Chapter 26 Scouts

Toz, Nil and Lucy hadn't exactly planned their journey. Aside from a few must-sees they were basically winging it, walking in whatever direction they felt like, and taking things as they come. An irresponsible way of doing things, but also very free and without the possibility of any plans being disrupted. However if they couldn't agree on where to go they wouldn't get anywhere.

If they had been smarter they could have used the downtime they had when waiting for Mindle to hatch to plan their route in some way. But instead they had goofed off a bit, and focused on other things. Since they had done that, they were now in a situation where they suffered the consequences of their actions.

Lucy wanted to go to the forest next. Nil wanted to go to another elemental plane. Mindle was asleep. And Toz wanted to continue moving in the opposite direction of Yellow Sparks.

Just the Ember Deer migration would have the explorers guild send someone to investigate. Now that several mountains had collapsed, a small beast stampede had occurred and a lot of the beasts in the nearby wilderness had moved about crazily, the explorers guild won't just sit still.

If the investigators sent by the guild spot Toz leaving the mountains, they will naturally want to ask him some questions. Even if they just want to find out what happened in the mountains, he would have to lie or risk putting himself and Mindle in danger, since Mindle was obviously special enough to warrant them being targeted. It will also interrupt their journey indefinitely. It will be even worse if he lies, and is then discovered doing that.

He can't directly oppose the guild either since he has been granted the badge of permission. With the right to freely explore all first level danger zones also comes the responsibility of reporting possible dangers to the guild. But, if he decides to walk in the opposite direction of the nearest branch, and no one knows he was there to begin with, there will be no bothersome debriefing.

Even if the investigators question some of the beasts, if they can, and find out a young, black-haired man got a hold of some weird orange orb, connecting it to him would only be them grasping for straws, and no one will aim straight for Toz due to greed.

His surface level of strength also gives him some security. Who would believe a second level mage snatched something in front of seven third level beasts and hundreds of second level, then escaped a mountain range surrounded by several tens of thousands of beasts? No one capable of rational thought at least.

Nil accepted his reasoning but he had still grown slightly tired of the constant heat. Lucy agreed to a compromise and they will head to the next forest they encounter, if the situation allows it. Mindle continued sleeping.

With a plan to follow, Toz started walking away from the mountain, in the opposite direction of the town they had come from. Like when they had entered the mountains, the area surrounding it was bumpy and covered in hills that gradually grew smaller, the further away they got, and eventually they got to completely flat grasslands.

After all the beasts had left the mountain, a lot of the grass had been trampled on and flattened, and it made for a smooth walk, during which Nil walked next to Toz. But a few hours into the walk the plains were left mostly untouched and Toz had grass up to his hips. Lucy was unbothered up on his spot on Toz's head but Nil decided to enter the familiar space. While he could ride on Toz's shoulders it wasn't the most comfortable for long walks, for either of them.

While Lucy was awake, he and Toz talked and bantered, and while he slept Toz walked on in silence, enjoying the freedom of being in the middle of absolute nowhere. No human trails, no sign of civilisation. Just the light snore from Lucy and the sound of grass rustled by the calm breeze accompanied Toz's footsteps.

At noon Toz crouched down in the grass to take a small break, using the grass to hide him from the sun.

Lucy woke up for a moment when Toz sat down but continued sleeping so Toz summoned Nil and Mindle. Mindle was still tired but accepted the summons and came out to discover they were in the middle of a sea of grass. She playfully swept at the straws swaying around them while Toz explained their decision of walking this way. Nil lay in Toz's lap as they watched Mindle discover one part of the world at a time.

Toz would have like a midday nap, but he wanted to put as much distance between himself and and the mountain as possible, before anyone caught up to him.

Unfortunately he was too slow. Not that his small break made any difference, even if Toz had continued walking he would still have been found. After standing up Toz saw two figures at a distance, that turned in his direction after seeing him. They had come from the direction of the river so at least they hadn't seen his tracks and were only scouting around the mountains a bit when they saw him.

But if they are scouts from the explorers guild he won't be able to outrun them. Scouts aren't necessarily strong, but they are either very good at reconnaissance, or at traveling fast, or both. Not to mention the level of base strength required to be sent out for a mission by the guild itself.

Now that Toz already had their attention it wouldn't be easy for him to get away. At least not without injuries, if it would be him or them injured would be difficult to tell. There is an infinite amount of variables in a fight, especially between humans who don't know each others inclinations.

But since Toz was a bit away from the mountain he decided not to risk fighting, and instead wait for them, and see what they want.

