Meeting a peculiar elf huntress...

Travis went back to the crossroads. He didn’t bother to run too much on his way back, but it didn’t mean he cared to stop and take a breather, either. He found a nice balance between a jog and a quick march that allowed him to reach his destination in just under 4 hours. Still, it didn’t mean he was happy about it at all.

‘Being **** to return means that I just lost half a day.’ he groaned at the thought, his face grimacing a little as he started walking on the cobbled road. Unlike the mud road he had taken before, this one was neat and somewhat tidy, nearly 6 meters wide, and nearly completely flat, safe for occasional bumps made by bigger pieces of cobble.

He passed by a carriage of some kind, a few people coming from up front, and sighed. Thankfully for him, nobody even batted an eye at him. ‘Maybe it won’t be so bad after all. The true difficulty will be getting into the cities without dragging too much attention to myself.’ with a bit of a renewed passion, he sped up his speed of walk. For some reason, he felt a little uplifted after he thought that. His legs gained a bit of strength.

With light steps, he left Silvana behind, only caring for his destination.

-In the evening-

He sat down under a tree, roughly 70 meters from the main road, and leaned his head thereon. 15, maybe 16 kilometers, he wasn’t sure how much exactly he’d walked on the cobble. The only thing he knew was that he had enough of walking for today. His soles felt like they were breaking with every next step.

‘Dammit.’ he thought, taking a deep breath. ‘Was it not for that summoner making the muddy road dangerous, I’d be seeing Icla’s gates by tomorrow, and now I doubt I’ll reach it as fast.’ a groan escaped his mouth as he started looking around a little. Between trees, he could notice some birds on branches, as well as a few small animals, moving about quickly, seemingly scared by his presence. He took a glance toward the main road and noticed something move on it. Perhaps a caravan, or a carriage, he wasn’t sure, nor did he care.

A feeling of hunger was surging over him, but he kept enduring through it. He had packed a ration of food that should last him to Icla with no problem, but he didn’t want to use it. It was his last resort for food, and before he would turn to that, he wanted to try and hunt. Though… he wasn’t sure if that would work.

‘If I still had my Rogue skills, I could just use ‘Obfuscation’ and ‘Blink Strike’ to approach an animal… but now?’

He summoned his status and looked at the only skill he possessed, laughing at him in bright letters. He wasn’t sure how he could use <Suggestion> to his advantage. Did it even work on animals? A summoned bear was immune to it, but that was clearly tied to it being a summon.

‘Wait… didn’t I receive a consumable spell that had ‘Stealth’ in its name? RALS, bring up today’s daily quest’s reward.’

[Processing…]

After a few more seconds, he was reading through the skill’s information.

[Spell: Complete Stealth (single-use)

Cast a <Stealth> skill upon yourself for 15 minutes. You will become invisible and untraceable, make no sounds, and emanate no smell. If you attack, use another skill, or receive damage during that time, the spell will be disrupted for 7 seconds.

*Cannot be dispelled by anyone but the user.

Cost: None]

‘Hmm… it’d be a shame to use it only for this much. I can only hold one of it at a time, but that doesn’t mean another one will come by tomorrow… Let's try the <Suggestion> first.’ he decided, seeing the utility aspects of the skill. It was a very good thing to use if he wanted to get into a larger city unnoticed, and when he thought about it, this would be an amazing trump card to use in Autir itself, provided that he could complete Cecilia’s quest within 15 minutes somehow. No, if he could, he should not use this spell until he really needed it.

He got up and turned toward where he last saw the animals moving. Stretching his hands, he got hold of his dagger and stood next to a tree for a long moment. And then, he noticed his prey.

It was a large rabbit, probably enough for 3 people to feast over its meat if it were treated generously, but Travis was alone. He readied the weapon he was holding, gathered his thoughts, and cast a <Suggestion>.

<Human good. Come to human.>

As simple as it could be from him, he nearly instantly felt the rabbit’s mind and got perplexed.

If he were to say how Aria’s mind felt before, then it would look like a small town, lit up with some lights and some movement going on, thoughts going right and left. Chris's mind appeared more complex, like a small, yet fortified garrison. However, in comparison, the rabbit had a much more simplistic mind. Like comparing a city to a shabby hut in the middle of the forest, its mind was very simple, and although some thoughts were going here and there, Travis instinctively felt that they weren’t of the highest tier of consciousness. Those were probably thoughts of eating, sleeping, reproduction, etc., but nothing… more. Travis could not help but feel a bit of disappointment at the revelation.

