For how dangerous the forest was supposed to be, it was always eerily quiet going in. With the witches living there primarily sticking to the safety of the central forest, at least to his knowledge, much of that had changed when it turned out the witch queen was in fact one of the three archdemons currently threatening the lands of Clover. What that meant for the witches, that was something he did not really know. Whether they had been cast out or remained loyal to their queen, they both seemed like relatively fair options, as someone turning out to be a demon did not suddenly make them an altogether different person in terms of actions, or so he assumed. That said though, he could also imagine how some of the witches might have felt betrayed or tricked, or that maybe Lilith had constantly put up a charade and had never once acted the way she wanted to until she came out of the closet as demon nobility.

“You know, I’m not really sure what the hands mean, so you’d be better off just speaking your mind. As for the flowers we need, we passed one on the way here, which we’ll get once we come back around. First, we should be going towards this pond on the map.”

Showing how very little he cared for being quiet by speaking in a normal, yet perfectly good to hear tone of voice, he made it clear to his compatriot that they were at the very least headed in the right direction. Funnily enough, he had been here before when he was mapping out the place, a fact of which he had gotten confirmation when they passed a small shrine that had fallen into a state of disrepair long, long ago. He remembered it quite well because when he was doing his job for a private company that wished to use mercenaries to map out most of the outer forest, it had been at that same shrine that he had been attacked by magic wielding statues. Things like that were not easily forgotten, especially when they caught one by surprise. When on your guard for demons to come swooping down and try to kill you, a statue coming to life is the last thing one would expect to happen. At least, in his case, that’s how it was.

The main reason why he hadn’t mentioned the flower they passed was because it was supposedly really, really dangerous, and could kill someone just by making skin contact. While they had gloves with them, he did not want to risk anything going wrong straight away and result in one having to carry the other the rest of the way. Aside from being extremely detrimental to the mission, increasing the amount of time it would take them to see it all through to the end and thus making the chances the woman would survive all of this that much smaller, it also made them much more prone to being attacked and killed by either demons or angry hags. As that was not something he was looking forward to, even if he knew he would be able to take care of himself, any and all setbacks meant that this whole endeavor might have been for nothing in the end. And seeing as how that was not the reason why they had set out here, it was something to avoid for sure.

Not really pushing for a conversation, as he agreed that talking overly much and overly loud might not be the best of ideas, he refused to carry on in fear of what might or might not happen either. So if he saw something that needed to be pointed out, heard something the other might not have picked out or felt like something needed to be said, he absolutely would. But until they reached their destination, which shouldn’t be much longer from where they were, he would keep the conversation to a minimum.

666

For the most part, he had just been listening to what the guy had to say, smirking a bit at the mention of using a weapon that originated from a shard of wood to cut some plants, and nodding after being thanked for getting the guy some gloves and a container for the plants. Even though he did not do hand signs and the like, he knew the risk of bringing any witches down upon them, and that was something he would very much like to avoid. Luckily for them, they more than likely had their hands full with what was going on inside of their city, leaving them too preoccupied to deal with a pair of mages wandering about the outskirts. Besides, if they had any magical means of tracking them, he would have noticed by now, as his means of sensory were fairly well developed. That, and seeing as how they already had the first plant in their possession, they wouldn’t be around for much longer.

Because as he had said before, running into a witch was one thing, but running into a demon was something else entirely, something he would avoid if at all possible. But if push came to shove, he would not need to hesitate as to whether or not he would test his mettle against such a being. After all, it wouldn’t be long now before he was to face one of their leaders in battle. With that being a recurring thought as they made their way over to a large body of water, it struck him as strange that there weren’t any birds along the surface or by the edge of what seemed to be a lake. Normally with such types of biomes, especially in a place as lush and undisturbed as this, one imagined there to be a plethora of birds that took to nesting or feeding here. However, the closer they got, the more clear it became to them that there wasn’t a single one of those here, and that this had a rather good reason too.

