BXBX NOVEL Chapter 392 391: Continuing Onwards - Jahi Edition
My deep breathing as I tried to calm myself down again woke the two beauties up from their exhaustion, both staring at me with tired worry as they managed to sit up, groaning at the \'damage\' I had done to them.
"Jahi... a-are you alright, love..?"
Leone\'s soothing voice was slightly flat, evidence of her exhaustion as she looked towards me with droopy eyes, blinking the sleep from them as she yawned cutely.
"Yeah... Just... Unwanted thoughts and all for a few moments, needed to calm down a bit..."
Anput\'s choice to soothe me made me moan, and I looked down at the lithe minx and chuckled, my Jackalkin speaking through her actions instead of her words, using those lips once more for something \'productive\'
Obviously, I was grateful for the warmth she provided, and Leone made sure to join her as we started our day off right; I got to relieve some more tension, while they both received some delicious \'cream\' for an early breakfast, straight from the source.
When we finished up, I used my Light Mana to clean us all off before we all got dressed, wanting to get out of the passion filled air of our tent for the moment.
The sun was peeking over the horizon, and many of the Legion stumbled out of their tents, greeting one another as they began to pull out large pots and pans that they hung over the fires, preparing the first meal for today.
Anput\'s stomach growled noisily as she watched a Wolfkin place a bundle of ground meat onto her buttered pan, and my puppy looked towards Leone and said "I want meat."
The Vampire smiled wryly at the olive skinned Jackalkin as she said "You always want meat, Anput... didn\'t you make that clear last night?"
I smirked at the barb Leone sent Anput\'s way, which made the woman blink as she heard the uncharacteristic jab from the normally passive Leone.
"You did too, you damn Vampire! Blood wasn\'t the only thing you were sucking out of Jahi! And me! So don\'t even act like it was just me!"
However, Leone wasn\'t fully developed for the verbal combat that the rest of us relished in, so she just blushed and looked away, forfeiting her battle against Anput as she began breakfast.
Like before, Nirinia stumbled over with a giant grin plastered on her face, the Djinn waving back at an equally joyful Orc woman who made her way towards her comrades.
Sitting down beside us, Nirinia raised her hands before any of us could speak and raised a small bundle, handing it to Leone and saying "A trade~! Use this for breakfast, and I get to enjoy some food from your pot~! Sound good?"
Leone undid the cloth bundle to reveal a small stack of bacon, which made Anput salivate.
"Fine... It\'ll be ready soon."
We watched with smiles on our faces as the Vampire began to cook, the scent of sizzling meats outweighing the other scents that clung to us all despite our best efforts...
I chatted with Nirinia, learning that she was back to her old self once more as she decided to do her best to forget about everything that happened recently with Adelina, choosing to return to her happier, live life by the day mentality.
When breakfast was ready, Leone handed us all a bowl of thick oatmeal and small plates of grilled bacon, before tossing us all the remaining apples to eat as well.
Our mugs were filled with fresh water that Iaso came over to give us, before she returned to her father to discuss things, while Liga chatted with Kalia about the recent discoveries... with some fear still in her eyes.
The sun had barely risen from the horizon when we finished everything up and began to pack up the tents, preparing to leave behind the city of Huran and continue onwards into the Kingdom of Tragon, where we would learn more about the Gates and whether or not whoever - or whatever - was causing them picked these locations because of the Ceremonial Grounds hidden beneath them...
Of if it was just a crazy coincidence that an Arch Fiend was released because of something elses actions as they played around with the Gates.
Speaking of the Gates, as we climbed into the carriage once again with Mom, we were joined by Kolia, who began to go over her findings concerning the Ceremonial Grounds first, before switching to the little she managed to learn about the Gates.
Apparently, according to her conclusions, the two were NOT connected entirely, but further evidence would be needed to cement that as fact or not.
Personally, she believed that the way the people died was entirely different from the typical kills of Fiends or Cultists - despite the insistence of removing the eyes from the corpses - and that the two things were unrelated.
Kolia believed that the people of Huran were killed by some form of creature that could open the Gates, citing the various different methods used to kill, which all were animalistic in nature.
Torn apart, bitten, flattened, pierced...
All suggested claws or talons of some kind alongside a sharp, razor fanged maw, as well as a large, heavy body that could squash a human male with relative ease.
As for the burns and other signs of elemental damages, Kolia believed the creature might have access to either different enchantments on its body or it was capable of wielding all four basic elements, since there were some wounds that seemed to be made with each of the different elements.
Burns, more jagged cuts, piercings, and blunt force trauma all spoke to Fire, Wind, Water, and Earth Magics respectively, and she wasn\'t entirely sure how it might have gained all four - since that was theoretically impossible - but she wasn\'t willing to rule it out just yet considering the whole ability to create Gates...
All in all, our journey to the next destination was spent pouring over her findings and theories, with mainly Leone and Kolia talking as they discussed everything in great detail, while Mom, Nirinia, Adelina, Anput and I seldom spoke, adding a little here and there.