<~> Book 4 - Chapter 173 It didn't take long for the appeal of staring out the window as the pi by to fade a a little b. There were small copses of trees and small roations here and there that put Torien and Cecilia on high alert as we passed them by but other than that the ride was really peaceful. Torien was the kind of person to keep her bow in hand the eime and the dark-haired human didn't keep that huge two-handed axe with her for no reason. If we did run into bandits, I wouldn't put any money on them. Still best to keep a anyway though.

  I looked around the inside of the carriage, taking a moment to examine eay friends and see how they were enjoying the trip.

  Raya's face ractically glued to the window, her fox ears perked and twitched at the sounds of birds or is and her twin foxtails flowed bad forth behind her as she stared out the window. It must have beeing for her, her first glimpse of the world outside of Goldeh. The newly budding mage hadn't had a ce to practiagic with Ma but that's for the best. I didn't want to risk Raya burning anything with her new foxfire as we moved, nor her vomiting when she ran out of mana. I wasn't sure yet if that was going to be a re problem or something that only happens the first few times before she's acclimated herself to mana ma.

  Sibyl, the smaller catkin was smiling in amusement as she watched her girlfrieedly stare through the window. She had been on adventures in her younger years so the sights were a bit less exg to the woman. The short felifolk girl looked so different from the tall imposing wolf-woman she used to be. Her ge was certainly one of the most dramatic ges out of the bunbsp;She told me that she has a strength/endurance build but I've never actually seen her fight yet.

  Bel and Man were sitting across from me and chatting idly about magiparing Bel's nature magic to the things Man could do with her focus on wild magic. Both of them had traveled before, though this would be the first time Bel saw this part of the try so she was watg the sery as we traveled. My deer girl with her cute heart-shaped spots always looked beautiful and Mae not being a succubus like a lot of us, was also quite attractive as well. Her rge red eyes were a nice trast with her dark bck cat ears and lightly tanned skin. It has beey long enough that I could tell the twins apart by how they held themselves rather than just whether or not their eyes were red or blue. The differen their clothes alone helped at a gnbsp;too of course.

  Mimi and Silva were sharing the booth across from me, Mimi was excitedly staring out the window, 'tasting' the mana that swirled through the pins. She was still in her hiddefolk form, a precaution against Theo and Cecilia, so she currently had the light tawny fur that made her look a bit like a ram-horned deer-headed lioness rather thaallic gold skin that she normally had in her regur form. Mimi's chimeri was always intriguing to look at and made her bubbly aed atmosphere stand out even mainst her exotic look.

  Silva ying some kind of solo-pyer card game. I assumed it was something akin to solitaire but I couldn't begin to even guess the rules were based on what she was doing. She, like Raya and the twins, was a demi-beastfolk but she was more of a mix thahers. Rather than just the ears and tail, her legs turned into giant rabbit paws below the knee giving her natural furred socks on her rge animalistic feet. I knew from experiehat this deviation from the norm made her incredibly fast and powerful. She had a strength-focused build and it showed on her muscur form, her darkly tanned skin was covered in small white scratches that she wore proudly. The bck-hilted spear she had grabbed from the cultists was leaning against the booth she sat in with a hastily made leather sheath c its bde.

  Theo sat alone in the er looking out the window seeming rather bored. The man was also a demi-beastkin but it was easy to overlook his ges, especially now that he was actually wearing clothes. He had notched bull ears that blended in with his hair and furred arms under his sleeves that gave away his partial bovifolk heritage. Other than that, he had few other obvious indicators, not even a tail. Despite looking like a walking tank, the man was an enha mage, more of a buffer support css than someone like Man who threw fireballs and jured earth and ice spikes. While his personality left some things to be desired I couldn't argue that the man retty handsome. He was also a total flirt, able to get something like half the brothel to sleep with him for free before we left.

  It was kind of amazing I had found myself with so many hot panions... though the succubus transformations had influenced some of that.

  I sighed as I looked down at the letter I was given from Nathahe head priest of Morkinnen who was currently in charge of Goldeh. I was almost afraid of the tents. I got the impression that this was about the cult of Amphores that we'd been dealing with since we left Traehall. As much as I wao take a break from all of that I figured I had better at least see what it was about. Who knows, it could include important information that would help me avoid the group iure. Hopefully it wouldn't just get me more involved. I tore open the envelope and inside I found a folded piece of paper as well as a sed smaller envelope closed with a wax seal. I set aside the smaller sealed letter and unfolded the paper to read over it.

  ***

  Dear Lilith,

  I left this with the guards at the gate since I knew you were leaving for the capital soon and no one seemed to know where you were staying.

  Marcy, the golden haired e beastfolk sve that Matilda told us about, has been interrogated. There wasn't a lot we could gather from her. Despite looking as pitiful as she did, the woman was pletely indoated into the cult's grasp and has not been forthing even after extended interrogation. I have however discovered that she is the one who led and ahe ritual to summon the hell hound that ended up killing Jasper and the uards. She has shown no remorse for those murders and will be among the prisoners who will be executed for the atta our city.

