Caelus Online

10. The Bloody and Exhausted Mage

6 hours later

Heavily breathing, Astaria leant against her staff, feeling both physically and mentally exhausted. Her eyes held a slightly dead look while her clothes had been bathed in the thick deep crimson blood of the goblins. Her beautiful face was adorned with streaks and splatters of red, while her golden locks fared no better, becoming tangled in places or stuck together with coagulated blood.

Having used all 3 of her mana potions, and 2 of her health potions when she had stumbled and been wounded while still adapting to her new body, Astaria had slaughtered so many goblins she had lost count.

The Incessant screaming of the goblins quickly annoyed her every time she approached a new group, eventually leading her to mindlessly kill every goblin she saw, forgetting everything else until the fatigue caught up with her.

Looting the 7 goblin corpses around her, she slowly made her way back to the main road, slumping down on a nearby rock.

She took out her waterskin, drinking the remaining water with big gulps, then grabbed the bread from her inventory and started to eat.

With a bit of her physical energy returning, she started to make her way toward Haligrad. Looking up she could see the sun was starting to sink lower in the sky, and that at most she had around 3 hours of daylight left to make it to the city.

From where she currently was, she could make it in 2 hours jogging, but given her current state, it would likely take 3 and a half hours meaning she would arrive in the night.

As she made her way north, she encountered quite a few players who when seeing a beautiful woman drenched in blood, had rushed over to see if she was alright, only to be waved off with a dead look. Unless any of these wannabe white knights had a carriage she could ride on, she did not want to deal with the hassle.

Some of the players felt resentful that they were just waved off without a response, while others who were slightly smarter realised that the blood covered lady before them was extremely tired and didn’t want to be bothered.

As the sun began to sink over the horizon Astaria finally made it over the rise at the edge of the plains that overlooked the city of Haligrad. The city sat in a natural bay, with a massive castle that stood proud atop the cliffs lining the eastern side. Its western stone walls were bathed in the orange glow from the setting sun, with the backdrop of shimmering waves making it a truly picturesque sight.

From the eastern cliffs, the city spread down the slope as the height of the cliffs fell to sea level, making more of the buildings visible. The orange tiled rooves shone in the light of the setting sun, creating a beautiful sight that brought the slightest bit of light back to Astaria’s eyes. She rested while enjoying such a sight until the last rays of sunlight fell behind the distant western mountains, finally beginning to make her way down the slope toward the city’s gates which were now lit with torches.

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As she made her way closer, she could see a few new players making their way out of the city, no doubt thinking that they would try their luck hunting at night. For a new player, night-time hunting was the most dangerous time to fight, as the monsters became more vicious and had night vision, while the players were more likely to trip in the environment.

Getting some odd looks again as she passed those players by as they sped up their pace, she finally made it to the gate.

“HALT. Who goes there?”

Sighing at the guard who was stopping her, Astaria sluggishly responded.

“Astaria, a new adventurer.”

Hearing her response, the guard who had called out to her made his way over brandishing his halberd.

“My gods, what happened to you?!” The guard exclaims, finally close enough to see Astaria’s state in the dim light.

With her usually melodic voice coming out quite flat and emotionless, she paused in thought, then replied.

“I was fucked over by the gods… then I slaughtered some goblins.”

Seemingly slightly confused by the strange and blunt answer, he calmly spoke, lowering his weapon.

“So… does that mean that blood is from goblins and not your own?”

“Yes” she bluntly answered.

Hesitantly, he asked the next question.

“Umm I hate to ask this… but… did they… you know… capture you?”

With a hit of killing intent flashing through her eyes hearing his words, she sharply answered.

“No.”

Backing off slightly hearing her tone, he sighed.

“Alright, you can go inside. You should get yourself cleaned up as soon as you can. Do you have a place to stay?”

Looking at the guard with her expressionless face, she tiredly muttered.

“I’m going to rent a room.”

Nodding, he asked another question which seemed to make Astaria visibly more tired.

“At an inn?”

“Yes”

Sighing, the guard called back to his fellow watchman.

“Harvey, I’m going to take this lady to an inn. If we let her wander through the streets in her current state, she will likely get questioned by other guards and she seems too… exhausted for that.”

Hearing his partner's words, he called back.

“Eh, what are you on about?”

Ignoring Harvey’s question, he turned back to Astaria.

“Well, Miss Astaria, is that alright with you?”

Giving the guard a nod, Astaria started to follow him, hearing a gasp of shock as she walked past the guard named Harvey.

Walking through the archway, Astaria could see the quiet streets of the city. There were a few players strolling along the main street in front of her, with the occasional NPC’s walking with purpose looking to be making their way home after work.

