"Your magic is truly amazing!", Hilda gasped, as the three of us flew across the skies of the Strife Zone, "We will make it to the Asura Kingdom in a few days at this rate!"
'We would be there sooner if Ciri and you did not complain so much about the wind sheer.', I thought, keeping an eye out for any survivors in the vicinity.
Traveling on foot for only thirty minutes, I grew tired of Hilda's constant fear of being ambushed by monsters. All of the creatures in the area were giving us a wide berth, but she refused to believe it. Suggesting we fly over the dangers instead of walking through it, Hilda happily agreed though was understandably confused about how I would achieve that. Creating a platform out of Light Constructs for us, I used Flight Magic to carry us through the air at great speeds. Unfortunately, I had to quickly throttle the speeds back as both women complained that they could hardly breathe and felt like they might get blown off the platform.
Now that we were traveling at a comfortable speed for the two women, I turned my attention to searching for survivors…namely her husband Philip and Ghislaine. Sending out Radar Pulses every thirty seconds looking for signs of life I got a response after thirty minutes of flying. Sensing that they were roughly a mile off our course, we broke off our current trajectory to investigate who they were. As we drew closer to them the sounds of ongoing battle began to echo throughout the forest. Getting us over the site I asked Hilda to confirm if she knew them while I feinted ignorance.
"Ghislaine!!", Hilda shouted, peering her head out over the platform made of magic.
"Do you know her?", Ciri asked, looking at the odd furball beneath us, "She does not look like a noble to me."
"She is no noble, she is our family's trusted bodyguard.", Hilda explained to us, "Cole, can you please lower the platform for her? We are too high up for Ghislaine to leap up here."
Lowering us closer to the ground, the monsters began to scatter as they sensed my presence. Leaving Ghislaine with only a few idiots, she butchered them in short order and quickly leaped into the air to reach us. Using branches of trees as springboards, Ghislaine easily reached us in mere moments. Immediately moving between Hilda and us, she pointed the blade toward me demanding I release Hilda.
"I suggest you sheath your blade and listen to us first before sealing your fate.", I warned her, staring her down, "Your skills are top-tier but pale in comparison to mine."
Instinctually sensing we were in completely different leagues, she nervously continued to shield Hilda who was desperately trying to stop her. Remembering how effortlessly I took out the Minotaur, Hilda did not want her to end up the same way.
"Please wait, they are my saviors, not enemies!", Hilda exclaimed, holding onto Ghislaine's leg.
"Are you with any slave traders?", Ghislaine asked us.
"No, we are Monster Hunters.", Ciri explained, "We were on our way back from our last job when we stumbled across Hilda. At that time, she was being chased by a large Minotaur and Cole killed it himself. We mean neither of you any harm."
Looking at Ciri for a moment and then back to me, Ghislaine wiped the blood from the blade and sheathed it. Apologizing to us for jumping to conclusions, she thought we had captured Hilda and were planning to sell her off as a slave. Stating that this was a common occurrence, especially for beautiful women, Ghislaine had been more than willing to die trying to free Hilda. Telling her not to worry about it, as she was only doing her job as a bodyguard, I resumed our pathing toward the mountain range.
Taking a seat between Ciri and Hilda, Ghislaine sat in silence pondering something. Picking up on that, Ciri asked if there was something wrong.
"Hilda, I am sorry to tell you this but Philip is dead.", Ghislaine said not wanting to dance around the subject, "I am not sure what did it, but something turned him into a pulp. This was the only thing I had to recognize him by."
Fishing his wedding band out of her pocket, Ghislaine handed it to her with a pained expression. She did not like this feeling of failure nor the cost it came with. Shakily examining the ring, Hilda visually confirmed that the ring was indeed her husband's.
"Where…where is Eris and Rudeus? They were with you when that flash occurred.", Hilda said, recalling more details as she looked at her on the verge of a mental breakdown, "Please…please do not tell me they are dead too…"
"They did not arrive here with me, I was several yards away from them when the Teleportation Spell activated. Even with my speed, I was unable to reach them before being pulled into the spell.", Ghislaine admitted bitterly, that she was not fast enough.
