In front of a gravestone deep in the forest, a black-haired young man sat in front of the headstone with a melancholy look on his face.
"I'll enjoy this last drink for you old man!"
Viltz grabbed the bottle of liquor next to him and took a big gulp before pouring it over the gravestone.
After a long moment, Viltz sighed and stood up with a cold look in his eyes.
"The cult of the lionheaded spider.... If i come across any of their bases in the future, i will make sure to exterminate them at all costs."
Viltz left the burial site without looking back and rejoined Lyana, who was waiting for him along with Lena in their old cabin.
"Well, it's time to go."
"You're leaving so fast already?"
"Yes, i still have a lot of things to do and right now i don't feel like being in this place really. This is probably the last day we'll see each other again."
Lyana could only sigh and gave Viltz a tight hug.
Viltz carried Lena on his shoulders and opened a portal back to Lan Exeter.
Jumping to the other side of the portal, Viltz and Lena appeared in an empty room of the tavern Viltz was in earlier.
Leaving the girl on the floor, the girl crouched down and began vomiting all over the place for nearly a minute.
The poor girl gave Viltz a pitiful look with her face pale from all that food she had to expel.
Viltz looked away and said to the girl," Don't worry, sooner or later you'll get used to it."
Lena turned even paler at the thought of such torture for her poor stomach.
Viltz paid no attention to the girl, conjuring up a stream of water, passed it over the girl's mouth and then wiped it with a handkerchief.
Leaving the tavern, the brothers headed straight for the city's harbor.
"My ship will go to Edding, we will sail in an hour but let me warn you beforehand, the voyage will be long, we will be about fifteen days at sea, are you sure the little girl will be able to stand it?" The ship's captain looked at little Lena and asked with some concern on his face.
"Don't worry, she'll be able to stand it." Viltz smiled and handed a bag of coins to the captain.
Viltz sat down in his cabin with Lena next to him and began rummaging through his backpack.
Pulling a green potion out of his pack, he smiled and looked at the little girl next to him.
"Well, the sea voyage might be a little rough for you so you'll have to drink some of this potion every time you feel seasick okay?"
"Ok!" The girl grabbed the potion and nodded.
"Fine." Viltz patted her head and sat in a chair, closing her eyes to meditate as she waited for the ship to sail while the girl sat on the bed to play with a couple of dolls she bought her on the way.
Some time later, Viltz felt the ship begin to move.
He glanced at Lena and found her asleep on the bed. Sighing, he got up and tucked her in, then sat back down, grabbing a book and beginning to read it out of boredom.
...
Half a month later, the ship arrived in Edding with no problems.
Getting off the ship, Viltz let out a yawn and straightened up while Lena rubbed her swollen eyes, it was the first time for her traveling on a ship and her body was not in the best condition, all that caused her to have a very unpleasant experience.
Picking the girl up, Viltz left the port and headed to a restaurant for breakfast.
After breakfast, Viltz made his way to a blacksmith shop.
"Good morning, can you show me your steel armor?"
The blacksmith sized Viltz up for a while and asked," Are you sure? My steel plate armor is very expensive, can you afford it?"
Viltz pulled out a large bag of gold coins and waved it in front of the man, causing the coins to clink.
The man nodded and asked again, "Can you take off your tunic? It's to find out what kind of armor would fit your body."
Viltz said nothing, just took off his tunic and the upper part of his clothes, revealing his well-defined muscles.
The blacksmith rubbed his beard for a while before directing Viltz to the store's storeroom, where he had all kinds of armor hanging on mannequins.
"I think for you the best would be these three."
The man showed Viltz three different types of plate armor.
Viltz rubbed his chin and evaluated the three armors, after a while, he decided on a gray armor with lion heads design on the shoulder pads, breastplate and helmet.
Viltz tried on the armor and started testing its flexibility and agility for a while before taking it off.
"I want to buy this armor but there are some parts i won't be using, if you don't want to sell the armor separately that's no problem but if you could keep those parts it would be less of a problem for me."
"Sorry, i can only sell you the whole armor, it's protocol, but i can buy you those parts you don't want, although i'll buy them from you for half price."
"No problem." Viltz didn't mind this seemingly unfair deal, to him money was the least of it.
Viltz put on his linen shirt and tucked it into his pants, then put on the inner leather vest. He pushed the chainmail aside and straight into the steel breastplate that covered the back and front of his torso.
The blacksmith looked at him as if he had committed an unforgivable blasphemy but Viltz didn't care.
He opened his backpack and pulled out his previous set of clothes, setting everything aside and leaving only the black leather coat, boots and thick belt.
Viltz put the coat on over the steel breastplate and tied the black leather belt around his waist.
Then he grabbed the shoulder pads in the shape of lion's heads and strapped them over the coat.
The blacksmith arched an eyebrow at the strange combination Viltz was making but in the end did not speak.
Viltz rolled up his coat to his elbows and then put on the steel gauntlets, leaving the upper arms of the armor to one side, then grabbed the greaves of the armor and removed the upper part that covered the thighs, leaving only the knee pads and the lower greaves, tying them to the boots.
To finish, Viltz strapped his saber and sword to both sides of his waist.
Looking at the helmet in front of him, Viltz ignored it completely and turned to look at the blacksmith who was looking at him with a strange look.
"What?"
"I have to admit that this strange blend of yours has a certain harmony so to speak."
Viltz just shrugged and asked Lena next to him, "How do i look?"
The girl blinked in confusion a couple of times before giving him a thumbs up.
"This girl doesn't seem to be interested in anything that doesn't have to do with food."
Shaking his head, Viltz handed the blacksmith a bag full of gold coins.
"Wait until i do the calculation of the leftover pieces."
"No need, you can keep the rest."
As he was about to leave the store, Viltz saw out of the corner of his eye a broken, rusty, very ordinary looking sword that would go unnoticed by the naked eye.
Looking at the blacksmith for a moment, he asked him directly," i want that broken sword over there, how much is it?"
The blacksmith looked at the broken sword and asked doubtfully: "That one? It's just an old broken sword, what would you want that for?"
"Nothing, i just thought i might give it to this little girl to practice with." Viltz patted Lena's head and replied.
"Haha! It's just a trinket! Take it away! It's a gift from me, i don't even know what a sword in such a bad state is doing in my store!"
Viltz smiled and grabbed the sword, sizing it up for a while before putting it away. Then he grabbed Lena and left the store.
"Looks like that blacksmith was no big deal after all, a good blacksmith would have recognized that this sword is made of meteorite ore even if it's broken in half and covered in rust." Viltz smiled as he fiddled with the sword in his hand.
With a spell, he removed the thick layer of rust covering the sword, revealing a shiny surface.
"I'm hungry!"
"So fast? You just ate less than an hour ago!" Sighing, Viltz stowed the sword in his coat and headed to the market, where he bought some street food for the girl and then bought some spare clothes for both her and himself.
Finally, after two hours of wandering, Viltz found a carriage which he paid to take him to his final destination.
"Where do you want me to take you, my lord?"
"Head for the vicinity of the ancient castle of Stigga."
"But my lord, that place is deserted and in ruins, there are rumors that there are ghosts in that place, are you sure you want to go there?"
"Just take me there and don't ask more questions than you should."
"Forgive me my lord! I will take you at once!"
The carriage driver sped out of town, heading in the direction of the ancient castle.