The natives took a triangular formation around the party of four, guarding their forward and side flanks, leaving the back to be guarded by Jack himself.
Reginald was in the front, Sully Briggs to the Right, and the healer to the Left.
His eyes watched the three heads belonging to the amateurs that strolled in front of him. Mostly the elf which was only two paces ahead of him. She was to remain close to him apparently. Elves were seen as slaves, though Jack was curious of why they assumed she was his.
Could it be that they could see that he was the strongest, or was it the fancy white plate armor he was wearing that looked like that of a Paladins?
"So which Chapter are you from?" Sir Reginald asked as he looked back towards Jack. The slow trotting of the horses were like music to his ears.
A rhythmic clapping of hooves against hard soil.
Jack wiggled his nose slightly as he thought on how to answer this. "My Chapter was wiped out by apostates," his tone was almost monotonous, no feeling to it at all.
"...Apostates…? Must be them dammed Necromancers." Reginald let out a sigh of disappointment, "You're well off though, aye?" The Knight looked off into the evergreen trees. "Seeing as you dress your Elf finely... Sir Graham."
Sir Graham… Jack liked the sound of that, though he wasn't sure he could be a knight. Chivalry was easy to accommodate, in some situations, but not all the time. That and he didn't wish to serve under any Lord or House, even a Zealous Church of Worshippers.
Thoughts and Prayers didn't bring back what was no longer there, not until now.
Jack's eyes shifted to look at his legs, the feet he could feel in the boots. Though he could feel the armor on his shoulders, it wasn't heavy enough to slow him down due to his level.
"Perhaps," Jack replied blatantly as he rested his eyes on the little red hood which hid the silvery white hair of the pint-sized moon elf in front of him.
His eyes traveled down from her head and narrowed on the first she was making at her side. He could sense the miniature rage under that hood. Shaking his head slightly, he placed a hand on her shoulder, causing her to briefly tense before calming down soon after.
While the gesture was not originally to calm her down, but to tell her to control herself, it still seemed to work either way. His hand would fall to his side shortly after, causing her to look over her shoulder at him. There was this curious look in her eyes, before turning her head forward.
The skeleton mage was keeping his head lowered beneath the hood of his robes, his hands hidden. He looked like a monk, or perhaps even a pilgrim. While his telepathy gave the strangers a good shock, it didn't really cause any problems.
Jack's gaze turned towards the Swordsman, his lips pursed slightly as he watched the man biting into a warm loaf of bread which they had freshly taken from their inventory.
The best thing about this game, was the fact that statuses of things one puts in their inventory, freezes. That is unless it was specifically a limited time item and such.
Jack was getting rather curious about those types of skills, there had been novels and manga he had read in his free time on the web, in which they automatically crafted items or the exact opposite happened. Where everything became manual, making it hard to complete the simple task of brewing a potion even though the level to do so was extremely high.
"Hm..."
Turning his head to the left, his eyes narrowed on golden eyes which were peering out from behind the trees. They were being followed by predators who large torsos, rounded off ears and cat-like long tails.
Unlike a wolf, they didn't snarl, they didn't growl and surely they didn't announce their presence. They were silent, even their steps didn't rustle the fallen evergreen needles.
Perhaps it was some sort of feline? Judging by the shape of the head and the semi-humanoid form, it was a demi-human or a beastman. Perhaps, it could even bee a were-jaguar? The guesses in the back of his mind were almost endless.
Calm however, that is all Jack was feeling. He wasn't even panicking at the sight of the could-be monsters lurking in the dark. "We're being watched, don't pick up the pace and don't stop."
Briggs looked over towards Jack, arrogantly spitting on the hardened ground.
Reginald looked over towards his adjunct and shook his head. "Don't insult the Paladin, Briggs. Least I remind you of the last time you insulted a member of the armored clergy."
"Gah… Yes Sir Reginald, I understand..." Briggs frowned deeply as he grasped at his patchy set of hair that looked to have been cut with a dull knife.
"So, why so silent?" Reginald would chuckle anxiously, turning his attention towards the party of players. "Nothing for us to talk about along the way?"
Jack just looked over towards the creatures which were following their combined group. Casting『Character Appraisal』, his eyes would flash green, information coming to him naturally. The beings which were following them were Catfolk, humanoid cats, essentially beastmen.
"Hm… How long until we reach the village?"
These Catfolk ranged between levels twenty five and thirty. They were far stronger than the humans present here, along with the other players. Though it was unlikely they'd attack them once they reached the village. If anything, it was likely the amount of people being present would scare them off, hopefully.
"Hm? Seven minutes, it'll become visible soon."
Jack nodded lightly to the words of Reginald.
"And here I thought I was the anxious one!" The knight laughed in order to comfort himself, before looking to the Healer who had also been quiet. Though the healer being quiet seemed to be normal amongst them since she didn't talk much to begin with as an introvert.
"How many of them are there?"
Jack glanced down at his side, the Elf had fallen back to be walking directly beside him.