Staring down into the clear water, Griswold noticed how a few strange green creatures moved along the bottom, having already seen the two of them standing by the waterside. Though they made no attempts at attacking them, it was rather easy to see that these creatures were carnivorous in the worst case scenario, omnivorous in the best. Regardless, if they set foot in the water, there was going to be a reckoning. Noticing a small boat along the waterside, he imagined it had at some point been used by the witches of the forest, perhaps to get from one side to the other, or to just have a good time. Having already met a young witch once, he knew that she had a “pet” with her, a large being known to some as the Chort. Bearing similarities to the chimera in that it seemed to be made up of various animal parts, it was a rather peculiar choice for a pet, that much was certain.

Still, it made Griswold believe that there were those among witchkind that could communicate with these magical creatures, building a bond with them that was similar to that of a hunter and his hound. But judging by the state of the boat and the somewhat feral state of these aquatic creatures, it was not all that hard to tell that whoever used to look after these creatures had been gone for a very, very long time. Probably scrounging for scraps, devouring fish and other lake-dwelling creatures, as well as those that were foolish enough to go for a swim in witch-territory, the creatures appeared quite numerous, and very much in charge of the lake itself as the ruling apex predator. Unwilling to kill these creatures if he could help it, he turned his attention towards his current compatriot. Beginning to glow for a moment as solar mana wrapped around him and caused him to hover above the floor, he imagined this was something he should do by himself.

“I do have one idea, which is me flying back and forth on my own, since carrying you across will just slow me down. With the dangerous flower already in our possession, I doubt I’ll be needing the gloves, so I will be right back.”

And with that, he dashed off, racing through the air like a shooting star. Making his way towards the island in the center of the lake in little to no time at all, he landed only momentarily so as to get a closer look at his surroundings. Noticing an old shrine standing at the center of the island, he imagined that these water dwellers had been raised here to keep the place safe from those that would see the place harmed. But even as he stood here, they did not seem to leave the lake itself, merely waiting for him to set foot inside of their domain before they would swarm him like a school of piranha. Unfortunately for them, this was not something that was about to happen, as the flower they needed for their quest seemed to grow in abundance around the shrine. Picking a couple of them, just to be safe, he took to the air again and dashed back to the other side. Were it not for the fact that moving at his maximum speed took quite a bit of mana, chances were that he’d be using this spell much more often.

“With this, all we need to do is track back to the temple along the way we came, get the last of these plants and make our way back. With a bit of luck, we can do so completely undisturbed, especially since we didn’t exactly do anything to actually disturb the outer forest.”

Powering down and setting foot on dry land again, he had mentioned not disturbing the outer forest. By that, he meant that they had inflicted no actual harm upon the creatures that lived here, nor had they done anything to desecrate the shrine he had encountered on the island. Unless picking some of the flowers from the shrine could be considered such, in which case his response would be to stick it up their behinds. If these witches were going to be a handful because of some flowers that could be used to save the life of a fellow woman, fighting them wouldn’t be something he considered a hassle any longer, but a pleasure of sorts. Carefully placing the flowers into the container while making sure he did not touch the toxic plants by accident, they were now as good as done here. And with a bit of luck, they would get to keep reveling in the peace and quiet of the forest, at least until they reached the border.

With the last of the flowers being the only thing that remained on their shopping list for a cure against vampirism, and this flower being one they would pass by on their way back to the land of Clover, there were some entirely different things running through his mind that did not really have anything to do with their current predicament. At least not yet. Because with the way things were going, it made a lot of sense for them to eventually meet with and face this vampire, for that would be the logical conclusion to all of this. After all, there was no point in aiding these civilians in curing a random woman of her soon to be vampirism, only for them to head out again and wait for another attack to happen. One way or another, all of this was leading up to a confrontation with a kind of creature that they knew next to nothing about.

