Elana sat down inside the storehouse tent where parts and other stuff salvaged from the wreckage of Martin Alphen were temporarily stored. The list she had on her hand was not exactly her expertise, so Billy was accompanying her to lend her a hand.
“Any opinion you want to share so far, Billy?”
“Well, on the bright side these can be useful for living and surviving, one way or another. But on the other hand, all hope of making Martin Alphen able to move again is pretty much lost.”
“So unless Master Renne comes back with a rescue team, we have to prepare ourselves for the prospect of living on this planet for the rest of our lives.”
“But she will, right? Captain?” Billy turned his head to Elana. His worry was noticeable on his face.
Elana lowered her head and folded her arms. “She should. I’m just worried that everybody might have forgotten to bring the saved data of this planetary system’s coordinates due to the heat of the moment.”
“Ahh... yes. That’s a possibility.”
Both Elana and Billy let out a small sigh. Without saved coordinates, one could only get back to the same planetary system by random chance with the hyperspace drive, and with how vast the universe was, the chance was virtually zero.
“Putting some optimism, we can expect rescue to come in about three months at the earliest. Depending on the time it takes to assemble the rescue team and procure a ship, it might take longer.”
“I see. Should we tell the others about this, Captain? The possibility of being stuck here for the rest of our lives, I mean.”
Elana didn’t immediately answer Billy’s question. She lowered her head and folded her arms, sighing a little while at it.
“Once we are done with the salvaging, I shall tell them. Although I think they probably know already.”
“Yeah. After all, everybody knows the risks of this kind of mission. Oh, by the way, Captain.”
“Yes?”
“Would you tell me a thing or two about the natives? I didn’t get to see them much and now I’m curious.”
“This is unfortunately not the time. We should focus on our work.”
“Ah, yes. You’re right, Captain.”
“I don’t know much about them myself, so I say it should be better to talk to them yourself, adding more data to the nanomachine language analysis while at it.”
“Are they staying with us?”
“Sedhoust, Keith, and Vierra already went back this morning after spending one night here. I heard from Kurt recently that Sedhoust ordered his team to accompany us for a while, so at least Kurt, Leon, and Anna will stick around.”
“I see.”
“Now, focus.”
Elana and Billy then continued their work of sorting through the stuff taken from Martin Alphen wreckage. Elana was thankful that among the things which had survived the crash, the Space Suitcase was one of them. As implied by the name, it was a suitcase which could contain significantly more things than it looked, thanks to the technology of space manipulation. Due to the expensive manufacturing cost, not all expedition missions had one procured, so this team had been fortunate in that regard.
Another night passed, and by the next morning everybody had done everything which could have been done. All salvageable parts and other stuff had been retrieved from the wreckage of Martin Alphen and stored inside the suitcase, and all the tents had been folded. All the people including Elana were now lined up facing the graves of the fallen. They all offered a silent prayer for the last time, and then Elana ended the silent prayer by doing a firm salute, which was immediately followed by everyone else behind her.
After letting go of the salute gesture, Elana turned around facing the others. With sharp eyes full of determination, she spoke out.
“It is time for departure. Move out!”
“Yes, Captain!”
Elana then walked towards the three native adventurers who had been waiting at a spot not too far away from the graves. All the others followed right behind her, marching in an organized line.
“We are ready to go. Please lead the way.”
Elana spoke to Kurt Warden, the leader of the trio, using the language of the natives. Thanks to the nanomachines having sufficiently analyzed the language, she and all others now could speak the language fluently and naturally, although reading and writing was an entirely different matter since there was no reading material to analyze yet.
“Alright. Please come along.”
Kurt replied with a smile, and then the entire group began marching through the forest, which the natives called as Quatonne Forest according to what Elana had heard from Kurt recently.
The trek through the forest didn’t pose any problem for the group. The terrain was fair, and the fact that even non-combatants in the group were experienced in traversing the wilderness to some extent definitely helped. The group formation was arranged in a way that non-combatants would be covered by the combat-capable members all around, but so far no hostiles were encountered. In fact, some wildlife they spotted seemed to run away immediately upon sight.
During the trip, Elana thought of gathering more information about this planet, since after all everyone had been too busy to have a good talk with Kurt or any of his comrades. Therefore she began talking to Kurt, asking a question.
“Kurt, could you tell me more about... well, a lot of things? After all, I and all others behind me are not from around here.”
“Sure, anything specific in mind?”
Kurt replied without slowing his walking pace. His eyes were still vigilant to the surroundings, watching out for hostile encounters like back then, although it was pretty clear that the task of watching the surroundings was mainly Leon’s and Anna’s job.
