Chapter 43
The founding of Crimsonwood meant one thing.
Oakhaven Province was finally pushing past the Redpine Range.
In the past, Oakhaven's southern expansion had halted at the Redpine Range on the edge of the Pyreflame Woods, and humanity had limited itself to targeted purges of the monsters on the mountains' northern side.
Now humans were raising a city on Crimsonwood Peak, and their reach would extend deeper into the range.
Clearing monsters, reclaiming farmland, and building waterworks would follow as a matter of course.
The first group stationed there was a rough crowd.
Of barely two thousand people, more than seven hundred were Awakened.
Pack that many armed, ambitious Awakened into one place, and disputes, schemes, and backroom deals were inevitable.
As the strongest power in Aurelia, the Church of Light served as judge in such matters.
If the Church said you were guilty, you were guilty.
If the Church recommended the kingdom grant you a noble title, the kingdom complied.
Naturally, Awakened who aspired to become landed nobles tried every avenue to build ties with the Church.
Rosefire Mercenary Company did.
Ember Shield Mercenary Company did.
Viscount House Fris had started laying groundwork even earlier.
As Elise prepared to depart, several Awakened gathering points across the sprawling camp that called itself a city were making their own final preparations.
...
Meanwhile—
[Meditation Skill Experience +78.]
Elise finished her first meditation session of the day.
Judging the hour by the brightness outside, she left the meditation room without wasting a moment.
She gathered Lia, Chalmers, Glenrius, Telynia, and the others, then walked at the center of the team toward the edge of the Church district.
Beyond the Church-controlled area, the real Crimsonwood came into view.
Along the broad road hacked hastily through the camp, humans, dwarves, elves, goblins, and other races went about their business.
Commoners, though, were scarce.
Most of Crimsonwood's commoners were exiled criminals, and for now they enjoyed little freedom.
Looking around, Elise saw Awakened everywhere, swords, spears, bows, and blades carried openly. Among the caster types, nearly half wore cloaks.
With many of the side paths still unpaved, the road carried a faint stink of urine.
This was a new city camp in Aurelia.
Rough, but not lawless.
And that order had been imposed by the Church of Light.
The moment Elise's group emerged from the Church district, every Awakened on the road turned to look.
"Light above."
"Is the Church running a mission?"
"No mounts. They must be headed into the Redpine Range."
"Is that High Cleric Elise in the middle? She's taking field missions too?"
"Heh. The honored Archbishop Norias did say High Cleric Elise would have to run dangerous hellspawn purification missions."
"Oh..."
The devout bowed in respect to the God of Light.
The ordinary Awakened fell to guessing what sort of mission Elise's team had drawn.
Elise, in her High Cleric robes, observed the surrounding Awakened out of habit.
Whenever she caught a strange look, she made a point of remembering the face behind it.
Before long, she led the team to the "outskirts," where the wooden houses thinned.
One day this ground would belong to Crimsonwood's inner district. For now, it served as a common staging area for mercenary companies.
"Honored High Cleric Elise, Ember Shield Mercenary Company fights for you!"
"Light above! Awakened of the Church, we are Rosefire Mercenary Company..."
Both companies were already waiting.
When they saw Harkian and the others traveling alongside the Church team, envy flickered in their eyes.
When it came to opening new territory, the Church and the nobility enjoyed practically the same privileges.
But there was no helping that.
This was the treatment Aurelia's noble class had earned by being tamed. Unaffiliated Awakened didn't dare complain.
"Elise, our target is deep in the mountains," Chalmers reminded her quietly while Harkian stepped forward to coordinate with the mercenary companies.
Elise nodded.
She took his meaning.
Their target lay roughly eight miles from Crimsonwood camp, while Crimsonwood could currently guarantee only that no Second-tier monsters remained within about three miles.
That was why Awakened entering the forest never traveled at night.
The plan was already set.
They would march this afternoon and camp through the night.
Tomorrow morning they would push on; after noon, they would kill and purify the hell-devil, then choose suitable ground to camp again.
The day after, they would return to Crimsonwood.
The schedule ran tight, so Elise had no interest in lingering to chat with the mercenary companies.
