With their back to the wall Valthar and Amber chatted some more about the Deep Bonfire.
Soon however Lionel gathered everyone's attention.
A short discussion followed, about a possible demon nearby and what should be done.
Good news was that Balthazar believed the demon was a young one, since adult demons knew how to mask their presence enough to not be locked onto by his spell.
Even then no one spoke a single word about confronting the creature.
Some even considered running away immediately a possible idea, shadow foxes be damned.
However as soon as Balthazar confirmed no one had signs of demonic corruption Lionel shut the idea down,
There were too many foxes and too few combatants so a hasty retreat would guarantee deaths in the caravan members.
Plus if everything went right Kassia would be back in a matter of days with reinforcements from the adventurers guide.
Lionel's decision was clear but did little to calm a subtle worry that grew as the group ruminated on the worst case scenarios.
What to do if Kassia didn't come back in a few days?
What if signs of demonic corruption started to appear?
What if 'someone' the caravan was taking to Deep Bonfire took advantage of the situation and did unspeakable things?
Worries were many, some real and some mere illusions born from their fears.
Valthar however pushed away the external worries and turned his attention inside.
His focus on meditation was so singular he even let the stone worm free so as to not lose time taking care of it.
Granted that by cold logic he should have taken the life energy back from its body and let it die.
However after a moment of consideration he decided not to, the little critter had already survived a test of Valthar's affinity so it might as well live freely as a reward.
Through the days of focus he explored his affinity some more.
Similar to mana life energy was easier to control the closer it was to him.
A discovery made when he tried to call forth the life force from the plants above, only for them to shake in place.
At this moment his energy ring still had to consolidate, so that the energy even trembled while so far away was already more than he could ask for.
From there he turned his focus into solidifying his life ring.
So aside from small talks during meal times with Amber, Hector and the village girl Valthar spent all his time in meditation.
For hours and hours he dragged mana inside his body then converted it into life energy. Imperceptibly his proficiency increased slightly, reducing the time the ring would take to form from a month to a couple weeks.
How many days passed like this Valthar wasn't sure, but thankfully a change came before Lionel called another meeting.
On a sullen morning underground Valthar felt something enter his life energy sense.
To his surprise it wasn't a shadow fox trading places in their patrol of the clearing, but humans.
With cautious steps they slowly creeped closer to the clearing as one of them grew increasingly familiar to Valthar.
"Lionel! Kassia is approaching the clearing and she has a squad of five with her." Valthar spoke in excitement.
The room lit up in a moment, whispers spreading fast as someone even shook Amber awake in seconds.
"And the foxes?" Lionel asked, raising his hand to stop impatient actions.
In his mind he had already dealt with the situation perfectly with nobody in the caravan dying…. Well, nobody he considered one of his.
And he sure as hell would not let rush change this result.
After Valthar confirmed there were only a few foxes around, Amber opened the tunnel and the knights helped everyone get out.
By the time the rescue approached the clearing everyone was already above ground.
"The foxes are gone?" Kassia was confused as she saw everyone above ground.
As a decently good scout the fact she could not sense the beasts felt suffocating.
"No, they are here… Only a handful though." Another woman spoke from the side, eyes darting through the trees.
From his senses Valthar could tell she was looking directly towards the foxes even through the foliage.
Lionel offered Kassia a proud smile before he stepped forward towards the adventurer squad.
"The situation changed so I would like to change the mission from extermination to an escort one." Lionel stated somberly as his eyes locked on the adventurer that stepped up to talk to him.
"Our team focuses on exterminations and the guild's fine for a mission change is very high at B rank. Can you afford our daily rate Merchant?" The leader of the adventurers asked with a frown.
This was not the first time someone offered an emergency high reward mission only to change it halfway.
Of course the guild guaranteed payment to his team, but only for the registered mission, such deals made half way were not covered.
"Coins are not a problem, though I too would rather exterminate the foxes if I had the option." Lionel sighed with a defeated tone. "However, our fire mage is a follower of the Burning Light and has detected a demon nearby."
The adventurers frown deepened, though his confrontational attitude shifted to a tense one.
"You think the foxes are corrupted?"
Lionel nodded and the adventurer party asked to see the mage prove Balthazar's association with the Church.
As the fire mage showed them a small white fire all doubt died in their minds, a follower of the Burning Light would never lie about demonic matters.
From the side Valthar then watched as Lionel and their leader then haggled for the cost of escorting the group to the nearest city.
In the end they settle on 20 gold coins a day, a price Valthar didn't know if it was a lot or a little.
Soon the group departed on foot, ignoring the hundreds of foxes that had already gathered between the trees.
With a B rank group on their side even a thousand D rank shadow foxes would not be their match.
Sadly demons were tricky and deadly, so outside the Church few chose to gamble their lives against them.