Here I am hiding in the shadows with Conceal active. There was barely any suspicious activity during the day so I waited for nightfall to perhaps sneak into Son's house and gather some sort of information about this settlement. Rose will be keeping a lookout from the guesthouse's roof in case of any unexpected events.
I moved from shadow to shadow as slowly as I can. I was afraid there was someone as perceptive as Tom here although I highly doubt there is anyone like that here but it doesn't hurt to be careful. I saw Son coming out of his house with someone else. Rose made the okay gesture to signal me that it is safe to sneak into his house while she will be eavesdropping on the both of them.
Alright, are there any opened windows? Hmm, all seems to be locked. What about the.. back door? It's.. opened? The door was not even closed leaving a small opened gap in between. Is this a trap? Why does it smell like it?
I opened the door while maintaining Conceal active. To the uninitiated eye, it would looked as though the door opened by itself. At first glance, the house extremely dark with barely any lights. Perhaps they use candles here but shouldn't you light up a few to prevent your house from looking so creepy?
I sneaked in slowly. First impression, this house is worst than a minimalist. There was barely even anything inside here at all. Is this what Son meant when he said that money had no value to him? But still, this is perhaps the most boring house I ever stepped my foot in. Did I perhaps mistaken this building as his house when it could perhaps be a meeting building instead?
I checked each room as quickly as I could. All of them were as barren as the Mojave wasteland with not a single furniture in sight. I was down to the last room when there was finally a mattress on the floor along with a table and chair. I felt like I hit the jackpot and rushed in to look for any important documents. I noticed there was a metal container at the side of the table with squarish looking soots. He must be burning confidential documents here. Are there even anything I can find here?
There was a book with a paper protruding out. I opened the book to check its contents but it looked like a novel of some sorts. The paper caught my eye as there was a symbol that I recognised. It belonged to the Church of Imperatrix. I read through the paper and felt confused. It would seemed like this letter is asking whether Son was behind the frequent monster attacks on the city and he should stop the attacks if he was.
Son? Leading monsters to attack the city? But how? He seemed hellbent on staying here to care about City Of Pines. We had asked a couple of villages here and they said that Son had never left this settlement ever since he first guided them here. How is he controlling them then? Psychic?
There was nothing else worth noting so I left the premise. As soon as I got out of the back door, white particles were falling in front of my vision. W.. what? Snow? It's snowing now out of the blue? What is with going on with this continent?
I started hearing some commotion towards the direction of the guesthouse and I heard Rose calling out to me. What is going on? Did we get caught? All around me I hear people whispering about bad things. I should get back to the guesthouse quickly.
I peeked out from one of the houses nearby the guesthouse. It looked like Son and a couple of villagers are talking to Rose. I deactivated Conceal and pretended that I had just went for a walk.
"Ah, that sure calmed me down. That brisk walk was all I needed. Hm? What's going on?" I asked them nonchalantly.
"Master Zen, I am sorry but I would have to ask you to leave our settlement immediately," said Son.
"It's the middle of the night and you are kicking me out? In this continent no less? You got to be joking, right?" I glared at him.
"I am not. Your very presence here had upset the entire continent itself. You must leave, effective immediately," he said firmly.
"A.. Are you seriously blaming me for change in weather? Do you even understand what you're saying," I asked him with disbelief.
"Non-believers! Leave this place before you kill us all!" shouted one of the villagers.
"It is snowing because of you! This had never happened before ever since we set our foot here!" shouted another.
Rose was grabbing my arm tightly as though she knew that she had to control my anger. I was still in control of myself even though there were plenty of villages shouting at me. But I snapped when someone threw something that hit Rose in the face. I rushed towards the asshole who threw at Rose but she grabbed me tightly with both of her hands to prevent me going on a killing spree.
"Onii-chan, it's just a snowball. Let's just leave. I am fine," she said to me while clinging tightly to my arm.
Son raised his hand and all the villagers went silent.
"Please, leave on your own accord. I cannot promise you that my flock will not do something beyond my control," he said.
"Very well then, it's been a pleasure," I gritted my teeth as I spat those words.
I grabbed Rose's hand and stormed into the guesthouse to collect our belongings. We left the settlement as soon as possible with Rose casting Holy Light as our light source. After some distance away from the settlement, I turned to her and inspected her face. It was a little red but there was no wound, scar or any sign of internal bleeding.
"Onii-chan, I am fine. Don't worry about me," she smiled.
"Rose… I am so sorry. I shouldn't had suggested we stayed there. I put you in danger," I frowned as I felt stupid.
"It's fine. We needed to investigate anyway. Otherwise the guildmasters might call us lazy for not checking properly," she chuckled.
