CHAPTER 6 – The road to Ronfaure
"This is great" Hajime said to himself as he galloped along the murky plains of the Batallia downs and across the Coveffe Barrows. He was riding a chocobo and avoiding any monster that would wish to aggro him.
It wasn't long before Hajime and his large yellow chocobo had reached the Jugner forest. Hajime turned off the path for a brief moment for a rest by Lake Mechieume where he encountered another hume sitting on the bank fishing. He tied his chocobo to the tree and approached the hume.
"Good morning there!" said Hajime as the hume turned around. "Ah good morning sir" he replied. "Caught anything yet?" asked Hajime, "Not as yet not as yet but I've had a few bites…just hope I don't get one of those ghastly pugils that roam the lake banks".
No sooner than he had said that, a lake pugil jumped out of the water and knocked the hume on his back. Hajime drew his sword and began combat. He knew that a pugil in this forest was a VT match and in all fairness, prayed for a miracle. With one quick lunge of his sword, the pugil burst into flames and keeled over on the spot.
"YES HAHA feel my wrath pugil!" yelled Hajime in delight, "Good teamwork there sir" said the hume, "With your provoke and my Fire magic, we sure did show that pugil who's boss". Hajime looked slightly disappointed at the fact that it was not his sword that killed the large fish fiend and put his sword back in its holder before calming down the terrified chocobo.
"So what brings you to this part of the woods" asked the hume. Hajime explained about his mission and what had happened so far.
"By god man, you need to build your strength up if you're gunna make it through this forest…come on, lets power level" said the hume as Hajime once again took on the help of another adventurer.
A few hours later, Hajime had reached level 27. "Thank you sir, I cannot express my gratitude" said Hajime. The hume smiled and bowed. Hajime mounted his chocobo as the hume went back towards the lake with his fishing rod over his shoulder.
"Hey" Hajime shouted. "I didn't get your name!"
The hume turned around and after a brief pause stated his name to Hajime.
"Gazla" he said, and with that, the hume sat down and cast his line across the dark water.
Riding through the dark forest, Hajime couldn't seem to put his finger on it. He had heard that name before…but where?
It wasn't long before Hajime reached an outpost hidden in the trees of the dense forest. The first thing he noticed was that the outpost was covered with Red banners which led him to believe that this region was under San d'orian control. He continued on past the outpost where two elves stood guard.
"Have you seen any activity today?"
"No…it's strange, I've never seen anything like it" said the two elves to each other. Jugner forest was usually full of Orcs patrolling in and out of the depths around the beastmen stronghold of Davoi but on this occasion, there were no to be seen.
Hajime continued to ride on, not hearing what the two elves had said. He passed creatures of the likes he had never seen before, dog like creatures, crabs and even the odd walking tree or two.
It wasn't much longer before the trees cleared and Hajime had reached the La Theine Plateau. It reminded him of the highlands back near Bastok but much flatter. There was also another giant animal skeleton here where people would appear and disappear…one thing he would have to learn about when he got to San d'oria. Hajime followed the winding road around the small mountains which began to remind him even more of Konschtat. For the first time in many days, Hajime was seeing adventurers all over the place that were weaker than he was all fighting flying fiends and worms that appeared out of the ground in all directions but he also remembered the stories of people who have disappeared here and never seen again…lost in the labyrinth of caves below the plateau which the locals called Ordelle caves…aptly nicknamed the Ordeal caves. Oh the stories in which he would be able to tell…maybe one day he thought he could be as famous as the hume and the mith…that was it…that was where he had heard that name before! Gazla was the name of the hume that fought in the battle of Jeuno five years ago. Could it have been the same person? No it couldn't have been, Gazla died at the highest point in the Ru'Lude Gardens by the hands of a demon. It was rare that people had the same names in Vanadiel, Hajime wondered now…was his hero still out there?
Hajime had finally reached West Ronfaure. The pleasant and peaceful patch of woodland was full of rabbits and wild sheep. The sun shone through the canopy of trees above, lighting up the browns and greens of the forest floor. As Hajime rode onwards, he encountered another outpost but this one had more than just two elves around it. Ten elves stood in a circle in full armour locked in conversation. Being his nosey self, Hajime stepped forward and listened in.
"Yeh that Mithra I saw just was HOT" one said, "Yeh man I'd give her my wild onion any day" replied another.
Alas, Hajime had nothing to listen to hear but the sleazy remarks of ten horny elves. He was about to set off once more when he heard something a lot more interesting.
"So anyway, that's the fourth report we've had this week of suspicious beastmen activity…now Jugner is saying that they have totally disappeared".
"They would never abandon their stronghold in Davoi…this is too weird" said the smallest Elf."
Hajime set off again…worried….yet curious to know what was happening. Whatever it was, it wasn't his business…the now level 28 hume was standing before the great walls of San'd oria. Finally….he had arrived.