Infinite Paths: The Raging Phoenix

When Rain found the others the next morning, it didn't look like they had many hours of sleep in the previous night. Rain wondered if everyone in the city wanted to be recognized by Branden that much. Rain wondered what would happen in the future… he joined the organization. He was gaining money and Intel, but he didn't want to receive orders to work with fanboys.

"The mission this time is to protect three villages in the area south of that region of hills; we have to do that for a week; are you all ready for it?" Jori asked.

Everyone nodded. At least Rain will have the excuse to take a few days off after that. Without wasting time, the group began to move, and as soon as they left the city, Asche noticed that something was weird with Rain. It was only natural since she was at the back of the group.

"Your steps are quite heavy, and you are leaving deep marks behind," Asche said. "Is your stuff too heavy?"

"No, it is fine," Rain replied.

Rain didn't have to explain what he was doing regarding his own training. It was better to keep information about himself as hidden as possible, after all. The group walked for a while, and since he had a backpack as well, Rain was starting to get tired. After five days, once he started to carry the weights, he got bored of just one in each leg, so he put another.

He was still getting used to it, and the extra weight was putting a toll on him, but he was fine with it. He actually felt good knowing that he was pushing his body to the limits.

"Lord Branden received the task to protect those villages, but we weren't informed about the changes in the area," Liss suddenly said. "Do you think that nothing has changed or some people are trying to cause problems for the organization?"

It made sense that they would think like that, but it was a bit risky for anyone to try to screw them over when they were the only ones that obtained any success dealing with the monsters. So, Rain assumed that they didn't learn anything new because nothing new was learned.

"It is hard to say… trying to cause trouble for us while we are in this area would only cause problems for everyone in the region," Jori replied.

"I don't know… I heard that when Tristan fell, a bunch of people had already joined with the enemy's side, mostly nobles," Asche said. "People in power are quick to change sides and do nasty things like that to gain more power. We need to be careful no matter what."

"You shouldn't say that in the city unless you want to lose your tongue," Reca said.

Asche nodded, and then everyone looked at Rain. He still had noble blood, so he might feel offended by that. Still, he just shrugged after hearing it.

"My family isn't like that anymore, and we aren't that petty," Rain said.

Moreover, Rain and his family experienced the betrayal of a noble, so it was a fact instead of a simple fake slander. In any case, the group seemed closer now than before, so Rain wasn't expecting many stupid decisions to be made. He also made sure that his opinion could be very valuable thanks to the meeting, so they will probably listen to him more.

In any case, the group had to walk for two days to finally reach the first village. Rain wondered why the monsters didn't get closer and attack the places considering that they were so close to the capital.

The first village was surrounded by a bunch of farms that were raising hundreds of cow-like animals. Rain didn't see them before; he only saw them when they were ready to be eaten. In any case, the only difference between those from ordinary cows was the fact that they had six legs… that was quite disappointing.

"Let's talk with the people of the villages first before making any decisions," Jori decided.

The group hadn't talked about how they were going to operate. The best option was to lure the monsters and attack them away from the farms, but Rain wondered if things would go that well…

In any case, most of the villagers didn't try to hide their disappointment when they saw that a group of teenagers and a boy had been sent to protect their lands. Jori had a hard time keeping his cool, while Rain didn't care either way. It wasn't a good idea to waste time with those that judge a book by its cover.

In the first village, the group learned that the armored turtles attacked almost all of the wagons and travelers that had valuables with them. Until now, deaths have been avoided, but two people won't be able to walk like normal until their deaths… unless they pay a skilled Healer to fix their legs with a bunch of gold coins.

The monsters also attacked the farms and let some cows escape, but they didn't do that many times, and they only did it at night, so few animals managed to escape.

"Their behavior is just like before… completely unnatural," Asche said while looking at the cows eating some grass.

"We should check the other villages as well and gather Intel," Jori said while smiling. "Then we will hunt some of the monsters and bring their bodies to shut everyone up."

It made sense that Jori would feel like that, he was trying to act professional, but he was only fifteen. You can have so much thick skin at that age. In any case, the other villages were only one hour of walk away from the current one, so the group managed to visit them and talk with some people.

They experienced the same things as the first one, but aside from that, they said that they noticed some monsters moving around their territories, and despite that, they didn't find any signs of their footprints around.