"To hell with that settlement. The plague can take them for all I care. They hurt my wife, they won't be receiving any help from me at all," I crossed my arms.
"It didn't really hurt at all, onii-chan. You worry too much," she chuckled at me.
"What kind of husband would I be if I don't worry about you," I told her as we tried to find an empty cave to spend the night.
More snows were pouring now and we had to wear our winter clothings. I am glad that had Rose suggested to bring these along or we would be freezing to death about now. We quicken our pace to look for a cave. There! I think I see one up ahead. We rushed towards the cave hoping that it will be empty. There were no lights to be seen so it should be vacant.
Fuuuooppp!!
"What the fuck!" I shouted.
Both Rose and I were lifted up by a metal net and we were both trapped inside. One thing after another!
"Well well, what do we have here? Oh my, we are so sorry. We did not expect to be capturing humans in the dead of night," said a female voice.
"Not just any humans. Take a look, the fourth member of the great powers. And the white angel herself," said a male voice as he raised a lamp to illuminate us.
"I am not in a good mood right now. Please put us down before I lose my temper," I warned them.
"Big words coming from someone who is hopelessly trapped like a rat," said another voice.
I counted 5 presence among them. I believe I know who these people are and I am not in the mood for them right now. I summoned Inazuma and sliced through the steel net making sure to grab Rose princess style as we landed.
"H.. hey! I can land on my own," said Rose as she struggled to put her foot down.
"Hunters, I am giving you my last warning. Leave now or suffer dire consequences," I warned them as I released my murderous intent towards them. I had enough in dealing with humans for today.
"He.. just sliced apart the steel net," uttered one of them.
The hunters were debating on what they should do. Is there some rule that prevents them from just walking away? Geez.
Rose stood in front of me and poked her index finger on my nose.
"Onii-chan, stand down. You are emitting a very strong murderous intent now and we do not kill humans. I will handle them. Capiche?" she warned me.
"Rose, there are 5 of them," I warned her back but she just smiled at me.
She walked ahead and faced them. She unsheathed her legendary rapier given by Peter. I can never stop being in awe at its designs. Mostly silver with some hints of red. Apparently it was made from the materials of a meteorite that fell to this world sometime ago. Peter was lucky enough to get a piece of that meteorite and he sent it to a famous blacksmith where he forged this rapier.
"We humbly suggest you step aside as we cannot claim your title, white angel," threatened one of the hunter as all of them began to unsheathe their weapons.
What odd weapons they are using. Some of them were holding weapons that looked like saws while some looked like hammers. A few of them held what looked like modified flintlocks. Will Rose be fine?
"I would suggest you do not underestimate her. The white angel is even stronger than me," I said out loud.
Rose struck first. She hit one of the hunter on the shoulder causing him to fall. Her rapier's blade had changed to a silver looking rod. Two of the hunters shot their guns at her but Rose dodged it easily. She casted Accelerate and knocked out one of them with a smack to the back of the neck. The hunters did not panic and regrouped. They readied their weapons and charged or leaped at her. Rose changed her rapier's blade to an extremely long silver whip and began swinging at them before they could even reach her.
Using a whip requires a lot of skill stats to wield properly but Rose had 55 skill stats right now. Meanwhile, I was stuck at 48. Just two more to unlock the last hidden spell, damn it!
Rose was skilled enough to deflect pellets shot at her with her whip. Her versatility in using her new weapon is what makes her strong. Even I had difficulty fighting her with her spells and new weapon. The hunters took out what looked like bombs and began chucking them at her but she parried it beautifully, knocking it back at them.
The hunters leaped out of the way and explosions erupted. Rose did not hesitate and rushed after them. She found two of them trying to recollect themselves after the blast and knocked them out cold. Only two left. Scratch that, only one left as the other one was slumped on the remaining hunter.
"We surrender. Please, let us go," said the remaining member.
"Answer two of my questions then you may leave. What is the purpose of your organisation and what is the green fluid that you use to instantly cure yourself," I asked the remaining hunter.
"Our organisation is to kill demons and collect their blood. I am not sure what you are asking about on what green fluids," he answered.
"Don't play dumb. I saw one of you hunters injecting herself with green fluid and healed her wounds instantly. You are not leaving until I get an answer," I warned him and proceeded to walk closer to him getting ready to cast Fear.
"Please, let me go. I do not know about what green fluids you are referring to. There are different ranks in our hunters guild. We are of the lower rank which is why we hunt in groups. The hunter you saw was probably a higher rank hence we won't know what special equipment they have," the hunter was on his knees now begging to let him go.
Rose came in front and blocked me with her hand to stop me from approaching the hunter.
"Onii-chan, just let them go. I hate seeing you like this," she whispered to me.
