Chương 31: Chapter 108: Hunted

'He's got a two day head start, on you, which is more than he needs. William Oh's got friends in every town and village from here to the wastes, he speaks a dozen languages, knows every local custom. He'll blend in, disappear, you'll never see him again.' Jason Salazar'Who are you talking to?' William Oh Caddock, level 65 High Paladin Old paladins were hard to come by.

Young paladins are untempered by the harsh realities of life, and tend to drop like flies until they grow wise enough to build a fortress around the faith in their hearts and filter out the malign forces that would take advantage of it. In short, young paladins were stupid, reckless, and prone to being taken advantage of. Granesh, I hate young Paladins.

Caddock watched his tracker crouch down in an animalistic fashion, the leather-clad Ranger Archetype nearly burying his nose in the floor and inhaling the lingering scents. He must've had a few Sacrifices that had strong scenting abilities. It was one way to get things done. His apprentice on the other hand, watched the tracker snuffle around the village with visible discomfort.

"Do you have to do this? You're-" Caddock's apprentice shut his mouth at a raised hand and a glance from his master.

"Don't interrupt your men while they're doing their job. Instead, find something useful to do." Caddock scanned the assembled townsfolk, standing in a straight line hemmed in by half a dozen warriors. One of the tavern's serving women seemed a bit more badly shaken than the others, too young to be properly deceitful. A good place to start. Caddock motioned for Hiro to follow him. As they walked, Hiro leaned closer to whisper.

"Is it not improper for a member of the church to…behave that way?" Hiro asked, glancing over his shoulder at the tracker sniffing around the village like a dog.

"Where in the holy texts does it say we have to maintain a dignified appearance at all times?"

"It literally says that in the first volume: A priest of Granesh should strive to cultivate a sense of dignity in himself and those below him." Caddock glanced over at the young paladin and raised a brow.

"It says cultivate a sense, not focus on appearances, you young twat. Look at these terrified civilians. Do you think us appearing as pompous as physically possible would cultivate their dignity?"

"Wha-""Do you believe they're below us?"

"In terms of-""Shut up, answer's yes. If they're below us, then we must see to their dignity as well. How would you maintain a sense of dignity in the people you're holding by force of arms?"

"…I don't know."

"By finishing as fast as possible and leaving without causing undue fear or damage, not by nitpicking how your subordinate uses an Ability in front of civilians!" Caddock thwapped Hiro on the helmet with his badge of office. Clank!

"Yessir," Hiro said, nodding.

"Get me a table and some chairs." Caddock said, pointing at the inn. Outside the door, the day's special was written in charcoal on a rough-hewn board. Hiro nodded and hustled to the inn, grabbing two soldiers to bring with him. in a matter of seconds, the young paladin returned with the requested furniture.

"Hmm…" Caddock took a moment to set the chair in the partially cobbled street in such a way that it wouldn't rock, allowing the prisoners to see him frown with visible effort for a second before he found a position he liked. Humanizing himself.

"Send her over," Caddock said, pointing at the young serving wench. She tottered over to the table. Terrified, but not quite as terrified as she might've been if she were in an enclosed room separated from the rest of her family.

"I saw that today's special is sheep stew." Caddock said as she sat.

"Is there any available?" She shook her head, shivering.

"W-we hadn't started it yet." Ah yes, we did get here rather early in the morning, he thought, glancing up at The Tower, which had barely begun to radiate heat. Caddock took a couple gold out of his bag and handed it up to his apprentice.

"Let the cook back into his demesne and order the troop a batch of the stew before the meat spoils." Hiro nodded and went to make it happen.

"Now young lady," Caddock said, turning back to her.

"My name is Caddock. And you?"

"Mary."

"Mary. If you can help me here, you may just be the first and last interview of the day, and we'll be out of your hair in a matter of minutes. Well, after the stew. I've always been a fan of mutton."

"O-okay."

"Now, did you see a young man come through here recently? About this height?" She nodded.

"Can you describe him?" This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work. She did, and Caddock's brows rose with disbelief.

"He was starving?" he asked.

"yes-no?" She asked, trying to gauge his reaction.

