After the incident with the wildcat, we crossed through the rest of the forest in about four hours without another encounter. The area past the forest was a vast grassy plain. There wasn’t the slightest sign of a human settlement as far as the eye could see.

“It’s deserted here.” I said after scanning the horizon.

“That’s why we came this way.” Serin pointed into the distance. “The nearest town is all the way over there on the far side of those hills.”

“We’ll be unlucky to run into anyone else out here.”

“Yes, the only people we’re likely to come across for a while are other adventurers or hunters, that and anyone that was already following us.”

I instinctively glanced over my shoulder. “You think that anyone is?”

“I don’t know, but that dark elf worries me.”

“But there’s no way she would have been able to follow us back to town.”

“She wouldn’t have needed to. I expect she already knew where we were heading. There could be more like her too.”

“How was she so strong?”

“I’m not sure, I can only guess, we’ve heard rumours... If she was one of our ranked adventurers, I would have at least heard of someone like her.”

“Then where did she come from?”

“I don’t know, that’s part of what worries me.”

“But we have a much stronger party this time. With Beth and Liz with us I don’t think we would have any trouble with her.”

“You’re probably right. At least, if she comes alone.”

“We might never run into her again. We did spare her life, maybe she won’t follow us even if she’s ordered to.”

“I hope so, but we can’t bank on it.”

I knew exactly why Serin was worried, she and Altria both had a hard time trying to tackle her. She seemed to have to ability to at least block some of my skills too. A worrying opponent for sure, but we managed before and now we had two additional members, who were both strong. We still probably couldn’t use Celine to our advantage. The last thing we would need was news of her being a part of our party getting around. The alliance would undoubtedly use it against us.

It was already early afternoon when we had reached the beginning of the plains, and by the time we had walked to our camp for the night it was already beginning to grow dark. Between the four of us we made short work of setting up the camp. We were soon warming ourselves around the fire and preparing the evening meal.

The campsite was protected by a small ridge to one side, and spinney to the other. The sight of our fire would only be visible from close by. After we had eaten, but before we had arranged the watches for the night, I wondered if it was time to call out Celine. I expected that Liz would want to talk to her about the way ahead.

“Did you want to speak with Celine? I can call her now.” I asked.

“If you wish.” Answered Liz.

Serin nodded in agreement with Liz then turned to me. “Call her Theo. I’d like to find out what she knows. Tomorrow we’ll be at the point that determines where we enter the demon territory. If she knows anything it could end up saving us a lot of time and hassle.”

“I’ll call her now… Celine, can you come out?” I asked.

A couple of seconds later and Celine materialised in front of me.

“Is it time to feed?” She asked immediately.

“Not yet, but soon. I need your help with something first.” I explained.

“But I’m hungry!” She complained.

“You always say that… Please just help Serin and Liz, by answering their questions. We’ll sort something out afterwards.”

“Okay.” She said turning to where Liz and Serin were sat.

Liz was already rummaging around in her bag, after a short while she produced a scroll. She cleared a space and rolled it out on the ground. “It’s a little old, but this is the best I could get hold of. Does any of this look familiar to you?” She asked.

“Hmm…” Celine said scratching her head.

“This is where we’re heading.” Liz said pointing at region of the map. “This is where we are at the moment.” She said pointing at another.

“I know it, but I haven’t been there in years. I was serving my previous master until recently.”

“Okay, do you recall if it was guarded when you last passed by?”

“I can’t, but I expect it is. It is a holy site after all.”

“Hold on, you follow our gods?” Altria asked suddenly.

“We revere the world makers, yes of course.”

“I didn’t know that.”

I was a little surprised that was new to Liz.

“So, you expect there to be some presence there?” Asked Liz, wishing to continue with her line of questioning.

“Yes, but I don’t expect it to be heavily guarded. It was almost entirely deserted in that area if I recall.”

“That’s good. Let’s hope things haven’t changed much since your last visit.”

I was glad that Celine seemed to be happy answering questions like this. We were going against her own after all.

“You said that the area was mostly deserted. Is there any major military presence in that region at all?” Asked Serin, wanting to know more about our approach.

Celine looked over Liz’s map once again, before pointing out a couple of places.

“Here and here. At least that was how it was last time I was there.”

“Great, then we’ll try to avoid those point’s, perhaps enter here and cross through this way… I don’t suppose you have any idea how frequently the area is patrolled?”

“None… But I expect it is infrequent. There haven’t been any serious attempts to retake the lands in many years. They won’t be looking for people entering.”

Serin relaxed a little. “That’s reassuring.”   

“Is that all you needed to know?” Asked Celine.

“That’s all I wanted to ask for now.” Answered Serin.

“That means it’s time for dinner!” Celine said turning to me he eyes wide open.

“Not so quick! There are a few more things I would like to know first.” Interrupted Liz.

“Really, do I have to?” Celine asked looking at me pleadingly.

“Yes, just a few more questions and you’ll be done, okay.” I replied.

“Okay… What else did you want to know?” Asked Celine now turning back to face Liz.

“I’d like to know more about, some of your abilities. Particularly the instant relocation and visual modification.” Explained Liz.

“What did you want to know?”

“How many people can you transport at one time?”

“I’ve never tried more than three at a time, and that seems to be my limit. I was almost entirely drained when I used it like that in your capital.”

“I see, then it won’t be that useful for our purposes.”

“I’ll be able to go with master and his favourite one, if it comes to it!”

Liz burst out laughing.

“I see, I see! Just out of interest, which one would that be?” Asked Liz.

Celine turned to me.

“I would never choose in that situation.” I said before she had the chance to ask me.

“It’s okay master, I can guess which one you would like it to be.” She said glancing over at Serin.

“Well, Serin would make the best wife.” Altria said following her gaze and laughing a little.

“W-wife me!” Stuttered Serin.

“Oh, come on Serin, don’t pretend like you wouldn't be pleased with that.”

“I-I, I’ve never thought about it.” Her cheeks began to show just a little red.

“Sure… Having said that I’m sure Theo knows that we would have more fun together, right?” Altria said with a slight smirk.

I didn’t say a word.

“I think I’d make a good wife to.” Beth said out of nowhere.

Both Altria and Serin turned to her.

Liz roared with laughter. “As fun as this is, I think we should change the subject before it starts an argument… Ahem, so the visual modification technique, would you be able to use it to disguise or hide our entire group, Celine?” She asked.

She thought for a moment.

“I would, but using it over that large an area would have some problems, there might be artifacts or glitches and it would use an awful lot of my energy.” She answered.

“That’s okay, in an emergency situation it should work well enough, even if it only bought us a little time and we have plenty of food for you here…”

“What do you mean we have plenty of food? We only have me here!” I complained.

“Don’t act like you don’t enjoy it. You can always take another potion. I gave you plenty.”

“That isn’t exactly the issue here. In that situation, it would be difficult to feed her to say the least.”

“Knowing that, I feel a little more confident in our chance of success.” Liz said almost ignoring me completely.

“Just so you know, I wouldn’t do something that would harm master!” Celine told Liz in a serious voice.

“I believe you.”