A new support

The next morning Jay woke up next to Mia. She already had her eyes open and was watching him, even though he was back to waking up early in the day.

With a bright smile she declared a promise to him.

She would make up for the last night when he comes back after his trip.

She knew very well that this time it would be for a lot longer duration unti they would see each other again. But it was nothing for the times to come when Jay would start to really travel the world.

Descending to the dining hall together after getting ready, the two were greeted by the small Ellie. She was back to her normal, always happy mood and darted into the kitchen the moment they sat on their usual seats.

Coming back with a platter full of breakfast she stood next to the table as she unloaded it and gave Jay the coffee pot.

Everyone there knew how much he loved it and she was proven right as he filled himself a cup before he passed the pot to Mia. While he was sipping on his cup, Ellie had finished unloading her platter.

"So, the two of you are together?" E.

"Yes, I guess..." M.

Silence...

"Ain't you a bit old for him?" E.

A coffee-fountain shot from Jay's mouth, diagonally over the table.

Mia stared at Ellie expressionless, blinking a few times.

Even Marcus who had stuck his head through a small door gap and looked over from the kitchen had his eyes and mouth wide open.

"...I meant, you're centuries old, right? A guy who's barely a few years older than me is..." E.

"It may sound unreal but..." J.

"Hold it right there my dear...

Sorry Jay, but please stay out of this...

This little girl needs to learn that one doesn't talk about a woman's age..." M.

Cracking her knuckles while rising from her seat, Jay jumped in and kissed the nearly steaming elf in his arms.

Ellie had used that moment and fled into the kitchen.

The soothed Mia brought Jay to the door after they ate some of the food that was not soaked in coffee and he had stuffed some leftovers inside his inventory.

After Mia promised him it wouldn't be more than a "light" spanking what Ellie would have to suffer, they had one last, deep kiss before they parted.

It was time to report to Haggard about his findings in Arathor and travel on to Westfield. Turning around one last time as he got nearly out of sight, Jay saw Mia still waving goodbye.

Even Ellie and Marcus had come out and joined in.

In minutes Jay arrived at the garrison and the soldiers on guard duty had already recognized Jay and welcomed him back in Gold Creek. After asking if he had seen the Gryphon the day before and if he knew who it was, Jay answered he himself had been the one riding it.

Apparently even Tharynn had come out to see what all the turmoil was about.

Said man arrived outside not long after, just as Jay was crossing the big training yard towards the main building. Spotting his friend in the garrison, he walked over and greeted Jay.

"I heard you got slightly anxious by me yesterday?" J.

"Huh, why would I? Wait, yesterday?..." T.

"That damn Beast was one hell of a ride..." J.

"You? It was you on that Gryphon? ...Then come, hurry!" T.

The two went directly to Haggard as even the Lieutenant knew it had to be something urgent when a Adventurer got the right to ride a Gryphon.

Walking towards the main buildings entrance, his friend told Jay what honor it would be to ride one of those mighty creatures.

As they arrived in the small office where Commander Haggard had been waiting for them, Jay began his narration after a short greeting. Without getting formal or hiding any information, Jay recounted what had happened in the Capital. At least the things that happened at day...

The two had been astonished by what they heard. It was not the scheming of those bandits or the information about the totem that surprised them, but the sheer speed Jay had found out all that.

Including the travel time it had been just over four days.

But to that, they had a surprise for Jay as well.

Tharynn would leave the garrison in a few days for his new post. The Commander stated he had held him back for too long already and that his capable Lieutenant would have long risen to higher posts if it hadn't been for him.

Of course Tharynn denied that and stated that he would gladly have kept his position.

And now that his friend brought that many intrigues to light and the whole region was in turmoil, he would have loved to stay.

His new post would be Captain of a small fort at the southern border.

As Jay had heard there was trouble at the border he inquired further.

The war at the border to Sograt Desert was the exact reason Tharynn got promoted. He would coordinate the already existing mercenary group and the newly set up fort in the rural town of Colhen.

