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It hadn’t been an hour before Erin and her companions stumbled upon another group of soldiers. They had noticed the soldiers’ presence from afar but it took about half an hour for them to stumble right up to the soldiers as their paths were gradually slanting more and more. They were slowly descending into a valley. According to the map Aedan had left them, after the slope, a steep cliff was waiting for them straight ahead and it had been the bane of many unwary travellers as the cliff was extremely difficult to distinguish with its moss-covered surface and the green backdrop. However, Erin didn’t have that worry as she was told beforehand and the soldiers’ presence voided the dangerous masquerade of nature.

The soldiers did not pay Erin any mind despite noticing the wagon’s approach. If anything, they were waving for her to move along. Despite that, Erin couldn’t help but be curious when she saw an uprooted tree, puddles of blood, and bits of flesh.

“You’re going to get involved?” Lyra asked. She was lying on the coach bench with her head on Erin’s lap. Drowsiness returned to her after the group ran dry of questions to ask about Erin’s night with Aedan. She had tossed herself onto Erin’s lap without asking but Erin herself didn’t seem bothered by it.

“You disapprove?”

“I thought you don’t go looking for trouble.”

“I don’t and I didn’t. This one found me and whether we like it or not, we are part of it. I can’t be at ease after seeing those glaring sights.”

Erin stopped the wagon beside the soldiers. She gestured for the others to be at ease when they realised the wagon had stopped. The soldiers also realised the wagon had stopped beside them but none of the soldiers looked their way, save for one. Going by the cloak the soldier was wearing, Erin surmised he was the officer of this group. He was sporting a vexed look as if he was tired of another curious onlooker.

“Well met, officer,” Erin greeted with a slight nod.

The officer’s demeanour instantly changed when he saw Erin’s perky white ears and the tails behind her dancing tenderly to the breeze. “G-good afternoon, my lady,” he greeted back, bowing with a hand to his chest.

When one of the soldiers noticed their officer was bowing to Erin, the rest also turned to look, following after one another. Confusion riddled their faces but as Erin rose from her seat, inadvertently pushing Lyra’s head off her lap, the soldiers all bowed with their hands to their chests at the sight of her ears and tails. Erin was starting to feel drunk from her unfounded authority and she had to refrain from grinning terribly.

“She’s getting used to it,” Lilian muttered playfully from the back of the wagon.

“What seems to be the problem, officer?” Erin asked, ignoring Lilian’s remark.

“It’s nothing to be concerned about, Lady Fae,” the officer said after recomposing himself and donning back his seasoned face.

Erin raised an eyebrow and glanced at the claw marks left amidst the blood puddles. She alternated her gaze between the claw marks and the officer.

“Y-you need not trouble yourself, Lady Fae, is what I meant,” the officer corrected his words when he saw Erin’s bouncing gaze.

“What manner of monster could leave such devastating crude marks.”

“A Rune Drake, my lady.”

Erin immediately looked behind her. Lilian’s solemn face and Siv’s light frown told her enough of this Rune Drake’s degree of threat. He turned back to the officer. “Did you happen to know this Rune Drake’s level?”

“The adventurer party that reported the sighting of this Rune Drake said it was level fifty-two.”

“I’m guessing this behaviour of the Rune Drake is unusual?”

“It isn’t exactly unusual, my lady. Monsters often roam or wander into paved roads but they usually don’t attack travellers as they know the repercussions. This is a fear instilled into their bloodline and instincts over the course of hundreds of years since the founding of Sephrodia Valley. If they acted outside the range of their usual behaviour, it could only mean there’s an external reason.”

“Such as?”

“Adventurers attacked their habitats without restraint or something precious to the monster has been stolen from it. Its egg would be a good example.”

“Could it be that someone stole the egg of this Rune Drake?”

“Unlikely, my lady. An egg of a Rune Drake is big and very distinctive. If one is seen carrying around with that egg, they will be persecuted and driven out of the city by everyone.”

“What if they hide the egg they stole inside a subspace storage spell?”

“The egg is as big as the average man’s torso. Storing such a large item inside a subspace would imply the person has a very high level in Spatial Magic.” A drop of sweat trickled down the officer’s face. “That would deeply complicate things.”

“Then I hope that won’t be the case,” Erin said. “Well, I won’t be bothering you anymore. Keep up the good work, good sirs.”

“O-of course, my lady.” The officer bowed again and so did the others. They promptly returned to their work as the wagon slowly made its descent on the meandering slope leading down the steep cliff.

“What are the chances that we will encounter that Rune Drake?” Lyra asked, resting her head on Erin’s lap the moment the wagon started moving again.

“Will we?” Aera asked worriedly.

“Stop it, Lyra. You’re scaring Aera,” Erin lightly admonished Lyra.

“Her? Afraid of a Rune Drake? Like hell.” Lyra scoffed.

“If you’re not going to sleep, then get off my lap.”

Lyra perched herself up and stared at Aera. “You’re afraid of a Rune Drake? I saw how you fought that sham of a priest. Why would you be afraid of a Rune Drake?”

“I don’t like fighting,” Aera said, casting her head down. “I don’t want to fight if I can avoid fighting.”

“Five gold says you can kill that Rune Drake with two punches.”

“Ten gold, one punch,” Lilian chimed in with a smile.

Aera looked at the two with gaping eyes.

“Enough, you two!” Nivia raised her voice. “We’re not a party of debauched gamblers here.”

“Gamblers, no.” Lyra shrugged. “Debauched, yes.”

Nivia scowled. “You haven’t changed at all, Lyra. Still as unprincipled as ever.”

Lyra sneered in return. “And you’re a virgin as always.”

“What’s wrong with being the only virgin in this wagon?”

