Chapter 22: Chapter 21

That whole interaction was strange, so I guess it makes sense that the mask itself is also strange. The thing fit to my face as if they had a mold of me when it was being made. After a couple minutes, I had to remind myself I was still wearing it as it rested evenly, didn’t jostle as I walked, and somehow didn’t hinder airflow despite blocking my mouth. It was honestly a little disturbing, but Abilities are that way- especially seer and oracle types. 

 

“May I ask what you two do in the guild? I forage for useful plants and Mack here hunts smaller animals,” I ask as we strolled past some of the farms again.

 

“I d-dabble in cartography and d-do ecological surveys.”

 

“Hunt. Protect. …Assess others? Paperwork.”

 

I was surprised by both of their answers. Mouse hadn’t seemed like a fighter, but I guessed they did forging like me- and the fact they do work in two fields that require education or training probably means that they are or were an Academy student. Assuming their stuttering isn’t an act, if I wanted, they would probably be the easiest to identify. I was quite thrown for a loop by Pebble’s answer. I had expected the first two, but their other answers brought up a second question.

 

“Pebble, are you an employee of the Vigilantes?”

 

“Yes”

 

As I had thought. I didn’t really know how the organization was structured, but it would make sense to have some field employees to either validate people’s claims or to make sure important jobs were successful. I was still confused as to why they were coming along with us. Were they checking on my capabilities, doing some related side-jobs while waiting for other duties, or simply here for recreation?

 

You are reading story Spiral Hill at novel35.com

Interrupting my musings, Mouse said they needed to ask some of the farmers around here about expansion plans and what animals they had seen around. We gave vague instructions on where we would likely be, and agreed to meet up around here at the end of the day. The rest of us split up when we got to the actual area we were interested in.

 

I had a better grasp of the plants I could find around here than yesterday, so I was excited to get to work. Apparently, there were a lot of mushrooms of interest which I completely glossed over in my research. It was actually probably good that I ignored them as mushroom identification is really hard. For a couple that were particularly similar looking I had extensive notes on everything I could find about how to tell them apart- including some drawings I had traced from the books. On a side note, if you wanted to, it was totally allowed to create a complete duplicate of any book in the library. The catch was you had to be a student and write your name in a book to be allowed in as a rough vetting measure. It also probably helped against theft and vandalism.

 

Another difficulty with mushrooms is that I had to be a bit more careful with not crushing them than normal. To solve this issue I had brought a few small containers of various types. These also helped with some of the more delicate plants- mostly opened flowers that were used in basic perfume and scented soap manufacturing. Beyond those specific cases, my usual storage method of wet rags worked like a charm. 

 

I had previously been worried about guild orders leading to the overharvesting of the flora and fauna in the area- but it seemed like the more I looked into the area around the Academy, the more things I found that had at least some niche in an obscure art or product. In addition, the increased presence of aether tended to help plants after a certain age grow quicker. The leading theory I had read was that plants and animals also gained Abilities after a certain age, but due to their simpler nature most were focused on growing or reproducing quicker to beat out the competition. There had also been a few unconfirmed reports of sentient and/or sapient plants in untouched areas of the world.

 

Despite not being easy to prove, I did agree with the theory due to fiat recollections of history’s timeline from the other world. At this point in the world’s development, there should have been almost no areas that didn’t at least have some form of civilization- even just a simple stubborn village or two. They had relatively safe ocean travel- although it took a lot longer- and robust coastal and river trading routes. There were cobbled roads connecting most of the countries local to the Academy. Finailly, the existence of people with forms of healing Abilities trivialized travel and diet based illness if one could afford their services.

 

Speaking of Abilities, the topic had not come up during our group’s trip here so I was left wondering if any of the others had one. Statistically, it wouldn’t be strange if none of them did, and my casual observation supported that conclusion. None of them had any visual abnormalities, acted in such a way that would indicate access to more knowledge or the bending of natural laws, or did something more magical. However, they may be like me and hiding something- that was what our outfit choices were for I guess- and the Ability I claimed having to the vigilantes was explainable with simple training.

 

Taking a break, I decided to look for Mack and Pebble by climbing the tallest tree I could find. My tail and talons would be immensely helpful for this, so I made sure no one was around before taking off my boots and belt. Luckily, the tree I was interested in was some sort of pine tree that had plenty of lower branches. With my increased strength and ability to stick sharp bits straight into the trunk for foot and tail holds when needed, making it to nearly the top only took a few minutes. Being almost 15 meters in the air gave me a spectacular view of the area. From there I slowly scanned the ground paying particular attention to patches of taller grass until I found them.

 

Like yesterday, Mack was sitting and waiting- hidden by natural features. This time he was by one of the streams that snaked their way through the prairies. A ways off there was a small, covered pile of something- likely what he had caught so far, maybe acting as bait. Unlike with Mack, I had no idea what Pebble would be doing out here. I guessed she was probably hunting as well, but it was also possible she had guild duties out here. I spent close to fifteen minutes looking around to no avail, before making my way down and hiding everything away once again. It was getting close to our agreed meeting time anyway, so it was possible she had gone to where we were gathering  early. With nothing better to do I headed that way- still on the lookout for things to gather while I walked.

You can find story with these keywords: Spiral Hill, Read Spiral Hill, Spiral Hill novel, Spiral Hill book, Spiral Hill story, Spiral Hill full, Spiral Hill Latest Chapter