Chapter 3 - Section 2: Reunion

In the end, the pair couldn't gain passage on a carriage as this being the outskirts they only came once every two weeks or so.

So having resole himself Kurama and he set out on the road racing through the flat lands at a startling pace.

Thanks to their level-ups in the instance dungeon, his stats had been increasing in rank one or two places so now his stamina, and strength allowed for superhuman levels of running when compared to Earth standards.

This was not to say he didn't get tired as after running flat out for an hour he was forced to stop, but even at that the distance travelled would mean they could reach the next village before nightfall, and inquiries there about coaches could be made.

During the break, he'd broken out some new treats he could acquire thanks to Niflheim which fit considering they had been running hard and at least Satou was dripping in sweat from the exertion.

[Being a land of Ice and darkness at the very bottom of the structure of the world tree, the polar opposite of Muspelheim, but as far as I'm concerned this Bifrost snowberry drink is supreme it's like it's got a hint of menthol and mint that causes a cooling effect even after the liquid itself has been drunk]

The name of course was derived from snowberrys which used to be found as foragable goods in Niflheim and the Bifrost was the method used to move between worlds so the literal translation he'd arrived at was a transcendent drink that would make you feel like you'd been transported to Niflheim as with every breath you took it felt as if you were standing in a snowy tundra.

Only taking a single break the pair once more resumed their journey and just as the sun was setting they managed to make it to the second village this one was bigger than the last as all surely would be the closer they got to the centre of this realm.

"Staying or just passing through?" <Guard >

"Staying for the night then finding an escort mission" <Satou >

No questions were asked about Kurama, and the pair were let inside.

First, he secured an inn that would accept his Kobold companion, and as he was filling out the registry with his name a hand dropped and clamped down on his shoulder.

Annoyed he started to turn likely to get into a bar fight over someone trying to take Kurama from him.

"What're you doing in a place like this?"

The voice that followed sounded familiar and as his gaze rested on the man who'd touched him, he couldn't quite place it sure he looked familiar but where from?

"What? Don't recognize me, I mean it's not like we travelled together for long, and it has been a while but hurts my pride man, don't let the girls know you forgot them as well or you'll be in for one hell of a tantrum! Ha ha Ha"

"Wait, wait wait wait is that you Larr?" <Satou >

"That's right, I mean I know it's been a while and I don't look the same as I did then but even still" <Larr >

"No no no hold on a sec, it's been like 2 months tops since we last saw one another how the hell am I supposed to recognize you sporting that full beard like that besides how did that happen you use a tonic or a potion to grow that thing?" <Satou >

"Two months? Did you hit your head or something? it's been over a year now since I last saw you, but many you still look just the same as you did back then" <Larr >

mouth agape satou could only stare as the few words he could manage spilled from his lips

"A... year... I've been gone for a year?" <Satou >

"Gone? Well yeah I mean not like you could come back to the kingdom, and after all we had some things to do ourselves before we could get out and into Joquet as well since the kingdom went and closed the borders down." <Larr >

"No you don't understand, I fell into a kind of trap, and got separated from everyone about a month or two after coming to Joquet I was trapped for what to me was a month but you just said it's been a year since we'd seen one another which means the month for me was a year for everyone else" <Satou >

"That's a mighty tricky trap you fell into there, hope you didn't have a lass or companions who think you died though it looks like you've already got the lass part covered again since eh?" <Larr >

After saying this he could feel Kurama press up against him as she hid behind being overly cautious of Larr and his forward way of speaking.

"mmmm I'm sure they know I'm not dead but probably don't know that I've been released just yet, we checked and found at least one of them is in the capital right now so we've been making our way there to meet up, as for the loli, she's one of my summons a Kobold kin" <Satou >

"Oh ho that so well seems you've managed to get even better than last time huh, but if you're going to the capital your're welcome to join us we've got a carriage we're escorting that's carrying the spoils of our hunts round these parts. <Larr >

"We love to join in if you don't mind, it'll be like old times, though hopefully with fewer guards chasing after us hahaha" <Satou >

"Well seems you're not wanted in this kingdom at least though that could always change" <Larr >

Leaving his foreboding words hang in the air he motioned with his hands to have us follow him into the attached tavern wherein we were reunited with the rest of the Marked Wolves, the girls of course gushed over the cuteness of Kurama who like a true loli seems to have stolen tony's heart as his cheeks reddened and he could barely stand to look at her after she gave her best attempt at a solo introduction.

We as a reunited group drank for a while before retiring, our trip would now become slower but being assigned to a higher-ranked teams escort mission would mean I could leech far more guild points than any escort mission I could apply to handle myself through the guild.

Hang on guys we're on our way!