UNDER THE OAK TREE

286 Chapter Riftan’s eyes were narrowed when he swung around to face her. Pushing him aside, Maxi stepped forward and raised her hands. The palm-sized sprite’s translucent wings fluttered as it flew in dizzy circles over her head. It gracefully landed on her hand and emitted a high-pitched cry. Out of nowhere, five or six more fairies appeared and began whizzing around above them.

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“What are those things?” Riftan grumbled, furrowing his brow.

Realizing that they were saved, Maxi broke into a wide grin. “Th-They are familiars kept by mages. The others are searching for us!”

She rummaged in her bag for a quill and a piece of parchment. However, the frozen ink made writing impossible. After melting it with gathered mana in her hand, she hastily scrawled on the parchment that they were both unharmed. She also added word of their dire lack of food and magic stones.

“What else… should I write?” she said, looking up hesitantly.

Riftan bent his head to skim her message, then moved his gaze to the rock face, gauging the distance. “Tell them to meet us at the place we landed.”

Supporting the parchment on her palm, Maxi crookedly scrawled the message. She secured the note to the fairy’s waist using the string she had tied her hair with. The shining emerald sprite held the parchment tightly against its tiny chest and darted away with the other fairies.

“Someone… should come to our aid now.”

Riftan stared in the direction the fairies had gone before nodding. When he glanced down at her, she saw relief in his eyes.

“We should head there now. It’s not far,” he said encouragingly.

They began pressing forward once more. Maxi looked up at the sky as she followed Riftan’s footprints. An anxiousness pricked her as she noticed the calm wind growing stronger again. Even for a wind mage, using a flight spell through a blizzard would be impossible. Though she did not know how large the search party would be, she doubted there was somewhere big enough to shelter all of them from the raging elements. Looking at the rock face, she tried to estimate how high it was.

Without warning, Riftan wrapped his arm around her and pressed them against the wall. Maxi looked up in surprise and saw that he was staring warily at the hill.

She followed his gaze and grew wide-eyed when she spotted a white horse standing in the snowy field. It was a beautiful creature, something one would see in dreams. Its form was slim and elegant with delicately thin legs, and its pristine, white coat outdazzled Rem’s. Maxi watched, entranced, as the wild horse’s silvery blue mane billowed in the wind.

Her eyes widened even further when she noticed something unusual. Protruding from the horse’s forehead was a long, beautiful horn that shimmered like crystal.

Riftan grabbed the hilt of his sword as the unicorn slowly approached them. Its blue eyes regarded them meekly. Though there was not an ounce of hostility in them, Maxi knew well the viciousness that lurked beneath the creature’s friendly facade.

Clutching Riftan’s cloak, she readied herself to cast a shield. Just then, another unicorn appeared over the hill. They affectionately grazed their long necks together and began plodding through the snow. Another unicorn walked up behind them, followed by another, and another until a whole herd passed by. It felt like a scene from a dream. Maxi stood mesmerized as she watched them go.

Riftan wandered over to a spot the herd had walked over, his arm still wrapped around Maxi. To her surprise, the unicorns had only left behind shallow prints. It was a wonder how the creatures could move so lightly over the knee-high snow. A frivolous curiosity tickled her mind. She mused that unicorns might have inherently strong wind magic, just as salamanders and basilisks had inherent fire magic.

She was absentmindedly mulling over this when she heard Riftan’s grave voice.

“These are horseshoe markings.”

Maxi flinched and looked up. Bent on one knee, Riftan was inspecting each of the prints.

“Except for the little one, they were all wearing horseshoes.”

“Th-The unicorns?”

Grasping the implications, Maxi’s shoulders stiffened. A cold sweat prickled her back.

“Do you mean… someone is breeding them?”

Riftan did not answer. He simply stared down the path the creatures had taken, his eyes grim. Light snow continued to fall over the prints. It would not be long before all traces of the unicorns’ passing disappeared.

After watching anxiously, Maxi said, “Sh-Shouldn’t we follow them? We… might be able to find a clue.”

“It could be dangerous.”

“But, if we miss this chance… w-we don’t know when we’ll get such a lead again. We should at least track down where they’re—”

She cut herself off, worried that she might be burdening him. Riftan glanced back and forth between her face and the slowly fading unicorn tracks in silent deliberation.

“Fine. But we can’t go far. And we’re turning back the moment I sense danger.”

They immediately set off on the unicorns’ trail. Maxi kept close to Riftan as she quickened her pace. The wind picked up as they walked, covering what was left of the prints.

Maxi feared this whole endeavor might be in vain. Would it not be better for them to reunite with the others and find shelter first? They could search the area when the weather was milder. She was regretting her rash decision when Riftan spoke.

“There’s a hot spring here as well.”

Indeed, steam swirled from the foot of a crag not far ahead. Maxi cautiously followed Riftan as he walked toward it. As they got closer, she saw steam rising from a small reservoir at the bottom of a steep incline. A number of unicorns were enjoying a bath at the water’s edge. Behind them, a cavern opened up at least twenty kevettes (approximately 6 meters) high.

Maxi nervously looked around. “Do you think… the breeder is here somewhere?”

