Chương 168: Chapter 173: Safe Zone 101

I had to think fast, but before I could even formulate a response Alya beat me to it.

"Hey! I don't know what your problem is but you better moderate your tone." Well, that was not exactly useful, I could see the gears in Adrian's head turning, analyzing. Could it be that this never happened? Or he was a fantastic actor or the situation was really new to him. I stepped in, putting myself between the man and the two girls, Rhea was looking around like a deer in headlights, while Alya's anger was getting the better of her.

"Let's all calm down a second before accusing people willy nilly; first," I said while raising a finger, "do you have any idea what that was?" Adrian wasn't even looking at me, his green eyes shone with magic as he looked directly at Rhea.

"A kind of debuff probably, tied to your shadows."

"Ok, so let's start with the fact that Rhea has no shadow related abilities. Second, did this ever happen before?" Now he moved his gaze on me, searching for something in my eyes. I didn't know what he was thinking but the look of pure calculation behind that gaze was enough to make me reconsider the man in his entirety. That was not the look of someone that was supposed to be a hero.

"No, I have to admit that this is the first time… but it changes nothing, someone did something to you all and she is possibly the culprit, I would have to take some precautions against someone like that." I raised a hand.

"Ah, this is getting somewhere," I said.

"So, this never happened before, and given your past interactions would you really believe that Rhea did something malicious to her companions? Really? If you know her even a little you must know that's quite far fetched." I could see that he was considering my words at least, I had to hammer home the fact that Rhea was not the culprit.

"And, not to underplay Rhea's strengths, but I don't believe that she could affect me without me noticing, my stats are too high for that." Everyone around was now getting a full view of the drama unfolding, our people were preoccupied, both for themselves and for what could happen if this situation broke out into a fight, Adrian's group instead was starting to get wary of us. But my words seemed to calm down some of them, I had to thank my amulet for that.

"You are right, for what I know she's not the type to do something like that, she's more of the type who would build a shelter for lost puppies," He smiled at us, showing perfectly white teeth, "But it still doesn't answer the question of who did this."

"Actually I have an idea about it." I said.

"Who then?"

"The aliens in the previous safe zone." At that the crowd started to get divided in half, our group cursing the aliens and confirming my hypothesis, while Adrian's group exclaimed in disbelief that it was impossible for the aliens to do something like that.

"A bit far fetched as far as theories go don't you think? What could they possibly gain from an action like that? It's not in their MO." I looked him straight in the eyes, my theory was full of holes, but this would patch them all up.

"I have no idea what they would stand to gain by doing… whatever that was, but they tried already to kill me after I freed half my group from those slave contracts, so I won't put anything past them." I saw surprise flash on his face for a microsecond, but it was there. Then his expression schooled again but the people behind him were shocked by the news, starting to ask around if it was true, some of the more outspoken in my guild started explaining what transpired just a few days ago.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

"That's absurd… what did you do to piss them off so much? It never happened before that they attacked a tutorialist directly like that, and even if that was the case, it still doesn't explain why our goth girl here is not affected." Hook, line aaand…

"Because she never stayed much in the safe zone, she built her own place outside, in the forest, I believe that they did something to us, maybe they put a tracker or whatever kind of magic that was, during the night maybe, but she was the only one never actually sleeping in the common room of the safe zone, so it makes sense that she's not marked."

With the limited information available I managed to paint a target on the aliens' backs, while Adrian himself defended Rhea's character, plus the logic behind my statement and the assent from the group was working wonders for the general mood of the people around.

"It makes a certain kind of sense I have to admit it…" The hero said.

"And I'm not contrary to letting you and yours enter the city, but beware, I'd keep an eye on this one." He said pointing at Rhea, "You never know…" I nodded to him, extending a hand, I could argue that the city was not his to command and that we could deal with the elementals directly, but there was no reason to create more friction, so I extended my hand to him again, a smile on my lips.

"That's more than acceptable, I have full trust in her." He grabbed my hand, shaking it with a tad more force than before, a smile returning to his lips, "Well, if that's settled, let's get you settled finally!" The remaining people from my group passed the boundary looking at their own shadows and exclaiming as a light flashed and disappeared, it happened to all of them. I put a hand on Rhea's shoulder, she was shaking while Alya beside us was shaking too, but with rage.

"Alya, calm down. We are not in the position to face them if a fight breaks loose, that guy is too strong." I whispered to her. Both girls looked at me in shock, "I can't take him in a direct fight, and you can't take the others, he created a really strong team, but with his knowledge, it's only natural. Now let's focus on what matters. Let's go into the city, take this night off and rest. Tomorrow we will deal with this whole situation. And Rhea…"

"Yes?" Her voice was shaking a little, I wanted to hug her but now it wasn't the time or place, Adrian was already moving away.

"Don't worry about him, I will deal with everything ok? You just do your stuff, like I said, I have full trust in you, they probably placed some kind of debuff or tracker in our shadows, if someone remembers any of them using shadow-like abilities, let me know." I received a nod from each of the girls, and more from those that still were around. Our mood soured quite a bit, we entered the outskirts of the city.

My previous spat against Adrian quickly faded from my mind as I and the others admired the buildings and the elementals passing by.

Some were absolutely amazing to witness, they assumed various forms, mainly humanoid, but there were many in the vague shape of beasts, like a giant spider made of blue lightning, it skittered on the ground leaving not a mark behind, its energy tightly contained while sometimes it would release a burst of lightning and basically teleport forward, then around a corner, disappearing from our view.

Many others stood at attention, a humanoid made of fire with ten arms, a single crystal, as big as a grown man floating together with two others of his species, one in the shape of a giant humanoid, the other didn't look like any beast I ever saw in my life, too many limbs and scythes on that one.

Another elemental passed the street, looking like a child, if a child could be made out of a night sky, the being was pitch black, with the exception of an incredible amount of dots of light creating constellations and galaxies on its body. It was beautiful and uncanny in a manner difficult to express, all of this town was: the buildings, the elementals together with Adrian and his group was something I wasn't ready for, I could feel it, for a moment I felt out of my depth…

Hell, having to convince him not to do something to Rhea, as if to ask for permission… I knew this was the most likely scenario after coming here, to have to tiptoe around a far superior power, but I was thinking that I would have been able to face that guy if it was needed, I was confident in my ability, but even after seeing just his speed, and his tight control of aura…

no, I had no chance of winning, but I still came here knowing the risks, and I had to keep my wits about me, I would have to play it by ear, and get the information I needed, the sooner the better.

We crossed part of the city, it was big, that was clear from afar, but it was all made much more magical by the display around us, finally, we reached our destination, a literal tavern of old stood in front of us, flanked by a building that looked like a pagoda and was giving off a faint golden hue on the right, while a kind of dark as night mansion stood on the left, seemingly absorbing the light around it, two polar opposites, and the tavern in the middle.

Suffice to say the city aesthetic clashed starkly everywhere, but here it was even more evident.

"Welcome to Vaukin's Rest!" Adrian shouted to all of us.

"Let's get you settled yes? We have much more to show you, oh you will see." His eyes found mine and I gave him a small smile, we will see Adrian… you are right, we will see.