Shades of the New World

Chapter 280: Living in terror

"You heard about the fight near the factories, right?" Khunuchi started the conversation on a high note.

"Of course. Last time I heard it from a couple kids and apparently it was a fight between an evil griffin and a beautiful ice princess," Khama laughed awkwardly, "You?"

"Believe it or not, I was actually there when the pile of frozen Sorbothium disappeared out of sight Powerful mages fought at that place, Khama. Just the sight of that ice on the made this thing shiver with fear," Khunuchi said, pointing at his blue horn, "I'm actually more surprised that they didn't destroy more of the town with that fight."

"Yeah?" Khama said offhandedly as he took another sip from the ale.

"Anyway, aside from all that. I think those guys are back from their hiding again. Those bastards who took our horns away from us are back again, Khama," Khunichi said with a hush, looking around the tavern suspiciously.

Instantly, Evin's attention was captured by the two's conversation, as Khunichi unreservedly let his speculations gush out like a waterfall.

"They ran rampantly in the town for two whole years before going completely silent for the past half year or so. The missing persons, the abductions, the weird noises and lights that came from underground we reported it all to the inspector that came every couple months and I'm thinking they secretly sent someone to check up on everything," Khunichi spoke like a parrot high on mushroom, "I know on the surface, they always dismissed the case as nothing more than people acting out due to harsh living conditions, and told us to move to cities protected by a Tribe, but I think they were acting ignorant so they could bust out on the bastards when the moment was right!"

During this entire time, Khama sat with a strained expression, but couldn't quite make himself interrupt his friend's speech.

"I think the secret group started to lay low, because they knew that the Northern powers were watching the area. And after five months of silence, they finally clashed with each other yesterday! I mean, how could our rulers ignore us after those guys did this to our horns, right? It's blasphemy against our primogenitor Selat!" Khunichi continued. 

"This means that there are two sides currently fighting against each other now, and it's prime time for us to pick one side to help them out. We can give them information on what we gathered previously and we'll finally be able to get our hands on the horns. What do you say, buddy? And maybe, we'll be able to uh," Khunichi said, before he abruptly stopped.

He seemed to look at Khama's face, perhaps to see what kind of expression the other was having. 

"I'm sorry," Khunichi apologized, but evidently, he was still very adamant on his plans, "But I still feel that we're finally seeing hope after all these years."

Khama nodded at his friend's awkward apology and sighed.

"Brother, we both know it's not that simple. We were playing with fire two years ago, without even knowing that it was fire that we were playing with. And how did it end up for us?" Khama said, chugging another gulp from his ale, "Us two got helplessly kidnapped and had our horns stolen by those monstrous men. And as if they were mocking our efforts, they let us go to afterwards without another scratch. They knew that our please of help were going to be ignored, even if we reappeared in society with missing horns."

"But this time it's different! They're weakened, Khama! I can feel it in the town's air!" Khunichi continued, but was cut off by Khama. 

"And we both know that for now, all we've got going for us is baseless speculation. If you haven't forgotten, this is exactly the same as what happened then. Two ignorant children charged into a river that ran much deeper than the normally shallow waters they played in," Khama's voice started to shake with fear, "There are monsters in this World, Khunichi, and it's best for us to steer clear from them. All we can do is that the monsters wouldn't take us or anyone close to us next."

"But this is finally our chance! Don't you want to"

"I WILL NOT RISK MY DAUGHTER," Khama stood up from his seat, raising his voice before looking around the tavern uncomfortably. Faced with the curious stares of the other patrons, he sat down and took a deep breath. Looking straight at Khunichi, he resumed in a calmer manner, though there was still some shaking left in his voice. 

"I will not risk the life of my daughter, Khunichi. I can't. Not after what happened to my son. Especially not at this time when my wife is finally showing signs of recovery. Also, I've been thinking of moving to a different town as well."

There was a firm sense of finality to his voice, so Khunichi could only accept things as is and apologize, again: "I'm sorry for being so insensitive."

"I'm sorry for getting a bit heated there as well. What do you say we eat and drink to our heart's content tonight and forget about these matters of mages?"

"But are you sure about moving? After all, we've been through many things in this town of ours," Khunichi asked.

"Nothing's set in stone, but I'm fairly serious about the move. I suggest you do the same as well. You're finally going to have a child soon, right?"

The plump lady soon brought their food and the two men ate, speaking of other, trivial topics.

Evin, who had listened to the entire conversation, was summarizing everything he learned on a text-based communication device to send to Sannah, after making doubly sure that there wasn't another hidden mage inside the tavern. He used a bit of a risky method, but thankfully, he found nothing out of the ordinary.

Evin really didn't want to get caught in another fight, but the prospect of having to share the same information with another mage didn't sit well with him either.

[Found clue that might be related to the organization behind the base. A Hornbearer who was captured by an unknown group in the fast and had his horns cut off. Shows willingness to work with the Northern authorities to fight against said unknown organization. Requesting permission to act as an emissary from the Paradra after confirming the legitimacy of the Hornbearer's statement. Also, he mentioned weird noises and lights that came from the underground. Unclear from where exactly, but I'm sure I can discover more details if I talk to him.]

After sending the message, Evin patiently waited for a response from his team leader, while making speculations of his own. 

'I guess the Northern leaders are quite adamant on having its citizens move to the Tribe ruled cities, considering they were willing to let these unknown organizations run amok in the old cities' Evin thought.

If Khunichi's speech was to be believed, then the organization was acting quite brazenly in the town of Saar. Evin found it very hard that a government ruled by mages would let things deteriorate to such a level, where the citizens and even Hornbearers couldn't feel safe. Unless of course, they were specifically instructed to ignore any plea of help that came from the town.

'Well, I guess this is what you get when you're ruled by a dictator, regardless of the dictator's good intentions. Not everyone can be satisfied after all.'