To Fredo Village (2)

"INCOMING ENEMY ATTACK AT 3:00!" one of the Guards shouted.

A 2-meter-tall bipedal monster that looked like a crossbreed between an armadillo and a bear was charging from the right side and headed for the carriage.

"Mine!" Trevin said who was behind the carriage and wearing a full set of armor, riding a Karfax and carrying a poleaxe. He whipped the reins of his mount and then proceeded to intercept the monster. Once the monster stepped within his range, he thrust his weapon forward as he cast a skill.

[Power Spear].

Whooo-riiip!

The tip of the spear was covered with an invisible force as it pierced through and shredded the monster's face.

Trevin and three Guards were each riding a Karfax and only one Guard wasn't because he was the coachman of the carriage, but they were all fully geared. As the Knight, Trevin was dressed in a full set of armor. Meanwhile, the Guards were dressed in a full set of leather armor.

"Another incoming enemy attack at 12:00!" another Guard said.

Trevin turned to the direction of where the Guard said and saw a group of seven Flappers charging.

"Julius, Pamor, we attack! Wayne, protect the carriage!" he said before whipping the reins of his mount once again.

Julius and Pamor immediately followed suit.

Whooosh!

Whooosh!

Julius swung his sword and cut down two of the monsters.

Ba-crack!

Pamor swung his mace and cracked open the skull of one of the monsters.

[Power Spear].

Trevin swung his poleaxe in a sweeping motion and managed to kill four of the monsters.

After confirming that all of the monsters were killed, Trevin called out one of the Guards.

"Report!"

"No incoming enemy attack, Knight Sir!" Wayne said.

"Resume positions!" Trevin said and then headed back to his position.

Julius and Pamor nodded and headed back as well.

Their positions were simple.

Julius and Pamor were in front of the carriage, while Trevin and Wayne were behind the carriage.

The reason why Trevin chose to be behind the carriage was because the attacks were coming from all angles. But for some reason, the monsters were only focusing on the carriage and ignoring everything else. Because of that, he decided that he should be behind the carriage so that he could see any incoming attack and immediately either intercept it or offer support to Julius and Pamor in case they missed. 

***

6:54 p.m.

The Third Inner Stanza Border Checkpoint convoy was parked a few meters away from the road in an open field and erected a few makeshift camps for the night with a bonfire in the middle.

Although humans and other living beings in this world can achieve superhuman status through training Physical and Magic Arts, that doesn't mean everyone can reach that level, most people still need to rest for the night, not to mention it's less safe to travel during the night due to the limited light source.

Everyone was gathered around a bonfire and there were large stones and chopped-up logs surrounding it serving as chairs.

Vivian sat down at one of the stones, while the rest sat at the logs and the remaining stones.

Tak!

They heard the sound of a branch breaking and they all turned to where the sound was coming from.

It was one of the Guards who left earlier to hunt some food while they were setting up the camp came back. He had a bow and arrow and was carrying two Flappers on his hand.

"Looks like you had a good hunt, Guard Wayne," Finley said and smiled.

"I got lucky, Honored Priest Sergeant," he said and grinned before heading over to a Guard named Lafa to prepare the meal.

The meal was simple. Some parts they would roast and other parts they would make a soup out of the ingredients that they brought with them. These would be their meals for tonight and their next meal when they wake up in the morning.

Clak.

One of the Guards named Julius tossed a piece of wood on the bonfire and then turned to another Guard named Pamor who was sharpening some sticks to lay out some traps.

"Today's trip was weird, don't you think? Some monsters such as a Flapper that isn't aggressive unless provoked have been attacking us."

Pamor didn't say anything and simply shrugged.

They've had a total of 23 encounters today.

Finley turned to Trevin.

"Knight Trevin, what do you think?"

"About what?"

"The strange behavior of the animals."

"Your guess is as good as mine, Priest Sergeant."

Finley then turned to Vivian.

"Sister Inquisitor, what about you? What do you think?"

Given that Inquisitors were known for their academic prowess rather than their fighting prowess and Vivian also happened to be impossibly strong for her age, everyone turned to her, expecting that she would definitely have the answers.

She shook her head.

"This is my first time encountering such a bizarre behavior from monsters. We need to observe further and gather more information before we can make a proper assessment."

"Is it possible that there's a Wave or something related to it?" Finley asked, causing everyone to turn to him."The Mobius Mountains is located northeast of here. I heard that it used to be a base for demons, demon-worshipers and Necromancers."