“For starters, how about telling me about the other people coming with you three back then, and also the lady who came later?”
“Oh, you mean Master Sedhoust, Master Keith, and Her Ma-hmpfh! Pardon me.” Kurt’s reply was suddenly halted for some reason, but he quickly resumed speaking. “You had a talk with them back then, right? What do you know so far about them? I mean, they should have told you something, haven’t they? Better not tell you redundant info if I can help it.”
Hearing Kurt’s words, Elana put one finger right under her chin briefly before replying.
“I see where you are coming from. Well, back then it was more telling them things about us instead. At least, I got to know that they were adventurers in their younger days and now they go each their own ways, although they still live in the same city. Also, Keith owns an inn. I think that is all I know.”
“What!? That’s all they told you? I can’t believe it!” Kurt’s eyes went wide, and then he shook his head in dejection.
“From your reaction, I want to make a guess that all of them are well-known figures in the city. Am I right on that account?”
“No, but yes-! I mean, merely ‘well-known’ doesn’t even come close! They are figures of legend! They are among the Five Heroes!”
Elana thought that the way Kurt spoke was akin to a huge fan of a celebrity telling the uninitiated about how awesome the celebrity was, and she was pretty familiar with that thanks to Renne having occasionally talked to her like that. Not wishing to interrupt Kurt, Elana didn’t say a word.
“A-Anyway! Where should I start...?”
However, looking at how overwhelmed Kurt was, Elana decided to give him a direction.
“How about you start from Keith? He was the first to introduce himself to me after all.”
“Ah, alright then. Master Keith Biggwarde owns not only an inn, but also the city’s largest smithy, restaurant, and the Adventurer’s Guild. To be exact, the Adventurer’s Guild in the Capital City of Arxhige doubles as a smithy, a restaurant, and an inn, and Master Keith is the Guildmaster. Also, he’s a very skilled chef! You should visit his restaurant and taste his marvelous cooking! His shift is in the evening, by the way.”
“I see. What about Sedhoust?”
“Master Sedhoust Grasmord is the kingdom’s Royal Archmage and the advisor of the queen. He also teaches at the Academy of Magic, and to this day he still carries out research projects on how magic can be applied in people’s everyday lives instead of just for fighting. He’s a little paranoid, but a very nice guy regardless, and I admire him so much.”
Hearing Kurt’s explanation about Sedhoust, Elana let out a small smile with mildly mischievous eyes. “Royal Archmage, advisor of the queen, suddenly bringing a very dignified lady the other day... Vierra is the queen, isn’t she?”
Elana could hear some gasps and whispers from the crowd behind her as she spoke the last part of her speech. Kurt and his comrades were also visibly surprised, which definitely confirmed her guess.
Kurt then put one hand behind his slightly lowered head. “Well, I guess it’s inevitable that you’ll eventually find out anyway.” He then looked at Elana in the eyes, still without slowing his walking pace. “Yes, you’re right. Her Majesty Vierrastine Arxhige is the reigning queen of Arxhige Kingdom. She has been ruling over the kingdom for over sixteen years, and the kingdom has never been as prosperous as it is now.”
The whispers among the crowd behind became more audible as Kurt confirmed Elana’s guess.
Elana smiled once more. “Then I should treat her with more respect the next time I see her again, if ever. In any case, I think I could use a quick history lesson. What made them heroes?”
“That’s their achievement from over twenty years ago.” Kurt answered. “I was still a young child back then myself. It was the end of the age where beasts of Calamity ruled over a significant portion of the land.”
“Beast of Calamity?”
“Those were foul beasts spawned by Calamity, a mysterious, powerful entity which appeared a long, long time ago, over a century in the past. Nobody has ever figured out what its ultimate goal was. One thing for certain according to legends, it was hostile to everything. Humans, animals, plants, sometimes even the land itself. The foul beasts it spawned terrorized the land, killing everything and everybody indiscriminately. You could say that humanity was on the brink of destruction back then when it emerged.”
“I suppose humanity found a way to fight back in the brink of demise.”
“Not found but gifted. Legends say that God granted humanity the gift of Magic Weave which made them able to fight back against the beasts of Calamity. However, Calamity itself was still too powerful so the war between humanity and Calamity went into stagnation for decades. Many righteous adventurers journeyed and armies marched, seeking for the end of the war, but none succeeded. That was until the Five Heroes rose into the offensive and defeated Calamity once and for all twenty years ago. We all have been living in the age of peace ever since then. Well, not total peace but you know what I mean.”
“Yes, I can see where you are going with that.”
