Arc | Chapter. 14: Traitor (Patreon)

Chapter. 14: Traitor

Ronan could only stare at the young woman hearing that.

What? Had he just heard right?

Her expression hardly changed, instead her grin became nothing more than a calm smile. Something that immediately made him feel more alarmed rather than give him any sense of reassurance.

There was no way he had heard things properly.

Ronan could still remember how she had blasted the Hobgoblin horde with a single flick from her index finger; it had been an ice explosion of a magnitude he had never seen before. Everything had died in an instant, following the command of her chilly words. Ronan shivered just thinking about it.

And now, he had just heard something unbelievable from the woman, Ronan understood that in reality she was a monster, there was no way she would say that. Even just being near her made him feel the coldness of death gripping onto his heart.

“C-Can you repeat what you said again…?” Ronan shivered asking once more.

She frowned much to his dismay. “I said I want nice food from the next town over.”

There was… no way he had misheard this time right…?

“Food… right?” He asked with a pause.

The woman nodded, this time raising her brow in confusion.

“Are you alright? Yes, that's what I said. I want you to procure the best food you can find in the next town over and present it to me,” she said demandingly. “At least if you don’t want to be punished for your actions.”

Ronan shivered hearing her cold tone at the end and fervently nodded.

“I just have to get the best food for you, right? And all will be forgiven.”

“It will,” she agreed, but then she immediately frowned as her demeanor turned the air cold. “However, tell a single soul about me and⁠—”

“I get it!” Ronan sputtered. “I’ll keep your power a secret, please spare me.”

She nodded before handing him a small ice crystal.

“Break it when you’ve fulfilled the request, you only have for as long as we are in the next town.”

“R-Right!”

She extended her hand. “Well, let’s go to the next town now, shall we?”

He blinked in confusion but hurriedly took her hand, however nothing could’ve prepared Ronan for what he was about to experience.

* * * * *

Ceylon felt concerned, Arc had yet to return and not too long ago an explosion shook the land with tremendous power. Deep down, she understood that Arc was angry just based on the expression she wore. Not only that, but Ceylon also knew that Arc was very particular when it came to food.

While she couldn’t fully relate to what just happened, she could empathize. But still, what could Arc possibly be doing that would take so long? That she didn’t understand, that’s why she made the decision to stand up from her spot and go towards the traders.

However, as soon as she did, she saw ice. Her eyes went wide. In the distance there was a barrier of frost encompassing a large part of the forest, almost like the glaciers she had once read about in books. The scale was immense and terrifying, craning her head up Cyelon could barely see the top of it, towering even over the trees. There was no doubt; it was Arc’s power, and also the reason for the explosion.

Ceylon craned her head, observing its length where she saw limbs, frozen blood, and even a wooden club inside the ice. She had never seen an attack like that, but then again, Arc had also wiped all of the spiders inside of Ranedale with a single attack. And the reason was simple.

It was because she was a hero.

Ceylon sighed and turned away from the distant block of ice and instead headed towards the encampment. Even after this delay, Arc was not back, and she couldn’t help but worry. Yes, Arc was a hero, but… deep down, she felt that something was wrong, as for what; Ceylon couldn’t tell.

She walked forth, trailing next to the mountain of ice. It took just a few moments, but she saw the traders in the distance and felt immediate relief. They were all huddled together, but also quiet, peaceful perhaps. Ceylon strolled forward with a smile, she couldn’t see their expressions but perhaps they were just relieved that the danger had been dealt with considering the silence.

However, as she loomed closer and finally reached the clearing, it was still as quiet as ever. She looked around only to see no trace of Arc, all while the traders were looking at the pillar of ice. Suddenly, the relief Ceylon felt disappeared as she asked.

“Hey, where is Arc…?”

Her soft voice rang hollow through the forest, passing right through the ears of everyone present, and yet, no one turned. No one regarded her, or paid her any mind. Instead, the eternal silence permeating the forest was still present.

The unease turned to nervousness as she slowly approached the group. She expected them to turn at any second, but her footsteps simply echoed as the silence of night permeated everything. And finally, Ceylon reached them only to see them not even looking at her, but instead at the ice pillar.

