Chapter 77: Chapter 76 – The trek back

[Quest completed: Cleared The Howling Gale’s Haunt (1/3)]
{Skill points awarded: 7}

Scarlett skimmed over the quest completion window before her. It hadn’t appeared until after they’d exited the dungeon this time. She’d long since given up on figuring out the mechanics behind this particular facet of the system. The timing seemed entirely arbitrary to her. Even if it wasn’t, she had a hard time discerning anything from it.

Her eyes returned to roam over the vast vista in front of her. The entrances to the boss room had been closed off, so instead, they’d exited through the passage at the back. It had led up to a small hollow near the edge of the mountain, sheltered by a thick snow overhang. Here, the spires of the Whitdown Mountains stretched out before them, the last rays of the setting sun glittering across the white sheets that covered much of the mountain tops. Haetrach—she believed that was what Fynn called the tallest of the peaks—in particular, towered above the rest.

Her gaze lingered for a moment on the gargantuan mountain, as she wondered what the easiest way of ascending it might be. Though it was still some time before she had to bother with all that. She looked back at the others behind her.

“How are you faring?” she asked Fynn. The young man was carrying Shin over his shoulders.

“I’m fine,” he answered, moving his hand to push away some locks from his eyes. “He’s not heavy.”

Scarlett raised an eyebrow. While she didn’t doubt Fynn’s strength, Shin was almost as tall as him and wore armor. No matter how ‘light’, it looked like an awkward way of carrying the young Shielder. Couldn’t be especially comfortable either, having metal pressing against your back like that.

Still, someone had to carry Shin, and if Fynn wasn’t complaining…

She sized up the rest of the group. They’d taken a few hours to rest up after beating the boss, but some of the exhaustion still remained with them all. She certainly didn’t feel ready to climb down a mountain. Thankfully, Rosa was up and about again, and while the woman looked about as tired as Scarlett felt, she appeared to be in a much better condition than before. No haunted looks left and right all the time, at least. She was even back to cracking jokes and telling odd stories, none of which seemed especially forced.

That was a true godsend. Without Rosa’s magic, Fynn was probably the only one who could make the trek back down by himself right now. The young man in question didn’t look like he’d just been in a trance for over two hours, or a boss fight before that. Things were relatively calm on his end, and apparently the ancestors had stopped speaking to him now that the trial was completed as well.

They probably wouldn’t show their presence much for a while, which was all well and good as far as Scarlett was concerned. She had no real way of getting back at them for what they did, so for now, it was best if she just didn’t have to bother with them at all.

The fact that Shin hadn’t woken up yet was a bit disconcerting, though. But according to Rosa, that was to be expected, considering his injuries. It seemed healing worked differently here than in the game, putting a lot more stress on the body.

“Will we be returning to the village now?” Allyssa asked, stepping away from where she’d been studying a long icicle hanging down from the tightly packed snow ceiling. After being reassured that Shin was safe, the girl had been the most energetic among them, if you discounted Fynn.

“Soon,” Scarlett replied. “But first, there is one more site we need to visit.”

She gestured to Garside, who took out the sets of warm clothing from the [Bag of Juham]. Everybody—except Fynn—took a moment to put them on.

“Fynn. Will you guide the way to the place we spoke of before?” Scarlett asked.

“Alright.” Fynn started moving towards the mouth of the hollow, where a thin path ran along the side of the mountain face.

Following behind him, Scarlett wondered whether [Sidhe’s Flowing Garbs] would be of any help at all if she were to fall down the craggy slope. She traced her hand along the cliff side as they moved, trying not to look down at what was more than likely certain doom. After some time, they reached the platform where the entrance to the dungeon was. She doubted it would have been possible—especially with the ancestors watching—but it would have been nice if they could just have taken this path to begin with.

They continued past the dungeon’s entrance, and down the path they’d taken up the mountain.

Now and then, they took brief rests—a lot more intermittently than when they’d been climbing the mountain—and their general pace was slower than before, but with the help of the bursts of energy that Rosa’s magic gave them, they reached the part of the mountain where the two ruined wolf statues stood within a few hours. The others were once again giving the two guardian statues curious looks, but Fynn continued past without showing much of a reaction. Instead of following the trail that led back to the platform where the stone obelisk was, however, he steered off and trekked down a steep cliff side in the opposite direction.

The rest of them had little choice but to follow. The sun had gone down by now, so they had to rely on the light from two lanterns carried by Garside and Allyssa to make their way down. Fynn was waiting for them as they reached the bottom of a low gorge on the mountainside. The snow was piled thick here, every step sinking down to the knees. In front of them was what could be described as a forest of stone. Broken, dilapidated pillars of stone stuck out of the snow-covered ground in an area the size of a small sports field, all of them of a familiar style.

Fynn looked at Scarlett. “This is the place you were talking about, right?”

Her eyes scanned over the place, settling on a section near the center where large mounds of snow and ice created several ridges.

“It’s always been like this,” he added.

“I imagine that it would have,” she said. “It has been quite some time since it was abandoned, after all.”

She began trailing ahead, gradually making her way through the snow. This was why she’d made sure to wear a pair of thick and sturdy boots.

When she reached the center, her attention passed to a sizeable chunk of ice that grew out the side of one of the snow mounds. Trudging up to it, she removed some of the snow covering the ice with her hand and leaned close. It was hazy, but there were signs of something grey inside.

She stepped back a fair distance, mentally prodding at the system.

[Mana: 1043/4474]

This probably wouldn’t be enough. Her mana recovery rate was pretty abysmal.

