Ava Village!

A man who works ultimately falls asleep, and the harder the work, the better the sleep. After my clash with the Ursa Major of the so-called "Gold Coin Brigade," I had done that very same thing on the road to the Ava Village.

"Not bad. Not bad at all. I think that we should set up a shop here. This place will serve as our main camp of sorts. Planting roots is incredibly important for our operations."

The confident words of a familiar kitsune man filled my ears. It had been only a week that I had been playing Infinity Unleashed, and Mark was gaining more ambition. Stormpass is a town that not many people pass through for its lack of importance. Yet, he seemed hell-bent on dragging Bishop and me here.

"That is true, but why would any sane person set up their headquarters in Stormpass? This town has nothing to offer us, so we'd be better off working out of one of the larger towns.", Bishop responds.

The taller elven man folded his arms across his chest as he spoke. We stood a distance away from the entrance of this small, irrelevant town that had nothing to offer the common player. Hell, most NPCs tend to shy away from this place. Looking at it, there were only a few decent buildings present. There was a river cutting around the front of the entrance and a maintained stone bridge leading over it.

"He's right. There's barely even a market for supplies and shit. There are only a few men who seem to be protecting the entrance. What could a small town like this have to offer us?", I questioned the kitsune.

His fingers went up and began twisting his mustache-like whiskers as he prepared his answer. If there was a thing that I could say about Mark, he seemed to have these grand fixations at times like this. I could see the sparkle in his eyes.

"When a town is at its lowest, then the greatest thing that it can offer you is not materialistic, gentlemen. It is influence and power that we can acquire. Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country. Stormpass will be our country, so we must help out their people, and then their people will eventually come to help us out."

The Kitsune male spoke with the confidence that I could only attribute to him. One with arrogance and self-assurance, but his words made sense to me. Bishop must've agreed as well. In a swift motion, the Kitsune made his way toward the town of Stormpass. His head held high, and his spear mounted on his shoulder.

"There is a benefit to benevolence as it is cyclical.", he says, "Even if there is little to gain in the short term, I advise that we assist the villagers in their troubles. One day they might be more inclined to assist you in your endeavors.. That's how you gain influence with those small towns. Any man worth his salt that walks the path of a conquerer like I do would know that, so keep that in mind going forward."

Bang! Bang! Clank! Neighhhh!

"Agh!-"

A sharp gasp escaped my mouth as my body was suddenly jerked. My mind was suddenly snapped from its dream with reality taking hold of the situation. While my body was less strained than before, I found myself collecting my balance before I leaned onto the floor of the carriage. Our remaining horse neighed loudly, but the quick hush from our stagecoachman quickly put it at ease.

"Sorry, folks. The weight of the carriage has placed a lot of stress on our horse. He'll need a bit of time to rest before we can proceed.", the man says from the front of the carriage. "It's a miracle that he was capable of pulling us this far."

"It can't be helped. I cast a strength booster on the poor thing, but my magic eventually ran out a ways back.", Carilius' Uncle replies. He and his younger nephew had their heads focused on the man with the horse.

During our confrontation with a band of bandits on the road, one of our horses was stolen by a fleeing enemy. It was an unfortunate scenario, but thanks to the combined strength of Claire and I, we managed to beat them back without causing harm to the others. Although, we did manage to take some damage ourselves.

I collected myself and then found my place back on my seat. The carriage was quite muggy due to the heat that had been building for the journey. I can only assume that hours had been by while I was asleep, but it had appeared that Claire had fallen asleep as well. It shocked me that her long, blonde hair was now revealed to the passengers. Not only that but her younger features were completely exposed in her unconscious state.

Her head seemed to be resting on the shoulder of the other woman in the carriage. I don't know what really to think of it, but I suppose we'll cross that bridge when she finally wakes up. Her children also seemed to be sleeping at that moment, but after tending to their sweat, her eyes finally landed on my own.

"It's good to see that you're awake again. Did you rest well?", she asks me.

I didn't expect to be addressed so casually, but I wasn't totally against it. I merely nodded my head as my initial response before opening my mouth.

"I'm aight. What's the situation?"

Her face was splattered with a brief wave of confusion, but she ultimately latched on to my question.

"We aren't too far from Ava now, but the horse appears to be winded. Pulling this much weight even assisted by magic is too much for the poor thing. We'll be sitting here for a bit longer."

That makes sense all things considered. This specific carriage was designed for two horses to share the workload. Even with magic, one horse would have difficulties pulling the load for that distance. That also explains why we haven't arrived in the city just yet.

"That's not good then. Resting here does burn unnecessary daylight, so-", I decide to stand in the carriage. My back was a bit hunched over due to the size. "I'll get out there and tow it with the horse."

The woman must have been surprised by my response. Logically speaking, if one has the strength to do so, then it should be handled without question. If we sat around in this carriage for another few hours waiting for the horse, then we'd be burning away the time needed for our quest at the guild.

"Wait- surely, you are joking. It's crazy to go out there and think you can pull the carriage. You are strong, but even you aren't that strong, right? Plus, you are still recovering -"

"Thanks for the heads up. I need to get off my ass anyway."

I didn't give the woman time to properly talk me out of it. As soon as the sun washed over my body, I knew that I would be more inclined to listen to her reason. While it was true that I was recovering, I could just sense that whatever rocked me after the fight had begun to formally subside. The scratches that I had acquired were undergoing the process of closing themselves, but the rate was rather slow.

