"Hey, give me a moment while I check. You are free to continue your hunt for herbs, right?" As Lucy turned her back to face Charmaine, she spoke to her.
"Okay, take care!" Charmaine has given her response.
"Also, you should use caution and try not to go too far off the path. Keep in mind that the domain serves as a barrier between us and the demons who reside on the other side of the mountain." Before she went with Morris, Lucy mentioned this to Charmaine.
As Charmaine watched her friend Lucy leave with Morris, she couldn't help but let out a sigh as she did so.
She was now on her own and needed to make sure that she had gathered all of the necessary herbs before returning to her room so that she could get ready to be one of the disciples who would be on watch that night.
This served as a kind of training for the disciples, who were instructed to be vigilant at all times, watch their backs, and avoid slacking off in any manner, in case the enemy broke in.
The cult was situated on the mountain, which, because to its proximity to the capital city of the Hausa Kingdom, was shrouded in a dense blanket of clouds and mist and no ordinary human would go up.
They grew their own food and incase they needed a number of things from the city, a selected number of disciples would go out to buy them and return to the sect with immediate effect with heavy supervision,
The fact that the mountain had a valley in between its peaks was what set them apart from the demons who were also working toward immortality via cultivation in the same way that they were.
Charmaine's sect did not consist of demons; yet, they were also training to become immortals, and if one was sufficiently fortunate, they may receive the token that would allow them to become demigods like their masters.
After a lot of back and forth, the masters of the sect ultimately agreed to let the demons have a portion of the woods so that their sect may have some peace. The demons wanted a portion of the woods so that they could use it to gather their herbs and also perform black magic there.
They hadn't been bothered by the demons up to this point, but it wasn't a good enough excuse for them to let their guard down. One of the many measures that they were taking in order to defend themselves from the demons was to construct a magical domain around their sect and take turns standing watch.
Charmaine let out another sigh as she reached into her woven basket and pulled out a scrap of paper. On it, she had written down and sketched the appearance of the plants that she was unfamiliar with.
"Lovage.." She read it out loud. "I don't recall the master telling me anything about this,"
"What kind of plant is this?" In an effort to locate it and determine if there was one in the woods, she said out loud as she moved about.
However, she knew without a doubt that there was none since this was not the first time that she had walked into these woods, and she was familiar with every area of them as well as the plants that were found inside them.
The day was drawing to a close, and she still hadn't acquired the other herbs on the list. She wanted to get whatever was in the woods and then go to her duties thereafter. If there was anybody going out over the next week, she would delegate someone to travel to the city on her behalf and get the herbs.
She hurried to collect all of the herbs that she had written down, with the exception of the lovage herb, and as she got closer to the domain, she realized it was where the final herb was located.
She knelt down and plucked the herb from its roots since, at this stage, the roots were more significant than the leaves. However, the leaves might be used to make medicines for a mild headache and stomach trouble, so she saved the whole little plant in the woven basket that she brought with her and had kept the other herbs in.
She stood up and was getting ready to go when she saw it... on the other side of the domain.
She checked the paper she had to see if they were comparable to make sure she wasn't hallucinating.
The sky was getting darker, and as a result, she was unable to make out its full contours. However, the image that she had seen in the past when she had first looked at it was still very clear in her head, and she was certain that the small plant nestled in among the flowers was the lovage herb that she required.
But...
It was located on the other side of the domain, which was the side that was controlled by the demons. Does the reward justify the danger?
Nobody would know that she took it, right? As she glanced about to see whether anybody else around her could see her, she mused to herself, "Is there anyone around here who can see me?"
"Will the masters be alerted if I go beyond the boundaries of the domain?" She contemplated the idea in her head.
"However, it is only supposed to sound an alarm in the event that demons are able to breach it. Since I'm not a demon, I don't think it should count, does that make sense?" She gave it some more thinking, unsure of what action to take.
"As long as I keep quiet about it, no one will find out. If anybody finds out that I have defected to the side of the demons, I will undoubtedly be ejected, and I may even be sent to the wastelands." S he gave it some more thinking.
As she set her basket down and moved closer to the estate, her stomach churned, and her heart hammered violently against the front of her chest. She was anxious.
"Am I really going to put myself in harm's way because of a plant?" She questioned her own actions. "But that's such a rare herb... I need it!" She added, having finally crossed over to the demon's side of the domain.