As the caravan progressed over the plains for the next couple of days, the atmosphere had significantly improved from what it was before. Now, all of the Bright Sun party were happy and more comfortable with the mission, though Ray, Fred and Daniel were upset that Rowenna and Kelly were now hogging so much time together with Lyra and Reina. Before, the three men split it three-ways, riding up at the stagecoach with the other two ladies, but now Kelly and Rowenna wanted in too, and since they had not ridden on the stagecoach at all before, they even demanded to do so more often.
As a result though, Lyra learned more about the Bright Sun party, and this part of the world. The five of them were childhood friends, and had always wanted to become famous adventurers. Ray and Rowenna's parents had been in the same party before, but retired once their children were born. Unlike the Revean Empire's heartland and eastern border, the western and southern borders of the empire were still very much a frontier, where civilization and society clashed with the untamed wilds. Gunthry, the vassal kingdom Bright Sun was from, had been absorbed by the Revean Empire two-generations ago in a bloody war. What followed was a nearly 2 decade long "Adjustment" period with a lot of internal strife, but eventually things settled down and today, most of the people living in Gunthry were quite happy being part of the Empire, because it has made things more safe.
No longer having to be concerned about protecting oneself from invasion from the Reveans, because they are now themselves Reveans, the Gunthry Kingdom could now instead put more time and attention and money towards securing its southern borders. In the past, orc raids which pierced far into Gunthry were common place, but the last generation had now become rather accustomed to the peace and safety. The Adventurer's Guild presence had expanded a lot, and monsters entering Gunthry lands were quite rare, since adventurers were sent out into the wilds to deal with the monsters before they became a problem.
It was quite the lucrative business with a high job security, and a lot of work to be had if you applied yourself, which is how the Bright Sun had managed to become an A-rank party despite the fact they were all just 23 years old. It also showed they had remarkable talent and were willing to work hard, which was something far more important than just talent.
When Kelly rode up on the stagecoach with Lyra and Reina, she told them more about the Beastkin and their culture. There were a handful of Beastkin tribes who all made their homes in the coniferous forests at the southern edge of the Atlas continent. There were no hard borders or "Kingdoms", but rather the various tribes had their own territories and "Chiefs", who acted more or less like Kings. Strength and Might were highly valued amongst the beastkin, and apparently it was not unusual for some males to have many female mates, while other males, the weak ones, got none.
The "Chief" of the tribe could also be challenged at any time, for a duel to the death, to see a change of leadership in the tribe. This all sounds extremely violent, but Kelly assured Lyra and Reina that most beastkin were just like ordinary humans, just that their culture was more animalistic. Still, because of the way their society was structured, the tribes were more volatile and quick to change, which made the beastkin rather unreliable business partners. You never knew, after all, when the chief might be replaced and thus the values of the tribe were now subject to change. It also made long-term planning very difficult for most chiefs, and instead to remain in power they had to do things which instantly gratified the people and kept them happy. That isn't to say their societies and cities were bad in any way, but things were less advanced when compared to the human kingdoms, overall.
It was a lot for Lyra and Reina to absorb, but by the time they started seeing trees on the horizon, they felt rather ready to meet with the beastkin. The caravan had not experienced any more issues at all, crossing the Great Plains, after the initial clash with bandits. Reina naturally said it was all thanks to her, and that her presence kept most monsters away, but Lyra was not so sure. That night, they camped at the edge of the forest, and Lyra went to explore by herself for an hour. Nothing massive, she just wanted to see what was different about these lands.
In truth, quite a lot actually. The forest by her Spirit Sanctuary and within the Revean Empire were warm and wet mostly leaf-forests, more jungle-like, while the forests here was a mix of perhaps 80% pine and 20% leaf. The trees were tall and massive, and the climate felt colder than she was used to. The vegetation and climate was just entirely different altogether, and Lyra figured this area of the world likely got snowfall during winter, based on the fact that it was late summer now but still only around 20 to 25 degrees. This was different to what she was used to here in this world, but the forests looked very similar here to what she was used to back on Earth. Very northern European, she figured, even though she had not been able to go outside all that much in her previous life.
The next day, the caravan headed into the forests proper, and around 3 in the afternoon they reached the first settlement. Wooden houses and structures, standing on stilts to get off the ground, with narrow pathways connecting them. No walls surrounding the settlement or anything like that, as it was rather well hidden in the large forests itself. And all around, human looking people. Except, they had cat ears and tails. Lyra had seen a woman like that before, first time she was at the guild HQ, so she knew what to expect already, but was still very fascinating!
