Cultivation a fantasy li.., p.23
Cultivation: A Fantasy LitRPG Adventure (Battle Mage Farmer Book 3), page 23
Trembling, Togene stared at John for a second, unable to believe what she was hearing. It was undeniable that the mana was starting to change around the field, and with one last glance at the land, she bowed her head.
“I am yours to command. What would you have me do?”
CHAPTER 29
Patting Togene on the shoulder, John smiled.
“Nothing difficult. I’d like you to go south to find the Hermit and convince him to stay at home.”
“Just that?”
“Yes,” John said. “Though you’ll need to stay with him to make sure. Just for a month. The first Mage’s door has been found, and Kythov the Eyeless is planning something with it. The last time I saw the Hermit, he carried a deep darkness, and I am afraid he has begun to walk down the same path as Kythov. Of the sages who remain in the world, he’s the one I’m most worried about. I don’t want to have to fight two sages at the same time if I can help it, since the fallout from that will be enough to ruin the world. Since I don’t know if the Hermit has or will join with Kythov, I need you to block him.”
“What of the Lord of Frost in the far north?” Togene asked, her eyes narrowing.
“He and I had a heated disagreement a few years ago,” John said evenly. “He stopped being a problem at that point. You and the Hermit are the only other human sages beside Kythov who are left. At least, that I’m aware of. And I don’t need to tell you that anyone who follows his example will end up as he did.”
Swallowing, Togene pulled herself together and nodded. John’s mention of the first Mage’s door had awakened an intense desire in her, and if she was honest with herself, she wasn’t even sure John’s blatant threat could keep her away. The infinitum was a deadly temptation for anyone who had achieved the level she had, as she could feel her life slipping away with every passing moment. The feeling was enough to drive one mad, and the hope of being able to lengthen their lifespan was something most sages would pounce on. Seeing her struggle, John’s face grew serious.
“Once Kythov is defeated, I will grant both of you the chance to examine the door. But the Necromancer must be stopped first, and I will assume that anyone nearby is an enemy. So, keep him occupied for at least a month.”
“Will that be enough time to find Kythov?” Togene asked.
“Yes,” John nodded confidently. “More than enough time.”
“Very well. I will do as you ask.”
Quickly returning to the camp, Togene called together a few of the Khans from tribes she knew she could trust and deployed three legendary level warriors to guard the field. At the same time, she began to arrange for the investigation of the Wise Women while she was gone. The great majority of them were completely innocent and after a brief conversation were released back to their tribes, but a few dozen of them were found to have ties to the deposed High Priestess, a terrible crime among the Moritoi.
While she was dealing with that, John and Ellie gathered their things and got ready to head back to the valley. Zayaat insisted on sending a group of warriors to guard them and Togene even provided a special token to grant them free passage through the great plains. After trying, in vain, to reject the escort, John finally just shook his head and told them to do whatever they wanted. Ever since the end of the assembly, John attracted gazes everywhere he went, so he was quite happy when they finally left and headed out into the wide grassland. The closer they got to the mountains, the happier he got, and by the time they reached the mountains, John realized he finally had a home in this world. One he couldn’t wait to get back to.
Down in the valley, Ben had just finished his morning chores and ran back to the barn to let Thomas know. Ever since John and Ellie had been gone, he’d been spending his days exploring the forest to the north of the farm. John had casually mentioned needing to map that area so that they knew where to expand their fields, and Ben had convinced Thomas to let him help. He was extra excited today because he had found a small set of old buildings deep in the forest last night and he was excited to start exploring the ruins.
After making sure there was nothing else to do, he hurried to the bunkhouse and opened up the drawer under his bed. With some reverence, he pulled out the shortsword Thomas had given him for his birthday and set it out on his bed. Next to it he placed his dagger, and then got out the armor John and Ellie had made for him. One by one, he pulled out all the equipment he used for his exploration and put it out on the bed, double-checking each piece as he did so.
Every morning, Thomas reminded him that success was ninety percent preparation and ten percent execution, and while Ben would have much rather just run into the woods like he used to, he had a teacher now and he was determined to be as good a student as possible. After all, if he did well enough, maybe Thomas would help him become a class holder! Even though his sister was a class holder and he was sure John would help him if he asked, he had no desire to spend his time buried in books like they did.
Instead, it was the flashing blades Thomas wielded that piqued his interest. If he could learn to use a sword and dagger like a Duelist, he would be ecstatic. Despite Thomas’ stern expression, Ben could tell his teacher approved of how quickly he was catching on, and Ben was hopeful that when he was old enough he would be able to gain a class like Duelist. Finishing his initial check, Ben stepped back and let out his breath, counting to thirty. Even though he rushed the numbers at the end, he felt like he was calmer as he did one final check over all his gear. Ninety percent preparation, ten percent execution.
After he was sure he had everything he needed, he put on his equipment, starting with his armor. Buckling the belts, he tested each one to make sure they wouldn’t snap at an inopportune time and then slipped his belt around his waist, settling both his sword and dagger on it. Packing all his other gear into his bag, he slipped it around his shoulder and buckled the bottom of it to his opposite hip, ensuring it was tight with a tug on the top strap.