It didn't take long for the two figures to approach Toz, and as they got closer he saw that one of the figures was a lithe man riding on a blue horse, and the other a young man with long air, gliding through the air with long strides. The two means of transport hinted at their inclination and possible battle methods, but there was nothing definite so far.

Neither of them looked hostile when they looked at Toz, only some curiosity from the horse rider, and some boredom from the young man.

Despite their deceptively slow, rhythmic movements, they traveled quickly and were soon withing talking distance of Toz.

The horse rider initiated the conversation.

"Hey there, mind if we chat for a bit?" He said as he pulled out a badge from a chest pocket.

"I don't mind," Toz replied. The badge was a badge of authority, proving their legitimacy and that they represented the explorers guild. Toz's own badge was honestly speaking just a fancy permission slip.

The badge the man on the horse held up contained a few enchantments and also showed he had a few rights when on mission. Although those rights only extended to those affiliated with the explorers guild, one of the enchantments was to sense nearby permission badges, possessing such a badge of permission directly makes one affiliated with the explorers guild, whether it's acquired by one's own capabilities, received peacefully, or stolen. That's the kind of prestige the explorers guild has.

The brown haired horse rider was well within his rights to stop Toz and ask him a few questions, with enough grounds for suspicion he could even drag Toz back to the nearest branch for a more thorough investigation. The reason scouts and other investigators worked in pairs was so no one would abuse this authority. The explorers guild had worked hard to earn their reputation and their privileges, if their grunts acted up, who would trust them?

"We were sent out by the Explorers Guild to investigate a few things regarding the mountain range over there. Have you seen anything special?"

"Anything special?! No kidding, I saw a herd of Ember Deer that surpassed ten thousand in number. They seemed to be headed toward that mountain range so I planned to take a detour around the mountain range, but when I reach the other side, thinking it's all clear and I'm safe and all, guess what happens...!"

"What happened?"

"A huge beast stampede tried to run me over! Can you believe that? An entire stampede came charging out the mountain range, right at me, I almost thought that was it for me, you know? Luckily i reacted fast enough and hid deep underground til' the tremors stopped."

"...A beast stampede?"

"Yeah, it was crazy, a bunch of beasts stampeding makes a beast stampede, right?"

"Well yeah, that's what a beast stampede is."

"And that's what I'm telling you it almost ran straight for me. I spent almost a week taking a detour and when i get back on track. BAM! From out of nowhere a beast stampede stampedes right at me!"

"Okay, a bunch of stampeding beasts, I can see you're fine enough. Anything else?"

"I don't know if it's something special but the sun rose from the mountains a few times, and then i think a couple of the mountains collapsed, but one can't be so sure about these things. One time my cousin said a bird dropped a stone on his-"

"I'm not interested in your cousin. What was that about the sun rising from the mountains?"

"Yeah, I took to the east side of the mountain, so the sun should rise to the east of me, right? But instead, maybe I should say also? Anyway, after the sun rose in the east, it rose again, a couple of times inside the mountain range. A huge orange light covering the sky and all that. It was hot enough for me to feel like I was standing too close to the sun even."

Finally hearing something that sounded important the horse rider seemed satisfied, based on the response, getting any further details would be like casting fire magic in the Deep Sea. He looked back at the young man, now laying on top of the barely bent grass, as if he weighed nothing. The young man only responded with a gaze and a tilt of his head, indicating to continue with their scouting. They wouldn't find out much more from this young man in front of them.

They thanked Toz for his time and bid him farewell, or at least the horse rider did, the wind riding young man merely nodded his head a bit in Toz's direction. In response Toz said and waved goodbye, playing into his friendly, talkative, neighbor role.

Unless he needed to, Toz rarely talked this much, but in situations like these having the advantage and directing the flow of the conversation can provide endless benefits. It also gave him the opportunity to dilute the truth of certain things, removing himself from anything that happened in the mountain, and misinform them. If they took his "hid in the ground" comment as truth they would get the wrong idea about what magic he can use, and what his inclination might be. If a fight erupts and their judgment is clouded, Toz gets the advantage at once.

Thankfully a fight didn't happen, and Toz only needed to tell them a few easily confirmed things about what had happened in the mountains. But since they were scouts he didn't let down his guard, especially not with the young man still within distance. Using wind, and the vibrations of air, could be an incredible means of detecting sounds. If Toz sighed in relief, or began talking to an eventual accomplice, the young man might overhear, get suspicious and return.

Not risking it, Toz turned around and walked normally, like he had done before his break, he didn't even summon Lucy back from the familiar space on to his head. As soon as he saw the figures off in the distance he called his cats into the space. And until Toz was completely sure they were out of the woods, there they would stay.