“We’re definitely going to have to stop by these villages to restock on food and equipment,” I said while pointing to the corresponding villages.

Aldric pointed at the abandoned Frostbite Fortress which was located in the middle of the Lunaris Mountains, “We can retreat here after the infiltration. It’s easier to defend if things go wrong and it’s pretty close to Zetsubo Prison”.

“Any ideas as to why it was abandoned in the first place?” Eurielle asked curiously.

“No clue. But barely anyone goes near it,” Aldric replied.

“Sounds pretty sketchy but it’s really our only option if we end up being pursued,” I say unhappily with my arms crossed. “Have you ever been there yourself? I asked Aldric.

“I’ve been there a few times whenever I needed shelter during a mission in the north. I’ve never seen anyone go near it. There’s a few monsters who have made a home inside the fortress, but nothing to worry about”. Aldric answered while looking at the map intensely.

Oda stretched his arms up, “It’ll be nice to sleep under a real roof for once! Camping is fun and all, but it sure is cold out here”.

Eurielle added, “And we’ll be able to use their fireplaces instead of having to constantly rely on our fire crystal”. She held it up and inspected it while slowly spinning it around in her fingers. “This one is starting to lose its efficiency”.

Oda looked confused, “Efficiency?”

Eurielle sighed while she explained the basics of magic crystals, “Magic crystals are great conduits for mana. But over time, the amount of mana you put in and the magic you get out of it decreases. So if we want to keep having a stable source of warmth, we’ll have to use one of the new fire crystals”. Eurielle looked over at me, “Noct, haven’t you noticed that you have to put in more mana to get the fire crystal to emit warmth?”

I sat back and thought, “Yeah, now that you mention it, when we were in the stone dome, it felt like I had to put in more mana to get the area warm.”

Eurielle nodded her head, “That’s the first sign the mana crystal is starting to grow unstable. Eventually, if pushed further, the crystal will shatter and become unusable. But for now it should be fine. It’ll help you get rid of all your excess mana Noct”.

Looking at the map again, I looked at the tiny dots for the villages. “We should head to this one first to restock on items then”.

Aldric stood up and stated while gazing at the setting sun, “We should find a place to take shelter. The sun will be going down soon”.

We all nodded in agreement and quickly cleaned up the map and readjusted our bags.

As Oda lifted his bag onto his back, he asked Eurielle jokingly, “Would it be possible to put a spell on our bags for unlimited carrying capacity? It’s so tiring to lug these around when they’re full”.

Eurielle thought for a bit, “Probably, but I’m not good at enchanting objects. Maybe when Noct gets better control over her mana, she’ll be able to learn the spell for that”.

Oda turned to me and begged, “Please Noct! For the sake of my back, please get better at magic soon so we can all have lighter loads!”

I leaned away from his excitement and pleading, “I’m still learning so don’t get your hopes up”.

Oda raised his fist triumphantly, “Not an outright no, so there’s a possibility it’ll happen!”

Looking at everyone else, it seemed like everyone was getting tired of carrying around the heavy bags. Even Aldric looked a bit hopeful at the prospect of a bag of holding.

We continued onward looking for a suitable place to rest for the night as Oda made small talk with everyone. He mostly chatted about his excitement to meet a new half demon and he pestered Aldric with questions. Aldric gave short one word responses, it seemed he wasn’t really interested in going down memory lane.

Not like I can blame him. I can only imagine the kind of dirty work the Paladin made him do.

Eventually we found a small alcove to make camp at and got to work. As we were working, I realized that due to how long we’ve been traveling together, we’ve begun to be able to set up and tear down camp quickly without too much communication between anyone.

It’s a nice change from having to constantly remind Oda how and when to do things.

Once camp was all set up, I worked on pouring my mana into the fire crystal to produce warmth for us and to cook some monster meat. We all settled down around the crystal and happily ate the food when it was ready.

While we were eating, Eurielle’s head suddenly went up and her mouth creased in concentration. “I can sense people approaching us, but they don’t seem like they’re soldiers”. She turned towards me, “I think now would be a good chance for you to try a multicast of illusions. For me, imagine my eyes are purple and that I’m not wearing the bandage”.

I nodded and closed my eyes and imagined all of us with normal human eyes. Unlike the usual pull of mana, this spell was quite taxing on my body as more mana was being used at once. It was quite hard concentrating on all of us but this was something I’d have to get used to sooner or later.

Vaguely I heard Oda exclaim, “Wow, we all look human! It’s so weird!” and Aldric’s grunt of agreement.

As the group of travelers grew closer, we could hear their chatter about the cold and how tired they were. Eventually when they reached us, my multicast was fairly stable, but I had to make sure I didn’t lose concentration. Hopefully, everyone else could handle the conversation and get the travelers to leave quickly. I really didn’t want to do a prolonged multicast if I didn’t have to.

An unfamiliar male voice rang out, “Hail fellow travelers! This weather is mighty cold isn’t it?”

Oda replied, “It really is! Would you all like to sit with us by our crystal?”

I internally cursed, of course Oda would be dumb enough to invite complete strangers to sit and eat with us. Aldric nudged Oda’s arm with his elbow, a warning to not be too friendly.

A different voice, a gentler feminine one answered, “As kind as your offer is, we really need to continue. Our wares won’t sell themselves!”

Aldric responded with genuine interest, “Oh, what do you sell?”

The first guy shrugged off his backpack and showed us some of his stock, “We sell hand carved crystal figurines of the Goddess that my lovely wife creates. They bring luck and good fortune to those who purchase them”.

Of course Oda was excited about the product, “Wow, they look amazing! They must take forever to carve by hand!”

A light chuckle came from the woman, “They do, but it’s all worth it to see the final result”.

Aldric picked up a small white figurine and inspected it closely. “How much is this one?”

The man responded, “Lovely choice! That’s one of the older figures in our stock. As you can see, we’ve changed the design of our figurines recently” He then turned to his wife and they murmured to one another, probably discussing the price they’d be willing to sell it at. He then turned back to Aldric and answered, “That one in particular will be twenty five gold. Usually we’d sell it at thirty five gold but we’ve been lugging it around for a while.”

Aldric rummaged through his bag and gave the man the requested amount of gold. After the transaction, the man and woman quickly pocketed the money and returned the remaining figurines back into their backpack.

“Lovely doing business with you! May the Mother Goddess protect you on your journey,” the woman said as she waved her hands while walking away with her husband.

Oda leaned over to examine the figurine Aldric bought, “Usually you guys don’t let me buy trinkets! What’s the difference with this one?”

“Since we’ve been under the guise of pilgrims on the holy shrine visit, we should probably carry something that would help our alibi,” Aldric replied.

Eurielle tapped my shoulder, “Noct, they’re both gone now”.

With that, I stopped focusing on the multicast spell and the weight immediately lifted from my body. I was about to open my mouth to complain about the strain of holding the spell that long, but my eyes decided to close all by themselves and I blacked out.

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