The Road Not Seen (1)

Ice sixteen; the dead of winter. The ground is perpetually covered in a thin layer of snow. We head to the guild just after dawn. We're so excited about the expedition that we don't even go for our morning run. Though the streets are silent, our party is chatting noisily about the previous day.

"Hello!" Sakura bursts through the massive double doors with a shout. Surprisingly, the hall is all but empty. We've never come here this early, so it's an unusual sight.

"I didn't expect to see you three this early; we're still organizing the expedition, so just stay out of the way," Jezabel says.

"Sounds good. We'll just sit over here." I guide my team over to a table at the back of the room, and a guild staffer provides us with some tea.

[Am I supposed to tip? I'll do it just in case.]

I toss our waiter a five-piece Denarii piece, but they just look at me, confused.

"Is there no tipping here?"

"No, but it's appreciated."

"Cool, you can keep it." I smile at the man, and he smiles back before walking away. I chat with the kids for a bit while waiting for the expedition to get under way. After a few minutes, Travis walks to our table wearing a bright shining smile.

"I heard you kids took down a Dracoterra!"

"It wasn't just us, but yeah."

"I remember my first fight with one of those bastards. So, when did you pick up the anchoring skill?"

"We actually just took an Anchoring potion before the fight," I respond.

"What?" Travis pulls back in surprise. "How did you maintain your footing against its earth magic? I worked my Anchoring skill up to level three, and I could still barely stay on my feet when we fought one for the first time."

"It didn't use all that much magic for most of the fight."

"What?!" Travis seems upset at my words.

[I don't know why he's so mad. We would have died immediately if it had used a bunch of magic.]

"It took a big gulp of Monster's Bane early in the fight, so I think that messed with its magic circuits." All monsters have magic circuits in their body. From my understanding, they seem to follow a similar pattern to the nervous system. Monster's Bane enters these circuits and disrupts the flow of mana that originates from the Monster Core. As all magic functions stem from the Monster Core, disrupting its interactions with the magic circuits makes spell casting much more difficult. While the monster can still use magic while under the effects of Monster's Bane, it's both painful and inefficient. This makes even simple spells difficult to use and requires an exorbitant amount of mana to cast properly.

"Oh, that makes sense. Still, I'm surprised it stayed to fight after that happened. Usually, monsters just run away when you hit them with Monster's Bane, though I suppose you looked like easy targets."

"I took its eye out fairly early in the fight, so I think it was just mad at me."

"Hahaha! Maybe that's it. Either way, you're all very lucky to be alive. Dracoterra's are a tough fight even for my party." Travis flashes another fierce smile as he warns us.

"You don't have to tell me twice. I wanted to run away."

"I find that hard to believe," Jezabel says snidely as she strides up next to Travis.

"Well, I thought it would chase us down, so fighting was the better option at the moment. But if things got hairy, we'd run away as fast as we could."

"Says the boy who wouldn't back down even when I held a knife to his throat."

"Okay, you got me there."

"You need to learn to drop your pride and save your own skin. I know you always want to be the hero, but you're just going to get yourself killed," Jezabel says as she shakes her head disapprovingly.

"I'll keep that in mind." I feel my heart drop at her words. There's clearly something wrong with my thinking regarding my own safety—either some latent trauma or undue pride. I'm not sure exactly what, but I need to deal with it.

"Sure. Anyway, we couldn't get ahold of Scott or his party, so we're going to leave without them. In their place, I'll be coming along for the trip."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" I raise an eyebrow as I ask.

"Do you think I can't handle myself in that little forest?" she says as she crosses her arms.

"Of course not, but aren't you worried about this place burning down while you're gone?" I make sure to keep a deadpan expression. There are a lot of implications behind my words which gives her an opportunity to pick them out for herself. No matter how she interprets my statement, I'm sure I can turn it to an advantage. I often hear people say, "flattery will get you nowhere," but I have yet to meet someone that doesn't feel unappreciated at times. I see a smile spread across her face, and I follow suit. It's important to mirror people's behavior to get them on your side.

"I think they can hold it together for an afternoon." Shelly giggles at the guild master's response. Jezabel walks away to finish preparing for the expedition, and we all chat for a few more minutes before heading to the north gate.

"Quite the hubbub you made." Sampson elbows me lightly as we pass by. It seems to be his day to stand guard.

"Now's not the time. I took quite the verbal lashing for that, and I'm still recovering." Sampson understandably seems confused, but I ignore him and proceed into the woods. I told Inari what we were planning today when I returned to the den yesterday so we wouldn't accidentally run into any fairies. No matter the rumors, there isn't any benefit to having an open relationship with them yet. Inari was unusually quiet, but I figured she just had a lot going on at the moment. Things have been pretty crazy as of late.