Leaving Heafdes

"I didn't know you were interested in art, Kiaran. Has Azariah rubbed off on you by any chance?" Jody asks me.

I'm sitting at one of the tables at Kari's cult, trying my best to draw the blade of a scythe. Everyone else has already pretty much left. It's just me, Jody, and that Ulfoa person who's looking bored out of their mind.

"Eh, unfortunately, not really. My scythe broke during the whole monster congregation, so now I'm just drawing a scythe in order to get another one made."

"Hm? A custom made scythe? You have the kind of money for that, Kiaran?"

"Um… I probably do, but I'm not getting anyone to make it. Not anyone that will charge me money, anyway. It's just a matter of buying all the materials and then making sure she makes it correctly."

"You have a blacksmithing friend, Kiaran?"

"Um, pet, actually."

"Huh?" Jody for a really brief moment looks extremely confused, but he switches back to his normal expression pretty quickly. "Ah, Kiaran, you wouldn't happen to be a beast tamer, would you?"

"Yes, I just got my license recently. Um… can you let me draw here for a couple more minutes? I'll be out of your hair completely after that."

"Well of course, allowing people to pursue their own desires is a fundamental building block of Kari's teachings. Please, take as long as you need."

Allowing people to pursue their own desires, huh? I can understand why Azariah likes it here so much. As for me… do I even have any desires? I mean… protecting those close to me, but that doesn't seem as… selfish as some of Azariah's. Selfish really isn't the right word, but I can't think of another one. I just won't mention that to her, she definitely won't like it.

><><><><

I smell death once again. Well, it is just raw meat, but it unfortunately reminds me of that field of the dead I had to walk around during the monster congregation. Even if it does though, I should be able to stay in this butcher's for as long as I need to.

"Hey, hey, hey, just what are you doing here kid?"

A very intimidating, tall, and muscular man walks up to me to ask me just why I'm here.

"Um, sir, do you have any bones that you can sell me?"

"What?" He asks, sounding annoyed.

"Bones. I'd like to buy some of the bones you have left over."

"Look kid, just get out-"

"I have gold coins." I say, pulling a couple of them out of my pocket. His expression pretty much changes on the spot.

"G- g- g- gold coins? These are…" He grabs one of them and rubs them with his fingers. He looks at it very intently. "These are real! Eh, bones, right? How many do you need?"

"Um… well I'm offering gold, and it wouldn't hurt to have a bit extra… A cube or so about this wide should do, they don't have to be packed down or anything. Two gold coins should be enough for that, right?"

"Er… just what are these bones for?"

"Just a building material. Magic can do a lot of really cool things, huh?"

"Uh, yeah, yeah, come right this way. We'll get you what you need right away. The specific bones or the animal they come from don't matter, do they?"

"Not to my knowledge, no."

><><><><

I dump the massive pile of bones into my shadow. Shirley seems to have gotten the message, because they all fall right into it like it's a puddle of water. Shirley starts to poke her head out of my shadow. I show her my drawing of the scythe I want her to make.

"Shirley… make this?" I ask.

She slowly sinks back into my shadow as she gets to work. This is the largest thing I've asked her to make after all, I can't expect this to be done instantly. Waiting… waiting… waiting. Alright, she's poked her head back up, she should be done.

I reach into my shadow and feel what should be the bottom end of the pole to my scythe. I slowly pull it out of my shadow, and… well, I guess it's pretty good for a first attempt, but I'd rather not fight with this if possible.

The pole's a bit bendy, it's not nearly as big as it should be, the actual blade itself is pretty sloppily made. It's sharp enough to get the job done, but you can tell by looking at it it wasn't made by an experienced craftsman.

Well, I can just give it back to her to try again, and we did buy a whole lot of extra material. Practice does make perfect, but that doesn't mean I should be too mean to her. I start to pet her on the head.

"Good job, Shirley! Now make another." I say, showing her my drawing again.

Alright, we'll keep having her make new scythes until we get one I'm comfortable with using. Maybe I'll have her make a couple, then pick the best out of those and then tell her to make the best one again. That should get this all done faster.

><><><><

I swing my new scythe around as I walk through a dirt path in a forest near Heafdes. It's a whole lot better than the first one that she made for me. It's the right size, for one. There could be some improvement as to how it looks, but as for actual combat ability, it should be completely fine.

