Chapter 133 – Trespassers (1/2)
Ugh, seriously. What the hell!”
A tall human woman wearing a revealing white dress yelled out in frustration.
”Quit complaining. It doesn't just suck for you.”
A dwarf man fully covered with black metal plates and a shield big enough for him to hide behind yelled back.
”But you at least got to buy booze back in the last city! I was looking forward to buying those really nice scented soaps I've been hearing about! Why the hell did they all have to be sold out!”
”That's what you're complaining about? What about this damn forest! The target's so far, monsters are stronger than expected, and worst of all there's no roads of any kind!”
”It sucks. It sucks too. But at least it's only been a month to the city, and we've only been walking for about two weeks. If it was the demon lord's castle, we'd be travelling for most of a year!”
”But at least we'd be on roads the entire time. The ground is so soft and uneven here. It's hard to take any steps in all this heavy armour. And this snow! All the snow had melted when we left, yet the target's so far north that everything here's covered in snow despite being inside of a damn forest!”
”Quit it! Stop complaining all the time you two! It's only to the sacred Hourai Mountain! We go there, kill the demon lord, and go back! Once we do that, you can rest and buy all the soap you want!”
The human in the lead, wearing a full set of pearl white armour turned around to berate the two behind him.
”You're the only one who actually cares about any of this anyways! Demon lord or not, this one's just stuck in the middle of nowhere! There hasn't even been any attacks yet!”
”And that's why it's so important to strike first! Whatever this demon lord's doing, it's something bad enough that even god sent an oracle about it Hylas!”
The man in the lead shot back at the tall woman, the interlocking plates of his pearl white armour lightly schliking as the plates slid over one another when he turned.
”I actually agree with him on this one. While Meleager only actually cares about fighting something strong, the fact that there was an oracle this time means that something really bad is happening.”
As reluctant as his tone was, the lanky man in all black put in his own opinion in an attempt to diffuse this all too common situation.
”Bah! I know that Euphemus. But that doesn't make it any easier to walk through this forest in such heavy armour. If only we could've brought a wagon, or at least some horses.”
”Ha! And I guess a bath then? With how much you've been sweating in that tin can of yours, you really need one Ancaeus!”
”Oh shut it. Just because you're you're willing to sacrifice defence to have lighter armour doesn't mean that I made the wrong choice about mine! I doubt I'd still be in once piece after that crusher minotaur if I was wearing flimsy armour like yours.”
”You just have to avoid getting hit then!”
”My legs aren't as long as yours damnit!”
”Look, we each have our own way of fighting, and while heavy armour makes travelling more difficult it is quite useful in battle.”
”Yea, alright. Let's get a move on. We've been taking too many breaks as it is.”
”Fine. The longer we take to get there, the more I have to hear this harpy whine.”
”Who's the harpy?!”
”Don't listen to him Hylas.”
With the easily agitated party members mostly placated, the group turned to continue their tiresome trek through the forest where ever larger trees grew and ever stronger monsters appeared.
”Is something wrong Idmon?”
But quickly the wolfkin who worked so hard to calm his party members noticed one of their group hadn't continued moving.
A slender elf, their final member, was staring through the gaps in the canopy. The fact that her usually sleepy looking eyes were fully open and her weak posture had straitened unnerved the party's assassin.
”There's so many spirits here. How?”
”Spirits?”
Euphemus followed the woman's gaze, but merely frowned.
”Is there a lot here?”
”Too many. There's more here than even at Arcadia.”
”That many? This really is worrisome. Maybe it's connected to whatever the demon lord's doing. We should hurry.”
The robed woman nodded and increased her pace from before, not even bothering to rely on her favourite walking staff for support.
”Scarlet! Look! Look!”
”That's very nice. Good job.”
”Ehehehe!”
(Really, just how the hell did you do that?)
I was looking at the snowman one of the fairies had made. Rather than simply a snowman, it was closer to a professional snow sculpture. A life sized fairy with all the details.
As to how this one managed to get it to stand without the thin limbs and wings crumbling was anyone's guess.
All around me, fairies were wearing outfits which looked like a cross between dandelion puffs and cotton balls were making their own snow sculptures individually or in small groups. From more snowmen of varying styles and quality, to snow structures. There was even a group who made a pair of snow forts facing each other and they were now throwing snowballs at each other from the safety of their own forts.
