Chapter 6
"So the answer to the current situation is...
us wandering the jungle?" Venthra complained as I marched through with Nyx and Merlin in tow.
Almeria had stayed behind, mostly to give Eve and her sect a sense that we weren't running away.
By leaving one behind at all times, she would feel confident that we were going to come back, and that was important at the onset of our relationship.
Eve needed careful consideration so that she didn’t become antagonistic during our visit and ruin all of this.
"Merlin can only teleport to where she's been.
" I pointed at the woman in question. "So it's important that we take the time to give her plenty of reference locations to latch onto.
Besides," I said, taking another talisman and pasting it to a tree, "I can also use these to get my own eyes in the forest."
Venthra grumbled and picked at her clothes. "It's still fucking hot here."
"If you ask, I'm sure Eve and her sect would be absolutely delighted to deck you out in leaves."
My answer earned me only a scowl from the Borrson assassin.
"I'll pass on that. These are far more comfortable.
" She pulled at her leathers. "Also, I feel like those things give absolutely zero support," she said to Nyx, whose head bobbed along, her serpents staying perfectly still, looking out in every direction on high alert.
"Good support is critical," Nyx agreed with a no-nonsense attitude I didn't quite expect from the Medusa.
"So Merlin and Nyx are important here. Why am I tromping through a jungle?" Venthra pointed at herself.
I grinned at her. "Because I think several of these groups are missing something."
"And what would that be?"
"I'm not sure, but another perspective is always nice," I said leadingly. "Besides, if I had left you in the sect, there's a bigger chance of you causing trouble than Almeria."
"You're right. Venthra's more likely to get into a fight. Almeria's probably just swimming in the hot spring. Or practicing her sword by herself." Nyx giggled.
Venthra crossed her arms, yet despite her sulking and everything, she was moving silently through the trees. The other reason I brought her was that the Amazon Rainforest tended to have a large number of poison users present, and I figured she'd find some inspiration.
Nyx paused as one of her hair serpents twisted, and then they all locked onto something I did not see. She held up a fist and dropped low.
Any banter amongst our group was quickly smothered as everyone did their best to stay low and keep their ears open. Venthra ducked under the shade of a broad leaf, Merlin melted into a shadow, and Nyx stepped beside a tree, her serpents poking around the edge.
I, on the other hand, felt like I stuck out like a sore thumb as I flattened myself against a large rock.
We stood in silence like that for what felt like a minute before the sounds of the jungle slowly came back to life around us, only for them to suddenly stop again.
I paused, glancing toward the wake of the silence, doing my best to get even lower and activate stealth.
I had nearly forgotten I had such a skill, given how little I used it.
Someone spoke up in a language I couldn't understand, before two other voices replied, and they moved through the jungle with the ease of deep familiarity.
Nyx held up a hand, flashing four fingers, then two, pointing out in two directions from us. I glanced at her for confirmation, and she could only shrug.
Confrontation would answer the question of who we were dealing with at the moment. So I stood, deactivated stealth, and headed in their direction.
There was a quiet ‘shit’ ahead as they clearly heard me.
I might as well have been shooting off fireworks as I marched, because I felt inspections brush across me, only for me to squint and spot a man and a woman, heavily decorated with paint and tattoos, clinging to the side of a tree not far away.
I froze, staring at the two of them. We both knew each other was there, only for two more to come out of the foliage, spears drawn and leveled at me.
"I don't suppose any of you can understand me?" I asked.
The man jumped down from the tree, landing not far away with the silent grace I would expect from a cat, even though he was anything but lithe.
He crossed his arms in front of his chest. "I can speak with you, though I wonder what you're doing here.
" His inspection pressed up against me, and once again, I brushed it aside.
"Why? Do I not belong? I’m neither First Garden, nor demon, nor one of those mangy city curs," I said with a smile, knowing I’d earn a little of their trust if they were in conflict with those in the city.
He chuckled. Another of them tilted their head and spoke something in their language. "It seems you're not from around here," the translator said, "otherwise you'd know these relations far better. It's not as if anyone's made secrets of our likes and dislikes."
"Oh?" I said, scratching the side of my cheek. "I didn't realize I'd given the whole game away. Bran Heros." I held out a hand. "Consider me an ally of the First Garden, though mostly my group and I are here to hunt demons."
The man grunted, sounding unimpressed. "Demons come, demons take, but if you stay out of their way, they won't fight you, nor will they destroy the land. Even if there are monsters, the rainforest still needs to be taken care of if it's to survive."
I bowed slightly to him. "Of course. Such a mission is still honorable. After all, no matter what's happened to this world, we still have to take care of it if we're going to live in it."