Alright, alright, I'm safe, I can handle myself. Just take in the nature around me. What is there that I can learn from here? Or maybe thinking would be counterintuitive? Maybe it would be better if I took this time as meditation, and closed off all my thoughts? Maybe it would just be better to tune the rest of the world out and just go wherever the world takes me…

As I'm thinking to myself I see a rather old man in disheveled clothes walking down the path towards me. He's carrying some sort of briefcase that looks like it's shaking. He looks terrified to see me. One use of "Spatial Awareness" reveals that there's definitely something alive in there, and whatever it is seems to really want out. I don't think I see any air holes.

He tries to walk past me, hoping I don't say anything but I can't just let that happen.

"Sir, just what's in there?" I ask.

He takes one look at me, like I'm about to kill him. He then throws the suitcase to the ground and gets on his hands and knees. He holds his hands up like he's begging.

"Please! I know they're illegal! I didn't know what it was when I bought it! I'm taking it to Diana's cult in Heafdes to have it put down, I swear!"

"W- woah, calm down, I'm not going to hurt you…" He must be afraid of the bone scythe on my back. Still though, this is definitely piquing my curiosity. Illegal? Put down? Something that small? Just what is it?

"Sir, I just asked a simple question, I'm not going to do anything with your answer."

"R- really?" He says as he looks up at me. He looks like he was just crying.

"Yes, I have some connections to Diana's cult, you know. Just what's in that briefcase? I might be able to take care of it right now."

He looks at me, a ray of hope in his eyes. "Young boy… do you know what a Starved Itian is?"

"I'm afraid I don't sir."

"Itians are plant monsters made by Diana herself that live in the Ulfur Forests. They usually hide among plants and attack any unsuspecting beasts that try to eat them and use them as a food source.

Starved Itians… are Itians with a huge defect. They never stop being hungry. They forgo the normal stealth hunting and run around killing and eating all meat they can find. They reproduce like crazy, but the beasts of the Ulfur Forests take great care to track them all down and kill them.

It's for that reason that taking any outside of the Ulfur Forests is not only illegal in Heafdes, but even the Demon Lord's territory and Monster Country… My son asked me to buy it, and I didn't realize just how dangerous it was… then the knights came for me and I wound up here…"

Huh, that does sound kind of dangerous. "So everyone wants to make sure these things are dead, right?"

"Yes, but they're apparently incredibly resilient! Cutting them to pieces doesn't work, I can't keep it burning long enough to kill it, and even when I keep it from sunlight it looks like it dies, but swings back to life like nothing's wrong the moment it sees the sun again! That's why I'm going to Diana's cult to have it put down for good!"

"So… they're dangerous because they eat everything in sight, and because they reproduce quickly. Is there any way to stop them from reproducing?"

"I don't know! How would I know?!"

Hmm… let's see. I've been to the Ulfur Forests before. I think I might know a woman that would know how to do that who lives in Dianasvale. As for keeping it from doing anything while I head there… I could just lock the thing in Shirley's pocket dimension. Yeah, I think I'll just do that.

"Um… I have a beast tamer's license given to me by Diana's cult, and I think I know someone who could stop that reproduction problem. Is there any way I could have it? I'll talk to the knights for you."

I'm bending the truth a lot here, since the license I have is only for one Gnostis Rana, and definitely not something as illegal or as dangerous as this, but I should be fine… wait, I am fine here, but why am I even doing this?

"Um… um, sure! As long as it gets them off of my back! Do whatever you want!"

I grab the suitcase off of him and we head towards the direction that he came from. Sure enough it isn't long before we both come across two people dressed head to toe in full plate armor and huge halberds. They probably have a good 6 inches on me, at least.

"Hey, are you the one with that Starved Itian?" One of them asks, being aggressive.

I explain the situation in detail and what I want to do with it. I want to remove its reproductive capabilities and basically just let it loose as a last resort if I was ever in a pinch.

"Idiot, as if that could ever work." One of the knights says, grabbing my shirt.

I think back to the monster congregation, or more specifically of the corpses I saw there. I remember the looks on their faces, specifically the eyes. I close my eyes and let my expression go blank as I create an image of a corpse in my mind. Then I open my eyes again, trying my best to recreate the expression in my head. I tone down my voice too, to make it sound as dead and serious as possible.

"Oh? You're threatening me? I participated in the monster congregation a few weeks ago under the dragon tamer's recommendation. Are you doubting my abilities? Or perhaps you want to see just how skilled of a fighter I can be?"

I go to reach for my scythe, and both the knights back off immediately.

"Uhh… we're very sorry sir, we didn't know.

