Chapter 173<div>


    <h3 style="letter-spacing:-0.015em"><strong><~> Book 4 - Chapter 173</strong>


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    It didn''t take long for the appeal of staring out the window as the ins went by to fade and get a little boring. There were small copses of trees and small rock formations here and there that put Torien and Cecilia on high alert as we passed them bybutother thanthatthe ride was really peaceful. Torien was the kind of person to keep her bow in hand the entire timeandthe dark-haired human didn''t keep thathugetwo-handed axe with her for no reason. If we did run into bandits, I wouldn''t put any money on them.Stillbest to keep an eye outanywaythough.


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    I looked around the inside of the carriage,taking a moment to examineeach of my friends andseehow they were enjoying the trip.


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    Raya''s face was practically gluedto the window, herfox ears perked and twitched at the sounds of birds or insectsandher twin foxtails flowed back and forth behind her as she stared out the window. It must have been exciting for her, her first glimpse of the world outsideofGoldenhearth. The newly budding mage hadn''t had a chance to practice more magic with Morrigan yetbutthat''s for the best. I didn''t want to risk Raya burning anything with her new foxfire as we moved, nor her vomiting when she ran out of mana.I wasn''t sure yet if thatwas going tobe a reurring problem or something that only happens the first few times before she''s limatedherselfto mana management.


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    Sibyl, the smallercatkinwas smiling in amusement as she watched her girlfriend excitedly stare through the window.She had been on adventures in her younger yearssothe sights were a bit less exciting to the woman. The short feline beastfolk girl looked so different from thetallimposing wolf-woman she used to be. Her change wascertainlyone of the most dramatic changes out of the bunch.She told methatshe has a strength/endurance buildbutI''ve neveractuallyseen her fight yet.


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    Be and Morrigan were sitting across from me and chatting idly about magic,paring Be''s nature magic tothe thingsMorrigan could do with her focus on wild magic. Both of them had traveled before, though this would be the first time Be saw this part of the countrysoshe was watching the scenery as we traveled.My deer girlwithher cute heart-shaped spotsalwayslooked beautifndMorrigan, despite not being a subus likea lotof us, was also quite attractiveas well.Herrge red eyeswere a nice contrastwith her dark ck cat ears and lightly tanned skin. It has been plenty long enough that I could tell the twins apart by how they held themselves rather than just whetheror nottheir eyes were red or blue. The difference in their clothes alone helped at a ncetooofcourse.


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    Mimi and Silva were sharing the booth across from me, Mimiwas excitedly staring out the window, ''tasting'' the mana that swirled through the ins. She was still in her hidden beastfolk form, a precaution against Theo and Cecilia, so she currently had the light tawny fur that made her look a bit like a ram-horned deer-headed lioness rather than the metallic gold skin that shenormallyhad in her regr form.Mimi''s chimeric form was always intriguingto look at and madeher bubbly and excited atmosphere stand out even more against her exotic look.


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    Silva was ying somekind ofsolo-yer card game. I assumed it was something akin to solitairebutI couldn''t begintoevenguessthe ruleswere basedon what she was doing. She, like Raya and the twins, was a demi-beastfolkbutshe was more of a mix than the others. Rather than just the ears and tail, her legs turned into giant rabbit paws below the kneegivingher natural furred socks on herrge animalistic feet. I knew from experience that this deviation from the norm made her incredibly fast and powerful. She had a strength-focused buildandit showed on her muscr form,herdarkly tanned skin was coveredinsmallwhite scratches that she wore proudly. The ck-hilted spear she had grabbed from the cultists was leaning against the booth she sat in with a hastily made leather sheath covering its de.


