Or so everyone thought, at least.
Over the course of the next 3 days, the hunting party dove deeper into the forest, then backtracked, then advanced again, then arrived at a lake fed by several small rivers and streams, then split up, then returned back to the lake, then re-traced their steps, and so on and so forth, going round and round in circles.
When the sun set on the sixth day of their hunt, Frey, Bron, Celestina, Lucian, and Corey all sat around a campfire, their shoulders slumped as they watched the flas flicker in the wind.
"They’re toying with us," Lucian grumbled, clearly having grown sowhat annoyed.
"I wouldn’t go that far," Corey shook his head, "However, it is obvious now that they’re carefully trying to obscure their tracks."
"They’re doing more than just trying," Frey muttered, "My brethren and I thought it was suspicious we were able to pick up their trail so easily despite so much ti having passed, but now it appears those traces were left intentionally to lead us here, where they could effectively disappear."
"These beasts are cowards, acting so sneakily despite their strength," Bron snorted.
"I should have seen this coming," Celestina sighed, "Even when we first fought them, the Raptors preferred using stealth and hit-and-run tactics, and as soon as the situation turned slightly unfavourable, they retreated."
"They’re in unfamiliar territory, and they know they’re being hunted. Exposing themselves ans annihilation, so they’re going all out to evade detection," Celestina analysed.
"And they’re good at it," Frey added, "I’ve hunted many different beasts, both for food and for battle, but even compared to the most elusive of prey, these Saberclaw Raptors stand out. It’s almost as if running and hiding are second nature to them."
Thinking about it for a mont, Celestina nodded, "That makes sense. The records I saw about them say that while they’re dangerous, they’re not the dominant predators in their native habitats."
"Did those records reveal anything else that might be of use to us now, General?" Corey asked, though there wasn’t much hope in his tone.
As expected, Celestina shook her head in denial.
Celestina only knew about Saberclaw Raptors, a tropical species of Wild Beasts native to hot, southern jungles, because she happened to have read a book on the dangerous predators of the Blue Sky Continent when she visited the Empire many years ago.
However, the records in that book had hardly been comprehensive; it was more like a basic introduction ant for entertainnt, rather than an in-depth technical profile.
Silence fell over this eting of leaders for a ti before Celestina got up, cracked her neck, and declared, "We’ll spend one more day searching this area for clues. If we still can’t pick up the enemy’s true trail by then, we’ll head north-east to Kandar. Hopefully Vanessa’s scouts have had better luck than us."
With seemingly no other options, the others nodded in agreent before heading back to their tents to get so rest. No one had high expectations they would successfully pick up the trail tomorrow, but it didn’t hurt to be extra thorough in their search.
.....
Unsurprisingly, as the sun was starting to get low in the sky, Celestina and her team left the forest and returned to the main road, picking up their pace to nearly 40 kph as they made their way towards the second city east of the Belton River in the Southern Province.
3 hours later, just as the sun finished setting, a team of 81 humans and foxes arrived outside the walls of Kandar.
The city was already on high alert, knowing a pack of dangerous beasts might be lurking nearby, so the guard was unusually tight and the gates were already closed.
Naturally, a large number of extrely powerful Life Auras all appearing at once as night fell had alard the city watch.
That being said, a Low-Rank Spirit Initiate from the City Garrison who had been called over quickly realized that the ones approaching weren’t enemies and cald the situation down.
The gates were soon opened and Celestina and her team filed inside under the astonished gazes of the local populace.
It wasn’t every day that 3 Spirit Adepts, 4 Sixth Order Beasts, and dozens of Spirit Initiates and Fifth Order foxes made an appearance in this sowhat out-of-the way city.
Kandar wasn’t very large, or very lively.
With a population of just under 30,000, it mainly served as a gathering point for agricultural and forestry products harvested from the many nearby farming and logging settlents. It was a sleepy city that saw a fair bit of trade co and go, but not much in the way of excitent, until recently, that is.
Monts after Celestina’s group was ushered inside the gates, riders arrived from two different directions.
