A history lesson on the road

When the rain finally turned into a soft drizzle, Travis and Leaf slowly set off in the northern direction, unbothered by whatever left of precipitation still remained. The wet mire of the forest was giving in with quiet, squishing sounds as Apostle was leading the way, Necromancer following behind.

Within minutes, the cloudy skies seemed to have dispersed the last of their water, and now only the evidence of their work was visible. Humid air had a nice scent of tree bark in it, and for the time being, it seemed that it was going to stay like that.

*Cough!*

Travis heard Leaf cough a little and turned around to her for a moment. Much unlike him, she hadn’t changed her clothes ever since they sat down under the tree that provided them shelter, and now, the effects slowly started becoming apparent. Her nose had already started becoming inflamed, and her sniffing was getting more prominent. Clearly, her wet tunic, tightly hugging her chest, and pants that seemed to become a shade darker didn’t help in keeping up her body temperature.

Travis decided not to say a thing. He was sure Leaf had something to deal with the cold. On one hand, he wanted to support her a bit, but on the other, he wasn’t sure what he should say.

He glanced over his status. HP had regenerated (as expected), and thankfully, there was no effect of that arrow hitting anymore. Dull muscles were restored, either as an effect of restoring total health or thanks to Leaf’s medical help. With a sigh of relief, he looked a little below. He now had 33 MP, which did check out, as they had waited under that tree for nearly an hour. WP also was going up, now being 42. He was recovering, albeit slowly. If he didn't spend any today, then a <Hypnosis> would be possible tomorrow...

‘…maybe I should wait a bit. A day or two more.’ he thought. ‘Targets of a higher level than me are resistant, same with WP. If I can get a higher level, even if it’s just by a few, it’s invaluable help. I can’t afford to make more mistakes, especially not ones involving WP. It’s too costly a resource to just lose.’ he wasn’t the brightest man alive, but he was smart enough to realize that his previous <Hypnosis> wasn’t done in an entirely fair environment. He has read it himself: mental shock or **** emotions could affect the effective WP of a target. It might’ve been because of luck that he managed to succeed previously, but he couldn’t rely on such feeble things. He needed to be sure.

After confirming that everything in the base status was in order, he brought his attention more to his skills. Or rather, to the <Suggestion> itself. Right now, the skill has a blaring ‘2’ right next to it. He opened information about the skill and read through it quickly. And… he noticed a change.

[Suggestion lvl. 2

…

Cost: 14 MP, 1 WP]

Its cost was reduced. 1 MP wasn’t by any means great, but it was proof that the skill experienced some growth. Perhaps by level 10, its cost could be lowered to 5 MP? That would sure be nice, but better not to overthink.

Travis looked at Leaf. The woman was keeping her lips tied, two crows sitting on her cosmetic arrow quietly as she had her gaze lowered toward her feet, not a glint of cheerful attitude.

‘…I understand why she’s like this, but… is there really nothing I can do?’ he pondered for a moment. An idea of using <Suggestion> to lift her spirit appeared, but... something deep in his mind told him quietly not to. ‘…Maybe it’s better if I don’t bother her for now.’ he decided, turning his gaze forward.

The forest they were walking through wasn’t too populated by monsters. It was to be expected, considering the numerous fields that surrounded Icla. Farmers would often go on their own to kill beasts so that they couldn’t ravage the fields and plunder the plants. In terms of monster density and levels, this city was most certainly comparable to Silvana despite only having a third of its inhabitants. If anything appeared in front of him and Leaf, it was most often alone. Even then, their level was no greater than Travis's.

Leaf also didn’t open her mouth once in a few hours of their travels, only commanding her summons mentally, Bill and Jay taking the typical role of scouts while Berry guarded her and Travis against stronger monsters. As time went on and on, the man couldn’t help but notice how she started becoming a little relaxed. Her movements regained some of her style of walking, and she even fixed her bun at some point.

