Aurelia maneuvered through the small town with the agility and speed innate to her race, a blur of black and orange-ish gold to any of the citizens running in the opposite direction. She could very well hear where this creature was, her foxian ears twitching at each roar and growl alone. She didn't need much more than that to pin it down for certain. Leaping over the debris of a small rooftop that had collapsed, Aurelia found herself quickly reaching the front lines.
Despite only just arriving, her presence immediately garnered their attention. All it took was a mere glance, and Aurelia could easily tell that the situation wasn't in their favor. Some lay injured, forced to be dragged off by their comrades, others were focused intently on the fight at hand, and that many more unaccounted for or unresponsive. So, it came as no surprise that the addition of a fresh body looking to aid them returned some hope to their eyes.
From the strange teal sword in her hand to the demi-human visage, Aurelia had an mystical aura about her that was difficult to describe. Yet, it didn't stop the remaining locals from murmuring their assumptions as she stood in their midsts.
"Have they come to help us?"
"Who is she?"
"A renard? I've never heard of one with nine tails before…"
"An Adventurer? What are the odds one would be all the way out here?"
"Look at that weapon… she must be one of those city folk."
However, Aurelia paid their words no mind. Her attention was focused on the battle at hand. With a confident smile planted on her face, she dashed forward, beginning to draw upon her mana. She saw this as the perfect opportunity to not only help, but test her abilities as well.
The beast in question appeared to be a large drake of some kind. Its dark brown scales were matte and jagged, almost like a natural camouflage. Aurelia could only surmise it must've come from the nearby forest. For what reason, she wasn't certain, but that's besides the point. Right now, it was a threat bringing harm to the people and she needed to draw it away from them.
As if on queue, Aurelia came up to a guard in an active struggle against the creature, swiftly side-stepping him. Reaching for the scruff of his leather armor, he didn't have time to argue as she yanked him away from the pair of claws that found their mark where he once stood. Aurelia felt her spiritual energy hum to life as she instinctively brought up an arm to block the beast's follow-up attack.
The man behind her fell back slightly, clearly shell shocked for a moment, but managed to regain his composure enough to shimmy out of the way of a large tail that flicked at the ground nearby. Wasting no more time, he scurried up and out of the way, narrowly dodging a piece of rubble that was flung towards his retreat. The beast intent on continuing its assault leapt forward, kicking up a cloud of debris from its heavy frame. Gasps and screams to move immediately resounded, but they were quickly silenced when they saw the drake erupt from the opposite end of the smoke. Not a moment later, Aurelia burst through the veil just the same, chasing after the creature seemingly uninjured.
The reason immediately became clear as the dust settled and Aurelia stood at even lengths between the other fighters and the monster. Thin, almost translucent pieces of spiritual armor matching her signature orange-ish gold color now coated her body. It was at that moment that the other fighters realized she was in a league of her own compared to them.
Aurelia had its full attention now.
Pulling her sword arm into a stance, Aurelia was the one to initiate this time around. Her movements ebbed and flowed like the nearby tide, weaving in and out of its attack range. Aurelia was drawing its ire to better lure it to a more open space, particularly, one away from the injured.
Sliding beneath a slash at her torso, Aurelia turned from the skid and lunged back towards the monster. Her sword brilliant against the sun's light, it pierced into the scales and down into the hide of the beast, but not without resistance. If there was one thing this creature had going for it, it was defense. Even still, it bled, blots of red now coating the sands where it stood.
The drake backed once more, a loud roar of pain filling the air. Aurelia, not wanting to waste the opportunity, closed in once again and attempted to swing her blade down. To her slight dismay, the creature managed to recover faster than she anticipated and reared its tail to strike her as it dodged her blade. Speeding towards Aurelia like the whirring of a whip about to crack, its tail came at her in almost an instant.
When the anticipated crack came, it was not the usual sound that may have been expected from such a strike. Unfortunately for the drake, Aurelia's physiology was one that betrayed her stature as she managed to smack its tail aside with strength alone, her magical gauntlets seemingly unphased by the force. To some, she may have been more of a monster than the literal one before her.
