by Tamryn Tamer
“Herald Frost…” Shael started to laugh but paused as she realized he wasn’t joking.
Frost activated Breath of the Goddess reducing the mental cost of Divine Magic abilities by ninety percent and followed up with Aura of the Divine which allowed him to sense nearby living creatures. Maintaining Aura of the Divine on its own took an enormous amount of magic but Breath of the Goddess made it manageable.
He reached into his equipment sack and pulled out a bow along with several quivers full of arrows and began setting them on the ground in front of him. After he had all of his equipment where he wanted it, he opened up his personal status sheet and swapped his class to hunter.
“This should only take a few minutes,” Frost said as he nocked the first arrow in his longbow. The weapon was crafted from the flexible bones in wyvern wings and the string was made of Arachne silk. The grip of the bow was chimera skin and he also had several different monster fangs and claws attached in different places to increase its stats. “But I’m going to want help collecting them.”
“This is exciting!” Mesime said. “I’ve never seen the herald perform archery!”
Frost activated Sharpshooter Lvl. 10, Rapid Fire Lvl. 10, and Rapid Loading Lvl. 10. Like most combat abilities, they were insanely easy for him to level since he could solo high-level monsters. The nature of those three abilities made them particularly easy to level. Maintaining them drained both physical and mental strength and most people could only sustain them for a few minutes at a time. Frost was high enough level to sustain them for hours at a time.
“I suppose you should all watch and see if you can learn anything,” Shael sighed as Frost loosed his first arrow. It practically vanished as it flew across the clearing, only reappearing once it landed in the mountain goat’s heart. “If you can see anything at all.”
Frost nocked another arrow and drew back the bow while carefully infusing it with his power. Too much power would put it into the red, causing damage or possibly even breaking the weapon, while too little power wouldn’t kill his target. Unlike melee weapons which could accept a large amount of power due to their high durability, bows required more control to keep from breaking. He released his arrow and moments later another goat died, as if by magic.
He continued pinpointing the locations of the goats and loosing arrows as the raid group’s heads went back and forth trying to keep track of him reloading and releasing. After a few minutes he couldn’t sense a single living mountain goat left and deactivated his abilities.
“That’s all of them,” he said while pointing toward the far side of the clearing. “Let’s all start collecting there. That way we can just split up and meet back at the entrance.”
“Already?” one of the Durra women asked, looking around as if she missed everything. “But didn’t you say there were hundreds of them?”
“Two hundred and forty-one,” Frost said while putting his equipment away. “Probably want to spread out a bit to collect them all.”
“But that was only a couple minutes,” a small brown-haired Myrran said while shaking her head. “And you didn’t fire that many arrows.”
“I fired two hundred and forty-one arrows,” Frost said while glancing at the confused onlookers.
“Herald Frost was firing over an arrow a second,” Shael said. “Each time you looked away to see if he hit his target you probably missed him firing two more arrows.”
“What?”
“Really?”
“But if you just keep firing how do you know you hit the target?” an elf hunter asked while staring at her own bow. “Are you just firing as fast as you can?”
“Oh,” Frost paused and considered how to answer the question. “I suppose watching the arrow doesn’t change anything. Once you let it go, it’ll either hit or it won’t. Watching it doesn’t change what you should be doing next which is grabbing the next arrow. If it turns out that you missed all that changes is that you shoot at that target again. I suppose if there were soldiers or monsters rushing toward us that might change a bit, but it was mountain goats. Anyway, let’s get to collecting.”
The raid group ran around the clearing and climbed up the short cliffs to harvest the remains of the goats. After a little over an hour they all met back at the entrance of the clearing. Just in time for the dark clouds above them to burst, releasing another downpour.
“Well you were hoping for rain,” Shael smirked as the water pinged off her armor.
“Not like this,” Frost sighed as he looked at the soaked demihumans, many of which were wearing thick leather armor that covered everything. Although the spellcasters were still giving him plenty to look at.
“I don’t know,” Shael smirked as she stared at him. “I’m kind of liking the view.”
“Right,” Frost said as he looked down at his now transparent white shirt. “Well, I’m not really keen on spending another night camping like this and Mawth is only a couple hours away. I haven’t checked on them in a bit either so let’s stop there before we head back.”
“Mawth?” Gran asked while holding his shield over his head. Several women huddled beneath him to hide from the rain.
“It’s a small village up here,” Frost said. “A little over half of the villagers left when they found out the territory was mine.”
“Doesn’t sound very welcoming,” Erissa said nervously.
“It’s fine,” Frost said reassuringly. “I have Priscilla there helping the remaining villagers with the transition.”
“Who is Priscilla?” a green-haired elf asked.
“Oh,” Frost glanced at the group. “I suppose a lot of you are from Zira so you probably haven’t met her. Those of you that came from Rilia might remember her though.”
“Oh!” Mesime smiled excitedly. “Is she the nice lady that gave us food and blankets in Serino?”
“She is,” Frost chuckled. “Although the people in Serino have a lot of complaints about her. I have her handling things in Mawth right now so I’m sure she’ll be happy to have us. So, let’s get back to the wagons and get a move on. I’m sick of getting drenched.”
