Adrian sent out a couple of dozen blades flying towards his targets that were infesting what must have been a town that once sheltered thousands of people. Now they only had monsters and scavengers. Well, for the next couple seconds anyway.
Once they were dead, he double-checked for any survivors, both monsters and humans, and then used Dash to move towards the town from the wooden carrier. Despite the carrier being nearly a kilometre up in the air it scarcely took a second to reach his destination.
Adrian felt an odd sort of guilt as he harvested both the monsters and the various remnants of the town. He absorbed the rotting, half-eaten corpses and the many, many signs that this place had once held thousands of people.
The toys, broken stalls in the marketplace, ruined homes and ravaged stores reminded him once more of the damage that the humans serving Aultcray and the Church had done. To be certain, a lot of the damage had been done by monsters, but this town was nowhere near the point where the Wave had originated from, any monsters would have had to travel a fair distance to get here, and the town showed signs of having once had a decent defence. A defence that had been shattered by humans allowing the monsters free reign to destroy the town.
It was disgusting and made Adrian wonder just how apathetic Mirellia had been regarding the fate of her own people if she had allowed Aultcray to get away with this in the Light Novel with a slap on the wrist...Of course, that assumed that she was not scum and that she truly wanted peace, he would not be surprised if it turned out that she was the mastermind behind the whole scheme with Aultcray just being a pawn in her game.
As he moved around the ruins, absorbing all that caught his eye, he found himself planning out the deaths of Aultcray and the Church. A moment's contemplation made one thing clear-He needed a lot more information. Rabier had given him a few names and some context but he needed more information regarding both Melromarc and the other nations of the world. To be certain Aultcray had committed a crime that was unforgivable but his death could cause war which would probably cost more lives than the genocide the man had orchestrated or permitted. Plus, if Mirellia had a part to play in this then he could assume that she would need to die as well, probably allowing numerous successors to come into play, throwing the nation into a sort of civil war. It was an interesting if horrible, possibility. Perhaps the Sword Hero could play Kingmaker? No, Queenmaker, given that he was in a matriarchy right now.
Adrian dismissed his fantasies, he would reconsider his ideas after he obtained more information, and took one last look at the ruined town before he used Dash to return back to the carrier.
He nodded to Raphtalia who was staring up at him sleepily as the nascent sunlight began to emerge over the horizon and felt a smile emerge as she nodded back and started to say something before a yawn stopped her. Adrian sat down in a meditative position and started to move again even as Raphtalia got up and stretched a little before reaching for a bottle of water.
Adrian turned his attention from the young woman as she slowly adjusted her clothes a bit, moved out of the pile of feathers and limbs that she had been sleeping in, and turned her attention towards Rifana, Alvin and Razieh, making sure that they were all right.
He was almost sure that their current goal of reaching the hometown of the two kids was going to be fruitless. Between the monsters from the Waves, loss of most avenues of potential support and the horrific human actions...well there was almost no chance of getting away intact, the fact that Alvin and Razieh had been captured during a raid spoke volumes.
Still, it was a worthwhile goal to at least try. Even if he had already started to plan with the assumption that these kids would stay with him for at least a few more weeks.
"Good Morning Mr Adrian," said Raphtalia her voice quiet.
He nodded, "Morning," he said, drawing out a plate of food from his sword and handing it to the woman who took it with a quiet thanks.
They sat in silence as the darkness faded and the many colours of the sunrise filled the sky. It was beautiful, even more than normal thanks to his many sensory enhancements, but Raphtalia saw fit to shatter the peace that it had invoked.
"Mr Adrian," she said, hesitating for a moment, "Rifana isn't...she isn't doing well. I don't know what to do."
Adrian wanted to wince as her tone turned despondent. He did sigh, unable to help it.
"There is no easy solution Raphtalia," he said, uncertain of how to help but absolutely certain of one fact, "don't try to fix her, just make sure she knows that you're there for her and keep her healthy. Give her time and the opportunity to heal."