Nevertheless, the drake attempted to hold its ground, roaring defiantly. At least, until it realized the sensation suddenly flowing around its limbs.
Water.
It had been warded off, cornered against the coast without even noticing and Aurelia just smiled knowingly. This only went to further enrage the drake as it stomped at the ground a few times, narrowing its blood-red eyes. A low rumble then began to emit from its throat and Aurelia immediately sensed a shift in the monster's energy flow. It was building mana in its jaws.
Although she had an idea of what was to come, Aurelia prepared herself as best she could for the potential attack, pouring more mana into her defenses. The drake then shifted its head skyward, belching a thick black smoke before its jaws suddenly ignited into an eruption of tiny meteors. A wide scale area of effect attack, and likely what caused the flames burning across the town before she had arrived.
Given her prior experience with similar creatures, Aurelia had expected as much, but that made it no less troublesome. Try as she may to avoid it all, that was seldom the outcome with attacks such as these. Fortunately for her, she had not only armor but her race as a whole had a level of innate resistance to magical damage. The nearby terrain, however… not so much.
Aurelia swiped a hand to the side, pushing away the cloud of dust and sand that rose from the impacts. As the battlefield became visible again, she emerged from the blast with a few grazes and some ruffled furs but was otherwise unharmed. The drake, on the other hand, was clearly fatigued by its use of the magic and hadn't moved from where it last stood. Aurelia was in the perfect position to end this fight.
Bringing up the strange sword she had been awarded when she got into this world, Aurelia began to pour mana into the blade through its handle. Perhaps it was the System that told her the basics of what the weapon was capable of, but the act felt natural in her hands. The effect was noticeable before long as the blade began to glow with swirling energies that filled the inner material of the blade. It was almost like an aurora in the palm of her hand.
Approaching the drake with a quick dash, she swung the blade in a horizontal motion, feeling a slight tug at her mana reserves as the swirling energies coalesced along the blade's edges. This battle was over, and this strike would be the one to seal it. Energy then burst forth from the blade, a horizontal blade of mana that cut across the air with a low hum and shimmer of light, rapidly approaching the beast in its vulnerable state.
The monster attempted to move as if sensing the incoming danger, but its instincts were not fast enough to save it from the moonlit blade's ability. It was too fatigued. Striking into its chest, the magic sheared away the dirt and grime that covered it, then the scales, and then the hide, all in the matter of seconds. Without aid, it would certainly be fatal. And that was when she felt it, the strand of flickering life essence that the drake clung to, the very thing her kind fed on.
Aurelia subconsciously drew in the spiritual energy with her own, just as she had with many creatures before. While consuming food in the traditional sense would sustain her, consuming a creature's life essence was not only more efficient, but also had a slew of additional benefits. However, Aurelia knew well of her people's tendency to lose themselves to their primal urges and drown in the power it offered. It was why she had spent as much time as she had training her mind and body in the past, she much preferred it as a useful resource as to a crutch. Nevertheless, Aurelia felt invigorated, the various grazes across her body already knitting together and a portion of her magical reserves replenishing almost immediately.
Her unique manner of sustaining herself aside, Aurelia still couldn't help but stare at the blade she now claimed ownership to. It was powerful, no doubt, she was certain someone with little in the way of mana would be able to use it effectively. And even as someone with a fair amount of mana, she felt she had only just scratched the surface of its potential with her as the wielder.
But… Aurelia glanced over her shoulder to the townsfolk watching her from a distance.
"A magic sword?"
"It didn't break…"
"She doesn't look hurt at all…"
It drew a lot of attention.
That being said, Aurelia was no stranger to attention either. No matter where she went, she would stand out. That was true of her old world, and from what she could gather, the same could be said for this one.
Naturally, Aurelia wasn't oblivious to the obvious target such an item could place on her back. She had seen people kill for less. As confident as she was in her own abilities, she didn't know much about the world and where she stood in its power scaling. Plus, she had received another weapon from the System that didn't appear anywhere near as conspicuous, so playing it safe couldn't hurt.
Aurelia eventually decided to wait until she left the town to put the weapon on standby within her inventory. It would be strange for it to suddenly disappear, after all.
