Chapter 83: Scouting the Area!
The inn they duo decided to stay at was relatively modest, but sturdy.
Hitchock’s Inn sat at the far edge of the village. It was made out of half wood and half stone and its foundation dug deep into the earth using Earth Magic, made to brace against a history of harsh winters and harsher times.
Warm light spilled from its windows, and the smell of bread and roasted meat lingered pleasantly in the air.
Inside, the atmosphere was calm. A few villagers sat at rough-hewn tables, mugs in hand, laughter low and unforced. No one stiffened at the sight of strangers as they were used to seeing them here. Everyone just minded their business.
Jax took it in at a glance.
Escape routes. Structural weak points. The subtle signs of reinforced doors and recently repaired beams. This was a village that had been burned once and refused to be helpless again.
They were given a room on the second floor. One bed. A small hearth. Clean linens that smelled faintly of pine ash.
Ashanti lingered near the doorway for a moment after it closed behind them.
Her shoulders were tense, wings held slightly too rigid, as if she were still bracing for something to go wrong.
Jax noticed, of course.
"Sit," he said gently, not as an order but an invitation.
She did, perching on the edge of the bed like she wasn’t entirely convinced she was allowed to occupy it.
"You should sleep," Jax continued, shrugging off his coat and setting it over the back of a chair. "The next few days will be loud."
Ashanti gave a quiet, humorless huff. "Everything feels loud lately."
"That’s because you’re actually hearing it," he replied.
She glanced up at him. "Is that what you meant earlier? About existing without bracing?"
"Yes."
He leaned against the wall near the window, arms crossed loosely. "You spent too long being treated like a loaded weapon. You forget what it’s like to just... be a person."
Her fingers twisted together in her lap. "I don’t know how to turn that part off."
"You don’t," Jax said. "You let it get tired."
She frowned. "That doesn’t sound reassuring."
"It works," he said simply.
Silence settled between them, not awkward, but heavy with unspoken thoughts. The crackle of the hearth filled the space.
Ashanti slowly lay back, wings folding carefully, deliberately. She stared up at the ceiling, watching the faint flicker of firelight dance across the wooden beams.
"Will you be here when I wake up?" she asked quietly.
Jax didn’t hesitate. "Yes."
Something in her chest loosened.
She turned onto her side, facing away from him, breathing gradually evening out. Her mana, still vast, still dangerous, no longer pressed outward. It coiled close, dormant, like a storm at rest.
Jax waited until her breathing deepened fully before moving.
He stepped outside through the window rather than the door, landing silently on the packed earth below.
The night was cold. Clear. Stars stretched endlessly overhead, mana threads faintly visible to those who knew how to look.
Jax exhaled slowly and let his presence stretch.
He moved swiftly, covering ground without disturbing grass or stone, skirting the village perimeter first. The stone wall was reinforced with old runes, crude, but functional. Meant to deter beasts, not armies.
Good enough for now.
Beyond the village, the terrain shifted. Sparse forest to the north. Rolling hills to the west. Jagged rock formations near the coastline to the south, where the mana density spiked unnaturally.
That would be where the problems were. Jax knelt and pressed two fingers to the ground. Mana sank into the earth, spreading outward in a slow, controlled pulse. Not a command. A question.
The answer came back in fragments.
Predators displaced from their usual territories. Packs forced together unnaturally. Larger creatures drifting closer inland, drawn by disrupted ley lines and the absence of stronger territorial forces.
Holy Church purges did more damage than they ever understood. It completely warped the entire ecosystem. Areas that were natural habitats to certain beasts were now overrun by predators that never should’ve been here.
Jax rose and continued forward, deeper into the wild, finding various tracks.
Multiple species overlapping paths that should never have crossed. Something big had passed through recently, forcing smaller predators to scatter.
He followed the signs until the air changed.
Thick.
Charged.
A low growl vibrated through the ground, not audible, but felt.
Jax smiled faintly.
"Found you."
The beast itself remained hidden, but its presence was unmistakable to someone on Jax’s power level. It was something that would absolutely threaten a village like this if left unchecked.
He marked the location mentally, and left a rune at the location. Then another, and another, and the Demon King kept going.
By the time the moon reached its apex, Jax had mapped the entire region in his mind. Which beasts would attack openly. Which hunted at dusk. Which avoided villages but would lash out if provoked.
And which ones could be useful.
He paused atop a rocky outcropping, overlooking the darkened land.
A familiar flutter of mana brushed his senses. A raven descended silently, landing on his forearm. Its eyes gleamed with unnatural intelligence as it tilted its head.
"Go on," Jax murmured.
The bird dissolved into shadow and light, reforming into a sealed message that unfurled in midair.
Xara’s handwriting was sharp, elegant.
’People have already heard that you’ve taken Ashanti out and are quite intrigued. There’s a lot of hope that you can be the one to help her problems, so everyone is looking out for your return. Good luck,’
Jax chuckled quietly as he finished reading.
"Good," he said to the empty night. "They should be."
He dismissed the message and turned back toward the village. Ashanti slept when he returned, curled slightly inward, wings relaxed for the first time in... gods knew how long.
Jax sat in the chair by the window, keeping watch as dawn crept closer.
Tomorrow, she would see how people hunted, and hopefully, that would help her understand how to better control her powers.
Jax could sense her potential, and knows better than anyone she’d be a very useful asset to him in the future if he could extract that potential.