To the City of Tervilla

A few minutes later they were back. Brandon stood upfront and rushed to them as soon as he got sight of them. "You guys okay?! Is everything alright?!" He said as his worried glance moved from Knut's blood covered Armor to Valeria's which also had a few spots of blood on them.

"It's fine. But the village is completely empty. And there is blood everywhere, but no corpses" Liz quickly outlined the situation.

Brandon went pale. "Th-the whole village?"

Liz nodded. "Only a few Goblins were left. We took care of 'em"

Brandon nodded weakly. "Well, we have no choice but to move on quickly. If a force capable of devastating Woodfall would encounter us..."

Brandon shook his head in resignation but quickly regained his resolve.

"Should we avoid the main Road then? If they want to keep Woodfall's demise a secret, wouldn't they control all movement between here and Tervilla?" Liz asked.

"We can't. The Refugees wouldn't be able to last that long if we were to take a sufficient detour. Also, if they wanted to keep this affair a secret, they would've placed sentries around the Village... so either they don't care about it or they already spotted us... In both cases going on a detour would not increase our chances of avoiding an encounter in the slightest." Irena argued. Her argument was waterproof, and Liz bit her lips in frustration. "Yeah... you are right. All we can do now is hope and stay vigilant" she replied. Knut and Brandon nodded. "I and Liz could maybe... ehm look what is happening?" Valeria suggested a bit shyly and her tail wiggled as if in excitement.

"That idea is not half bad... with either of you taking one side of the road we can eliminate the possibility of an ambush" Brandon nodded to himself as he was thinking. "But Vallie... you sure you can do it?" Irena asked a bit concerned. "Irena please show your motherly concern when it is necessary. Did you forget that our little lady here had moved all on her own through the depths for the past week?" Liz scolded Irena. "No worries, Irena! I'll be fine, promised!" Valeria replied cheerfully.

"Well, I guess it's okay then... but be careful. Okay?" Irena hugged Valeria, who just nodded, shortly.

"Our little lassie will do a fine job. I'm sure of it. And Liz too, of course"

"Well then let's get to it guys! Irena, Knut you cover the back and flank of our formation while I'll stay upfront. Liz, Valeria you'll scout ahead, but please report to me every half an hour. If we don't hear anything for longer than an hour, we'll prepare to take a detour"

With one last nod and words of understanding everyone moved to their positions while Liz and Val moved up ahead through the village once more and onto the road leading to Tervilla.

"So, you want to take left side and I the right?"

"Sure. I don't mind"

"Good. In case of an emergency, use this"

Liz pulled out what seemed to be a 20cm long stick of wood. It was carved with runes and at the tip of it was a red mark. Valeria looked confused at Liz.

"It's a flare. The red tip can be quite easily broken. Once broken signal lights will appear above it for ten minutes. So, use it if you need help or to signal danger. If you need help, you'll run around and keep it with you so your position will change. If its danger leave it where it is"

Liz instructed her shortly. Valeria had been listening closely and nodded.

"Understood!"

And she imitated Liz's salute with a forced serious impression. But on her, a little girl, it looked not disciplined or brave, but cute and quite funny. Liz expression changed and she had to try real hard not to laugh at her. But such a thing would be totally out of place right not.

"Valeria, please don't do that ever again... it doesn't suit you at all."

Valeria's expression went from serious, to disappointed.

"Really?!"

"Yes. Don't force yourself. Makes things just awkward. Can't waste any more time, let's move out."

Valeria nodded, still a bit saddened and with her wings hanging low.

Valeria moved towards the left side of the road. The Forrest was still present, but it was far less dense than it was earlier, it felt more like the outskirts of the Black Woods. It felt silent and peaceful. She remembered the first few days of her journey, the excitement, the grief, the fear... all of it. And that she hadn't been able to relax ever since she left. But her meeting with Withering Tempest had changed that. And her mind was far clearer now, it felt like a thick fog which was over her mind without her noticing it, had vanished. It was only now that she was alone once more that, she could truly grasp the changed she had gone through. The seriousness which she had needed to survive on her own was fading. She was much more like her old self, when her master had still been around. She walked through the Forrest pondering about these things. A few birds were singing, and the wind rustled in the leaves above her. She couldn't relax now, even if she felt some kind of draw to do it. She had to be cautious and on the lookout for any dangers. But contrary to their expectations they didn't encounter anything out of the ordinary. Valeria and Liz were both back at the group, which was slowly making their way further south.

"Mhh didn't find anything."

"Yeah, me neither. The only thing I saw were a large track of footprints, but I am no expert in them so no idea what they were. I can just say that they went west and that it was a huge group that moved along."

"Puhh. Seems like luck was on our side this time around. If they went west, we should be save. Of course, if it truly was the same reason Woodfall was overrun..."

Brandon surmised. All agreed and it was decided that they would not split the party anymore. The most threats now could probably be easier dealt with. Thus, they made their way further to Tervilla.

It took them another whole day to get there. They camped out again. Irena kept on spoiling our little Dragon girl. Brandon tried his best to regain favor with Irena, which worked. A bit.