Until the time became late evening, Travis managed to hunt about two dozen monsters (mostly rabid animals and he also had to chase them down most of the time) and got greeted by a welcome notification.

[You have leveled up!]

Another level. For some reason, he released a sigh of relief. He couldn’t explain why, but it felt like it was an achievement greater than usual. Or, perhaps, it was a false feeling. He didn’t know, nor did he care.

Without thinking much, he commanded RALS to increase his Endurance by a further 5 points. With his HP totaling 400, he felt relief again, but he shook the feeling off. He still wasn’t safe, not in the slightest. Just a single level did nothing. He needed to grow to level 25 as quickly as possible to ensure his and Leaf’s safety in the foreseeable future.

But for now, he needed to rest. Enough has transpired during the day to tire him out, and Leaf also looked like she wanted to take a break.

“Hey,” he turned to her. “How about we camp?”

“…alright,” she replied, albeit with little spirit in her voice. It almost sounded like she was under <Hypnosis>. But Travis decided not to ponder on that.

-10 minutes later-

They were sitting under a tree, with a tiny campfire next to them, roughly enough space between them for a third person to sit down. The way the situation was, Travis proposed that they eat whatever supplies they still had in their bags. Leaf agreed without a word of opposition. Slowly munching on some dried beef, they only stared at the fire for long minutes. Noticing some movement in his field of view, Travis looked into the forest but sighed quietly in relief seeing that it was just Berry going around. Or should he be relieved? He looked at the Necromancer, who was slowly eating, not a word from her all the time. Her eyes were focused on the campfire, but she barely blinked, absentmindedly munching on her food.

Travis averted his gaze after a few seconds and looked into the sky visible between the tree’s branches. Still clouded, the gray formations hanging over them as far as the eye could see, the weather didn’t seem to be too stable at the moment just yet. Perhaps in the morning, it would be better.

“…hey,” he heard Leaf’s voice, devoid of its typical vigor, sounding like she wasn’t certain whether she should speak. “Travis.”

“What?” Travis turned his head toward her.

“I… Thank you... for earlier today,” Leaf said a little hesitantly. “I didn’t say it before, but… really, thank you.”

“Uh… it’s no problem. You helped me, too, so I guess we’re even,” he shrugged lightly.

She didn’t respond.

“…I’m sorry. It was my fault all of that happened.”

“What?” Leaf suddenly looked at him, a bit of surprise in her eyes.

“I didn’t suspect anything. I… I didn’t piece things together until it was too late,” he said, turning toward the campfire. “And even then, I couldn’t… take them on.”

“It wasn’t your fault,” she replied.

“…I can’t help but feel like it was,” he turned his head upward, staring into the tree’s branches. “You’d expect that I could sway dozens with a single thought, but… I couldn’t even beat three. Not even after having experience as a fighter.”

“...And neither could I. Our classes are not suited for close-quarter combat.”

“Guess so. We’re both fuckups in that regard,” he let out a chuckle.

“…I don’t know if I should be glad because you understand me or mad because you insulted me,” Leaf replied, seemingly relaxing a little. “I’m going with mad,” she suddenly added and punched Travis in his arm.

“Hey!” he raised his voice a little, startled by her action.

But in return, he only saw Leaf sticking her tongue out at him. ‘At least she’s starting to return to normal.’ he thought with relief.

“If it helps to make you feel better, I can tell you a short story with a moral,” he said, unsure how to upkeep the conversation.

“Alright, I’m listening.”

“So… It’s a story about a skilled baker who got a load of flour from the mill and was tasked with turning it all into bread. So he got to work. Day and night, he overstayed in the bakery and slept in it just so that he could finish it all as fast as he could - that’s how much there was. He managed to do it, but not all the products were amazing. Some loaves didn’t grow properly, some were burnt, and some were uncooked. Even a person as skilled as him made such simple mistakes.”

“…and the moral of the story is?” she asked, seeing that he wasn’t speaking for a few long seconds.