“I’m still a virgin…” Aera said softly with a hand raised awkwardly.

“You are?” Lilian uttered in mild disbelief. “Didn’t your father—”

“He tried to,” Aera said grimly. “He pulled out his cock but Nyx answered my prayers before he could tear my maiden seal.”

“What kind of father would ravage his own daughter,” Siv mulled with a frown.

“Doesn’t matter. He’s dead. Aedan killed him.” Her last sentence was said with a faint smile.

But Nivia took the smile as some kind of a foreboding sign. “You’re infatuated with him. You fancy him.”

She nodded. “I do,” she said, her smile widening.

“It would seem you have a corrival, Erin,” Lyra jibed.

Aera cast away her smile when she realised what she might have entailed. “L-Lady Erynthea, I didn’t mean—”

“It’s alright, Aera,” Erin assured her. “I am not offended nor nettled. I have long accepted that part of him long before I was infatuated with him.”

“He had other lovers?” Aera asked.

“Disgustingly so,” Nivia grumbled as she thought of a certain Umbrum. “What’s so good about him anyway?”

Lilian tittered. “Someone’s not being honest with herself.”

“And who would that be?” Nivia shot back with a glare.

Erin sighed and rolled her eyes at the bickering happening behind her. It was at times like these that she wondered if it was a mistake to bring love into her life. Mud always comes after the rain, she assuaged herself with that expression as she tried her best to focus on the steep meandering road down the cliff. The bickering did not end even after the wagon made its way to the foot of the cliff. However, it ended when a roar resounded in the distance and everyone was instantly prepared to strike at any moment.

“It sounded close,” Nivia said. “The Rune Drake?”

“What else can it be?” Lyra responded. “Unless there are monsters as dangerous as the Rune Drake about in this forest, no other monster would dare reveal its own position.”

“Judging by the direction the roar came from, it is in our path.”

Lyra chuckled and looked at Erin, who was wearing a grave expression. Lyra dropped her smile. “Erin, what’s wrong?”

“Blood,” it was Siv who answered. “There’s a faint smell of blood, human. They’re still alive.”

“Shouldn’t we go help them?” Aera asked.

“You want to fight?”

“There are people in danger. I will fight if I have to.”

“What if they’re bad people like bandits?” Lilian threw the question at Aera.

“They’re not bandits,” Erin said, gripping the reins tightly. “I smell perfume and polished metal.”

“Ah, noble ladies,” Lilian smirked. “Then what are you waiting for Erin? Go and save the damsel and make her swoon over you already.”

Erin rolled her eyes exasperatedly and whipped the horses into a charge. The large and old trees gradually parted as they advanced down the road at the speed of the wind. The wagon might not look like much but the materials were actually quite sturdy. It could even hold the full brunt of a medium-sized monster’s charge, so long that the monster wasn’t using magic.

“Whoa…” Lyra gasped in awe when the Rune Drake came into their sights. It was as tall as two houses and as long as five. “This is… what? Thrice the size of the Razor Grizzly?”

“Thrice and more,” Erin corrected her in a mutter.

The Rune Drake bore a huge resemblance to a crocodile except that it had longer limbs, shorter but wider jaws, and a tail adorned with a single file of spikes with a barbed tip. True to its name, it had rune-like birthmarks covering its entire body. It had toppled a carriage over, torn the horses to pieces, and ate someone going by the arm dangling on the corner of its jaws. Erin instantly appraised the inferior Dragon and got its stats information. It was level fifty-four, two levels higher than it was reported. Its affliction status read Enraged. It had a vast array of skills and spells but the one that caught Erin’s eyes was the Runic Mystic Arts.

Runic Arts - A Magic Art with a history that could be traced back thousands of years ago. Other spells and skills could be enhanced or given additional properties through the use of Runic Arts.

“Well, that sure doesn’t sound apprehensive at all,” Erin muttered out loud, catching everyone’s curiosity towards her abrupt random mulling.

“What did you learn?” Lyra asked.

Erin then explained the Rune Drake’s level and the peculiar Magic Art it had.

“As expected of an inferior Dragon,” Lilian said. “It possessed such ancient magic. This drake may prove to be formidable even against all of us.”

The Rune Drake was currently fighting a heavily-armoured knight in bloodstained armour with a pair of longswords. Two lightly-armoured guards were tending to a young girl and a woman, a pair of mother and daughter, Erin reckoned by their similar faces and blonde hair colour. The heavy knight wasn’t faring too well as his slashes and thrusts barely touched the Rune Drake but the Rune Drake was swatting him around like a ragdoll. The knight was level forty-five and he had a level ten Arcane Armour, a level six Sword Art, a level eight Arcane Edge, and amongst many other staple skills a fighter should have. Still, it wasn’t enough against a monster like the Rune Drake with triple the amount of skills and spells he had. Also, the higher the level, the more significant the difference is in a level gap. Above the fifties level, even a two-level difference would be a tremendous gulf of difference. But of course, this did not wholly apply to an irregular like Erin.

The Rune Drake appeared to be restraining itself when it was attacking the knight. It almost seemed as if the Rune Drake was afraid of striking the knight too hard and its eyes were not entirely focused on the knight. Its gaze was swimming around the wreckage of the carriage.

“Something indeed has been stolen from the Rune Drake,” Erin said.

“You can tell?” Lyra asked.

“Its gaze. It’s looking around, searching for something.”

“What could it be? It couldn't be its egg, could it?”

“Whatever it is, we’ll find out after we quell its rage. Lyra, get its attention.”

“On it, my love,” Lyra said and nocked her bow with arrows she received from Aedan. While she was glad that she had arrows to use now, she was mildly disappointed that the arrows were just normal arrows.