Chapter 109 - Night Time Roundup

The journey proceeded quickly, stopping for a few more wyvern attacks which were thankfully handled quickly, and didn't accost our carriage again. I tried to settle in and relax, but I couldn't focus. My nerves were absolutely shredded, and I was expecting us to be attacked at any moment.

This was another one of those things that made wandering monsters and dungeon monsters so different. A wild monster could come from anywhere, be it from the sky or underground, behind any tree and bush. A dungeon had the blessed limitation of corridors and chambers. Ambush usually involved invisibility, and even then there were only so many avenues a monster could take.

It gave a dungeoneer an advantage. Dungeon monsters also worked within a sort of consistent logic that one could plan for. Wild monsters were just more dangerous animals, with all the unpredictability that entailed. I liked feeling somewhat under control in a dangerous situation, and wild monsters didn't let that feeling take hold for long.

"Alta, I swear if you keep fidgeting, I am liable to lose my patience," Eira said with an exasperated sigh that immediately made me feel a flash of guilt.

"Sorry. That wyvern attack still has me a bit rattled." I sighed, looking away from the window.

"You wanna talk about it?" She put her book face down on her seat.

"It's just that I really don't have much experience with wild monsters. I can't anticipate them as well as I can dungeon monsters, and that bothers me." I confessed.

Eira looked contemplative for a long moment.

"You really haven't dealt with much outside dungeons, huh? I know you've fought a few monsters, those shades, Cavendish, the Dryads, but other than that it's all dungeons, yeah?" She rubbed her chin in thought.

I nodded.

"Other than the shades, I think all those other fights only succeeded because of dumb luck, or I had others covering my weak points. I'm no slouch with a sword, and I wouldn't say my magic is terrible, per se, but I usually only succeed when I'm confident." I shrugged as the memories of all the near misses inflicted upon my recent life.

"You've never killed someone either, huh?" She continued, looking directly at me.

"What? No! Why would I have to kill someone? Subduing has been fine so far, and dungeon monsters don't count, not really." I was kind of increasingly concerned at Eira's line of questioning.

"Oh, my dear sweet, I hope you never have to, but I think you might need to start training towards some proper self-defense." Eira nodded to herself, as if deciding something.

She held up a hand to interrupt me before I could lodge a rather shrill protest.

"I'm not saying you can't fight, but after all the times we've done adventures together, your fighting style is very much adapted to sword fighting and even then against things that don't really care about their own mortality, which makes them sloppy sometimes. It's hard to explain. You need to learn how to fight without a sword." She pointed at me firmly.

"Like what you do? The pugilist stuff? Please don't tell me you want me to be a spellsong too?" I smirked at her playfully.

"Gods above no! I love you, Alta, my sweet, but I've seen your drunken attempts at music, and you couldn't carry a tune in a bucket made of orichalcum. No, I'm going to teach you some hand-to-hand stuff. So if you drop your sword or something, you won't be disadvantaged. And you need to get used to fighting people, not just monsters." She shifted over and patted her seat, indicating I should sit next to her. I did so.

"But why though? Most of what we do involves just dungeons?" I nestled against her shoulder, feeling small in her embrace as she wrapped an arm around me.

"My dearest, the roads of Burgotova and Revenstahd are probably the safest in the Mortal Kingdoms, but everywhere else has every flavor of criminal you could think of. Some places won't allow weapons inside their walls, and you'll need to protect yourself without them. This business is going to see you and me traveling all over, and we need to be able to handle anything. You're talented, you're good at leading a party for the most part, and while your magic needs work, you're formidable in your own way." She stared off into the distance for a long moment, as though she was choosing her next words out of the air.

"Just tell me what you're getting at, already, Eira." I decided to give just a little nudge.

"As much as I'd love this vacation to be about us wearing revealing swimsuits and snuggling and being disgustingly lovely dovey by the ocean, you need to train in martial arts. And magic." She locked eyes with me, turning deadly serious.

"But I already know how to fight! I can throw down with the best of them! I want to play!" I whined piteously, the idea of intensive exercise every day during my break being the last thing I wanted.

"Oh my sweet cherry-headed elf, you can brawl, yes. You brawl like a rabid pit hound, but that'll only get you so far! I want you to be with me for a long, long time. Teaching you how to fight properly will help. Also, seeing you all sweaty from working out kinda does things for me." She smirked at me wickedly.

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"Oh no, don't think for a second that flirting with me like that is going to work." I pouted as she pulled me back into an embrace.

"It's totally working, I can tell. I can hear the little gears in your head turning. You know I'm right." She cooed at me as she smoothed my hair.

I just sat there pouting, head pressed against her chest, and I fumed.

But as I much as I hate to admit it, she was right. Too many close calls, too many times my arse has been pulled out of the fire by luck, intervention, or magic gear. Logically, I knew that Eira was right. It just rankled how right she was.

"Ok, fine. I'll do training. Martial arts in the morning, magic at night. But I want the whole rest of the day to play and have fun, got it?" I relented finally.

"That's my girl!" She laughed as she squeezed me tight. Which my body responded to by making a rather large hungry gurgle in my guts.

I blushed at the sound, but thankfully, the carriage pulled to a stop, completely distracting us both from the embarrassing moment.

Eira looked at the lowering sun in the distance.

"Finally, I think it's about time for dinner. I guess its safe enough. Hopefully. Nothing quite ruins dinner like Wyvern attacks." She gave me one last squeeze before letting me sit up.

