Chapter 62: Long Walk

Zula was wrong about one thing, Agni would love to visit the Silken Petal as much as possible. The erotic energy in the air made her body tingle, but she knew she had more pressing things to do. She quickly got dressed and made her way out of Sprim Row, taking special care with Shula’s help to avoid being followed.

Based on Zula’s information, the foes she defeated some time ago would still be incapacitated but who’s to say different people wouldn’t show up? That was one blessing of the First Death, weaker adventurers would always recover more quickly. As long as they could hide out to regain their strength all would be well.

Once she left the Entertainment District Agni then took a detour to Gadsten’s shop. She wanted to thank Ren in person for his assistance in her time of need but the shop was closed. So she continued on, this time stopping at the Trainer’s Chapel to speak to Bracha. Upon informing her of the altercation she asked a curious question.

“Did you see if any of the men who attacked you had this mark?” Bracha asked as she used her rune master mana to trace a particular symbol into the air. It blazed with blue energy before slowly fading away. The image reminded Agni of a skull with flames within it’s hollow sockets.

“No, I don’t think so.” Agni responded honestly. At this Bracha relaxed a bit, but also quickly changed the subject.

“Are you going to get here tonight? By yourself?” Bracha asked.

“Yea. No point waiting until tomorrow. Besides, I rested a bit already.” Agni replied.

“Spoken like a true adventurer.” Bracha said with a smile.

“Would you like me to come with you? I’ll be happy to accompany you for a fee of 1,200 Gols.” She then added.

*Urgk. 1,200? That’s blatant robbery.* Agni thought to herself.

*Yeap.* Shula said in agreement.

“And it’s not robbery. I often hire my services out for well over 10,000 Gols.” Bracha added, as if she could read minds. She followed her sales pitch with a bright and cheery smile, which made it difficult for Agni to refute her statements even if she could.

“No, thank you. But soon!” Agni added before excusing herself to go on her first solo journey since she’d made her way to Adventia. Soon she was out of the city proper and headed into the nearby Lull Forest. She stuck to the path, mostly because she wanted to reach the Wilderness Tabernacle as quickly as possible. Her plan was to engage in a few battles, solo while she waited. Along the way Agni thought of many things, mostly the events of the past week and some days of living in Adventia. She’d already had a threesome, been robbed, forced to battle pokemon-esque creatures called Grimlock, met many colorful people and somehow managed to enter her first party.

She managed to grow more accustomed to life as a woman as well. If there was anything that today’s events taught her — it was to enjoy the moments while they last. Her perfect day was quickly ruined by a meaningless ambush.

*Don’t forget me dummy. I know you were busy diddling yourself when it happened, but you also got a quest to summon me.* Shula said, as if she was intruding on Agni’s thoughts.

“I’m not even sure if you actually exist.” Agni said aloud, chucking to herself as she continued along her walk.

*Woooooow. And after I saved your ass in that fight too? Okay. I thought we bonded for a moment. Now I’ll terrorize you in your sleep. May you be sentenced to eternal sand bags beneath your eyes, peasant Succubus.*

The two continued their long walk, making their way towards the Wilderness Tabernacle and the time where they would reunite with Katrin.

—————————————————

Meanwhile, somewhere in the city of Grenvale…

“I can’t believe that six of you got wrecked by two rank zeros, HA! Gaines is going to have your ass in chains for weeks, fucking losers!” A short young man said as he gloated over Glint, Ashe, Fargo and the rest of his crew. His skin was a bronze color, his eyes amber and his hair stark white. He was wearing a traditional mage’s attire — a black hooded cloak embroidered with stars, a waist pack and his weapon of choice, a floating book known as a Grimoire. He was no taller than 161 centimetres at best, but being a rank 2 adventurer gave him cause for cockiness.

“You weren’t there. You have no clue how it went down. So don’t talk down to me, you little imp.” Fargo said as he gritted his teeth. He wanted to get to his feet and tear the Blight Mage before him into pieces, but in his current state he was courting death even talking back. In fact, even barring the effects of First Death which he would be forced to deal with for weeks to come, he still probably couldn’t defeat the young man known as Ziphr who stood before him.

“Heh.” The young man known as Ziphr chuckled to himself, his expression never changing from one of pure condescension, as he looked down upon the six men before him. It was customary to wait in the ‘Hall Of The Broken’ upon being defeated, Chapel God’s orders. The place was little more than a room with dim lights and several wards in place to preserve life.

“Well, you’re lucky. Gaines won’t be back for a few more days. So you’re off the hook until then. You better enjoy it…” The young Blight Mage said before turning on his heel and disappearing into a mass of living black flames.

*You little shit.* Glint’s veins were throbbing in his temples as he clutched his fist. If he wasn’t enduring Firth Death at the moment he too would have attacked the pipsqueak for such blatant respect.

Fargo saw his partner’s anger and nodded his head, forcing Glint to abandon the idea entirely.

“If it wasn’t for our ‘restriction’, we wouldn’t be in this mess. Let’s endure it as best we can. Until that monster returns anyway.” Fargo said, forcing all of the broken men crowded around him to whimper in dismay.

As angry as he was, even Glint shivered at the thought of what Gaines would do when he found out about their failure to capture two prized targets.