Incubus - Chapter 4 On The Road

After Liliana opened the small sachet around her waist, the pile of monster materials vanished from the room. Looking at the face of excitement on the face of her brother, she couldn’t stop a smug smile from creeping onto her face.

“Wow, where did they go!!?” Kalin asked with wide eyes.

“Hmph,” she stuck out her chest and bragged, “something like this is a piece of cake. A great adventurer, such as I, has to have at least one or two storage items. How else do you think we would be able to carry all of our spoils?”

Seeing the way Lili was acting, Kal responded, “Lili, you’re so cool!”

The smile on her face got a little larger as she pointed her chin higher, as if to make herself look greater, “I am pretty cool, aren’t I?” Contrary to her intent, however, her height combined with her cheerful demeanor made her look more adorable than awe-inspiring.

As they finished preparing for their journey, they snuck up the stairs, as to not wake anybody up. They proceeded to exit the cabin, quietly closing the door behind them as they exited.

As they reached the edge of the valley, Lili stopped and turned to Kal, “Remember, we shouldn’t run into any hostile monsters because of my skill ‘Friend of Nature’. Just make sure that you follow me closely.”

“Yes!” Kal answered, unable to hide the excitement that was on his face.

“Follow me” Lili gestured as she smiled at the reaction of the adorable creature. Following closely behind his sister, Kal took his first step of his first journey outside the valley.

They were moving at a somewhat cautious, but not too slow pace. As the trees passed by them, Kal felt like he was in a dream. The forest was a mixture of vibrant colors, as various trees and plants of many varieties dotted the landscape. Some of the plants, he was able to identify from Lili’s potion and mixing lessons, while others were completely new to him. Occasionally, they would even pass by one of the famous Ironoak trees that became the namesake of the forest.

Ironoak trees were extremely hard to miss. Often passing 50 meters in height, the pure black trunks and metallic leaves stood out against the colorful surroundings. Famed for its toughness and versatility in the making of equipment, they were highly sought after by many craftsmen. As a material, Ironoak crafted more similarly to metals than other woods. Though some people did make decorative carvings out of the wood, the more common methods of refining included smelting and smithing. Along with its resistance to heat, they also had a high affinity to magic. As a magic conductor, it was comparable to much more expensive materials such as mithril, though it is used more as a material for armor and staves instead of melee weapons.

Despite Ironoak items were extremely popular and the material quite abundant, they remained small in number due to the dangers associated with gathering it. There are not a small number of adventurers that die each year from the razor-like leaves falling from the trees. If one is able to avoid being surprised by the falling leaves, they would find themselves with the task of cutting through several meters of one of the strongest naturally-occurring resources in the world. It is at this point where the real battle begins, legions of leaves would fall from the leaves as if to protect the tree from further harm. And this doesn’t even take into consideration what happens after the tree is cut down and needs to be cut into smaller pieces, though I digress.

Through and through, the trip through the forest was passed without any danger. Though they didn’t encounter any dangers, the duo did get lucky as they found some rather rare and valuable herbs along the way.

******

After leaving the forest, Lili and Kal soon encountered the road that lead from Den city to a nearby town by the name of Sweetgrass. Little towns with a few thousand residents, like Sweetgrass, dotted the landscape around the forest. While adventurers couldn’t make as much money selling materials in these cities and the goods available lacked in comparison, many adventurers preferred to take these settlements as their base of operations. Due smaller population, navigating was much easier. Also, there were never huge lines in the various guild branches either. Everything was at a much more personal level, and many enjoyed living away from the overcrowded city while still being privy to its benefits.

As the two of them were walking along the street, Lili turned to Kal to confirm, “Do you remember everything I told you?”

“Yes, I am a succubus, your half-sister, that is on her way to the church to get my status board. I’ve been living in a small village in the west that doesn’t have a name.” Nodded Kal.

“That’s right,” she nodded in conformation, “you must make sure to not mention that you are an incubus, or even a boy for that matter. There are various perverts out there that would want to steal you, so they can lock you up and add you to their ‘collections’.”

“Why would they want to do that?” Inquired Kal as he tilted his head.

Lili just looked at the innocent expression on her brother’s face and sighed, “Just know that not all people with a lot of money are good.” then she smiled with a teasing expression, “besides you’re so cute that you look more like a little sister than a little brother anyway.”

