As they walked out the gate, Horon was staring at the blade attached to Arlie’s hip. He had seen her practice with a sword before, but this was the first time he had seen this particular sword. The design was somewhat unusual. It was a double-edged blade. He couldn’t see much of the blade thanks to the sheathe, but he could see the handle. One oddity he noticed was a raised bump on the handle. It looked like a small mechanical lever or switch. The handle was also more elaborate than what he normally saw, as it was plated in silver. No wait, as he looked more closely he realized it was mythril, and the pommel was clearly orichalcum. Both were prized magical metals, and he didn’t often see weapons or tools made with them. The guard had wiry bands of dark metal wrapping around the mythril that it was made of. Creating a decorative pattern. The same dark metal was also inlaid into the handle.

“Is that magesteel?” asked Horon voicing his thoughts.

Arlie looked back and then traced his line of sight before replying, “Yes, this is a family heirloom. A mageblade, a magical sword designed to channel magic. I figured I might need it, so I pulled it out of storage,” said Arlie.

“I have never seen a weapon made with magesteel. Given that it costs more than mythril and orichalcum. I’m guessing it was used to decorate the blade and reinforce the core,” said Horon.

“No, my family used to be a good deal more wealthy than it is today. The entire blade is forged from Magesteel and then decorated with mythril and orichalcum. And before you ask, no I’m not going to let you touch this blade. A mageblade like this one is worth a kingdom, especially given that it is a named sword with a special enchantment,” said Arlie.

“Name sword? I know most of the named swords, but I don’t recall one with a blade so short. It's more of a knife than a sword,” said Horon.

“That may be due to its age. This blade is called Skylord’s Wrath,” said Arlie.

“Skylord’s Wrath! I’ve heard of that blade. A collector came to the village looking for that sword last year. What exactly happened to him anyway?” said Horon. He remembered how the collector had showed off his collection of legendary blades and talked about how certain he was that another was there in Voros. Just one day he suddenly vanished.

“Oh, that idiot. I don’t know how, but he seemed to know that I owned the sword. He tried to trick me into selling it to him for a fraction of what it is worth. When I didn’t, he broke into my house. Don’t know where he got it, but he had a fancy little artifact for bypassing wards. He also had another little artifact that helped him find the family treasury. Neither was much help for the defenses down there. I found him when I got back from the forest that day, dead in the treasury,” said Arlie.

“You have a treasury?” asked Horon.

“Of course I have one. Every wealthy family has somewhere they keep their wealth,” said Arlie. While Rose and Lily said, “Good thing we stayed out of there.”

“Wait you two know where it is?” asked Horon.

“They know because I trust them. You, on the other hand, aren’t exactly trustworthy. Especially given your other hobbies,” said Arlie.

“Hey, I’m a perfectly normal and healthy young man,” said Horon.

Arlie made a noise and said,” Normal!? I don’t think so. If you were normal, you would have tried to get Lana’s hand in marriage after rescuing her. Instead, you just stole her panties,” said Arlie.

“Hey, I admit that wasn’t my brightest idea, but are you ever going to let that go?” asked Horon.

“Nope!” said Arlie, as the village walls disappeared from sight behind them. He continued to stare at her blade. Normally it would have been her chest, but thanks to that curse, he didn’t get any enjoyment from that. He found himself wondering how wealthy Arlie’s family must have been to afford a legendary blade.

“Anyway, do you think it's a good idea to be walking around with a legendary blade,” said Horon.

“Pfft, legendary?! I will admit it has some renown, but it is by no means legendary. Did mister collector tell you that?” responded Arlie.

“He did say that there was a legendary blade in Voros and seemed to imply it was the blade you have there,” replied Horon.

“I guess he told you those swords of his were all legendary, right? Most of them were actually just imitations of legendary blades,” said Arlie.

“How do you know that?” asked Horon as he was pretty sure Arlie didn’t have any skill for appraising swords.

“He left a pile of junk in a cart outside my house. My guess is that after he got my blade, he was planning on fleeing the village. Since he died trying to rob me, the elder gave me his stuff. I took it to Arcs, and had it appraised. My cousin was a great help in getting rid of it. Not a single one of those blades were legendary, and only one of them was a named blade. The rest were just fake imitations,” said Arlie.

“I’ll take your word for it. I don’t think I would be able to tell the difference between a legendary blade and a fake myself,” said Horon.

“The appraiser told me all about how he was able to tell. All weapons have a mana signature, he had this thick book with page after page of weapons. Their names, distinguishing characteristics and even their unique mana signature were all listed!” said Arlie.

“I guess a book like that has their histories too, at least a brief summary. So what did it say about your sword?” asked Horon.

“Nothing, it only listed swords made in the last thousand years. This sword has been in the family for at least five hundred generations,” said Arlie. Horon stared at the blade in shock. Mages lived longer than your average human, so that meant a longer interval in generations. Doing the math he realized the blade was at least a hundred thousand years old. Which made it the oldest blade he had ever heard off. The only other blade he knew of that came close in age was the legendary Exadra. As shocking as that was, it wasn’t impossible. Magical metals didn’t rust or corrode the way mundane metals did. This meant that they could last pretty much indefinitely. A hundred thousand years ago was the time of the ancients, the first human civilization. Their kingdom fell a long time ago, but the ruins could still be found to this day. Adventurers would delve into these ruins for treasures. Magical weapons and legendary artifacts that had been recovered from these ruins would often sell for tens of thousands of gold marks. No wonder the collector had been after this weapon. If it had been in the family that long, that meant it had been forged using the techniques of the ancients. Even the worst weapons of that age were better than most weapons of today.

