Chapter 41: 41: Star-Touched Hills

Birds. 

As life began to wake up on one winter morning, trumpets blared as a line of carriages began their journey. Carriages all opulent, the capital city of the Kingdom of Rexas held a massive parade as the city celebrated the honor of having eight adventurers going to one of the most prestigious events for an adventurer, attending the yearly monster wave expedition. 

Riding out on their carriages, Jayce, Sasha, Dexter, Kaitlyn, Rachel, Josephine, Oliver, and Damien all brought along their weapons, their supplies, their clothes, and their hearts. Each member of the party was quiet, their words quiet, their eyes betraying the slight moroseness each felt in contrast to the joyous celebration the city had. 

Sharpening his ever-trusty spear, Jayce was the first one to speak up, his voice quiet but full, “We all know that this isn’t something to celebrate about until it's all over.”

Hearing the murmurs of agreement from the others in the carriage—the custom built large carriage that they could all ride in—Jayce reached back, pulling out a well-worn letter that had a few crinkles from use, smoothening it out while summarizing, “In Chelsea’s most recent letter she gave a few more critical details. First there were reminders to prepare well, although we haven’t had any deaths in recent years during this expedition, in the past we cannot forget the years where more than half the expedition died in their efforts to stop the monster wave. Especially this year, we must remain vigilant otherwise tragedy may strike.”

“Obviously we hope that doesn’t happen,” Sasha added, pulling out her own copy of the beautiful hand-inked letter, “We also now have details, it seems that as the monster wave as been growing, Nero along with the Black Wing, his fanatical followers, have not only lured more monsters to join the wave, but have also caused the appearance of a myriad of rare hyper-evolved variants of monsters. 

Pausing for a second to see the acknowledgement from the other adventurers in the carriage, each holding their own weapon in their arms or lap, Jayce then moved on, “We will be meeting up with the other adventurers called in the last trading city before all going to go to the capital of Chelsea’s territory.” 

Raising his hand, Oliver asked, a small apologetic smile on his face, “Is that city near the one we’ll be based out of when fighting the large horde of monsters?”

Nodding, Kaitlyn answered after getting the go ahead from Jayce, “Yeah, so the city that we’ll be based out of is actually the capital of Chelsea’s territory. The capital city is practically a massive fortress. More details will be discussed once we get there though of course.”

With Kaitlyn’s answer, Oliver, raising his eyebrows in surprise, nodded, trying his best to commit that fact to memory to avoid asking again while the journey moved on and the city faded into the distance. 

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That night, as their small caravan came to a stop, the knights and their horses, the servants' carriages, the guards, their own carriage, and supply carriages all parked in a camping spot. 

As a small array of tents was being pitched, a certain duo went off exploring after having pitched their tents. Making their way through the forest, Kaitlyn and Rachel escaped from the rest of the group, looking for a place to hang out together alone. 

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Having grown closer together during the past month, through a series of practice sessions together and meals out together, the two now often spun their heads, making eye contact before meandering off to hang out together. 

Now, as the two pushed aside some bushes they came out to a small hill in a clearing, one that seemed like a small mound to the stars. 

Pulling her jacket around herself a little tighter, Kaitlyn followed along an excited Rachel who pulled her towards the hill, exclaiming, “We can look at the stars! It’s like the first time we went to go get dinner!”

“A-Ah... that was so awkward,” Kaitlyn murmured, jogging along behind Rachel while getting pulled along, “I had no idea what to say back then...”

Coming to a stop at the top of the small hill, Rachel reminisced, “Me neither... I was just very... shy? I guess?”

At the top of the hill, the two came to a stop, sitting down on the top of the hill together, adjusting their swords so they wouldn’t sit on top of them. Sinking onto the grass, still cool from the winter chill, Kaitlyn and Rachel sat with their mouths closed, admiring the sea of twinkling stars that stretched out before them. 

The wind blowing, gentle enough to just dislodge a leaf here or there, Kaitlyn and Rachel watched as the clouds drifted past, sparse yet still enough to blot out patches of the star-filled sky above them. 

“Are you excited for the expedition?” Rachel asked, hugging her knees to her chest while moving her head a touch to avoid having her hair blown into her face, “It is going to be dangerous though as Jayce mentioned...”

“Yeah, I’m excited to see Chelsea again, she’ll probably ask for another spar,” Kaitlyn began, pulling out a few blades of grass and blowing them into the wind, “However, I’ve heard a lot about the strange events transpiring around the monster wave this year... so... not excited for that. Last year almost all of us came down with injuries, luckily because we’re... us, we have quite strong bodies that can recover from quite a lot.”

Pulling out some blades of grass for herself, Rachel mimicked Kaitlyn, blowing into the gentle wind, watching it disappear into the night. A little wistful, Rachel set her hand back onto the ground, feeling the cool grass and earth beneath her, clenching her hand at the slight dampness, “I hope that not many people get hurt this year... do you know if Chelsea’s invited more adventurers this year?”

“She has,” Kaitlyn answered, brushing a thin strand of her black hair behind her ear, “It also helps that in recent years we’ve seen a surge in new S-Ranked Adventurers, people are really harnessing their talent well, I guess...”

“Literally says you,” Rachel retorted, letting out an amused sigh, “Don’t even try and deny what I’m saying.”