She glanced back at Garside. Asking him to refill her [Depraved Solitude’s Choker] earlier would probably have been a good idea. She could do it now, but there was probably a better use for his mana stores.

“Garside,” she said. The butler looked to her with a serious gaze. “I will be requiring your assistance. I presume you have regained some of your mana?”

He lowered his head. “Yes, my Lady. What is it you wish for me to do?”

She turned back to the block of ice. Raising her hand—the gesture helped with maintaining focus sometimes—she used her pyrokinesis to begin heating the ice. Water formed at the top of the block as it slowly started melting.

She wasn’t sure whether this direct use of her pyrokinesis was effective, or if it would be better to just conjure a high-intensity flame instead, but common sense dictated that this should at least be more cost-effective.

Thankfully, she wouldn’t have to melt all of this by herself. A few seconds passed before several large fires appeared around the ice, drastically speeding up the process. After about a minute a quarter of the outer layer, along with much of the snow surrounding the block of ice, was gone. The object inside the ice grew more and more clear.

Eventually, Allyssa let out a gasp. “Is that?!—”

The young woman stared on as the outline of the object took shape.

“Indeed it is,” Scarlett said.

It was an obelisk, but not one of stone like before. The surface of this obelisk was a clear grey, with a metallic sheen that took on exotic patterns as it reflected the flames through the ice.

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This was a Kilnstone.

“This doesn’t make sense. What's one of those doing here?”

Scarlett smiled. “I see no issue with it. This was once a Zuverian outpost, after all.”

“Really?” Allyssa turned to look at Fynn. “Did you know about this?”

He shook his head, looking just as confused as her. “We used to play here when we were kids, but I didn’t know it was Zuverian.”

“There are some records that speak of it,” Scarlett said. “But it appears to be mostly forgotten.”

Of course, she only knew it was an outpost because it had been called Olarion Outpost on the map in ‘Chronicle of Realms’.

“Zuverian records?” Allyssa asked, looking at Scarlett.

“Amongst others, yes.”

“Ah, good ol’ Zuverian records.” Rosa nodded her head with a confident expression. “Classic mistake, forgetting to check those first. That’s why it’s forgotten, see?”

Allyssa’s gaze turned to Shin, spread over Fynn’s shoulders. “Shin will go crazy when he hears what he missed.”

“Remember what we spoke of before.” Scarlett turned her attention away from the obelisk for a moment. “None of this should be disclosed to others. The reasons why are many, not least of which is Fynn’s current precarious situation.”

Allyssa’s excitement lessened somewhat, but she soon grew a determined expression. “We won’t tell anyone.”

Scarlett looked to Rosa, who mimed sewing her mouth shut, then to Fynn, who still seemed surprised about this new discovery so close to his ancestral home.

It took a minute more, but eventually Scarlett and Garside had removed almost all the ice surrounding the Kilnstone, leaving it floating in the air by itself, surrounded by an area of wet slush and water on pale stone. Scarlett walked up to the ancient artifact and held her hand up to it. As she touched the clear, reflective surface, a surge of faint light moved through the object, from the bottom up. She felt some kind of connection form inside her, similar to familiarizing oneself with the effect of an enchanted item. But that was all there was to it. She searched around mentally and inside herself, but couldn’t find anything else that she could do.

Maybe it was because this was the only Kilnstone she’d interacted directly with. If she wanted to use it, she also needed to have visited other Kilnstones as well.

Well, it wasn’t as if she had been intending on using it now, anyway. That would have been bound to cause all sorts of issues, considering how regulated Kilnstone travel was across the empire. But she knew several of these artifacts that weren’t part of the current Kilnstone network employed by the empire, so she still wanted to find as many of them as possible.

And who knows? Maybe she could strike some kind of deal with those authorities in charge of the Kilnstones in the future, so that she could be allowed to use those in the cities as well. It’d certainly be convenient for the next time they had to get here.

She took a step back. “We are finished here. Let us return.”

“That’s all?” Rosa asked, giving her a disappointed look. “I expected a bit more. Where’s all the flair? The great reveal?”

“There is none. This is a Kilnstone, an ancient means of spatial travel. Not a trinket meant for entertainment.”

Rosa smirked. “Why can’t it be both?”

“The ancient Zuver were lauded for their ingenuity, Miss Hale,” Garside said. “Not their sense of humor.”

“Sounds like their loss to me.”

“We can save frivolous conversations such as this for later.” Scarlett looked up at the bright moon that now shone in the night sky. “For now, we should make our way to Dimfrost and see if we cannot find accommodations for the night.”

“I am certain that we can arrange something with the local reeve or village head, my Lady,” Garside said.

Fynn shook his head. “They don’t have one of those.”

Garside furrowed his thick brows. “They do not?”

“The last village head died seven years ago when Olgolz—” Fynn paused. “During the Dragon Rampage. Since then there’s just an elder. But he’s old. He forgets things.”

“Have they not appointed another in the time since then? Who is the lord?”

“There is no lord? They all died.”

“…I see.” Garside looked thoughtful for a second. “Then I shall have to inquire if there are any households that have lodging we may use.”

“They’ll all be asleep by now,” Fynn said.

“Then what do you suggest we do?”

Fynn blinked. “…We could stay where I lived?”

“Will it accommodate all of us?” Scarlett asked.

“…Maybe?” Fynn frowned for a moment. “But we’ll probably wake them up.”

Allyssa leaned in curiously. “Who’s they?”

Fynn looked at her. “My brothers and sisters.”

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