There was fear, shock, crying⁠— and yet, every single person was frozen. Stopped mid action. The wind blew, and yet everything that was alive had been stopped in time. Ceylon took a step back.

“What is… happening?”

Her heart was rushing, Arc was nowhere to be seen, and she was alone with frozen people. Things were bad⁠—

And a strong gust of wind swept through her and Ceylon tensed, she immediately turned only to see Arc stepping onto the ground with a small sigh. Then she immediately perked up and met Ceylon’s gaze with surprise.

“Sorry I had to take care of something,” Arc said with her usual carefree tone, before pausing and looking over Ceylon. “Is everything alright?”

Ceylon blinked, looking at Arc and then at the frozen people. Finally, her panic reached a certain calm of disbelief and she managed to ask.

“Why are the traders frozen?”

“Oh.” Arc let out a small sound of surprise. “I froze them.”

“Ah, I see.” Ceylon nodded. “Yes, that makes sense.”

The people were frozen because of Arc, and Arc had left to go do something else. That was how things were, and Ceylon wasn’t planning on questioning it. It’s not something that her brain could actually handle.

Freezing people in time? Of course!

She just accepted it all while Arc raised her brow and then continued. “Well, now I will disperse the ice, and also dispose of the troll monster things. Ceylon do you think you could calm down the traders? Maybe gaslight them?”

“Gaslight?” Ceylon’s ears perked. “L-Like convince them that nothing happened?”

“Maybe?” Arc scratched her head. “I just don’t want trouble, I’m already using more than half of my mana for this, at the same time I don’t want them to know my power. Having fame or any type of renown would be troublesome…”

“Right.” Ceylon awkwardly nodded as she thought. “I may have an idea, give me a minute to prepare. Let’s just say you made the monsters chase you using the earth of the Black Forest.”

“One of the traders did bring a bag full of it,” Arc mused.

Ceylon tensed and immediately nodded. “Then we shall use him as a scapegoat, where is… he?”

Arc blinked. “Oh, he’s gone.” Ceylon tensed, and Arc continued. “He won’t be heard of ever again from these people.”

So, he’s alive. She untensed.

“Then let’s go with that.” With a nod Ceylon prepared herself. “You should go dispose of the trolls and then don’t return, just give me a signal that the people will be unfrozen.”

“Alright, thank you Ceylon.”

With those words the ice in the distance cracked, quickly falling into the ground as Arc walked away. And Ceylon was left to prepare her speech. With a small sigh, she muttered to herself.

“This is going to be hard…”

* * * * *

Lydia jolted her body shivered all over⁠— the Hobgoblins⁠— and she blinked seeing there was no one there. The screams of the people resounded, as a weird confusion filled her⁠—

“We have to run!” A girl shook her⁠— it was the escort’s companion. “Arc lured away the monsters, one of you was carrying a bag full of dirt from the Black Forest!”

Lydia’s heart skipped several beats as she regained some grasp of the situation; the Hobgoblins were gone, one of them had taken a bag, and now they too had to leave before it was too late. Immediately she nodded and turned, barking orders at the rest of the group.

“Let’s run, the Hobgoblins were lured away, we must reach a safe location!”

“But how were they lured, they basically disappeared?!” someone asked.

“I don’t know!” Lydia screamed. “Not the time to think about that, now move!”

With that command she reached for her things and hastily stood up, all while the blonde girl nodded at her. In just a second everyone got ready and the escort’s companion spoke once more, already running.

“The road is nearby, let’s go!”

Lydia felt her heart rushing, as she followed after the blonde girl. Everyone did. The air felt cold, almost gripping as if it was a premonition of death. The forest was deadly quiet, as if it was a prelude to the storm. And so, everyone ran, not questioning the strangeness of the events.

Lydia could not remember anything, but she had been leading caravans for many years and she knew that now was not the time for anything. And so, she ran along with the rest of the group, it felt like an eternity as they stepped down the road and continued.

Their breathing grew ragged, their complexion grew worse, and just when they felt like giving up, the blonde girl stopped panting.

“We should be far enough now…”

Lydia nodded and immediately sat down in tiredness. “So, what happened exactly?”

The girl in front of her thought for a moment with a grave expression. “Someone lured the monsters with their greed, they took the dirt against everyone’s will and this is the end result.”