With the sounds of combat now ceased, a sense of calm washed over the port. Slowly but surely, people began to emerge from their places of hiding, work towards putting out the fires, and search for their friends and families. There was a somberness to the scene, but also hope and gratitude that their time had not yet come. They could still rebuild what they had lost. Aurelia knew the scene all too well.
Turning back to face the carcass of the drake, Aurelia wondered what she was to do with it. At least, before its body suddenly puffed into a cloud of darkly-colored particles. Confused as Aurelia was, she did notice a number of useful parts and materials were still left behind. Although, perhaps most notably among them was a small crystal no bigger than the size of her palm. A remnant of the creature's core if the residual mana was anything to go by.
Despite the many questions and theories that filled her mind, Aurelia's attention was quick to shift as she spotted a small entourage of the locals heading towards her. She had nearly forgotten about the situation that brought her to this point to begin with. Tucking away the curiosity, she gave them a brief greeting.
Among the group, one stood out as not only the most equipped, but also the least injured. Aurelia almost failed to recognize them until now, but it was the same person she had pulled out of the fight prior to her battle. They were first to return her greeting, both gratitude, but also a faint wariness. She couldn't blame them, all things considered.
"The pleasure is ours… ah, forgive me, your name?"
"Aurelia."
"Aurelia-sama." the man confirmed, bowing deeply. "If not for your aid, we may have lost this town. For that, you have my sincerest gratitude."
"Appreciated, but unnecessary." Aurelia deflected, her expression softening some. "After all, people were still lost this day, yourself nearly included."
The man frowned, but nodded, his gaze downtrodden, "In that, you aren't wrong. It is my folly as the Guard Captain. I grew too complacent with the peaceful days, and we weren't strong enough as a result."
After a moment, he eventually took a breath and raised his head. "While I, unfortunately, have little to offer for your aid," he began, stepping back to let another individual, a woman, to step forward in his stead. "I can introduce you to someone who might."
Aurelia gave the woman a once-over as she approached. Despite being marred by dirt, soot, and everything in-between, her clothing was still somewhat prim and tidy. She carried the air of someone with experience and authority, and her assumed age only aided that observation.
"It is as Kurt-san says," the woman eventually said, giving a slight bow of her own before gesturing to everyone behind her. "We are fortunate that you decided to offer your aid to us as you did, and it would look poorly on us if we were to give nothing in return. So, as the mayor of this port, if there is anything that you should need or desire, please do not hesitate to ask. As long as it is reasonable, we will do what we can to accommodate it."
Aurelia took a moment to think on the matter, a suitable number of small requests eventually filling her mind. If offering a reward to her would make them feel more content, then she would take them up on it. Her eyes shifting to the material besides them and then to the waterfront, she eventually nodded to herself and spoke.
Aurelia raised three fingers. "One. Something to hold the spoils from this creature." She knew about the System's ability to store things in the separate space that was her inventory, but similar to her sword, she'd prefer to keep that information a bit closer to home going forward. Nevertheless, she heard no argument and opted to move on to her second point.
"Two. Some information about the other settlements and maybe a map." she continued, curling another finger.
"And three. A means of transport if possible." Aurelia finished, dropping the final digit.
The mayor shifted slightly, her expression one of surprise, she hadn't expected such simple asks. With that being the case, she didn't hesitate to put out an outstretched hand to seal the deal. "Simple matters more than doable. On behalf of Bramblewood Port, I will ensure they are done."
Aurelia returned the handshake in kind, the atmosphere around lightning by a slight degree. There was progress on both sides, no matter how little. Her journey was slowly but surely beginning to pick up speed in this world. She had a feeling the coming days would only grow more interesting…
A/N: A shorter chapter, admittedly, but it felt like a good place to close the section before delving into the next segments beyond the intro/prologue set up of the first few chapters. As the motivation comes and goes, things are going decent for this WIP in terms of ideas, I can only hope the execution goes over nicely too. As always feel free to leave your thoughts, constructive criticism, likes/dislikes, what have you. Chapters that are edited as a result will have an edit date at the bottom so it is useful I assure you!
That's all from me now, until next chapter!
Edit Date: 6/2/2024