The Battle for Leyta

The journey to Ytrea - 5

The next day, after leaving Uirga, Dromer was beside a canyon called Valley of the Wicked. The travelling merchants, on a route from Ytrea to Uirga, warned him to never try to go through the canyon, but he didn't care. He knew that was the fastest route to Ytrea, so, he decided to take it.

Inside the canyon, Dromer felt a weird power surrounding him. Weird, as in, unpleasant, not dangerous. After about an hour of walking through the canyon, he felt someone's gaze on him. Dromer looked up at the edge of the cliff and managed to see a dark shadow quickly pull back behind cover.

Dromer sighed and in a loud voice said:

"I saw you up there! Either come down or don't stalk me. If you continue to do so, I'll come up there myself and gouge out your f*****g eyes!"

Suddenly, a person jumped down from the cliff edge and appeared before Dromer.

"Greetings, traveller. I'm known as Hass of the Ten Shadows. You seem quite powerful since you managed to see and sense me. May I know your name?" Hass said with a weird expression on his face.

Hass himself looked like a burnt mummy. His entire body was wrapped with black bandages and had a black hood over his head.

"I'm Dorian of the Sacred Sword. An S-rank adventurer from the Great Empire. I'm with the Chronicle guild in Brondel."

Hass nodded and, after a brief pause, said:

"Alright, now I know what to call you. Question for you. Where are you travelling to?"

"Ytrea, the capital. Also, if you want to ambush me with those other guys up there, I suggest doing it right now, while I'm talking."

Hass' eyes widened and he jumped backwards while pulling out a small dagger from an ankle sheath.

"H-How is this possible?! You shouldn't be able to sense the others! There's a barrier around you!!!"

Dromer laughed:

"Ha ha ha, really? A barrier? I thought it's an umbrella."

The other nice people who were up on the cliff jumped down towards Dromer.

Dromer pulled out his sword and killed all nine people above him. Hass then moved quickly towards Dromer, but he was a bit too slow. Dromer blocked the dagger and kicked Hass in the stomach, making him collapse on the ground.

"THIS is why I told you to attack me while I was talking!" Dromer said with anger and jumped at Hass, who had just stood up, and slashed him across from the right shoulder to the left leg, killing Hass instantly.

'Alright, that was fun, I guess... Better keep moving.'

In two days, Dromer was out of the Valley of the Wicked and was by a lake. He sat down and took in the scenery.

The lake was clean, the surface of it was full of small waves that sparkled under the sun. On the opposite side was a spruce forest that reflected off of the water and made a beautiful, picturesque view.

'This view is amazing... It calms the mind and soul...'

Then, an old man walked up from behind Dromer and spoke to him:

"Taking in the view, young one?"

Dromer got startled and turned around.

"And you are?" Dromer asked.

"Oh, just an old man living near here. I saw you from the south side sitting here, and decided to come here to talk to you."

Dromer still seemed suspicious, but then looked to the south and saw a wooden cabin near the lake.

"Oh, so that's where you live. Well, I'm just sitting here and thinking about stuff."

The old man chuckled and said:

"Mind if I sit down beside you and give you answer to the questions you want to ask?"

Dromer accepted and then asked the old man what he knew about the capital city Ytrea.

The man asked:

"This will be a long story, so, why don't you come to my house where it's a bit warmer?"

"Alright, I don't mind." Dromer accepted.

They walked for 15 minutes until they reached the old man's wooden house. They went inside, and there were two rocking chairs next to a small, round table, two large soft chairs and a couch next to a small table with candles on it. There was a white carpet on the ground, underneath the table and a fireplace on the opposite side of the living room. The curtains on the windows were a bit on the thin side, but they still blocked out the scorching morning sun.

"A nice, cosy place you got here, old man." Dromer was amazed.

"Hee hee, thank you, stranger!" The old man seemed happy, but then his voice turned melancholy "You know when my wife and I moved here, we thought we wouldn't be able to maintain it, but look at it now. Forty-five years later, it still looks as good as new. Sadly, my wife passed away last year and so, I'm sitting all the way out here on my own, reminiscing of the good old days."

