69 Windfall

Though there were exceptions at the Company level, most Parties were dispelled the moment their Party Leader was killed in battle. This was one of the reasons why the strongest or toughest member of the Party was elected as the leader.

In this case, the man and woman Linnaeus and co ended up killing seemed to be a Company Leader and Lieutenant. As a result, the Company was disbanded and, without a good reason to face the fog of death, the remaining Party Leaders commanded their teams to retreat.

They hadn't been able to take out a single enemy yet, in a span of only a few minutes, several of their strongest members had been wiped out. This was enough to terrify anyone without death-seeking habits so it wasn't all that surprising, at least to Linnaeus, that they would turn tail and run.

Despite this, Emilia continued to spread her fog through the area as Linnaeus looted the corpses of their attackers. She made sure to move around occasionally to avoid having her location pinpointed but, even after twenty minutes, silence dominated the surroundings.

To conserve SP, Emilia ultimately allowed the fog to dissipate through the surroundings as the Party made its way towards Central City. They didn't know the true purpose of the ambush but it was safe to assume their enemies didn't have good intentions if it required them to surround their Party...

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It generally required a half day's travel to reach Central City from the Southern Forests. Due to the ambush, Linnaeus and co managed to reduce this travel time to only seven hours. They wanted to reach a relatively safe location before they began to discuss what had happened as the period of time immediately after an attack was, in many cases, a person's most vulnerable moment.

Fortunately, the Party managed to enter through the security checkpoint after paying a small fee of Soul Kindling. After that, they found an Inn with decent rates and large food portions before topping themselves off and retreating to the relative security of their booked rooms.

Since they had a few things to discuss, everyone gathered together in the same room to distribute loot and talk about their future plans. There was a small chance the group that attacked them was related to a larger group but, as none of the loot made this connection obvious, it was impossible to be certain.

After having just gotten over his paranoia, Linnaeus was afraid this incident would reawaken his old mentality so, rather than regress, he looked toward the future, saying, "In a way, this is a blessing of sorts. Based on what I could tell, the woman I managed to surprise attack was well over my Level. It is safe to assume that the leader was even stronger than her so, despite our small number, we were able to defeat a much larger group of people with similar Levels. Really, good work, everyone...our teamwork and coordination really shined today."

Linnaeus was generally a taciturn individual who chose his words very carefully. Hearing him give a small speech was a surprise to everyone, Eliza included. This caused a smile to spread across her face and, though she was still a little annoyed about the previous attack, she internally thanked the group for their sacrifice.

Eliza wasn't the only one who was happy about the change in Linnaeus' behavior. The earlier battle had proven to Emilia that Linnaeus was a capable Party Leader. He was the one to come up with the idea of masking their location with fog and, despite the precariousness of their situation, he charged into enemy lines without any hesitation.

As a result of his resolute actions, he was able to forcibly shift the momentum in their favor while simultaneously revealing the location of their enemies to Eliza. This had allowed them to defeat a group of enemies that, in any other situation, would have easily defeated them in turn.

Now that she recognized Linnaeus as a 'real' Party Leader, something deep inside of Emilia clicked into place and, for very different reasons that Eliza, a smile spread across her face...

Though he couldn't pinpoint the cause, Linnaeus felt a small shiver pass through his body but, as the rest of his Party didn't seem to have a reaction, he set it aside for the time being. It was a different feeling than the one he would get when something dangerous was approaching so, at the very least, he didn't have to worry about another surprise attack.

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In total, the Party had managed to loot a greatsword, two longswords, five daggers, an ornate rapier, and, most importantly, two interspatial rings. Most of the equipment had sustained various amounts of damage from Eliza's [Crush] magic but, as they were often infused with unique enchantments, the interspatial rings were still in pristine condition.

This was where the main haul of the ambush was found as each ring contained a plethora of useful items, such as potions, elixirs, and a small mountain of foodstuffs. Since even cheap potions could cost several hundred Soul Kindling, inheriting enough to support an entire Company of people as a Party of four was a major windfall.

While these were all incredibly important, the greatest boon was the actual Soul Kindling that was present in each of the rings. There were nearly 170,000 to be split between them, bringing the total haul to more than 300,000 due to the Kindling dropped from the actual corpses.

As he had learned on his first day in the Crucible of Souls, a person dropped their Soul Kindling upon death. This was what had led him to the assumption that killing would be common within the Crucible of Souls. Though he now realized that most people tended to avoid such bloody conflict, it could be seen from this most recent incident that not everyone had an aversion to violence.