"Six of them. Each of them is equal to or greater than level twenty five."
The Elf turned blue in the face for a moment before looking in the direction of the beast people. "Six of them?" Visibly shaking from the idea of being torn apart and the probability of not respawning, she was afraid.
Jack's thoughts didn't really encompass the idea of dying here. So far all he was seeing was weaklings. Yet as he was looking over the others, he could see the fear coming from the swordsman who heard the observation.
It appeared the swordsman was distracting himself, eating the bread. Though their own footwork was sloppy, as if they were trying their best not to pay attention to their surroundings.
When his sight rested on the Skeleton, there was nothing really visible except for the mild chattering beneath the hood.
It was unlikely the beasts would even bother with the skeleton.
His eyes then went back down towards the elf as he felt the side of her head against his forearm. Each step she took, it looked like her legs were giving out.
A panic attack, she was temporarily loosing her better motor functions.
"Hm..." Kneeling down without stopping, his arm swiped behind the elf's legs, pulling her up along his arm and situating her partially over his shoulder.
Curling up against him, her eyes were wide and her fingers balled up. He could hear the erratic breathing, he could see the clammy complexion. "Are you prone to anxiety attacks or something?"
The moon elf was practically stiff and vibrating on his armor, she only blinked in response after failing to audible form words.
"I see..." Jack's eyes just moved forward, not facing her at all as he felt her forehead pressing to his neck like a frightened child.
After several minutes, they were passing under a wooden archway, when all of a sudden a village appeared in front of them a good couple hundred meters away. Jack's eyes wandered on over towards the Archway behind them.
"Illusion Gate..."
"Oh, you know them?" Reginald glanced over his shoulder towards the man.
Illusion Gates were rare in the game, and according to Reginald's reaction to Jack not knowing what it was, it was likely the same here.
His eyes wandered on over towards the Knight and raised a brow. "Are they rare?"
"It's the only one in the entire Kingdom… It keeps us safe from the beasts that roam the area."
Nodding to his, Jack would look to the elf which was resting on his shoulder.
Reginald also seemed to raise a brow as he turned his head a bit more as he controlled his horse. "It's rare to see a master carry one's slave. Perhaps is she..."
"No," Jack's eyes were like knives looking at the clearly older man.
"Ah..." Reginald looked towards Briggs, "Escort the young Lady Hamlet home. I'll show these folks to the Inn, and join you at the barracks."
"Right, Sir!" Briggs would have his horse trot right up beside the woman's and reach over to take her reigns. Soon enough they turned around a corner towards the center of the village, vanishing from the party's view. Though they were within the illusionary boundaries, Briggs had seemed much more alert now than before, almost twitchy.
Before long they arrived in front of a stone brick building with a wooden upper floor. It was the bare essential architecture, it was unlikely it had any real flooring on the ground floor.
Slipping off of his horse, Reginald would lead them to the front door and open it. "This way, My Lads."
Stepping inside, the four would look around.
Jack's assumption was right, there was no floor, just hardened dirt and thatch upon the ground. There was a platform of stone and wood however by the stairs that led upstairs.
The tables were made of wooden spools from rope, the bar was made from various compacted materials. This place looked like it belonged in the slums.
Jack's eyes, along with the rest of the party's, would narrow upon the barkeep who was clearin the countertop with a torn rag that probably once had been part of a lady's dress.
"I'll set you folks up with rooms tonight… Three rooms, yes?" Reginald didn't wait for a response as he walked on up to the barkeep. After an exchange of unknown words, he gave the man a single gold coin before gesturing for them to follow.
"..." Jack sighed quietly and continued after him, the breathing of the elf seemed to have calmed down. Her fingers were uncurling and she was shifting slightly in his arm.
When he looked at her from the corner of his eyes, their eyes locked for a moment before breaking contact. Jack didn't seem effected, but her face was a deep red, as if embarrassed by the fact that she was being carried by this particular person.
"You two have this room," Reginald stated as he pressed open a door on the second floor, revealing a single bed stuffed with hay, just big enough to fit two bodies.
Jack's eyes trailed over to him for a few seconds before he coldly brushed passed him, closing the door behind him with the tips of his fingers, hardly touching it in the process.
The other two party members stared at that door as it squeaked, hardly closing, their minds were immediately going towards the gutter. The things that Jack could do to the little elf due to how much more powerful he was than all of them.
Would he take advantage?
Part of them doubted it, part of them believed it, and part of them were envious of him for it.
Letting out a sigh, Nakajima spoke up finally, "So… This Kingdom, who're its neighbors?"
Blinking at the Question as Reginald was showing them to their rooms, he raised a brow. "The Fae Imperium and the Holy Vulpine Empire."
"Vulpine?" Nakajima inquired, not recognizing the use of the word.
"Kitsune, foxes." Kokei answered the question, his jaw not moving as he did so for obvious reasons.
Being inside seemed to have calmed the two of them down, their alertness dropping.