Chapter 4 #2
They walked the path past the AMBERVALE – ONE DAY sign.
Birds chirped, sunlight filtered through the canopy, and Alsen felt pleasantly relaxed. Hot water, a comfortable bed, not-just-meat food, clean clothes, those all stopped mattering when one didn’t get access to them for long enough.
That lasted about an hour.
First, they heard hooves. Then, a group of four riders came on the road ahead of them.
Four men on horses, all geared up, armed, clean, and well-dressed, with enough decorations on their clothes to make it clear they weren’t struggling for gold.
“Well, well,” the leading rider called from ahead. “What do we have here?”
Alsen and Luna tensed up. She gripped the hilt of her dagger, though she didn’t draw it.
“Don’t bother,” another of the men said. “You’re two F-ranks. We’ve got a C-rank. You should kneel and grovel, just to make sure you don’t anger us.”
Alsen motioned with his head at Luna to stay still. “So?” he asked. “We are all adventurers on the road that’s more than broad enough for all of us.”
“Travelers,” the leader said, guiding his horse toward them, smiling with a confident swagger.
He had done this many times. The smile went perfectly with the scar he had across his chin and cheek.
“On a very dangerous road. There are monsters everywhere. Bandits frequent these roads, too. But you’re lucky, as we offer protection services. ”
“For a modest fee,” another man added, grinning. He drew a hand crossbow, aiming at them, the air around the crossbow shaking due to imbued magic.
Alsen kept his voice calm. “We have nothing worth protecting to begin with. No money, no gear worth taking, absolutely nothing of value.”
“You’ve got clothes,” the man with the crossbow remarked.
“Which I’ve been wearing for ten days straight without washing or changing.”
The scarred man’s expression didn’t change. “That so?” He gestured to the one who rode last. “Check them.”
The last man mumbled something, and a pulse of power spread from him. A scanning spell, Alsen realized. He let it happen. The scan swept over them before it returned to the caster. “I’ve detected nothing of value.”
“Hmph.” The leader grunted. “That’s the first time.”
“We could take the girl,” the crossbowman said. “Tie her up, take her to a city, and sell her on the market.”
The last man snorted. “For what? Look at her. She wouldn’t fetch the value of food we’d have to feed her on the way.”
Crossbowman chuckled. “I guess. Thought it was just me.”
“When I said nothing of value,” the last man said, “That included her.”
Luna’s mouth gaped open, cheeks catching a deep shade of red.
Even Alsen felt the sting, the humiliation spilling on him from her.
The scarred man ran his hand through his beard.
“Yeah, I guess you’re right. Wouldn’t even pay for the horseshoe wear.
” He handed his reins to the fourth man and jumped off the horse.
“I’ll at least rough them up a bit for good measure.
They can’t go around telling people that they got ambushed by Savnoj and left without a bruise. ”
Alsen stepped forward to block the path to Luna, readying his power around him to be ready to cast a spell at any second. “That would be the stupidest possible reason for us to fight.”
“Not really.” The scarred man, apparently Savnoj, smiled. “You newbies need to learn the lessons of how this works the hard way.” He walked to Alsen, cracking his knuckles. “No hard feelings.”
Alsen focused, readying the lance. His best bet against a potentially stronger opponent was to disintegrate him with the first move.
He stepped toward Savnoj, voice low, “I am certain that your adventuring rank means a lot in a city. But here, in the middle of nowhere, it is but a letter to be carved upon your grave.”
Savnoj made one more step, but then stopped. His smile froze on his lips. Half a step before he would be able to punch Alsen. He completely stopped mid-step.
Alsen didn’t move, ready to strike.
“Then again,” Savnoj said, sweat beading all over his face. “I’d just get myself dirty by touching you.” He hastily returned to his horse, mounting it so fast he almost fell.
Alsen kept the spell mostly prepared.
The scarred man’s bravado returned. He nudged his horse forward. “Let’s move. We don’t need to catch lice from them.”
His companions stowed away their weapons, rolling their eyes. They did obey, riding around them.
The scarred man looked over his shoulder at Alsen. “Don’t spend it all at once.” He tossed a silver coin at Alsen.
Alsen swiftly spun a variety scan to check the coin. No magic residue. Nothing imbued. He caught the coin.
The men rode away, continuing on the road.
When they got out of hearing range, Alsen glanced at Luna. “Are you all right?”
“No.” She stepped to him and put her hand on his shoulder with so much strength that it tilted his stance. “I need a favor. Could you whip up your best spell, blow them up so that nothing remains, and then delete this entire encounter from your memory with another spell?”
That sounded dead serious. He shook his head. “I won’t murder them just because they’re jerks.”
“Oh, now I miss the wolf.” Luna sighed. “Right now, I would be like hey, fur bag, shift into me. And he would say oh fuck yeah, let’s tear them all to shreds!
And then I would shift, and I would tear them all to shreds.
Their horses too…” With a sharp turn, she pointed at a tree to the side. “And that squirrel.”
A startled squirrel ran from a branch up into the treetop.
“It watched the whole time,” she added.
“What about me?” Alsen asked. “Would you have also torn me to shreds?”
“You’ve got a spell to delete what just happened from your memory, right?”
A chill ran down the entire length of his back. It wasn’t with murderous intent, but it was a threat. “I am sorry your pride got hurt. I will not kill people over it.”
“But you’ll make it up to me, won’t you?”
“How do you imagine I do that?”
“Promise me that whenever we get to a major city, you’ll dress me up as a slave and sell me at an auction.”
He spat out. He had seen some twisted logic in his life, but this one caught him off guard. “That’s absurd, ridiculous, childish, and you’ll regret it.”
“I don’t see how anything of that should be a problem for you.”
Alsen sighed. Yes, it was not, and he found the idea amusing. For science, of course. “Sure. I promise that if you still want to do this, I’ll help you with it.”
“Thanks. I’ll hold you to that.” She released him, heading on the road towards the village.
With an amused smile, he headed after her. The road felt lighter, and he wondered what had changed Savnoj’s mind. Did he feel the mana around Alsen when he got too close? Or did he have some sixth sense or an item that warned him against imminent death?
He didn’t know.