Return to Jorgaldur Volume III: blood warrior

Siege

It was the fifth day when she reached the level 45 zone. Now, some eyes were beginning to stalk her. She was even attacked by a poisonous lizard barely a meter long, which spitted out its poison.

However, she was expecting it, and reacted quickly. She first took out a shield, which blocked the poison. While the lizard had its gaze fixed on her protection, she appeared behind it, and impaled it with Backstab in a Weak Point. She then picked up the shield and the spear. The latter was stuck in the ground, and had been holding the shield.

As the level of the area increased, so did the danger. When near the end of the night she reached a level 50 area, her enemies were two levels above hers. That made them not hesitate to attack her. They were unaware that their prey was actually the hunter.

Also, she was on the outskirts of the forest, so the density of potential enemies wasn't that great. She was near the road, the one that led to the fortified city, and to her mansion.

She decided to continue along the road, but without reaching it. She stayed hidden in the forest, and without taking the fork that went to the fortified city. It could be seen in the distance.

Her heart began to pound as she discovered the outline of the mansion. On a small hill, its four towers towered over the surrounding lands. Those towers weren't those of a castle, but were even more powerful.

The vampiress had armed fearsome defense systems in them and in the rest of the mansion. She had done it for no purpose other than to show off that she had an impregnable castle, though they were disabled most of the time due to high mana consumption. Besides, they could cause accidents, as Eldi could confirm.

She recognized every detail of the profile, every angle of the roofs and towers. She had spent days designing and modifying it, both decoratively and with all kinds of functionality.

Gjaki was eager to get there, but also afraid. Now that it was in front of her, she was once again assailed by the doubt. What if it wasn't really hers? What if in fact the inhabitants didn't recognize her? What if the reality of the game wasn't the real one?

She suddenly frowned. The vampiress quickened her pace to get closer, to make sure she wasn't mistaken. Unfortunately, she wasn't.

The shield that protected the mansion was in full activity and under attack. Around it, there were multitudes of figures that bombarded it with spells. Tents could also be seen scattered around the outside, which indicated that a siege had been mounted.

"What... what's going on?" she wondered between incredulity and fury.

It was obvious that she couldn't just get closer. She could even sense from there that the levels of the attackers were far higher than her own. To make matters worse, daylight would appear soon. It wasn't only harmful to her, but Darkness would lose its effectiveness. The glow of sunrise was beginning to show, so there wasn't much time left for the raising of the star.

She bit her lip. She wanted to get close, investigate, maybe sabotage the attackers, but it couldn't be done during the day. Her best option was perhaps to wait until nightfall, but she was too worried. Therefore, she decided to use some of her sunscreen reserves.

Kila, a cat-woman with silver fur, arrived in the city at dawn. Her level was 40, and she had a bow slung across her back. She went straight to the inn, where food was served in the game.

"Hello, good morning, what do you have for breakfast? I've spent the night walking, and I'm hungry," she greeted happily.

"Hello good morning. It's a bit early yet. If you wait half an hour, they'll bring freshly baked bread, still hot," a boy-hyena about fourteen years old answered.

He was setting up tables for customers who would be arriving soon.

"Really!? Will you also have some freshly milked milk? And some honey?" she asked almost salivating.

"Ha, ha. Sure. Have you been here before? The name honey is only used by us. She... named it," the teenager said with some sadness.

"No, but some friends told me about it! Who is she?" she asked curiously.

"It's a bit strange. She was a visitor and a vampire. You know, when she got here, everybody freaked out a little. Even more when she brought more vampires, but she and everyone was good to us. They even helped us a lot, she saved me. And now..." the teenager stopped while clenching his fists.

"Now? Has something happened to them?" she asked curious once again, despite the fact that inside she felt extremely uneasy.

"Aren't you one of them?" he asked suspiciously.

"Who?" she was surprised "I'm Kila, an adventurer, I'm passing by. What about you?" she took him by surprise by her hand, shaking it.

"Eh... I'm Fleldo. You really don't know who they're, what's going on?"

"No idea. I just got here" she replied, tilted cutely her neck to one side, and put a finger in her mouth.

"Those... scavengers... They know that the visitor is gone, and they want to attack the mansion, her mansion, our friends. They say they want to eradicate the vampires, but they only want the treasures that are supposed to be there. So far, they haven't, but I don't know how long they'll last. If Gjaki were here, she'd teach them a lesson!"

Kila had a hard time containing her emotions. Her fury at those attacking the mansion. The warmth in her soul to see that she was remembered and even appreciated. That it had been real, at least in part. She was also comforted to see that the boy she had saved in the game remembered her.

However, Gjaki couldn't reveal herself. She needed to continue playing her role as Kila, and gather as much information as possible. If she happened to be able to enjoy a breakfast that she had imagined so many times in the game, so much the better.

Soon, more people arrived, many of whom opened up to the cheerful adventurer. It is true that Gjaki wasn't always good at interacting with other people, but being her wasn't the same as acting as someone else. Somehow, she felt that she wasn't the one who was ashamed, as well as found amusing to get into that role.

The vampiress corroborated what Fleldo had told her, as well as gathered information about the invading forces, their numbers and their levels.

What moved her the most was recognizing many of them, that they had good memories of her, that they appreciated her, that they even missed her. Luckily for her, that the somewhat naive cat adventurer was moved didn't seem too strange to them.