ALL NOVEL Chapter 150 “Safe?”
Chapter 150
“Safe?”
The first rays of sunlight illuminated the outskirts of the hut surrounded by a thick forest where the rest of the heroes were located, according to Kalysto’s map.
“I think this is it," Caranthir announced, and she hid behind a huge bush nearby in the middle of two leafy trees as she settled in to get a good view of the place.
Don’t tell me, Sherlock. She scoffed. Given that it was the only cabin in the vicinity, it was more than obvious that this was the place they were in. That and everyone’s dots were glowing on her map, indicating that she was in the right place.
But when she looked at her map again, something caught her attention.
On the bottom side, a button labeled ‘Contracts’ lit up, then began to blink. And her fingertips itched, wanting to know what it was.
Immediately, she clicked on the button and a new window opened before her, showing a list of all the active contracts she still had.
The one that said ‘demon king’ was the only one whose light was blinking, so she clicked on it.
[The demon king will have three weeks to find:
Alice Sanders. (Found.)
Maria Sanders. (Found.)
Antonio Sanders.
After which he must begin teaching magic to Kalysto Luna, the champion of the fairies. And give her full access to his library for as long as she requires.
In return, Kalysto must create three barriers: one for the palace of the demon king and two more in each of the palaces of his two younger brothers within the next six months.
Furthermore, Kalysto commits to purify the kingdom of the demon king, Desmond, and his two younger brothers from the miasma within the same six months. In addition, Desmond’s kingdom will be purified of miasma once a year for each year that magic teaching continues between the parties agreeing to this contract.
Kalysto agrees to immediately deliver the book ‘The Fall of the Hero’, after both parties accept the contract.
Until six months after finding Alice and her grandparents, the three aforementioned must live inside the demon king’s palace as a precautionary measure to ensure that Kalysto will fulfill her part of the deal.
The fairy champion is welcome to visit or move into the king’s palace at any time.]
The last sentence was added at the last minute by the demon king, so Kalysto didn’t think much of it. What really mattered to her was to see that next to Alicia’s name. He assured her that he had already found her.
Kalysto felt a huge weight being lifted from her shoulders at the same time as her lungs filled with air, which seemed much purer and cleaner all of a sudden.
Immediately she shrunk her map, where the dot symbolizing the demon king shone to the south of the continent, close to the coast.
And without being aware of what she was doing, she touched it.
I wish I could talk to Alice right now, she thought. How did he find her so quickly? She wanted to be able to ask him and immediately a new window without text appeared before her.
Kalysto opened her mouth to say something, but Caranthir’s voice interrupted her.
“I think it’s a trap," commented the elf. And Kalysto blinked several times before she could remember that the elf could not see the windows of her system. She closed them immediately, leaving only the one with the enlarged map open.
Concentrate! she scolded herself.
“That’s more than obvious," she replied.
But first I need to make sure everyone is together and who kidnapped them… Kalysto bit her lip as she planned, ignoring the elf’s fixed gaze on her. If they aren’t the same ones who have Katia, there won’t be any problem with me attacking them and escaping to the north, but if they are, the quickest way to get inside the castle and check the prison is to let me get caught. That and she needed more information, it was obvious that Solis had not been safe enough for them.
I hope the captor is from the Medhas faction. She thought, remembering that there seemed to be several factions within the royal family. For while the king didn’t give a shit about them, the queen saw to it that they were clothed, fed, healed if they got sick or injured during training, and had good quarters.
“I hope it is one of the idiots who is in command of the king who is in charge of this," she muttered quietly, immediately drawing the attention of the elf, who turned to look at her with a frown.
“Why would the saintess say such a thing?”
“King Medhas is an idiot. The queen, however, pays attention to details.”
Like putting flower arrangements in our rooms and on the table where we all ate so that we would get used to having flowers nearby so none of us would notice when the servants poisoned us with zhalem’s flowers.
“Do you have my potions order ready?” She preferred to change the subject. Now that Alice was safe, she wanted to go see her before returning to her world and take a well-deserved vacation while she visited the rest of her friends and made sure they were still alive.
Seeing how efficient the demon king is, maybe he can help me get information on how to open a portal to Earth and get Alice and the rest of the boys back home. She enthused. Or maybe I can find information in his extensive library.
“Of course," assured the elf, whose dark circles were noticeable under his tired eyes.
“Including the extra bottles of revitalizing potion I asked you for a few days ago?” she questioned. Because of the new deal with the demon king, I’m going to have to work hard to quickly level up my profession so I can start making the barriers in the shortest time possible.
Which meant doing her own version of Artemis’ rigorous training.
"Yes," he assured her, pulling out three enchanted leather bags filled with potions. Kalysto received them and after checking that there was the agreed amount in each one of them, she put them in her inventory.
“Good job, you can leave now," she said, and she began to observe the cabin and the four guards that were guarding its exterior.
“...” Caranthir seemed to disagree with her request. “Are you sure you don’t need me? It could be dangerous.”
“Shouldn’t you be worrying to finish on time the collection of potion making books I asked for? Or have you already finished them?” She questioned annoyed, not at all happy to be interrupted while she was trying to plan how to get in. It was also starting to make her uncomfortable with the way he looked at her when they were alone. Or when he thought she wasn’t watching him.
“...” Caranthir tightened his lips and took a step back, visibly annoyed and hurt by the rejection. “I am working on them, but they are far from finished.”
“In that case, I’d rather you focus on that. I appreciate the help you have given me so far and in case I need your services again, I will contact you.” It looked like he was going to object but then he nodded and disappeared.
Kalysto waited a couple of seconds, suspicious of the ease with which the elf had left.
