Leveling Up In A Fantasy World(TBATE) (HIATUS)

Traitor

"Yeah, this is my hometown," Arthur said smiling softly.

"Then, that means I came to your hometown so many times. But the vibe there is not good." I said awkwardly.

'Well, we left this town many years ago. So many things should change.'

'L-Luke, we are at the town you wanted. We can't go in so s-sorry... We have to go small outpost' His voice was trembling. I looked at the others and they nodded.

'You are lucky. We will go from here.' I said while glaring at him. He is not a bright person too. I saw him doing illegal business, drug dealing so I taught him a lesson he will never forget. From then he acts like that when seeing me.

Arthur POV

As the three of us walked into town, I couldn’t help but notice how empty the streets were. Part of my memory of Ashber was how lively it had been for such a small town. Adventurers were scarce this far up north but a small river flowing near the town made the area a great place to raise crops. After the death of Lensa, my father took my mother here to this remote town and took a job here guarding farmers and their crops against the frequent wolves or stray mana beasts that came from the Grand Mountains. With farmers waking up early to tend to their crops and afternoons spent either selling on the market streets of Ashber or to frequenting merchants, nighttime was when everyone truly found the time to unwind and have fun.

My father would oftentimes come home at night, tripping over his own feet after drinking with the local farmers. I had expected some change to have occurred from the war, but I never expected Ashber to become such a ghost town. This is what Luke was talking about.

The street lamps that lay scattered around were burning brightly, but there were no signs of people nearby. The three of us sensed someone in the alleyway, his features hidden by shadows. After a moment, though, the person scurried off, his unrhythmic footsteps growing fainter until the only sound we heard came from ourselves.

Looking around, most of the buildings were either vacant or barred. Wooden planks were nailed over windows while chains held together a store’s front entrance.

I activated Realmheart to sense for mana fluctuations, not expecting much.

However, I could see the distortions in the atmospheric mana all over the town. There had been mages here recently.

“I sense individuals scattered around, but there seems to be a congregation of forty or so just a few blocks away,” Olfred grunted.

“Mica sensed forty-three,” the little lance muttered beside me.

"Forty-two," Luke said while looking confident.

"Forty-three," Mica said while furrowing brows in annoyance.

“I thought we agreed not to use magic,” I said, irritated. “What if there are Alacryan mages or Vritras nearby that pick up on it?”

“Mana wasn’t needed to sense them,” Olfred replied cryptically.

If they were able to sense people around this accurately, my whole plan could be compromised.

“That’s good,” I lied. “Looks like we’ll be able to pick up on the Alacryans’ hideout sooner than I’d expected.”

“It’ll probably still take some time. Mica can only sense people within a short distance and even then it’s sort of fuzzy. The same goes for Olfred,” Mica explained.

“You’re both talking too much for slaves,” Olfred snapped, before dropping his voice into a whisper. “Just because we can’t use magic does not mean our enemies are bound by the same handicap. Assume our voices will always be heard.”