The <Suggestion> he made connected quickly. In the first place, the animal had no mental resistance to speak of. The rabbit looked around and then hopped a little toward him. Bit by bit, it seemed to be approaching him, until it suddenly stopped. It looked right and left a bit, and then suddenly ran off between the trees.

‘What? I thought it connected?’ Travis stood in one spot, surprised. He wasn’t expecting the <Suggestion> to actually work, but even then, a failure after almost succeeding hurt twice as much. He gritted his teeth momentarily and stopped. No point in getting angry. He would have this skill for the foreseeable future. Might as well learn to use it properly.

‘Maybe <Suggestion> alone is too weak to drag it closer.’ he formed a hasty conclusion, but it did make sense to him. In the first place, it wasn’t supposed to be strong. As an introduction to his class, it was supposed to just show him the basic extent of his power.

‘But maybe I can at least lure another one into range.’ he got hold of the dagger by its blade. He hadn’t thrown many knives in his life, so he wasn’t confident in hitting a mark, but again, it would be some exercise. Who knows, he might actually need this in the future?

He prepared himself. Weighing the blade in his hand, he threw it just to see how it would fly. It made a few rapid turns in the air and floated to the side. He repeated this a few times and soon managed to figure out the wrist movement that allowed the dagger to go in a semi-predictable arc.

Prepared anew, he found himself a new animal. After looking around the forest for a few minutes, he found another rabbit. Again, he readied his weapon and cast the same <Suggestion> as before.

As the rabbit started approaching him a little, he took a swing, but just as he threw the weapon, the rabbit was already running away. Travis gritted his teeth, feeling irritation surge within him. Getting hold of his weapon, he could only confirm that his MP was now gone, and his stomach wasn’t any fuller than it had been half an hour ago.

He closed his eyes and tried to listen to any animals. As frustrating as the situation was, it was pointless to obsess over it. In the first place, he didn’t only hunt for animals as a Rogue in the past.

Reading his blade, he slowly started making his way deeper into the forest, looking around for any more animals but failing to notice a single one. Stepping between the trees, ready to throw his dagger at moment’s notice, he scanned the mire on the ground quickly, and soon noticed… a person? And most importantly, a bow… aimed at him?!

Instantly, he hid behind a tree. A split second later, he noticed an arrow zooming near him, just about a meter off from where he was standing. And suddenly, he heard a voice, “Oh shit! S-Sorry!” the woman holding the bow sounded genuinely surprised, and her voice shook slightly. “I didn’t mean that! Sorry! I’m not attacking you! I’m sorry! I didn’t see you!” She added hurriedly, and Travis heard sticks in the mire crack as she quickly made her way forward.

He got hold of his dagger properly and waited until the woman got closer. When he heard that her steps were no further away than 4 meters from him, he lunged from behind the tree and got to her side.

“W-Whoa!” the woman squealed momentarily as he got hold of her arm holding a bow, and aimed the dagger at her. “P-Please! I didn’t mean to shoot at you! Please!” she squirmed in his hold a little, and in her eyes, Travis instantly noticed the fear that was consuming her.

“What were you shooting at then?!” he raised his voice in a slightly aggressive tone.

“…the r-rabbit,” she pointed with her left hand.

Turning his gaze toward where the woman was pointing, he noticed some movement about 30 or so meters away. A rabbit had an arrow sticking out of its belly. The animal was just barely alive anymore, yet still trying to get away.

Feeling a sudden surge of adrenaline abate from him a little, he lowered the weapon he was holding. The woman spoke again, “I-I’m really sorry, Mister. T-The trees hid you... it was my mistake not using a reconnaissance skill,” she sounded deeply apologetic.

Noticing how her left hand was trembling, Travis let go of it, unsure how to respond to her words. The way this woman was, he didn’t feel like berating her. She seemed to regret her action enough already, he didn’t need to make her feel even worse.

“A-Are you alright?” the woman asked.

“I’m alright. Go on your way.”

“W-Wait! P-Please…”

He turned around a little, eyeing her whilst giving her a questioning gaze.