"Yes Mr Adrian," she said, determination colouring her tone. Raphtalia nodded firmly. She looked a lot happier with some semblance of a plan, even if it was nothing more than some trite advice, but in this case what she actually needed was a bit of assurance that Rifana could be okay.
Still, he felt a bit happy that he could help her a little. He was fairly certain that Alvin and Razieh would not be happy once they saw what was left of their town.
Adrian frowned as he double-checked the results of his observation with Telescopic vision and then turned to his party, "I'm going to harvest some monsters," he said.
Most of his party just nodded, Alvin and Razieh looked impatient but they didn't fully realize just how close they were to their hometown, and by this point, they had seen him harvest monsters dozens of times. So they had no reason to suspect that he was, in fact, planning to scout out their town.
Their intact town.
Well, intact was a strong word, even from a distance he could see numerous signs of conflict and death, and as he drew closer to the town and it entered the range of his Blindsight more details became clear.
The town was based in a valley between two reasonably large mountains, fertile soils and rivers made this valley an excellent location for farming, and Adrian had noted a large number of villages while approaching the town. All of them had been destroyed, most of them by humans and Adrian had assumed that the same would hold true for the town. Instead, from what he could see, the town had survived, barely. The Graveyard at the back of the town...well, to say that there were more corpses there then there were people would be quite accurate. A town that was built for at least 2000-3000 people had scarcely 300 and their defences were badly damaged. Two guards at the gates, no patrols, a great number of injured folks and no real food stores that he could see.
Adrian carefully darted around the town, it was nearly three hours after noon, and the forest rapidly thinned out as he approached the town, but with the lack of sentries, he managed to get a full grasp on the town with ease.
It was quite horrible. Signs of attack by monsters and humans were evident, the cattle were dead, the crop storage had been set on fire, and as far as he could tell the people were only surviving because so many of them had been killed. It puzzled him slightly as to why they couldn't just hunt for food, however. Adrian himself had found hundreds of nearby monsters...unless those monsters were too powerful for the average person and their hunters had died earlier.
All in all, this was not a place where he could leave Alvin and Razieh. Adrian was far from a Saint but he was not willing to just dump two children in a place where their only fate was likely to be a slow death if they were lucky, or a swift and brutal one, if they were not. Limited food and water, no medicine as far as he could see, horrific lack of security, especially considering that while he had not seen any raiders, they should be here and the threat of monsters.
Adrian double-checked his observations and conclusions and then used Dash to move vertically upwards before returning to his carrier. Certain that his first impression had been correct and tempted to help these people out. As he sat down after his return and greeted Isis with a smile, he turned his attention to his Sword, checking his resources and skills, and confirming his abilities.
It didn't take long to realize that he could help if he was willing to take time away from his training for the Wave. Adrian took a deep breath and tried to look at the situation objectively but he couldn't help but remember the images of the people in that town, the injured lying around in pain, the listless way most of them went about their tasks ...and the many, many corpses in shallow graves.
It didn't escape his notice that most of the survivors were children or normal people. The Slave hunters must have not been allowed to abduct them freely but the cost had been the lives of every person who had been willing to fight.
He turned towards Alvin and Razieh, "I believe that your town is up ahead," he said, "Alvin, I'd like to take you down there first. We will verify that this is the correct location and make sure that we're welcome here before the rest of us land."
The wolf demi-human boy jumped up, and looked over the edge, Adrian smiled when he ended up looking in the wrong direction, "There kid," he said, pointing.
Alvin turned immediately, as did the rest of his party, the boy's eyes widened, "That's it! Ayrith! We're back home!"
He turned back to Razieh and gave her a huge hug, the girl adjusting her talons and made sure not to hurt him before returning the gesture, tears in both their eyes. Adrian wasn't sure if he wanted to break the news of just how bad the condition of their hometown was, considering the distance they were at, it was likely that the children hadn't even noticed the damage.
Adrian turned to the rest of his party, making sure not to stare at Rifana who was looking at him apprehensively as she held on tightly to Raphtalia, "I'll be sure to retreat if things get hostile," he promised.
