Chapter LXXII

  As they approach, all eyes turn to them. Not that surprising, considering the spectacle the two of them had caused just moments before.

  The rgest of the hunters stands up and rudely asks, "What do you want?"

  This prompts Kina’s eyes to carefully study this potential problem. In mere seconds, she notices the poorly hidden knife in his right boot, and another smaller bde tucked among his clothes. Not to mention the visibly standard hunting knife sheathed at his waist.

  Carrying weapons would be expected of a hunter, but so many, and hidden—though not enough to escape Kina’s sharp eyes—raise a series of suspicions.

  This leads her to examine the rest of the hunters at the other table more carefully. They, too, study her and the necromancer she’s with. But Kina doubts they see much beyond surface appearances. She, on the other hand, quickly notices that beyond the expected weapons a hunter might carry, every one of them has at least one concealed weapon.

  This makes her think, “Interesting!” But what’s more telling is that despite their tension at the mage’s interruption, none of them adopt a stance that would be even remotely useful in a fight. This leads her to conclude that her initial assessment of their threat level still holds true. They would hardly be a real danger to her, even with their numbers.

  The necromancer, meanwhile, keeps walking until he reaches the table—more specifically, standing next to one of the priests. And btantly ignoring the hunter’s question, he turns to the priest beside him.

  “Sorry to interrupt. But could you repeat what you just said?”

  The question surprised everyone, including Kina—who had paid absolutely no attention to the conversation happening at that table, as her main focus had been, and still is, the necromancer in front of her.

  The hunter who had spoken to Nero looks annoyed but remains silent. The priests exchanged confused gnces, clearly not understanding where the question had come from.

  Watching them closely, Kina sees they’re a man and a woman, reasonably young. Both have long blonde hair tied back in ponytails. With matching clothes and hairstyles, they could almost pass for siblings. Only their facial features reveal an indication of their genders.

  “Sorry, I don’t understand,” replies politely the young man beside Nero, visibly confused.

  The necromancer leans closer to the priest to say calmly—almost coldly—“I want you to repeat the sentence you just said.”

  For a moment, she thinks the boy might have said something that offended the powerful necromancer, which could have terrible consequences, possibly for everyone in this inn.

  But while Nero’s voice is cold, it isn’t aggressive. And from what she’s seen of him so far, Kina doubts he’d lose his composure so easily.

  The hunter, on the other hand, moves slightly closer while the st hunter at the table seems to prepare to stand up. As the rger of the two begins to open his mouth, Kina starts thinking about how to deal with him.

  At this distance, she’d need two steps before she could draw her weapon. And a quick strike to the heart seems best from that position.

  Her greatest hesitation is that such an action would reveal her Ra'tel, exposing her origins to the necromancer. On the other hand, helping him—even if unnecessary—might earn his favor. And considering how her mission is currently going, that might be her only chance to salvage it.

  Luckily—or unluckily—the necromancer is faster than everyone. Seeing the confusion on the priest’s face, he continues speaking. “Look, dude. I heard you say something that caught my interest. If it helps, it's the name of a pce. But it would really help if you could say it again, so I can confirm I heard right.”

  The young priest listens in confusion until his lips form an “O,” and he quickly turns to his companion, exciming excitedly, “Could it be?”

  Without wasting time, he turns back to the necromancer with a massive smile. “Oh… Oh… Are you talking about the Path of Trials?”

  The necromancer lets his head drop, almost in an affirming motion. Though Kina can’t tell if he’s pleased or not.

  Nero straightens up, scratching his head as if lost in thought. Kina, meanwhile, notices a new tension rise in the two hunters at the table— while they begin exchanging heavy looks.

  The other table also seems to tense up upon noticing these two hunters' reactions. Making Kina wonder: what exactly is going on here?

  The necromancer, however, seems completely indifferent to this. He doesn’t even seem to notice the behavior of all these armed people. Even Kina, with all her training and experience, wouldn’t be this rexed. Sure, at the moment they’re not a real threat. But for now, she has the element of surprise.

  “So, that means you're pnning to go to the Temple of Divine Trials?” the necromancer suddenly asks.

  The priest’s jaw drops in shock. He even begins tapping his equally astonished companion with one hand while pointing to the necromancer with the other.

  “What! What! You’ve heard of the temple?” the priest excims, turning to the girl and shouting, “See, Mira! Others know about the temple too!”

  The necromancer raises an eyebrow, saying, “Then I was right.”