“I’ll give you this rabbit… a-as apology," she quickly jogged toward the shot animal and lifted it while ending its suffering with a small knife she got out of her pocket. Quickly going back, she handed it to Travis.

He took a good look at the woman. She was about 163 cm tall, with auburn hair tied in a bun on her head with an arrow sticking through it (though it was pretty obviously a cosmetic one, perhaps some kind of a hairpin?), their length difficult to estimate, but he could guess them to be to around her elbows or a little lower. On her back, she had a quiver with many arrows, probably as many as four dozen. Her overall posture was strong, emphasized by the leather suit she was wearing, which in turn did nothing to hide away the curves created by her large breasts and toned bottom. Her skin was of light pink color, perhaps because of the fear she must’ve felt just now. Her eyes looked like small sapphires, gleaming with blue as she gazed at him expectantly. And then, Travis noticed one particular thing about her.

“Elf?” he took note of her pointy ears, going backward alongside her skull.

A little startled, the woman backed her hand off a tiny bit.

“A-Are you not familiar with my race, Mister?”

“It’s not that,” he shook his head, overcoming his momentary surprise. “Just didn’t expect to meet such a noble race in… here. Especially not… hunting.”

“Oh… i-it’s true most elves are vegetarian, but not all,” she looked a little to the side, seemingly a little embarrassed. “And not all of us behave like nobles. There are a lot of myths that are not true.”

“I see… thank you for this,” he replied, accepting the rabbit. “Goodbye,” he added, starting to go away. 'I don't like being treated like I need charity, but... better this than getting shot.'

“…goodbye,” the elf nodded a little toward him and turned to walk away from where she came from.

She kept on going for a couple hundred meters before she reached her backpack, lying as she left it. It was nearly as large as she was, filled to the brim with all the necessities for her travels. Some herbs were in one pocket, while handles of a few tools were visible from the other, affixed in place with long strings and tied together.

The elf woman undid the string on her bow. Then, she got hold of both ends of the weapon and pulled, causing the bow to extend a little in the middle. As it reached its maximum length, she pushed a little from both sides, and the bow folded in two, allowing her to tie its ends with the bowstring and hide it in a pocket of her backpack.

She sat down for a moment. Looking to the sky, she noticed a small, completely black bird on a branch, walking around on it, but its head was turned in a way that its eye was glimpsing at her. She smiled a little and got hold of her backpack. After rummaging a little in it, she got a small pouch in her hand. Undoing a tie on it, she spilled the contents onto her hand, revealing them to be seeds of some plants. After ensuring the pouch was empty, she took a swing, throwing the seeds into the distance. The bird quickly seemed to like what she was doing, as it suddenly flew downward and started pecking at the ground, picking all the seeds up one by one. In the meantime, the woman pulled out a small bottle of water from within her pack and started drinking it. Before long, she fell asleep leaning on a tree, and the bird flew away, leaving her be.

-Meanwhile-

Travis got back to his backpack and sat down, holding the rabbit in one hand by its ears. It was still bleeding as he put it down near his pack. Immediately, he started going around the place, searching for any small pieces of wood he could use to make a makeshift campfire. After he prepared the materials and place (which thankfully only took a few minutes), he took out the box of magic matches. Immediately as he opened it, a notification sprung forth.

[Magic matches

Rating: Normal

Uses mana to produce sparks of flames. Will break sooner or later.

Cost per use: 2 MP]

‘Strange… does every item have a description?’ he pondered for a moment. ‘Then why didn’t my dagger trigger it?’ he got hold of his weapon. For a brief moment, he concentrated on it, mentally sending RALS a message. ‘I want to know more about it.’

After a few seconds, much to his surprise, a new notification sprung forth.

[Steel dagger

Rating: Normal

Attack power: 9-13

*Damage increased by 20% when attacking a vital point or a blindspot.

An ordinary dagger made of low-quality steel. Don’t cut yourself.

Weight: 155 g]

'So, it only appears if I concentrate on it.’ a thought appeared in his mind. 'Interesting.’ he closed the notifications and focused on the task at hand. He could think about it more later. For now, time to make a fire to cook food.

Thankfully for him, he had 4 MP still lying around. He lit the fire and took care of it so it wouldn’t grow too large or spread elsewhere, which, in all honesty, wasn’t as easy as it initially looked. Still, he did have time to skin the rabbit hastily and put its meat on a small, metal pole, which he then hung over the fire and started roasting the meat.

