Undying Berserker
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Chapter 52 - Uncertainty
🕑 Added 2025-01-27 16:02:56 +0000 UTC“It is time for lunch already. Let’s get going.”
“Good call.”
Everyone, aside from Zelos and Reina, chuckled. Zelos was at least easy to please. Fortunately, he wasn’t a kid dumb enough to be lured by food, otherwise he would have faced some serious problems.
In any case, after eating lunch, the group walked around the town a bit while Zelos memorized the places where he could buy some food by bulk. He wondered if the people there would sell that to him later, but it was hard to imagine that they would try to get on his way when he soon would go on a mission for the natives.
Although not much happened during the day, night came in no time and soon the group had dinner and then went to bed. They wondered what would happen from tomorrow onwards… after crossing some mountains, they would go to the capital and that was something that they never had done. They also would meet a member of the imperial family… that was a pretty difficult event.
“Speaking of which, we didn’t hear anything about the emperor’s wife.”
“That is a bit late to ask that, Zelos. Still, I know the answer to that question. She supposedly died ten years ago of some disease.”
As usual, Irlan was well informed, but his words were pretty concerning. Supposedly she died of some disease, but after hearing what they heard on the previous night, he had some questions.
“Do you think that she was poisoned? Even ten years ago, there were people trying to take down the imperial family? I am not familiar with things in this country, but that would probably turn this place into a lawless land.”
“Yes, I can’t say for sure if it was something done by one of the people from here… it could have been someone working outside. Either way, that isn’t an uncommon occurrence.”
Zelos furrowed his eyebrows… using poison was cowardly enough, using poison against a civilian. Even if she was the emperor’s wife, that was still too nasty. He didn’t know anything about her, but it was hard to imagine anyone deserving that kind of fate.
While Zelos was thinking about that, he heard some noises coming from the next room… the girls were there, probably talking about nonsense. Heirina could be pretty talkative at the weirdest of times, and Edea was almost like Irlan. Speaking of which, Irlan suddenly got up and then approached the wall of the room… all in order to hear what they were talking about.
“Unbelievable…”
“Come on, don’t say that you aren’t even a bit curious.”
“I wonder what Reina actually saw in this sorry excuse of a group.”
Zelos wasn’t that sleepy, but he wasn’t interested in eavesdropping, so he did a bit of training to get tired enough to go to bed while Irlan was wasting his time.
When morning came, they still had some time for breakfast and then Reina brought a box sealed with some chains and then delivered it to Heirina. She truly was sending something that would help the princess and she didn’t want that falling into the wrong hands.
“I will be counting on you. Eldor will guide you upstream toward the start of the river. That will be a halfway point in the mountains. After that, if you keep heading Northeast, you will eventually find the capital in the distance. You will also find some old mines along the way, so that you will confirm that you are going in the right direction.”
“Understood. We will fulfill our mission and return as soon as possible.”
The beginning of the mission had been as silent as it could have been. Eldor wasn’t exactly a chatterbox and since he didn’t like Zelos, the atmosphere stayed weird for a while. The fact that Zelos kept yawning all the time didn’t help, either.
After a while, the group couldn’t help but think that the river was man made and the caves in which it crossed were also man made. The river always crossed the middle of the mountains perfectly and stayed most of the time out of open fields. Such a thing to be a natural phenomenon would be simply too weird. With that in mind, one could tell that the ancestors of the natives made them for whatever reason.
“A magic trait is truly useful. The things that they can do by combining them would change the country forever. The people in the past thought that as well, but they decided to force them to work for them… the weird thing about them is the fact that their traits are mainly magical, but they all are crazy melee fighters. It isn’t like they only had a single trait, but… I can’t understand why they would ignore their real talents and focus on Melee fighting.”
The most obvious explanation would be because they had a bad history just using their traits alone and decided to use them sporadically instead of showing it all the time. In that sense, one could understand the reason behind that, since it would be relatively easy to counter. For example, to cut half of the power of someone like Eldor, one just had to lure him to a place without water.
