Chapter 416 (1/2)

They did obtain SOME useful information while they waited.

First were the names: the man was Dalton, while the armored woman who gave Randidly the dangerous feelings was Cyndra. Behind them, the blind woman, because she did not cover her eyes for vanity, was named Aratta. The boy was Pendlive and served as the assistant to Aratta, who seemed to be the highest ranking of the strange sort of Clergy in the area, who followed Zith. Ace avoided bringing up the Great Lady Zith any more than necessary because his face twitched every time it was brought up, as he suppressed his urge to settle into his perpetual smirk.

Around 10 minutes after Randidly sent a message through the party chat, the rest of the group arrived, walking calmly towards the village. It seemed that they had been extremely productive in the meantime because Randidly had almost reached level 6 from their efforts.

Randidly was curious to see that when the group walked up, the sentry that Randidly was observing with his Lantern immediately went wide-eyed. Randidly couldn't be sure whether it was Chrysanthemum's intimidating swagger, or Lucifer, holding two huge blades over his shoulder, the jagged saw, and the deadly sharp scythe. Either of these would add an air o oppression to the scenario, but the both of them combined served to make the whole group seem larger than life, and more intimidating.

It almost made Randidly smile that this group was referred to as the guards, as well. Honestly, it was just because they were a little erratic, so having them deal with strangers wasn't the best idea.

When they had all gathered, they were lead into the village. It was a relatively small place, and probably housed only 300 or so people

There were a lot of worn and tired looking men and women who followed the newcomers with a suspicious gaze, eyeing them with a long practiced ease. This made the corners' of Randidly's mouth turn down. It was one thing to encounter a group of 300 people fighting to survive in the middle of the forest, it was quite another to slowly realize that this group was mostly wary-eyed veterans. Although no one else possessed the oppressive aura that Cyndra did, they all seemed more than capable of surviving in the forest. Almost more concerning, however, was that aside from those two children they had spotted walking towards the village, not a single child was let outdoors to watch the newcomers.

”For now, you can stay here,” Cindra said, jerking her finger towards a worn down and churchy looking building. ”We will talk tomorrow, try and figure out... whether the help of Zih is truly what you see.”

Then she left, followed by the man, twirling his mustache and looking at them with suspicion.

With a beaming grin, Aratta patted Pendlove's back and said. ”You'll be staying with us then; the more the merrier. Come in, and let's get you all situated. Oh, you too, Mr. Bear.”

”It's missus,” Thea muttered, rubbing Chrysanthemum's side, but everyone still followed her into the interior.

****

All in all, their rooms were pretty good, Thea decided. There was a bed, a water basin, and a rocking chair, and more than enough space for even Chrysanthemum to have her own private room. The bed, of course, wasn't big enough to fit her, but it was still something.

They were even served a simple meal of roast meat and a carrot-y vegetable, before being asked whether they would enjoy listening to the teachings of Zith. Everyone aside from Clarissa declined and retired to their rooms.

But now, as Thea was finally finishing taking off all of her armor, she frowned, looking out the small window, the air illuminated by a huge comet ripping across the night sky. Then there was a dull explosion that shook the ground. Immediately, there were panicked shouts from the village. Sighing, Thea slowly began to encase herself once more and armor.

After she finished, she went out front of the church, finding Drake, the Ghosthound, and Annie already there. The next to arrive was Ptolemy, straightening his clothes, who was stopped by the Ghosthound.

”Wait here, gather everyone else. Then follow. Us four will go ahead and figure out the situation for now”

Then Thea found herself sitting in front of the Ghosthound and Annie as they rode Chrysanthemum the short distance to where most of the commotion was.

Thinking about it, Thea realized as they arrived at the muttering crowd that the reason that the Ghosthound had wanted to ride Chrysanthemum was not to increase the speed of their travel. Honestly, the Ghosthound could probably move at double the speed of Chrysanthemum, and Annie for sure shared that ability. No, the reasoning that they would want to ride is...