  The only thing we have been able to glean from her and the ledgers you found, is that the cult of Amphores is targeting sve transfer routes and sve markets. They seem to be mostly releasing the sves they capture and then using those colrs to ensve sver's guild affiliated staff for their rituals while they search for people that have very specific traits. The specific things they are searg for have no clear es yet but they appear to be reted to those odd measurements that have been found in some of the dots. We're still searg for additional leads using the ledgers you discovered but there is a lot of information to sift through. What is stra a gnce is those targets seem antithetical to their motive for killing the Baron and as such we have to keep iigating to uand what their true goals and aims are.

  I send this letter to you as a warning. The capital, Torlimal, has a heavy presence of this cult from what we tell and many of their suspected targets are present withiy as well. The capital city is also the ter of the sve trade in this kingdom so it is very likely you will run into them again if you go looking for demons there. I have already sent a missive to the King reying the information we've found including your involvement iter. This should give you some prote as I expect the capital city guard is in a frenzy to weed out any of these demon summoners and the miasma that gs to you would make you a target if they didn't already know you were a [Demon Hunter]. I again advise you to use a pseudonym while operating withiy outside of official matters because I've gotten word that the Tamin church has been brought in as demon hunters and enforcers there.

  There's a lot of tension in the capital right now. Nobles are at each other's throats, true demons are on the loose, the cult of Amphores is firmed to be iy, and the Tamin church has been given martial powers. If I hadn't been informed that you were bei to the capital in exge for the Adventurer's guild prote regarding a specific title, I would have advised you to go anywhere else.

  Be careful, Lilith. You are a good woman and I would hate for something bad to happen to you because you carry an unfortunate name. I would ask you to stay out of trouble but I admit that you will likely be involved whether you like it or not. The King's knowledge of your involvement here will likely mean that you will be dragged into the situatioher you get around the Tamin churbsp;or not. I apologize that I have been forbsp;to put you in this position, I had no choice but to include you in a record of the events here in Goldeh.

  Enclosed is a letter of introdu addressed to the head of the guard in the capital. This letter will be suffit for you and your friends to get into the city without many questions. I will be personally voug for your abilities as a demon hunter aailing an abridged version of the events here to him as well, this will give you some official credibility and make moving around the city easier after you have arrived. I wish I could do more for you but I believe this will help you in yoals, especially if you wish to iigate the Cult of Amphores further.

  I once again thank you for all that you have done in Goldeh and I hope you are able to remain safe ahy.

  I wish you the best,

  Nathaniel.

  ***

  I sighed as I returhe letter and paper to their envelope and dropped it oable.

  "Bad news?" Man asked with a ed tone.

  I scratched the base of my horn. "A warning that we're about to enter a viper's . It sounds like the capital is on the edge of a war ireets."

  Man raised an eyebrow aured toward the letter. "May I?"

  "Sure." I rubbed my fa my hands. I shouldn't be surprised that the situation in Torlimal would be worse than in Goldeh but I would have liked to believe that we were getting out of the political stress at least. It seems that was a fantasy, things look like they're only going to get more political from here.

  There was a slight knog on the front of the carriage. I waited a moment... Two knocks. That meant that we were stopping soon for a break, no danger. I sighed in relief. I 't imagine having to deal with bandits while this distracted.

  The carriage slowed to a stop and after a moment I opehe door and stepped outside. We were parked near a small ke. Nikka and Landa were already unhooked and Cecilia was leading the two over to drink from it. Torien was stretg, the an's seat was a lot less fortable of a ride than the ihe carriage. They were forbsp;to stay in the same position for a lot longer.

  "Hey, e here for a moment Torien," Man called out.

  Man haorieter I had shared with her. Torien began to skim it and looked more and more ed as she got closer to the bottom. "This is pretty bad news," Torien ented.

  I nodded. "I was hoping to avoid all of this but it sounds like it's going to be even worse from here."

  Torien sighed. "No kidding, it's definitely a double-edged sword. Less trouble at the gate for more trouble inside. I would be really surprised if you mao get yourself out of being scripted as a demon hunter whe there. If we just decide to leave the kingdom and avoid all of this trouble then we'd be pissing off the adventurer's guild and leaving ourselves wide open for others who don't like [Dungeoroyer]s. We're stu our current course of a."

  "Yeah. We should tell the others how bad things might be," I added.

  She nodded. "They should know what we're getting into. Raya and Sibyl should be less affected sihey aren't teically part of our party but the rest of us will be getting involved. It's also worth noting that with the Tamin church w directly for the King right now means that we'll have to be extra careful how we act while there too. No flirting with irls in public, more focus on being subservient in public for us sves, and making sure not to piss people off just for being beastkin."

  "Is it really that bad?" I asked.

  Torien replied with a grim look on her face, "Yes. I'm not going to beat around the bush, we're going to have to blend in while we're there. If things are as bad as this letter suggests, people are going to be looking for people t up by their necks. I could easily see things snowball if they find out too much about us."

  I ran my fihrough my hair. "We'll have to discuss this over dionight."

  "Agreed," the twins said in unison.

  Bel came over to me carrying two fishing poles. "Lilith, look! That ke is the perfect pce to go fishing for a while! Cecelia said we'll break for a bell, e fish with me!"

  I g the twins before smiling back. "I'd love to." It's best that we have some fun while we have the ce. Things were only going to get more difficult from here.

  Saine

  Hello! We're starting the new book! There's a bit of a character recap there, hope it wasn't too distrag but it has been a while since I've described their features. I thought giving each character a little blurb would be fine. Anyway, thanks for reading!

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