Zectas Volume III: Malediction of Veneficatl Valley (8 page)

Mamelon saw Louche head for the hut in the center. A muscular, middle aged woman came out and greeted the Rogue.
"Greetings, Elder Tapang. My Friends and I have done the impossible. We've slain all 500 aardwolves."
Louche said as he pointed to Mamelon and her 325 men.
"Are you sure?" Tapang doubtfully asked.
Mamelon called for her regiment to display their loot. Her men laid out 308 aardwolf pelts, 402 aardwolf fangs, and 392 aardwolf claws which they collected earlier.
"Praise Cuezaltzin! As agreed upon, let me reward you with these three Gold Divination Rods and six gold nuggets. With the aardwolves gone, I'm sure we could revive this village in no time."
Louche hurriedly grabbed the rewards, but Earat pulled him back. He then turned to Mamelon and said.
"You should get the reward. We may have started the quest, but there's no way we could have finished it without your help. Although, I do hope you remember that we did defend this village and start this quest."
"Wait, what? Oh, hells no!" Cried out the Rogue.
Mamelon smiled as Louche profusely protested.
"Thanks, Earat, but Louche is right. You guys deserve this reward. Although, I wouldn't mind if you could spare us one of the Gold Divination Rods and one nugget?"
"Yeah, sure. Let's go with that." Louche quickly answered.
Mamelon received their share of the quest reward. Before they could leave, Earat stopped her for one last question.
"Do you think we could join your guild?"
 

* * * * * * 

After Smoke settled the misunderstanding with the Centaurs, he secretly called Ichaival and Espion and asked them to follow him from a safe distance. Although, the Centaurs stopped the attack, Smoke wouldn't take the chance of placing Ichaival and Espion in danger.
His new found friends, aged twenty to twenty-eight, were their village's leaders in training. Smoke and the Centaurs journeyed back to their home village of Pferde.
Since Smoke could glide, Rudel suggested that they fly to his village while the rest of the Centaurs follow them on the ground.
Igniz orbited around Smoke as they flew. During their flight, Smoke kept on staring at Rudel's two massive wings. The white feathered wings spread wide at a wingspan of eight-meters, from Rudel's horse half.
"From the looks of it, I guess you've never seen a Volataur?" Rudel asked.
Smoke struggled with the wind resistance from their flight, but he shook his head and answered. "No, never. I've never even heard of a Volataur."
On the other hand, Rudel spoke with ease. The wind pressure did not bother him at all.
"That makes sense. There's only one in a thousand Centaurs that are born to be Volataurs, because of this we're given the right to be the village elder."
"So you're the village elder at Pferde?" Smoke asked.
"No, no. Our current elder is called Deropa, but I'm next in line after he dies. There's only three Volataurs in Pferde at the moment."
"That's good to hear." said Smoke.
Smoke's mind began to scheme on how to make the Centaurs into their allies against Duke Burmistrz.
He was distracted from his thoughts when the Volataur asked him a question.
"By the way, I'd like to ask how you managed to keep up with me when we fought using Earth Manipulation. I've never seen anyone last as long as you."
"Hm. Let me check. Status Window."
 

"I have over 190,000 Mana. Maybe that's the reason why I could keep up?" said Smoke with uncertainty.
"Hmm, that is sort of high." Rudel looked unconvinced. "What about your Mana regen?"
Smoke happily obliged him because he wanted full intimacy points with the future Elder of Pferde village.
"Alright, let me check that too. Regen Window."