“Life is like a basket full of bread. Every day, you pick one of the loaves still in there. And no matter who made those, there will always be better and worse pieces of it, just like there are better and worse days for you. So, don’t be discouraged because today was bad, for tomorrow may be a good day.”

As he finished talking, he looked at Leaf. The woman took a second to stare into his eyes, and then she chuckled lightly. Noticing his puzzled look, she said, “Sorry… but it feels like you mixed two stories together. That second part sounds like a saying on its own,” she shook her head a little, a smile still on her face.

'Did I really mix those? I thought these went together?’

“Also, *Cough cough* Sage bullshit *Cough cough*.”

“Oh really?” he raised an eyebrow, a smirk forming on his face. “So, tell me, do you have anything you want to say?”

“Oh, actually, I have a similar saying that we elves use.”

“Well, I’m all ears.”

“Everyone has a Nifael inside of them, each unique to yourself. Some will grow theirs straight, and some will branch out. Some grow as much fruit as possible, and some wait until the last moment. And sometimes, our Nifael can experience hardships. It can have a broken branch or a rotten fruit, but in the end, all that matters is how much you cared about your life, and that is reflected in your Nifael.”

“Sounds deep. *Cough cough* For Sage bullshit *Cough cough*.”

Leaf snickered at his response.

“Hey! Don’t use my thing against me now!” she said. “I just don’t like Sages, is all!”

“Neither do I. Bunch of bullshit they teach,” Travis shook his head. “But, what is a ‘Nifael’?”

“It’s from old elven mythology. It means ‘Tree of Life’, and it’s supposed to be a tree growing in your heart, with its roots deep in your soul. As you grow older and make choices, Nifael grows to show those choices. And at the end of your life, you are supposed to see your Nifael, as a final summary of yourself before you depart from this world.”

“Oh,” he nodded lightly. “So, how does it know when to grow and when to branch out?”

“Don’t look too much into it, you’ll get a headache. It’s completely metaphorical, just like your basket of bread. It used to be a story told to our kids to make them behave. Elves always were the protectors of the forest, so you know, growing your own tree inside you, kind of a big deal.”

“Hmm.”

“Anyway, thanks. That did cheer me up,” she smiled at him.

“Say, anything more you want to say about your race? I mean really, you’re the first elf I ever met, and you seem nothing like the tales. I wonder, how much of what I know is true? What is the history behind you”

“…Maybe we should sleep first. It’s been a long day. I’ll tell you tomorrow, deal?”

“Deal,” he smirked at her. ‘She may be a nutcase, but she doesn’t seem that bad overall.’

-The next day-

“Elven clans, most of them at least, originate from where currently is eastern Galia, from a dense forest, I think it was about 200 kilometers east of the current capital. Old elves called the forest ‘Minnael’, which roughly translates to ‘Forest of Life’. There, 5 families were formed over some decades. The main house was Avallia, and then there was Hyllen, Nyxli (where I come from), Dommin, and Calida. They had different names to them, but overall, they were a single society ruling over the forest. Little contact with the outside world, stuff like that. The forest was split evenly between the families, and peace was never-ending. All was fine and well, until around 600's.”

“What happened?” he asked, barely taking note of where they were going between the trees, not far from a road. The clouds weren’t very dense today, indicating that it was unlikely for any rain to occur.

“It’s kind of a mystery what and how happened, but one night, Hyllen and Calida clans just… disappeared. Vanished out of thin air, never to be seen again.”

“…how?”

“That’s the thing. Nobody knows. We don’t even know what really happened, but a third of Minnael disappeared overnight without a soul noticing. The dense forest was turned into a field of dirt, not a single leaf of the trees, or sign of life in general, remaining.”

“…what could do something like that? A dragon or what?”

