Herald of Shalia

by Tamryn Tamer

  “Frost!” Lysandra snapped while grabbing him by the ear like a disobedient child. “What do you think you’re doing?”

  “Ow,” Frost said while escaping her grasp. He rubbed his ear as the villagers stared at him. “I was testing my abilities.”

  “Do not use your full power in front of the villagers,” Lysandra chided. “We need to ease them into…”

  “That wasn’t my full power,” Frost said defiantly while holding out the intact wooden sword. “That was swordsmanship ability.”

  “Excuse me?” Lysandra glanced back at the fallen trees.

  “I mean,” Frost pointed at the sword. “I can only put a tiny bit of power into this wooden sword without breaking it. With a metal one, I can really increase the power.”

  “You absolutely will not use a real sword!” Lysandra said irritably. “Did you expect to slice into that second tree?”

  “No,” Frost said guiltily. “But it was just a wooden sword! How I was supposed to know that would happen?”

  “Exactly,” Lysandra said while crossing her arms. “What if one of those two trees fell on a child? What if you accidentally used too much power and struck somebody playing games in the woods? You’re having issues controlling yourself with a wooden sword. You’ll have even more difficulty with a metal sword.”

  “How am I supposed to learn to control myself if I’m not allowed to practice controlling myself?” Frost asked even though he knew she was right. He’d nearly killed that knight in the forest the other day without even trying.

  “I’m not saying you can’t train,” Lysandra sighed. “And honestly I can’t tell you what to do. You’re the herald and if you wish to practice with a metal sword you can. But I am asking you to trust me and take it slow. Are you willing to do that, for me?”

  “I mean,” Frost grumbled as Lysandra stared at him lovingly. The violet-eyed priestess grabbed his hand and began stroking it sweetly as she waited for a response. “Fine. I’ll take it slow.”

  “Thank you,” Lysandra chuckled. “And don’t worry, it’ll only be for a while. I promise I’ll look for a safe area for you to train.”

  Lysandra dispersed the crowd of elves and directed everybody back to their daily tasks before pulling Fayeth aside to lecture her. After a while, Lysandra’s lecture was complete and Fayeth walked toward Frost with an impish grin.

  “Lysandra I should take you out hunting with me,” Fayeth said. “You interested?”

  “Absolutely,” Frost said.

  “But you only get to use the wooden sword,” Fayeth said. “Is that going to be a problem?”

  “Do you think it’s going to be a problem?” Frost grinned while holding up the sword.

  CHAPTER 10

  “Holy shit,” Frost said while dodging a boar rushing from the bushes. At least he thought it was a boar but the damn thing was covered in stones from head to toe and about four feet tall. Frost scanned the beast as it twisted around to face him and was surprised to see it was only level six. “What is that?”

  “Granite boar,” Fayeth answered while loosing an arrow. The boar shifted slightly causing the arrow to miss its flesh and land on one of the stones instead. “The woods are lousy with them. But there are other monsters as well. They tend to avoid the village but if we don’t clear them out regularly then the gatherers could get attacked.”

  “Let’s see,” Frost smiled while staring at the boar as it rushed him. He performed a simple dodge and countered with an overhead slash decapitating the raging hog. He looked at his abilities and overhead slash’s experience bar moved up another sliver but more than what the dummy had given. He imagined the level of the opponents made a big difference in his ability development. “Okay. This is pretty straightforward.”

  “If you kill everything that easily this is going to be a quick trip,” Fayeth said. “But next time wait for me to land a shot so I get credit as well.”

  “Credit,” Frost said realizing she was talking about shared experience. “Does it reduce the amount I gain?”

  “Slightly,” Fayeth answered defensively. It was obvious she was concerned that he was going to hog all of the experience. “But the overall amount gained is more which is why we should share.”

  “Fayeth,” Frost chuckled. “How many monsters do you normally kill a day?”