The grassy plains and sparse fields in the region of this town was the reason for the war to begin with. At least that was the official statement from the southern lands.

With the ceasing support from the Arathi Kingdom and a similar demeanor from the Empire, their food reserves were running low. Seeing the fertile lands behind the border as last hope, they started skirmishes along the border.

Soothing his friend with the situation being under control and that even the mercenary corps themselves had been more than enough to keep the enemy at bay, Tharynn asked Jay to visit him after he cleared the problems in Westfield.

"That raises one Question: what about your post here?" J.

"Oh, that...." T.

"I was thinking about taking your sla... Thalia for the post but alredy got send someone here. As things are now I'll probably have your girl join Tharynn if you're okay with it. She is progressing damn well." H.

"Sure! If she has some spare time, send her to Mia for training and helping until they leave. And Tharynn, if she troubles you, tell her that you'll tell me about it! Make her work hard.. ...and just looking, no touching!" J.

"Hehe, all right." T.

"Then, what about the one who got send here?" J.

"You'll meet her soon..." H.

"Her...?" J.

After that followed a explanation that she had her basic training there in Gold Creek and afterwards had been stationed in Arathor. Haggard told that he knew her since her childhood as well and trusted her, so they should do the same.

Following that was a recounting of attacks that happened in the few days Jay had been absent.

Some Gnoll exterminations had went haywire and a few of those Monsters even ambushed peddlers on the road to Westfield.

The sightings got more and more over the days, so the Commander had opened a request for help from Adventurers. Some took the quest a day before, but they got no reply until now.

That was the reason his new Lieutenant went out with a small unit of soldiers this morning to track down the Gnolls.

It was to early for a reply, but considering it might be another case of those cursed totems, Haggard asked Jay to join in and look for them.

***

Quest:

Close by Gnolls

Object:

find the Gnoll's hideout and the search party

***

Jay would urgently need to update his Adventurer ID when he got back to Arathor. He had not visited there after his slight dispute with Nicoletta, but the rewards from the military and all he did in Arathor were still open.

And in the next weeks would follow quite some more requests.

Taking the quest from Haggard, as well as an order to relay to the woman he was going to help, Jay left the office together with Tharynn.

"Congratulations again, ...Captain!" J.

"Thanks man. I just hope to not fail Haggard..." T.

"Oh come on. You never did, and you'll get the job done well. In case it goes downhill, simply blame Thalia..." J.

"As if that's possible. You're quite harsh towards her..." T.

"It's for her best. She's been too spoiled, hell she even went with those bandits..." J.

"Can't say the same for your other slave..." T.

"Huh, other? Oh, you're talking about my gift?" J.

"Yes, that one..." T.

"Oh,... How's she doing?" J.

"...Let's just say she... got accustomed to her ...duties?" T.

"So everything's good?" J.

"If you don't ask her...probably yes." T.

As they reached the door, Tharynn gave Jay the approximate directions and latter summoned his horse.

Saying their goodbyes like friends do, Jay saddled up and left the garrison on his horse. It would be a long while until he could meet up with his first and only real male friend he made in this world until then.

Turning to the right at the main road, Jay rode for half an hour until he spotted fresh trails. Up to that point he had seen only once traces of battle and some old paw prints on the road. But those had looked days old, so the track had to have been cold.

Dismounting and following the new trails, Jay went parallel to the road until he arrived at a bridge.

It was the one he had seen a while back when he encountered his first Gnolls with Alexis. The paw prints descended down towards the river, so Jay returned to the road and crossed the roofed bridge.

At the other side, Jay turned left and went down towards the river flowing south. Looking back over his shoulder he confirmed it was the same colossal, wooden bridge he had seen back then.

With this he got sure this was the same riverbed he had killed his first Gnoll at.

As Tharynn had explained, the Gnoll-Camp should be somewhere near the shore on this peninsula, so he just had to follow the river to find them.

It took not even ten minutes walking towards the south until Jay spotted his first batch of the Hyena-like humanoids. The patrol consisted of two monsters equipped with a bow and three with crude swords and axes. With his exceptional vision [Analyze] worked even in some distance.

