The trading post town just down the hill from the RazenHeir estate.
Grain, fruits, spices from the farmlands from the kingdom of Herdial to the west.
Warehoused and sold here to merchants from the Zeppelin port MoraDale, several day's march away, the gateway to much of the continent.
From the other direction, enchanted weapons , armour and various other mana imbibed items from the workshops of the spire city in the east were sold here to Herdial merchants, who in turn offered monster parts.
It was a town bustling with commerce. Bricked buildings with tilted roofs. Paved roads with drainage on both sides. Guards with steel helmets and breast plates, armed with swords and muskets.
Surrounding the town were modestly fertile farmland. Their proximity to the Razenheir estate afforded them protection against monsters.
Hikari walked beside Ria on horseback. Taking baby steps with pauses in between to keep pace with her stead.
The town seemed to have gotten livelier. Men appearing on the streets and popping out on the balconies, hiding their heads behind newspapers with two conspicuous holes through them.
"So Hikari. What is a day like for you?"
Hikari paused before replying.
"I train."
"I can certainly see that. But is that really all you do?"
"Yes"
"I see."
There was an awkward pause, filled with only the sound of her horse clopping against the paved road. The ambient noise of merchants crying their wares and the street bards singing and plucking their ukuleles.
"Did you experience any troubles? I mean given your size, I imagine people don't quite react to you the same way."
Hikari takes another step. Ria briefly squeezed her eyes together, expecting a loud thud as her boot lands. But none came. For a giant, her steps were incredibly silent, like a prowling assassin.
"No. It's been years."
"Really now? That's how long you have been in the estate?"
"Yes"
"Thats strange, how come I never see you around."
"My house is in the hills."
"Ah, I see. That makes sense. It would be actually difficult to house you properly within the main estate area or even the barracks area. I have been confined within the mansion up until I learnt a bit of combat. It's just so stuffy in there."
Hikari kept quiet.
"Say, with all those weapons, you must be a monster hunter."
"Yes, my lady."
"What do you slay? Dragons? Titans? Mystical beasts?"
"That's suicide"
"I'm just joking. I glanced through the ledgers since I'm starting to take on some responsibilities. Swamp trolls, rot hounds, Dire ents and wyverns. There is a constant stream of entries of monthly inventory of monster parts. I think I found where that came from."
"You are correct."
"I heard the wyverns prow the trade routes from here to Herdial, dragging men and horses off with them. Pretty smart too, if you take the route through the open plains, they have plenty of room to dive. If you take the cramped canyon route, they just slowly strafe you down with their fire balls. It must be a dangerous job, how do you manage them?"
"I slay them."
"Really? That's incredible. I guess that's plausible looking at you. The slayer herself. I'm honored to finally meet you. Would you like to "
"You slice their neck"
"That's it? From what I read from reports by wyvern hunters, they had to do extensive preparations to lay a trap for the beast. Even then it takes a full squad to bring them down."
Hikari paused and pondered for a moment.
"Yes."
"That's amazing. I have heard from merchants that wyverns have gotten really aggressive of late. They even started attacking in packs when the merchants tried to aggregate their convoys into one. There had been many requests to RazenHeir house to provide escorts. We could only send a few since our main army is away."
They reached a grass clearing with a round table covered in fine pristine white table cloth. A pair of silver plates and wine glass placed on either end.
"Greetings, young lady RazenHeir. Your reservation is in order." One of them approached Ria's horse and helped her dismount.
As Ria approached, a rumbling sound was heard. A wooden cart full of jars rolled off a slope straight towards Ria.
Hikari placed her boot in its path, allowing it to crash into it.
"Are you alright my lady?"
Ria took a moment to recover from the shock. "Yes, thanks to you."
The cart was stopped, but the jars of tomato sauce it was carrying spilled all over Hikari's boot.
"Oh dear, this won't do." Ria took out her handkerchief and started wiping off the sauce.
Hikari looked on as Ria attempted to wipe her boots that were more massive than herself.
"Lady RazenHeir, may we help you with that?" The waiter grabbed a table cloth.
"Oh! Umm.. much appreciated!" Ria blushed red. She didn't know what came over her.
Dusting herself off, she walked to the table and sat down.
The waiters served up appetizers.
"It would appear that our guest is late. " Ria said calmly.
"Should I look for him?"
"No. It's typical. Besides, I feel really safe here with you around."
