Wish upon the Stars chapter 925

Our trip to Draycia, the spoke city where Devlan’s uncle was in charge, was surprisingly mundane, if not exactly peaceful. We ran across another trial, a sort of maze that I got through with minimal effort. Sadly, this particular trial wasn’t all or nothing, so while points were awarded, I didn’t get many of them. Fifteen at the maze, and another ten from brief participation in a hunt for a pack of wild boars. It wasn’t really even a trial, more of a spontaneous event, but the combination brought me to a hundred points even, which I suspected wasn’t bad for so early in the competition.

I also stockpiled another eighty scrolls of my own during the ten day journey, bringing me up to a hundred and four, not counting the seven I kept as an emergency stash. I wanted to use them for stats, honesty, possibly hit C-rank faster, but it was clear that I should worry more about the Void and the other candidates than raw stat growth at the moment, so I just sat on them.

It was surprising to me that the journey down the spoke seemed to be getting longer as we traveled further north. Given the zones started huge and thinned out, I was expecting it to be the opposite. But as we traveled, the journey became harder. Not just because of the terrain and wildlife, but because we had so many soldiers to deal with now. Bethy had unloaded the infinity crystal, but we decided it was still best to keep our forces out and about, if only to get them used to working and traveling together.

Still, by the time we reached Draycia, we’d settled into a nice rhythm despite the reduced speed, and I was feeling a lot more mellow, despite no real change having happened in our situation from a tactical standpoint.

As we approached the city, Ellisara and Felicity flanked Callie and I on either side. My mother’s apprentice and my cousin had appointed themselves our personal guards, and had become our constant shadows. Argaunt was not far behind, traveling with the archers but keeping an eye out. Ellisara and he informed me there were my “near and far guards” When they caught sight of the city though, the red haired woman let out a groan of annoyance as we all came to a stop on a hill overlooking the place.

“That is…deeply unfortunate,” she sighed as she stared down at it. “Why would anyone possibly design a town like that?”

I chuckled. I could see why she was concerned. Draycia was…odd. The whole place was built of small mismatched buildings scattered in a huge circle. There were no walls, not even the insecure archways of the last city, and no rhyme or reason to the layout. The whole thing looked like some almighty creator being shook up some buildings in a giant cup and dumped them out onto a plate. “You’re not worried you might not be able to keep me safe, are you?” I teased. “I thought you were a professional?”

Ellisara was brisk, good natured, and extremely blunt. She was also arrogant and exceedingly vain. I’d discovered quickly that she considered her ability to defend my person a foregone conclusion, and any question of her capability was met with exasperation and annoyance. It didn’t make her ANGRY, per se, more derisive, but she didn’t enjoy the implication that she might not be up to guard duty.

“Just because I CAN do something doesn’t mean I relish HAVING to do it,” she responded acidly. “That is a security nightmare, and despite my phenomenal skills and prodigal levels of competence at any task to which I set my mind, I don’t love having to do unnecessary work.”

“So NOT incompetent,” I snickered. “Just lazy. Good to know.”

Callie rolled her eyes. “Don’t taunt our security, darling. It’s gauche. Also, there ARE things between failure and success. I’d prefer Ellie doesn’t have a reason to decide to let you get lightly stabbed for mouthing off.”

“I would NEVER,” the redhead gasped in faux outrage. “I couldn't look my master in the eye if I allowed anything more severe than some extreme blunt force.” She winked at my wife, who laughed, and I rolled my own eyes at their joke at my expense. Not that I minded it that much. Teasing Ellie was amusing to me, the redhead was close with my mom, and she seemed so much more comfortable with Chelsea and I than any of the other C-rankers. It was almost like having another sister, albeit a cocky one that was much stronger than me.

I’d taken to the golden armored fighter faster than I’d expected, forming a bond for not just her demeanor and relationship to my mom, but her easy charm and how much she reminded me of a certain fist fighting battle maniac.

Ironically, those same similarities made her and Abel almost completely incompatible with each other, her ego and greeted strength (not to mention her fist based ability) causing her to treat my mentor like a bratty kid rather than the genuine threat he probably was, even to her. Abel was staying back from us at the moment for that exact reason, hanging with Mel and my sister back where they were walking with the angels.

Despite the lack of walls though, there WERE guards in Draycia, and once we came within a mile or so, they appeared to greet us, melting from the trees surrounding the circle that contained the city. “Halt,” snapped one of the strangely dressed men. They were all wearing green suits of rough leather and golden deer masks, their eyes burning a strange golden brown. “Who approaches Draycia?”

Devlan, who was trailing behind us, moved forward to meet them. “We’re here to see Tyrus,” he said as he came into view. “Tell him his nephew is visiting. He should be expecting us.”

