Ch-22: Volley City

While Jarien and Richard had barely exited the escape passageway after 3 hours, they had changed their looks once again and they hurriedly entered the closest town without any checks as this place was not that developed making it easier to sneak in.

Little did they know that this would be the last time they would be able to sneak in due to what had transpired in Ignus city because of them which resulted in tightening the security checks of every town and city.

Of Course the remote towns and villages were not cared for even at such a time; if they were not of any major importance then they were left as it is.

Unfortunately for them, their destination was Volley city which was important for the blacksmiths in this region as well as fire-affinity treasures resulting in a very tight security around the city.

"Richard, let's rest for tonight and leave tomorrow morning" whispered Jarien, unaware of the future trouble awaiting him.

"...Alright" replied Richard as he knew he did not have any option left as he had long become an accomplice.

The only way he could save himself from punishment was following Jarien and protecting him as his initial order because he did not want to get sandwiched and get punished from both sides.

After this discussion, they sneaked into the city and rested in a rather normal inn and left in the morning without a hitch but they had noticed heightened security and uneasy guards before leaving.

Upon arriving at their next city, they noticed various patrols and checking points for identities of the people leaving and entering the city but this hindered them from entering as they did not have any ID for any of their disguises.

So, they had no choice but to hope that it would be lightened when they reached Volley City but they had to go through mountains and forests in the region while using masking scents to not be attacked by monster groups or stronger predators that might delay or even kill them.

***

Back at the scorching house, a burly man could be seen looking around calmly at the scene of destruction from a distance as the city guards were trying to put the fire off to prevent it from spreading.

The burly man was dissatisfied as he had to use a self-exploding artifact on the mid-B rank assassin and to erase evidence he had activated other explosives that were hidden among the assassin's clothes.

He was not dissatisfied for using these means but rather at the incompetence of the assassins as he had a nagging feeling at the back of his head that the target escaped because he was not there at the scene and only sensed the weakened life force and death of the assassins which resulted in the scene.

He had no idea that the current scene was because of Jarien and his nagging feeling was correct but he had no proof as there were not even ashes left in the house which had burned down way too severely.

The burly man turned to look in a particular direction and vanished from the spot as he seemed to have sensed someone and as he expected they were the secret guards but they could not approach the scene due to their orders and went to explore the escape path.

The burly man was none other than Albert who met Richard and ordered the assassination. He was also the one who attacked the S-rank bear and caused the beast tide as a diversion and he escaped it by using the city as bait.

The escape passage had also collapsed after the explosion which was the reason why Jarien and Richard took 3 hours to leave the passageway but this was unknown to everyone.

They wanted to report it but they had to wait and first figure out what was happening which left them no choice but to reveal themselves from the Dawner family but that was the most they did.

After all, they were coming from escorting the kids back to the main estate unaware of the reason as it was too sensitive for them to know of it and it was not even related to the family they belonged to.

All of them were clueless about the beast tide as they approached this area while concealing themselves as soon as they saw the house burning from a distance surrounded by city guards, the association and the inhabitants of the city. 

======

At the same time Jarien had started to break through, an isolation dome which was invisible to everyone was cast by the burly man as soon as he saw the assassins enter without them knowing that their fate had been fixed when they entered the area enclosed by the dome.

The patrolling city guards would have been able to notice it as the city was not fortified at all and no beasts attacked it except few who had lost rationality due to the location of the city being surrounded by different cities close by and not much area was left untouched around the city.

The guards across the city as well as the association were calm like usual when suddenly the city was attacked by several monsters ranging from D-rank to A-rank with a single S-rank monster besieging the city from a single direction.

*Attention please! Attention please…!

Due to some unforeseen reasons, a large number of beasts have attacked the city. They are now on their way to the city borders. Please stay calm and go to the closest shelter or into safe proximity.

This is not a test!

This is not a test!*

Since the attack was totally unexpected, the defence line broke within a few minutes but the alert had already rang out across the city causing chaos as this had not happened in a long time making everyone panic and rush to the shelters.

*Attention please! Attention please…!

Due to some unforeseen reasons, a large number of beasts have attacked the city. They are now on their way to the city borders. Please stay calm and go to the closest shelter or into safe proximity.

This is not a test!

This is not a test!*

The alarm kept blaring which made the troops from other borders, guards, the association personnel and many others rush to the borders and the weaker ones helped in evacuating the panicked crowd.

When they arrived, they saw a scene of utter horror as the defence line had mostly fallen and the D-rank to A-rank beasts were rampaging while the S-rank had not even reached nearby as these beasts were just running away from the S-rank, so they just charged through killing anyone stopping their way.

All the troops started attacking the beasts before they marched to the center of the city as the shelters were located there and the walls there would not be able to last very long in front of such a tide of beasts.

The S-rank branch leader was not attacking any beast as he knew that the moment he revealed himself the beasts would rampage and the S-rank one would arrive faster. Their battle would destroy most of the city as well as kill everyone in the vicinity.

So he had no choice but to go out of the city to attack the S-rank beast. Luckily for him, he only had to hold on for some time as the S-rank guard commander would join him after the city defence was over.