Dromer seemed to feel pity for the old man.

"I'm so sorry that happened to you. I know that my words mean nothing to you, but I just felt that I had to say that."

The old man sat down on one of the rocking chairs and said:

"Well, thank you. My name's Pelo, by the way. What do I call you, stranger?"

"I'm Dorian of the Sacred Sword. But please, call me Dorian."

Pelo sunk in deep thought and then replied:

"It's very nice to meet you, Dorian. Tell me. Are you the one who founded a country with Gyera as its capital?"

Dromer looked at Pelo and said:

"Ha ha, yeah, that was me. Though I am the founder of Lerna, I'm not its king. I left that duty to another man from there. He was originally the village's elder."

"Ah, I see... So my brother now is a king, huh?" Pelo seemed gloomy.

"What's wrong, Pelo? Is there something you're worried about?"

"Frankly, yes. My brother was always the greedy one. I was his assistant in Gyera. When he wanted to raise taxes for the church, I told him not to do that. Then, the church started demanding taxes from the people in Gyera, and slowly, because of the power struggle between my brother and the church, he grew distant and then, kicked me and my wife out of the village."

Dromer's eyes widened and he said:

"Wow, so... Your brother tried to go against the church, but you told him not to because you knew what would happen? That's a smart move, in my opinion, but... Seems like it backfired for you pretty hard."

Pelo looked at Dromer and then issued a warning.

"Dorian. Whatever you do, don't let Freed send his army to Ytrea. If he does so and wins, he'll be going after every single country around Frugr. And that will be the first step to this world's destruction. I can assure you of that."

Dromer slowly nodded and then asked:

"Anyways. What can you tell me about Ytrea?"

Pelo looked like he had forgotten and then said:

"Oh, right, yes! Ytrea. So... The situation in the capital city is pretty chaotic. Ever since the prince became the king, Ytrea has fallen into corruption and darkness. Thankfully, the corruption hasn't gone past the walls of the city. When you go there, you might get attacked by a group of guards, and if you beat them, then the whole army will be after you. If you try to get inside the palace, you might get arrested or worse. The demi-humans have been made into slaves, are getting killed left and right, some even get used to going on assassination missions from the crown. Whatever you do, don't look suspicious."

Dromer thought for a minute and then summarized:

"Basically, if I look like a powerful dude, I'll get arrested, killed, enslaved or maybe all three at the same time, right?"

Pelo laughed and said:

"Ha ha ha! Well, that's the best summary I've heard, yes. That's about right."

Dromer then said:

"Listen, Pelo. I'll stay the night here and then go off to Ytrea tomorrow. I've got some political issues to deal with over there. If you have a spare room, that is. Otherwise, I'll just camp outside and then set off in the morning."

Pelo agreed and showed Dromer to his room.

Dromer's room was pretty comfy. There was a single bed, a nightstand next to it, a closet, a small, round table with a wooden chair next to it, and a plant in a corner of the room.

"I do hope this is to your liking, Dorian," Pelo said with worry.

Dromer didn't even hesitate to answer:

"This is perfect! Thank you for this, Pelo."

The next morning, Dromer said his goodbyes to Pelo and set off back on his journey.

Three days had passed after Dromer left Pelo's house. He was now four days away from Ytrea and he had now come upon a mountain range, where the soil was very unstable. The mountains were created artificially to help against the cold northern wind, that killed crops. It took Dromer a day to get through that mountain range and thanks to that, he was a bit behind his planned schedule.

'Damn it, I should've been near Ytrea two days ago, but that f*****g range was hard to cross... Oh well... I still gotta make camp here and then set off tomorrow.'

The next morning, he set off from his campsite one last time before getting to Ytrea. He decided to spend half his energy to get as close as he could to Ytrea before he could see it. In half a day, Dromer travelled two-thirds of the distance to Ytrea, and could now make out a small silhouette of a town.

'Must be Ytrea... I Gotta stop here and continue by walking. At least that way I won't raise suspicion.'