Ready to go, he looked at himself in the mirror on the bathroom door and gave himself a thumbs up. He looked great. Hearing a noise outside, he blushed and turned away from the mirror quickly, just before Even came through the door.
“Hey Ben, heading out? You’ve been doing a lot of exploring these days.”
“Yeah, I’m almost finished mapping the area between here and the northern mountains,” Ben said, slapping the tube at his waist that carried the map he was working on.
Stifling a yawn, Even gave him a thumbs up as he kicked off his boots and flopped onto his bed.
“Wow, great work. I’m gonna catch a nap. We were up with three new calves last night.”
“Alright, see you.”
Closing the door behind him, Ben swung by the kitchen to pick up the bag of food he had prepared that morning and soon he was in the woods. The light filtering through the leaves created a mottled pattern on the forest floor as he wove his way between the trees, and after traveling for around an hour, Ben stopped on a large rock in a small clearing. This was where he started his exploration from each day, making elongated loops out into the forest and then coming back after he reached the mountains. Sitting down on the rock, he closed his eyes and concentrated on his breathing, trying to sharpen his senses the way Thomas had taught him.
Just as he was about to give up, he felt a strange sense, as if someone was standing right behind him, watching him intently. Startled, he opened his eyes in shock, but the feeling was gone, and no matter how he tried to regain that state, he had no luck. Frowning slightly, Ben thought about going back to the farm to get Thomas but finally he shook his head. The gaze hadn’t felt dangerous and he had even felt a sense of familiarity from it, as if it was a gaze that had rested on him often in the past. Shaking off the strange feeling, Ben shrugged and stood up, jumping down from the rock and getting his map out.
Last night he had seen some buildings in the forest to the northeast, and he was excited to explore them today. After confirming his direction and the time, he put the map back into the case and, sealing it tightly, hid it under the rock before slipping into the woods. He moved quickly considering his age, and there was a nimbleness to his motions that spoke of the year and a half of hard training he had undergone. The trip to the ruined buildings took nearly four hours, and Ben stopped a number of times to record the path.
He paid careful attention to landmarks and did his best to record the elevation changes as well, keeping track of everything in a small notebook he kept in his belt. Coming through a tight clump of trees, he finally caught sight of the roof he had spotted the day before. Coming to a stop, he took out his notebook and recorded what he saw, grumbling to himself when the tip of his pencil broke. Flipping out the small knife he carried in his belt pouch, he sharpened the pencil and finished his recording before proceeding.
Suppressing the nervousness in his heart, he kept himself low as he crept toward the buildings. The afternoon was well underway by this point and the spots of sunlight were quite warm. Despite that warmth, Ben couldn’t help but shiver slightly. He knew that most likely he would find nothing but broken-down buildings infested with rodents, or other vermin from the forest. Still, there was a darkness about the buildings that stabbed at his heart. Slipping from the shadows of one tree to the next, Ben did his best to stay low, approaching the buildings the way Thomas had taught him. It was slow, but the closer Ben got, the stronger the feeling he needed to be careful grew. Stopping in place partially under a log, Ben almost turned around, but the desire to see what was inside the buildings won out, and after hesitating for a long time, he finally moved forward.
The buildings were fairly dilapidated, but surprisingly they were in better shape than Ben had anticipated and even showed some signs of half-hearted attempts at repairs. Realizing he wasn’t the only one who had been here before, Ben examined the layout of the buildings. There was a single-story building that looked like a house, as well as two sheds across from it that looked like they had once held horses.
Staying low, Ben was just creeping toward the house when he heard a sound in the forest behind him. Realizing he was visible, he sprinted forward, his feet making hardly a sound on the springy forest floor, managing to squeeze under a gap below the house just before someone strode into the overgrown yard between the house and the sheds. Unable to see who the person was, Ben tried to calm down his pounding heart, afraid they would hear the loud thudding or his ragged breathing.
Getting himself calm took some time, and while he was focusing on controlling his breathing, he heard the door open with a bang and footsteps sounded above him. Realizing that the person had entered the house, he began to look around to see if he could slip out without them knowing it. The space he had crawled into was tight, but there was enough space for him to turn himself over and sit up. Some animal had chewed through the wall, and a small pinprick of light let Ben know there was a hole there that peered into the house. Ever so carefully, he sat up and looked through the small hole, making sure to keep his eye back.
Standing in the center of the room was a figure he recognized instantly, causing him to nearly cry out. Stifling the shout that rose to his lips, he stared at Halden, the Fairford village leader. It had been some time since Ben had seen Halden, but it looked like absolutely nothing had changed about the thickset, middle-aged man. Unsure what to do, Ben was going to crawl away when suddenly he was struck by a sense of curiosity. What was Halden doing all the way out here in the woods? They were hours away from the village, and Halden was clearly waiting for someone or something.