I sighed loudly to calm myself. I guess I won't be able to get information from these rookie hunters.
"You may go," I said while resigning myself.
"Thank you. I will remember your kindness," said the hunter as we went to wake those who were unconscious.
Rose and I continued to head towards the cave. Thank goodness it is empty, otherwise I will lose it. We started collecting woods for us to burn. Using my lighter, it was so much easier to start a fire. Rose came to hug me tightly. She said that ever since I unlocked Bloodlust, my temper shoots up drastically when bad things happens. Maybe it due to the reason that I can activate Bloodlust easier than Focused Meditation. Mom's gene is stronger than my father perhaps.
She casted her sealing spell on the cave door which prevents any living thing from coming in, unless it is something strong enough to break through the barrier. It should be safe enough for us to spend the night here.
I lay on my sleeping bed and thought of closing my eyes and call it a day but Rose suddenly came over and straddle me. What the? What is she doing?
"Onii-chan, I want you to remember this whenever you feel like losing your temper, remember this moment," she said as she begun stripping.
"W.. wait, Rose. Does your barrier even stop people from peeking in? Calm down," I asked her while I started to panic with her sudden behaviour.
"Well, you wanted outdoor sex, right? This is the closest you're gonna get, o-nii-chan~" whispered Rose as she started kissing me.
Oh my lord, what a night to remember. I will definitely remember this, alright. I am sure my little buddy is going to remember it too. And she told me once that we will end up as a boring couple together.
***
I opened my eyes. Ugh, talk about fatigue. How many times did we even did it? I can't even feel any response from my little buddy now partly due to the weather. I sat up and saw Rose still asleep next to me. She had a satisfied look on her face. Well, she better, after all the crazy things that we did last night.
I thought about what happened yesterday. Are hunters the reason as to why there are barely any demons here? But why are they hunting in the first place? What use do they have with demon's blood? Is that green fluid the previous hunter injected herself with demon blood? But that is not possible. There is no evidence that human blood and demon blood is compatible with one another. I made my own little experiment to test out with demon's blue and red blood yet none of them wielded any results whatsoever.
I sighed as I looked outside of the cave. I will need to depend on Kirin to ride us back to town as it seems to be snowing heavier now. I really hope a blizzard doesn't hit us when we start travelling after breakfast.
***
Me and my big fat mouth. Why did I have to think of such a thing? I am certainly glad we have our winter clothings with us right now. It is snowing so badly that I can barely even see anything right in front of me. Kirin said that he is able to determine our current location and will guide us back to safety. All I had to do was grab onto his mane tightly while Rose have to hug me tightly from behind. It was certainly a dangerous journey and I swore I heard avalanche sounds from afar but I had no way of knowing whether it was coming towards us. I had to everything to Kirin to bring us back safely.
A couple of hours passed and we finally made it back to town according to Kirin. Even though we were supposedly inside the town area itself, I still could not see any buildings around me at all. I decided to tell Kirin to push on until we reached the port. He asked me whether it was a good idea but I had a hunch that something might happen.
Riding on Kirin as he galloped down the stairs from the cliff was awful. I hope my family jewels remained intact after we reached the bottom. I placed my feet on the wooden plank of the port and turned to look at the weather behind me. Bloody hell, it would seemed that what Son had said was true.
The blizzard started getting milder and after a couple of minutes later, it had completely stopped snowing entirely. If I put my foot back on the continent, is it going to snow again? I placed my foot and kept an eye for any falling snow. Nothing. I tested moving between the wooden port and this continent's land but nothing changed. It would seemed that it had stopped snowing entirely.
"Kirin, is there any celestial being that is capable of controlling the weather like this?" I asked him as he was also staring at the weather along with me.
"Not that I know of. Even so, celestial beings cannot use their power to directly affect this world. Even if there really is one then Byakko and I would had sensed it the moment they set foot on this world. My take is that a vessel of a cosmic being resides on this continent," he explained.
"You think Son is the vessel? He didn't feel special or anything," I recollect the details of my meeting with him.
"I highly doubt it's him. There is something else here that is affecting this entire this continent. I doubt it is the Demon King either seeing that his presence here is close to non-existence. I am beginning to wonder about his resurrection," said Kirin.
"Either way, thanks for bringing us back here. You have my utmost thanks," I bowed to him along with Rose.
He vanished and we started making our way back to the town. I need to get this boat refilled and possibly some boat handling training from some experienced boat captain. Fingers crossed there are any available in this small town. I will also need to prepare myself for the return trip to City Of Lilies Dahlee. Someone is going there and I intent to get to the bottom of it. Those people matters to me unlike Son's flock here. I hope they are alright when I make it back there.