The five of us were slowly moving to the North-east of the Dlayla region, in the direction of the city called Ultur. Since it was early morning, the radiant sky was illuminating the pathway in yellow and orange colour. The sun shone through the clouds, but judging by their quick movement to the west, soon enough, light blue colour would dominate the sky. Naturally, the wind ruffled tree tops, which resonated with songs of early birds. Their orchestra was far more tolerable to the ear than the annoying war cry of birds within the monster realm. The atmosphere between worlds sure was different, I could only imagine how much fairy, spirit and god realms were different from the two. Perhaps, I could ask Nila about that, but I rather wanted to see it for myself, not even read about them in the books. It almost seemed like I took a liking to this world, which was natural, as I had an entirely wrong first impression about it.
And while the world around us was moving, our group was busy discussing matters other than nature. Upon embarking on the journey to Ultur, we discussed the pay that the merchant suggested. At first, his plan was to pay us 4 silvas, a bit more than what we earned in three days, however, Nila with Riaz managed to haggle the pay up to 6 silvas. The merchant was grimacing at first when we moved forward, but overtime his face loosened up, as Faust started chatting with him about dwarfs.
"They are not as exotic as fairies or golems in Dlayla, but dwarves are known to be the best caregivers. There are several people within my guild who hired dwarves as babysitters for their critters." explained the merchant, to which Faust caressed his golden gauntlets and smiled, "I know right? They are fantastic with kids! Although, I remember being afraid of their eyes when I was younger."
"Well, it is said that they view your very soul. It also means if they are nice to you, then you must be a good person."
"Lucky me, as they were always nice to me back in Wohr pubs!"
Riaz sighed at his words and murmured, "More like nice to your wallet, they were workers at those pubs after all."
I was aware of the shorter people I occasionally saw in Wohr, but I was not sure whether they were of different race or not. I suspected it, but now was quite sure of this fact. Some of them were staring at me, however, I never made eye contact with one, since they all were wearing shade goggles.
After sharing another laugh with the merchant, Faust turned to Nila, who was all this time silently sitting on her suitcase and reading a book, "What about you, Nila? You must have met with dwarfs before, right? What is your impression of them?"
Nila slowly bobbed her head from side to side, then sighed and turned to Faust. Her expression was listless as always, but I could tell that she hesitated to tell everything, "I had encounters with them, even visited several dwarven cities, including Ultur. I suppose they are fine."
Now it was interesting, apparently, Ultur was a city of dwarfs, which explained their presence in Wohr, but not in the Schöltum region. And this city was present within the Dlayla region, did it mean that dwarfs were native to the human realm? I pricked up my ears while half-reading notes about the great sage Clementine.
Faust leaned back and smiled, "Then you will be our guide there, as neither me nor Riaz ever once visited dwarven city."
"I have been in Ultur over 50 years ago, a lot must have changed there… but wait, are you not going to Ultur just as an escort?" tilted her head Nila. Merchant turned to us, but as he opened his mouth, Faust spoke first, "Indeed we do, visiting Ultur is an essential part for me to become a great hero, right, Riaz?"
Riaz raised his brow, but then giggled and said, "Well, I am not sure how you are planning on spreading your name there, but at the very least, we will gain more finance there."
"Are you going to sell these?" Nila pointed at Faust, or rather at his gauntlets. He gasped and hid them from her sight before saying, "I will sell my body first, before I sell these gauntlets!"
His words made me frown. Why would someone be so overprotective about a simple accessory? Without raising my eyes from the book, I murmured, "They must be expensive if they are really made of gold."
Faust gazed at me in silence, then scoffed and revealed them to everyone once again, "Well, they are, but I really can't sell them. After all, these do not belong to me."
"Did you steal them?" I asked and raised my head, to which he replied with a bitter smile, "Nope, only borrowed, or rather demanded them, back when I was a lousy brat."
Nila hummed at his words and touched her damaged ear that was hidden under her own accessory. Then, she turned to Riaz and asked, "If it's not about gauntlets, then your ordeal has something to do with the church?"
"Not at all, the church does not play any role here," Riaz shook his head, then rubbed his chin and looked at the sky, "Let's just say that my family would benefit from cooperation with Ultur."
"He is from a declining noble house who wants to support his family by striking a deal with dwarfs there." suddenly said Faust, to which Riaz exclaimed just one word, "Faust!"
Despite his friend's displeasure, Faust continued with a smile, "There is no point in keeping it a secret from these two. Sooner or later we would have to reveal it. And there is also nothing to be ashamed of, Riaz! Your diligence for your family's sake is admirable, you even became a priest to make the church your ally."
"Goodness, sometimes you are so hard to deal with." Riaz crossed his hands and turned away with a slight blush on his cheeks. Faust laughed at this sight, while the merchant and even Nila smiled, however, I remained aloof. Not only was Riaz a priest, but he was also a noble… a real one at that.
I felt conflicted, as on one side he was from the group I despised the most, but on the other hand, his family wealth was on a decline. It was hard to tell their financial state, but judging by the fact that they had to live off of mundane tasks in the city of Wohr, they must have been close to ruin. Moreover, Riaz was a priest, I really could not trust him this easily. After all, I had to slay his goddess and so far, my experience with priests of this world was tense. Olek was a naive fool who believed that I could be forgiven for murder, if Riaz was the same, then I would truly give up on religious people of this world.
And while I sat in thoughtful silence, the merchant finally spoke while side glancing at Nila, "You mentioned that you were an elf, young lady?"
"That is correct." she said, to which the merchant whistled and continued, "Fascinating! I never saw an elf before."
"Neither did we!" added Faust while poking Riaz's side.
"And you visited Ultur over 50 years ago, way before I was born. The city really did change quite a bit over the years, although now it's really dangerous to go there."
Nila tilted her head, "Did some kind of monster block the pathway there?"
"Who knows!" exclaimed the merchant, "People just suddenly started disappearing along the path and officials kept quiet about it. There are several rumours about what is happening, but-"
Before the merchant was able to finish, his horses suddenly halted, making him groan in pain. He put his hand against the mouth and once he revealed his palm, there was blood on it. He bit his tongue.
"What is your problem, Bestia, Montra!?"
As he tried to get off the wagon, Nila stopped him by pulling him by the sleeve. She then summoned her staff and pointed to one of the horses while casting a spell.
"What are you doing!?" stood up Faust, then the merchant cried out, "Why are you aiming at them, you damn elf!?"
She ignored the outrage behind her and finished casting the spell by saying, "Mirach Adhil."
Instead of an arrow or a beam, some kind of leash of light was summoned from her staff and thrown at the horse, but she missed, the wire of light landed about a metre away from the horse which neighed in surprise. But then, she pulled her staff like it was a fishing rod, something came out of the horse's shadow and landed on the wagon between all of us in quick succession. It was a coal-black figure that was in humanoid shape, but definitely not human. It wiggled trying to loosen up the wire of Nila's spell, all unsuccessfully.
"Whoah, that's a morph! I have never seen one before" exclaimed Faust and took it into his hands with an excited grin. Riaz and the merchant stared at it in shock and fear, Riaz exclaimed, "Put it away, Faust! Nila, get rid of it!"
Nila only dropped her shoulders and innocently said, "I do not want to touch it..."
I was observing this whole scene with a raised eyebrow, but upon realising that no one would explain what was happening, I finally asked, "What is a morph?"