Chapter 17: Vol.1 Part 17

In front of them was a wall, a massive wall. Where did it come from? Luna had no idea. They had wandered through the pampa only to end up in front of a big wall. All she knew was that someone had placed it here recently. It wasn't built with bricks. It was just dirt and stone lifted into the air. 'Probably an elemental mage,' thought Luna.

"That is certainly an idea to deal with the infection problem," said Luna and raised her eyebrow.

"There is no way someone builds this in a couple of days; I can't even see the end of it," exclaimed Jannet.

Dried dirt was still stuck on their clothes. They had tried to knock it off, but unfortunately, a large part could not be removed from the clothing.

"So, what are we going to do about this," asked Jannet.

"I think we should just climb over it."

"Excuse me, what?" Jannet looked dumbfounded.

"Let's see, how about I shoot arrows into the wall, and you use them to climb up? Yeah, that's a great idea," exclaimed Luna with a bright smile on her face. "Just don't slip; the fall will hurt."

Jannet could only glare at Luna.

"Thanks, I wouldn't have thought of that."

Arrow after arrow was shot into the wall. After everything was prepared, Luna stored her bow and gestured for Jannet to begin. Jannet climbed up first, closely followed by Luna. They stood at the top for a while. It was easily six meters down. Because they had such a good view, Luna enhanced her eyes, which became violet, and looked into the distance, where she saw people moving in a camp.

"Ehm Luna, how can I get down?" Surprised, Luna looked up at the wall and saw Jannet standing there.

"Oh, right. I almost forgot that."

Arrows were once again shot into the wall. It took some time, but Jannet managed to get down safely.

"I saw people from up there. I would suggest we go there first and try to get information." Jannet followed her finger but could see nothing in the distance.

"Are you sure they are friendly?"

"I can't say for sure, but we should try it anyways. We have information about the infection that they could need. So we should be fine."

As they followed the wall slowly but surely, Luna could see people in the distance without relying on her enhanced eyes. She wasn't sure if it was the right decision to make contact now. "They saw us," said Luna suddenly. "What?" "They waved at us. At least it looked like a wave," said Luna.

A group of people was already waiting for them. They all wear dark robes with silver stripes on the collar and a fire emblem on the front. Only one person stood out. It was a woman with a red robe, a gold necklace, and brown hair. Her posture exuded elegance. Just by looking at her, you knew that she had to be the leader of this group. When they were close enough, the woman began to speak. "May I ask what two people are doing here? The Kingdom of Athylia had classified this area as forbidden. So if you don't have a good explanation, I'll have to take you as prisoners."

Luna felt how Jannet slowly hide behind her. But she had more important things to do and couldn't take care of Jannet.

"I can imagine why this area was forbidden. We encountered an infection on our way through the forest and had to take a detour due to it. Unfortunately, we misjudged the speed of propagation." Luna shifted the focus of the conversation to their clothes with a simple gesture." As you can see from our clothes, we were forced to trek through the swamp. We didn't find a water source, so it still smells horrible."

Luna looked up again and was surprised to see the group with a dumbfounded expression. The conversation became silent again, and Luna tried to figure out what was bothering them. She couldn't understand what she said wrong. The mood of the conversation was tense, as both parties remained silent. Luna felt how uncomfortable Jannet was as her presence shrunk behind her.

A shaking of the head cleared the woman's thoughts before she began to speak.

"You traveled through the dark swamp of Orchids and came out alive? With all the creatures roaming through it." She said in disbelief.

"Yes, we did, but we are still exhausted from the journey and would like a place to stay and wash our clothes. As you can see, we aren't in the best condition right now."

"I take it you have information about the infection that is plaguing the forest?" asked the woman.

"That would depend on your existing knowledge. But yes, we would have information about those creatures," replied Luna trying to be polite.

"Would you be so kind to follow us to my tent, where we can further discuss the situation?"

"That won't be a problem."

It didn't take long for them to reach the tent. The inside was decorated with expensive furniture, and runes were tailored into the walls of fabric. But Luna couldn't identify the purpose they served. She knew that another world would develop another rune system to use, just like different languages were present on earth. One thing she found odd was that they could understand each other; what was the probability that both realities had the same language system?

The woman, wearing a red dress, made her way to the desk at the end of the tent. She sat down and opened a drawer, from which she took two parchment pieces and put them on the table. She unrolled the first one, which showed a map she displayed on the wooden board.