“By the way, the two monsters from back then, they were Calamity beasts. There are significantly less of them compared to that time, but they still exist.”
“So that is the main reason for being vigilant now. By the way, you said ‘Five Heroes’, right? Who are the other two?”
“Ah...”
Right after Elana asked the question, the mood radiated by Kurt and his two comrades became rather gloomy. Elana noticed it, and thus she immediately spoke again.
“Sorry, never mind then. It seems I have just said something I shouldn’t.”
“Ah, no. It’s okay. Well, the truth is, the victory of the Five Heroes was not without a sacrifice. One of them didn’t return home, and one other seemed to have been overwhelmed by regret over that. He now wanders around the world alone and nobody knows where he is now.”
“Ah, I see. I guess, we better change the topic. There is something I got more curious about when you mentioned it. What is Magic Weave?”
Kurt lowered his head and folded his arms. “Hmm... I’m no expert in that matter so you’ll need to look more into that later. In any case, Magic Weave, or just magic in short, is the gift granted to humanity by God. It allows us to do things we normally can’t, and it was what enabled us to fight back against threats, especially things associated with Calamity.”
“The lightning strike back then was magic, I suppose?”
“Yes, definitely! Master Sedhoust is the greatest when it comes to lightning magic! Nobody can ever hope to beat him in that!”
Kurt once again showed extreme excitement as he spoke about Sedhoust, but then he quickly realized that he was overexcited, thus he cleared his throat with a visibly embarrassed expression.
“A-Anyway, all of the Five Heroes were experts in their own field of magic. The three of us can do magic too, but of course nowhere near what they can do.”
“Hmm, if it’s not too much trouble, would you show me?”
“Sure! Though I think Leon would be the best to show you an example. Leon, would you?” Kurt said with his eyes on Leon.
“Heh, alright.” Leon replied, rolling his eyes and shrugging.
Leon, who has been walking alongside Kurt, immediately moved his hands in a fast sequence of movements. Three seconds later, Leon’s boots began glowing in blue and he ran forward in a speed which shouldn’t be humanly possible. Before Elana could think further, Leon ran back and made a lap around the crowd behind before returning to Kurt’s side. The blue glow dissipated afterwards and he resumed walking at normal pace.
“That’s impressive. I have never seen anything like that before.”
Elana spoke her remark, and she could feel the crowd behind her having the same opinion. She then began thinking how useful the magic just shown would be if her men could do the same, especially Blitz Squad which definitely would make the most use out of it.
“Thanks.” Leon slightly smiled as he spoke, but then his facial expression turned serious. “...but we need to prepare for battle. I spotted a green drake ahead while showing my magic. It didn’t seem to see me, so we still have a few minutes.”
Hearing Leon’s words, Elana raised her hand, signaling her men to halt. They all immediately complied and went into full alert state, including the non-combatants.
“Is green drake the same kind of monster as last time?” Elana asked, and Kurt responded with a nod as he, Leon, and Anna drew their weapons out. “Let my men fight it.” The three adventurers looked quite surprised hearing what Elana just said. Before they could say anything, Elana spoke again. “We can’t just depend on you all the time. There will eventually be moments where we have to fend for ourselves. This is a chance to see how well we will fare when we are more prepared.”
Kurt didn’t give an immediate answer to Elana’s statement. But after a brief silence he shook his head. “No, I can’t let you. Master Sedhoust trusted me to keep all of you safe. I can’t ever show my face around him if I let you and he finds out! Moreover, it’s a Calamity beast! You don’t see them everyday outside this forest!”
Elana let out a small sigh.
“I see. Can’t be helped, then. We will merely assist you from range in that case.” Elana turned her head towards the crowd behind. “Phantom Squad! Come forward! All other squads cover the non-combatants!”
Soon, a group of three soldiers: one female and two males, stepped forward to the front. Fitting to the squad name, their military uniform had much darker colors than the rest of the group. Their signature weapons, which were all sniper rifles, had already been unfolded and ready for use.
“Assist the adventurers to the best of your ability!”
“Affirmative!”
The female soldier who was the leader of the squad, Valeria Percival, gave her answer. The squad of three then moved to nearby spots where they could conceal themselves. Their specially tailored uniforms activated their camouflage function, making them visually blend with the rocks and shrubbery around. The three adventurers looked quite astonished seeing that.
“Whoa, is that concealment magic?”
Kurt asked the question, but before anyone could answer, Leon tapped him on the shoulder and spoke.
“Save that for later. It’s here.”
“Oh..”