  “It averages to about a dozen or so,” Fayeth answered after taking a second to think. “Some days are a lot, others not as many. And we divide up the forest by areas and split the work.”

  “How fast do they respawn?” Frost asked while thinking about how to optimize the process.

  “Respawn?” Fayeth asked.

  “Sorry,” Frost chuckled. “How fast before the monsters come back?”

  “It really depends,” Fayeth answered. “The ones that are dangerous to the gatherers only show up once a day. Smaller ones that the gatherers can handle come back four or five times a day.”

  “What was that granite boar?” Frost asked while pointing at the stone covered boar.

  “Twice a day,” Fayeth said while walking to the boar. She held up a crystal and Frost’s jaw dropped as the boar magically separated into a pile of bones, meat, and rocks. “They need be cleared out.”

  “What was that!” Frost asked excitedly as he pointed at the three piles and then at the crystal. “How did you do that?”

  “I used a harvesting crystal,” Fayeth said holding up the gemstone. “Don’t you know what this is?”

  “No,” Frost said excitedly. “Can I get one?”

  “Here,” Fayeth reached into her pack and handed Frost a dozen of them. “If you run out you have to deconstruct the monsters the old-fashioned way and that gets messy. Just talk to Hestia and she can always make you more, but you have to gather her stuff in return.”

  Fayeth shoved the large pile of bones into a tiny pack resting on her waist and Frost realized it must have been enchanted. He was about to ask her about it but quickly shifted focus as she started to stand up.

  “What about the meat?” Frost said pointing at the pile of fresh pork laying on the ground. “We’re not going to leave it are we?”

  “Oh,” Fayeth’s face contorted as she leaned down and placed it in her pack. “I forgot that humans eat this.”

  “That explains all the fruit and vegetables,” Frost chuckled as Fayeth pulled out a canteen and dumped water on her hands. “You don’t like the taste of meat?”

  “The flavor is too,” Fayeth made claws with her hands and started wiggling her fingers like she was imitating spiders. “You know, ack!”

  “I do not know,” Frost laughed. “Meat is delicious to me.”

  “Well it’s all yours,” Fayeth shuddered. “But then I get all the fruit we find.”

  “Deal,” Frost said enthusiastically as they continued hunting.

  Frost quickly adopted the role of tank as they explored the forest. He would rush the monsters while only putting a fragment of his strength into the wooden blade before he struck. The monster would become disoriented allowing Fayeth to easily land her shot, then he’d finish it off.

  Using the harvesting crystal was a somewhat surreal experience though. Using scan, he could see what it would separate into and then he just needed to infuse the crystal with magic by thinking of his mental flow. After that, it was basically point and shoot.

  He looked at his mental strength after performing the action and realized it depreciated slightly, much like mana. Similarly, even though he wasn’t using much of his strength, it was also lower than before. While both his strength and magic regenerated, the process was slower than an actual game.

  “Hey Fayeth,” Frost glanced at the busty elf. “Do you mind if I scan you quick?”

  “Yes, I mind,” Fayeth said to his surprise. “If you wish to know something, ask a question. Scanning is something you do when you don’t trust a person to answer honestly or view them as an enemy.”

  “I’m sorry,” Frost said while looking away embarrassed. “I�
�m wondering how you’re doing physically. How much energy you’ve used so far compared to when we started. But I always wanted to scan you now and after your next fight to…”

  “I understand” Fayeth nodded. “You’re trying to quantify strength. The rate of exhaustion and recovery varies from person to person. If I take time to recover a little between fights, I can hunt monsters all day and be recovered by the next morning. But people are different. Ena is talented both physically and mentally while Renna and I don’t have much magical talent. So, scanning me won’t do you much good. Your own strengths and recovery rates are your own.”

  “I see,” Frost said as he recalled that Erissa was lower level than Fayeth despite being older. He wondered how much of the differences were based on natural talents and how many were determined by effort. But it gave him something to think about as they continued their hunt. “Will you gain mental strength if you train it more? Or only when you level?”