It was somewhat unfortunate that some enemies had been able to flee from the battle but, with such a large windfall, Linnaeus couldn't really complain. Trying to chase after fleeing enemies was difficult, especially if they went in different directions, so there really wasn't much they could have done. Now, they could only hope that their Party hadn't been targetted specifically. If that was the case, whoever gave the orders to track them down would soon learn of what had happened, including the fact that their Party now had more than half a million in total assets...

Since there wasn't anything he could do about unseen and unknown enemies, Linnaeus decided not to let the matter weigh too heavily on his mind. He did mention moving around periodically to avoid being easily traced but, in the grand scheme of things, this was really just the basics. So long as they didn't establish any exploitable habits, their enemies would be forced to confront them on less-than-ideal terms, providing them more opportunities to counterattack.

Eliza, Emilia, and Krone had no problems with this arrangement but they still wanted to venture into the Central District for a week or so to procure better equipment. Most of the items obtained were in various states of disrepair so it was better to scrap them for raw materials before buying equipment suitable for each person.

This time around, Linnaeus was easily convinced by Eliza's reasoning since the 300,000 Kindling they had obtained was essentially extraneous profit. It wasn't accounted for in his initial projections so, while it was a little worrisome to spend precious Soul Kindling, ensuring his Party was well equipped was far more important...

With their discussion finished, Krone ended up returning to his own room, this time without giving Linnaeus any kind of pointed looks. The earlier battle had left an impression on him as well so, while he didn't fully accept Linnaeus' leadership, the results spoke for themselves.

Seeing the subtle changes in his burly companion's disposition, Linnaeus allowed an actual smile to cross his face, something that was noticed by the two girls in the room. Eliza was still in high spirits from earlier so, immediately after Krone left the room, she moved to give Linnaeus a big hug.

Unfortunately, her actions were too slow as, from the periphery of her vision, Emilia's figure emerged like a blur as she pounced on the unsuspecting youth. This took Linnaeus to the ground while Eliza, frozen mid-step, stared at the scene playing out, her anger gradually increasing with each palpitation of her heart...

More-so than Eliza, Linnaeus was caught off guard by Emilia's sudden pounce. His efforts to avoid counterattacking effectively turned him into a lifeless doll so, without any resistance, Emilia was able to freely rub her head and cheeks against Linnaeus.

This went on for several awkward moments before Eliza, seemingly hitting the limits of her tolerance, exclaimed, "Get off him you...you...you...!"

There were a lot of insults Eliza wanted to throw out but, not wanting to upset Linnaeus or genuinely offend Emilia, they all got stuck in her throat. This didn't stop her from taking action to carry out her own demand, however, as she grabbed Emilia but the scruff of her fur-collar, yanking her back while simultaneously reducing her weight.

Emilia was pulled so hard that Linnaeus was actually yanked to his feet. As for Emilia herself, she was tossed about unceremoniously by Eliza. Her weight had been reduced to almost nothing so, for the first time, both Linnaeus and Emilia were able to witness how terrifying Eliza could be if she got her hands on someone...

Due to the way she was raised, Emilia was fundamentally unable to resist the small beating bestowed to her by Eliza. She was taught to respect the strong and accept punishment when she misbehaved. Since she could tell that Eliza wasn't actually trying to hurt her, Emilia accepted her fate as she had already fulfilled her purpose.

Vanargandr were able to emit pheromones from their body so, by rubbing her head and ears against Linnaeus, she had effectively marked him with her scent. Linnaeus and Eliza may not notice this but Emilia would now be able to track him virtually anywhere, so long as he wasn't solidifying his [Barrier Aura].

Better still, anyone with a sensitive nose and animalistic traits would be able to smell her scent on his body and understand their meaning. If they tried to approach him, it was the same as declaring war on her as, until she returned to start her own tribe, Emilia had decided to follow Linnaeus.

Previously, Emilia had been on the fence since he was still weaker than her. Now, however, she had been given solid proof to show that raw strength and speed were not the determining factors, just two elements of a complex equation.

This reminded her of all the tales and legends she heard about the famous members of her species, people who had led the Vanargandr against insurmountable odds to secure victory. Linnaeus, while still immature, seemed to possess the qualities of these great leaders so, at least until she returned triumphantly to the outside world, Emilia would continue to follow and observe him closely. He may very well become one of the legends passed down to her own tribe in the future so, while it may upset Eliza, Emilia couldn't simply deny her instincts...

Though she didn't know what Emilia was thinking about, Eliza could feel something was off so, for the better part of ten minutes, she smacked the cheeky Vanargandr before lecturing her for a full two hours. While this was going on, Linnaeus sat quietly at the side, a cold sweat making his palms feel clammy. He made a mental note not to upset Eliza in the future as, for reasons unbeknownst to him, she was somehow more terrifying than facing off against people that actually wanted to claim his life...

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(A/N: Dat maternal instinct...)