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    Theo sat alone in the cornerlookingout the windowseemingrather bored. The man was also a demi-beastkinbutit was easy to overlook his changes, especially now that he was actually wearing clothes.Hehad notched bull ears that blendedinwith his hair and furred arms under his sleevesthat gaveaway his partial bovine beastfolk heritage.Other thanthat, he had few other obvious indicators, not even a tail. Despite looking like a walking tank, the man was an enhancement mage, more of a buffer support ss than someone like Morriganwhothrew fireballs and conjured earth and ice spikes. While his personality left some things tobedesiredI couldn''t argue that the man was pretty handsome. He was also a total flirt, able to get something like half the brothel to sleep with him for free before we left.


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    It waskind ofamazingI had found myself with so many hotpanions...though the subus transformations had influenced some of that.


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    I sighed as I looked down at the letter Iwas givenfrom Nathaniel, the head priest of Morkinnen who was currently in charge of Goldenhearth. I was almost afraid of the contents. Igot the impression thatthis was about the cult of Amphores that we''d been dealing with since we left Traehall.As much as I wanted to take a break from allofthatI figured I had better at least see what it was about.Who knows, it could include important information that would help me avoid the group in the future. Hopefully it wouldn''t just get me more involved. I tore open the envelopeandinsideI found a folded piece of paperas well asa second smaller envelope closed with a wax seal. I set aside the smaller sealed letter and unfolded the paper to read over it.


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    ***


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    Dear Lilith,


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    I left this with the guards at the gate since I knew you wereleavingfor the capital soonandno one seemed to know where you were staying.


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    Marcy, the golden haired canine beastfolk vethat Matildatold us about, has been interrogated. There wasn''t a lot we could gather from her. Despite looking as pitiful as she did, the woman wapletelyindoctrinated into the cult''s grasp and has not been forting even after extended interrogation. I havehoweverdiscovered that she is the one who led and organized the ritual to summon the hell hound that ended up killing Jasper and the other guards. She has shown no remorse for those murders and will be among the prisoners who willbe executedfor the attack on our city.


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    The only thing we have been able to glean from her and the ledgers youfound,is that the cult of Amphores is targeting ve transfer routes and ve markets. They seem to be mostly releasing the ves they capture and then using those cors to enve ver''s guild affiliated staff for their rituals while they search for people that havevery specifictraits.Thespecificthings they are searching for have noclearconnections yetbuttheyappear to be rted to those odd measurementsthat havebeenfoundin some of the documents.We''re still searching for additional leads using the ledgers you discoveredbutthere isa lot ofinformation to sift through.What is strange at a nce is those targets seem antithetical to their motive for killing the Baronandassuchwe have tokeep investigating to understandwhattheirtruegoals and aimsare.


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    I send this letter to you as a warning.The capital, Torlimal, has a heavy presence of this cult from what we can tendmany of their suspected targets arepresent within the city as well.The capital city is also the center of the ve trade in this kingdomsoit is very likely you will run into them again if you go looking for demons there. I have already sent amissiveto the King rying the information we''ve foundincludingyour involvement in the matter.Thisshould give you some protection as I expect the capital city guard is in a frenzy to weed out any of these demon summoners and themiasmathat clings to you would make you a target if they didn''t already know you were a<em>[Demon Hunter].</em>I again advise you to use a pseudonym while operating within the city outside of official matters because I''ve gotten word that the Tamin church hasbeen brought inas demon hunters and enforcers there.


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    There''s a lot of tension in the capital right now. Nobles are at each other''s throats,truedemons are on the loose, the cult of Amphores is confirmed to be in the city, and the Tamin church hasbeen givenmartial powers.IfI hadn''tbeen informedthat you werebeing sentto the capital in exchange for theAdventurer''sguild protection regarding a specific title, I would have advised you to go anywhere else.


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    Be careful, Lilith. You are a good womanandI would hate for somethingbadto happen to you because you carry an unfortunate name. I would ask you to stay out of troublebutI admit that you will likely be involved whether you like itor not. The King''s knowledge of your involvement here will likely mean thatyou will be draggedinto the situation whether you can get around the Tamin churchor not. I apologize that I havebeen forcedto put you in this position, Ihad no choice but to include you in a record of the events here in Goldenhearth.