  “Level is the primary factor but everybody is different,” Fayeth answered confirming his theory that different people were probably more suited to different classes. “But if you’re training as an archer all of the time, you’re not going to have time to practice magic so if you switch your abilities will be under leveled. Can I ask you a question?”

  “Yeah,” Frost smiled at the blonde. “Sorry, I realize this has been pretty one sided, hasn’t it?”

  “I know to some extent you need to know these things to get more powerful,” Fayeth said. “But a good portion of what you’re asking isn’t really useful to somebody as powerful as you. Even the Ziran soldiers couldn’t scan you so you must be extremely powerful. So, why are you so worried about these basic things?”

  “Oh,” Frost chuckled. “Honestly, I think it’s just natural to want to know how things work. But if I’m being honest, I’m looking to the future. There’s always somebody stronger. On top of that, I don’t want to come off as too judgmental or cocky but I think I can probably come up with some ways to help you all level faster.”

  “What?” Fayeth smiled excitedly. “How?”

  “Don’t get excited yet,” Frost chuckled. “I’m still theory crafting.”

  “Theory crafting? What’s that?”

  “I’m just thinking of better ways to do things.” Frost gestured at the forest. “For example, you could probably hunt and recover longer with a cleric in the group. Also, just having me here to tank has probably helped you, right?”

  “Yes,” Fayeth said while considering his words.

  “Have you heard of party formations with a tank, damage dealer, and support?”

  “Tank?”

  “Like a squire or a knight,” Frost said while gesturing at his arm where a shield should have been. “They block and hold the monster while you fire it. Afterward, the cleric heals you before the next fight.”

  “Wait,” Fayeth’s eyes lit up as his words registered. “But we earn less experience in a group of three.”

  “But you’ll kill a lot more,” Frost answered. “And based on what I’m seeing in abilities, they don’t appear to take an experience penalty.”

  “What?” Fayeth appeared to be scanning herself. “So, even if we’re leveling more slowly our abilities will level just as fast.”

  “Faster,” Frost answered. “And if your abilities are leveled, you’ll kill things faster and be able to hunt more powerful things allowing you to level faster.”

  “I hadn’t considered that,” Fayeth said pensively. “But there aren’t really any powerful monsters in the woods.”

  “Yeah,” Frost nodded. “I’ve noticed. But let’s not worry about that now. You asked what I was thinking about, it’s things like that.”

  “You’re really thinking about all of those things?” Fayeth stared at him in disbelief. “Even while we’re out here hunting?”

  “Yeah,” Frost answered. “Speaking of hunting. Let’s keep going. I want to practice more.”

  “Right!” Fayeth said excitedly. “Let’s do it!”

  Frost and Fayeth hunted until nearly sundown and it paid off nicely in the form of meat. He also gathered a bunch of bones from wild animals and various parts from plant monsters. Fayeth said he’d be able to trade them to Hestia for more harvesting gems. The plant monsters also dropped a large amount of fruit which seemed to excite Fayeth more than anything else.

  He was a little surprised by how many different beasts there were in the forest but overall none of them were much of a threat. Their attack patterns were predictable and if the elves formed parties, they could probably clear the woods in half the time they had been. That would leave additional time for them to practice magic abilities.

  Frost grabbed a notebook from Lysandra’s library and immediately started jotting down math as he sat in a corner eating. He was thrilled that meat was back on the menu but it turned out he was the only one who knew how to cook it. The elves all burnt it horribly.

  He was also surprised when cooking a single piece of meat unlocked the chef class and dozens of abilities with it. Several of the abilities were partially leveled along with a few recipes. Although if he wanted to make anything like a cheeseburger, he’d need to figure out how to properly grind up meat.

  Fayeth excitedly hovered over his shoulder as he scribbled rough math while scanning himself. He estimated the number of monsters they killed, the number of times he’d used horizontal slash, and his recovery speed.

