AN: English is not my native language and this is my first fanfiction.
"I love cookies" → thoughts
"I love cookies" → speech
"I love cookies" → spell, Martial art
Chapter 14
→ Re-Limetane / Blue roses and Litzelot ←
It took our group nearly five days, with their break in between, to reach Re-Limetane. They had stored Litzelots bicorn in the forest nearby. Litzelot then used his "summon" and ordered them to scout the area. After the preparations were done blue roses and Litzelot went to enter the city.
It was obvious that the city was a hub for nobles. The city had only one big wall to protect the city. Outside the city were big slums. These slums were simply a show of misery, illness and poverty. The wall itself was around 30 Meters ( nearly 98 feet) high, extremely thick and was decorated with outwards facing gargoyles. It was obvious who the walls protected, since the top was decorated with marble. Going through the slums felt like walking through excrements of the people living there.
Once they got inside the walls the picture turned upside down immediately. Once they paid their usual fee, they traveled on good roads and there were many mansions. They also saw some spa areas and parks. The plazas were big and filled with business. It was obvious that you could buy nearly anything in those plazas, if you were willing to pay and looked enough. The shops on the streets were well maintained and boasted a big variety in their sortiments and good quality, if you didn't know Items from Yggdrasil that is.
They reached a mediocre inn, mediocre here that was equal to prestigious in other cities, and checked in. The price was interestingly also higher than in other cities. After they had stored their items in their respective rooms, our group of adventurers met in Litzelots room, since blue roses were packed to the brim.
"When do your "Headless Horsemen" bring you the information about the surrounding land?" Lakyus asked.
"They will do their order and meet me shortly after midnight. Then I will have an accurate map. Before that we should lay low." Litzelot said.
"Isn't there a curfew in this city?" asked Evileye.
"There is. Are you sure you can't meet them when the curfew is over?" Lakyus asked.
"That would be hard, since we aren't a normal sight in a city like this. I will move out at night, alone since Evileye will keep an eye out to keep our stuff safe." Litzelot said, not waiting for a rebuttal.
"We will also have our information earlier that way." Litzelot said.
"As you wish. but don't get caught. This city is extreme with their punishments:" Lakyus stated.
"What could they do? Kill me?" Litzelot snickered, while Lakyus rolled her eyes and jokingly punched his shoulder.
"Just be careful." She said.
"As you wish mam." Litzelot joked.
Once their plan for the moment was done their talk shifted to the adventures and Litzelot former pranks. He was talking about a prank he had done to a heteromorph knight and blue roses was laughing.
"After I had prepared that prank, I moved into position. I knew he would move to this location" he said.
"How did you know that?" Evileye asked.
"That knight was extremely righteous. He couldn't stand any innocent being hurt by someone. It is hard to explain. I knew that he would be there since I had a friend positioned near him with an "newspaper" to make him go there. The friends simply notified me when that knight left." Litzelot continued.
Remembering how he had created a fake-quest. He had made an NPC that was an elf and had her be the worst being alive, if it would be alive. He then had set the most evil looking being, a braineater, as bait. The braineater would then hunt the "victim" and get destroyed by the knight and once it was over Litzelot revealed himself and would be taunting the knight with the flavor texts, which would reveal that the braineater was simply rescuing its friends. He remembered the victim being Touch-Me, who took a liking to foil his pranks on humanoid players.
"How did it continue?" Lakyus asked.
"The knight hunted the "threat" successfully. It then turned out that the "victim" was the aggressor. I then rubbed it into his wounds and he then started a new hobby. He afterwards liked to foil my pranks" Litzelot remembered.
They continued to talk until Lakyus remembered something quite a while back.
"Litzelot, can I ask a question?" Lakyus asked.
"Of course," Litzelot answered.
"I remember a talk between my grandpa and a friend of ours. They talked about their friend, who was only called " The dark knight". He said that he once was attacked by a dullahan, which called himself by your name. What is behind that story?" Lakyus asked.
"I will need more information about the dark knight." Litzelot said.
"If we go after my grandpa, he was tall and could fight with no end. He also had gray skin with big black rings around his eye and blue eyes. It is also said that he was part of a guild called "Haymaker"" Lakyus described. Litzelot tried to remember and then he knew who Lakyus was talking about and remembered his prank. He couldn't hold his laughter and continued to laugh until he couldn't laugh any more.
"Hehehe. If he is who I think he is then I just pranked him. hihihi" Litzelot said while blue roses pleaded with their puppy-eyes to hear what happened.