“Hmm, this might be a pretty good exercise. Thinking about some traits and how to counter them. Also, trying to analyze my opponents actions to learn their traits… that should increase my survival skills. The only problem is the fact that if I mess up, I am done for. I can’t be too presumptuous about those, so for starters, I need to focus on decreasing the possibilities and then fill in the blanks.”
Zelos started with the traits of those around him, Heirina and Irlan’s traits were relatively easy to deal with, but they could be a problem if they know much about their opponents… so going fast or trying to attack them from a distance would be the best option.
Things got a bit complicated with Edea and Kaitrine… there was no tactic that could stop them from using their traits aside from taking them down first before they can use their traits.
Since he had time for that, Zelos decided to keep thinking about it, but in the end, nothing came to mind. He probably was lacking in terms of experience, and there was only one way to deal with that.
After two days, the speed of the river got faster and then their speed got slower. They were close to their destination and soon found the waterfall that originated in the river. Eldor stopped near the shore and then everyone moved with their horses.
“Someone comes here every seven days, so time your return accordingly if you plan to use the mountains to return to our base.”
After saying those words, Eldor quickly turned around the boat and then left. The guy only said that in two days, his resolve should have been insanely high. Zelos turned around and then looked at Heirina.
“Well, what now?”
“It would have been easier if Reina had given us a map, but they have that kind of troublesome policy about no maps and no mapping either. We will just have to follow what she said and head northeast.”
The group looked around but only found a lot of grass, trees, and the mountains. This time, they could hear the sound of countless insects, so the place was full of life and dangers as well.
“The mountains in this area aren’t that thick as before. With my experience, I should be able to navigate through here with no problem.”
“We will be counting on you then, Kaitrine.”
It was the time for Heirina to ask Kaitrine how she learned those skills… she was only sixteen, after all. Maybe her father let her grow in a forest or something for her first ten years of life.
As it turned out, Kaitrine’s confidence wasn’t unfounded, and soon the group began to cross the first mountain by the side while going upward as well. Thanks to that, they would save some time and energy from the horses. She also chose the best routes and when that wasn’t possible, she would cut the path with her spear and get rid of the obstacles.
On the first day alone, they crossed three mountains without taking a break. There was plenty of food around, so they didn’t have to stop to rest or eat. Still, when night came, the cold began to grow quite strong, so they were forced to make a fire.
“Achhhhuuuuuu… I heard that mountains can be quite cold at night in the summer, but this caught me off guard… I don’t want to even think about how this place feels like in winter.”
Irlan began to clean his nose from the snort. He hated the cold with passion, so he got a bit closer to the campfire.
“When it is winter, you don’t camp in the open unless you want to freeze to death. The ground is wet thanks to the snow, the trees are damp as well and the wind can kill you as fast as a sword if you aren’t careful. This place is pretty much a death sentence in the winter for those who aren’t experienced.”
It was obvious that Kaitrine did some survivalist training when she was younger. Zelos wondered if she could teach him a few tricks, but out of everyone from the group, she was still the one who remained the further away from him. They were quite the opposite, after all. Zelos didn’t hide his thoughts while Kaitrine preferred to see things happen in silence and think that there was no point in voicing her opinions. Still, he could learn a few things by watching her and that was fine for now.
“Since we are halfway there, do you think that we can reach the other side of the mountains before tomorrow night, Captain?”
“Irlan… She said that we would be halfway there when Eldor would leave. Thanks to him, we moved during the day and night. We just moved for the day, so we only crossed one fourth of the distance. Aside from that, we will be one day away from the capital. Still, we have two weeks until the birthday of the princess. So, we don’t have to hurry.”
“And what about the other part of the job?”
After hearing Zelos’s question, Heirina went into silence. She had been thinking about that for the past few days, but she still didn’t know what she should do… Reina actions and choice of words made her feel wary of the second part of the mission while the situation in the capital added to the problem. They were essentially mercenaries… they had their territory to defend, but they only worked for those who hired them. They couldn’t go around and get involved in trouble. Moreover, Heirina was supposed to be the next head of the clan, her actions would affect the future of the clan, even if she wasn’t the leader yet.
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Jerry
She had been thinking about that for the past few days, but she still didn’t know what should do… probably she
Jerry
Zelos wondered if she could teach him a few kids. probably should be things
