Chapter 194: Dangerous Flight (1/2)

Chapter 194 Dangerous Flight

“There you go. Good as new.” The man said with a bit of a slur in his speech. Ilea couldn’t deny his craftsmanship, leaving the stone wall behind as if it had never been touched.

“Good. And this is for your silence.” She said, flinging another gold coin towards the man.

“Two reasons why this wasn’t a bad idea.” The man said and shook his head. “I’ll leave now, lest I remember you two.” He said and touched the wall, melding with the stone before he was completely absorbed.

“What a weird way to teleport.” Ilea said and shook her head, not seeing the man anymore through her sphere.

“You mean opposed to ripping through the fabric of reality and appearing at your destination? From thin air?” Elise commented and chuckled.

“I suppose you’re right.” Ilea said and blinked to the side street above.

“Arthur Redleaf hmm? So you’re involved in the recent attacks against nobles all over the city?” Elise asked.

“One or two of them, yes.” Ilea said as they walked towards one of the possible exits from the city.

“It’s the lost son isn’t it, Edwin Redleaf.” Elise commented as they watched the checkpoint from afar. The dome was closed already, the soldiers clearing away the remaining tables, traps and supplies.

“Checkpoints are closed then. Come, let’s see if it’s all of them.” Ilea said, turning around. “What do you know of the man?”

“Little, I read his file around five years ago. Noble son but the Redleafs don’t favor their own children. Same rigorous training or well, torture more like as the child soldiers and assassins they usually groom. It’s not really an unusual story if you look at him as one of them. Still, he hasn’t been killed yet so that’s unusual enough. The ones that normally disobey do so earlier and get taken care of by the families or an imperial assassin. He took his time to strike. Smart that one.” Elise explained.

“You knew that from something you read five years ago?” Ilea asked doubtfully.

“I’m a librarian.” Elise said as if it was the most normal thing in the world. “We’ve got skills for that.” She added.

There it is. Ilea thought, accepting it now. Perhaps they had their own library in their mind with all the information they had ever consumed.

“I don’t think the man escaped because of the torture.” Ilea said more to herself as they reached the next checkpoint. Just that there wasn’t one in the first place.

“The sewage then.” Ilea sighed and walked off.

“Now just focus on me and follow. No spells other than teleportation.” Ilea whispered to Elise while filling the whole tunnel with ash, condensing it again and again. The librarian watched the ash in fascination and nodded.

When she had gathered enough, Ilea walked towards the exit. A large group of imperial mages and soldiers occupied the room before the tunnel Ilea had previously visited from the other side. Some of them looked at the newcomers but it was already too late, Ilea’s ash expanding and distributing in the room with a flash before she blinked to the shield mages, ramming one of them into the close wall before blinking to the other one, hitting him in the stomach without any spells, the force sending him flying for a couple meters.

The defensive shield flickered and Ilea was through, Elise close behind before it stabilized again, a flood of fire following the two of them as they vanished and appeared in an unoccupied apartment outside the central district.

“Come on, you can celebrate when we’re further away.” Ilea said, blinking again. Some Baralia soldiers noticed them, some even trying to follow for a while but the two of them were simply too fast, escaping towards the clock tower where Kyrian was probably still waiting for Ilea.

“Where are we going?” Elise asked after a while.

“Still have a friend in the city.” Ilea answered, blinking again.

“Edwin?” Elise asked with a smirk.

“Edwin is more like an abusive ex friend you sadly still sometimes have to see.” Ilea said in a monotone voice.

“Did he rape you?” Elise asked in confusion.

“That’s not what I… no, he didn’t rape me.” Ilea said. “You should really look into psychology.”

“I’m not about to break any slaves.” Elise said with disgust.

“Forget about it.” Ilea said, not about to explain the misunderstanding from her standpoint coming from Earth. At least they knew what psychology was, just that it was likely used in a purely military way. It’s a different world and by now I’m not really one to talk about morals. She thought to herself as they reached the street with the clock tower.

Kyrian was meditating on the top floor, metal spinning around him as they appeared nearby.

“You’re back early.” He said as he got up.

“We have to leave immediately. This is Elise, librarian and a friend.” Ilea said as he approached them.

“It’s nice to meet you Elise. You really make friends everywhere you go.” He said looking at her.

“And enemies.” Ilea said but he waved her off.

“That I know how to do too.” Kyrian said.

“You must be Edwin then.” Elise said. “I didn’t know you were a metal mage, quite a rare class.” She added with respect. “To think a noble like you has hid in the Shadow’s Hand.”

“My name is Kyrian. I can see where your priorities lie though.” He said, the second part towards Ilea.

“Kyrian I’m sorr…,” She started but he just put his hands up.

“I’m joking. Now come, I assume her knowing about Edwin means we’ll visit him first?” Kyrian asked.

“I hadn’t planned on it but why not. I have something on his father and who knows how long we’d need to find them again if we don’t visit the hideout now.” Ilea said, thinking about it.

“Can you fly?” She asked Elise.

“Most useless skill I’ve ever gotten.” She replied but Ilea just smiled.

“Oh you’ll like it. Trust me. Reason enough to get out of that bloody library.” Ilea said.

“I doubt it, excitement about something like that really diminishes after a couple decades you know.” Elise said, the others activating her flying skills.

“We’ll see.”

Ilea reduced her speed and turned around, checking on the laughing Elise as she moved up and down in the air, twirling and nearly losing control from time to time. Flying was as expected not an experience diminished by years of waiting to finally do it. Ilea still enjoyed it and she’s been doing it for over half a year now. She doubted even a pilot’s experience would come close to what she could do. Perhaps skydiving but the speeds were on a completely different level.

Plus she wasn’t just falling, she could go wherever she wanted. Elise suddenly veered downwards before she crashed into a set of trees, branches snapping before she came to an abrupt stop, rolling on the ground with at least some broken bones.

“Kyrian wait!” Ilea shouted to the man ahead of them and landed next to the injured Elise, shooing away the bear like creature that had approached carefully. The monster roared at her but Ilea simply knelt down next to the nearly unconscious woman and checked her for injuries. Several ribs had been broken, as was one of her arms.

“I flew…,” Elise stammered out. “It hurts.”

“Flying doesn’t hurt.” Ilea said as she focused healing the most pressing injuries. “You should invest in Vitality. Some tree branches shouldn’t injure you that much.”

“If you’re in a… ah, fuck… if you’re in a library, other stats seem much more vital.” The woman said.

“Well you’re not anymore.” Ilea said when the bearwolf roared again, Elise lifting her hand before a beam of red energy disintegrated the creature, not even leaving bones behind.

“I can see how focusing your stats can be beneficial.” Ilea said but she was still rather happy about her own spread out stats. She would’ve been dead ten times over without it. Elise would soon be too if she didn’t change her approach.

“Still, you need to survive. And you won’t have a healer around every time you fly into trees.” Ilea said, helping Elise get up.

“Thank you. I’m quite aware of my shortcomings Ilea. I’ll get it to two hundred first thing I do.” She said.

“Make that five hundred and I won’t bother you about it anymore.” Ilea murmured before her wings spread again. She didn’t listen to the woman’s response, joining Kyrian a moment later.

“Is she alright?” The man asked.

“She is.” Ilea answered and continued onwards to the hideout they had used the week before.