Knut repaired his armor, with the help of Valeria. And Liz spend some time talking with the Refugees. All in all, it was one of the more relaxing parts of their trip so far. They only encountered a few small groups of Goblins along the way which were easy enough to take care of. The only thing that stood out was that all the Goblins seemed to be heading westward.

They also encountered a few travelers and adventures who wanted to go to Woodfall. After receiving the news of its fate, the travelers were shocked at first. They said they had family there and only after pointing out that absolutely nobody was there, they went back to Tervilla to issue a quest to find them. They were much faster than the group of refugees and were soon out of sight.

The adventures which came along afterwards said they had met the pair and accepted the quest, which was technically against the guild rules, as pointed out by Knut. But time was of the essence and so they decided to help them out regardless. Withering Tempest shared what little they knew and wished them good look on their journey and with their quest. But they had their concerns for their safety, they didn't look like much. They were all young human men. 2 Swordfighters, 1 hunter and 1 Cleric. They also introduced themselves as the E-Rank adventuring Group 'Red Whirlwind'. Since neither of the party members of Withering Tempest had ever heard of them, despite having Tervilla as their home base. They deducted that they had only recently formed.

Valeria was hiding whenever anyone outside the group showed up. The idea came from Irena. She argued that Valeria was not yet under guild protection and not a citizen of any country so killing her would have little to no legal consequences. Also having the conversations drawn-out because of her and their already slow progress being slowed even more, was enough for everyone agreeing with this course of action.

In the early evening on their third day of travel, Tervilla came into sight. It was a medium-sized city.

As pointed out by Brandon. It had two rings of walls. The inner wall protected the administration and nobility, as well as wealthy merchants. In the outer ring were living mostly humans and a few beastmen here and there. And outside the walls were the slums, they were small once with only a few humans living there. But recently many Refugees from the Holy Kingdom had settled there. Thus many beastmen lived there now. They kept on going on the stone pathed way while Brandon explained all of this to Valeria. Who was very interested in this city and nodded vigorously.

"But we'll try to get Count Allberg to set up new villages for the Refugees. Maybe he'll hear us out..." Brandon muttered to himself.

"Mhmhm! But you won't have to worry about this Vallie! While those three try to get an audience and a place to stay for the Refugees, I'll come along with you to the guild!" Irena exclaimed very excited.

"Okay! I Never was in such a big city before... I hope they won't stare at me like those guys..."

Valeria pointed at the Caravan of refugees. While traveling together for 3 days now, they still kept their distance towards her, but she could feel their uncomfortable stares very often.

"Gahaaha! Well, that might be impossible little lassie. Dragonkin are very rare and exotic to begin with. And ya're looks are just too adorable for ya to not draw attention!" Knut pointed out and the others seemed to silently agree with him.

Valeria puffed her cheeks "I'm not adorable!"

Everyone started laughing wholeheartedly.

"Stop laughing! You're meanies!"

But it was to no avail. Even Irena had to hide her wide grin and laughter behind her hand.

"Come little Vallie. Being cute is no shame! You must embrace it!" Irena proposed.

Liz was much more realistic "Guys we said she shouldn't draw too much attention remember? So, we shouldn't make it any worse than it is. Just be yourself Val and everything will be fine. And it isn't like that everyone will be immediately charmed by her like you Irena"

Irena clicked her tongue "Na your right, and it isn't like I have seen any Dragon hunters in Tervilla in the past 10 years and haven't heard of any in the whole south since 50 years ago. So it should be fine"

"True. And even if Dragon hunters would come around. As long as she is in the city not even those idiots would be so moronic to attack her in broad daylight" Brandon agreed.

Another few minutes later they had stood before the northern gate. The slums were placed between the gates and not in front of them, so they didn't have to go through them. Brandon led the group towards the gate. Meanwhile the Refugees had made up camp near the slums and Liz was on guard duty. It wasn't likely that anything would happen to them, but they had taken the Refugees such a long way that they didn't want to leave anything to chance.

The northern gate was quiet and only two men with spears and iron enforced leather armor stood guard.

"Good day Brandon, long time no see"

One of the guards, a middle-aged man with brown hair greeted.

"Ah, good day Sir Gordon. Good to see you, there is an emergency and I have to speak to Count Allberg"

"What kind of emergency? anything to do with this young Lady you got there?"

He looked very Curiously at Valeria.

"No. We came across Woodfall two Days ago. The entirety of its inhabitants were gone. We figured it had to be a Goblin horde heading west, responsible for that"

Gordon and his colleague went pale.

"That's terrible news! I'll inform the Count immediately! Could you come with me?"

"Yes, some of us. If its fine? Irena and our little companion here have urgent business at the guild"

"Yes of course that's no problem. Let's move!"

Gordon led Brandon and Knut inside the city.

Now the other guard was the only one left.

"Miss Irena you may enter. But I need a form of identification from your little companion here"

"Sadly, she doesn't have anything like that. But I can vouch for her and pay her fee"

The guard raised an Eyebrow but accepted the proposal, nonetheless. The fee amounted to ten Silver and after handing it over the two of them entered.

"Okay Vallie. I'll show you the way to the guild"

" 'kay. Thanks for paying for me!"

Irena chuckled "No problem. Once you get your Guild card you won't have to pay a fee anymore"