Riftan shook his head. “No, I don’t sense any other presence.”

“Even so... let me cast a tracing spell just to be sure.”

Faint creases formed on Riftan’s brow, evidently not in favor of her using her mana However, he must have deemed it necessary for their safety. He eventually nodded with a sigh. Maxi promptly removed her gloves, placed her hands on a rock, and allowed her mana to flow out.

Fortunately, she detected no life forms besides the unicorns. Still, that did not exclude the presence of golems or other magical devices in the area. Maxi spread her mana web even further in a thorough search of their surroundings. Though she could not detect any dangerous contraptions, she did sense multiple objects that felt artificial.

‘There doesn’t seem to be any monsters, but there seems to be an unnatural structure. I-I think we should go inspect it.”

She looked up at him hesitantly. Riftan frowned , then nimbly leaped down from the boulder they were standing on. He gripped her by the waist and set her on the ground.

“Follow me. Be careful.”

Though the unicorns sensed them approaching, the creatures showed no signs of wariness. They were most likely part of the livestock bred by the dark mages.

Maxi’s obvious fascination must have worried Riftan. He said warningly, “Don’t get too close. They may look tame, but they are still monsters. We don’t know when they might decide to attack”

Nodding, Maxi crept past the reservoir and stopped in front of the cave. As she peered in, Riftan stood guard to keep the unicorns at bay.

She summoned a small flame in her hand, revealing a vague impression of an arched ceiling above and stone pillars to the sides. She scanned the cavern before slowly walking in. Water from the hot spring flowed through a deep ditch to the left of a wide, even path laid with stones. Elaborate pillars had been carved into the walls along with strange patterns. After inspecting them, Maxi cautiously passed through the entrance.

Goosebumps prickled her whole body. Standing in the center of the cave was a terrifyingly large stone statue of a dragon. Riftan swiftly blocked her path ‘That’s not going to spring to life, is it?”

“I-I... searched the area for golem runes. This is... just a regular stone statue.”

Riftan regarded it with suspicion. Ignoring his apprehension, Maxi approached the stone dragon.

It was unsettlingly realistic. Recalling the golems in the secret chamber, she wondered ? the dark mages had been so fixated on creating such statues. She studied the dragon’s frightening teeth, scaly body, and unfurled wings. Just then, Riftan’s icy voice rang through the cavern.

‘The Temple Knights will be beside themselves when they see this place.”

Maxi looked up at him questioningly. “W-Why?”

‘The interior of this cavern — it’s a replica of the Basilica of Osiriya.”

Her eyes wide , Maxi glanced around. It was hard to tell through the gloom, but the pillars, walls, arched ceiling, and even the patterns were indeed similar to those found in the grand basilica. Hunching her shoulders, Maxi returned her attention to the statue.

The dark mages had placed this monster on hallowed ground, in a place reserved strictly for God. A groan unwittingly escaped her throat.

Riftan was right. Even a cleric with the greatest self-control would not be able to hide their outrage at such a sight. Maxi’ s heart sank. The sentiment could not be clearer — the dark mages abhorred the church for exiling them

She raised the flame in her hand and carefully inspected the carved images. Unlike the walls of the grand basilica, which depicted saints, the cave was full of clerics with serpent heads. Carved beneath, where the faces of devout believers should have been, were monsters of the Ayin race.

Maxi shuddered, feeling as though she had entered a heathen temple. A moment later, she noticed a fist-sized snake head sticking out from one of the walls. It looked similar to the trigger they had found outside the secret chamber.

After glancing at Riftan, who was looking about the cavern, Maxi placed her hand on the wall and probed the area behind it. When she did not detect any golems, she quietly pulled the trigger down. Soon, the wall rumbled open to reveal another chamber.

“And whats this?” said Riftan, walking to her side and peering in.

Maxi used the flame in her hand to see through the gloom, illuminating the large altar within the circular room. Sensing nothing was amiss , Riftan entered the chamber and stopped before the altar.

As Maxi followed him, she spotted a cwstal sculpture big enough to take up the entire marble slab it sat upon. It reminded her of the extravagant toys loved by young royals. It was cut in the shape of a mountain range, and between the valleys and fields was a cluster of nail -sized houses. She was studying the tiny buildings with fascination when Riftan gave a low sigh. “I think we just discovered the location of the monster base.”

“Pardon?”

When she looked up at him in surprise, Riftan grazed the crystal with his fingers. “Don’t you see? This is a model of the region. Here, look. That’s the Pamela Plateau.”

He pointed to the edge of the table as he talked. Sure enough, the carved rock face appeared to be a replica of the one they had traveled along.

“We took this path, Riftan said, tracing their route with his finger. “And right now, we should be around here.”

After pointing at the valley cluttered with tiny houses, he moved his finger to the sheer cliff behind it. It was likely the very cliff they had fallen from.

“And this is what we’ve been looking for.”

Maxi circled the marble table to get a better view of the spot he was pointing to. Nestled between two high mountain summits was an enclosed city. It was surrounded by double walls and several well-fortified forts.

Riftan?s eyes darkened as he gazed down.

“If this model is accurate, the monster base may be the size of a city-state..”