At a wave of her hand, the large four-team formation began to move.
Lofnar took point with Rosefire Mercenary Company.
Their task: clear any monsters that interfered with the route and report anything unusual to the Church team.
Harkian's team and Adair's Ember Shield Mercenary Company guarded the flanks. Any monsters they ran across, they were free to hunt for themselves.
This was one way the Church conducted its missions.
With three cooperating teams forming a protective ring around the Church team at the center, the journey was downright comfortable.
By afternoon, Elise had traveled several miles into the Redpine Range without so much as glimpsing a monster.
"Going on a Church mission is its own kind of luxury," Lia observed with feeling, eating steadily as she walked.
Chalmers and the others only smiled.
This was nothing.
If the Church of Light truly meant to scour the Pyreflame Woods of monsters in earnest, legendary powerhouses would have been stationed here first.
As for accepting the mercenary companies' help?
That was their honor.
Elise, for her part, felt less like an Awakened venturing into the wild and more like a student on a field trip.
But soon—
Crack.
Snap, snap, snap.
Breaking branches and quick footsteps sounded from up ahead.
Glenrius, serving as the link between Rosefire Mercenary Company and the Church team, came back to report.
Longbow across his back, he slipped swiftly to Elise's side and lowered his voice.
"Second-tier monster spotted ahead."
"Move."
Elise's eyes brightened, her grip tightening on her staff as she spoke.
She hadn't forgotten that [Holy Light Arrow] still needed experience to reach Level 5.
Before entering the forest, she had told Lofnar that if they encountered a Second-tier monster, she wanted to handle it personally for field training.
Lofnar, ten thousand gold in debt and tasked with mending dwarf-Church relations, had agreed readily.
So when Rosefire Mercenary Company found the Second-tier monster, he notified Glenrius at once.
The moment Elise moved, Glenrius blew a series of whistle signals per the plan. The flanking teams drew inward simultaneously and shifted to close-range vigilance.
When Elise arrived, she found Lofnar and the mercenaries tucked behind trees, archers and rogues farther forward, tracking the monster's movement pattern.
"High Cleric Elise, we've found a low-level Second-tier monster," Lofnar said, pointing toward a cave several dozen yards off. "A blue-furred black bear."
"A blue-furred black bear?"
Privately, Elise mocked Aurelia's naming conventions.
She wasn't entirely sure what a bear that managed to be both blue and black was supposed to look like.
Still, she had read widely and learned [Appraisal], so she knew something of such monsters.
Monster names were typically assembled from color, traits, habitat, and species.
A blue-furred black bear was a black bear with blue fur. In all likelihood, it could wield water-attribute mana. Among bear-type monsters, it was fairly rare.
"Thank you, Mister Lofnar. As agreed, I claim none of your spoils."
Elise offered Rosefire Mercenary Company that reassurance.
She was hunting for skill experience and field training.
Only if the company genuinely needed her help would she take a share of the loot.
A mere low-level Second-tier monster sat comfortably within Rosefire's capabilities. Elise couldn't take the experience and the loot both.
She felt the mercenaries relax and said nothing more.
"Chalmers, I need you to draw the monster out," Elise said, turning to him.
Chalmers had been waiting for a chance to shine. He answered instantly.
"Elise, I'll take the front line. Watch my hand signals."
"Your courage is admirable."
At the praise, Chalmers—temporarily serving as a Church Awakened—happily led his men toward the cave mouth.
He produced some manner of potion and hurled it inside.
Even standing more than thirty feet back, Elise immediately caught an indescribable stench.
"Roar!"
The magic bear's furious bellow exploded from the cave.
If it could have spoken, it would surely have cursed them out.
Who throws filth into a bear's home?
Have you people no decency?
Elise had no time to shield her nose. She began constructing [Holy Light Arrow] at once.
Second-tier mana fluctuations rippled through the air.
Lofnar, watching with anticipation, read the grade of those fluctuations—and the corner of his mouth curled upward.
Heh.
Only ordinary Second-tier mana.
In that instant, his confidence climbed another notch.
Elise's [Holy Light], he had discovered, was formidable.
But her [Holy Light Arrow]?
Was that all?