Chapter Eight The Town of Arcs
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The rest of the trip to the town of Arcs was completely uneventful. Ixil proved to be helpful on the way to town, but she was also uninterested in staying with the party. So Arlie considered asking her cousin to help the girl out. Her cousin was a better mage than she was, but then again, her cousin was also a few decades older along with all the experience that comes with age. She figured her cousin would be able to keep an eye on the young demon girl. Demons weren’t allowed into a town without at least one mage keeping an eye on them, and she did recall her cousin saying something about demons. Unfortunately, even with her excellent memory, she couldn’t remember what.

During the trip, her little curse on Horon had also worn off, and it seems to have worked. He hasn’t tried to peep or steal anything from her or the twins. However, she could not be sure that her curse was responsible, as Ixil was very interested in him. To the point that she remembered listening to moans in the middle of the night. Fortunately neither of them had been on watch at the time or she would have scolded the two for the silly behavior. She cast these thoughts aside as the treeline started to clear.

As the trees got thinner the walls of the town came into view. Arcs, like all settlements in Varixyies, was surrounded by high walls. The walls were made of large stone bricks that were so large they could not have been placed by ordinary means. Each brick being ten meters in length and half that in thickness weighed several tonnes. The walls themselves were nearly fifty meters high, which made them the highest walls in the region. A height that was only possible thanks to the efforts of the mage clans that made their home in the town. Arlie knew most towns only had walls half as high. Her own village had decently thick and high walls, but that was because her family had in the past invested their wealth into the walls. Outside Varixyies, walls tended to be shorter. Spinebacks were a major contributor to the extent of fortifications here in Varixyies.

At regular intervals, the walls were broken by tall towers with open tops. While she couldn’t see them, she knew the towers would have ballistas mounted. They would be used primarily for shooting down flying monsters. As such, the weapons would be mechanically optimized for the task, and then given enchantments. The most popular would be a simple enchantment called ‘homing projectile.’ As the name implies it causes projectiles fired from the weapon to home in on the target. The effectiveness of this enchantment was known to vary depending on the skill of the enchanter. In most cases it only corrected the course of the projectile by a couple of degrees. In other words, if the projectile passed the target then it won’t come back to strike the target. The only projectiles that could do that are magical ones. Speaking of homing projectiles, she knew how to modify the basic firebolt spell with that effect. Of course, she had yet to master the effect. As such her homing firebolts were far from impressive, and required a chant twice as long as the original to cast. Which is one of the reasons she only used the basic form in combat. The other is that she had mastered the basics to the point that she only needed a half chant to cast it. As a mage, she knew chants were a crutch. If you needed a chant you had not yet fully mastered the spell you are casting. Her thoughts drifting to her favored lightning spells, and how to improve them.

Before long, the group reached the town gate. Where they found a bit of a commotion. Several parties of adventurers were gathered in front of the gate, and covered in wounds. Most of which were already bandaged. Unlike their group, none of the parties were lucky enough to have a cart, and instead had a hunter’s pallet. Which were simple things made of wood and used to drag a hunter’s catch back to town. Their pallets were already laden with dead monsters, the spoils of their latest foray in the woods. Along with a couple of dead adventurers, but that wasn’t unusual given that adventuring was a dangerous profession. The group of adventurers seemed to be arguing with the guards at the gate. Curious as to what was going on Arlie approached the arguing parties. As she got closer she realized she recognized one of the guards. He didn’t normally guard the city walls though. He was the leader of a patrol that regularly hunted bandits on the roads. He often came to Voros to purchase potions from her. Not surprising since her family made the best potions in the region. Every mage clan had their specialties, and hers was well known for its alchemy. Even if that wasn’t their main specialization it was their main source of income.

“So what’s this commotion about?” asked Arlie as soon as she was close enough. The guard she remembered was called Raynor, was the first to respond, “Hello Ms Contrey. Seems these adventurers had some trouble with the local monsters. They said something about them being more vicious than normal. Also said something about a hoard coming this way,” said the man.

“The monsters around here don’t form hoards, well except Rylarks, but they are too cowardly to attack a settlement this big. Unless,” said Arlie leaving the rest unsaid. She didn’t even want to think about the numbers they would need to risk attacking Arcs of all places.

“We ain’t talking about Rylarks, little girl. We talking about a hoard of Vorlaks. They be heading this way,” said an adventurer. A lanky looking man with black hair, dark eyes, and an odd-looking tan. He was clearly a foreigner. Raynor winced when the man said little girl, but before he could say something she screamed, “I’m not a little girl!” 

Before anyone could tell the man otherwise he dug his grave, saying, “Yeah right, those fake tits don’t make you look any older. You are clearly a kid trying to look grown-up.”

“Uh, buddy you might want apologize before she kills you,” said Raynor, not even joking. Of course, the man just dug his grave deeper.

“Kill me? She is a harmless little girl, pretending she is an adult,” said the man. Arlie seeing red at this point rapidly chanted out a quick two-word phrase in the mage’s tongue. A firebolt slammed into the man and knocked him off his feet.