Sure, one could go off of fairy tales and bring a holy relic of the church, bring several cloves of garlic or supposed holy water, though all of that was nothing if not superstitious nonsense. The only thing he had heard of from the civilians that would aid them was running a wooden stake through the heart of the vampire, but even that was based entirely on nonsense. Whether it were made of silver, wood, iron, steel or diamond, piercing someone or something’s heart was always a sure fire way at killing them, regardless of the material the piercing weapon was to be made out of. Besides, with the magic he possessed, he figured that incinerating this supposed vampire would work out just as well as anything else. Because so far, during his travels and various jobs and missions, there hadn’t been a single thing that managed to come back to life after he burned the remains to ash.

Not too long ago, he had encountered a werewolf for the first time in his life, which was also a creature that was surrounded by myth and legend, what with it only being susceptible to silver weaponry that was meant to poison it and keep their insane healing factor in check long enough for someone to kill it. In his case, severing it at the waist did the trick just fine, even though it ended up reverting to a humanoid form and remaining alive for a little while longer than Griswold would have liked. Even though he wasn’t much for believing in myths and legends, he did not feel like taking any chances as he had wasted no time in reducing the two halves to ash, scattering it to the wind and leaving the world with one less werewolf. With it being cut in two halves, most creatures would have died on the spot, which did say something about the fortitude of werewolves.

Regardless, it had still died, rather than regenerating after being mortally wounded, and it had happened at the edge of a blade that, at least to Griswold’s knowledge, did not have any silver worked into it. That said though, there was a lot he did not know about it, what with it being a magical weapon from a time that had long since come and passed. In his mind, he would be able to kill a vampire just fine by using the same blade that had killed a werewolf, as well as several other beasts considered to be mere myth or legend. And if not, his magic would have to suffice. As they ventured further and further away from the lake, it wouldn’t be long now before they would make their way over to the last of the plants, which he wouldn’t go about picking up himself. The island had been a different case altogether, what with him likely being the only one of them that was remotely capable of flight.

As such, the ends had justified the means, but seeing as how he was not the one with the carrier and the gloves, he left that much to the other guy. Waiting around the ruins while the flowers were being collected, he made sure none of the remaining statues would be coming to life and attacking them like they had done the last time he had come here. Luckily, most of the statues here were nowhere near as well kept as the ones that had fought him, what with most of them being in a state of crumbling almost entirely if they were to be hit with a sufficient amount of force. That thought alone was enough for him to not worry about them, because even if they were to rise up, they would be put back down and broken into rubble before they would get the chance to harm either of the two mages or the contents they were carrying.

“Since it’ll be a while before we get back to town, and I doubt we’ll encounter any witches or demons this far from the central forest, I have to ask. What do you know about vampires. Or rather, what portion of the stories do you believe might be true about them. Do you think holy water, garlic and wooden stakes might actually weaken or kill them?”

With the last of the flowers in their possession and the way to town laying in front of them, Griswold figured now would be as good a time as any to bring it up. Due to the fact that the need for silence was more or less gone now, slinking away further and further the more they wandered towards their destination, the solar mage imagined that he too would have his own thoughts with regards to the creature. Whether it looked human or more like a bat, as some of the stories portrayed them was not something he nor the magic knight would know as neither of them had ever seen one in the flesh, though Griswold imagined that it was likely to be the latter. Sure, it could look like a human, though it likely transformed when it had to feed or fight, just like how a werewolf was human until cornered or triggered by external forces, at which point it would turn into a hybrid with lupine features.

Even though all they would be able to do at this point in time was nothing other than pure speculation, it would kill the time, giving them at least something to discuss while they made their way back to Kiten, and doing so well within the timeframe in which they had to work. So unless one of them were to suddenly break a leg or had the contents of the carrier violently erupting into flames, there was no way they would arrive too late to save the woman, thus saving them both from the feeling of having been too late. And in truth, for as stoic as he was, he would not enjoy seeing the sight of that same woman with a stake rammed into her heart, knowing that he could have probably just flown back and forth on his own in half the time it took them to get there on foot. But that didn’t matter now, as such a thing would not come to pass anymore.

1217 (3027)

[Exit into next part of mission chain]