女神归来的夏天

~~~(Location: The Road to The Capital, Elven Kingdom)~~~

~~~(Time: 1:20 PM)~~~

The day has been quiet, and nothing has happened between Terox and Helda, which is a good sign. Sally and I are sitting up now and looking out ahead on the road. Hailey is up there all by herself. "You should go talk to her... She needs someone that knows what she's going through..." Sally speaks words of wisdom, and her compassion is something I love.

Deciding not to waste any time, I stand up and jump off the top of the carriage towards her. I land a little behind her. She hears my landing but doesn't slow down or wait for me to catch up. In a burst of speed, I'm right beside her. She doesn't look at me, and I see that her eyes are in a state of redness and dryness... She's trying to deal with what I told her on her own...

Saying something out of nowhere would work, but it's not very tactful. Instead, just being next to her will help. When she's wanting to talk, she'll say something. The road is wide and empty and without any other occupants. Sometimes, this trip has been boring, and I wouldn't mind some action. Elenahiers Dungeon was fun but far too bloody.

My eyes catch movement on the road up ahead. "Did you see that?" Hailey speaks, but it's not about anything pertaining to her issues. As we keep walking, a roadblock comes into view. There are elven men and women in leather armor, and some are plated armor. The stronger ones are at the front. From the looks, they're bandits.

Bandits holding up one of the main roads to Greshina... That seems unlikely... "We've got trouble. Seeing bandits holding up this road seems out of place. I didn't think the elven people would let something happen so close to their capital." Hailey nods in agreement with my observation. We get closer, and the carriage behind us has stopped moving.

Sally warned the others, and they're letting Hailey and I take care of this problem. "How do you want to handle this, sis... Killing them would be easy, but this could have unforeseen consequences for us... What they are, I don't know..." This all seems like some sort of trap or bait. These bandits are out of place. We continue walking towards them, and they prepare to start talking.

Hailey has yet to give me an answer, and before we're within earshot of them, she speaks. "We'll give them one chance. After that, they're mine." I'm not going to argue with her. As we get within talking distance and stop. There is silence. The bandits haven't talked yet, and neither have we. Normally bandits would speak by now, but they haven't.

The one I assume the leader steps in front of the group and folds his arms. He looks at us up and down. Myself more than Hailey. He's gauging our danger. My leather-looking armor is deceiving, but it's not leather armor. "All we want are your valuables. Hand over everything you and the people in the carriage have. Once done, we'll let you through." Wow... I wasn't expecting that...

From most of the encounters I've had, they'd demand sexual favors from the females traveling with me. I'd expect Hailey has dealt with the same problem. Seeing a group only after valuables is actually something... Nice to see? Didn't think I'd ever feel that way or say something like that... "I'm only saying this once, let us pass or die." Hailey cuts right to the chase.

Their reactions also surprise me, and the leader turns around and whispers to the other strong members. Hailey and I look at each other, and we're both a little confused. "Alright, just be wary once you reach the capital. The corrupt guards won't let you past so easily." The group moves aside and removes the roadblock... I'm thoroughly perplexed...

My face shows this, and Hailey is giving a similar reaction to me. She waves for the carriage to move forward, and we wait for it to pass before we follow behind. We don't keep our backs turned to them. Only when we're out of sight do we turn back towards the road. "Was that some delusion or hallucination? Am I losing my mind?" You're not the only one that feels that way, Hailey...

Never had I had an encounter like that before. Why would they stop us, demand out valuables? Just to let us past with no issues after a threat upon their lives? Just thinking about the events makes me wonder even more. Technically, they did the correct thing to preserve their lives... I'm just not used to people acting to preserve their lives like that...

What could this mean?! I'm literally thrown for a loop here! "I'm dumbfounded... Literally. Dumbfounded." We catch up to the back of the carriage, and Sally looks over the edge of the top and towards us, curious as to what happened. "Do you have any ideas what that was?" I continue talking, and I try asking Hailey, but she looks as confused as me.

In the end, it's not bad. It's just so unexpected that you don't know what to do when the pattern fails to repeat. "Your guess would be as good as mine... I'm so used to having men demand that I share my body with them. Demand that of Jasmine. They didn't do that. It makes me worried if I'm honest..." Maybe it's the way elven bandits do things...

My attention is taken from Sally's waving hand as she wants to be let in on the conversation. "What did they ask from you?" That's a valid question for her to ask, and she must've drawn the conclusion that we handed something over to them. I shake my head, and I have trouble finding the words to explain what this might mean... Could there be an ambush further up the road?

~~~(POV: Hailey Adamo)~~~

~~~(Location: Road to The Capital, Elven Kingdom)~~~

~~~(Time: 1:32 PM)~~~

Those bandits' behavior confused me so much that it's actually distracted me from my depression. I welcome the distraction, but I'm concerned about that... "What do you think the odds of us running into more down the road are?" My question is a little dumb since the closer we get to the Greshina, the more security there'll be... Before Cera can answer, Helda steps out and joins us.

If anyone would know, it'd be her or the people that have been here the longest. "What did you guys give to let us pass?" Huh? She doesn't know either? Cera and I both shake our heads and explain that we didn't hand anything over and we actually threatened them. "That's... Odd... I've never seen that before..." Wow... I expected Helda to know about this...

Cera takes on a thoughtful look and closes his eyes. He's thinking about something, and given his future knowledge, he's probably trying to remember something about this. He opens his eyes after a couple of seconds, and he's disappointed. "We need to be alert for the rest of the trip. Something could be going on that we missed back there." I agree with that conclusion.

That was way too easy to be real, and if it was. I don't think I'll ever see it again. "The closer we get to Greshina, the less criminal activity there is around. I doubt we'll run into anything... I have no clue what to do about this..." Helda calmly explains her thoughts, and it's on the same baseline that I thought. The closer we get, the better the security. Out of the ordinary raises red flags.

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A/N: Below this line, I'll be keeping Cera's player information. That way, I won't have to place it into the story above anymore. It takes about 180 words up.

[Slayer (Zern) Lvl.196]

[Exp: 40/100%]

[Title: The Son of Arch-Angel Michael (Hidden)]

[Stats] [Strength - 7095][Endurance - 7045][Dexterity - 7215][Speed - 8240][Focus - 19,660]

[Mana aura control: 6/100%]

[Health: 76,560,000,000/76,560,000,000] [Mana: 216,600,000,000/216,600,000,000]

[Stat Points: 50] [Armor rating: 500]

[Inventory] [Dice of Wayland (Divine)] [Hardened Tree sap Armor (Very Rare)] [The Witness (Legendary Sword)] [Fenrir's Whistle (Divine)] [Sally's Dresses 5x] [Camping gear] [Food Rations 3x] [Dried meat 3x] [Fishing poles 2x] [Fish 8x] [Festival Garbs 2x]

[Passive Perks]

[Inheritor of the Sword] [Son of Heaven] [Slayer of Evil] [Holy Willow Trees Savior] [Finder of Legends] [The Divine who has Legend] [Destined for Greatness] [Dungeon Diver] [An Overachiever]

[Active Skills]

[Heavens light Lvl.59 325/5900] [Protected by Heaven Lvl.59 225/5900] [Slash Lvl..77 4600/130000] [Parry Lvl.53 80/5300] [Double Strike N/A] [Kingslayer N/A] [Raging Machine N/A] [Winged Glory] [Angelic Flight] [Divine Pressure Exertion] [Divinity Pulse] [Controled Fun]