“That’s why you don’t antagonize a mage,” commented Raynor as he knelt down to check on the man. Fortunately for the man, he was still alive. The bolt had not been powerful enough to kill him. His armor while now useless had also protected him from the worst of it, but he still suffered a few minor burns. His skin was only slightly red and his chest hair was now smoldering, but he was fine.

One of his buddies spoke up, “Hikaru, you know she is a Contrey so chances are she is an adult.”

“What does being a Contrey have anything to do with that?” asked Hikaru as he got off the ground. Ixil who along with the rest of Arlie’s party had just caught up asked, “How do you not know about the Contrey family.”

“Did you hear about what happened in Varitul?” asked his buddy. Arlie was the one that answered, “I do recall hearing some adventurers talking about a dragon attack a couple months ago.”

“Yeah, the town was being harassed by a lesser dragon, so the local mages had the bright idea of summoning a hero. They got this useless moron for their efforts,” said his buddy.

“I take it he was of no help,” said Ixil as she looked at the man with an examining eye.

“Nope, all he ended up doing was amusing the dragon as a playtoy, and then it took the local village head’s daughter,” said the buddy. Hikaru just groaned and muttered about embarrassing failures.

“So nobody answered my question, what does being a Contrey have to do with anything?”

“The Contrey clan is one of the most famous mage line’s in the region. The relevant part is that most members of the Contrey line tend to be short, and childlike in appearance,” said one of the guards. Arlie gave him a bit of a glare at the mention of childlike, and he finished with, “something they tend to be a bit sore about so be careful.”

“Wait, do you mean she is a legal loli!?” said Hikaru. Everyone shared confused looks about the odd terminology. As none of them had ever heard it before. His explanation, and following mention of legal age had all of them looking at him like he was stupid.

“Why in the world would anyone choose a set age? Eighteen might work with Humans and beastkin, but with Elves and Demons that would be creepy,” said Ixil a disgusted look on her face from the implications. Hikaru turned to Ixil and then took note of her clothes.

“Who let this little girl dress like a slut?” asked Hikaru not answering the question. With venom in her voice Ixil replied, “You really don’t learn do you. I’m not a little girl either, and this is attire appropriate to my status.”

Fortunately, before he said anything else stupid, someone elaborated, “She is a demon. It is quite normal for them to be scantily clad. Only those of very low status dress modestly.” Which of course meant he said something stupid again, but this time everyone ignored him.

“While I highly doubt there is actually a horde of Vorlaks out there, we have been getting increasing reports of monster sightings, and monster attacks. Also a dragon flew over the town yesterday. So don’t be surprised if people are a bit on edge,” said Raynor. 

“Those are signs that a demon lord is about to be crowned,” said Hikaru. Arlie scoffed, and Ixil said, “I would be surprised if that were true. The current one has been on the throne for a thousand years, and her rule is expected to continue for another thousand years.”

“Demons are people, and have nothing to do with monsters. Now some monster species occasional have a variant lord or king appear every couple of centuries. I have never heard of one with such a universal effect,” said Arlie.

“Than if it isn’t a demon lord, what is making the monsters act strangely,” asked Hikaru how actually managed to sound intelligent for once.

“Only the gods can answer that for certain. Anyway, Raynor is my cousin home or is she away on one of her trips?” asked Arlie.

“She was home yesterday. She is in the middle of one of those projects of hers. Don’t think she will be coming out for a few days,” said Raynor. Arlie thanked him, and after a couple more minutes of chatting her party proceeded to enter the town.

The area immediately past the gate was a military barracks. As such dozens of soldiers could be seen going around their daily lives. Many of them were in practice gear, and were making use of a large training field to practice their skills. The sword, the spear, and the bow were the most popular weapons being practiced in the field. The spear was a long-standing favorite for the average foot soldier. Unlike a sword which required a bit of skill to wield almost anyone could be trained to use a spear in a few days. It was a simple easy to use weapon and it had great reach. They didn’t stay to watch and headed past the fence that separates the military district from the rest of the town.

The buildings were made of the same materials as those in Voros. The architecture was also similar. The streets, however, were a good deal busier than those in Voros at the same time of day. Everyone except Ixil had all been to Arcs before at least once in their life. Arlie had a number of places in town that she wanted to visit before heading to the red temple. The local library came to mind as a good place for some much-needed research. While visiting a tavern or two would also be good places to get some information. She also wanted to stop by the local adventurer’s guild. Voros was too small to have a guild branch, but Arcs had one. She needed maps of northern Varixyies, and the guild regularly sold maps to travelers so the best place to start would be the guild. For now, however, the first place to visit was going to be her cousin’s place. So she led the way through the busy streets, and towards the river.

Her cousin had a nice house located at the top of a hill overlooking the river port. Dozens of riverboats could be seen at the docks below. A few ships could be seen on the river itself as well. The house itself was made of smooth polished stone, and sturdy timbers. The building was only a single story, and didn’t look any different from the other houses in the area. Arlie walked up the pathway and knocked on the door. However, after several minutes of waiting, and no answer she produced a spare key and went inside. Her friends followed her inside, and made themselves comfortable in the main room, while Arlie went looking for her cousin.

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