“A weapon of the ancients, I wish I could learn how they forged it,” muttered Horon.

“Well if you behave I can give you that knowledge. Good luck mastering it though,” said Arlie.

“Wait, you know how the ancients forged their weapons?!” asked Horon.

“Personally no. I wasn’t that interested in the subject, but there are several books that have been passed down in my family that cover the subject. I suspect some of the best weapon smiths come from mage families that have their own books on the subject,” said Arlie.

“Somehow, I guessed you would be more interested in magic than weapons,” said Horon.

“Draw your weapons!” said Arlie, suddenly. Horon didn’t see anything out of place, but drew his ax anyway. Out of the corner of his eye, he was the twins ready their bows. While Thron drew his sword. An instant later a Vorlak charged out of the trees.

Thron stepped forward and blocked its charge, his sword slicing along its path. A massive gash opened up in its side. Blood poured down its side the creature roared and lashed out with a swipe of its claws. Thron sidestepped the attack and slashed again. At the same instant two arrows sprouted from its neck.

Horon came up from the rear and brought down his ax on its spine. The creature collapsed instantly, and then he looked up to see that Arlie was keeping an eye on the trees. She hadn’t even bothered to chant a single spell during the brief encounter.

“Something wrong with the trees?” asked Horon. Rose and Lily had an odd look on their faces, as they asked, “Rylarks right?”

“I have spotted twelve in the trees,” said Arlie.

“Rylarks? The Vorlak was odd enough, but Rylarks never get this close to a settlement,” said Horon. Thron just looked clueless as he stared at the trees trying to find the monster birds.

“Actually they do, just not around this time of the year,” said Arlie just before she started chanting. Electricity began to crackle as mana gathered in the air. Her fingers charging with lightning mana, she raised her hands into the sky and a net of lightning began to crackle in the sky. The bolts zipped across the sky in brilliant flashes, and as her chant came to a close they began to rain down seemingly at random. The party was untouched as the bolts rained from the sky. A large bird fell from the trees with each strike. After the twelfth strike the storm dissipated.

Horon recognized the spell used as he had seen her practice it before. It was called Lightning Storm. It was a powerful spell that called lightning down from the sky upon targets the user designated. This was the first time he had been so close to her using it though. He found the crackling of the spell somewhat frightening.

“Let’s bag that Vorlak quickly. I’ll keep an eye out for more monsters,” said Arlie. Horon and the others quickly agreed. Thron went to bag the birds while Horon and the twins skinned the Vorlak. Its hide could easily sell for a few dozen silvers or more depending on how good its condition, but its meat was toxic and of no value. Some of its other body parts were also of value, and Horon with the expert aid of the twins quickly harvested those valuable parts. They took special care with the venom sack so as to not damage it. When they were done, the Vorlak had been reduced to a pile of toxic meat.

Thron had also bagged the birds and was loading them into the back of the cart. After the materials were loaded into the cart, Arlie cast a quick preservation spell on them. Before long they were walking down the road again. This time however no one was talking. Everyone had different thoughts about the oddities.

By the time they reached the rest point, the sun was already setting and the party had fought off seven more Vorlak attacks. Including, oddly enough, a pair working together. Vorlaks, unlike their smaller beast cousins, weren’t known for working together. During that particular fight, one of the Vorlaks got into the cart and damaged some of their supplies. Most of the damage was easily repairable, but they had lost a tent, a couple of pots and some food. Fortunately, it was nothing they couldn’t replace. Thron killed it before it could cause too much damage.

The rest point was a decently sized clearing at the top of a hill. The ground had been flattened and cleared of plants. Regular use had kept the forest from reclaiming it. The only plant that had managed to retake the area was grass. There was more than enough space for the group to set up camp. Arlie started by casting a protective barrier over the area while the twins took care of setting up the tents. The boys started collecting firewood for a campfire.

It wasn’t long before they had three tents set up and a campfire going. “We have three tents, so what are the sleeping arrangements?” opened Thron.

“I think the arrangement is obvious you boys can have the two smaller tents, and we will share the larger one,” said Arlie.

“I have to concur,” said Lily, and Rose asked, “What about the watch? The barrier should keep monsters away, but bandits aren’t unheard of on this road.”

“That’s easy, Thron gets first watch. Horon can take the middle watch, and we will take the final watch,” said Arlie.

“I guess that would work, but with one change. You will sleep the entire night as you’ve already done your part with the barrier,” said Rose.

“Hey, I can stand watch!” replied Arlie.

“Yeah, but you need the sleep. I’m pretty sure you are almost out of mana, right,” said Lily agreeing with Rose. The look on Arlie’s face pretty much confirmed it.

“Fine, you two can have the last watch to yourselves,” folded Arlie. She got up and checked on her horse, giving the mare some water before grabbing her bag from the cart. Then she disappeared into the bigger tent. They had originally brought four tents: three small tents and one big tent. The twins always shared a tent, hence the larger tent, but the others were each going to have their own. The twins disappeared into the tent a moment later with their own bags.

As Horon was grabbing his bag, he noticed Thron near the girl's tent. Reaching towards the flap. “Don’t do it,” said Horon.

Thron panicked and backed away from the tent, before settling on a log near the campfire and looking out at the perimeter. Horon entered his tent and opened his bag, pulling out his blanket. He took off his armor and set his weapons aside before curling up for some rest.