Everyone looked ahead, and indeed the beast in question was in sight. Steadily walking with its scaled body, the so-called green drake had the physique of a giant lizard but significantly larger, as large as a bull. Its scales were radiant green and the claws protruding from its feet looked like it could cut anything. One wouldn’t be wrong saying that it was similar to a dragon.
Anna’s hand made a sequence of quick movements before taking several arrows from her quiver. The arrows began glowing red the moment they were drawn from the quiver, and then she began drawing the bow with one arrow to the string while the rest were held hanging down from the same drawing hand.
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
Within less than a second Anna shot thrice, each at a different angle going from highest to lowest which was almost straight ahead. The arrows were shot at different speeds, and combined with the different angles of approach, all three collided with each other right in front of the green drake’s face.
Fwoosh!
“Hissss!”
The arrows suddenly became a raging fire which engulfed the green drake’s head. Whatever magic Anna had put on those arrows had made them act like a miniature napalm bomb. The green drake wailed, either in pain or agitation, or both. It then began charging at the group, clearly showing its hostile intent.
“Fire!”
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Valeria spoke a command, and all three members of Phantom Squad fired their sniper rifles in unison.
Splat! Splorch! Thud!
The shots hit the green drake at the head, and within an instant a portion of its head became nothing more than red paste. Blood spurted out from it, and then the green drake fell down. It has been slain.
“Wait, what was that?” Kurt asked with his eyes wide at the three Phantom Squad members.
Elana replied with a mildly prideful smile. “The squad I’m proud of when it comes to taking down a single important target.”
Without much more to say, the march through the forest was resumed, and so did the conversation between Kurt and Elana.
“So, back then, were those three using concealment magic?”
“Hmm, maybe you could say that in a sense. Although, it was different from the magic you know, and the same applies to what I’ve told you as memorization magic. It was more like, practical knowledge applied in the form of physical tools.”
Elana didn’t want to confuse the adventurers, but she also knew that maintaining lies would be too difficult and not worth it in the long run, so she thought of slowly and steadily telling them about the scientific technology from her home planet. However...
“Oh, you mean technology made with science?”
“Huh? You know about it?”
Elana and several other people behind her couldn’t hide their surprise, since after all they had been expecting the natives of this planet, which was basically a world of swords and magic, to be so technologically backward even the word ‘science’ was foreign to them. However, just now that expectation had been blown out of the water.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
“Yes, the fruits of Master Sedhoust’s research projects are called that. The most famous and now pretty commonly used in the capital city is a technology which can harness lightning magic and transfer it through wires to power things such as street lamps and water pumps.”
Elana’s mouth went agape hearing Kurt’s answer. She glanced at the crowd of people behind her and saw that pretty much everyone within earshot from Kurt had the same expression. The people of this fantasy world planet had electricity, and that meant a lot.
“You have electricity!?”
One man from the crowd behind asked, seemingly out of reflex. Because he was quite loud, audible whispers and gasps from other people behind began following up. Kurt in response tilted his head looking confused.
“Elec-what?”
Seeing that, Elana quickly spoke. “In our home country we use a similar form of power, and our people call that electricity.”
“Oh, I see. We just call it lightning power since the generator had to be periodically struck with lightning magic for it to work. Oh, by the way, I want to say that the guns your men used looked very impressive.”
At this point, Elana was already desensitized to the shocks of finding out that the technology level of this fantasy world planet was notably more advanced than her expectations. Perhaps, it was herself to blame for reading a little too many fantasy stories, thus creating a bias within her mind on how technologically backwards she has been expecting this planet to be.
“Thank you. Speaking of which, are guns common here?”
“Actually, not really. Only a small number of adventurers use guns. I don’t know about your guns, but the guns here are still impractical for adventuring because they are either expensive or require you to specialize in the necessary field of magic. Oh, the hero I mentioned who’s now wandering alone uses a gun, among other things.”
Elana briefly pondered about the guns from this planet. From Kurt’s words she could deduce that unlike the guns she and her men had, guns from this planet utilized magic. That meant, they were functionally similar but fundamentally different. Still, the fact that guns existed meant she could afford not to try too hard in keeping her men’s weaponry inconspicuous.
“I see. So, going back to elec- lightning power, is it widespread?”
“As of now, only the capital city has it. Master Sedhoust wants to spread the technology to other cities and even villages, but it hasn’t happened yet for some undisclosed reason.”
“I see...”
Elana pondered again about the availability of electricity. Having electricity would help a lot in various things, but from what Kurt has said it seemed that the technology was still limited. In a worse case scenario, it was possible that it was monopolized. So, there was no telling whether she would have access to it or not. But there was still a chance, so Elana thought that maybe taking up the offer from Vierra would be one of the better courses of action.
