Mikoto walked down the street at a brisk pace, carrying a bag of groceries she’d just bought from the market. Her brow furrowed with frustration as she approached the entrance of her familia home, slowing the pace of her walk. She slowed until stopping at the threshold. Looking around, Mikoto set her groceries down and clapped her hands together, activating her skill. She immediately sensed her allies inside the house, but nothing else. No enemies. With a sigh, she picked up her groceries and walked inside. Chigusa was in the kitchen making dinner, so Mikoto handed her burden off to the shy girl with a smile.

  Walking down the halls, she joined Ouka and Asuka in what had become the key room of the household. There, on twin mattresses, Hestia and Miach slept soundly. Too soundly. They barely moved a muscle, faces pale as corpses, and their breathing seemed to grow incrementally shallower by the day. Mikoto spared them both a sad look before turning to Ouka with a question:

  “Anything?”

  The big man just shook his head. No sign of a change in the deities’ condition or any external threats. It had been this way for the past several months. Take Familia had been confined to their home, watching over their slumbering charges, and nothing interesting had happened. Mikoto leaned against the wall, rapidly tapping her foot against the floor. She closed her eyes and tried to slip into a meditative trance, but the pent-up energy made that difficult. After an hour of this, Ouka commented:

  “Patience, Mikoto. Oni- *ahem* Adama-Sensei will be back soon. In the meantime, our duty is a sacred one. We must fulfill it with grace.”

  She knew he was right. That didn’t make things easy. Nodding in acknowledgement, Mikoto stopped tapping her foot and focused more carefully on her surroundings. As she did, a strange feeling ran up her spine. It was a minor tingling sensation she could have easily dismissed as a part of her natural jitters. Instead, Mikoto chose to trust in her instincts and activate Yatanokurogarasu with a clap. Startled, the other two looked over at their ally with eyebrows raised. Mikoto turned to meet their gazes, eyes gleaming with a combination of excitement and hostility:

  “I sense enemies.”

  It was to Mikoto’s credit that she didn’t bound out the house immediately, instead waiting for her leader’s approval. Fortunately, she got it promptly:

  “Go. Take Chigusa with you.”

  Mikoto was out of the room before Ouka finished his sentence. She was in the kitchen no more than a breath later, whispering urgently to the smaller girl:

  “Grab your bow, leave the food.”

  Chigusa was already moving to gather up her weapons and was quickly ready to go. The two girls bounded out of the house and onto a nearby rooftop in a flash. There was no sign of the enemy, but Mikoto was undeterred. A second use of her skill told her that the enemies were on the move. There were two of them, moving toward Orario’s Southwestern district, and the girls set off in hot pursuit. Mikoto caught a glimpse of cloaked shadowy figures on the rooftops up ahead. She had barely laid eyes on the opposition before being forced to draw her sword, deflecting the two throwing knives that had been hurled her way. Chigusa backed her up, shooting back and forcing the enemy to take their own defensive measures.

  Still, the assassins remained unscathed as the chase continued across Orario’s rooftops. The girls were steadily gaining on them until the duo dropped into a nearby alley. Mikoto was about to jump after them before Chigusa pulled her back. Mikoto rounded to look at her friend, but Chigusa just shook her head and pointed at the yellow smoke that had begun to rise from the alleyway. The assassins had dropped poisoned smoke bombs to cover their trail.

  Covering their faces and circling around, the girls covered the two ends of the alleyway. But after some waiting, there was no sign of the assassins escaping on either side. Eventually the smoke began to dissipate, leaving no sign of the enemy anywhere. Mikoto activated her skill again, but they had moved out of range. The girls exchanged looks and jumped down into the alleyway, searching for clues yet coming up empty. The assassins had vanished.

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  Mikoto clicked her tongue in annoyance:

  “Apologies, I should have used my skill earlier.”

