Chương 63

Merchant Ellen Snow crunched underneath as Ellen walked along the hidden path. Hidden to others, of course… not to the two individuals making their way down to the village. As one of the people designated by Hunter Ellen's Trailblazer Ability, Ellen saw the path as a glowing, pulsing route through the forest, twisting around and past trees and rocks in strange ways. She knew that the curves and detours were not simple meanderings.

Hunter Ellen's skill in traversing the forest had become so much more developed in ways that none but Scout could fully grasp. The trail Hunter had created for them avoided any semblance of danger, from slippery slopes to hidden dips or frozen streams. Winding or not, following the glowing trail was faster than trying to cut through the rougher terrain. The recent addition of the trail had changed things significantly.

When Onroc Anroll had first been discovered, it had taken the better part of the day to get from there to the village, usually by cutting through the forest to the road and following that. As the Ellens had learned the forest better, they'd been able to cut that time down to five or six hours. With Hunter's trail, that was reduced to under two hours… weather permitting.

Only the steady, slight drain of a user's mana when following the trail had prevented Ellen and the others from simply carrying Jack back after he'd been warmed up a bit. He'd had to stay with them an extra day… as awkward as it had been to have a boy in the house with them. They'd never considered the possibility, so privacy arrangements had been a little shaky.

"Break, please." Ellen halted as Jack asked for another break, breathing heavily. His face was so flushed she could see it even through the cloak's hood pulled tight, and his breath puffed out clouds as he leaned against a tree to rest. She didn't chide him—he actually had better Endurance than her, she was sure, but his recovery from his near-death experience meant that he tired easily.

"Take your time, we left early enough that even with frequent rests we should be there around nightfall." Jack nodded, catching his breath before he tried to speak. He'd need more than a few moments… Ellen knew that from previous breaks. If they'd tried to go back this early without Hunter's trail, she'd have ended up carrying him. Or at least she might have tried… Melissa would have been a better choice for that, if she'd been staying up at the ruins.

"I've never heard of an Ability like this," Jack mumbled, gesturing at the glowing trail. Hunter had given him permission, so he could follow it as well.

"It sure makes it a lot easier." Ellen shrugged.

"Pauley says some military scouts get something like it, just usually at a higher Tier. None of us are quite normal, you know." The youth nodded, and Ellen smiled. Weak or not, he'd gotten through without any major problems. When Hunter had detected him through the Settlement Interface, she'd gone out with Scout to see who it was… and found the boy half-dead, buried unconscious in the snow. If they'd delayed any longer, he'd have likely lost a few digits, if he had survived at all.

"I'm ready," Jack finally announced.

"Um… Ellen…? Are you really going to live up there all by yourselves? Nobody else?" Ellen shook her head.

"At least for now. Maybe someday we'll have other people living there. Right now there's only the village anyway. Soon enough we'll have people wanting to move here because of the dungeon. Set up shops, services, all that sort of thing. We'll have to figure out how to handle them, where to house them… all those things." The young man nodded slowly, trudging along behind her with the faint crunching of his boots through the snow.

"So why not invite them in?" Ellen giggled softly.

"Because it would be more fun if we managed to keep it just to us, don't you think?" Kaluk Even with all of his precious Perks and Abilities, Kaluk was grateful for the warm stew the inn served. Travel during the winter months was difficult out in the borderlands, but he'd known that when he'd accepted the assignment. The trek through the snow-covered roads and cutting across forested terrain was brutal, despite all his advantages.

By the time he'd arrived at the tiny, no-name village at the foot of Mount Onroc, he'd been thoroughly chilled to the bone and exhausted. For once, Kaluk understood the reason he'd been sent here. The Theocracy had two active dungeons within it, but only one was suitable for less experienced explorers. His superiors would naturally want any information they could get on the area surrounding it… enough to send him, despite the limitations in his use in gathering information.

His dark skin was immediately noticeable, and his accent—genuine, not affected—marked him as having origins far to the south. Against all intuition, that is the very thing that made him excellent at scouting out an unknown. Everyone noticed him, but none suspected him when he asked questions that a local should know, or wandered somewhere he shouldn't be. His people were even rarer within the Theocracy than in Thallis, so few ever suspected him of working for them.

If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it. Kaluk was usually met with curiosity in these lands, rather than suspicion or hostility… and he leveraged that fact ruthlessly. His superiors in the Theocracy rarely sent him into the neighboring nations, but here he was, trying to pry out anything relevant from the quaint villagers. His incredible skills and powers were not just wasted on these simple folk, but in many ways outright thwarted.