The first rider, who was dressed in the formal robes of a steward, hurriedly dismounted and bowed, "Greetings, Marquess Balfour. Viscount Estle regrets that he could not be here to welco you in person."
Waving her hand casually to the representative of the local Lord, Celestina brushed off the man’s concern with practiced ease, "Think nothing of it. We have arrived without notice."
"Thank you for your understanding, My Lady," the steward bowed deeply again before continuing, "Proper quarters have been arranged for you and your subordinates at the Lord’s Manor, and the Viscount has commanded that any requests you may have be fulfilled to the best of our humble city’s ability."
rely nodding, Celestina acknowledged Viscount Estle’s efforts before turning her attention to the second rider, a light smile forming on her face, "Farah, I didn’t expect to see you here."
Jumping down from her horse, the middle-aged butcher aunty from Redwood Town saluted her forr instructor formally, "General, I too wasn’t expecting to reunite with you so soon, much less in the company of such... illustrious guests."
Glancing away from Celestina briefly, Farah couldn’t help wondering just where her old teacher had recruited so many fierce beasts from.
However, not one to dwell on things she wasn’t involved in, Farah quickly adjusted her mindset and explained, "The convoy I was leading from Herald City ran into a bit of trouble along the way, so we decided to stop here in Kandar for a while to rest and make repairs to the wagons."
Raising her brow, Celestina asked the obvious question, "Any casualties?"
Pursing her lips, Farah frowned and nodded, "A few injured, and a number who have fallen ill, but so far, no deaths."
"I see," Celestina nodded solemnly. There were too many things that could have gone wrong in a large-scale migration like this, so she didn’t bother asking exactly what kind of trouble the refugee convoy had encountered.
Besides, it seed Farah had the situation under control, so Celestina wasn’t too concerned overall.
"I will pay a visit to the convoy later," Celestina declared, "But first, I need to et with the local Lord and get an update on the aerial scout reports."
"Understood," Farah saluted again before turning, mounting her horse, and riding off.
Farah had always been a woman of few words, and that trait had only beco more pronounced over the decades, so Celestina didn’t pay her forr student’s gruffness any mind.
Turning back to the waiting steward from the Viscount’s Manor, Celestina motioned for him to lead the way.
Seeing this, the steward coughed awkwardly, "Marquess Balfour, if you are willing to wait a mont, the carriages will soon arrive..."
"No need," Celestina cut the man off, "We can walk."
The steward was suddenly feeling panicked. He was just a Core Formation Realm Practitioner, and one who focused much more on paperwork than physical training, so there was no way he could keep up with powerful Spirit Realm masters on foot.
But, the thought of him getting onto a horse and riding while the most powerful woman in the kingdom walked beside him nearly caused the middle-aged man to have a heart attack.
Even if Celestina didn’t mind this kind of arrangent, the steward knew that his traditionalist master, Viscount Estle, would peel a layer of skin from him for daring to show such disrespect to a high noble.
Of course, the thought of refusing the Marquess’ order was equally terrifying to the steward, so for an instant, he froze, uncertain just what course to take.
Fortunately for the man, soone quickly ca to his assistance, "General Balfour, perhaps it would be best if we allow this man to attend to our re-supplying issues."
"Oh?" Celestina turned an inquisitive look towards Lucian Cross, but soon recalled a certain fact, "If I’m not mistaken, you’re from around here, aren’t you?"
"Indeed," Lucian nodded with a grin, "I was born and raised in this very city before I joined the Steel Shields."
"Then, do you have family here?" Celestina asked curiously.
Shaking his head, the slightly hot-tempered Spirit Adept replied, "No, I moved them all to the capital a long ti ago."
"Even so," Lucian followed up, "I’m still quite familiar with this city, so I can lead use to the Lord’s Manor."
"Very well," Celestina, quickly agreed, turning to the Estle Family steward and ordering, "See to it that our provisions are re-stocked and that our allies are well fed and housed for the night."
"Right away, My Lady!" The steward, relieved his dilemma had been solved for him, got straight to work.
As for Celestina, she, Corey, and Frey, followed Lucian towards the centre of the city.
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