This comment didn’t offend Kal in the slightest. In fact, after hearing her, Kal smiled happily and said, “Thanks, I think Lili is cute, too!”

As they walked up and down the path, the landscape started to open, and Kalin was able to take in the landscape in its entirety. Although the colors of the plains and rolling hills around them weren’t as numerous or colorful as the forest itself, there was something fresh about the way the wheat and grass danced in the wind. As winter was approaching soon, the wheat at already begun to turn white as several dozen workers could be seen harvesting the fields.

As a reminder, the 8-year-old Kal had only ever met 3 other people, beside himself. Seeing so many people at once made him extremely excited. If not for the watchful gaze of his sister, he would have immediately run over to get a closer look. Contrary to his hopes, however, she just ignored the farmers and fieldworkers, as she continued her way toward the town.

“Hey, why aren’t we stopping to say hello?” asked Kal as he gently tugged on her cloak.

“They are just regular farmers, there is no reason to talk to them.” She responded, “We also want to get to the church as early as possible or we won’t have enough time to pick out a weapon.”

Though he was still curious about the object of his first encounter with other people, his desire for adventure overcame his curiosity. His decision was also probably influenced by the actions of his sister. While she did like to tease others, she had a relatively responsible and grounded character. When she made decisions, she wasn’t one to change her mind easily. If Kalin had somehow decided to ignore her commands, it was highly likely that she would have taken it as an excuse to ‘bully’ him. This thought definitely didn’t cross his mind while making this decision. Definitely not even once.

The little boy, that was absolutely not afraid of his sister, probably, followed his sister down the road. Not far in the distance, they were able to see the road approach the mossy walls surrounding Sweetgrass. Though they were still several minutes from the city, Kal couldn’t stop himself from the giddiness he was feeling. A wave of emotions filled him: excitement, fear, intrigue, unrest, as well as many others that he couldn’t fully comprehend. His whole being started to get hyper and antsy as he used all his remaining willpower to not run over immediately.

Seeing her brother like this, Lili couldn’t help but smile inwardly as she stopped in her tracks before saying, “Oh shit!”

“What’s wrong?”

“I didn’t bring enough money for you to enter.” She pretended to sigh, “I guess you’ll have to wait a couple more weeks before you can enter. Maybe next time…”

She was interrupted by the sound of sniffling. As she turned toward the sound, she was greeted by a pair of quivering lips, a small red nose, and teary violet-gold eyes looking up at her. Although the sight was just too adorable, she couldn’t help but feel her just a little guilty at her prank as she outwardly sighed, “Honestly Kal, it was just a joke. You can enter the city.”

Wiping his eyes, Kal asked in a small, quivering voice, “Really?”

“Really,” she confirmed.

“Really, really?” he questioned again weakly, albeit louder and with less quivering.

“Yes, Kal.” Lili responded as she placed her hand on his head and started to comfort him. “You can really enter the town.”

After Kal collected himself, the two of them approached the gate of the town. The guards at the gate watched the unique scene of two little ‘girls’ approached the gate, while holding hands. The two of them were like a pair of fairies, drawing on the eyes of everybody at the toll station. There was an odd attraction created by the duo that caused the surrounding people to have the desire to approach them. When they walked toward the guard at the gate, the surrounding guards couldn’t help but catch a whiff of an entrancing aroma. As it blew away with the wind, they couldn’t help but feel a slight emptiness, as well as longing toward the passing fragrance.

Kalin couldn’t hide his curiosity as he took in his surroundings. There was a total of 5 guards at the entrance of the open gate. Two of the guards, a man and a woman, held bows and were equipped with a dozen arrows each. Slightly further from the gate, as if to protect the two protect the bowmen, were two more guards equipped with spears and shields. In the center of them, was a man with a sheathed sword around his waist. They were all wearing gambeson tops, as well as metal plates covering their vitals. As a bottom piece of armor, they were all wearing metal skirt armors that came partially down their thighs and leather boots that went to their knees. On their heads they wore simple visorless helmets, apart from the man with the sword, whose head was completely bare and shining in the sunlight.

As the two stopped in front of the bald man immediately in front of the door, there was a slightly large pause as nobody moved or said anything. This unique scene continued until the silence was broken by a loud inquisition, “Hey, where did your hair go?”