"I had met him. He then was a member of a guild called "Seraphim". Back then this guild made of angels even took in humans. They had their eyes on me for quite some time, since my pranks were, how do I put it, not to their liking. They tried to hunt me and nearly succeeded. I had a bit of luck and snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. This didn't sit well with your dark knight. He then boasted how he had the best set ever and would be unbeatable. I then waited until he went to sleep and made sure to hunt everything that could help him. I continued this for a month. He then tried to fight me, where I set my signature trap. You know the one with the shadow and such. I scared him so hard that he didn't leave his house for nearly a year." Litzelot said. Remembering how he farmed everything that prick was, only to hamper his leveling and his victim barely playing afterwards.
"Wasn't it a bit hard?" Evileye asked. Thinking about her friend from a long time ago and how he was.
"Not really, since he wouldn't have survived. I would even say that it was a good wake-up-call, since we became friends later. I even helped him create his weapons, those cursed swords he used in his battles and I saw Lakyus carrying one of them. Sadly she isn't using its potential." Litzelot said, looking at Lakyus.
"I can't use its full potential. It would take over my body" Lakyus said.
"The sword only wants blood. It will not take over your body. But you should be careful, since it can slightly increase your bloodlust" Litzelot said, remembering his friend going berserk the first time he used it.
"But how can I use its potential then without losing to bloodlust?" Lakyus said.
"You must train your will and ignore the voice in your head. When you train your will enough you need to meditate above the weapon and destroy the bloodlust of the weapon. If that is done the weapon should be bound properly to you" Litzelot said, remembering the flavor texts.
"I should think about that," Lakyus said.
The group continued to share stories until it was time for dinner and then time to go to bed.
When the time came, Litzelot signaled Evileye, so that she knew he was absent. He then used "Teleport" to get to the location, where he left his bicorn. While he did disappear, Evileye had a heart attack. Once Litzelot was at the location, he saw only one "Headless Horsemen". Which irritated him slightly.
"Where are the others?" Litzelot asked.
"They went back, did their duty. I only bring master this map." The summon told Litzelot and gave him a map.
Litzelot took the map and saw the summon disappear. This made it clear to Litzelot that the summon had at least some semblance of intelligence. Litzelot then used "Teleport" again and reappeared again in the inn, again giving Evileye a heart attack.
After blue roses woke up again they planned. It was quite easy this time, as there was only a storehouse with black dust. They decided to move in the evening, raid the house and then burn it. Afterwards they would start moving to Re-Estice to get anything with information to princess Renner as fast as possible.
→ Between Re-Estice and Re-Limetane / Black Scripture ←
Most of the scripture were not amused to be on this mission. The fight against a traitor, who was weaker than them, was not something they would normally do. The fight against a dullahan was dangerous, and nearly all of them had some kind of family at home. Only one was happy. This one would be Zesshi Zetsumei. She was virtually jumping from one fot to another and acted more like a child than their known killing machine, which upset most of the unit. There was even talk about a mutiny against the captain within the scripture. It didnt help that a few weren't even with them, since they were still deployed some places or held back to preserve their lineage.
"Does anyone know why we need her? I can't stand her attitude." one said. He wore long robes in dark colors, like most magic casters do. He also had a tattoo on his left palm and went by the epithet "Four Great Spirits".
"She is here to help against that Dullahan." The Captain said.
"Why do we need her? She is a half elf. Her existence is a sin." Four Great Spirits said.
"She is the one that is called "Certain Death". If you want to challenge her, ok. But don't complain if you die." Captain said.
unknown to the Zesshi had heard them. It was a low blow to her. She knew that her kin wasn't liked at home, but she did her duty and even went beyond that to protect their country.
After some time they made camp. The captain got a plan and decided to go with it.
"Ok. Everyone meet here now!" He ordered. It took some time for some to get to him, but eventually they were all ready for his plan.
"We will split up. The traitor only needs two fighters, since she is weak in comparison to us. The real threat will be the Dullahan together with blue roses. I will go with one of you. The rest will travel to fight the Dullahan. Who will travel with me is your decision." The Captain stated. A blond woman with marble like skin and a feathered hood rose her hand. Her epithet was "Divine Chant"
"I will go with you. The traitor has the stolen item, which I can find easily. The rest take care of the Dullahan." Divine Chant suggested.
"I should also go with you. With my Item I can control her. Maybe we could use her, since she is a descendant" An olderly woman said. She wore a silver dress that had a golden dragon on it. Her name was Kaire. She was the only one who was able to carry the Item "Downfall of Castle and Country", quite literally, as it was her dress.
"Sounds good to me. Divine Chant, Lady Kaire and I will go and kill the traitor and collect the stolen Item. The rest will destroy the Dullahan. Once it is all done we will meet west of E-Rantel, before moving back to Kami Miyako. Any questions?" The Captain said. Nobody said anything.
