some time."

"I see..." Lady Elsa paused for a bit, she looked around inside of the carriage. She noticed there were quite a bit of goods at the corner of the cart. She then looked at Yatar and asked, "Where do you want to sell all of these goods, Mr. Yatar?"

Yatar was hesitant to answer at first, before he replied, "I-i want to sell it to..."

Lady Elsa tilted her head, acting confused, "To...?"

"To..."

Lady Elsa smiled, as she slowly pushed back her hoodie and said, "It's alright, Mr. Yatar. I'm not human."

Yatar saw a beautiful fox lady, her furry fox ears and the gentle expression on her face made her look like a noble.

Yatar let out a sigh of relief and said, "It seems like you've found out about this earlier."

Yatar paused for a bit and his face started to change. Bunny ears started to appear on his head as he continued, "I want to sell these goods to Griefendell, the high elves' city."

"Ah I see," Lady Elsa smiled again, "What a coincidence, I too am going to Griefendell as well. I would like to extend my trade."

"Ooh, I see..." Like a lightning struck him, he hurriedly said, "How about Lady Rena go with me? I have a merchant pass to Griefendell. I can help you to sell your goods. How about it? I still want to thank you for helping us. At least, let me treat you and your men to dinner."

Lady Elsa paused for a bit, acting like she was a bit reluctant, "Is that really okay? Aren't you busy?"

"No, not at all! My wife will absolutely get mad at me if she finds out that I did not properly thank our savior." Yatar said.

Lady Elsa thought for a second before saying, "Alright, then. I'm in your care, Mr. Yatar."

"Yes, yes, please make yourself comfortable. I will drive the cart later."

"Okay, thank you." Lady Elsa bowed.

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Not far from the cart, Ryth sat on top of a tree with Skye. He used his team voice chat skill and connected it to Lady Elsa, "How is it?"

Lady Elsa use her telepathy skill and answered, "All in order."

Ryth pumped his fist into the air and said, "First step is a success!" Ryth said to the team, "Now let's move to our next plan."