13 Reaching Amberside
In a giant forest Aaron felt the wind as he ran through the bushes, followed by a group of shadows of which only the eyes could be seen, they were chasing a group of deers.
Despite the great speed at which he ran, Aaron could observe and feel all the small details around him, the emotion of the hunt and the essence of the prey had permeated his memory, he would not let it escape.
Getting closer and closer to his prey, Aaron felt such a euphoria that it gave him enough momentum to close the short distance of the deer farthest behind and jumping on his back, he knocked him down and despite losing his grip, this gave him enough time to the other shadows reach the deer thus ending their struggle.
Knowing that the hunt was a success, Aaron let out a howl that was accompanied by the rest of the shadows, seeing this, Aaron approached the group that surrounded the deer but did nothing.
After a few seconds, several of the shadows dispersed to let pass a figure that emanated a calming light which marked the figure of a wolf which approached Aaron and after lowering his head in front of Aaron, Aaron did the same.
...
Opening his eyes suddenly, Aaron inhaled and looked around, seeing that he was in the white room, sighed and sat trying to remember what had happened.
"You finally woke up boy"
"Hal, what ... what happened, why does my head hurt so much?"
"You got carried away by your instincts, do you know what an elemental fusion is?"
"I ... I know"
Aaron said massaging his head to try to relax the pain a bit
"It is when someone who formed a contract with an elemental spirit merges with that spirit to gain control over its power and characteristics."
"Yes, you remember what I told you when you were in the river, basically the contract you signed is not a common invocation contract like the ones you know, but it combines that contract with that of the spirits allowing you to use the abilities of your familiar yourself"
"Yes, but what does that have to do with it?"
"You basically got the abilities of Luna's bloodline, but since you couldn't fully control it, the impulses of this bloodline took control over you."
"That means that..."
"That you practically behaved like a beast and to make it worse, one without reason blinded by your fury amplified by the change"
"{Sigh} I knew that what you mentioned earlier would bring trouble, but I didn't expect it to be so fast ..."
"As long as you can control your anger and other strong emotions, you should be able to stay in control."
"But what if I can't control it?"
"Then you will lose your mind and attack everything that you come to consider a threat no matter how minor it is"
"..."
"Let's leave it like that for now boy, rest, you were gone for four hours so you should still be able to rest for another two or three hours."
Understanding that he could not do anything about this situation for now, Aaron only closed his eyes and inhaled.
After leaving the white room and seeing that it was still until dawn, he sighed, got up and after leaving the tower he sat next to the fire.
"What's up boy, can't you sleep?"
"Hi Roland, sorry but I just woke up and just wanted to go out and get some air"
"No problem"
"Did something happen during the night?"
"Nothing, all quiet"
"..."
"... I don't know if you have something that worries you and I may not be as brilliant as Donovan, Dominic or Oliver, but at least I can hear you"
"... It's just ... I don't know what to do… During these days, I have kept moving forward without thinking too much about the future, despite everything I told Donovan I am terrified to think about our situation, the future and myself…"
"... As I said, I am not bright enough like the others but what I do know is that regardless of the path you are traveling, how cracked or steep it is, if you keep taking one step at a time you will reach the end of this one, it may not be the path you expected or it might not be as long as you thought, but at least you can always say that you reached the end.
Besides, you are still young and I trust that you will gain enough strength to start making your own path"
"It terrifies me to think of what I need to sacrifice to obtain such strength ..."
"As I said boy, one step at a time, walk without fear and even if I can't tell you where to walk, I promise you, if you stumble I'll be there behind you to catch you and get back on your feet"
"... Thanks Roland"
"Don't mention it boy, besides I can't leave you alone, remember you said you would help me buy one of those special cakes for Mia, for that we need to get to the end of all this"
"... heh, you're right, I wonder how they are doing"
"They will be fine and in about 5 weeks they should be reaching the land of origin"
Hearing that, Aaron looked up at the starry sky and sighed remembering those happy moments with his family and friends as Roland put some more wood on the fire.
"Hey, Roland…"
"What 's up boy?"
"How long do you think it will take for them to come back?"
"The plan was about four years and although I don't like to say it, it may be five"
I see ... I guess it's okay
"?"
"That way we will have one more year to prepare to welcome them"
Saying that Aaron got up and headed to the keep
"I'm going to sleep a little more, we should go out in two hours"
"Rest well... and thanks"
…
Awakened by the sounds around him, Aaron opened his eyes to watch several of the knights prepare to start work, and with the sun yet to rise, Aaron got up and after settling his place, went to look for Dominic.
"Good morning Dominic, everything ready?"
"Almost, Tom still needs to prepare a few things before leaving, could you store these rations and gear in your relic?"
"No problem, I'll go build the walls"
With a signal from Tom to indicate that he had heard, Aaron went out and after finishing the western section of the perimeter, began to work on the northern section, by the time he spent all his mana, Dominic and Tom were already waiting for him with the sky clearing up behind their back.
"- and we also have to find a way to get salt"
"Looking for a reservoir is too laborious at the moment and going through Caya every time to get seawater is too dangerous ... Oh Aaron, everything ready?"
"Yes, what is that about salt?"
