Damian cautiously approached the knife and inspected it.

  "Yep, clearly from Elaina."

  He tried to fiddle with the blood strings, but couldn't unknot them with one hand. Frey had to butt in and untie the note.

  It read: Valkyrie In The Church. Soldiers Preventing Entry. Trying To Make Contact. Just Stay Put.

  "Well, this is either going to be a massive boon or a fast way to get captured. What does everyone think?"

  Frey immediately interjected, "Let's trust my sister. She'll get the Valkyrie's attention."

  "No reason to doubt Big Sis Elaina~." Alex chimed in, trying to get a rise out of Frey. It looked like she had gained immunity from the teasing while her big sister wasn't around.

  Damn. My time to tease her will come yet.

  "We should still make plans just in case." Damian insisted.

  "Like what? Catch the surroundings on fire to lure out the Valkyrie?" Frey said sarcastically.

  Damian looked away in shame. That was one of his ideas. Just a harmless fire near the forest, downwind of the farmland. No one needed to get hurt.

  "What if we disguise Maria as a Valkyrie. She already has the wings. I don't think the guards would dare block a Valkyrie from going about their business." Alex nonchalantly threw out.

  "... ..." The whole group was speechless at her idea. At first, it felt really stupid, but if they could actually pull it off, it would be brilliant. Of course, they were going to trust in Big Sis Elaina. But they were going to prepare this backup plan, and maybe some more.

  ***

  A day had passed, and there had been no news from Elaina. Seconds Matter had set up a small camp deeper in the forest.

  They were crowded around a smokeless fire Frey was fueling. Fergus needed to cook all of their future meals now, or else they'd have to relive the steak tartare disaster.

  Frey was putting her all into maintaining the fire at the perfect temperature. She took extra care with evening out the heat so that all parts of the dungeon meat would cook evenly. It was up to her to ensure that Fergus had the perfect conditions to work his magic.

  It was fortunate that dungeon meat didn't emit any smells. It was perfect for staying hidden. But to make doubly sure that the smell of Fergus's cooking didn't attract unwanted attention, he only used salt to season the food. Even without aromatic spices, Fergus's cooking reigned supreme.

  To make sure patrolling guards weren't tracking them, Damian had walked back down the road and done his best to erase any tracks they made.

  The partially missing tracks might rouse some suspicion, but it was better than leaving a trail to their little hideout. Plus, they had already left inconsistent tracks from their flying adventure.

  As for how Damian was trying to erase the tracks, he was applying his wind control differently. With a swipe of Storm Dancer, he could summon a wind blade that travelled in the direction of his slash. But its stability wasn't good yet, and it dispersed into a harmless gust after a short distance.

  But that gust of wind turned out to be perfect for covering their tracks. With repeated strikes, Damian mimicked rolling gusts of wind that would shift the dirt, naturally covering their tracks.

  This application of wind also sparked Damian's imagination about how he could use his wind control differently in the future—possibly to stoke Frey's fire.

  While working away at covering their tracks, he also figured out that his Wind Movement skill made it so that he didn't leave tracks behind. His opponents weren't typically sentient, so he had never thought to explore this facet of his skill.

  He didn't know whether his skill worked like this before or had adapted after his tier-up. They'd need to keep a closer eye on these things and see how they could evolve.

  Everyone had unique signatures to their skills, especially the base elemental control everyone had at tier 1, level 1. Two people might be remote types, and the description of their skills would read the same: Water Control - Ability to use water magic without runes.

  But in practice, the way the remote types used this power would be drastically different. Sometimes it was simply a matter of the projectile's shape. One person might fire off balls of water, while another might throw them in the shapes of javelins.

  Sometimes, it was more unique. Damian had once worked with a remote-type fire controller who couldn't form their spells near their body. Instead, they could only cast it beyond a certain distance in the form of flame tentacles. This wasn't a unique skill; it was her base control.

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  These were their natural states of control over the elements. But this, too, could be overcome with time and practice. The fire controller had been working on summoning her skill closer to herself and changing its shape into a projectile.

  The natural shape of one's base control wasn't something easy to overcome. Most people continued to use the natural shape of their skills and worked harder to apply them more effectively.

  There were also those like Donna, who had much more flexibility in her skill use. She was more like the flowing water she controlled, and she had greater mastery over the shape her control took.

  Although a lot of the time, the skills end up weaker than those who follow their base instincts: a jack-of-all-trades, but master of none approach.

  Hmm, saying master of none would be a bit too harsh a comparison.

  'sigh'

  Three hours ago, Seconds Matter had a bit of a scare. A patrol had gone down the road they traveled. Damian had watched them from deep within the forest, but fortunately, none of them had their trail.