Raphtalia frowned, "Is that likely?" she asked, a little sceptical.
Adrian sighed, "The town is badly damaged, I assume that it was because of the Slave Hunters, who were humans. I doubt I'm going to get a very good reception here."
Isis interrupted here, "I can come with you father," she said, "We'll have more power that way."
"I can retreat with ease Isis," he said calmly, "with Alvin in my arms, Dash shall move me far outside of their range of attack within an instant. Plus, we don't want to attack them, they're just people who've probably been spooked thanks to the attack against them."
She nodded, reluctant to concede, but logical enough to do so. It was remarkable just how mature she was despite being alive for less than a week.
"They won't hurt you, Mr Adrian," reassured Alvin, "We can all go right now! I'm sure gramps and mama and papa will be really happy to see you."
"That would be the best-case scenario," he admitted, "but let us take no chances. Alvin with me, I'll land the disc close by so that you all can respond if things get problematic, I'll make sure to retreat and send out a signal, probably a Sword Beam, straight up in the sky."
At the chorus of agreements, with the conspicuous silence from Rifana, Adrian moved the carrier closer to the ground and soon enough he had Alvin in his arms and they had started to approach the village.
Adrian didn't use his Dash to simply appear inside or near the village. He couldn't imagine how much that would spook them, so he walked slowly towards the town after using Dash to cover most of the distance. Alvin was impatient but a single look quelled his excitement to manageable levels.
"I can walk by myself Mr Adrian," he said, squirming in his arms.
Adrian shot the boy an annoyed look which silenced him, "Wait until we can be certain that this is safe. It will cost us some time if I need to pick you up before retreating."
"But we don't need to run!" said Alvin.
Adrian sighed, "Alvin just entertain my request," he said.
The boy pouted but conceded. He still looked around, excitement in his eyes, but stayed quiet. Though Adrian was certain that at least a part of the reason for that was the damage that his town had suffered through.
It didn't take them long to reach the line of sight of the guards.
"S-stop!" said the fox demi-human holding a spear, trying to move into a ready position, while the guard, a wolf demi-human woman, got her sword at the ready.
Adrian did as he asked, wondering just what these poor fools would have done if he had been a hostile force. He winced a little as he realized that in that case they likely would not even have gotten a chance to realize that they and their entire town had been decimated. After all, a Single Sword Beam would wreck this little place utterly.
"Who are you human?!" asked the same guard. He could see that they were quite displeased with his presence...displeased and terrified in the case of the wolf-demihuman who was actually shaking.
Adrian looked towards Alvin who quickly spoke up, "Aunty Em! It's me, Alvin."
The fear was erased rapidly as the woman looked away from him and towards the child in his arms.
"Is that really you?" she asked as if staring at an illusion, she quickly looked towards the fox who also looked stunned and then turned back towards Adrian and the kid.
The kid who was currently struggling to make him let go of him, Adrian sighed but placed the boy on the ground. Alvin didn't hesitate to run towards the woman and cling onto her. It didn't take long for the waterworks to start from both participants of the hug. It was quite touching but it left the other guard looking at Adrian in confusion. The awkwardness was terribly amusing.
"I'm Adrian," he said, "I rescued this kid and another named Razieh from a slaver," no need to mention that said slaver was a dead nobleman.
The guard seemed even more confused and looked to the woman for guidance. Unfortunately for him, she was far more occupied in hugging the breath out of Alvin. Adrian waited patiently even as the fox guard began to fidget, he ignored the spear that was still pointed at him, feeling rather apathetic regarding the weapon. Hard to feel scared of someone when you could annihilate them within a fraction of a second.
After nearly a minute of her asking Alvin questions with the occasional glance sent his way she walked up to him, her weapon out of the way and Alvin's hand in hers.
She bowed deeply before she said, "Thank you for returning Alvin to us."
Adrian nodded, but got straight to the point, "You're welcome Miss but I wished to speak to your leader and bring in the rest of my party if possible."