Since Arcadia was far to the south, most of the fairies hadn't experienced snow before. The first time the yearly diamond dust had fallen from the skies, the fairies made a massive fuss about it. Especially when it came to worrying that something had happened to the fluffballs that made up our current skyline.
But it didn't take much work to convince them that it was just the winter's version of rain.
The novelty mostly wore off early on, as the amount of snow which fell this year didn't add up to much. It was only now, near the end of winter, that the snow had finally started to really pile on, and especially to the degree that proper winter activities could be done.
With more than a light dusting to discolour the grass and shrubs on the ground, I taught them some traditional snowy activities I knew. It was tempting to teach them some proper winter sports, but all the good ones required quite a lot of setup in terms of a place to do them, not to mention that the fact that fairies spend very little time on their feet meant that they might not even enjoy them kinda killed its prospects. The people of the dark side might enjoy them better, but they'd probably be less inclined to even try them in the first place.
Maybe I can try it someday in the future.
”Is it ready yet?”
”Yea!”
”I wanna try it!”
”Me too!”
”Let me check.”
I turned my back on Orphne and the group following her and checked inside of a large pot I've been keeping simmering for the last while. The scent of something sweet wafted together with the steam rising out of the pot and I pushed the wooden spoon inside of it. There was a bit of resistance, more than any typical soup.
”Yea, I think it's about ready now. Just give me a sec to serve it.”
”””Yay! It's ready!”””
Scooping out the thickened syrup made from treant sap, I poured small quantities of it onto a bed of freshly gathered snow beside me, creating lines of quickly hardening brown syrup. Without any time to waste, I quickly stuck a cleanly shaven stick into each line of syrup before rolling the line on top of itself until I was left with a slightly goopy lollipop.
”Alright. The first batch is ready.”
”””Yay!”””
”””Ah! Nooooo~~~~!”””
As soon as I said that, the closest fairy group lunged for the sticks and retrieved their snacks, frustrating those who weren't fast enough to get their own.
”Don't worry, the next batch'll be done soon.”
As soon as the bed of snow was clear, I poured more syrup on it and quickly prepared a second batch, which were claimed the instant I declared them ready. Then a third, and a fourth, and a fifth.
Despite all the time spent boiling the syrup, the pot was quickly emptied of its contents. There was the possibility of simply evaporating all the extra water from the sap via magic, but I didn't know how it would affect the taste, so I didn't want to do that for the first set of batches.
Besides, the response to the treat was quite nice.
”Mmmm!”
”It's so sweet!”
”Yummie!”
”Glad you guys like the maple taffy.”
Even if I had no idea if it was actually made from maple syrup. Those treants I got the sap from didn't look like they had maple leaves growing on them, so there was a good chance it wasn't, but the taste shouldn't change much because of that.
Hell, the only reason why I even made it in this season was because winter's the traditional time to make it. The sap used for it could be harvested at any time and I could've just made my own snow instead of using natural snow.
But the atmosphere really matters sometimes.
”Wow! This stuff's real sweet!”
Off to the side, Sarah slowly licked her little treat, but she grimaced after getting a taste.
”Too sweet for you?”
”Yea. This is practically all sugar.”
”That's what it is.”
I didn't know what sort of point she was trying to make when stating the obvious. Even the name said it all.
”Well, if you don't want it, then I'll take it! Ha!”
”Hey! I didn't say I didn't want it! Give it back!”
One of the fairies who had finished his own maple taffy grabbed the one right out of Sarah's hand and flew high and out of reach. Despite what the woman had been complaining about, for some reason the moment the treat was out of her hands she somehow instantly became possessive of her lost snack.
For me, it was a bit surprising that she was so interested in her taffy. She normally only took interest in her normal food, or things that had to do with her gun and shooting.
”Is something wrong Claret?”
All of the sudden, my ever faithful familiar shot her gaze upwards towards the overcast fluffballs.
”The little ones noticed something. I think...someone...has come.”
Looking up, I couldn't exactly tell. They seemed to be the same as usual, but at the same time, there seemed to be a bit more movement than usual. Nobody seemed to be feeding any of them, yet the ones to the east seemed to be acting up a little.
What that meant, I wouldn't have known on my own. But since it was Claret there wasn't any reason to doubt her words.
”Can you go ask them what they know?”
”No problem Master.”
And with those words, Claret eagerly rose up from my shoulders and flew to have a talk to the fluffballs.