(34.1) Sudden Shift

"Dent! Dent! Help me!" Aki cries out.

She claws at the tree trunk she's climbed onto and kicks at the horned rabbit that blitzes around the tree base with a fury in its beady little red eyes.

It bares its razor sharp fangs and leaps up at Aki, trying to bite her whenever Aki slides just barely in reach.

Meanwhile, Dent watches from another tree, sitting comfortably on a branch and sharpening his sword without a care in the world.

"Ah! Dent!" The horned rabbit narrowly grazes Aki's heel this time.

Sighing, Dent flicks his blade at the rabbit. A wind sphere forms around its head following the direction of the motion and instantly suffocates the rabbit.

He leaps down, and draws a skinner knife to prepare the game. Without looking up from his task, Dent calls down Aki.

"You can face powerful, nightmarish, and phantasmal foes without so much as a doubt in yourself, yet when it comes to a simple wild animal, you cower in a tree? What exactly is your threshold for a threat, Aki?"

"Simple? You call that simple??" Aki slowly slides down the trunk, leaving a trail where her fingers had dug into the wood. "That rabbit cut the head off the deer you were hunting like it was nothing! Why did you decide to go hunting anyway?? Deika's just past that hill. We could've just gotten food in the city."

"The 'just over the hill' as you say is still several hours, uphill." Dent emphasises the last sound with a hard tone and a grunt of effort as he pulls the horn from the rabbit's skull. "Going uphill is taxing, regardless of your level. Had you not freely handed out our supplies to every person, creature, and needy plant that crossed our paths on our way, we would not need to do this."

"But-"

"Over-reliance on magic is a crutch." Now finished with the skinning, Dent makes his way back to their temporary campsite where a metal pot bubbles above a small but steady flame and sets to work on making something Aki isn't sure of.

"I know. You've been saying that everyday since the ship." Aki kneels down next to Dent to watch him work and starts to pull things out of her bag. "But they all looked like they needed help and I couldn't just walk away. It's not like we didn't get anything out of it either. Look!"

Aki carefully pulls one thing after another as she names them.

"We got a pile of rock salt, a speciality discount ticket for a swordsmith in Deika, a broken water purifier that just needs a new cable, some story books, and someone's lost wallet that definitely misses it!" Aki sets them all neatly down between her and Dent and raises the wallet to him, pointing out simple embroidered lines set on the coin pouch's inner rim.

Inori, Toya

"I'll not speak of your good nature, Aki. But moderation is important. As travelers, we need as much as they do."

Though his expression and emotions remains neutral, Aki has already picked up on notes of irritation or scolding after training with him for so long and apologises quietly.

In no time, the food Dent was preparing was finished. He divides it between the two of them, with a portion to eat quickly now and the rest to snack on as they climb the hill to replenish their energy as hiking rations.

Dent then takes the lead up the hill with Aki trailing behind, still reflecting quietly on her decisions.

Although this quiet reflection turns into being quiet so as to not waste her breath.

The initial smooth incline had been getting progressively sharper until Aki felt like she was marching up a flight of stairs with how she was pumping her legs.

"This is… actually kinda tough, Dent." Aki adjusts her cloak and bag and double checks to make sure the illusory magic she'd been wearing hadn't dissipated from the effort.

Her acolyte symbol and pin were still obscured and invisible, making her look like just a normal traveler with an unmarked, sandy pale green cloak. Aside from slight ripples, she was still holding strong as expected.

"Really? I didn't think you would find it difficult." Dent responds evenly. A slight tension tugs at his tone, the only mark that he too might be finding it difficult. If only slightly.

They continue silently, occasionally speaking to let the other know to slow down to refuel, but never stopping.

Midmorning comes when the pair finally near the top. Aki feels the ground change and the uneven ground changes into oddly even, flattened stone buried beneath who knows how many ages of windswept dirt and overgrown plants.

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[Tactician Lv. 2 - Insight Granted] 

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"Stone stairs? Based on their condition, they must belong to ancient ruins." She tries to find the outline of the stairs but only the packed dirt and the particular positioning of grass patches growing on the path are the only hint of man-made interference in the area.

Whatever may have been here has likely long vanished.

"Here." Dent calls from way out in front. "Careful near the edge."

On either side of him, the forest curves apart, split roughly by the dirt path that opens into a dirt and stone clearing. Similar to the ancient stairs, this clearing looks too unnatural to say it was a natural occurrence. 

Aki's legs burn as she finally reaches the top, joining Dent. She raises a brow, wondering what edge a hill could have and keeps going past him. Her legs burn as she comes to a stop and gasps.

The hill was actually a path to a cliff overlooking Deika City. From where they are, Aki can see the main road winding down a ways until reaching imposing stone walls where a gatehouse receives travellers wanting inside the city on her left.

To the right and covered in fog, she can somewhat make out a skyport and streets carved into a black cliff going down thanks only to the morning sun shedding its rays through the cloudy sky. If she looks further back, she can see the Star Sea going into the fog, but the elevation is far too low that she can't see the bottom of Deika's port area from where she is, nor could she even if there wasn't fog, she reasons.

"After the things I've done… I did NOT… think going uphill… would be so tough." Aki says between long pants. She puts her hands on her hips and straightens out, trying to level her breathing. "Remind me why we… came up here… anyway?"

"Do you recall how we were teleported from the catacombs we were exploring in New Pinacca? Opposite catacombs in separate directions, yet the same teleportation trap."

Aki nods, slowly catching her breath and eying the gorgeous scenery below.

"Myself, Caor, and the others were dropped in the middle of swarming Dead, yet even in the midst of such a flood, he did not falter." Dent pinches his nose, hiding the smile that pulls at the corner of his lips. "For how often he made an ass of himself, Caor was a reliable sort when it came to analysing a situation."

Dent stamps on the ground at random intervals only he knows and understands before moving to the forest's edge and pushing aside bushes.

"After the dust settled in that battle, Caor told me that the sensation of the teleportation magic reminded him of the Teleport Tiles found in the VRMMO we played."

"New Lands Online, right? Phoebe… I remember she mentioned it." Aki crawls to the edge of the cliff and peers over, uncertain to what Dent is doing but wanting to help all the same. "I don't remember hearing about teleport tiles though."