She hesitated here but nodded, "Of course, please bring Razieh and your companions here. Our hospitality will be lacking due to our...unfortunate situation but you are an honoured guest."
That last phrase meant something. The fox demihuman looked a little surprised and Alvin smiled brightly. Still, his goal had been achieved. Initial contact had been positive...now it was time to leverage that.
Adrian smiled, "Thank you. I'll be right back."
He vanished in a Dash. The fear and shock that the two adult demi-humans showed was something he savoured. After all, he had just shown them that if he had so desired they would have never seen him coming.
That fear would keep them in line even if gratitude soured.
The old wolf type demi-human was deceptively simple looking. Adrian could tell that he was undoubtedly the strongest person in the village in terms of mana reserves thanks to his Blindsight, though it was not very impressive, and the man was quite well built. All of this served to distract from his shrewd intelligence.
Under normal circumstances, if the power dynamic between them was more equal, he would have been a difficult opponent. Now? With his town in ruins, his people in trouble and him being in debt to Adrian for saving his grandson and adopted granddaughter...well let's just say Adrian had the advantage. And both of them knew it.
Adrian ensured that he was aware of the whole town, there hadn't been any hostile movements even after he had taken his leave, and his arrival with his party had actually relaxed the people in town after it became obvious that they were all demi-humans of one kind or another. The people still looked at him suspiciously but did nothing more. And if they did choose to act then Adrian was quite certain that it would be the work of mere seconds to crush them all with ease.
"Thank you for helping the children," said the old man after they had finished greeting each other, Adrian, Raphtalia and Isis were seated in a small room near the centre of town with the old man and his daughter, the guard who had greeted him at the entrance to the settlement.
"It was incidental. Raphtalia here," he said pointing to her, "wished to aid her friend and it was in the process of doing so that we were able to aid Alvin and Razieh."
"Then our thanks extend to you as well young lady," he said with a smile, "Thank you for freeing them and bringing them home. I'm afraid that we cannot provide a suitable reward for your bravery but please rest assured that you have our gratitude"
Adrian smiled at the man, "Actually there is something that I think you can help me out with." he said, noting that the man was apprehensive and that his daughter was wary, "I am rather new to Melromarc and need a lot of information. If you help me out I'll be glad to consider any debt we have settled."
The old man smiled, a genuine one unmarred by worry, and said, "Of course Mr Adrian,"
Their conversation began to flow after that and Adrian was quick to ask about the current situation and about the notable nobles both here and across the border. Raphtalia and Isis were silent for most of the conversation though eventually, they left along with the old man's daughter.
The hours he spent with the wolf demi-human were enlightening and they steeled his resolve. He would help these people and they, in turn, would be the start of his power base in Melromarc. Adrian didn't intend for them to fight for him or anything like that but simply having a place where he could retreat to without the constant worry of betrayal would be worthwhile and this remote town might serve as a wonderful position for such.
"Thank you," said Adrian, taking a bite out of a plate of food that he had served himself, the old man had a similar plate in front of him that was quite empty.
"Not at all," said the old man, "a short conversation is hardly something onerous. But" he started, hesitating for a moment before continuing, " where did this food…"
Adrian smiled at the man before waving his cloaked hand, where his sword was in the form of a small knife was hidden, over the table, making a small feast appear from nowhere. It was simple fare, grilled meat with some spices and meat, but the old man just gaped at the meal.
"I have fairly powerful magic that lets me store food and medicine. More than enough to feed thousands if need be," he said, making a small bottle of medium quality medicine appear alongside a healing potion, "I can also store healing potions. I'd be happy to give them to you in exchange for some more information."
The man looked uncertain but nodded grimly, he recognized that Adrian was offering a very unbalanced deal. Adrian didn't smile but it was a close thing, this old man was the honourable sort. He didn't treat debts lightly by simply giving him food and medicine he had practically ensured that no one from his party would struggle here.
Make no mistake, Adrian didn't think that they would turn on him anyway, but it was better to be safe. Plus, he did want to help these people and ensure that Razieh and Alvin had a decent place to stay.