He reached into a pocket and drew out a single chit, which he flicked to one of the deer masked men. The green clad guard caught it, rolling it between his fingers, then nodded, and the whole group faded back into the trees.

“Well…that seemed needlessly ominous,” I pointed out with amusement. “Why did they even bother with all that?”

“Because it’s how they make their money,” Devlan said sourly. “That was a C-ranked chit. It’s common knowledge that when the Stagkin appear, you’re supposed to tip them well. Otherwise…well, they don’t touch anyone in the city, but there are trees just like this on all sides. You don’t want to be alone in the forest with the Stagkin if they feel you’ve slighted them.”

I blinked at that. “They have powers or something? Some kind of forest based racial trait?”

“No clue,” he shrugged. “My Uncle has some kind of deal with them. They look out for his interests, but he doesn’t know where they came from. They’ve been here longer than the city. They don’t eat, don’t sleep that anyone has seen. They’re only visible when they want to be, and no one knows where they go when they aren’t in front of you. Sensory powers don’t seem to work on them either. Even the highest Perception just sees them as part of the forest.”

I turned to call over my shoulder for Daysia and Alyssa. When they showed up, we described the Stagkin, hoping our resident forest experts might have some idea what the creepy things were.

Daysia frowned thoughtfully. “I’m not sure. They don’t sound familiar, but they wouldn’t be. We don’t have many forest races back home, not humanoid ones. Celine would be the better choice. They sound like some kind of fae. But I doubt she’d know them either. Not based on just that. Even odds the masks are unique to this region, and they’re probably specifically designed to conceal what they are.”

Alyssa nodded. “Most likely. Is this going to be a problem?”

I glanced at Devlan, who shook his head. “I paid, so no. We’re good. We can head in to meet with my Uncle. He should have your elixirs ready too.” I beamed. Not only would I be getting a hundred thousand points of free stats (for some value of the word free) I was ALSO going to be getting a bunch of stat income from the renown I’d been accruing since arriving. I doubted it would get me to C-rank or anything, but I was hopeful I’d be a lot closer after this.

Callie looked more nervous than excited, and I took her hand in mine, giving it a firm squeeze,. I knew she worried about the process of merging her ability and racial trait. The Void would have an even firmer hold on her after she did.

I was worried myself, especially with the new factor of the Heretic God, who we still knew nothing about. Not that I expected that to continue. I was pretty sure if the Heretic God still existed, Callie would be hearing from him soon. Namely, when she finally formed her Chronicle. My dad had shown me that Chronicle formation allowed for certain types of interaction that might be impossible under other circumstances. I couldn’t imagine the Heretic God would miss that chance.

Which added another layer of worry about Callie’s advancement. Assuming she was likely to form her Chronicle before or at C-rank, which I did. As my wife and my bond partner, Callie had direct access to my library, and to my own Chronicle. It was a unique advantage in that kind of advancement. In fact, I planned to help her out with her Chronicle condensation myself, which somewhat lessened my worry.

We made our way into the city without much fanfare. I’d expected the size of our group to be a problem, but the haphazard distribution of the buildings, while seemingly random and pointless, DID leave lots of room for us to move around. We were nearing a thousand people at this point, give or take a hundred or two, but we moved through the city with neither difficulty nor any real fanfare. I’d half expected to get stares or suspicion moving such a big force into an occupied town, but this WAS the C-rank zone, and only a hundred of my people were C-rank (even after the stragglers had joined up with us on the road in).

To my surprise, we didn’t head into some big pavilion or bar or club. Devlan led us through the streets until we ended up in front of a small shop. The Stake and Candle. He gestured for us to follow him in, leaving most of the group outside. Ellie, Felicity, Callie, Abel, and Bethy were the only ones who came with me as I entered.

Inside, an unassuming man with intense green eyes and a well trimmed beard sat behind the counter his gaze flicking up to us. His brown hair was neatly combed, and he watched us out of a well worn pair of glasses. Those intense eyes focused on Devlan, and he nodded to our guide.

This was Tyrus MacCall. Devlan had made it clear that Tyrus would be necessary for the next part of this trip. While entry into the C-rank and D-rank zones was largely unmonitored due to size and general disinterest, the ENTIRE B-rank zone and onward was secured. You couldn’t enter those territories without help from an established force. Tyrus would need to provide us with a guide and passage.

Specifically, we would be heading underground, through a very dangerous labyrinth of caves, to go underneath the massive ring of terrifying mountains that sealed off the B-rank zone from the lower world. Before that though, I had other things on my mind, which Tyrus seemed to assume. His mild face spread in a slow smile as he saw me glance down at the counter where several space rings sat. “Ah, welcome friends,” he said with a grin. “I’ve been expecting you. Please, let me offer you some…refreshments.” I grinned back. It was finally time to take that next step closer to C-rank.