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    Enclosed is a letter of introduction addressed to the head of the guard in the capital. This letter willbe sufficient foryou and your friends to get into the city without many questions. I will be personally vouching for your abilities as a demon hunter and detailing an abridged version of the events here to him as well, thiswill give you some official credibility and make moving around the city easier after you have arrived.I wish I could do more for youbutI believe this will help you in your goals, especially if youwishto investigate the Cult of Amphoresfurther.


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    I once again thank you for all that you have done in GoldenhearthandI hope you are able to remain safe and healthy.


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    I wish you the best,


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    Nathaniel.


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    ***


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    I sighed as I returned the letter and paper to their envelope and dropped it on the table.


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    "Bad news?" Morrigan asked with a concerned tone.


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    I scratched the base of my horn. "A warning that we''re about to enter a viper''s nest. It sounds like the capital is on the edge of a war in the streets."


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    Morrigan raised an eyebrow and gestured toward the letter. "May I?"


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    "Sure." I rubbed my face in my hands. I shouldn''t be surprised that the situation in Torlimal would be<em>worse</em>than in GoldenhearthbutI would have liked to believe that we were getting out of the political stress at least. It seems that was a fantasy, thingslook like they''re only going to get<em>more</em>political from here.


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    There was a slight knocking on the front of the carriage. I waited a moment...<em>Two knocks.</em>That meantthat wewere stopping soon for a break, no danger. I sighed in relief. I can''t imagine having to deal with bandits while this distracted.


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    The carriage slowed to a stopandafter amomentI opened the door and stepped outside. Wewere parkednear a smallke.Nikka and Landawere already unhookedandCeciliawas leadingthe two over to drink from it.Torien was stretching, thecoachman''s seat was a lot lessfortable of a ride than the inside the carriage. Theywere forcedto stay in the same position for a lot longer.


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    "Hey,e here for amomentTorien," Morrigan called out.


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    Morrigan handed Torien the letter I had shared with her. Torien began to skim it and lookedmore and moreconcerned as she got closer to the bottom. "This is pretty bad news," Torienmented.


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    I nodded. "I was hoping to avoid all of thisbutit sounds like it''s going to be even worse from here."


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    Torien sighed. "No kidding, it''s definitely a double-edged sword. Lesstrouble at the gate for more trouble inside. I would bereallysurprisedif you managed to get yourself out of being conscripted as a demon hunter when we get there. If wejustdecide to leave the kingdom and avoid all of thistroublethen we''d be pissing off theadventurer''sguild and leaving ourselves wide open for others who don''t like<em>[Dungeon Destroyer]s.</em>We''re stuck in our current course of action."


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    "Yeah. We should tell the others how bad things might be," I added.


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    She nodded. "They should know what we''re getting into. Raya and Sibyl<em>should</em>be less affected since they aren''t technically part of our partybutthe rest of us<em>will</em>be getting involved.It''s also worth noting that with the Tamin church working directly for the King right nowmeans that we''llhave to be extra careful how we act while theretoo.No flirting with other girls in public, more focus on being subservient in public for us ves, and making sure not to piss people off just for<em>being</em>beastkin."


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    "Is it really that bad?" I asked.


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    Torien replied with a grim look on her face, "Yes. I''m not going to beat around the bush, we''regoing to have to blend in while we''re there. If things are as bad as this letter suggests, peopleare going tobe looking for people to string up by their necks. I could easily see things snowball if theyfind outtoo much about us."


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    I ran my fingers through my hair. "We''ll have to discuss this over dinner tonight."


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    "Agreed," the twins said in unison.


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    Be came over to me carrying two fishing poles. "Lilith, look! Thatke is the perfect ce to go fishing for a while! Cecelia said we''ll break for abelle fish with me!"


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    I nced at the twins before smiling back. "I''d love to." It''s best that we have some fun while we have the chance. Things were only going to getmore difficultfrom here."


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