CHAPTER 3
The village of Mawth was located right next to a fast-flowing river just a few miles south of the northern mountains. Thick forests bordered the south and west of the village but most of the land surrounding the village was extremely fertile making it perfect for both farming and grazing.
Mawth and the surrounding area was arguably the only valuable location in the entire region and might have grown into a large town or even a city someday if it hadn’t been for some unfortunate decisions.
Due to being located so far away from the other cities of Rilia the small village was generally unaware of the various conflicts within the country. They were aware that the Herald of Riliandra was murdered along with the previous king since that was the type of news that reached every corner of the country. But they didn’t really understand the nuances of what that meant.
Like most people in Rilia, the villagers in Mawth were loyal followers of Riliandra. Naturally, they viewed King Darius Asmund as an usurper and believed he would be deposed for his crimes against the goddess. They were so sure of it that when the Prophet of Riliandra appeared outside of their village with his soldiers they welcomed him with open arms.
The prophet told them that they were heroes and that Riliandra would bless them for helping him in his time of need. What he didn’t tell them was that King Asmund had the full control of the army and that the prophet’s own goddess abandoned him.
The villagers believed every word that came out of his mouth as if it were spoken by the goddess herself. So, when he told them to bring him any demihumans they found traveling through the forest because they were enemies of the goddess, they did what followers of the goddess of order did best and followed orders.
It wasn’t until after the prophet left and King Asmund’s soldiers arrived that the villagers realized their mistake. The soldiers told the villagers that King Asmund was in
control of the country, that the prophet had no allies left, and most importantly they told the villagers about what the brutal Herald Frost did to those that harmed his followers.
The people of Mawth begged the soldiers for mercy and told them everything they knew including which villagers were involved with the killings. The soldiers arrested a few villagers for various minor offenses but executed every one of them that was involved in capturing or killing demihumans.
Once finished, the soldiers left and the village went back to normal for a short while until more soldiers arrived, this time with a messenger. The messenger informed the villagers that Mawth was given to Herald Frost as payment for killing the Prophet of Riliandra.
Half of the village abandoned their homes that same day, packing up everything they could carry in wagons before heading inward toward Rilia.
Mawth went from a flourishing community to a village full of empty houses.
“Herald Frost!” a soldier shouted as they arrived at the village’s entrance. The cloaked man rushed over to them as the rain poured down. “What brings you here?”
“Looking for a place to stay,” Frost yelled over the sound of heavy rain. He pointed at the wagons full of demihumans behind him. “Is Priscilla here?”
“Yeah, yeah! Priscilla’s at the priest’s house. You can park everything over there,” the soldier said while pointing to the nearby stable.
“Can you let her know I’m here?”
“Already sent a runner! She’d have my balls if I didn’t warn her!”
“Right, thanks,” Frost laughed as he trotted toward the stable. The armored man rushed ahead of him and made sure the area was clear of debris for the wagons to pass.
“Not a problem Herald Frost,” the soldier replied. “Most of the buildings on the southside of the village are still open if you’re looking for rooms.”
“What about the inn?” Frost asked.
“Inn is available but the inn costs rel,” the soldier answered. The wagons stopped and the soldier began helping them unhitch the horses so they could put them away. “Plenty of free places to stay that don’t cost anything.”
“Fair point.” Frost hopped off Witch and grabbed a special bag from his belt and dumped it out in her stall. A massive pile of hay along with a few dozen apples dumped out onto the ground in front of her. The crimson mare quickly went to work filling her stomach. “Make sure to leave this stall open.”
“I know the drill,” the man laughed. “My cousin took a hoof to the chest when he tried to close the stable on her in Serino. What about the others?”
“These ones can all be locked up,” Shael said while hopping off her stallion. “Or Herald Frost can ask his horse to keep an eye on them. That works as well.”
“Dancer needs a stall far away from Witch,” Renna said while guiding her mount inside of a stall. “She doesn’t like Dancer very much.”
“She’s too high energy,” Ena said while parking Hammer in the stall next to Witch. The monster of a horse immediately laid down in a pile of hay and went to sleep.
“She only behaves that way because Herald Frost spoils her,” Fayeth said judgmentally. The busty blonde led Sneaky to his stable and locked the pen. “He needs to establish some boundaries.”
“She was like this before I took her in,” Frost said while patting the mare’s neck.
Once the animals were locked up, the demihumans began unloading wagons. Several of them nervously watched the soldier while whispering things to each other. Nearly all of them were scanning the soldier who was only level twenty-two and not a threat in the slightest but that didn’t help alleviate their anxiety. A lot of the demihumans weren’t comfortable around humans and even the ones in his territory were best described as tolerant.
“It’s fine,” Frost said to the demihumans as they hoisted their bags over their shoulders. “The soldiers here aren’t going to do anything. But if you act up, they will report it to Priscilla who’ll report it to me. You should be on your best behaviors.”
“I want to go find Priscilla,” Renna said excitedly. “I haven’t seen her in ages!”