He was meant to ferret out secrets, not pump completely guileless villagers for information they'd freely give. Except… something wasn't quite right. Kaluk had arrived last night, and now he was able to fully appreciate the socializing of the people about him. When he'd arrived, he'd done his usual assessment of the area using his Abilities… and it had told him that somewhere nearby was a high-threat individual. He couldn't tell exactly how much of a threat they were, only that they would be dangerous to him.

That alone was worth consideration, however. Yet none of the villagers seemed at all advanced. A few were a variant of Hunter or an evolution of that Class, but none were particularly combat-ready. None of the villagers he'd checked were past the Level 30 threshold, and he had yet to encounter anyone that would be a real threat to his own Level 33. Certainly, he could be taken down if several of the hunters caught him unawares, but that was normal caution around rural folk.

He'd seen nothing to warrant the alarm his abilities had given him. For the first time, I feel guilty about my task, Kaluk thought to himself ruefully. Spying on these people felt like a breach of their trust, and he was sure if the Theocracy attempted a military movement, they would suffer. He was equally certain that Thallis was fully aware of the danger, and was already preparing to reinforce the area, whether the owner wanted them to or not. Kaluk would still file a full report, of course.

He was a faithful servant of the Church of the Message. It was not his place to decide what to do with the information… but he was in some way pleased that he had yet to identify the hidden danger. That would be a warning to any who tried to wrest control of the dungeon from these people that they should tread cautiously. Perhaps the takeover would be peaceful. Or perhaps it would not happen at all. The Theocracy was not, as a nation, particularly expansionist.

His investigation could have an entirely different purpose, for all he knew. He had only been briefed on what he needed and no more. He was certain that the Thallis nobility were performing their own machinations, considering the dungeon's owner was a mere Bronze Rank commoner. He did not envy the troubles she would face, even if she had been using the dungeon to gain more power. The door in front opened, pulling some of the curious eyes away from Kaluk and toward the entrance.

A series of hoots and cheers lifted up, only for the innkeeper Tobias to motion them to keep it down. The jovial mood was still instantly felt among every patron. The young man who stepped in was tired, Kaluk could tell that… but his companion removed any doubt of who he was. Kaluk had heard of the missing boy, and that the lord of the land—or lady, in this case—had found him and would bring him back safely.

The crowd here at the inn was even larger than normal to welcome him back, and the more sympathetic part of Kaluk was glad that he seemed healthy and without any signs of permanent damage. He himself had walked through that snowfall, and a lower Level man would have certainly struggled. He fixed his eyes on the girl with him. Ellen Tember, he thought. The adventuring name for a girl the villagers called Trish, and one that they all seemed to know… but none knew exactly where she stayed when she wasn't in the inn.

Mysterious, especially for a mere Bronze Rank. He kept staring at the smiling young woman, activating his Analyze Person Ability after the required several seconds. CLASS: [UNKNOWN] TIER: Low Journeyman THREAT: Minor Kaluk frowned to himself. An unknown Class was not unheard of… Analyze Person was an extremely rare Ability, and very potent, but it was not perfect. If the target had a Class unknown to the user, it would be hidden until the user learned of the Class's existence. That was a natural flaw.

Except that Kaluk had been briefed on every Class known to the Church of the Message's extensive archives. He'd never run into a Class he didn't know before. Even more baffling was how the girl looked reasonably athletic and ready for trouble, but her Class was clearly not combat-oriented. An unknown combat-oriented Class at Journeyman Tier would at least show up as a Lesser threat… possibly even Intermediate, despite the Level gap.

"Stop staring at my sister." Kaluk jerked sharply and pulled his eyes away from Ellen to find Bea, the tavern wench, glaring at him even as she slid him another mug. She was clearly the more quiet of the two… her body had a softness to it that Ellen lacked, showing she was used to staying indoors. The scowl she was wearing was serious, though, and Kaluk had no desire to make a scene.

"I apologize," he soothed.

"I did not mean to offend. I was merely surprised at how much like you she appeared. I have no interest beyond that, I assure you." That was the truth. While the twins were quite attractive on an objective level, they were too young for his tastes, and he also found red hair to be a distraction rather than something exotic. He knew plenty of people who liked the look, but he preferred brunettes.

The required time to use Analyze Person had gotten him in trouble like this before, so this new misunderstanding was no surprise. Bea glared at him for a few moments longer, and Kaluk gave her his best smile. He almost used Analyze Person on her, since he was looking, but he realized that would drop him below half his Mana. Not worth it for a tavern servant, he decided.

"Fine," she eventually relented.

"Just stop staring at people. You've been doing it all night." Kaluk nodded slightly and lifted his mug.

"I will try to avoid any offense. Your ways are… strange to me." Then he froze as Bea rolled her eyes and turned away, speaking a few words of warning that changed his perspective completely.

"No they aren't. We've had plenty of Theocracy priests through here." With a sinking feeling, the spy realized his cover had been blown a long, long time ago.