The Guards nodded in agreement.

"That is a possibility," said Vivian. "However, given that we don't have enough information, it's best not to jump to conclusions."

"What about we go to check the Mobius Mountains? Considering the bizarre behavior of the monsters, there could be victims who need our help," Finley said.

"I don't want anyone to get the wrong idea. As much as I care about solving this issue, we also have our own objective on why we're heading over to Fredo Village or Estana Town. And don't forget, we're in the territory of the Marbleam Kingdom. It would be so arrogant of us to assume that the Aristocratic Noble families in charge of these lands aren't aware of this issue and are not doing anything. Our best course of action is to head over to Fredo Village and report this bizarre behavior of the monsters at the Branch Temple. And if we encounter civilians along the way who need help, we will help them as much as we can without neglecting our main objective."

Finley scratched the back of his head and let out an awkward smile.

"I guess that's why you're an Inquisitor and I'm not. I never thought about that. Hahaha…"

The Guards, on the other hand, stared at Vivian in awe.

She waved her hand.

"Please. You, Brother Sergeant, are part of the Infantry Division and Knight Trevin and the Guards are part of the Knights Chapter, while I'm part of the Inquisitory Division. All of you specialize in fighting and I specialize in politics so it's not surprising that we have different approaches. I'm simply following the basic protocols of what an Inquisitor should do."

Trevin and the Guards nodded in agreement, especially the Guards who looked like they realized something so profound because in their minds, Vivian was quite powerful for her age so they didn't expect her to take such a route.

***

Sometime later…

Everyone finished eating dinner and were gathered around the bonfire.

Trevin stood up and swept his gaze around everyone.

"I believe that we can all agree that the monsters are acting strangely. And because of that, I would like to make a proposal regarding the watch duty for tonight."

No one voiced a disagreement.

As the only Knight in the group, standard protocol dictates that he is to be in charge of overseeing the safety of the trip. Meanwhile, for the Priests, although they were usually more powerful, given their healing magic, they would act as the backup and be in the defensive position.

"For the first shift, it would be me and Guard Lafa. The second shift would be Priest Sergeant Finley and Guard Wayne. And the third shift would be Guard Lieutenant Julius and Guard Pamor. As for Priestess Inquisitor Monad, as the highest-ranking person in this group, we would only call her if the situation becomes dire. Does anyone have objections or any other suggestions?"

Normally, they would only require one person to stay up per shift. But given the strange behavior of the monsters, they've decided to have two people per shift.

Everyone looked at each other before returning their gaze to Trevin.

"I'm fine with the schedule," Finley said and nodded.

The Guards nodded as well.

Everyone then turned to Vivian.

"I've always been a light sleeper so it wouldn't be a problem."

Trevin nodded.

"So it's settled then."

One of the Guards raised their hand.

"Guard Wayne, what is it?"

"Knight Sir, I'm not objecting or anything but there's something I've noticed and forgot to mention."

Everyone turned to him.

"While I was hunting for food earlier, I noticed that there are no animals around us."

In this world, there are two categories when referring to animals -- Monster and Animal.

For Monsters, to put it simply, they are animals that have the ability to hurt people, regardless of whether they're aggressive or not, and can use Physical and Magic Art or not.

Meanwhile, for Animals, these are animals that don't have the ability to hurt people.

"Normally, those who are large enough would usually stay away if they're not aggressive, while the smaller ones, like birds, would be near. But in our group's case, I literally had to move at least 10 meters away just to encounter one animal -- a large insect."

Everyone looked at each other.

"This really is strange," Finley said with a serious expression.

"There's more," Wayne said, causing everyone to focus on him once again. "While I was hunting for animals, none of them were aggressive or they were simply acting normal. It seems that they're only attracted to the carriage."

Finley turned to Julius and Pamor.

"But what's wrong with the carriage? Didn't you guys check it?"

"Honored Priest Sergeant, we made sure to at least triple-check it if there was anything strange but we couldn't find any," Julius said and wore an apologetic expression.

Trevin turned to Vivian.

"Priestess Inquisitor Monad, may we ask what's your assessment of this issue?"

Vivian shook her head.

"Like I said a while ago, I've never encountered anything like this before. But if I were to make an educated guess right at the top of my head, perhaps there's an intelligent monster controlling them, just like how hive-type monsters operate. One good example would be the Sarcoise where they have a Sarcoise Queen that controls all of the Sarcoises in its colony. But other than that, your guess is as good as mine."