“We should find out where we’re staying before you go running off,” Ena said while grabbing Renna’s tight-fitting top to prevent her from running off.
“How many rooms at the inn exactly?” Frost asked the soldier. “I’ve never actually spent a night in this village.”
“Six,” he answered while looking at the group. “Which was another reason I suggested the houses. But the inn also has food so you can always get a bite and some drinks before looking for an available house. A lot of the other guys are already there and they’ll make sure the owners don’t cause trouble.”
“Alright,” Frost said while gesturing toward the inn. “Why don’t you all go there and order something to eat and drink. We can figure out room situations and whoever isn’t staying at the inn can stay at a house.”
“I’ll take a house now,” Smoke said while grabbing his bag from the cart. The werewolf was slightly irritated that he never had the chance to tank during the battle with the ettin. “I don’t really like inns.”
“No problem,” Frost nodded. “Anybody else that feels that way can also look for a house.” Frost turned toward the soldier. “You mind showing them which ones are available? I don’t really think a werewolf randomly knocking on somebody’s door is going to go over well.”
“No problem Herald Frost,” the soldier nodded. Several demihumans grabbed their bags and lined up with Smoke as the soldier started counting them out. “Alright, if you all want to follow me I’ll give you the grand tour.”
The demihumans that intended to go to the inn first stood around and waited for somebody to arrive and escort them.
“He is awfully friendly,” Shael said quietly as the soldier wandered off. “Hopefully they’re all just as friendly.”
“Priscilla’s really good at training guards, although she has a bit of a temper,” Frost said. “It’s not like she’s cruel. I mean, you’ve met her.”
“Yes. She’s very passionate about things she believes,” Shael chuckled.
“And she has very strong beliefs about how soldiers should conduct themselves. I once caught her preparing to shove a boot up a soldier’s ass as a punishment. She had the boot dipped in oil and everything. I suppose it was sort of nice of her to dip it in oil.”
“That sounds rather harsh,” Shael said.
“Depends on what he did,” Ena said.
“What did he do to make her so upset?” Fayeth asked.
“He struck a child that bumped into him while he was on duty,” Frost answered. The elves as well as the other demihumans in earshot simultaneously growled. “Yeah, I know. But you can’t go shoving things up people’s ass as a punishment.”
The guard actually punched the child while wearing his gauntlet but he didn’t want to tell them that. Most humans in Nivara viewed demihumans bumping into them as an act of disrespect and responded harshly. Frost understood being annoyed with people bumping into him but didn’t understand the insanely aggressive responses.
“Didn’t you impale a bunch of people from ass to mouth?” Penelope asked. The golden-haired Durra was from Zira so she was probably referring to the guard outpost, slavers, or one of the other times he left people impaled.
“How am I not called the Impaler?” Frost said under his breath. “I impaled them after they were dead. It’s different.”
“Are you saying if she killed the man first and then shoved the boot up his ass you would have been fine with it?” a confused black-haired Myrran asked.
“It certainly sounds like it,” Ena said.
“I’m sure that’s not what he’s saying,” Shael said in a disapproving tone.
“I would have been more okay with it,” Frost shrugged as Shael gave him a judgmental look. “I mean it’s technicalities. Shoving things up people’s asses shouldn’t be used as a punishment.”
“But killing them is okay?” a
random elf asked, looking for confirmation.
“Sometimes,” Frost said. “But none of you get to decide that. Got it?”
“Wait,” Renna interrupted. “So how was he punished if you didn’t let her shove the boot up his ass?”
“I ordered every guard in his unit to punch him as hard as they could in the face while wearing their gauntlets,” Priscilla answered as she approached the stable. The brown-haired knight had two escorts using their shields to keep her dry. “But I don’t really understand Herald Frost’s rationale either. He was fine with having the man beaten over the course of a week and exiling him but a boot up the ass is crossing some sort of line.”
“Nice to see you Priscilla,” Frost said as the brown-haired woman entered the stable. She grinned as she reached out and gave him a quick hug before stepping away. “How are things going here?”
“Not great,” she answered. “Every day it’s a new issue and two more families left the village after finding out that demihumans would be permitted to live here if they wanted. The ones that remained though are a little bit excited about the roads and guard towers. Their priest is a bit of a problem though.”
“Hi Lady Priscilla,” Sarassalala shouted while waving excitedly from behind a group of elves. The azure-haired lamia rose up on her tail so Priscilla could see her more easily.
“Hello,” Priscilla responded with a polite smile. “I haven’t seen you since you came through Serino. Are you doing well?”
“You remember me?” Sarassalala said as her oversized eyes lit up. “Very well thank you!”
“You don’t actually remember her, do you?” Frost whispered while glancing at the lamia.
“Of course not,” Priscilla said under her breath while flashing a smile at the lamia. “But my mother taught me proper manners.”
“Did she also teach you to shove boots up people’s asses?” Frost joked.
“No,” Priscilla smirked. “My father taught me that.” Priscilla pointed toward the inn across the central square of the village. “So, the inn is over there if you all want to head over. Things might be a bit cramped.”