[NR] It Knows Where You Are - Chapter 773

After breakfast the next morning, the group heads over to Old Liam’s place and find the guy being hunted is already there.

Liam’s ears stand up on their approach, “Ah! The adventurers are here so we can get their opinions on the matter. Though to think you’re free of that thing simply because they drove it off once is surely a foolish dream.”

He then pulls out some fresh herbs, “And we have a few fresh finds for Lily! Some of our people went out early this morning to see if the creature had died and the body had washed up on the shore. Of course they didn’t find that, but they did find these!” And he laughs at how Lily perks up.

The group settles down around the table and Jason looks over at the guy, “Yeah, you aren’t free of that thing yet. Given the stories and how the creature didn’t seem to be seriously hurt? It not only will be back, but it is going to be here tonight.”

From there, Jason turns it over to Courtney to explain the details. This takes a little bit of time, mostly because the guy kept saying he couldn’t believe it. Courtney easily crushed said disbelief, but it took time.

Old Liam laughs, “Well, looks like I had the right of it! Now, what do we do about this? I wouldn’t trust the creature to leave if it manages to kill this fool. Not that we’re going to let it kill him, anyway. I’m not even sure it wouldn’t come back if we sent him away.”

Jason, “Well, if he went to a similar town to this? There is a chance the creature would stay there. That isn’t what would happen, though. You, you’d go and head towards a proper town or maybe even city?”

The man nods.

Jason smiles, “Yeah, the creature would likely still follow through with killing him. But afterwards? It would be coming back here where there isn’t anyone that can oppose it.”

The man frowns, “I think you’re lying! Now that I’m thinking on it, I go to a city? I’ll be free! That critter won’t bother me there where the powers be. Why shouldn’t I leave right now?”

Jason laughs, “Well for one, you better hope you can get there without having to spend a night outside of a town. Also, are you rich? Because it isn’t like the creature doesn’t come out during the day. You try and travel by yourself or in a small caravan? It will just snatch you up once it feels you are heading towards somewhere like a city.

“More important though? It doesn’t need to follow you. That monster knows where you are Right Now. You ate its tail and forevermore, it knows where you are. So unless you have some cored curse breaker in the wing to free you? The creature will be after you.”

The man shuffles awkwardly as there wasn’t even a person a quarter of the way towards gaining a core anywhere in the town. And to hire someone specialized in curse breaking that also managed to hit level 100? There wasn’t enough money in the entire town.

Jason turns to Old Liam, “So yeah, we’re thinking the beast will be back tonight. If we don’t hear it coming? Well, better hope we catch it. However, our expectation is that it will come around calling for its tail. You know, like in the story. So, people should be safe tonight. Our plan? Stake out the house again and if we hear it, use that to hunt it down.”

Old Liam, “Voices on the wind aren’t going to be the easiest to track.”

Courtney nods, “We expect it will be throwing its voice with magic. That would make traditional attempts to track it near impossible. The sound could come from anywhere with no actual source. Though our guess is more that it will whisper on the winds and those winds will swirl and amplify things for it. So, in theory, you could track it as the sound actually travels.

“However, that is not our plan. No matter how it makes the noise, it will do so through its magic. Over the years, mages have developed methods to obscure the origin of ranged spells. Some monsters even do it naturally. This creature? It isn’t one of them. With all the stories, if it could hide that way, there would be information on that as every new creature found that is capable of such feats? They’re aggressively sought after to improve our own techniques.”

Old Liam raises an eyebrow, “What if others simply didn’t discover the ability?”

Courtney shakes her head, “There are enough tales that someone will have investigated it. Oh sure, I won’t discount the possibility that it can hide from us. I’m not even saying it can’t obscure where it is to some degree. But I do think we will be able to track it.”

Old Liam shrugs, “Long as you think it will work. I don’t want to, but if things go too far south, we can always call in some of the kingdom forces to handle things.”

Rosha, “Huh, would there even be a town left after that?”

Old Liam sighs, “The cost would mostly be in taxes. Though technically it could be seen as a debt being repaid. Just that everything will be in the kingdom’s favor.

“Taxes would be raised either for a certain number of years or until enough has been repaid to the kingdom. Whichever takes longer. Because obviously if we hit it big, they’ll want the taxes to stay raised for the entire time. And if we start to fail? Well, they don’t want to lose out on any money and so the taxes will stay raised on the land until enough was gathered. There are dead towns in perfectly fine locations that stay empty because to move in would be to take on the tax burdens.”

Jason, “That sounds like a waste of land.”

Old Liam shrugs, “Eh, the kingdom likes to keep a few empty areas, anyway. If they have someone that deserves a reward of land, they’ll drop the raised taxes and hand it over.”