Not only that, but my stamina had begun to replenish itself as well. I no longer felt that weakness in my legs, so I was capable of firmly planting them onto the terrain below. I found myself toward the front of the carriage, and when I arrived, there was a surprised expression coloring the faces of the other male passengers.

The Stagecoachman was currently stroking the horse's man with one hand and, in the other, had an apple. The other two, Carilius and his uncle, stood by their side and were fanning the animal.

"Oh- you should be resting. What brings you up here in your condition?", Carilus' Uncle questions.

"I'm aight now, so we're going to get the carriage up and running. We need to get to this village within an hour or two.", I respond.

"Well, Jackal, here has reached his limit for the moment, and my magic will take time to recuperate as well. It'll be at least a few hours before I have enough of my magic to support him again."

"He's right. The young lad, Carilius, proposed that he walk to the village and request assistance, but we are in agreement that it is too dangerous. There could be more bandits along the road.", The stagecoach said.

"It would take too long to wait for the horse to properly rest and Uncle's magic to return. With you and your partner both resting, I figured that I would be the best choice to run there and ride a horse back to help tow the carriage. It would be much faster.", Carilius interjects.

He was correct on that. Having someone go ahead would be ideal. Hell, it's even better than towing the carriage myself, to be honest.

"The risk is too high in this situation, so -"

"I'll make the journey myself. If it's that dangerous for him, then I'll make the journey far quicker."

The two older men looked at each other before placing their eyes back on me. The stage coachman rubbed the chunks of the apple against the horse.

"Hmm- We appreciate your offer, and the fact that you rescued us all from the bandits, but it was clear to me that you underwent Mana Exhaustion. You should be resting as we suggested. It would be just as risky to have you do this for us as well.", Carilius' Uncle replies.

'Mana Exhaustion…'

It was common in Infinity Unleashed to be hit with a debuff of that same name. I recall it since Bishop was our resident mage. He would frequently be hit with it during our tougher exchanges. Though he never reported feeling what I underwent a few hours ago. That must mean that Mana Exhaustion is far more severe than a mere debuff in this world. It is a crippling experience from the looks of it.

"How long does someone need to rest if they were hit with Mana Exhaustion?", I ask the man.

He looked at me as if I asked him a weird question. He stepped away in front the other two and poked his face far too close to my own.

"This is quite the peculiar sight. You should not be on your feet right now. Mana Depletion is bad enough to keep a man bedridden for half a day, but Mana Exhaustion should have kept you down for far longer than that, but here you are."

That statement caught me off guard. If what he is saying is true, then something is odd about my quick recovery time. It would be unwise to place my thoughts elsewhere, so I quickly deflected the absurdity of my quick recovery to the matter at hand.

"Well I am on my feet, and I am more than capable of traveling the distance. How far away is the village?"

"It's about a half of a mile down the road. Not too far, but the risk of interception is there. Hence our hesitation to-"

We were closer than I imagined, so before he could finish I began my approach. There was no significant damage to my legs, so there were no factors to prevent me from going through with my plan.

"W-wait! Tcha- We won't be able to stop you.", The Stagecoachman exhales in defeat. "Swing by the village mayor's office first! Inform him that Villard sends you, and then inform him of our situation!"

His instructions were clear, and once enough distance had been placed between us, I changed my speed. With my body loosened from the draining effects of the Mana Exhaustion, I began a jog and eventually a sprint when I could. That process made half of a mile go by in an instant.

My eyes finally took in the sight of a few buildings in the closing distance. Once close enough, I limited my speed back to a leisurely wall. It was not due to any physical limitation, actually any fatigue that I had felt before seemed to have been washed away. It was as if it replenished itself during my short journey. It was oddly reminiscent of the aftermath of Mark and the Lynx. He was relatively injured all things considered, but before we arrived in Astana, he was practically new. My stamina must be a similar method, and it is likely due to the combination of my species as well.

The true reason I slowed down was actually due to the village entrance drawing near. All things considered, this village didn't seem to host anything special. Some of the buildings were made out of crude stones and others with a dark wooden exterior. It was about as average as any backwoods village would be. You would think being this close to a good market city like Astana would benefit the village, but if anything it seemed to have harmed it.

Unlike Astana, there wasn't much of a wall to protect it either. If I had preferred I could have not crossed underneath the sign at the front of the village and entered it along the many off-road sides. It was quite odd to see the city so loosely protected. Now that I've taken a good look around, I could barely see many people populating this city.

At least the front part of it. Most of the buildings around here appear to be old and close to being run down. The people that I do see are resting along the sides of the buildings. Others seemed to be closed inside of the buildings.

They appeared to be hiding there for some reason. Now I didn't expect a heartwarming welcome, but these people seemed to be afraid of something. It could be the fiend fishes. Maybe one of them got too close and ran rampant through the village. There was noticeable destruction littered throughout certain parts of the area. Some wood appeared to be burned and charcoal. I approached it, and the sight stunned me a bit.

This looks like the remnants of a building. Somehow it had been burned to mere ashes and debris. Seeing that immediately alerted me to the fact that something is off. People cowering and now burned wood. I am a betting man, so I'm willing to place my bet that fiend fishes aren't the only thing plaguing Ava Villiage.