Azimuth: The Elden Throne

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/Step…/

As Dale went downhill, he met with an unexpected visitor…

An old, burly man with a sharp expression and wide shoulders… It actually doesn't narrow things down that much…

It was one of the Division Commanders of the Southern Corps of Old, Sarferato, the one who ruled the battlefield.

"Dale? So there's where you were, it seems you beat me up to it." Sarferato said as he approached Dale

As he did so, his gaze fell onto David, immediately causing him to raise an eyebrow.

"It seems you brought a friend with you… The Holy Relic… It's been decades since I've seen it up close and even longer since I've seen someone be so rough with it." He said as he went pensive

"The last one was… That arrogant and self-centered guy, Qrubin."

'I've been busy and all so I hadn't had the time to visit… Didn't think I would meet it this way.' He thought silently as his eyes narrowed slightly

Although his words were harsh, Sarferto's expression was one of longing and sadness.

"Have you been doing well? How are you feeling?" Dale asked as he looked at Sarferato's earrings

'Of course he's here, tomorrow is the day Sarferato went to the catacombs to pay respects to his father and ancestors…'

'But before that, he went to the Church to see how it was doing, it was also what prompted him to come back again later to clean and give proper offerings to his ancestor's tombstones.'

'I would later come here after dealing with some other things, meeting him on the fifth underground floor as he prayed in silence with Erile. That is how I got my hands on the Karkavan Artifact.'

"I've been doing fine, my body has already stabilized and I'm not feeling any discomfort."

"Of course, I can't take them off, which is a bit of a shame since they're a bit heavy, but I got used to them already, much better than feeling back pain all the time."

"In the past, there were times I wore heavy armor for weeks on end, a pair of heavy earrings won't do me any harm." He said with a light chuckle as he remembered things stuck deep inside his mind

"Compared to how I was before, my current body feels great, so much so I believe I can fly!"

"That's great to hear. Hopefully, one day, you can take them off without consequences." Dale said with honestly as he gave him a nod

Dale really wished Sarferato would accept living a bit longer, because regardless of how terrible his real body condition is, there is always a solution.

Two months in the future, albeit he was still far from solving it, he was getting somewhere that's for sure.

"Hm… Maybe…"

"I'm old and I lived enough already, so I can't say living longer entices me… But I wouldn't mind staying around a bit more."

"Especially now that we fled the forest, now that I finally had the chance to be back here. There's much I would like to see being done and accomplished, many answers for me still left to pursue..."

"Maybe I'll even be able to see my grandson, I may have had my son in my heydays, but that doesn't mean I've given up on seeing him start his own family also."

Sarferato was well over 120 years old, and his son already had white hair growing in some places of his beard, he was definitely in his late to early 50, maybe even older...

Although warriors like them tend to age at a slower pace compared to others due to their training and genetics, it's still quite the stretch of a community with an average lifespan of around 60ish years...

Girls in Resko usually find a partner before they're 20 years of age, that has always been the case, be it now or 100 years before.

"My son's old and he always pushed such things away because of his work; But now he can't use those as excuses anymore!..."

"Maybe I can finally force him to settle down with that lady that's always around him, her name was Firia if not wrong, she's a good gal…"

As Sarferato narrated his concerns, Dale stood there, smiling slightly as he nodded from time to time.

But deep down, he was a bit tired and a bit frustrated, thinking if he would be forced to listen to everyone's troubles all over again after suffering so many hours sitting down already…

Maybe that was one of the curses of turning back time.

"... Anyway, I've taken enough of your time."

"I was planning on visiting the Catacombs, see how its looking after... Well, everything I was told."

"Would you like to come with me? I heard you went there quite a few times already, but those were stressful situations, you do deserve time off."

"I uh..."

Dale thought about refusing it, however, he did somewhat promise to meet with him again.

Just because he had already experienced two months of future events, it did not mean the others had as well, for them, it had only been a few days since they returned from the forest after defeating the Greater Devil and reactivating the Stelar Path leading to the Mage's Tower.

It was one of the reasons why he considered going with the flow as he had done so in the past again.

And although this would delay him a little, he agreed, turning around as he followed right after Sarferato.

…

/Around an hour later…/

After accompanying Sarferato down to the Catacombs and essentially relieving the same moments he did two months ago, albeit a day earlier, Dale returned to the surface with the Karkavan artifact on his inventory, not having found the opportunity to give it to Erile.

The time would soon come regardless.

Still, it wasn't like this trip was meaningless, he heard many more stories he hadn't heard before as he went down floor by floor, details he didn't quite learn as he wasn't present to experience them all.

It was all mostly trivia for a man of the future, but historical details that should be preserved and passed down across generations.

Such was the Southern Corps motto.

…

/On the surface, back in his room at Illia's Inn…/

With a calm but sharp expression, Dale finished putting on his clothes as he strapped his nameless spear to his back, getting ready for the adventure ahead.

His clothes were somewhat thick, covering dozens of spots of his skin, leaving only his eyes uncovered, yet, he had a pair of goggles on the side just waiting to be worn.

"... So?I've been waiting to ask you this as we were outside, but you've yet to tell me where we're going." David said as he looked at Dale

/Zip!/

"Huu… We're going to the Mage Tower to meet with Qrubin." Dale replied plainly as he zipped his clothes down

He was wearing a clothing set specialized for traveling in the sandy dunes, because even though he planned to fly all the way there, it didn't mean he would be safe from sandstorms stuffing his pockets with sand.

"That's a little outside my expectations but very well… I imagine this has to do with your sudden change of heart." David replied in a deep tone as he saw Dale turn around with a surprised expression

"You noticed?"

"It's not that hard to. Even that old man did, what to say I? The girl didn't seem to have noticed anything, at least not the change in your temperament."

"From your way of speaking to your body movements and expressions, they are substantially different from how they were before."

"Your energy is heavier and condensed as well, too much of a change for such little time, even when considering what just happened before."

"..."

"Well, whatever happened, you know how it is. I'm an expert at listening and providing adequate feedback." He said with a smile as he stroked his ego

"I know… But not here, it's complicated." Dale said as he looked at his spear

"I imagine you brought me with you so I could lead you inside his chambers? That much I can do... And to some degree I kind of wished to speak with that old wizard again."

"Last time we were there we mostly discussed superficial issues, this time I would like to ask him some questions... If we have the time for that, of course."

"Thanks for the help, we'll be going there ourselves since I don't want to trouble him too much... Not that I know how to contact him, its usually the other way around..."

"We'll be a bit busy from here on out but we'll still be back within today… Hopefully."

"Hopefully? That's not good to hear…"

"Well, it'll depend on how things go I guess." Dale replied as he scratched his chin

"Anyhow, let's move. Time is of the essence here." He added as he moved to the window, stepping onto Calabolg which was floating in the air next to it

"We should be arriving within a few minutes, hold tight."

"With what? My mouth?!"

/ZOOM!/

And so they went, onwards to another small adventure.

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Notes