"Yes sir… just be careful with that thing. It may be a plant but it will take chunks out of your flesh."

After saying that the knights just back away. Turning to that old man he looks at me in fear before running away. I switch my expression back to my normal expression. Man… that's a terrifying skill. A skill I don't want to have…

Huh, I don't like manipulation, that's a good start I guess. Well, I guess I have quite a bit far to go in that regard. I'll try my best to forget about that. Now as for this thing I have with me now… why am I going out of my way to protect this thing? I know just how dangerous this thing is, so why did I…

It's something that I did on my own, without the input from anybody else. That's a huge first step, but I don't know why I even did this in the first place. Oh well, I'll have plenty of time to think about it on my way to Dianasvale. For now though…

"Shirley, portal." I say, before a pitch black portal appears below my feet. I simply drop the briefcase in.

I'd like to check what kind of monster it looks like, but I'd rather do that in a safer position. The old man said they blend in with plants, and I'd rather not release something like that in the middle of a forest.

Other than that though… it's time to get walking. Dianasvale is quite a long way after all.

><><><><

I fly over a forest at about 50 miles an hour. I should get to the clearing in this forest soon, and then a large farming village on the White River. This is the region where a large portion of Uclait's organized farming is done apparently, and a huge portion of it gets shipped right into the Emednes Mountains.

The Emednes apparently doesn't have the climate to maintain a stable enough food supply on its own, and its people are hardy fighters that defend Uclait from the Demon Lord's invasions. It's for that reason getting them food is pretty important.

I fly past the forest edge and see many buildings made of wood alone, and huge expanses of fields. A complex irrigation system as well as small and connected communities make up a huge portion of this region, and I haven't even flown all the way to the White River yet.

I'm sure this all would look incredibly beautiful in the fall, but I don't really intend for Kiaran and I to become farmers. What do we want to do, though? I want to keep studying magic, and Kiaran… well… maybe this would be a rather nice place for him to find himself, but for my sake I'd rather not settle down here. I'll keep this in mind.

><><><><

I finally flew to the actual White River around sundown. I apparently wound up flying to an actual city by complete accident. The city itself is a lot smaller than Heafdes, but that isn't really a fair comparison seeing as that's the capital. If this was the first city in this world I saw, I would be pretty blown away.

Judging from the last map I looked at, this city's name should be Arckbay. The city walls as well as most of its buildings appear to be made out of mostly limestone. There are huge ports that extend into the river and several bridges that rise tall over the river. It's honestly quite a pretty city.

So… the adventurer's guild in Heafdes definitely knew who I was, and the city guard probably got used to me flying over the city walls all the time. I don't want to just assume that the city guard in Arckbay will be totally fine with some stranger flying into their city without checking in through customs first. I'll fly down and get in the proper way. There should be proof that I work for the adventurer's guild, so there shouldn't be any issue.

I fly down to one of the entrances into the city and walk towards the front gate. The actual gate is large enough to fit some carts in. It's indented into the city wall, and also inside the wall is where the city guard is waiting for me. It honestly kind of reminds me of a bunker.

"Hey, do you have any registration with you?" One of the guards asks me from inside their little bunker.

I just pull out my card that I got from the adventurer's guild. It has some basic information on it, my name, age, rank, etc. That should hopefully be enough. I hand it over to the guard who begins looking over it.

"Um, hey." Another one of the guards walks up to the one looking at my card. He grabs her shoulder and starts whispering something into her ear.

"Dude, I really don't think that's necessary." She says, looking kind of annoyed.

The other guard looks kind of annoyed at her for her behavior. He starts making broad gestures at me, clearly not understanding what she's thinking.

"Seriously, I really don't think there's any issue." She says again, not changing her tone of voice at all.

The man just pulls her closer and whispers into her ear again. I listen carefully to what he's saying.

"Are you really going to risk letting a vampire into the city?" I can just barely make out.

She punches him on top of his head.

"Idiot! The sun's still out! Even if she was a vampire, just what are we supposed to do against a vampire that can be out in the sun?! Idiot! Moron!"

He thinks I'm a vampire? Why? Is it because of my skin? I don't think that I'm that pale… I look down at my wrist. Am I that pale?

"Ma'am, that isn't it. He thinks you're a vampire because of your hair. That hair color is pretty rare. People tend to think of the vampire queen when they see it since that's her hair color, especially if they've dealt with vampires before. Sorry that this idiot is a moron. Here's your card, you can head inside."

