"Looks like this place attracted new citizens after humans were gone..." Seth mumbled, watching the little tablet in his hand. The group was sitting on the deck, idling around while the golems did their job.
"It's centaurs," he answered their questioning looks.
Having attracted the others with his words, he showed them the tablet. It was as he said. Once the golems had moved further into the city, they found maintained roads and modified houses. The streets were filled with people who had the upper body of humans, glued to the neck part of a horse's body.
The streets were filled with centaurs going about their daily lives as if it had always been this way. Everything seemed like a scene from a fantasy movie, if it wasn't for the creepy statues with faces of agony and horror tucked into the corners and alleyways between buildings. One also had to ignore that they were all creatures that emerged from a dungeon.
"These guys probably emerged after the catastrophe and took the city for themselves," Fin mumbled, intrigued. Seth tended to forget that the fairy was actually quite intelligent, although she usually didn't show it.
Especially Grodin watched the scene with a mix of confusion, anger, and despair. Anger about the occupation of his former home, confusion about the apparent peace in the city, and despair because he didn't know how to deal with his conflicting emotions.
Seth was sure he would have wanted Perrican to take it back, if possible, but was it right to destroy the lives of these people to regain something that was already lost and gone? Well, the blacksmith was glad this was not his decision to make.
"What will you do now?" Robin suddenly asked. But he asked Seth, not Monique. The jig was up. It seemed like the imperial aide decided to stop playing along. There was no worth in continuing to pretend.
"Nothing changed. We are looking for the gorgon, and if we find it, we take it down," he said with a shrug, indirectly confirming his suspicion.
"You are the actual leader of the party?" he had to voice out what had been made quite clear already. Seth gave the man a once-over with the
"Sure, not like it's important to hide at this point," the blacksmith affirmed.
"Then who are you to be able to lead this party?" Robin insisted on continuing to question.
"The court blacksmith," Seth said dryly. It wasn't a lie. Although he never gave himself such a title officially, and if he did give that title, it would probably go to Tored, he was essentially the blacksmith for the court of Minas Mar, aka its Lords and Field Teams.
"I-I see? Do blacksmiths have a higher standing in your society?" he whispered to Monique.
"You saw the golem, didn't you? You should think of him like he were the founder of the magic college," Monique gave a rough guideline, shocking Robin and Grodin to the core. Abras Tumblegate was a legendary and revered figure to them. To compare Seth's standing to his meant they had disrespected a frighteningly powerful figure.
"Monique, stop talking nonsense. Anyway, the golems finished scanning the city. The are no monsters besides the centaurs," he revealed the bad news. The gorgon wasn't here. If it were still alive and a gorgon, it would be somewhere else on the island.
"What now? Do we use the golems to scan the whole island?" Mina asked. This time, the question was legitimate. Seth shook his head.
"No, there is an easier way," he said and wriggled the tablet, "We can just ask the locals."
...
Walking past the people frozen in stone was slightly disconcerting, but there was no danger in the city. The whole group had disembarked the vessel, and Seth put it back in his inventory. It wasn't that he didn't trust the two locals with guarding the ship, officially, but he kinda didn't trust them with it if he was honest.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Robin asked, his voice wavering a little at the sight of faces locked in the perpetual expression of fear and panic. The statues carrying their children or trying to protect them from a now long-gone danger even struck a chord with the bard.
"Sure, don't worry. The centaurs don't pose a danger, even if this gets out of hand," the blacksmith answered lightly. The average level of the populace was lv.60. The weakest were in the 40s, while the strongest he had seen were in the early 80s. One of the girls alone could flatten the city if they wanted to.
Past the docks, the density of statues lessened, and the streets became brighter. Like the picture the golems had shared, it was a bright city with well-maintained cobblestone streets, white houses, and orange tiled roofs. If it weren't in the middle of monster-infested territory, it would have been a nice place for a vacation. ...Well, it probably was a couple of years ago.
They walked along the main street, leading up toward a church on the hill in the center of the city. As much as they enjoyed the little stroll, they didn't get far. The moment civilians spotted them, a slight panic broke out, and alarms rang across the city. The bell of the church on the hill tolled.
Soon, a couple of frothing centaur guards blocked their path, pointing their spears at them. Robin and Grodin duck behind the people of Minas Mar, who watched the action unimpressed. They simply waited. As long as the centaurs didn't try anything, they wouldn't either. They were waiting for the inevitable.
"What is this?! Humans?" A centaur, several heads taller than the rest of the guards, arrived. If one waited long enough, a superior would appear. This one was a lv. 78 Centaur Commander called Halon.
"Looks like finally someone useful decided to appear," Mina said boisterously, disrupting the centaurs' act. Although he acted a little wild, it was a fact that the centaurs had not simply attacked them. At least they were superficially civilized. That meant they could be talked to.
"Tshck, where did you come from, humans? Why are you here? What do you want?" Halon blasted a couple of questions authoritatively. The bard opened his mouth with a smile.
"I'm sure you know this used to be a human settlement-" Seth began, but was interrupted.
"The humans had long been vanquished by the time we came. This is our home now. If you think we will leave, you are wrong," one of the guards said, keeping his mouth shut and blurted out defensively. The half-horse man earned a chiding look from his commander.
"We don't care for this place. I was setting up the reason we came here. Survivors of that time reported a beast that petrified the people by simply looking at them," the bard continued,
"We want to hunt it, and I thought finding it would be easier with your help. I really don't feel like scouring the whole island..." he explained. They had already spent enough time in this place.
"Y-You want to hunt the Phinene?!" Commander Halon exclaimed in shock, dropping his rough guy act for a moment out of pure shock.
"Do you want to die, or are you just that stupid?" he continued, staring at the small group with big eyes. Suddenly, a tremendous pressure descended onto the centaurs in the vicinity. Sinking to their knees, a primal fear froze them in place.
"Now, now, no need to be impolite. Just tell us where to find it," the bard said candidly, slowly releasing