Deciding to wait, Ben sat under the house patiently, making sure not to look at Halden directly. He could hear the village leader’s footsteps on the floor, so he didn’t actually have to look through the hole, and Thomas always stressed that humans had a sixth sense for being watched. Thinking about the strange feeling he had felt while he was on the rock earlier, Ben was about to drift off into a daydream when he heard the sound of another person. Taking a quick peek, he saw another person enter the house, though this one was cloaked in a thick black cloak with a deep hood that cast a shadow across their face.
“What are you doing here?” the cloaked figure hissed, his voice deep and gravelly.
“You promised me there would be no trouble!” Halden shouted, pointing angrily at the robed figure. “But now I’ve got members of the Ecclesia crawling all over my town.”
“Our efforts are a closely held secret,” the man responded with barely concealed anger. “If the Ecclesia has come to your town, it must be for another reason.”
“Secret? Then why does everyone know about it? There are two priests and six Holy Knights! How do you explain that if they don’t know about what you’re doing? I told you to keep the undead further away from the valley!”
“Do not speak to me like that, or I will take your tongue and make it into a necklace for you to wear around your throat,” the robed figure snarled, slapping Halden’s pointing finger away. “Our master tolerates you because you have been a help to our cause, but don’t get the wrong idea about our cooperation. So long as you continue to be useful to the cause, you will be tolerated, but as soon as that changes, I will gut you myself and use your spine as a backscratcher. You were granted our power, so if you have a problem with the Ecclesia, deal with it yourself. We have almost succeeded in our endeavor, and then it will not matter how many Holy Knights come. Do not call me again for something so trivial. In fact, do not call me at all. I will inform you when your presence is needed.”
Without waiting for a reply, the robed figure spun and left, leaving Halden alone in the house, white-faced and trembling. It took almost ten minutes before Halden was able to get ahold of himself, and with a curse under his breath, he stomped out of the house and vanished into the forest. Underneath the floor, Ben waited a full two minutes before moving just to make sure the area was really empty.
Scrambling out of the hole under the house, Ben desperately tried to control his breathing as he thought about what he had just heard. He had no idea what Halden and the robed man had been talking about, but he knew it was bad and that he needed to get back to the farm as fast as possible. Darting for the woods, he heard a sound and suddenly stopped, peering ahead into the growing shadows. Not sensing anything, he had just taken a step forward when a shadow darted out from behind him, a leaf-shaped blade stabbing silently toward his back with incredible speed.
CHAPTER 30
Prompted by an instinct he didn’t know he possessed, Ben jumped forward, his body naturally flipping into a roll as the leaf blade flashed over his head. Halfway through his instinctive dodge, Ben’s training kicked in and he changed directions, using his hands and feet to push himself sideways, avoiding another stab that sank deep into the dirt. Darting to the side, he caught sight of Halden’s pale face, twisted with a horrifying madness.
Rolling to his feet, Ben lunged into the woods, trying to put as much distance between himself and the knife as possible. Normally there should have been no way for a normal person like Ben to have escaped the surprise attack of a class holder, but between his small size and the intense training he had been through, he managed to get out of the way of the first two attacks. Hearing a scream of rage behind him, Ben ran for his life, dodging between the trees as he shed his bag.
Ben had always been a realist, and he was more than aware of the danger he was in. Despite that, he didn’t panic, instead drawing the shortsword he had been given for his birthday. Stepping around a tree, he suddenly spun and stabbed out with his sword, managing to land a blow on Halden’s arm just as the insane village leader stabbed at him with his blade. The silver shortsword cut through Halden’s skin, sending blood spraying as it gashed his arm, but it wasn’t enough to stop the leaf-shaped blade from sinking into Ben’s chest, right below his right collarbone.
His leather armor proved tough, but the blow of a class holder couldn’t be stopped by boiled leather and Halden’s blade pierced through the thick leather, stabbing three inches into Ben’s chest. As the weapon cut into his muscle, an incredible force seemed to erupt in him, and with a sudden burst of strength Ben reversed the direction of his shortsword attack, nearly severing Halden’s wrist.
In too much shock to feel the pain, Ben darted away, the dagger still stuck in his body. He had no idea how he managed to do it, but he had just enough strength and presence of mind to slip his shortsword into its sheath before the burning in his chest erupted and a wave of intense pain assaulted his mind, like it had shattered into a million pieces. Stumbling through the forest, he had no idea how far he went before it was too much and he fell to the ground, darkness claiming him.
Miles away, John and Ellie had just made it back to Fairford when a terrible feeling struck Ellie, causing her to gasp and grab her chest. Looking over at her in concern, John heard her speak in a trembling voice.
“Ben!”
Grabbing Ellie’s waist as she sagged on her horse, John turned to look at the Moritoi warriors who had been escorting them back to the valley.
“Bring the horses to the farm!”
Without another word he vanished, carrying Ellie with him as he appeared briefly down the road. With a flash, he was gone, disappearing into the distance. Standing on the porch, Katrine, who had been about to say hello, awkwardly lowered her hand, staring after them. Blinking his big eyes, Ferdie looked around with a confused moo and then took off, the cart he was pulling bumping along after him as he ran while the Moritoi warriors tried to catch up. Flames flickering at his feet, it only took John two minutes to get to the farm, and when he did Thomas’ clone was standing in the yard, a grim look on his face.
