After escaping the mess that was travelling through the Lastro Forest we decided to take it a little slow, adding an extra few days to what should have been half a week trip into a week long trip to Zagas. Perfect timing as originally by the time we should have reached Zagas, I would not have been able to enter since my shapeshift would still be unavailable. But if there's any upside to getting lost and dealing with that forest it would be the added time for my shapeshift to come back up.
As Lia mentions that we are near Zagas, I use my Humanoid Shapeshift, and we walk the rest of the way. In the distance we see a caravan moving towards the same direction we are and off to the other side, I can see what looks to be adventurers heading towards the same direction as us. It's been a long time since we've actually seen other people and this is a good indicator that I didn't get us lost again.
Within an hour the Town of Zagas comes into view, and compared to the other settlements I've seen with the exception of the steppe settlements, this place has a high the biggest rural feeling. The town is small with the largest part of the town looking to be the port which I can even see from beyond the entrance to the town. The architecture of the town gives off the feeling of being one with nature as many of the buildings are built off of large trees, I guess that is only natural since this is the territory of the Elves. I don't really feel comfortable around here so I don't want to stay for too long.
As is customary in nearly every town and city, we show our Guild Card as proof of identity. Both Lia and I notice however that as soon as they know who we are some of the guards run off in a hurry. As soon as we are passed the entrance and in the streets, I get the feeling that we are being watched, but I can't pinpoint where our observer is.
"You noticed too right?" Lia asks with her voice low, while keeping up a pretence of normality.
"Yeah, somethings never change. The Elves did something similar back in Draelgium. If we don't want any trouble you should get whatever it is you need quickly so we don't end up spending the night here. Or you can take your time and we can have a fun time playing with some Elves tonight."
"I would rather not deal with them, so let's just get the travel supplies and head out."
With that in mind, we go around to various shops to pick up all sorts of things from necessities like food and clean drinking water to completely useless things like a small one person rowboat. Like, why does she even need that, it's such a waste of money. Actually, everything we got was a waste of money. We can just catch food in the ocean and I can create clean water at will. Mentioning this, Lia ends up not buying any water but she does keep buying more food, claiming that the wants to eat more than just fish. Of course, everything goes into my stomach storage and we head down to the port.
Heading out onto a wharf, the Elves seem to have moved their plans forward as the cutoff the entrance back to the town, leaving us surrounded by the water behind us and to our sides with a group of Elves in front of us. Much like the ambush in the Capital, they are wearing outfits that hide their identity.
"Really, it's barely past noon and you're doing this? at least the group in Draelgium had the foresight to attack in the night, not that it really changes much though."
Without responding a few Elves prepare to cast spells while others begin shooting arrows at us. Using my Wind Wall, I block a large portion of the arrows coming at me and quickly realise that these are poison-tipped arrows. Lia, however, didn't manage to avoid them completely as they graze her arm as is quickly begins to change colour, reflecting the high effectiveness and potency of the poison they are using. But before I can even make a retaliatory move, Lia's arm returns to normal outside of the bleeding from the wound, but all traces of the poison have been removed, shocking both me and our Elf assailants.
"The Elves are one thing but why are you surprised? You should have already known that I am completely immune to poison."
"Oh yeah, now that I think about it, you did mention that."
"Yeah, any type of toxic substance can't do anything to me. Corrosion included. So let's hurry up and deal with this so we can get a move on."
After seeing that poison won't work, the Elves launch the spells they were preparing and use them as cover for an attempt to escape, but I don't let them as I simply let them hit me since they were mostly fire based spells and I create several Ice Walls to block their retreat, leaving them stuck here with us.
The clean up was pretty simple since they were all rather weak. Only one person was above level 40 and after Lia finished examining the poison they were using, we found that they were completely reliant on it working since it has the effects of reducing the inflicted one's stats by 10% and it is capable of stacking on itself.
"But really, they should have known how strong we were, so why were there so few people? And they were all so weak."
"If I had to guess it may have been because they were not prepared for us to be here. The Elves have clearly been up to no good over the past couple of years and they had previous clashes with you in the past, so it is safe to assume that they had given orders to look out for you when you were going to make your trip to Lausiel. All of the Alliances western ports are with the Elves territory after all so it isn'T hard to set this stuff up. I was expecting this too, which is why I suggested we go to Zagas even though it is a bit further away from Lausiel and small than the other ports. They probably expected you to go from either the closest port or the largest port, which is where I would think most of their manpower is focused. But enough about this, it's time to get moving."
With Lia all set and ready to go, I jump into the water and undo my shapeshift. With Lia jumping on and securing herself, we begin the next step in our trip to rob the Lausiel Empire.