The people here also had an entirely different language from the Revean language, but thankfully Lyra had her "Area Translate" spell, which honestly had been such a godsend. The plan was for the caravan to stop here and rest, resupply, and then switch out the guards. The human guards would not go any further into the beastkin territory of the cat-tribe, instead new guards from the cat-tribe themselves would take over for the remainder of the trip. From here it was then another 5 days to reach the capital of the cat-tribe, a city called Helos. Helos was smaller than the Capital City of the Revean Empire, but still a large city by most standards.
Everyone left the caravan to go find an inn to rest at, except for Lyra and Reina, and the Bright Sun party. They had been hired to guard the caravan after all, and never left it or the stagecoach. Lyra and Reina were quite keen on going to explore, but figured they would have more time to do so once they arrived in Helos and finished their mission. So the seven of them pitched their tents, and Lyra kept the "Search" going throughout the night, but there were no hostilities revealed.
Come morning, the caravan left the nameless settlement behind, not having interacted much with the beastkin at all, but that was alright. The new guards seemed stiff and didn't talk much at all with any of them, but Ray explained that the beastkin were naturally quite vary of outsiders and this wasn't all that unusual. Kelly however managed to exchange a few words with one of the guards, a rather fit cat-woman, and later explained that apparently all the guards here were hired from some famous mercenary company in the capital. Whoever was in charge of this caravan must have paid a very large price for all this protection.
On the first night sleeping outside, there was nothing unusual going on, except for the fact that some of the guards were awake and patrolling around the caravan all night. On the second night however, unusual things happened. A few of the cat-tribe guards actually came and joined the adventurers in their camp, sharing some of the soup they had prepared. The Bright Sun party happily partook in the meal, and Lyra and Reina were curious to try it out too. However, as Reina took the first spoonful to her mouth and swallowed, she then looked over to Lyra and stopped her. She leaned in close to whisper:
"Don't... there's sleeping powder mixing here..."
Lyra raised an eyebrow. By now, everyone else had already taken many spoonfuls. Reina would be alright, she was a dragon, but the Bright Sun would likely start falling asleep very soon. Honestly, it would probably be good if they fell asleep, since that meant less risk they'd be injured in what was to come. Lyra sat her bowl down, putting the spoon back down.
"Not gonna eat?" Ray remarked curiously.
-"No, not very hungry." Lyra said with a kind smile. She caught the side eyes from one of the guards, and noticed how in her "Search" function minimap, the dot which represents the guards turned from a neutral yellow color to a hostile red. Now why would the guards, hired to protect this caravan, want to attack the other hired guards? Lyra thought for a while, as the Bright Sun party members began to drop down like flies, falling asleep right there on the spot. One by one, the other guards began to converge on their location, as they were sat outside the Stagecoach. The cat-woman who had come with the soup sneered, standing up, brandishing her daggers as another cat-person approached, a man.
"These are not asleep?" he asked the woman in their native tongue.
"No, refused to eat. Do we kill them?" she answered.
"We have to. Client said no witnesses. Thankfully these are just the C-ranks, else we might have been in trouble." the man responded.
-"You know we understand you, right?" Lyra said with a sigh, rubbing at her face.
The two beastkin stiffened, looking at Lyra, before immediately taking action. The woman lunged at her, but was caught by the hair by Reina who then slammed her so hard down into the ground her skull was crushed into mush, killing her instantly.
"GO NOW, everyone! Remember you mission!" the man shouted, as the other guards moved in to attack the stagecoach itself. So the thing they were after was the cargo, after all. Just as one of the guards ripped the wooden door of the stagecoach off, Lyra kicked him aside with enough force to send him flying through the air, breaking his back as he hit a nearby tree.
-"You deal with them, Reina, I will protect the cargo." Lyra said, only to immediately cover the stagecoach with a protective magical barrier, stopping all the other attacks, as Lyra guarded the door.
Reina was more than happy to finally get some action in, and launched herself into the fray! It took her less than ten seconds to subdue all the hired guards, though she ended up accidentally killing a few, as she was unable to hold back enough. The Captain of the guards who was the closest, was rushed by Reina who then turned and twisted his arms and legs in most unnatural ways. She then caught another cat-person by the leg as she came jumping, only to wield her like a weapon, flinging her body around to smash all the other incoming guards, until she broke so much as she was useless as a weapon. The final two guards tried to run away, but Reina was on them in an instant. The first one she punched so hard her entire arm went through the person, but the second one she managed to hold back enough she only shattered his rib cage.
When all was said and done, most of them were dead. Those fortunate enough to live, well, they had their legs and arms broken. Most passed out from the pain, except for the man who had given orders, who had the misfortune of staying conscious. He was left sitting against the trunk of a tree, unable to move his arms or legs, sweating and groaning in pain.
As the fighting died down, Lyra felt a small tug on her shorts, and looked down to find a small child standing inside the stagecoach, looking up at her.
"Are we safe now?" the child asked.