“That’s what they thought initially, too. I mean, Minnael is a huge place by many standards, not just anything can vanquish it like that. But that didn’t really add up. Especially since Hyllen was widely believed to be the strongest clan, they wouldn't have just been wiped like that. And the weirdest thing about that entire disappearance is, nobody noticed it until the next day. No sound or vibration. A diplomat was sent to the Dragon Council, but they said they weren’t involved. And honestly, their words held up. If a dragon decided to mow Minnael, who would stop them, but why would they do that in the first place? They had a rather positve relationship with elves, so they had no reason to attack. And moreover, even if they did, why didn’t anyone notice or even hear it? Dragons aren’t exactly small or quiet, so… in the end, it all went nowhere.”

"Back to square one?”

“Yeah. Quickly, the families started having disputes about the possible cause of what we started calling ‘The Great Disaster’. Avallia attempted to spread the news and seek out our kin, but Dommin opposed them, saying that the outside world isn’t a welcoming place to elves. In all of that, Nyxli house was trying to be neutral, instead investigating the site, trying to look for any clues as to what happened.”

“Did they find anything?”

“No. Absolutely nothing. No trace at all. Later, the conflict between Avallia and Dommin escalated, and the former reached out to dwarves for help. In response, the Dommin House declared war. Maybe you’ve heard of the Joixallar war between elves and dwarves?”

“I think it rings a bell or two,” Travis nodded lightly.

“That was that war. After about two decades of stagnant fights, a peace treaty was achieved. Avallia's house took hold of the entire Minnael, while Dommin was **** out of the forest. They ventured west and got in touch with tribal elves. Nyxli was proposed to join the Avallia family, but they refused and left toward the south. Every now and again the leaders of the houses meet up to keep in touch, and to ensure that no more conflicts like that will erupt, no matter the reason.”

“....why the entire story?”

“I figured it’d be easier for you to understand my position. You probably are wondering, why am I a Necromancer of all classes? Seriously, there are dozens to choose from, so why that?"

“I thought that you simply wanted to explore it? Not every day can you become a forbidden class, no?”

“Well, partially true, but not fully. You see, in all the investigations that were ordered, nobody could really uncover any truth. In the first place, there was nothing to work with. Some Mages said there were traces of weird mana around that area, but nobody could really pinpoint what kind of class caused all that destruction. But my father had an idea: What if a class specializing in dealing with the dead tries to find out anything? So, he searched a bit, and managed to get hold of Necromancer class.”

“…how?”

“I’m not sure myself,” she shook her head a little. “He said ‘A Necromancer strong enough may be able to restore their summons’ memories from when they were alive.'. He also said that when walking around that part of Minnael, he could sense some energy soaking the earth, definitely energy left behind after something dies. There wasn’t much, but he was sure it was leftover from our kin.”

“So you took after your father?”

“Yeah. I wanted to uncover the truth, too, but… I couldn’t sense anything. There was nothing in there. Maybe I was too low-level, but… maybe my father was wrong, after all. Not that it really matters. After he was caught and executed, I had to hide my class, and just barely managed to survive. After I was freed of suspicion, I left the clan, and have been traveling ever since.”

“…I’m sorry for your loss,” he said quietly.

“It’s alright. It happened years ago anyway.” She replied. “Anyway, do have any family?”

He didn’t answer, instead only looking away slightly.

“…I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked.”

“It’s fine,” Travis sighed lightly. “Anyway. What’s with you eating meat? Elves were always portrayed as vegetarians, no?”

“Well, true, the absolute majority of elves are vegetarian, but not all. In my clan, some elves started growing accustomed to others around. The Nyxli family in general has a good affinity with other species. My clan has contact with beastkin in the far south, orcs in the east, and even some trolls in the mountains nearby. We’re pretty versatile. And over time, we started getting more and more used to things that others do. Eating meat started as a gesture of mercy to animals.”

“What? How so?”

“Old animals struggle a lot to survive, so eventually we decided to put them out of their misery. But what to do with their meat? If left alone to rot, some other animals might eat them and get sick. So, to solve that issue, we hunt older animals and eat them.”