Lydia immediately nodded and turned only to count heads and immediately notice that someone was missing.

“Ronan…” She gritted her teeth. “That traitor, where is he?”

“We don’t know, he disappeared,” the blonde girl answered softly, clear worry in her voice. “For now, let’s wait for Arc to come back…”

And hearing that someone from the back snorted. “There were dozens of Hobgoblins if not hundreds, she won’t be coming back! Besides, how did they even disappear?!”

At that moment, mutters amongst the traders broke out, and Lydia shook her head. There was certainly a gap in her memory, but there was no explanation for it. It felt like she blinked and suddenly it was a different time.

“Do you know what happened? Why did the Hobgoblins disappear in a blink?” she softly asked the blonde girl, the escort’s companion.

“No, it’s the same for me.” She sighed. “Let’s just be glad we are alive…”

Lydia nodded. “Yeah, let us be glad⁠—”

And the nearby bushes rustled, everyone tensed and backed off, only for a familiar figure to walk out. It was the adventurer that was escorting them, and she was… uninjured? Lydia blinked seeing the woman’s clean clothes, she wore strange black leggings, a white jacket that matched her hair, and yet in spite of all the white there was not a speck of dirt on her.

“Ah, I finally found you guys,” she said with evident relief. “The monsters were pretty hard to lose, I just tossed the bag of dirt somewhere in the forest, hope that’s fine.”

“That’s fine, but…” Lydia looked at her all over. “How are you so… clean?”

“Oh, I don’t know, I'm just like this.” The woman shrugged. “Anyway, we should continue our journey a bit longer and find a different place to rest.”

Lydia slowly nodded to what the adventurer had said, but there was something that irked her. Perhaps it was the carefree behavior after just having a deadly encounter with dozens of Hobgoblins, or perhaps it was the fact that the adventurer did not even look tired in the slightest, she didn’t know.

But well, she supposed that she should be happy to be alive, and that there was only one potential casualty.

With a sigh, Lydia prepared herself for a deluge of questions and protests from the other traders.

* * * * *

In the end, we couldn’t set off right away since the traders had something to discuss, but at least I got some private time with Ceylon. We just sat at the edge of the road, looking at the moon before finally Ceylon asked.

“Why did you not dirty yourself like I asked?”

I shook my head. “I tried.” And I grabbed a fistful of dirt before rubbing it onto my jacket. “But, it just falls off.”

And as I said it slid off, falling back onto the ground not leaving a single stain.

“Even if it was dirtied, the filth would freeze right off just like when my skin itself gets dirty,” I said with a small shrug. “I suppose, it’s a nice perk of being unbelievably cold.”

“Right, I just hope the traders don’t suspect anything,” Ceylon said, sighing.

“They won’t.” I shook my head. “Their time was frozen, it was a blink to them. They have no way to explain it. They won’t be stumbling upon the corpses of the monsters, nor will they be finding their trader friend either.”

“What did you do to that man?” Ceylon raised her brow.

“What did I do?” I thought back on things and shook my head. “Let’s just say I gained something while ensuring that my secrets would remain. Because unfortunately, he saw everything.”

There was a pause as the air stilled, I could see Ceylon become suddenly tense as she asked.

“You didn’t kill him… right?”

“No,” I answered simply. “Anyway, not something to think about.”

“Right.” Ceylon nodded. “Will you continue eating now?”

“Also no.” A small sigh left me. “Not in the mood right now.”

Then I turned to the sky, thinking back on the trader I had let go.

I really hope I didn’t make the wrong decision.

Then I shook my head. “Anyway, what was the name of the next town again? I think the trader woman said it.”

“Oh, its name is Blackcrest...”

* * * * *

Ronan shakily stood before Blackcrest with the bag of dirt over his shoulder. He had spent probably the last twenty minutes throwing up, but now he was finally ready to fulfill the strange request he had received.

What he had experienced with that woman, would stay between her and him as agreed, all for his life and all for a brighter future. He was to never meet those traders again either, that’s what the woman told him after bringing him here.

“Hopefully this will be a new start…” he muttered to himself as he looked at the distant town walls.

With a deep breath, Ronan walked forward to fulfill what had been asked of him.