Ch. 45: Gryphon Mountain Climbers (2)

"Halt." As the duo attempted to pass by the Fraeguard without drawing attention, they unfortunately ended up getting stopped by one of them.

"What? Is there some reason that the king's soldiers are preventing my wife and I from attempting the Griffin Mountain climb? I thought that the king's agenda was to destroy the filthy birds as soon as possible?" Realizing that things would get bad if we were stopped long enough for Rosy's identity to get out, Adrian rapid-fire lied through his teeth, berating the soldier that stopped him. 

Luckily for Adrian, every single soldier with any sort of status in Noctus was evil to the core, and this guy was no exception. At the mention of 'filthy birds,' the man smiled so wide that Adrian could see every single one of his rotten teeth. "You are absolutely right, young man! And your wife is a real beauty!" He clapped Adrian on the shoulder. The prince was barely able to resist the urge to break every single bone in the disgusting man's hand.

"Thank you. Can we go now?" Adrian asked casually, as if he had established some sort of rapport with the man over their 'mutual hatred' for gryphons.

"Of course! But first, we need to ensure that we can follow you if you manage to actually make it all the way up to their city. After all, there's no point to making this climb if the filthy things just kill you off the moment that you get up there!" The Mountain Corps Fraeguard told them. 

Adrian had to actively keep himself from patting the sword at his waist. As long as he had the void magic in his sword, he'd be able to nullify any magic that they used to track the two of them, so even if they decided to trace every single person that went up the mountain, it wouldn't be a big deal for them. 

In the end, they were forced to carry around two maps. Apparently, it was now a requirement for every single person who began the climb to document their exact route up the mountain, so that the soldiers would know when anyone found the correct path.

Honestly, it was annoyingly smart. With five hundred men, they could mark off dozens of paths per day as uncrossable. Eventually, after enough people had attempted the climb, it was pretty much inevitable that they'd find the right path. Rosy wasn't convinced that it'd happen that easily, knowing the actual path, but she did agree that they would eventually find the way to Gryvus if given enough time. 

That couldn't be allowed to happen. Gryphons may be able to fly up to the summit of the mountain without worrying about the terrain below, but according to Rosy, if someone managed to get to the end of the only path to the city and collapse it, it would take a good portion of the city with it, making it nearly impossible to live there in large numbers. In other words, the city wouldn't be able to hold its own population anymore, even if it didn't get invaded. 

Rosy had been twelve when she first made the climb. In other words, she had 1.5 times the strength of a twelve-year-old. Normal adult Wulfics and Vampires would have power pretty close to that, meaning that the average trained adult non-human would be capable of the climb. Honestly, as high as that bar was, about half of the Fraeguard here likely could cross that bar more-or-less. 

In other words, half of the Fraeguard here were likely capable of getting all the way to Gryvus by themselves as soon as the real path through the mountain was found.

As soon as Rosy and Adrian began on the well-trodden path that Rosy had once taken up the mountain, Adrian handed his map over to the girl without a word, having sensed her intentions to a degree through their bond. 

Once both maps were in Rosy's hand, she hid them under the folds of her cloak, before running a bit of her powerful Vampire magic through the paper. Without anyone behind them noticing, the papers disintegrated into dust under the power of her magic.

"W-wait! Sir, ma'am! Slow down!" As they started to believe that they'd gotten out of that mess home free, a Fraeguard from the group below chased after them, shouting. Adrian wanted to run before the Fraeguard caught up to them and caused them some sort of trouble, but Rosy stopped him.

She knew that they'd need to leave the mountain through the same channels that they entered it through, and that meant that they'd likely end up running into the Fraeguard Mountain Corps again. Showing any signs of enmity to them would likely cause a lot more trouble than otherwise.

The Fraeguard was already hiding a smirk by the time that he caught up with them, clearly feeling like he had some sort of superior position to them. As he caught up, four other Fraeguards trailed behind him. 

Rosy immediately realized where this was going, and Adrian could feel her mood souring even further with annoyance.

"The mountain is dangerous. In the last day, quite a few of our Fraeguards have already lost their lives in sudden avalanches, random pitfalls, and the like. A lady such as yourself shouldn't go at it with only a single escort." The Fraeguard's leader informed Rosy haughtily.

"I wouldn't enter this mountain if I didn't understand the risks, good sir." Rosy answered politely, keeping her real emotions off of her face, "I trust my husband." She hung on Adrian's arm, keeping the ruse that they'd started with the last Fraeguard in play. 

Seeing the naked irritation on the Fraeguard leader's face annoyed Adrian, but he didn't say anything.

"I understand that you may believe in him, but we're a group of Fraeguards directed by the king himself to conquer this mountain. We know every single path that's been taken so far, as well as what's at the end of them. We can protect you, should anything go awry. We'd be happy to escort you while we check out our current path."

"Alright. I believe that may be for the best." Rosy agreed to follow the Fraeguards.