  “Are you going to do this all night?” Fayeth asked while gesturing outside. “It’s nearing midnight.”

  “Just a few more minutes,” Frost said while also considering that having elves face off and practice disarming each other would likely help them with those abilities. “I just want to finish up some thoughts.”

  “Okay,” Fayeth paused at the stairs. “Just so you know, my room is the last one on the left.”

  “Your room?” Frost glanced up from his paper as the blonde elf undid her ponytail and let her hair fall naturally. “Um.”

  “Just so you know,” Fayeth blushed as climbed the stairs to her room.

  Frost put down his book and quickly followed her up but quickly got distracted by the noise coming from Lysandra’s room. He walked in to check on everything saw Lysandra trying to force a half-naked Renna out of her bed.

  “Frost!” Renna laughed while gripping a corner of the mattress while Lysandra pulled on her. “Tell Lysandra I can stay in here!”

  “Tell her to go to her own room,” Lysandra said while releasing the petite elf from her grasp. “She moves around too much at night!”

  “You do move around a lot,” Frost said remembering the night before. He glanced back at Fayeth’s open door and realized that if he added more fuel on the fire he could be in trouble. He turned back to the bed and saw Renna staring at him like a sad kitten. “Lysandra, I am between you two.”

  “Fine,” Lysandra said through clenched teeth. “But this is not going to be an every night thing. Are we clear?”

  “We’ll see about that you howling old harpy,” Renna said as Lysandra threw a pillow in her face.

  “Well?” Lysandra gestured at the spot in the center of the bed. Frost undressed and hopped in as the women immediacy fought for his attention. Lysandra’s hand stared to slowly move south. “So, did all of that hunting tire you out?”

  “Did it?” Renna asked while running her hand along his abs. “Or do you have some energy left?”

  “Unless I’m dead I’ll always have energy for that,” Frost grinned as the women pounced on him.

  CHAPTER 11

  For the next few days Frost spent most of his time theory crafting, training, or educating himself on the politics of the region in preparation for the meeting. A messenger from Zira confirmed the ambassador’s arrival day and time and wanted to be as prepared as possible.

  It turned out the elf village was located in Pluma forest on the shared border of the kingdoms of Zira and Rilia. The forest was assumed uninhabited and although there were roads
surrounding it, nobody ever really had a reason to investigate it. It wasn’t even a good place to level because of how out of the way it was and how weak the monsters were.

  After talking to Lysandra, Frost also learned that Rilia was an aggressive country ruled by a merciless warlord that killed the previous royal family and took the throne. The first thing he did when he took the throne was kill all the nobles as well as anybody loyal to the previous royal family. He also was rumored to be unbeatable on the battlefield with strength rivaling that of a dragon.

  Zira was also militaristic but it wasn’t bloodthirsty. Zira’s military primarily functioned as a peacekeeping force. Each territory had its own military which operated based on the needs of that territory. Some fo them would spend their time rounding up bandits in the countryside while those in larger cities meant most of their time keeping the peace within the walls.

  As for the territory they were located in, the primary city was Blackwater and their military spent their time traveling between villages collecting taxes, punishing criminals, and killing bandits. So, there was no reason for them to ever enter the Pluma Forest.

  Naturally, the elves to choose to live on the Ziran side of the border rather than the one being led by a bloodthirsty tyrant.

  Those little details were why Frost had gathered all of the elves to the central garden. There was no reason for the Ziran’s to be anywhere near that village but he didn’t only know the elves were there, but also that they were followers of Shalia.

  He was positive none of the elves purposefully betrayed them but he wantd to solve the mystery of who informed on them before the delegation arrived.

  “So, nobody ever passes through?” Frost asked the large group of elves standing in front of him as he watched them for any nervousness or changes in behavior. “No traveling merchants? Lost travelers? Hunters?”