Sion opened his eyes and stretched. Sun was entering the room so he woke up. Next to him, Noirre was standing cracking his head.
" I just wanted to wake you up, come on, it's time to go. " Noirre said.
Sion stretched once again and slowly sat on the bed. He used
" Well my man, if you ask me, we should use TPs immediately, there's no use in going any further "
" Yeah, I agree " he said as he rubbed his eyes.
They were standing on the staircase of the Inn. Noirre reached on his pocket and pulled out TPs. Bomie was peaking from his long hair; " Here take one, take one and swallow it and think about 'west Liān, Ibotha'.. that will teleport us at west section of Liān, just find the church and we'll meet there"
" Okay!" Sion nodded.
Both of them took a pill and swallowed.
Noirre thought; ~west Liān, Ibotha!
While Sion thought; ~west of Liān, Ibotha!
As expected he screwed up.. As he opened his eyes he saw he was no longer in Yurttan, he was standing on a road next to a sign. He was surrounded with trees and bushes. The sign showed in 2 directions;
(Left)
Great Ibotha Bridge, 16 kilometres
(Right)
Liān, 30 kilometres
....
" Oh no... "
[ Runes voice; Really Sion? ]
" Oh shut up! Ya' only show up when I mess up! "
Rune laughed.
[ Runes voice; Just start walking, sooner you start sooner you'll get there ]
" I know-! ", something cracks behind him, he swiftly turned around.
Behind him a man was standing. First thing Sion noticed was the man's energy, it was very low, or at least he thought so since only people he had around himself were Sons and they are all powerful. This man should be, 4th or 5th Class.
" Oh! I-I... I am Marin, a humble fisherman! " he covered his face.
Sion looked around, he sensed no other energy beside his. He scratched his head and took a step forward; " Don't worry I won't hurt y- "
" But you're crazy! " he said terrified.
" Huh? I'm not cra-... " he just remembered he talked with Rune out loud and other people don't hear Runes voice.
" Please ignore that, I was just thinking out loud. I need to go now. " he turned around and started going in direction of Liān.
" No wait! That symbol on your back! You're Rune possessed aren't you!? " man yelled. He was in his 60s, he had long white beard and long eyebrows. He looked tired, but he didn't act like that. He was wearing leather clothes with some pouches tied to his waist and back.
Sion turned around; " How did you know? ". He was prepared to use
" I mean no harm! Like I said, my name is Marin, I am a Master of Fishermen. Best fisherman on the entire world! We that bear the title of 'Masters' generally know more things than regular folks. Besides, Runes aren't really a secret ya' know? "
" Great, I didn't ask for any of that. I'm asking how did you know I was a Rune possessed? You don't have enough energy to be able to read through my abilities or soul. So how? "
" W-well.. that symbol of yours with a golden dragon signifies Runes. You didn't know that huh? I thought you did. "
~What is he talking about?
[ Runes voice; I-.... I don't know.. This symbol means nothing, as much as I know. ]
" How can I trust anything you say? "
Marin covered his face; " Well.. you can't.. but we fishermen from Ibotha Heavenly Empire don't lie and we always keep our promises ya' know! "
" You people from Ibotha Empire are scum, that's all I know "
" Wh-... what? Wait.. you aren't from Ibotha Heavenly Empire? "
" No, I'm from the West, Nellān.. and even more precisely Ravensborrow. "
" But Ravensborrow is under Ibotha Empire's control! "
" Doubt it, I took down all the guards and freed the citizens. "
" Oh... that's right... Ravensborrow was attacked by some guy and we lost control of the town... That was you? "
Sion nodded.
" How did you defeat Shinning General though? "
" Let's just say neither of us is dead from the fight. "
Marin looked right and scratched his beard; " That isn't quite true though.. he was executed some time ago.. by the Golden Emperor! "
Sion's eye twitched. So Royals have enough power to just execute 2nd Classes without any problem.
" I need to go now, if you ever mention to anyone that we met I'll find you. " he started walking on the right road, heading towards Liān.
After just few steps, he heard noise behind him, as he turned around he noticed Marin.
" Why are you following me? "
" You see.. I'm heading towards Liān myself hehe... " he laughed nervously.
Sion sighed and waved his hand as if saying to follow him.
" Isn't Ibotha Empire beautiful? "
" No. " Sion said with a disgusted face.