  “Yes, yes. But how did you hear about the temple?” the boy asks, standing up excitedly. In contrast with the displeased expression of the girl—though not as unhappy as the two hunters, who are now exchanging increasingly dark gnces.

  “But it’s not the right time yet, is it?” the necromancer asks, seemingly deep in thought.

  “Oh, oh,” the priest begins, “You also know about Neka’s Ascension!” His eyes sparkle with joy.

  “Yes, it’s already begun—it’ll st a week,” he adds, while the girl, Mira, tugs at his robe, clearly urging him to stay quiet.

  “A week!? You really think you’ll find that damned temple in just a week?” the necromancer asks, not very reverently and with some confusion.

  Both the boy and the girl turn toward him, puzzled.

  “Well, Keton here...” the boy starts, pointing to the st hunter, who now stands. A man of average height, brown hair, and the beard of someone who hasn’t shaved in days, gives a slight nod.

  “... assures us two days should be enough to reach the Path of Trials,” the boy expins.

  Nero tilts his head slightly, still looking confused, then frowns with doubt.

  Keton, in turn, studies the mage carefully. Then he shifts his gaze to Kina. The way the man positions himself—ready to fight—and how intrigued he seems by Kina immediately raises the level of threat he represents in her mind. This man shows signs of real skill.

  “What!? You pnning to fly there?” the necromancer asks, not bothering to hide his irony.

  “I can assure you we know a pce that matches the description, less than two days away,” Keton responds, gesturing toward his companions at both tables. The calm and confidence in his voice almost convinces Kina—almost.

  The necromancer just shrugs before replying, “Maybe. It’s perfectly possible. Too bad the description is useless to find the damn temple.”

  The two priests turn toward him together, sounding, “What?” While the hunters once again exchange dark gnces.

  “What I said—the description is worthless,” the necromancer repeats.

  The girl whispers something to her companion that sounds like “careful” to Kina, suggesting she doesn’t quite trust Nero. But considering he’s a stranger approaching them out of nowhere, that’s not exactly surprising.

  “I don’t understand what you mean. The text is pretty detailed, surely...” the boy begins hesitantly.

  “Kid...” interrupts the necromancer, who ironically looks younger than the priest. “The description is crap...”

  “Follow the path of the three needles...” the necromancer begins to recite, his voice full of irritation and sarcasm.

  “A real piece of crap. At first, sure, you see three spiky rocks that could be those needles. But once you start walking the damn path, you realize the whole pce is full of pointy rocks.”

  “And that’s just the part I remember. Every time I think of those two weekends I wasted looking for that damned temple...” Nero pauses for a moment, putting his hands on his head in frustration. Then mutters, “Ugh, I could punch the bastard who wrote that description!”

  Despite the little tantrum being amusing, what really strikes Kina is the odd expression “two weekends.” Why say it like that? Surely, he meant two weeks. That would expin the frustration.

  “I assure you we know a pce that matches that description. Maybe the young man is a bit confused,” Keton says, sounding calm and diplomatic.

  His decration visibly unsettles and confuses the two priests. While all the irritation vanishes from the necromancer’s face as he turns to the two hunters. Then he scans the other table as if seeing them for the first time.

  Kina can’t help but notice the cold calcution in the way he analyzes the group. For a moment, it reminded her of the look he had given her before decring he wasn’t interested in new friends.

  Then he turns back to the priests and, pointing a thumb at the hunters behind him, asks, “So, where’d you find this merry group? Doesn’t seem like they’re from Great Harbor.”

  The boy looks at him and begins answering, pointing at Keton, “No, we didn’t find Keton here—on the road...” he pauses, confused, before continuing, “How do you know we came from Great Harbor?”

  At this, Kina finally notices a few phrases embroidered on the priests’ robes, identifying them as followers of Medishe.

  “Where else could you have come from? The only pce that references the Temple of Divine Trials is the Temple of Divine Union in Great Harbor. It’s the only pce where this quest can start. Reading that one text of whatever,” Nero decres, almost sounding bored.

  The boy starts nodding and then says, “Yes, yes—the Codex of Trials. But how do you know that? I found the lost Codex in a storage room in the library.”

  “Yeah, I know. The... whatever its name always ends up there. Someone takes it, and it magically shows up in the same spot after a while. You know—magic, miracles, who knows...” An info Kina suspects many would pay handsomely for. And yet the necromancer is casually dropping it here, almost confused that it’s not common knowledge.

  Something that works the way he describes suggests divine action.

  This, in turn, implies that this Temple of Divine Trials is important, which raises the eyebrow of the hunters’ leader.