"One hundred Mana per second?" Rudel replied in disbelief. "But your HP regen is really low. I'm guessing you focused your stat growth on, Intelligence?"
"Yes, I did, but now I'm growing my Wisdom." Smoke replied.
"And what about this dark ember sprite? I've only seen the red and orange ones. How did you get him?" asked the Volataur curiously.
"Funny thing really. I was out looking for an electro stone, but got Igniz as a treasured friend instead." replied Smoke proudly.
Rudel whistled loudly. "Earth Manipulation, Flight, Wisdom, and a trusty dark ember sprite. I knew you were the special person I was looking for."
"Huh? What do you mean?" asked Smoke .
"I'll let you speak with Deropa, and he'll tell you all the details." said Rudel.
"Alright. I have a couple of questions, but I'll save them for later when I meet your elder."
After an hour of flying, they finally saw the Centaur's village. Pferde stuck out like a sore thumb. Only the village and the muddy roads that came out of it broke the lush green fields around Pferde.
The village's circular stone wall had a land area five times the size of Nanahuatl. The village consisted mostly of wooden houses but had three pristine marble towers spread around the village which formed into a triangle.
In between the houses, animal pens of cows, sheep, pigs, and chickens scattered throughout the entire village.
Rudel pointed to where they should land. The Volataur's white wings folded neatly on his sides. Smoke watched as he swooped down at an alarming speed. As he reached the five-meters from the ground Rudel's wings expanded, and gave him a soft landing.
Smoke grinned at Rudel's landing. It was extremely similar to how he landed except that when Smoke landed he could stun the enemies near his landing area.
Earlier, Smoke thought about his Stunning Landing ability and improved it. He thought he would show off a little and used it here.
With Igniz orbiting around him rapidly, his body was engulfed in dark purple flames. He became like a crashing comet and landed hard on the ground.
THUD
Molten rocks flew everywhere. He called this new ability, Comet Crush.
He saw Rudel reflexively turn around after he landed. Rudel looked at his landing site. His Comet Crush ability startled the Volataur.
"Do you always land like that?" Rudel asked.
"No, not really. I just wanted to give a great first impression to Pferde's residents." Smoke smiled broadly.
As they stepped inside Pferde village, The Volataur asked Smoke a question.
"Wouldn't your men feel better if they joined us? Instead of lurking from the shadows?"
"My men?" Smoke asked. To his surprise, Rudel casually pointed to his men's hiding spot.
Ichaival and Espion maintained a distance of one kilometer from Smoke. Yet, the Volataur still sensed their hidden presence, in a patch of forest east of Pferde village.
"Alright, you got me. I didn't mean anything bad by it, but I prefer if they stayed out of the village for now."
Rudel nodded his head in affirmation.
"I understand and respect that. There's no harm in being extra careful. Which is why I'm asking you to undergo a casting circle of truth test for me."
"Sure, go ahead. I've got nothing to hide."
As he stepped inside the village, a notification message popped up.

After Smoke read the notification message, he became aware that he became the village attraction. Most of the Villagers have never seen a DarkElf. The Centaur children looked pale and sickly. They hid behind their parents and pointed at him with curiosity and fear.
Smoke tried his best to put on a pleasant face. He endured the urge to cover his face with the specialized gas mask. The strong stench troubled him, but he wanted them to see his good intentions and that he was not a threat to them.
Some of the frail Centaur children smiled back, but the healthier kids only held onto their parents more tightly. His forced smile crept them out.
Smoke and Rudel walked on the muddy roads towards Deropa's house. The children's frightened faces made him realize that his Comet Crush stunt earlier frightened them. He hit his face with his palm and followed after Rudel.
As they traveled across the village, Smoke carefully studied the village. The filth from the various animal pens flowed out to the main roads of Pferde.
'The road's so muddy from all the excrement, and they even take the mud into their homes with their hooves. They should build proper canals for their animal pens and stone roads that could handle their hard hooves.'
Next, Smoke noticed the Centaur's garbage and waste carelessly scattered beside their houses. He even spotted some that also reached the main roads.
The Centaur's garbage stank the village so much that Smoke thought they should change their village name to junked instead of Pferde.
He also noticed that there were few combatants in Pferde. He wondered where the rest of Pferde's Centaur Warriors were. He was about to ask Rudel when he caught the Volataur watching him with a strange expression.
"What's wrong? Is something bothering you?" Rudel asked.
Smoke thought it best to keep his observations to himself and answered with, "I'm just not used to all this attention."
After a few more steps, and Smoke's curiosity got to him. He couldn't help but ask his question.
"By the way, I noticed that there were only a few guards at the entrance and I don't see anyone that looks like a fighter in the village."
"You're wondering where our military are, right?" Rudel answered. "I'd like you to know that we are mainly Herders. So, we have little military power. But to be honest, I don't know myself. Out of our 300 military forces, we scattered 100 Centaurs to search for a remedy for our village, but none of them have returned..."
Smoke thought about the mutated Centaurs and the ones that had met with the Condortlian scouts. He wondered if he should tell Rudel about them.
For the next twenty minutes, they walked on silently until they finally reached the biggest wooden establishment in all of Pferde, home of Elder Deropa.
Before he could enter the house a notification window popped up.