" What do you mean no? We have nice hills, lakes, castles, valleys, hills, ravin-.. "
" I don't care. Also you said hills twice. Not to mention I never even been in Ibotha Empire before... "
" What do you mean? You live here. "
Sion slapped his face from annoyance; " Old man I told you already I'm not from Ibotha Empire! I'm from Nellān. "
" Oh, but you have a Rune though.. ".
" It doesn't matter I'm from Ravensborrow-! " he stopped.
" But Ravensborrow is under our control, no wait.. someone attacked it and h-.. "
" No no, shut up... what did you just say.. "
" Someone attacked Rav-.. "
" Before that.. "
" Ravensborrow is under our contr-.. "
" Before THAT... "
" Uhmm... I don't remember.. "
" You said I must be from Ibotha Empire because I possess a Rune.. What does that have to do with anything? "
" Well, Rune is in possession of Ibotha Empire so that must mean you are from Ibotha Empire. Logical haha! " man laughed.
~I don't under anything..
[ Runes voice; But you do don't you.. ]
~Well...
[ Runes voice; You understand Sion. He mistook you for THEIR Rune possessed. That means Ibotha Heavenly Empire has a Rune of their own. ]
~Which one?
[ Runes voice; I don't know Sion. My memories don't reach beyond 500 years, even though I'm thousands of years old. ]
~Why though?
[ Runes voice; I wish I could tell you, but even I don't know. ]
~Fair enough. So not only do I have to worry about Golden Emperor, but there is a chance Rune possessed appears as well? Fantastic.
[ Runes voice; Don't fret. Just reach Liān and meet with Noirre, nothing will go wrong if you just follow the plan. If you free Liān quickly, no one will come after you. ]
~Yeah..
They walked in silence. Or at least that's what Sion wanted. Marin was constant singing songs about fishing and sailing, despite Sion threating, asking and begging him to stop. They walked for some time when Sion got really annoyed. He wanted to just run as fast as he could, that way he would reach Liān in minutes.. but he didn't do so. A voice from inside was telling him not to leave the old man alone, it wasn't Rune, but his conciseness... The old man was weak, skinny and he was forgetting things all the time. Noirre can wait for few hours, right?
And so Sion listened to his songs and bared with it. No matter how loud or bad he sang, Sion didn't say a word. As time passed, he didn't even get annoyed anymore.
A sign was ahead, it said;
Liān, 20 kilometres
...
Okay, not too bad. But..
" Oh look, a lake! " Marin yelled and ran(barely) towards the lake. Of course, Sion got mad.
" No, no way.. we need to go old man! I don't have time to stop and wait for you! "
" But I must do this! " he sat at one log nearby and closed his eyes.
[ WOOSH ]
Bright light appeared as a fishing rod appeared on his hands. He threw it in the water and sat silently.
Sion really wanted to just leave him. Or maybe just make a clone to leave here, but he didn't have such power in his arsenal, nor he ever heard of something like that.
He couldn't just lift the old man and carry him... or could he?
He approached the old man from behind and prepared to pick him up. But the man seemed calm, he was really enjoying fishing. For god knows what reason, Sion felt that he shouldn't disturb him. Sion rolled his eyes and walked around nervously, he was letting Noirre down for a random old man.
" Old man we need to go! "
" But I'm fishing! "
" Now! " Sion yelled and pointed at the road ahead of them; " I have very important stuff to do so move along! "
The fishing road disappeared and old man stood up, he looked sad. Step by step he walked on the road. Sion didn't like yelling at old people, but this mission was important. Liān is a city under tyranny of Ibotha Heavenly Empire, they will defeat it's leader and let people go. His thinking was disturbed..
Sion felt something nearby.
Something was approaching them from the bushes on their right, it possessed less energy than Sion, but a lot more than Marin. It also didn't feel humanoid, it was likely a monster. And as Sion thought, pair of two red eyes emerged. It was a creature crawling on all 4 legs with large claws, it had prolonged body with spikes on it's back. It's skin was grey.
" Oh my.. " Marin took a step back.
" Stand back old man. " Sion took a battle stance.
[ Abilitiy Right of Weakest activated ]
Sion possessed more energy than the monster so his power increased even further.
[ Ability Collection activated, Gilanndi dagger added ]
He pointed it forward. Monster stared at them with his long tongue outside. Sion was prepared to fight him anytime, he was waiting for monster to make a first move.
" It's a Man-eater! "
" A what? " Sion asked without turning back o look at man.
" They aren't rare in these parts, soldiers usually kill them before they get this close to cities. "
" They strong? "
" No I don't think so.. their skin and flesh is soft ya' know? "
Sion nodded; " Fine then.. Old man just stand back and watch. "