  If she had used it the moment the assassins had gone into the smoke, the girls might have had some information as to how/where they’d disappeared. She hadn’t used it because the skill required her to put down her weapons and focus, leaving her vulnerable. It was a scouting focused skill, rather than a combat oriented one. Mikoto hadn’t anticipated the assassins outright vanishing. Nevertheless, she blamed herself for the loss. Chigusa just shook her head and placed her hand on her comrade’s shoulder:

  “It can’t be helped now. Let’s go back and report.”

  Mikoto nodded, giving one last look at the alleyway before they left. This chase was proof that there were people still out to get the Lady Hestia and Lord Miach. They would need to be twice as prepared as they had been in the past.

  It looked like this job wouldn’t be so boring after all.

  …

  The duo of assassins ran through the tunnels underneath Orario at high speeds, eager to put distance between them and Takemikazuchi Familia. They were both Level 2, and the temptation to turn and fight was large. Instead, they had swallowed their pride and run. They’d only been ordered to reconnoiter the Familia, not storm it. Now wasn’t the time to strike.

  The girl’s reconnaissance skill had given them a significant setback. Now that they had been discovered, an assault would be much more difficult. On the other hand, they now knew the target and its weak points. They could move forward, albeit with caution.

  All would fear Sekhmet.

  …

  A high wind howled through the White Ice Forest Fanache, heralding the mother of all blizzards. Snow fell in blankets, smothering the forest and the souls within it in a deluge of ice. The blizzards of this region were famously capable of threatening even the hardiest explorers. The biting gusts of these storms were like swords sent from the heavens.

  A line of twelve figures trudged through the snow in defiance of all of this, the shadowy silhouettes making steady headway despite the obstacle. Defiant or otherwise, even these figures were forced to find shelter eventually. The lead person brought them to a large igloo nearby, built precisely for this situation. The dozen travelers shook off the snow and built a central fire. When they removed their hoods, the faces of Adama, Emi, Lilli, their High Elf companions, and one newcomer were revealed. She sported the same pointy ears of her elven fellows, though they were smaller. Her skin was also much paler than that of the high elves. Her eyes were the color of ice, sparkling in the newly born firelight.

  Adama’s friendship with the High Elves had paid dividends in more ways than one. His new allies had limited influence outside their own forest, but they commanded respect from all their elven kin. The elves of Fanache knew the forest backward and forward. Navigating it safety and quickly required their guidance, even for high level adventurers. He’d gotten a letter of recommendation from Larfal, but it had proven unnecessary thanks to his companions. A few words from Valar had convinced the snow elves to send them on their way with a scout and and a map:

  “Nicely done, Hali! This place is nice and comfy.”

  Theresa had quickly struck up a strong bond with their guide, who was only a little older than her by elven standards. The young High Elf preened as if their scout’s contributions were her own. Hali, for her part, just gave a small smile and wordless response:

  “Nnn!”

  The girl wasn’t much of a talker. She was very reliable, however, and Theresa talked enough for the both of them.

  They waited out the storm in the snow shelter, sleeping through the night and moving on the next morning. After a few more days of travel, the party reached their destination. The weaker members let out noises of discomfort as they stepped over the magical border of the Valley of Dragons.

  The temperature suddenly spiked, going from intense cold to a powerful warmth, a shift that was painful for everyone. The party now slogged through a dirty slush that eventually shifted to arid, cracked earth. The forest gave way to a wide-open space, no vegetation as far as they eye could see. The land here was deeply scarred, crisscrossed in a maze of ravines that ran beyond their line of sight. Immediately in front of them, the dirt sloped downward into a large chasm, its open maw both an invitation and a threat. The lizard-like shrieks of the valley’s residents echoed eerily in the distance, a constant reminder of the location’s danger. This was the Valley of Dragons.

  Hali turned to them, speaking more at once than Adama had ever heard from her before:

  “This is as far as I go. I can only offer you my prayers from here.”

  She gave a deep bow and Adama just lazily waved:

  “You’ve done more than enough. Send my thanks to your chief.”

  She bowed again and scurried off. Adama turned to gaze at the Valley’s entrance, cracking his neck and calling out:

  “Alright, ladies and gentle elves. Let’s finish this.”

  Without another word, the party strolled into the Valley.