As Astaria and the guard made their way down the street illuminated by the orange glow of the hanging lanterns, the guard led Astaria toward the main market square in the centre of the city. As they progressed, the amount of activity increased, occasionally passing by an open tavern filled with the rowdy voices of the patrons.

Receiving some side glances from passers-by, and occasionally more blatant stares, there was a mixture of expressions. Some were horrified by all the blood, others worried for the beautiful girl being led by a guard, while there was the occasional stare being full of lust.

Ignoring them all, Astaria just focused on making the next step, her mind so tired that thinking about multiple things would likely cause her to trip.

Finally making it to the market square, Astaria gained quite a lot of attention from both the players and the NPC’s. While the NPC’s had seen blood covered adventures, they had never seen a beautiful girl so covered in so much blood that there were almost no clean areas on her attire. As for the players, none of them had seen such a sight in the game yet, with many not having engaged in combat while the others had only encountered a small amount of blood.

Under the various gazes of the onlookers, the guard led Astaria toward a tall, three-story building on the west side of the plaza. The outside of the building was clean, its double doors slightly ajar, while a sign featuring a bear standing on its hind legs swung lightly in the evening sea breeze. After following the guard inside, the lively atmosphere of the patrons at the bar quickly quietened down as all the attention was brought to the guard and the blood-covered girl, the onlookers listening intently to satiate their curiosity.

“Hey, Gerald, what’s going on here?”

A tall, Burly man with a platted beard tied together with decorative beads and long black hair that reached down his back walked over from behind the bar.

“Sorry for the trouble Jorn, but this miss here just came to town and is looking for a room… and probably a fair bit of hot water with a towel. Would she be able to rent a room?”

Scratching his head, Jorn awkwardly smiled.

“Err, sure, we have free rooms, but is she ok? This girlie seems half dead?”

Thinking for a second, Gerald replied.

“Honestly, I don’t know. She seems too tired to even speak at the moment.”

Hearing a loud bang, everyone’s attention was drawn to a lady who forcefully slammed down her serving tray and started rushing over to the entrance.

“My god, what happened to this poor young thing!”

Suddenly appearing in her vision, a young woman with a mature body and long brown hair wearing a waitress’s outfit startled Astaria as she was blankly staring at the floor, trying to keep herself awake and upright.

With a careful touch, the woman started checking all over Astria's body, making sure she was not injured.

“Gerald, what happened to her? This is just too horrible!”

With an awkward smile, Gerald began to explain the events of the last half hour.

“Well, I was on duty at the gate, and she appeared from the dark, looking exactly as you see her now. I found out after asking who she was that she's a new adventurer by the name of Astaria. I asked her the same question and she said that the gods had screwed with her or something and after that had slaughtered goblins.”

Pausing for a breath, he continued.

“I asked her if she was harmed by the goblins, and she said no. She was looking to rent an inn room, so I led her here. She just followed me without a word.”

Hearing this, Jorn eyed the girl.

“You don’t suppose this here girlie is one of those Immortal Warriors em folks were talking about do you?”

Hearing this, Gerald raised his voice.

“That would explain a lot! There have been a fair few new faces coming through the gates today all looking like country folk on their first visit to the capital.”

Finished checking Astaria’s condition, the waitress turned to Jorn.

“Jorn, what are you dawdling about for? Go get some hot water! I will take her upstairs to room 12.”

With a few chuckles coming from the onlookers, Jorn made his way out back while Astaria was gently led upstairs.

Following the woman who was leading her by the hand, Astaria was guided into a small inn room, furnished with a bed, chest, and a table with 2 chairs. Being guided into the middle of the room, the lady untied the string of Astaria’s robe, laying it on the back of one of the chairs. She then moved to untie the string on Astaria’s trousers, but her hand was caught by Astaria’s vice-like grip, her flat voice speaking only one word.

“No.”

Shocked by the sudden action, the lady moved back slightly. Realising the situation, she spoke to Astaria in a motherly tone.

“Listen, Astaria, you can’t go to bed covered in blood like that. We will need to bathe you, and we can’t do that with your clothes on.”

Astaria, hearing the words, took a minute to comprehend what the lady was saying, eventually deciding that she was too tired to care anymore, so responded.

“Ok.”

Releasing the woman’s hand, Astaria let the woman take off her boots and trousers, standing there like a puppet. After her clothes were taken off, the lady brought Astaria to sit down on a chair she had moved to the middle of the room. Now finally sitting down without having to focus on walking or standing, Astaria could do nothing to stop the sweet invitation of sleep and fell into a deep slumber.