Stunned by the sight of the port that was devoid of any boat, Emery quickly proceeded to use his Spirit Reading. It was just pure annoyance that the island had this strange aura that dampened his ability.
At the same time, he noticed a storm was coming from the sea. Torrential rains began to lash on the island, while flashes of lightning accompanied by loud thunder could be seen on the blue expanse.
"They might just be gone because of the incoming storm; right, try to think positively" Emery tried to convince himself.
Taking one last glance to the empty port, Emery then used [Spatial Gate] to reach the old woman's house. He wished the latter would know something about the boat's disappearance or Morgana, only to find out she didn't know anything about them. Apparently, she had not even seen Morgana for days.
Emery exited the old woman's house with a dark expression. Seeing the downpour that was gradually becoming fiercer, he gritted his teeth and finally shot towards the forest.
Under the onslaught of raindrops and a barrage of strong winds, Emery swiftly ran through the forest, while continuing to utilize his disrupted Spirit Reading. His body was completely drenched by the rain, but he didn't even show the slightest hint of concern as he continued to shout the red-haired girl's name.
A lot of time later and he had traversed dozens of miles, but Emery still couldn't find her.
He eventually stopped under a tree exhausted, while once again trying to think the best out of the situation.
"She might take the pups away from their mother's corpse and is currently taking care of them. Yeah, that's probably it."
An hour later, Emery finally stopped his fruitless search and realized he was wasting his time and being in denial. There was actually one certain way to know what really happened.
He went back to the cave and arrived at where the wolf beast's body was. He then checked the state of its body, or more precisely, the wounds.
There, he found it. There was a new wound, it looked as if something within the wolf's body was taken forcefully. Emery still couldn't believe it, even when the evidence was right in front of his eyes.
It was clear there was no other explanation than that the girl killed the wolf beast and took the Danes with her forcefully or by trick.
A moment of silence fell in the cave as Emery was asking himself why she did it.
It seemed that from the very beginning, she came here for the beast organ. It must have something to do with why she called it 'the hunt'.
At the moment, he also hoped Morgana would not do anything awful to the pups. She definitely wouldn't, would she?
Emery went deeper into the cave, heading in the direction where the hot spring was, while thinking what he should do next. He was about to walk to the edge of the hot spring, when he saw something nearby - a small object that was familiar to him. It was the beast pendant.
He must have missed it when he smelled the odor and rushed out of the cave.
Picking the pendant up and holding it in his hand, Emery had just found another reason for him to head back to Brittania right away. That girl must be trying something stupid and he had to stop her.
Before leaving, Emery decided to do something he had already planned from yesterday. He took a large amount of the hot spring water and used [Fragmentation] on it. It took hours before small drops of the silvery liquid [Lycanthrope Corruption] were extracted from the hot spring water. He collected enough to completely fill a small vial. He hopes its enough to further study this essence back at home.
Emery also did not forget to bury the beast's body in the forest right outside of the cave. The storm was still going on, but he clearly didn't care about it and made a proper resting place for the monster.
There was actually no need for him to feel sorry for the wolf, since it was already on the verge of death, but Emery couldn't help but do so when he thought about Morgana's actions.
Emery decided to set a stone formation on the island as well, as he had a hunch he would be returning to this place in the future. With that, he was ready to leave for Briton.
Several trees in the forest were cut by Emery's sword, as he needed them to make his means of transportation. Binding and joining them together using his [Entangled] spell, he quickly got himself a simple, handmade makeshift raft he could use.
Satisfied with the results of his hard work, he carried it to the shore. As the storm was still intense, Emery decided to wait for tomorrow and hope the sky would clear up.
Luckily, the next day, the storm had passed and therefore he was ready to go. Riding on his raft, Emery took advantage of the wooden oars he had made and his water element spell [Whip Splash] to sail out to sea. The combination of the two carried the raft eastward, towards the Danes' territory.
It took Emery a day and a half of rowing to finally reach the other shore. The moment his feet touched the sandy shore, he was immediately shot toward the direction of Bergen Town. Arriving in the town, he quickly tried to find a ship bound for Brittania.
Unexpectedly, he didn't have a hard time looking for one. The whole bay of Bergen Town was filled with warships, there were at least hundred of them. It was the invasion force and they were about to leave for Brittania.
As a special guest, the Jarl allowed him to come along when he asked if he could hitch a ride on the ship. The Jarl even let him join the flagship, a warship that was three times the size of the other, manned by almost a thousand warriors.
It didn't take long for Emery to hear the Jarl, who stood at the front of the deck, shouting at his subordinates.
"My warriors! Follow me towards Glory!!"
WOOOAAAAAHHHH!!!
Thousands of warriors shouted their battle cries, deafening the sky, as they were ready for battle, for glory and for a piece of land.
As his gaze turned to the western horizon, Emery's mind was still filled with the question of why Morgana did what she did.
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Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v..e.l,