With them all being at level 9 or 10, Jay went for training (Arcane Missiles).

One of the tracing shots was enough for each of the bow wielders, while a second volley each downed all others. They didn't even have the chance to come close to Jay.

At least they provided some experience to level up his skill.

After he found some more of those patrols, all similar to the first one, Jay heard the sounds of a fight.

It was in a bit of distance and away from the river.

Rushing over to where the sounds came from, Jay had to dispatch of three more Gnolls but didn't bother to cast a spell. A single slash to the vitals with his mana enhanced sword more than did the job.

On a clearing he arrived at, Jay finally saw what caused the sounds of fighting. A small group of what seemed like Adventurers was fighting a horde of Gnolls. After a quick glance, Jay understood that the tree vanguards desperately tried to shield the only woman in the group who was casting spells with a wand.

None of them was higher than level 12 and that was even the woman.

Their opponents were slightly higher in level and outnumbered them three to one. If Jay hadn't arrived here they would have been goners for sure.

One of the Gnolls had sneaked around and was jumping for the woman.

As it was from her blind spot, she didn't even see the two-handed axe descending on her.

Suddenly a massive explosion resounded behind her.

The heat and debris struck her back, but none of it did really hurt her though she stumbled forwards towards her party members.

A huge earth wall appeared next, separating the whole group from the rushing Gnolls.

Hard impacts could be heard as the monsters crashed into the hard wall that appeared out of nowhere.

Totally irritated they all looked at each others. None of them had an idea as to what just happened.

Jay had cast a hurriedly charged (Fireball) and killed the Gnoll attacking the woman. Though it hit perfectly, the shock-wave send her flying forward.

With a quick slotted (Earth Wall) cast before her group, the first wave of Gnolls got repelled.

From this point on, Jay repeated what he had done in the Gnoll cave. Casting (Stone Shards) and (Arcane Missiles) consecutive and turning himself into a human turret again, Jay made quick work of the Gnolls.

With his boosted mana pool and seemingly dropped cost for arcane spells, he had no longer a problem casting the arcane spell repeatedly.

As the earthen wall crumbled and the dust from the running Gnolls settled, the adventurer party stared at their surroundings in horror.

From between thirteen mangled humanoid monsters, all perforated or slightly charred, lying in puddles of their own blood, a young man walked over.

He had not even a drop of blood on him while their whole party looked completely wasted.

Jay looked like an Adventurer, but held no weapon, what seemed to irritate the party. Breaking the strange silence, Jay greeted them friendly.

"Hey there, sorry to have barged in, but you seemed to be in trouble. My Name is Jay, a fellow Adventurer." J.

"..."

Other than four pairs of eyes staring at him reflecting a mixture of disbelief, fear and awe, Jay got nothing from them.

"Did you, by any chance, pass a group of soldiers somewhere around here?" J.

The group had been so overwhelmed by the small portion of what they saw from the fight, that they had lost their speech.

After a few seconds the whole party shook their heads mechanically.

Just as Jay turned around to travel on along the riverbed, he heard a four voiced, simultaneous "Thank you".

Passing through the undergrowth and returning to the shore, Jay found his next prey again in mere minutes.

This whole region was so infested by Gnolls, he was sure there had to be another totem.

The further south Jay went, the more Gnolls he encountered.

And not only the quantity rose. As the first batches consisted of level 9 to 11 monsters, the ones further south had some Gnolls of level 12 and higher mixed within.

Jay was finishing the last two Gnolls from a group consisting of three level 13, one level 12 and two level 14 Gnolls as he got interrupted.

A Arrow shot close past his face just as he crushed the rib-cage of the last level 14 with a mana wielding fist, striking its sternum.

This robbed him of the last kill in this group what pissed him off, even though it had been only the crippled level 12 he had mutilated with stone shards before.

Turning his head to where the arrow came from, Jay squinted his eyes.

"What the fuck are you doing?" J.

He had been sent to support the damn soldiers, not the other way around.