Within 10 minutes, he was munching on rabbit meat. After eating, Travis put out the fire, and after ensuring that it wouldn’t re-ignite, he stared into the sky.

It was turning night already, and as he noticed a few stars blinking, he couldn’t help but wonder.

‘Why did Redion choose me for the Apostle’s Competition?’

In all honesty, Travis couldn’t understand. There were surely many people more qualified for this job than himself. Take for example a person who’s already a Psion, a Hexer, or an Illusioner. Those people were accustomed to hiding from authorities, and the former two were already capable of casting magic that could influence other people’s minds. Then why him, who was just a Rogue?

…no point pondering. Travis yawned lightly as he hugged the backpack a bit. Taking a look, he confirmed that the campfire was indeed burned out and wouldn’t cause any problems. With such a thought to reassure himself, he closed his eyes and drifted into sleep.

-In the morning-

He opened his eyes, and immediately felt the effects of sleeping while leaning on a tree as he moved a little, and felt his muscles being sore all over.

*Ting*

[Your Daily Quest has arrived.]

‘…again with this.’ he thought. ‘I’ll eat something and do it.’

As he got up, he couldn’t help but… feel an eerie feeling trickle in the back of his neck. He couldn’t tell what it was, as it didn’t feel aggressive, just… present. Like something was watching over him, somewhere, somehow. Quickly, he dismissed the thought. ‘Redion must be watching over me.’

He read through the contents of the quest and frowned. This time, the quest required a swim as an optional condition. On the other hand, the reward was a single item of the ‘Utility’ type. ‘I wonder what 'Utility' actually is.’ he wondered but decided against asking RALS. Sometimes, surprises were nice.

After eating some rabbit meat from yesterday, he checked the status of his backpack. After confirming that everything was in order, he got it on his back and went to the main road, continuing his journey to Icla.

The cobble was giving out silent sounds being stepped on as he broke into a momentary run to earn some points for DQ, and after he started getting a bit tired, he slowed down to just a jog, and then a walk. Forcing his breathing to be as stable as it could be, he started thinking. ‘After resupplying in Icla, the next major city will be Guill at 6 days of travel. From there, it should be a straight journey to the capital, and from there I should reach Autir in just 2-3 days.’ of course, he didn’t intend to enter either of the cities. Guill was a city of almost 100k inhabitants, and its securities were incomparably better than that of Silvana. The Forna’s capital, Poiri, was even worse, with nearly 500k people of all races. Going into that place would be suicide considering the number of Inspectors that supposedly were in there currently. No, he would be making a huge circle around Poiri.

Suddenly, a voice entered his ears, “Hello!”

He turned to the source of the voice and noticed the elf huntress come from within the trees, and start walking next to him. Noticing his surprised expression, she continued, "I wasn’t expecting to run into you, Mister,” a smile donned her face as she matched her speed with his, huge backpack on her back.

“I could say the same, Miss.”

“Oh well,” she shrugged. “Going to Icla, I see?”

“For now,” he replied, unsure how he should react.

“I’m going to Midriff. Got to sell what I got.”

“I see,” he answered shortly. ‘Why is she tagging along?’ a thought popped up in his mind.

“I’m Silva. What about you, Mister?”

“…I’m Travis.”

“Travis, huh? A nice name…” she said, seemingly expecting him to answer in some way.

But he did not.

Silva fidgeted with her hands for a long moment, visibly uncomfortable about something. Finally, she spoke, "I'm sorry."

“It’s alright. I’m not mad about that arrow anymore,” he replied slowly.

“No, not about that. About this,” she said, coming to a halt.

“About what…?” he asked, turning around. And then, he noticed it.

A large bear was standing next to her, almost black and purple, its eyes of dark blue color. In the very short moment that appeared to encompass all time, a connection was made within the man's mind.

‘The summoner!’ however, it was already too late for him to escape. Rushing forth, the bear swiped its paw which immediately connected with his skull, knocking him out.

...

Complete darkness swallowed Travis in an instant. Just before he was dragged away, a notification appeared.

[Quest completed: Mysterious Forest]

[10 stat points have been awarded.]

[You may still complete the optional condition for this quest.]