It took nearly 6 hours to defeat the S-rank beast as it fled and the two S-ranks did not give chase as their condition was also not good. Both of them had been injured by the bear-like beast that was the size of a small mansion.

The beasts were defeated but no one was celebrating as 15% of the city was destroyed and thousands of people died and there was an unexpected fire in the outskirts of the city which reduced an entire house to ashes.

Since no corpses were found, it was concluded that the people inside had left to the shelter as they had to calculate the casualties and losses to calibrate the number as it had to be reported to the superiors.

======

This was what the Dawner family guards heard and they had found nothing in the passageway nor in the mansion which made them search the shelter and the entire city but they did not find anyone.

They only did this to be sure as they also knew that only one house burned which meant that someone tried assassinating Jarien but he escaped as the escape passageway had closed which indicated that it had been used.

***

While Jarien was resting, unbeknownst to him the secret guards reported him missing and the assassination attack which made them join the beast stampede to cover up the impact.

Jarien had no clue that so many people died just for a cover up and he would not know about it till later as Richard withheld this information from him.

No one considered that the area was sealed as there were no witnesses and everyone was busy with the beast tide which made it easier for the burly man to cover it up as an accident.

…

…

…

Jarien and Richard had been travelling with little to no rest to reach Volley City faster and they reached it on 30 June, 988.

They entered the city from the border which is close to volcanoes as there was a hidden passage here used by the ones who are trying to collect fragments and is unknown to even the Black Market.

Thus, they entered Volley City which was way hotter than Ignus city and even more secure as the volcano side was heavily guarded and walled up due to irregular eruptions which lead to beast tides of small scale every now and then.

'This city was totally destroyed similarly to all the cities near which a 'fragment' was found as they always lured beasts by attacking and aggroing them but some cities could resist these invasions. Yet, they would be left dilapidated after such destruction

It only happened to prevent anyone from finding out about the existence of the 'fragments' but they did not only destroy the nearby city but also other cities nearby which resulted in a very high death toll…'

While Jarien was remembering the details and the location of where the fragment would appear, he was pulled out of his thoughts by Richard as they had already reached inside the inn room where they were supposed to rest as it was nearly midnight.

"Young Master…Young Master…" said Richard in a low tone while jerking Jarien to wake him from his thoughts.

'Looks like he is really tired that he is dazing around…' though Richard with pity filled eyes towards him.

"What the…when did we reach the inn?" questioned Jarien dumbfoundedly as he did not know what happened but he calmed down seeing Richard's eyes. "Ahem… Let's rest and look around the city tomorrow" continued Jarien he did not want to talk anymore.

…

…

…

The next morning both of them went out together and currently Richard was his older brother and they came here looking for a blacksmith to craft a sword for him but they went in opposite directions for their exploration.

They did not forget to wear poor-looking clothes which prevented anyone from trying to scam them as their state seemed to say that 'we only have money for today's food, we are not worth it.'

Jarien observed that the atmosphere here was pretty different from Ignus City as the people around the city were mostly with fire affinity and they all seemed eager to go and absorb mana from some mana-rich places or hot springs.

The cities were similar but this city's people seemed stronger on average and almost every street had different kinds of shops for food or bathhouses or cultivation rooms or training rooms for different weapons.

Surprisingly, there were no blacksmiths on any street and even the merchants seem to not sell any treasures or weapons. Jarien found out that all such shops were near the volcanic border as that was the place where most people left or entered the city.

"Buy the best weapons cheaply…"

"E-rank fire treasure Crimson Apple for only half million…First come first serve…"

"D-rank sword by Senior disciple of Master Blacksmith… only for 1 million…"

The one selling the sword was undisputedly the most crowded location and even some city guards wanted to try their luck due to them all knowing the creator of the sword was the disciple of a master blacksmith.

There were varieties of shops around the street leading to the exit point. It was like they wanted the people leaving or entering the city to stock up supplies or sell their finds.

The blacksmiths were located on the opposite side of the street. The entire street was full of blacksmith shops and not many people were entering them as everything was already being sold outside for most of the people.

Jarien wanted to enter a blacksmith shop but he was stopped by a guard and he did not want to cause a scene as he did not have an identity so he left to meet with Richard back at the inn.

Richard was pacing around the room worried when the door opened suddenly making him alert but he relaxed the next second seeing Jarien enter the room.

"How was it, Young Master?" asked Richard as he knew that he had to abandon Jarien's safety today which he wouldn't have done if not for Jarien forcing him to.

"It's a mess out there. I could not even enter a blacksmith shop let alone meet a blacksmith" said Jarien with furrowed brows and in a frustrated tone.

"As expected, it is not easy to meet them…but Young Master, why do you want to meet them? We don't need any weapons as they are not allowed in the entrance tests nor in the academy" said Richard with a confused tone as it did not make any sense to him.

And even if he really needed a weapon, it was better to ask for the family's support to buy one from some auction or use the ones gifted to him.

The reply from Jarien shocked Richard to the core as this possibility was not what he would think about anyway as it made even less sense.