"Don't bother yourself with what I will or won't like to hear, only tell me the truth." Caddock said, raising his hand.

"He had sunken cheeks, and his collarbones stood out underneath his robe. He ate like it was his last meal."" Fucking monks," Caddock said, palming his forehead. They had that 'purity in poverty' mindset that dovetailed nicely with their desire to punish the child for resisting their plans, so of course they thought starving a growing boy who was critical to their entire religion was a good idea.

As excited as he should be for catching wind of The Prophet, it also shone a light on how badly the Laniston monks had bungled things, and how difficult it would be to get Jason Salazar back on the team. Maybe we can trade him to another religion for a profit. Such thoughts were above his paygrade, however. And heretical.

"Sorry?" his interviewee said, cocking her head in confusion at his outburst.

"Oh, it's nothing to do with you," Caddock said, waving it off.

"Did the young man have anyone with him?"

"Oh yes, a strange black kobold, and a young Climber…" She wiggled in her seat, expression brightening.

"He was rather dashing, actually. And generous." Caddock blinked, his skin turning cold.

"Did this young Climber by any chance have a missing left hand?"

"Oh, he wore a gauntlet on his left hand for some reason…" She cocked her head in thought.

"But I never saw it move. Maybe he was missing a hand. How mysterious." Caddock kept his cool and got the Deceiver's shopping list out of the girl, then interviewed the general store owner, confirming that those items had actually been purchased, and no one knew anything more about the strange visitors. No one had seen them leave. Which made sense to Caddock. The Deceiver would want to keep information about himself and his direction under tight wraps.

But my tracker will figure out where you've gone, just you wait, William Oh. In the middle of his musing, his tracker returned, tugging Caddock's sleeve.

"Did you figure out their path?" The tracker nodded, pointing straight up. Caddock craned his neck, sending his gaze to the sky above. That endless slate grey sky dotted with misaligned stars that twinkled in the morning sun.

"You're kidding me." The tracker shook his head.

"Prophet, one kobold one deceiver and one ghost. Straight up." Caddock sighed and drew his fingers down his face. They're fucking flying. Of course, why wouldn't a half demon-snake be able to fly? Aside from there being nothing in their parentage that would account for that? Immortal Serpents were what was colloquially referred to as 'sticky trickys.' Hard to kill and they liked to play mind games with those who hunted them. Shape-shifting, a bit of psychic damage, that sort of thing.

Flying didn't really enter into the equation. This will make tracking them difficult, but not impossible. They would have to touch the earth again eventually, and when they did, his trackers would feel the connection.

"The items they were shopping for were an obvious red herring. Send word to the rest of the army to investigate ghost sightings. He's known for using them to do his legwork. What they do may shine more light on their intentions. AND GET ME SOMEONE WHO CAN FLY!" Caddock shouted, rising to his feet.

"C-can we go?" The general store owner asked, pale from where he sat rigid in his seat.

"Yes, yes, you're all free to go, have some good Graneshian steel." He said taking the man's hand and slapping an ingot into it before shaking both the man's hands with forced enthusiasm.

"Take that to the town blacksmith and have him make you something nice. Tablewear, pots, hinges, whatever. It'll outlast your grandkids. It's blessed to be rust-proof and strong." Caddock motioned to the assembled townsfolk.

"Ryan, get everyone a souvenir. Too much wood and not enough good steel around here."

"T-thank you, milord." The merchant said, nodding.

"Of course, your village has been more than helpful, just…" Caddock placed his gauntleted palm on the man's shoulder, the cold, enchanted steel nearly brushing the man's cheek. He paused a moment until the man looked him straight in the eye.

"Let us know if you see them again, aye?" The merchant glanced down at the valuable steel in his palm, then the brutal spiked gauntlet inches away from his neck…and nodded profusely. The message was clear.

'choose which kind of steel you would like us to give you.' Meanwhile, William and company were taking a little break.

"They look like little ants." Jason said, peering down at the town below them crawling with Graneshian military. They were currently resting on the underside of a star, which had turned out to be just a building-sized mirror with a massive hinge that allowed it to tilt. Will had noticed the empty space above the mirror while they'd been attempting to fly out of the town with Loth's bugs to make themselves harder to track.