Another Guard raised his hand.

"Guard Lafa," Trevin said.

"So aside from attacks from the normal monsters, we also have to watch out for this intelligent monster?"

"It's only a possibility. But we don't have anything to worry about. We are from the Third Inner Stanza Border Checkpoint, we're close to civilization, and most importantly, we have Priestess Inquisitor Monad with us. Furthermore, just like what Priestess Inquisitor mentioned a while ago, it would be so arrogant of us to think that the Aristocratic Noble families in charge of governing these lands aren't aware and doing nothing about this issue."

The rest nodded in agreement.

Truth be told, although Trevin, Finley and the rest can be considered as nothing more than ants in Vivian's eyes, the truth is, they're actually quite strong.

The location of the Inner Stanza Border Checkpoint Wall was located in the middle of nowhere, it wasn't in the frontlines or close to the frontlines. So the people assigned to that location are people who have an officer rank or at least with experience.

In the case of Trevin, he was a Knight in his late 20s without a rank. He was that old because he wasn't a Noble, but a commoner, so he started as a Guard and slowly climbed his way to Guard Sergeant, Guard Lieutenant, Guard Captain and then finally Knight. As for his Physical and Magic Force, they were both Mithril-Orichalcum which would make him comparable to a seasoned Platinum I Rank Adventurer. And although he finally reached the Knight Rank, he has yet to be given the title of Nobility from the kingdom he's from.

Finley, on the other hand, although he was still in his early 20s, he was part of the Infantry Division and his officer rank was Sergeant. And as a member of the Temple of Priest, a person with the Light Affinity and he has been part of the Infantry Division since the beginning of his Holy Crusade career, when it came to his Physical and Magic Force, it was also Mithril-Orichalcum, making him as strong as Trevin.

And lastly, for the Guards, when it came to their Physical and Magic Force, they were anywhere between Silver to Mithril which would make them comparable to seasoned Silver II and Gold II Adventurers.

"Does anyone else have anything to say or add?" Trevin asked.

No one said a word.

"Okay, we're all in agreement. Guard Lafa and I would take the first shift, Priest Sergeant Finley and Guard Wayne would take the second shift, and Guard Lieutenant Julius and Guard Pamor on the third shift. And as for the Priestess Inquisitor Monad, we would only call her if the situation becomes dire."

Everyone nodded.

Vivian got up.

"Gentleman, I will retire to my quarters now. Just call me in case there's an emergency. Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Sister Inquisitor," said Finley.

"Goodnight, Priestess Inquisitor," said Trevin.

"Goodnight, Honored Priestess Inquisitor," said the Guards.

She nodded before turning away and heading to her quarters which was none other than the carriage.

Although they were two makeshift tents, they were for Trevin and Finley. The Guards would sleep around the bonfire and they had something akin to a sleeping bag. And in case the sky rains, well, the Guards would have to figure out a way.

Vivian continued making her way to the carriage.

As the highest-ranking member of the group, an Inquisitor and also a woman, the carriage was given to her. Had Lennon or Edgar been here, although this carriage would be given to them, as men, they would no doubt decline and instead offer it to her.

She finally reached the carriage and let out a sigh internally.

This trip is quite stressful…

Ka-cha.

She opened the door and climbed in before closing the curtains. After confirming that the coast was clear, she took off her Inquisitor Half-Mask, cloak, gloves, boots and belt pouch. 

We brought some water with us… 

But there's no water source nearby…

So taking a bath is out of the question…

But I really want to take a bath…

She was given some water earlier. But it was only enough for washing her face and brushing her teeth.

And I would have to endure this for 2 days…!

Tch!

She clicked her tongue.

I could go out and find a water source…

But what if I don't find one…?

Well, I could also go to the village right now which would take me about an hour…

However…

She let out a deep sigh.

I can't just abandon these people…

After all, I'm the one who requested this trip…

And I need these people to help me transport the things I need to buy…

Even I would be pissed if I were in their place and I found out that the person who requested for this trip abandoned us in the middle of the night to go someplace comfortable…

She let out another deep sigh before lying down on one of the seats.

I also can't eat too much…

Another issue that Vivian faced was using the toilet. Although doing Lady Business No. 1 was fine, the main issue lay with Lady Business No. 2. 

I would rather starve than eat too much…

Even back in my original body, there's no way I'm going to take a dump in the woods…

Especially now that I'm a beautiful and perfect woman…!