I stood, stretched, and smoothed my outfit out. While I'm sure no one would care if I look a little rumpled from travel, I still have a little bit of a vain streak that I refused to completely shake.

I opened the door for Eira, with an exaggerated bow. "After you, milady!"

Eira rolled her eyes and smiled as she accepted my help down, and then she picked me up by my waist and lifted me to the ground. Sure, there were steps, but why not have fun? It was kind of nice.

We saw others getting out of their carriages, which had been circled up around us, and the Scarlet Aegis soldiers bustled about setting up some kind of rods with crystals set on top.

I admit, outside heating and cooling crystals, and the little communicator crystals we had, I really hadn't kept abreast of crystal technology as much as I should have. I made a mental note to really pick Danica's brain. Or Cori. I had a gut feeling Cori might know more, even though she'd never mentioned it. She loved gizmos and gadgets and stuff like that.

Those thoughts were immediately pushed out of my brain when I smelled the most mouth-wateringly delicious scent of roasting meat. I had never smelt anything like it before.

"Tis the bounty of the journey." A soft voice said from behind me. I jolted and spun to face whoever had snuck up on me so easily. Not that I'm particularly gifted in detection or 'feeling presences' or whatever dross the adventure stories like to talk about, but I'm usually not that lax.

I calmed a bit as I saw the tall, slender form of Caru, the scholarly denizen of the other half of our carriage. They seemed almost luminous under the rising moonlight and the glow of the strange crystal rods that surrounded us.

"Oh. Hello, Caru. Apologies for jumping like that. You caught me by surprise." I confessed.

"All is well. But the food does smell delightful, does it not? The song of the crystals grates a bit on my nerves, but it is a small price to pay for safety." They nodded as if agreeing with some argument in their head.

I decided to ignore it, and also to not comment on the crystals. I didn't know enough to not sound like an idiot around strangers, and my pride didn't need any more wounding today.

"What is that smell anyway? It smells familiar, but I can't quite place it." Eira added, wrapping her arm around me. Almost possessively. Which she didn't do often, but there was a part of me that kind of liked it.

"Tis wyvern flesh. Properly drained of its poisons, and cooked just right, it is delicious and nutritious. Much more so than the typical traveling rations." They smiled as they sniffed the air.

"That feels incredibly dangerous to me." I said, blanching at the idea of eating monster meat.

"When you're on the road, you eat what you can get. Other countries in the alliance use a lot more monster parts than you'd think. You must've tried some before, sweetness?" Eira asked, surprised.

"Sorry, lovely. Other than the Burgotovan capital's noble district, the road to Revenstahd, and Revenstahd itself, I really haven't experienced much. Hells, the noodle carts are about the most adventurous with food I've ever been." I admitted with a shrug.

It was true. I realized that outside the noodles, sandwiches, and whatever I could get at the cafeteria or Manya's, I really didn't try much. Well, outside pastries. Love me some pastries.

"My poor sheltered beloved. Let's go get you some food, so you can try some proper cuisine." Eira said, pulling me away suddenly. I started to try to say something to Caru, but Eira was moving too quickly, almost panicked.

We hurried closer to the smell's source and where other travelers were beginning to gather. I saw a few smaller cooking fires off towards the edges of the circled carriages and all the smells coming from every direction were heavenly.

That, however, was a secondary concern to me. I shook Eira's grip on my wrist.

"Eira, what was that? That was a bit ruder than you usually are." I glared at her.

She sighed and rubbed the back of her head.

"They scare me. Something about them is really making me uncomfortable. I can't even put a finger on why, and that scares me worse. Can't you feel it? I mean, look, everyone else is avoiding them too." She angled her head subtly back in the direction from whence we came, and sure enough, people were avoiding Caru, getting out of their way. It didn't seem to disturb the lanky scholar, but I found the reactions strange. What was everyone else sensing that I was not?

"That...is decidedly strange, yes." I nodded. "I don't really understand why, though."

"You don't feel it? It's like how it felt when we dealt with that Lich, but different? I don't know. I don't like it. It's had me on edge since we met them before we left. Please, just, I don't know, stay vigilant around them? Or just away?" She grimaced and tore her eyes away, looking back at me.

It was decidedly curious. My brain was itching to learn more, but I also wanted nothing to do with any strange goings on. This was my vacation, and I was not going to get dragged into anything weird, or conspiratorial, or anything like that. I refuse.

"Well, let's put that aside. Let's just get food. So, tell me all about monster meat food." I asked, changing the subject. I decided it was better to get Eira's mind off it, instead of following that conversation any further.

"Oh yeah, so basically everywhere but Burgotova and Revenstahd, people use monster meat. Usually, livestock in those places tend to get picked off pretty quickly in other countries and city-states, so people started using monsters. In Hastera, most of the seafood, which we have tons of by the way, is technically sea monsters. You just got to make sure the blood, mana, and any weird crystals are pulled out, and it's perfectly fine." She explained as we joined the line. The smell was threatening to make me start drooling.

"So this something you've had regularly? Wyvern, whatever?" I asked, my mind still struggling with the idea of eating something so venomous, no matter how good it tasted.

"Goodness, yes, you are in for a treat. Judging by the spices. It's wyvern kebabs!" Her eyes brightened, and her rounded half-elven ears wiggled in delight, which I always found stunningly adorable.

Then something occurred to me.

"What the hells is a kebab?"