"No…No…NO!!!", Hilda shrieked, clutching the ring tightly to her chest and breathing heavily, "Not again, please not again!! I cannot lose my last baby!! I refuse to accept this!!"
Watching her slip into a mental breakdown as I had several times before, I stopped us midair and knelt down to grab her face. Looking her in the eyes I commanded her to stop assuming that they were dead when she had no proof of that. Telling her that for all we knew they were simply teleported to the Asurian Capital, and were safe and sound.
"You cannot give into despair when there is still a chance they are alive. Do not give up hope till you have exhausted everything you have to look for them. Your children deserve that much no matter how dire the situation may seem.", I told her, seeing myself in her hopeless expression, "I know a spell that we can use to scry your daughter and this Rudeus fellow. All I need is a lock of your hair, you share blood so I can use it to find her."
Calming herself down enough to understand what I was asking, she quickly plucked a hair off her head and offered it to me. Using the hair to pinpoint blood relatives, I locked onto the only one on the Demon Continent and began to scry Eris. Watching a 3D image of her daughter appear with Rudeus, relief washed over her as she saw them laughing joyfully on the back of a wagon.
"They are alive, thank the gods!", Hilda cried with relief, "Where is my baby girl?"
"Ghislaine, do you happen to have a world map? We only have a local one for the Strife Zone on hand.", I asked the former Adventurer.
Nodding her head, she pulled a map out of her satchel and spread it out on the platform. Casting another spell to pinpoint their exact location, a pin dropped right on the outer edge of the Demon Continent. Seeing where they were, Ghislaine was about to jump off the platform to head that way when I stopped her.
"Are you stupid? Even at top speed, it will take you several months to reach that spot on foot. By the time you get there, they will be long gone.", I remarked, "Now that we know they are safe, you need to worry about the immediate threat to the Greyrat Family. If that Teleportation Spell sent those two to the other side of the globe, that means the populace in the city and surrounding areas could be anywhere. Thousands of people are going to die and the Crown is going to want someone to pay for that. Were you the ruling noble family for the City of Roa and the surrounding area?"
"Yes…", Hilda replied, understanding the gravity of the situation better.
"They are better off far away from here for the moment. Whatever family members they get their hands on first will likely be killed by the Royal Family.", I reminded them, "As their bodyguard, you should be more focused on locating family members in immediate danger. Who was the family head?"
"Sauros Boreas Greyrat.", Ghislaine answered for her, "He is the one I am most in debt to for taking me in when I had nowhere to go. If he is in danger, I must go to him at once!"
Watching her again almost jump off the platform, I grabbed her tail and yanked her back to her seat.
"We are already heading that way now, just be patient. You will get there faster flying than on foot.", I said with an irritated tone, "I have to ask, are you an idiot?"
Giving me a blank stare, she clearly took offense to me saying that.
"That is a rude question to ask…", Ghislaine commented with a glare.
"Then stop making rash decisions and think things through properly. I know you want to protect the man who took you in, but rushing in without a plan will get you killed. Do not throw the life he saved away so casually.", I scolded her, "If you rush in with your blade drawn, they will kill you and put even more Greyrat's to the chopping block. The best way to save the family is to get aid from allies you have in the nobility. Work with Hilda on sorting out who can help you out, then write to them once we reach a settlement. If they already have people from the family in custody, you will not have much time to rally support."
"You will help us as well, yes?", Hilda inquired, desperate to make allies with a strong fighter.
"We work for coin, same as your bodyguard. In this case, we will accept payment once this matter is resolved.", I replied.
Agreeing to my proposal, she hired us as additional bodyguards till things settled down. Asking Ghislaine to hold the two women down, I said I was going to ramp up our speed so we could sleep in a normal bed tonight.