Early DAR Vol. 2 Chapter 5 Part 2 (Patreon)

Note: This part has not been TLCed yet, and might slightly differ from the public version.  If you found any typos/mistakes, pls write it in the comment. Thanks.    

Translator: Dario

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Meanwhile, in the Coralde trading company president’s office, Coralde was listening to a certain man’s report.

The man had arrived just after Coralde had finished sending communication to the Adventurers’ guild and the local lord about the report he received from Chuck the coachman.

“What happened in the Norfar valley, then?”

“Just as Mr. Chuck reported, magic beasts have been fleeing. As per instructions, I went for an inspection of the surrounding areas. Magic beasts with climbing abilities, like Rock Lizards, have been fleeing from the valley too.”

The man was a sort of “secret agent”, hired personally by Coralde. He belonged to the Mercenaries’ guild and had signed a long-term contract with Coralde.

The man...and the other secret agents Coralde hired did not belong to his trading company. As per their guild’s regulations, they did not engage in illegal activities, but would undertake any other missions. It could be said they were Coralde’s personal arms and legs.

Coralde had suspected the Adventurers’ guild was up to something, so he had his secret agents watch over the Aldon forest, where Roa and Nostalgia were, and the Norfar valley from a distance.

“When I noticed the Rock Lizards fleeing I tried going closer to have a better idea of the situation, but I was spotted and gave up.”

“Hmm?”

The Adventurers’ guild coachmen and horse carts were stationed at the entrance of the Norfar valley. In order to check the movements of Crack of Dawn in the valley without being found, the secret agents could only look down from the top of a nearby hill.

“Were you spotted by the guild’s coachmen?”

Coralde was impressed that the guild’s coachmen would be capable to notice the presence of secret agents on the top of a hill. The secret agents were first rate professionals, capable of using magic to conceal their presence. To spot them from afar was a near impossible feat.

“No, not them.”

“Crack of Dawn, then?”

“No, sir.”

“Did the Adventurers’ guild hire secret agents too, then?”

“No, that’s not the case.”

Coralde continued asking questions without letting the man continue, so the latter could only deny his hypothesis. Ultimately Coralde probably ran out of ideas, so he stopped talking. The secret agent then addressed his very flustered employer with a vaguely tired tone.

“It was the servant beasts, Crack of Dawn’s magic wolves. They were on the upper side of the valley. As soon as I spotted them, they sensed my presence and...waved their hands at me.”

“They waved...their hands?”

“Well...precisely speaking, their front paws.”

“That is not what I meant...”

Servant beasts obeyed the orders of their masters, but were magic beasts at heart. Coralde was naturally surprised that they would “wave their hands” at anyone.

“Do servant beasts, usually, wave their hands?”

The secret agent could only show an awkward expression to Coralde’s genuine question. He had seen a number of servant beasts through his work for the Mercenaries’ guild, but the experience he just mentioned was completely new for him.

“I was surprised as well. They waved their paws as if they saw a familiar face in the streets...both of them. What exactly are those servant beasts? I’ve never seen any act so human-like before.”

“....Roa raised them since they were small...so I suppose they grew in a way different than normal...”

Seeing the secret agent uncharacteristically at a loss, Coralde laughed wryly. The wolves had been raised by Roa, so it wasn’t unbelievable that they turned out to be unusual magic beasts. For Coralde, Roa had become a classic example of extraordinary behavior.

“Furthermore, those magic beasts were possibly using magic. I couldn’t see clearly because of the darkness, but where the wolves walked the terrain changed and a sort of smoke rose...that was probably ice or fire magic.”

“.......”

It was not unbelievable for magic beasts to be able to use magic. It was only possible, however, for magic beasts of particular species or magic beasts which gained knowledge and magic power after living for hundreds of years. Magic wolves with only a few years of age did not belong to either category.

The remaining possibility was that while they looked like magic wolves, they actually were another kind of lesser known magic beast. They could also be rare mutations or beings created via alchemy, based on magic beasts.

Coralde too had seen Crack of Dawn’s wolf twins several times, but he just thought they were magic wolves with fur color different than the usual and never even considered they could be special. Their actual abilities were probably kept secret within the party.

Magic wolves which, despite their young age, were so intelligent as to be able to copy human gestures, could notice secret agents concealed by magic from a distance and could even use magic themselves. More than enough reasons to keep it all a secret.

“As the servant beasts spotted me, I assumed that Crack of Dawn did too, so I gave up on surveilling the valley. It could have been interpreted as hostile behavior.”

“That was a sound decision.”

“I left two other agents, to check the forest and valley from a distance, as per your original instructions.”

“I see.”

Coralde folded his arms and reflected. The twin wolves were interesting, but it was not the time to think about them. The top priority was Roa and Nostalgia’s safety.

“I believe we will be able to know if master Roa and the others safe thanks to the smoke from their camp”

The secret agent continued so, but even if they could learn of the party’s location, only adventurers were allowed inside magic beasts forests. There was a limit to what Coralde could do.

Nostalgia is skilled enough to be able to return safely even if they face a level of trouble, but…

Coralde was sure of it, but wanted to do whatever he could all the same. Even if it turned out that he was worried for nothing. As a merchant, he valued information above all else, so a situation in which he couldn’t gather any details was quite painful. His arms still folded, he closed his eyes to focus even more on finding something he could do.

𑁋

Silence reigned in the Norfar valley. In the place where the golems and magic wolf twins fought large blocks of minerals were amassed here and there. Most of them were silver, which reflected the moonlight with a dull shine. Needless to say, they were the remains of the golems which fought against the magic wolf twins. They were completely still and looked like they could not move anymore.

Yet…

Just one of the hundreds of golems in the valley…

Inside the body of this lone specimen, something was pulsating. It was the result of the fusion of all the cores of the many golems in Norfar valley. 

Because of the slaughter suffered at the hands of the gryphon and its brethren, the golems learned that the could not defeat them. Because of this, they once more gathered their scattered power.

A large number of cores and energy sources fused again into one, creating an incredibly powerful energy mass.

The golems decide to fuse all their cores into one in order to achieve a more powerful body. With more magic essence in one core, they would be able to move even a massive body much faster. The golems knew that mass and speed would turn into more power for them.

Kill….kill...kill…

Hate filled the air.

The golems in the valley had not been able to even lay a finger on “that” and were destroyed by “its” children. Even the comrades which managed to escape to the nearby forest encountered other children of “that” and were completely annihilated. Among the golems destroyed in the forest, many of them were still alive, but they could not move anymore, much like the ones in the valley.

Because of the smell, the golems had mistaken Roa, Nostalgia and the wolves for children of the gryphon. All of them were considered the gryphon’s brethren, targets that had to be killed.

Kill….kill...kill…

If they escaped, “that” will probably let them go. With so many of their comrades killed, however, the golems’ shared conscience was filled with hatred, so “escape” was not an available option.

Slowly but surely...very strong magic power seeped out of the golem’s core. It was heavy, sticky, like the darkness surrounding it.

Magic power was not visible normally: the magic power resulting from the fusion and compression of multiple golem cores, however, had become so thick it could be perceived by the naked eye.

The magic power oozing from the core spread to the surrounding silver, then started transforming it. That was an unexpected occurrence even for the golems themselves.

The body started faintly glowing in the dark. The golems were about to obtain a new kind of power.

𑁋