The roads outside Reka are peaceful, the silence is mostly broken by the merchants, their animals and carts against the road.
Some chatter can be heard, not much can be made out of it unless you're close enough.
Usually they talk about their routes, issues, being robbed, or the margin profits they make.
They love to boast about how much money they can squeeze out of every customer.
The river can be heard just a few minutes walking the road, seems like it goes inside the town as an underground river.
Now, the job posting doesn't say much, just that the merchants are being attacked during their way to Reka. By the area stated on the posting, should be around 30 minutes walking on the road.
The walk was silent, not awkward this time.
Eren was thinking of the spar she had in the morning.
Shion was trying to find clues about any kind of monster or creature around.
They walked far enough, around the general area where the job said the attacks happened.
"Should be around here" Shion said.
They started going off-trail, one side first, then the other side of the road.
There were no obvious signs that there was any kind of attack or battle.
They walked around the area for a couple hours.
"There's nothing here" Eren pointed out "Probably the job posting is wrong"
"No, this kind of job follow official reports" Shion corrected.
They found nothing.
"We better make ourselves comfortable under a tree, we will have to wait" Shion left her sword on the side and lay beneath a tree.
Eren was still watching around, she couldn't just stay quiet.
If there was people in danger her training dictates for her to keep guard.
An hour passed by before Eren finally sat down.
The day went on.
By the afternoon, people started to yell. Not the usual merchant yells, actual screams.
Shion opened her eyes and sprung back into her feet.
"We got something" Eren said.
They grabbed their stuff and went on to investigate.
A man was riding a black horse, a beautiful animal, but it looked wet.
The creature was trying to get rid of the man with all its strength, but the man didn't fall down.
He was either a really good rider or...
"What happened?" Shion asked to a man nearby.
"There was a horse, black, in the middle of the road. It was beautiful, worth at least a couple gold coins, but its mane looked wet" The man said breathlessly "That merchant tried to ride it, he said if the animal was not hostile, was good for selling. If it was not docile, he could asses its value by jumping on it"
Uh.
"That's a strange way to valuate things that isn't yours" Shion's expression darkened.
"Indeed" The man agreed "Once he was on top of the animal, he didn't come down, as you can see"
The beast stopped struggling, and went quiet for a moment.
"Seems like he got everything under control" Eren exhaled in relief.
The horse bolted with all its speed towards the river.
Too fast.
Too deliberate.
It did not stumble at the water's edge.
It ran into it.
The surface swallowed it whole.
The merchant screamed, clawing at air — until the water closed over him.
Silence.
Ripples.
Nothing.
"What the—" Shion couldn't believe her eyes.
"What was that thing?" Eren asked.
"A Kelpie" Shion's jaw tightened "A water spirit"
Eren rushed toward the place where the man had disappeared beneath the surface.
"He could still be alive!" She shouted, already moving toward the water.
She was about to step in when Shion reached her and grabbed her by the arms.
"Wait" Shion said sharply, agitation breaking through her composure "If you enter that water, you'll only add another victim to it"
Eren struggled against her grip "We can't just leave him!"
But the lake was already calm again. No splashing. No hands breaking the surface. No voice calling for help.
Shion held her until the fight drained from Eren's limbs.
Eren's breathing turned uneven, then shaky. Tears blurred her vision as the truth settled in.
A life taken right in front of her.
And once again, she could do nothing about it.
They stood there for several long moments, the crowd murmuring behind them, no one daring to approach the water.
Shion's mind worked instead of her hands.
"My father had a book about them" She said after a while, her voice steadier now "Silver through the head will kill a Kelpie. But you'd have to get close enough to strike it in its own domain"
Eren wiped her face with the back of her sleeve "And that's exactly what it wants"
"There's also the bridle" Shion continued "If you seize it or force your own into it, you can command it. But you'd still have to step into the water"
A nearby traveler stepped forward, hesitant but firm "There's another way"
He looked like a merchant, but he carried himself differently.
"Where I come from, we study water magic. Old tales say that if you drive iron into the ground at the water's edge, it creates a boundary. The spirit cannot cross it"
Shion considered the lake. The silence. The way it waited.
"That's plausible" She said. "Iron disrupts spirits"
She turned to the gathered merchants "Does anyone have iron? A hammer? Swords will do"
One voice answered. Then another.
"Iron blade"
"I have a hammer"
"Take mine"
Soon they had four iron swords and enough hammers to drive them in.
Shion gave instructions quickly. She and Eren would take the far points along the shore. Two merchants would secure the nearer ones by the road.
"Feet planted on dry soil" She warned "Do not touch the water. Whatever happens, do not step forward"
The sun was already lowering. They did not have much daylight left.
They moved into position, spacing themselves along the curve of the lake. When all were ready, they raised their hammers as a signal.
On Shion's nod, iron entered water.
They drove the blades down into the earth beneath the surface.
The reaction was immediate.
The lake shuddered violently, its clear surface darkening to a deep, unnatural blue.
The black horse burst upward from the center, water cascading from its mane as it charged straight toward Eren.
For a split second, instinct screamed at her to run.
Her grip tightened around the hammer. She forced herself to stay planted.
She struck again, driving the iron deeper.
The horse lunged—
—and collided with something unseen.
The impact rippled through the air like a distorted reflection in glass. The creature reared back, shrieking, its form twisting for a heartbeat into something too long, too thin, too wrong to be a horse.
It bolted toward another section of the lake, testing the boundary.
The same invisible resistance met it.
Four points. Four anchors.
It could not cross.
The spirit slowed, breathing heavily, dark water dripping from its flanks. Its gaze settled on Eren.
Then it smiled.
Not like an animal.
Like something that understood.
After a long, silent moment, it sank beneath the surface, leaving only widening ripples behind.
The lake grew still once more.
But it did not feel peaceful anymore.
"Seems like that's enough," Shion said at last, scanning the quiet lake. "For now."
They regrouped by the road, returning the borrowed hammers and thanking those who had stepped forward.
Shion pulled the job slip from her belt.
"If you would," she said to the merchants who had witnessed the event, "place your stamp here."
Several stepped forward without hesitation. Ink pressed to parchment. Proof not of death — but of containment.
"And spread the word," Shion added firmly. "Those iron swords are not abandoned. If anyone removes them, the spirit is free again. Make that known."
That part caught their attention.
No merchant wanted to be responsible for reopening that lake.
Soon carts began moving again. Wheels creaked. Animals snorted. Trade resumed, as it always did.
The dead man's companions gathered his loose belongings, secured their cargo, and continued toward Reka.
No ceremony. No prayer. No shouting.
Just movement.
Eren watched them go, unease settling deeper than before.
When the road thinned and the noise faded behind them, she finally spoke.
"Is that how little a man's life means?" she asked quietly. "Even the ones traveling with him didn't mourn."
Shion walked a few steps before answering.
"Death comes for everyone," she said. "For kings. For beggars. For the longest-lived races. If not by time, then by iron. Or war."
"That's not what I meant."
"I know."
Shion's voice softened, but only slightly.
"Merchants live close to risk. If they stopped for every loss, none of them would reach the next city. Grief is a luxury when the road still stretches ahead."
Eren looked back once more at the lake, now perfectly still.
Reality weighed on her chest — heavier than any wooden blade had that morning.
She had improved.
She had held her ground.
And still, someone had died.
The walk back to Reka was quieter than the one that had brought them out.