“Huh.”

“What? Did you expect some great reason?” Leaf snickered momentarily.

“That’s not the case. I just… learned a lot. It’ll take a while to sink in properly.”

“Well, the story is still pretty simplified,” she shrugged. “Say.”

“Hmm?”

“Why did we diverge from the main road? I thought we were going north, not west?”

“You’ll see. We should be getting there soon.”

“…?” she formed a questioning expression but didn’t ask. Instead, she only fixed her backpack straps on her shoulders and kept on going beside him.

-Around noon-

The two of them finally stood on the road, a small building roughly 150, maybe 200 meters ahead of them. It was similar to an inn, with numerous windows on the ground floor and a second floor visible, a chimney spewing forth small clouds of smoke on top of the roof. The entire construction was made with fortified stone, and wooden beams were used as a structural skeleton, their deep brown color mixing nicely with the gray walls. In front of the door, there was a small group gathered in front of a table where 2 guards were sitting.

“…a dungeon?” half asked, half stated Leaf. There was a glint of worry in her voice as she inspected the surroundings from the distance. “…why?”

“We both are still weak, Leaf,” replied Travis. “No matter how you look at it. Hunting monsters in the open air is a way to grow stronger, but it is limited unless we manage to find an unpopulated area, and Forna doesn’t have many. If we really want to grow stronger, we need to go where the monsters breed the fastest.”

“…but what about the guards?”

“Well, that’s a little problem, but the situation from yesterday won’t happen again. I promise. There are too many eyes around. That being said, I will need your help getting in.”

“What?”

“I don’t have a MID on me. I can’t enter legally. So I need you to get the guards’ attention so that I can sneak in. Can I trust you on this?”

“…You really don’t want to just go north?”

“*Sigh* Leaf, I know I’m asking a lot, but if we want to get stronger, we need to get through worse and better times. I’ll do my best to support you from a range, alright? Please. It’s the best opportunity we’ll get for now.”

He locked his yellow eyes on her, and she looked back with her blue ones. There was clear uncertainty in her gaze, but after a few seconds, her gaze became a bit more… comfortable? Travis wasn’t certain what was happening, but he knew it was good as he saw Leaf nod quickly.

“…so be it,” she got a hold of her MID. After tapping on it, a small information panel fired up.

Reading through it, Travis immediately noticed how Leaf’s level was 45 instead of 71, and her class was a Hunter instead of Necromancer. Her name was also changed to display 'Silva Avallia' as her name. Still, as he looked at the piece of magic metal, he was sure he wouldn’t be able to tell the difference from a real one if he didn’t know this one was fake. Truly, whoever made this MID was good at it.

“Ready?” he asked. “I’ll move into the forest and try to sneak in. If anything happens, just run. Don’t put yourself in danger. I’ll be sure to join you.”

Leaf nodded in response. Bill and Jay materialized from thin air, one of them flying up high while the other sat on Travis’ backpack, clearly serving as a way to inspect if the man was all alright.

The two of them approached a clearing right in front of the inn. It was circular, about 50 meters across, with enough room for a few hundred souls to be standing and waiting for their turn. Speaking of which, there seemed to be around 20 people gathered in front of the table, forming a line composed of either pairs or groups of three. By the table next to the front door, a guard was sitting, covered by plate armor, a large accounting book resting next to his hand holding a small quill. The pair in front of the table was giving him their MIDs, which he promptly turned on and confirmed that they were legitimate. Then, another two guards asked them to give them a look into their packs, and, after ensuring that there was nothing out of the ordinary, they let them in.

Leaf got into the line, patiently awaiting her turn as people were moving forward slowly. Her posture was relaxed, but Travis saw how she was looking at the guards with a bit of tense gaze. Still, they were already going through with their plan. She turned her head in his direction for a moment, and from between the trees he only nodded toward her. She grimaced momentarily but soon relaxed her expression.