Ria tilted her head back and looked at Hikari's face. It was subtle, but she noticed just a few shades of red.
"So who is this Marquess?"
"Oh?"
"I forget myself." Hikari awkwardly avoided her eyes.
"It's nothing special. Just a nobleman from the northern lands. I'm meeting him to negotiate the purchase of a shipment of our house's enchanted swords."
"I see."
As they waited for the arrival of their guest, two men walked up to them. They wore the RazenHeir crest on their tunic, armed with a sword and a musket.
"Greetings lady Ria. We apologize for the interruption."
"Is something the matter?"
"Nothing major, my lady. The guard captain requests that Knight Hikari report to him. We are sent here as replacements."
Ria took a glance at Hikari.
"Changing of guard is unusual and quite against the rules I believe. I ask again. Is something the matter?"
The two men were unable to provide an answer and glanced at each other uncomfortably.
Then, they reached for their swords.
A sudden kinetic blast knocks them onto the ground, followed by being impaled by Hikari's throwing daggers.
"Get down!"
Ria was stunned. Before she knew it, she was pressed down into the grass by Hikari's hand.
A volley of musket balls landed around her, bouncing off Hikari's fingers.
Boom! Boom!
Hikari blocks two cannon shots with her sword. A third hit her chest and bounced off, leaving a crater in the grass.
Hikari drew her handcannon, aimed in the direction of the cannon shots and released a bolt of brilliant flame, incinerating the cannoneers.
"Excuse me my lady."
The seams on the chest area of her suit opened. Hikari picked Ria up like a doll and stuffed her between her blossoms and then sealed her inside.
Ria found herself entombed in a dark prison of damp cotton. The smell was suffocating. She held her breath for a while. But she had to breathe. She choked. And breathed. And choked again. She felt dizzy from the smell of Hikari's sweat filling her lungs.
A swarm of cloaked swordsmen rushed Hikari from all directions. Hikari used her telekinesis and unseathed all of her blades and steel balls hidden under her skirt to create a barrier of whirling steel.
Her attackers continued their charge, their ribcages and skulls werecrushed by the momentum of the whirling steel.
One swordsman got through and thrust his sword against Hikari's boot but it did not pierce. The boot knocked him to the ground, followed by the boot soles crushing his bones and splattering his insides with a crunch.
After dispatching the first wave of attacks, Hikari leapt onto the top of the town church.
From her vantage point, she could see the chaos below. The town guards locking swords against the hooded men. Musket smoke every smoke. Town folks being herded dragged onto wagons admit the fighting.
Hikari dug her boots in, laid down a mana circle around herself. Steel balls suspended in mid air around her. A hooded man hid behind the street corner to reload his musket. His chest was abruptly crushed by a steel ball, his guts splattering onto the wall of the building.
Hikari was peppered by a volley of musket fire. She stood still and continued picking off the hooded men.
With her help, the town guard was starting to gain the upper hand. An eerie horn sound could be heard.
Grotesque masses of flesh burst out from carts and cellars all around town. The guards attempted to fight them, but they were impervious to the sword and musket fire and ended up getting strangled by their tentacles.
Hikari spun up a steel ball and hurled it towards the flesh abominations. The steel ball tore through its torso, scattering its flesh in all directions.
One by one, she picked off the flesh abominations.
Cloaked assassins confronted her, standing on the surrounding rooftops. Hikari drew her sword and assumed her stance. Her daggers create a whirling barrier around her.
The assassins lunged in a staggered formation. As they entered the whirling steel, the spell on their cloaks activated, phasing them out of the material plane, materializing once they passed the daggers.
They bared their daggers that were dripping with acid.
A swing of her sword severed several assassins in two. A telekinetic blast knocks the assassins to her rear back into the whirling dagger storm, cutting them into pieces.
The second and third wave phased out back into the material plane and suffered a similar fate. The fourth wave broke off their attack, several of them getting impaled as they materialised on the edge of the whirling daggers.
Hikari turned and saw a cultist struggling on the ground, his left arm was gone. The cultist used the last of his strength and fired his musket, the bullet bouncing off Hikari's boot.
The boot then raised above him, crashed down on him splattering his insides.
Hikari looked on as the remaining hooded man fled the town.
She opened her suit, allowing Ria to fall onto her hand. Ria took a deep breath and then threw up, before falling unconscious onto the ground.
"She's safe now. But it looks like I'll be busy for a while."