Chapter 127: Line Of Sight
Tiff had been outside of the Alchemist guild since she discovered the tracker the thieves had given her was telling her that was where the badge of the person she was looking for was. At first she had just assumed that whoever she was tracking was a plant put into the Alchemist guild to gather information for the thieves, but after getting more familiar with the tracker she found she could see exactly where it was telling her to go.
Unfortunately it was pointing into the sky above the guild where the famous spire was usually visible. At the moment she wasn't able to actually see it though because the barrier the Alchemist guild used to cover themselves wasn't clear and instead made it seem like there was a permanent cloud in the middle of the capital.
It was a bit of an annoyance for everyone who lived here but it did kind of make it seem like they didn't exist at all as long as you were looking at them from a distance. It really made them blend into the skyline. Either way she had been assigned to get the dagger back from whoever had taken it from them, so she had pretty much spent all her time as near to the guild as she could get waiting for the person she was tracking to come out.
She was starting to think it would never happen because who would go outside at a time like this but when the Demon Lords forces retreated all of a sudden and the Alchemist guild started doing business while they could Tiff saw it as the only possible time that she might get lucky enough to get a chance to confront the person with the dagger.
Her hopes ended up coming true when right before the sun came up her tracker followed a cart that came flying out of the guild. She hadn't been expecting it because the place the tracker was pointing moved all the time with it actually pointing underground at one occasion. She knew this just meant the person who owned the badge was moving around inside the massive guild building.
It was different this time though with the person actually being outside where she could reach them, so she got up and started to follow the cart. They weren't going too fast, so she was able to sit in one place for a while while she watched them. This would let her pause the use of her skills and conserve both Mana and Stamina for the fight that might happen.
That was one of the downsides of having a skill that was too strong for you; sometimes it was hard to conserve your Mana. She didn't have a choice though, people not being able to see her was the only reason she was able to do anything by herself without worrying about being killed.
After a while Tiff saw the cart finally come to halt. She was starting to wonder if it ever would because they had taken a very odd path that made it seem like they were just on a leisurely ride through town. Getting ready to pounce if whoever stepped out of the cart didn't have too much back up, but Tiff saw the door close soon after opening without anyone getting out.
After being confused for a second Tiff used her tracking device to make sure whoever she was after wasn't able to do something similar to her. Seeing it was still pointing towards the cart Tiff followed it when it started to move again. While following the cart Tiff started to wonder if she should go in blind.
It would be dangerous but she couldn't just let this opportunity slip past her because there was a good chance when the Demon Lords forces returned they would have what they needed to take over the capital, and that would mean her friends who would be standing in their way would end up dead.
It meant she needed to make a decision if her odds of living were better with or without the dagger because she would be in danger soon no matter what she did. Before she could make up her mind the cart came to another stop. When she saw the door open Tiff made sure the tracker was in her hand.
The moment she saw someone step out of the cart she readied herself to attack but right before she did she saw another much more familiar person step out second. It was the master of the Alchemist guild, and someone she knew she stood no chance against. She couldn't believe someone like him would be here and right next to the person she was after.
After getting over her initial shock she started to think what this could mean for her chances of getting the dagger back from someone who was apparently close to Lucas. Seeing the bog standard guard they were with kick down a door and all three of them enter, Tiff decided she might as well leave now before they came back.
There was no reason for her to risk Lucas seeing her when they came back out. He would definitely be the kind of person who could see through her skill if he just happened to look right at her by chance. On her way back to the Temple Tiff guessed her only option was to tell the higher ups the dagger was in the hands of the Alchemy guild and let them deal with that however they wanted.
...
At the same time and about half a day's travel from the capital, Donny was sitting in the middle of a small encampment of refugees from the capital eating some of the food they offered to people like him who were functionally guards for the people living in the middle of the forest. It was a pretty easy gig. All he had to do was kill a few monsters every day and he received some money and food.
It was lower pay than he would like but at the moment finding a better job would most likely end up with him being killed on the way. The streets were more dangerous than he could have ever imagined. The worst part was every thief that had been in the capitol, and there were a lot, was now robbing people who were running away from the front lines.