Meanwhile, Travis was searching for the best way to enter the inn. The structure had only one door that could be entered, so if he wanted to make it inside, he would need to have a bit of leeway to get in. The guards were within 5 meters of the door. Or…

He looked at the wall closest to him. There were a few windows open… could he get in? Travis sat in one spot for a few long seconds, doing his best to apply whatever he knew of proportions, and came to the conclusion that the windows were just large enough for him to get through if he tried.

He came closer to a tree on the edge of the clearing. 20 meters to run wasn’t great a distance, but traversing it quickly could prove to be a problem. But…

“Leaf,” he said, turning to the crow sitting on his pack. It quickly stepped on his shoulder, as if awaiting his words. “I hope you’re hearing me. I’ll get in through a window. Divert their attention from the windows.”

The crow clacked its beak a little as if indicating that it was listening, or rather, that its summoner was. Travis breathed a sigh. This wasn’t training made by Storm Rogue anymore. He didn’t have his skills. Right now, he only had a companion that he had to put his trust in.

A few minutes passed, and another person was allowed to go into the inn. Then another. And another. The monotone procedure was repeated over and over again, Leaf slowly advancing in the line.

…

Finally, after about 25 more minutes, Leaf was the first one in the line. There were a few people behind her as they were coming from the road to the dungeon, but she didn’t seem bothered. Or at least she wasn’t showing it.

‘Time to do this.’ Travis sleekly went from between the trees and cast a <Suggestion> once for every guard.

<Look at the size of those things.>

A very simple-minded Suggestion, but he knew very well that it would be fitting right in the guard’s minds. Being on post for an entire day, there was no way they wouldn’t ogle at least some women that came and went. And Leaf happened to have quite the goods to show, even if she tried to conceal them (not that she did).

As expected, the mental barriers of the three people were weak enough for all three <Suggestions> to connect, and within seconds the guards seemed to have a bit of trouble concentrating on their work, if only for a brief time. Travis quickly got to the wall, hidden from the public’s eyes. Checking the terrain around, he ensured that nobody would see him going in, and he quickly got hold of the window’s frame. Shifting his weight a little, he soon was going in, his backpack having a little difficulty getting through, but he pulled a little to **** it in. He did it. He was in.

Quickly scanning around the room, he confirmed that it was empty. Without much thinking, he walked over to the door and got hold of the handle. Listening to the outside atmosphere for a few long seconds, he could hear some movement going on, but nothing going by the room itself. With a sigh, he slowly pressed onto the handle, and with relief found that the door wasn’t closed, thankfully.

Travis now was truly in, and with that, he didn’t have to act as silently. If he was in an open room, he could always say he had rented it. In the end, it was an inn, no?

He opened the door and walked into the corridor. It was, just like from the outside, made with stones bonded together and formed between wooden supports. Going left and right, he could notice about 20 rooms placed at regular intervals.

Now fully relieved, he closed the door and started walking down the corridor. Within a dozen or so seconds, he entered the main room of the inn, consisting of a bar and a food section (ah, the conveniences for the ones attempting the dungeon), placed together in a large room with a reception between them. Some people were going around their business, and others sitting down by some tables and eating or drinking.

Suddenly, he heard the door open and saw how Leaf was entering the inn. She closed the door behind herself and looked at Travis, visible relief emanating from her as she took a few steps toward him, the wooden floor giving off a nice sound despite being nearly entirely drowned out by the other people in the room.

And now, the two of them were ready to enter the dungeon.

---

[[Name: Travis Salliv
Class: Apostle of Tricks & Manipulation
Level: 11
HP: 400/400
MP: 28/70
WP: 98/320]

[Strength: 37
Agility: 36
Intelligence: 35
Endurance: 40
Wisdom: 18
Sense: 25
AP: 0]

[Possessed abilities: Suggestion lvl.2, Hypnosis lvl.1]

[Current status: No anomalies]]