"First, let me introduce myself; I am Kanah Olenor. Capitan of the Elemental Mage Brigade. May I also know your names?" asked Kanah, who looked at them with a kind smile.

Luna instantly knew she was putting on a mask. She had seen it a lot of times in the past. Even though it was hundreds of years ago, she still saw through it. One glimpse to the side was enough for her to see that Jannet had fallen for it. She sighed; there was still so much she had to teach Jannet.

Luna looked her deep into the eyes before she said, "I am Luna, and this is my friend Jannet; we found each other by chance in the forest and decided to travel together. It was more eventful than we had planned. Additionally, we had to stop at one point because my traveling companion fell ill."

"And you still made it through the forest alive? With all the monsters and the recently discovered infection." Kanah said suspiciously. "What do you want in the lands of Athylia?"

"Nothing special our main target is to get to safety from the monsters who chased us. It was no funny fleeing from them. They are fast, stealthy, and coordinated," said Luna and tried to shift the conversation in a specific direction.

Even though Kanah realized it, she decided to play along.

"There are a couple of things I want to confirm with you about the infection, as you two saw them and also fought them. Would that be all right?" asked Kanah.

"That won't be a problem; I already spoke about this with another captain a couple of days ago."

"Oh really?" asked Kanah. Luna could see the surprise on her face, even though she was hiding it well. She knew Kanah had prepared for this mission; one of the reports must have mentioned her. She was sure about it. "I think it was Hjalmarr if I remember correctly." Added Luna.

"So you are the person that saved his group; I should thank you for that. Without you, Hjalmarr and our recruits would have died. But I must admit, the spell he described in his report was magnificent. I would love to learn more about it."

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"Maybe later, but there are a couple of things I would prefer for now. We traveled the entire day through the swamp Orchids and are rather exhausted by now. I would love to get some needed rest as soon as possible," said Luna. She remembered from their previous conversation how Kanah had described the swamp and used it now to show that she knew their surroundings.

"Too bad, but I think there is nothing we can do about it," Kanah said and opened the other papers. On it was a couple of sketches of creatures. Luna instantly recognized them; she fought them. Whoever drew them had talent, as the picture cached the most significant details of the infected monsters and how they differentiated from normal ones.

"I can tell from your reaction you recognized them. Could you provide us with more details on the look and features?"

"There is not much to add. Some claws should be longer, and the wolf had more eyes on his side, but this is pretty accurate otherwise." Luna noticed that Kanah was a bit disappointed. It seems she expected more. Luna didn't want to give more information than needed, but now she could improve her reputation by showing her willingness to help.

"But I think there is still something missing," Luna said and scratched her head. "I can't see the picture of big creatures; around 3 to 4 meters big. The legs are purely made from flesh and don't have fur." It was not so long ago, but they were lying in a bush and didn't see it well, so they didn't know its features. "We couldn't see it at the time because we were hiding in a bush. But it was massive, and contrary to the other beast, it had a functioning nose. We were screwed at that time if a roar didn't call it back."

Luna didn't have to look to know that Kanah had become interested. The roar was most likely something she also wanted to discuss, so Luna thought she would forestall Kanah in the discussion.

"So I can confirm you heard that roar?" asked Kanah and received a nod in return. The kingdom shouldn't have much information on that. They might know it could damage the soul, was most likely amplified with Mana, and came from a terrifying monster, but apart from that, they should know nothing. In their eyes, it could be anything. So Luna's information could have inestimable value for them; she just had to use her cards right.

"We didn't see it at that time, but we have some ideas about its behavior," answered Luna. "But before we talk about that, I would like to know if you have elemental mages that could provide us with water later and a save shelter for the night?" Kanah frowned; she was probably considering if it was worth providing shelter and resources for Luna and Jannet. Luna held specific information back on purpose, and Kanah had to know that too.

"All right, we will provide you with shelter and water, but that depends on how valuable your information is," Said Kanah, raising her head.

"You erected an entire wall in less than three days, so I assume there is no problem providing us with water, right?" Kanah grumbled but probably realized that she couldn't counter Luna's argument.

"All right, would you be so kind as to tell us what you found out?"

"Can we also get food if the information is extraordinary?"

Luna received a nod and a gesture with the hand to continue.