Mana sense. She thought, pushing the mana out of her body and checking ten meters around, making sure she really was as alone as her eyes told her. It was then that she shrunk her map again, noticing that the dot representing Hanna had disappeared. Frowning, she carefully checked the window, noticing that at the bottom of the ‘Contracts’ tab there was a button labeled ‘Contracts/Expired Contracts’. And there was not only Hanna’s name but also the twins’ and Edward’s names.
It was strange that Edward’s name was there, but she decided to leave that matter for later investigation.
She touched the contract with Hanna, and as she touched where the fairy’s name was written, she thought that she wanted to talk to her. Immediately, a purple window with no text inside appeared before her.
“Hello Hanna, how are you?” murmured Kalysto as she watched two of the guards pass in front of the house, noticing that both of them had human ears. A third joined them, while the fourth entered the hut. And on his chest, the coat of arms of the kingdom of Balsahty was carved into his armor.
The king then. She relaxed, remembering that all the queen’s guards wore her father’s coat of arms embroidered on their cloaks. Inspection!
[Name: Azohar
Race: human
Level: 21
Class: Warrior
HP: 1,500/1,500
MP: 10/10]
Nothing to worry about then. She calmed down again, especially after noticing that the other two guards were level twenty.
Then she looked again at the chat window where a white-colored text started to appear.
[Good morning, champion. I hope you are having an excellent morning!]
"Is more like a busy one, but thanks for asking. Tell me, would it be possible for us to make a new business deal?!"
[Of course! More holy water? Because if so, I’m interested in adding to my collection! My aunt found out I got a couple of liters last time and I ended up giving her almost half of it," complained the fairy.]
“I hope you got a good deal with that.”
[Of course, I did! Now I have new armor! Although I suspect I could have gotten it for a lower price, but well, she’s my aunt, so there’s not much I can do about that.]
“I understand you," she said with a smile, amused at the elf’s situation. “And yes, it’s holy water. I will need at least ten thousand mana stones between 4,000 and 10,000 MP and if you can get a hundred vials to bottle them as potions, it would be ideal, with their corks included, of course.” Then she thought better of it. Maybe I can start selling holy water in other kingdoms... It’s about time I start thinking about becoming independent and getting my own stuff. “Could you add another 100 half-liter bottles? I will also need a five-liter water container so I can give you your payment.”
[Mmm, do you need them for today? I have a busy day today and I don’t know if I can have everything in time.]
“It doesn’t have to be today. It could be a week from today.”
[In that case, no problem. But if you add another two liters of holy water to the deal, I’ll have everything ready by early tomorrow morning and I’ll add two thousand of 2000 MP mana stones.]
“Perfect! We have a deal!” As soon as he finished negotiating with the friendly fairy, Kalysto changed her hiding place. Turning around the hut after noticing that the guards had stopped making the rounds.
Stealth! She thought as she approached a few meters away from the hut, being careful not to make any noise.
“Are you serious?” Asked one of the guards, sitting on a wooden chair while the other two were standing next to him and leaning against the wall.
“I’m serious! The queen ordered to burn the entire mansion of the Marquis of Tehro, it seems that both he and his daughter had the black plague!” commented another guard, the fear of catching it just by talking about it permeated his voice.
“Wait a minute! Wasn’t his only daughter one of the king’s concubines and pregnant?” commented the third one.
“That’s not the worst of it! The king didn’t even attend their funerals, and many aristocrats suspect that he is infected too!”
“By the gods, I hope I don’t get infected when I get back to the palace! I think it would be better to resign as soon as we get back! Better alive and unemployed than contaminated and infecting my family!”
“Be quiet at once!” They were scolded by the guard who had entered the hut earlier. “The queen said the king was sick, but she never said of what," he added a few seconds later. “I’m going to pee!” He announced loudly and walked away into the thick clump of trees. Kalysto immediately followed him, ready to take care of him first, but after a few meters, when neither of them were visible to the people in the hut, the knight turned around and drew his sword. “Who’s there?” He growled and Kalysto circled him noiselessly until he was in profile. But as soon as she took a last step while looking at him, she ended up stepping on a branch and a couple of dry leaves without realizing it.
And the noise echoed loudly in the silent forest.
“Tundra!” She immediately conjured at the same time as the warrior with the symbol of the Brincy duchy on his chest, ran in her direction.
A wave of ice spread violently around her, freezing everything in its path.
And for the next few seconds, Kalysto felt uncomfortable that she had killed someone.
[You have gained 4000 experience points!]
Then she advanced towards the hut and carefully approached within a couple of meters of the other three guards, who had separated and started to make their rounds around the hut.
Sleep well! She thought, as soon as she touched the body of the first of them, injecting more than 500 MP into her attack. Making sure the man wouldn’t wake up for the next three hours. Then she did the same with the other two guards. Mana sense! And after extending it, she could feel a kind of barrier created around the windows and the door of the wooden hut. Along with ten people inside. Three guards. She deduced and from the amount of mana they had, two of them seemed to be mages.
“Dispel Ezhil! Purification Ezhil!” she whispered just before opening the door, dispelling the restraints that she suspected were some sort of intruder alarm.
But what she found there was not what she expected.
While Kalysto had thought the seven heroes were gathered there along with three other guards of the kingdom, inside were only Koden, Rita, Eric and Madha. Next to Milo, two mages and three knights with the symbol of the duchy of Brincy stamped on their cloaks were pointing their sharp swords at the necks of the chained heroes.
To make matters worse, all those with the duchy symbol on their robes were between level forty and forty-five.
Including the two wizards, who wielded space magic.
“Welcome back, Miss Luna! We have been waiting for you," greeted Milo, maintaining the facade of a perfect aristocrat.