My words finally brought a smile to his face. "If you're just an ally here for a time, then can I ask where you call home?"
"My group has several fortresses in North America and Europe.” The tribesmen were being at least somewhat amicable. “Do you think I could invite my companions to join us? Don't be startled," I added, "one of them looks a little different since she gained all of her abilities."
"Rare, but some who are powerful have changed drastically." The man looked at me and shrugged.
"An understatement." I chuckled and waved behind me.
Merlin slid out of the shadows, still wreathed in them for a moment before she pulled back her hood. "A pleasure to meet you," she said.
"The pleasure is all mine." The man bowed back to her in turn.
Venthra and Nyx came out at the same time.
The assassin stomped loudly as she moved to announce herself, while Nyx padded out on bare feet.
It seemed she had decided to discard her tail for this greeting; however, she still had serpentine hair wreathed around her head.
It caught the man's attention, his eyes dancing over the snakes, assessing them by habit.
"Ah, I see. Very different," he said, looking slightly uncomfortable as he watched the serpents. “They would not make a great pillow.”
"Oh, they're fine." Nyx raised her hand, grabbed one of them, and played with it. "Also, they're a part of me. It's not as if they bite."
He blinked, then refocused on me. "Now we have met. Though I do wonder why, if you're a guest of the First Garden, you wander oddly close to our territory."
"Just getting the lay of the land," I said, doing my best to smile. "After all, if we're going to help with demons, that only works insofar as we can operate in this area."
"Ah," he said, nodding along. "And that is why you placed some of these." He peeled one of the talismans I had been leaving on the trunks of trees.
I scratched my cheek. "I suppose I didn't hide them well enough if you've been finding them."
"What are they?" he asked, tilting it at a strange angle, as if a new perspective would explain their use.
"They're a type of magic. I can see through them."
"Ah," he said. "Eyes that see into the distance. Wondrous magic. There have been many wondrous magics since the windows appeared." He handed them back to me. "But very obvious."
He gave me eight, and I had put out at least thirteen.
I suppose I would just have to be more careful with where I placed them, perhaps focusing a little more on hiding and a little less on view.
They disappeared into my spatial ring, and that didn't seem to bother them.
Most of them had similar items, though I used Soul Gaze on the man and found myself surprised at how low his level was. Only level fifty-seven.
"Are you considered strong among your people?" I asked.
He puffed his chest up. "Yes. I am a great defender of our territory."
"Are there any that are especially powerful amongst yours?" I asked.
"Should you descend into our territory with ill intent, you will find that out for yourself," he said cryptically.
In my opinion, if he had had someone far stronger, he would have been prouder of the fact. Which left me greatly disappointed.
For whatever reason, it seemed the tribes were more concerned with the initiated in the city than with the demons or even the First Garden.
That told me a considerable bit about the situation here and led me to believe the demons had sparked conflict between those two.
The question was whether they were simply focused on the wrong threat, or whether they had been crippled by the Demon Lord.
"Well, thank you for the lesson. I don't suppose we'd be able to visit your tribe?"
The man grimaced. "You seem pleasant enough; however, I must apologize—the tribe is closed to outsiders."
I sighed and shook my head. "Well then, perhaps we can improve our relationship in the future.
For now, I think we'll continue to scout the area so that we may help the First Garden with their demon troubles, and I would ask that you keep our presence to as few ears as possible.
After all, we can only surprise the demons if they don't know we are here yet. "
The man seemed offended at my words, as if I were suggesting they would gossip with the demons. The woman behind him must have understood enough. She began barking at me in their language, only for him to hold up a hand and her to stop.
"I apologize for her behavior; however, you did offend us with such assumptions."
"My assumption is that demons have spies everywhere," I said quickly. "Not that you're working with them."
His eyes narrowed, and he sniffed. "There are no spies amongst the tribes. We've all known each other far too long for a demon to be able to slip in amongst us, unknown."
“Of course.” I did my best to plaster a smile on my face. He had no idea how wrong he could be. There were more than a few demons capable of flawless impersonation, but I doubted telling him that was going to change anyone's mind.
"If you don't mind, leave up my talismans if you see them in the future," I said and bowed before turning to leave.
"If I can find them, then so too can anyone else wandering the forest. I will not touch them, but others may not be so kind as to return them to you."
I grunted and kept moving. Their group stayed still and wary until they were out of sight. Only then did Venthra return to my side.
"What was the point of that?" she asked.
I put a finger to my lips and winked. "Just greeting the neighbors," I said, while she and the other two ladies with me nodded in understanding. We were still being followed—and most likely would be for some time.