In the night there was slight movement. Four Great Spirits moved inside the camp and spoke with his friends. They also shared their view on "Certain Death". It was a disgrace to them, that a half-breed, a mix of elf and human, was allowed into the Black Scripture. They would rectify it. They planned to lead her to the Dullahan and the Adventurer group and once the battle started they would retreat. Either they would get rid of the Dullahan and kill her weakened from the battle or she would get killed by the Dullahan and they would finish the weakened Dullahan off.
The only person they weren't able to convince was a younger woman, who had short blond hair, wore a skirt, had a purple bag and orange eyes. She was called "Thousand Leagues Astrologer". This was a slight hindrance, but no problem.
In the morning the camp was broken and the two teams moved out. Sadly for one of the bigger events for them.
→ On the way to E-Rantel / The Captain, Kaire and Divine Chant ←
"Why did you let Zesshi move with them? It doesn't seem to be good for her." Kaire said to the captain.
"I fear she wants to fight the undead. I want to take the traitor back, if only so she can stand trial and be used for more god-kin" The Captain stated.
"Maybe I should have gone with Zesshi, she looked destroyed this morning." shot through his head. He liked her and knew of her heritage, but he also knew of her abilities and her deeds in their war against the elfs. Sadly not everyone saw it that way and therefore she was only allowed in her position to guard the national treasures.
"Lets hope that the others will be clever enough to not do something stupid." Divine Chant said. She knew of Zesshis abilities, but was neutral to her.
"If we go after Four Great Spirits, then I have to crush your hopes. I fear that one of those will not come back to meet us." Kaire stated.
"Lets focus on the traitor." The Captain stated.
"The traitor is a blond woman, quite small and uses two stilettos. She also reinforces her abilities with "Martial Arts". Her name is Clementine. She also stole "Crown of Wisdom", which we also need to get back." Kaire summarized.
"Then we should keep moving." The Captain ordered.
"How do we know that she is near E-Rantel?" Divine Chant stated.
"One of the spies of the Theocracy told the cardinals. They gave me that information before we departed." The Captain. They would soon reach near E-Rantel and gather more information.
→ Near Re-Limetane / Most of the Black Scripture ←
The Campsite was selected quite fast and the camp was built twice as fast. Once it was built the scripture began to prepare food and meet at the fire.
"Why isn't Zesshi here?" asked Astrologer.
"We decided that we put her outside of the camp. She could be dangerous. She is, after all, still a half-elf." Spirits said.
"That doesn't sit well. Are they antagonizing her? Are they this stupid?" shot through her head.
"Did you do your job and scouted ahead?" Spirits said.
" Its called surveillance-magic. But yes. I did. The Adventurers are resting in Re-Limetane. They planned a move on an organization. After that they want to move as fast as possible to Re-Estice." Astrologer replied.
"That sounds good. If we can attack them then we should be good." Spirits said.
"What is the plan for us?" Astrologer asked.
"We will attack blue roses while the half-breed will attack the Dullahan, after they get rid of their enemy. They will be weakened by that point." Spirits said, while the rest continued about leaving Zesshi alone to face all of their enemies.
"Who will tell Zesshi, since you let her camp outside?" Astrologer said.
"You can do that. We still have to prepare." Spirits said and the Astrologer began to move to Zesshis tent.
"What will we do about her?" A man with a tattoo on his left temple, piercings in his nose, black hair and yellow clothing asked. He was called "Divine Chain".
"We can either leave her as well or explain our plan to her. But from her actions towards her we probably are better off without Astrologer." Spirits said and everyone else nodded.
→ Campside of Zesshi / Zesshi Zetsumei ←
It was terrible for Zesshi. First the captain abandoned her. Then she was able to hear what her "comrades" wanted to do. And to top it off that all was because of her heritage, even if the circumstances of her birth wasn't her decision.
She had made her camp and prepared to go to sleep when she saw Astrologer approach her tent.
"Hey there' "Certain Death". I have a plan for us tomorrow." Astrologer said.
"Hey. What are they officially planning?" Zesshi asked while Astrologer was surprised.
"They are planning to get rid of me. Now, what are they officially planning?" spat Zesshi.
"We will engage them probably the next night, after they clear a building. They should be weakened by then and we will swoop in for the kill. They want you to attack the Dullahan and we would take care of blue roses" Astrologer said. Zesshi meanwhile frowned.
"I understand. They will leave me to my fate then. But let's see who will laugh at last. What do you think they would do to you?" Zesshi asked.
"I don't think that they would be that unprofessional. They are only pissed, because they are on this assignment." Astrologer replied.
"Let's see." Zesshi stated.
→ Between Re-Estice and Re-Limetane / most of the Scripture ←
The night went without trouble and the campsite disappeared like it was never there. The continued to move and prepared an ambush. All paths were seemingly set and the action would start, once the Dullahan with its henchmen came.