I grab my card and walk through the gate as the guard opens it. That's… that's the first time I've heard all that information. I don't think anyone I've seen ever looked at me differently because of my hair, and now I'm finding out that it can get me confused with someone named the vampire queen?

Also, apparently vampires who can walk out in the sun are huge threats… that's incredibly interesting. I want to learn more about vampires when I get the chance. This is the first time I've ever even heard of vampires in this world too. Are they rare? Ahh! There's so much I want to know! This is getting me excited!

I walk into the actual city as I'm thinking about vampires. Hmm… as for the actual scenery here in Arckbay… there's quite a bit too much white for my liking. They appear to have painted the roads darker colors though, probably because having everything in white would be a driving hazard when the sun was out.

It's also a whole lot quieter and less loud than Heafdes, though that's definitely due to the lower population. It's like living in New York and then going to Atlanta. Still a lot of people, just much less so. This might be a bit of a nice place…

I'll rent a spot in an inn real quick, and do some sightseeing during the night. After that I'll sleep a bit and then head further east. The White River flows from the Emednes, and I'd like to see just what they're like.

><><><><

I fly over a city known as Glissrest. The terrain it's built on is very rough and rocky although the White River still flows through it. In spite of that everything seems to be really well kept and the city is quite large. Not as populated as Arckbay, but still a large enough population to be considered a city. The architecture of the city itself though reminds me a lot of swiss architecture.

Glissrest itself isn't what's taking up all of my attention, though… This city is right next to where the Emednes Mountains begin. Out in the distance I can see some absolutely massive snow capped peaks. Man, the Emednes Mountains are really something else. I've never been to the alps, but this is what I'd imagine they look like in person. It's really awe inspiring.

Photos really don't do this justice. I know it's cliche but it's true. Really being there strikes you with a sense of insignificance that flows throughout your entire body. Like being a peasant and gazing upon the kings of this world. Man, I can't wait to fly over them. I can't wait to look down on those kings…

Ahah, get those thoughts out of your head, Azariah. You don't want to give yourself another new fetish, do you? OK, just ignore my thoughts from just now and let's go flying over the Emednes mountains.

><><><><

It's cold, like, really cold. Way colder than it should be. It's summer, but even just approaching the Emednes made it start to feel like spring. And then fall, and then winter… I wouldn't be surprised if the temperature dropped 50 whole degrees. It isn't just my altitude either. Even flying closer to the ground doesn't seem to make the temperature drop.

It's just like in that cave with the winter sprites. Is that why it's so cold here? Whatever the reason is, it's freezing. I guess that explains why these mountains are still covered in snow. I know it isn't really this calendar's equivalent of July yet, but if this is how it gets in the summer, I wonder just how cold it can get in the middle of winter.

I want it, I want it, I want it. I want to try surviving the winter here in the Emednes! And the huge mountains all around me, and all the snow… hah, it's such an amazing aesthetic! I want to live here! I really want to live here!

Oh, Mana Location picked up something flying towards me. Pretty quickly, too. A gust of wind allows me to dodge whatever it is pretty easily. Alright… it's some sort of huge, fuzzy bird that looks extremely aggressive.

Its feathers are gray and white, like a wolf. It's absolutely huge, too, its wingspan is definitely longer than I am tall. I wonder if there are any birds that size back on earth? I don't know, I've never really been interested in birds, although now I'm kind of regretting that. Oh, now it's flying back towards me, with its claws extended, I guess I should do something about that.

I form a sharp wind blade and fire at the bird's wing as it gets close to me. That should chop- crap! That wasn't enough! A huge gust of wind! Alright, I dodged it. Its wing looks like it's about to come off, but it can still fly somehow. Now it's flying up at me again. Adad! Give me your power! I demand it! I refuse to be injured by whatever monster this is!

I fire a small strike of lightning right at its skull. It's not enough to explode the thing into a mist of blood and gore like I was hoping, but it did kill it. I watch as its corpse slowly falls back down to the ground.

Ha… that was so exciting! I really want to live here! I really really want it! Ah… but Kiaran… would he like it here? No, probably not. He needs time to find himself, and he can't really do that if he's struggling to survive everyday. Even if I would really enjoy that!

That makes me really upset. Having to abandon such an awesome place… Damn it… Maybe I can try and find somewhere near here so that I can fly over here whenever I want? Uh, yeah, that's what I think I'm going to do.

Actually, the Elune domain is only a bit south from here, right? They're meant to have all sorts of powerful mages, right? Yeah, I think I'm going to check there next. First though, I want to recharge my mana back in Glissrest.