This particular star was a 'star' because it was broken and didn't reflect the morning sun at the same time as everything else, making it stand out during odd times of the day when it's alignment didn't match up. This meant they could camp out on it's inside without getting crushed as it shifted around. There were quite a few stars in the sky, actually, such that they could travel to their intended destination without ever touching the ground by hopping from frozen mirror to frozen mirror.

"Ooh, they're deploying fliers." Jason said.

"Get away from the ledge." Will whispered.

"What, why?" Jason asked.

"Because some of these people have eyes better than eagles." Will said.

"I am one of them. Also, you being on the edge of a ten-thousand foot drop with no way to save yourself makes me distinctly uncomfortable." Jason shrugged and pushed himself back from the edge, while Will crawled forward and risked peering over the edge for a moment. Oh hey, I recognize that guy. Will slid backwards and turned to Loth.

"They're deploying a net of fliers to scan the ground in a circle a few miles around the town, looking for where our flying Abilities are presumed to have expired. They're only flying a few hundred feet up, staring at the ground, which is good. Their contacts on the ground are staring up at them, which is bad."

"Mmm." Loth nodded.

"We'll have to move at night to avoid being accidentally spotted."

"Does that mean it's going to get even colder?" Jason asked, a hint of pain in his voice. The boy did not have the extra energy in his body to ward off cold weather, and since the sky's entire purpose was to reflect heat back down to the ground, it was naturally very cold.

"Take all the sheepskins," Will said, opening the bag and pulling out the rolled up sheepskins, handing them to Jason.

"You really got used to living with one hand, huh?" Jason asked.

"Eh?" Will frowned, glancing at Jason.

"You kicked the bag up with one foot, pinched a corner down with another, yanked on the string with one hand, then loosened it somehow." He'd used Phantom Hand for that.

"Yeah, you get used to it," Will said.

"Is this what Climbing is like? Camping out on a ledge two miles high in the freezing cold? Having to shit an arm's length away from your Party?" Jason asked. Will glanced at Loth and shrugged.

"Aside from the monster killing, yes, this is actually pretty close to what Climbing is like."

"… Why?" Jason asked.

"Why would you subject yourself to that?" Will held a finger up before pulling out a gold coin from his satchel. He crushed the soft metal between thumb and forefinger.

"Okay, I'm sold." Jason said, nodding.

"Sir," Noob said, arriving next to them, bearing a package of sealed wax-paper.

"An Enchantress sacrifice from the ninth floor. Premium Bard Sacrifice."

"Sweet!" Jason said, heading towards Noob.

"Noooope." Will said, snatching the Sacrifice out of Noob's hands.

"What? WHY!?"

"Because we are two miles above the ground, so when you came back from your Trial, you would be stranded if we were forced to abandon this location, and you're not recovered enough to perform the Trial, AND we can use this to your advantage if we wait."

"…How?" Jason asked, crossing his arms.

"If we get surrounded and it looks like we're screwed, I can give you your Sacrifices. You can then go through the Door into your Trial, finish the Trial, then catch a merchant caravan back to the Hunting Grounds rather than going back through the Door."

"In the meantime, you need to put on some weight," Will said, tucking the Sacrifice into his Phantom Hand. Jason blinked a couple times, frowning as the Sacrifice casually disappeared.

"Salt and peppered roasted grubs?" Will asked, taking it off the tiny flame and offering Jason the pot.

"They're a bit like shrimp."

"What are shrimp?" Jason asked, peering into the pot with visible disgust.

"They're this food on the sixth floor that – You'll see. They're not bad. They're not great either, but a little salt and pepper make them much more palatable." Jason winced, pinching a grub between thumb and forefinger before taking a deep breath and popping it into his mouth.

"Hey…that's not bad." Jason admitted.

"Right?" Will chuckled, popping a couple into his mouth before Jason could steal all of them.

"They're better raw," Loth said from her throne of books, pouring through them for any hint of where they kept Deceiver ashes.

"No they are not." Will shot back.