"The first thing we noticed was how coordinated they operated. There had to be someone in charge who gave orders. But when I saved the group of recruits in the forest, no one present could have coordinated such an attack. We figured out they had to use distance communication. If the commander was far away, then trees would block his view. So the question remains, who coordinated the attack, and where was he during the battle?" asked Luna. They had talked about it in the forest, and she had made some theories.

"Perhaps the queen could see through the eyes of her subordinates and gave orders accordingly. Another option was a bird circling over the battlefield. High up in the protection of the sun, so nobody would take notice of him; you could also say it just lay in their blood." 

Kanah looked a bit disappointed. She expected more information, but Luna wasn't finished yet.

"You look confident, so I guess you have an idea of how their inner structure works?" asked Kanah, a little bit annoyed. They had erected the wall already and had nothing to do now, so she had all the time she wanted. But she didn't want Luna to know that.

"Yes, we have an idea. We can't confirm it, but we think it is the first option." Said Luna.

"Oh, and what makes you think that."

"We were resting in a cave near the infection because Jannet was ill. A bird would have followed me to collect information, especially as I traveled through the infected area. No one attacked us, even on the next day." Kanah only nodded. It seemed she understood Luna's logic. Because Luna destroyed the army with a powerful spell, it would be foolish to let her out of sight.

"We think it is the queen who can see through the eyes of her subordinates and command them accordingly. Even if attacking lies in their nature, it would only look chaotic," stated Luna. But she had one more argument. "We once had to hide in the bushes after being pursued by a pack of wolves and other animals. Everything passed us except for one creature. It was the previously mentioned 3- to 4-meter monster.

"Wolves have a good nose, so it's practically impossible to miss us. But if the queen controls the monsters, she will probably have switched off the senses of the unimportant beasts; otherwise, far too much information will be sent to her. The Great Monster was important, though. It had activated the sense of smell, became aware of our presence, and tried to find us." Luna guessed that everything went through the queen; if she died, the rest would die too.

"I understand where you are coming from, but I suppose you don't know what the queen looks like, am I right?" Kanah wrote down everything she found important. Due to this, Luna decided to wait a moment.

"One last thing; every last beast was soulless."

Kanah looked in Luna's direction with a shocked expression as if she couldn't believe what she had just heard.

"I don't know if the queen is the same, but I can guarantee the beast's souls were missing. This also brings me to my last point. I believe that someone created them. The lack of a soul should be proof enough. Nothing that is naturally born into this world is missing its soul, so someone experimented with life in the forest, and I don't like what the person created."

Kanah was still silent; Luna noticed how she pushed a small button the moment she confirmed that the infection consisted of soulless beings. It didn't take long before a knight came into the tent.

"Are you sure they didn't pose a soul?" asked Kanah, only for Luna to nod. Did this matter become more serious was Luna's only thought.

"Bring this letter has to be delivered to Knight Commander Sighsten as soon as possible."

Kanah stamped the letter and handed it to the knight. Luna was disappointed that she couldn't see the seal. The knight accepted the letter and bowed before he left the tent.

"I would like for you to officially stay in our camp until we get further orders; is that acceptable? We will provide you with everything you need of course."

Luna turned around to get Jannets's confirmation. She saw something she didn't expect. Jannet was standing behind her with a bewildered expression and was sweaty. Luna was concerned that Jannet had to consume the medicine again. 'Please don't let it be the mana illness.'

"Is everything all right?" whispered Luna with a gentle but still concerned expression.

"I hardly understood a word of what you said."

'What does she mean by that? Kanah used our language.' Luna was pondering and forgot that Kanah was standing in front of them. A cough broke the silence, causing Luna to remember the question.

"We don't have a problem with that." She answered with a sweet smile. "Is it possible to immediately take a shower?" asked Luna. Her nose itched the entire time. She didn't like the foul smell on her body and clothes.

"With your stench, that would probably be the best course of action. I'll have fresh clothes brought to you," said Kanah. Luna only smiled wryly. She knew how bad they smelled. And wanted to take a shower as soon as possible. Luna observed how Kanah spoke to the person on her left; he bowed and went outside the tent.

"Someone is waiting for you outside and will take care of your needs. If there is still time afterward, I would like to speak to you privately, but only if that doesn't cause any problems."

Luna bowed with Jannet, "Thank you for the hospitality. We'll talk more later."

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