Thinking of those bastards made him remember the one who had taken his shield from him. The thought that all his money he was currently making would probably go to that same bastard to hire them to take the shield from his brother made it even worse. Then the fact that it would probably keep happening back and forth till one of them got tired of it and killed the other pissed him off.
Deciding he should just focus on his food and stop thinking about the future, Donny heard a whistle that sounded like a wyvern, but he knew this was a signal from one of their lookouts in the forest that there was trouble coming towards them. Standing up and grabbing his spear and shield Donny headed towards the edge of the encampment.
On the way he heard a few more alarms ring out from different directions meaning more and more of their lookouts were seeing the same thing. That there were monsters heading towards them but the amount of alarms was starting to alarm him. Stopping and looking around at the people in the encampment he saw they were already getting packed and were starting to make a break for it.
It seemed he wasn't the only one who thought this was a worst case scenario and that Undead or Demon worshipers was what was heading towards them. The thing was they had different alarms sounds depending on what was coming and these were definitely the signals for monsters.
Deciding to put his trust in their lookouts and not the skittishness of people who had been running from Demon Worshipers for the last few days Donny lined up next to the other guards and waited for whatever monsters they were about to face. When he saw something running towards them from the forest he got ready to attack but noticed it was one of their lookouts waving his arms so they wouldn't mistake him for a monster.
Once he got close to them he said one word. "Giant." After he got his breath he continued. "There's a giant right outside the forest heading towards the capital." Donny didn't understand, and asked. "Is it heading towards us?" The lookout shook his head no and said. "No but we didn't know what signal we should use to tell you there was a massive monster a few hundred feet from the forest.
Thinking about it Donny guessed he should give the order to evacuate for now. Giants were rare but they were feared for a reason as soon as it stepped foot in the forest this place would become about as dangerous as the capital itself. Sharing his opinion with the others that were about as strong as him to get some feedback Donny said. "We should go before it realizes we're here."
Donny was expecting a quick response, but none of the others seemed to have finished absorbing the news just yet. Looking back He saw most of them had dazed looks on their faces Like he expected but there was one who, like him, seemed prepared to make a decision, but of course it was the girl who never really talked.
He didn't even know her name all he knew was she wasn't really that strong but her skills were impressive particularly with the bow. He guessed she had been lucky enough to get a strong combo of skills between Perception and Archer or Hunter. Either way her not talking was something he could excuse since there was a chance she had just seen her whole family be killed or something.
She didn't slack off or anything either, so she was actually one of the better guards and her ability to keep a cool head which she was doing now was definitely a big advantage during times like these. Saying what he had said a moment ago to snap everyone out of it Donny got a reaction. "You're right we should go."
Everyone seemed to be in agreement so Donny said. "Go get all the lookouts." to the one who had delivered the news and headed back towards the encampment to help people pack the important things onto the few carts they had. As he was walking away Donny heard someone say in a low voice something to the lookout who had been running back towards the forest.
Turning around he saw it was the archer that usually kept her mouth shut. Thinking it must be something important if it had gotten her to speak, Donny got closer so he would be able to hear what they were talking about. "Was the giant wearing anything?" Donny found this to be an odd question until he saw the lookout nod.
"What did it have on?" Donny unconsciously took a step closer because he had never heard of a giant wearing anything other than their own hair and he was intrigued. "A black robe." Donny couldn't help but think there had been no robe, and it was just hair the lookouts had mistaken for clothes, but the girl seemed to take the answer at face value and walked away.
Donny tried to stop her so he could ask what the point of her question had been but she dodged him and headed towards the camp at a brisk pace. Going after her Donny couldn't help but realize how futile what he was doing was. There was no way he could get her to talk if she didn't want to, and she wasn't a very friendly person to interact with either.
The only time he had seen her smile was when one of the older refugees had fallen off of a cart so his plan of trying to get her to talk was most likely going to end in him getting punched in the face once he got on her nerves.
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