"The issue came up when Oliver mentions that we can fish in the river as well as set some traps since hunting around here can be dangerous until we explore the surroundings better"
"And from there, came the problem of preserving food, for this we need salt, drying them in the sun is not an option during the fall, we could also smoke it but it would require too much wood which we need to start accumulating since winter will arrive in a few months "
"I see"
"For now it does not matter, when we return and if we find more hands, we can increase the pace of work, so we can find an easier solution"
After saying that and saying goodbye to the rest, Aaron's group marched north following the river at some distance avoiding various wild animals and without much trouble, they reached the first village which was deserted.
After dividing, they searched the surroundings without finding anything more than indications that the inhabitants had fled from there in a hurry.
"Aaron, did you find anything?"
"Nothing, Luna could sniff out a trace, but like the rest, they got lost in the forest"
"I suppose they have escaped, I hope it has reached Caya"
"It could be Tom"
"..."
"Let's take a break and leave in twenty minutes, we should be able to reach the next village before sunset."
After this, Aaron put the little food, blankets and tools that he found in his inventory, and after resting the group continued on their way.
Again, thanks to Luna's nose, the group was able to avoid the dangers of the forest and after several hours they reached the outskirts of the village when the sun was setting on the horizon.
From afar the group was able to see movement in the village, but when they were getting closer Donovan noticed something strange, not wanting to get closer until checking it the group circled the edge of the forest until they found a high place from which to observe the situation.
And unfortunately, the situation does not seem favorable.
Several houses in the village were destroyed and clear signs of fighting could be observed in the surroundings, all the villagers were in the central square, held by a group of orcs, who nonchalantly ate and laughed over the bodies of a couple of villagers that it seemed that had tried to resist.
Tom, enraged by the situation, wanted to charge directly to kill the orcs and save the villagers as quickly as possible but Aaron refused his idea which caused him to be surprised.
"Why Aaron? You don't see what those bastards are doing?"
"Take it easy Tom, what Aaron says is true, we have no idea how many we are up against and although we can kill all of them nothing assures us that they will not use the villagers against us"
"But…"
"Tom, it bothers me as much as you do, but I don't think the villagers are in danger unless they try something on their own."
"Why do you say that Aaron? In case you haven't seen, they are eating them!"
"Boy, what Aaron says is correct"
"?"
"Just think about it, what would you do, would you eat a pig that had already been slaughtered or would you leave it there and kill another pig which you have no way to preserve its meat?"
"... those bastards"
"At least thanks to that, it will give us time to think of a plan"
Taking a deep breath and clenching his teeth, Tom calmed down a bit and as the group began to discuss a plan of action, a mission window appeared in front of Aaron.
*********
Urgent Mission - Save the Villagers
A band of Orcs took control of a town and now holds its villagers captive, if you are able to save them, the villagers will be in your debt and it will be easier to recruit them, in addition, among them, there are talents that will be very useful.
Orcs eliminated: 0/39
Orc Leader Eliminated: 0/1
Time limit: Until the death of the villagers
Reward: What you can get from the villagers
Note: Among the villagers, there is one that could greatly increase the survival chance of the user in his current condition, but for this, the user must eliminate the leader of the orcs before he performs his sacrifice ritual at midnight.
Time limit: 3h 34m
*********
Seeing this, Aaron knew that they did not have as much time as they thought, and thinking fast, he decided to interrupt the others.
"I think we don't have as much time as we thought"
"What do you mean boy?"
"Donovan, you saw the more ostentatiously dressed orc who separated himself from the rest, didn't you?"
"Yes, that must be the leader of the group, what does he have?"
"I think he wants to perform some kind of ritual or something"
"Why do you say that?"
"I remember reading about some shaman orcs a long time ago, and considering how one only took some parts of the villagers, I should be preparing a ritual."
"Could it be that you just want to eat in private?"
"I doubt it, I couldn't see it in its entirety but it took a couple of heads without cooking, and seeing how the rest of the orcs act, it seems strange to me"
"I understand your point, during the war against the cults of the beastmen, there was one who managed to bring some demons out of the void who taught them those shamanic arts that you mention, they were difficult battles, so if what you say comes true the three of us won't be enough to kill them "
"Therefore we must act quickly before the ritual is complete"
"So what do you suggest?"
"There are only a few around the campfire and the rest are in the houses of the villagers, so when the sun goes down, I will move forward using the crops as cover and try to kill them silently"
"Do you think you are capable of doing it?"
"I think, I will only enter six or seven houses before reaching the house where the leader just entered, you will have to go around the edge of the forest and try to enter the northern part of town and secure the villagers ... just in case a battle breaks out before I was able to finish with their leader "
"Tom, in case they discover us, you will take care of protecting the villagers, although I have not fully recovered yet, with enough time I should be able to kill one or two dozen orcs"
"Understood Captain"
"Luna will accompany you, she should help avoid any danger while you go around the forest"
Saying that, Aaron separated himself from the group and waited when only the light of the moon would illuminate the fields, Aaron advanced, starting his first hunt.
*********
Ember Guardian System
User: Aaron Froststar
Race: Human (83%)
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{Status}
LV: 7
XP: 158/769
SP: 0
HP: 132/132
MP: 5/43
STR: 17
AGI: 20
DEX: 22
CON:11
INT: 19
WIS:19
CHA: 19
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