  Some of the group's members actually looked like higher-ranking officers. With held breath, they watched them enter the town. None the wiser to their presence.

  During the day, the farmers were allowed out to tend to their fields. No one was really watching them too closely.

  Damian had suggested that he sneak into the fields and talk to one of the farmers, but again, he was blocked by Frey. If he created too much of a stir or the farmer reported him, he could ruin things for her sister.

  It was now simply a waiting game until Elaina threw them another note or they grew worried enough to enact one of their rescue plans.

  Frey was vehemently against interfering with her sister's work. In her mind, she could not fail. Damian and the others weren't so sure of this and kept prodding her to let them carry out their plans.

  Eventually, they agreed to carry them out in three more days. If Elaina still hadn't made contact with them, they'd have to assume the worst.

  ***

  Three days later.

  'sigh'

  "I think we should give my sister another day. Maybe someone in that last group of officers had a skill that would have noticed her sending us a note. That'd explain why she hasn't sent another message. We haven't seen any commotion in the town. And I doubt that the Valkyrie would turn a blind eye to her getting captured and tortured, not that she'd let it happen in the first place."

  Frey was making very reasonable points. But on the other hand, why hadn't Elaina left the town? And what's going on that she isn't able to make contact with the Valkyrie?

  If they continued to wait, they might have been better off just skipping this town and traveling to a larger city. Not that other cities would guarantee access to a Valkyrie.

  The possibility of guards blocking entry to the Valkyrie countrywide existed. A guard could stop someone from visiting a Valkyrie, but they stood no hope of preventing one from going about their own business.

  Oh, it would be so nice if the Valkyrie were looking for them instead. Why did they have to honor Duco's request for noninterference?

  'sigh'

  Our plan is good. As long as the guards aren't overly hostile or the Valkyrie is completely indifferent to our plight, we'll be fine... I hope.

  "We made a deal, Frey. I'll go scout things out. If something goes wrong, I'll send a fireball up. If all is good, and I'm not back in an hour, send Higgins over, and we'll continue with the plan."

  Frey finally conceded and dropped her head in defeat. Everyone else agreed. Their nerves were starting to wear them down. If they continued to wait and more patrols appeared, they would eventually be found.

  The only other pathway of escape would be to head for the Talico Mountain Range to the west. They weren't equipped to trek through that terrain, and their food supply was also dwindling.

  Here we go.

  Damian dashed off from the group like a gust of wind. He bobbed and weaved through the trees and brush, not being slowed at all. It was like he was actually a plant controller, and the vegetation made their way for him, bending with the wind to create a path.

  He then reached the tree line and paused to see where the guards were stationed. None of them were around the fields, or even outside the walls. The soldiers were posted at fixed positions along the walls, looking out. They weren't actively searching, though, just standing watch for anything obvious.

  With quick movements, he dashed across the grass and into the stalks of wheat. His wind movement then changed. Instead of parting the vegetation around him, he twisted his body to slide through the crops, limiting their movement.

  He could feel the path of least resistance that would cause the least impact on the surroundings. The wheat swayed as if the wind was blowing it.

  Slowly, yet steadily, he made his way closer to the town walls. They began at the foot of the hill and rose as sturdy defenders. Fortunately, the walls weren't solid all around. He found himself next to a small drainage gap that guided the hill's runoff toward set paths leading to the crops.

  Damian was about to use his wind form to slip through one of these holes in the defense. He had practiced this in the forest with hollowed-out tree stumps. Anything wind could make its way through, so could he.

  There was just the slight concern about his mana reserves running out. They had tested what would happen if he became corporeal when squeezing through by using a netting of twigs. As Elaina had shown before, Damian's body would push aside anything in his way, but what if they couldn't be pushed away? He didn't want to ever find out.

  Loosing his corporeal form, Damian squeezed through the gap and appeared on the other side of the wall. Quickly, in his wind form, he dashed across the road and into an alleyway. He was in, and to the best of his knowledge, the guards were none the wiser.

  Damian had a good layout of the town. Since it was situated on a hill, their group had made its way through the forest and gotten a basic read on where everything was. At the top were the church and the mayor's office. Connected to the church was also a smaller healing center.

  Going down the hill slightly, it was the commercial district of the town. Inns and taverns had large signs on them that any weary traveler could see from afar.

  One entire section of the commercial district had no buildings; it was a small park where vendors set up food stands. That was his first destination. He needed to set up his plan C.

  Beneath the commercial district lay the town's housing. It wasn't an overly large town, but one with enough character to thrive. Many travelers would stop here before heading to the capital city, Gamo, and that alone promised that it would thrive.

  Funnily enough, the name of the town was Journey's End. It was catchy, but wasn't entirely appropriate, since most people's journeys ended at Gamo.