The march continued advancing for about two hours, and they were finally out of the forest. An open plain of grass was ahead as far as the eyes could see, and they all could once again fully bask in the warmth of the sun.
“At our current pace, it will take about three days to reach the capital city. There is a village within walking distance on the way, but I’m afraid they don’t have enough place for this many people to stay for the night.”
Kurt spoke while pointing towards a direction. Elana silently looked at the map projected by the nanomachines into her brain, and she concluded that she would concur with Kurt’s assessment regarding distance.
The expedition buggy can cover the distance within several hours, but it’s too bad that only one survived the crash.
“In that case we can set up camp in the wilderness like before.”
Elana spoke, and Kurt nodded in response.
“That’s an option. In any case, we need to go there for rations. Ours are honestly running quite thin here. There’s also another reason, but that’s my team’s concern so don’t mind that.”
“Lead the way.”
The group then continued their march towards the capital city. Elana had no idea what would be waiting in store once she and her men arrived, but for the time being she was fairly convinced that going there was the best course of action to take. Nevertheless, she was determined to keep her men safe until rescue came, and for that she had to keep herself vigilant.
***
In the afternoon, there was a mild commotion within the main hall of the Adventurer’s Guild in Arxhige. The cause of it was the presence of a well-known figure entering, and that was Sedhoust Grasmord. It was public knowledge that Sedhoust and the guildmaster, Keith Biggwarde, were close friends, but usually Sedhoust only came to visit Keith in the evening when Keith was the chef of the restaurant next door. Coupled with the recent news that Sedhoust had broken windows flying at full speed, rumors had inevitably risen that something must have happened. Something which was significant enough to agitate the Royal Archmage that much.
Not paying much heed to the mild commotion, Sedhoust went upstairs past the main hall straight to the guildmaster’s office. Without any sign of hesitation, he knocked on the door of the office.
“Come in!”
Keith’s voice spoke from the other side of the door, and Sedhoust immediately went in. What came into his sight right after was the view of Keith working diligently on the paperworks stacked on his desk, which was a custom-made one specifically designed to comfortably accommodate his larger than average body.
“Oh, it’s you! Take your seat!”
Keith spoke pretty cheerfully the moment he noticed that the one coming in was Sedhoust. In response, Sedhoust smiled a little and took the seat right in front of the desk.
“I guess you’re coming for this?”
Keith spoke as he took a nearby piece of paper and presented it to Sedhoust, who took it and gave a quick look. His face became slightly sour within a second.
“This expensive?”
“Your flight this time injured quite a number of people you happened to pass by. I’d say that you got unlucky, but really...”
Keith let out a heavy sigh, and Sedhoust could make a guess on what was going to happen next.
“If you weren’t a highly respected figure, things would’ve become a lot more complicated. You’re lucky that everything could be settled with just compensation money. I’m serious, Sedhoust. Use your power more responsibly.”
Without changing his expression, Sedhoust spoke back to Keith.
“I’d rather regret the collateral damage than regret not anticipating enough for Calamity’s return.”
“So you’re still saying that you’d gladly break windows again the moment you notice something that could be Calamity, no matter how unlikely?”
“Yes.”
Sedhoust’s answer and also his facial expression was firm, displaying his resolve not to ever change his mind in that regard. Seeing that, Keith rested his head on one hand, letting out another dejected sigh.
“Guess I should be thankful that at least you still keep your promise to come to me and not go out by yourself.”
“The only compromise I’m willing to take.”
“Look, Sedhoust. I completely understand how you feel about your loss. I mean, hey! It was my loss too! It was a huge blow for all of us and I miss her dearly to this day, but it’s already over two decades! It’s way past the time to move on with life.” Sedhoust didn’t speak a word hearing Keith’s speech, and thus the latter resumed. “I’m not telling you to forget her. I’m just recommending you not to let your loss affect your life this far for so long. You’re a good man and you have achieved things many other people can’t ever dream, but when it comes to this matter you’re like a different person.”
“I’ll think about it. Anyway...”Sedhoust looked at the piece of paper once again, raising it in a way that it was covering his face from Keith’s sight. Keith let out a small sigh seeing that.
A couple seconds later Sedhoust put down the piece of paper, took his coin purse from his coat, and pulled out a pure white coin which he then put on the table. The carving on one side of the coin depicted the royal crown, while the other side depicted a headshot of Vierra, seen from the right.
“This should cover everything. If there’s any excess consider it donated to the guild.”
“If there’s any excess, my ass. Of course there is excess if you pay it with a royal platinum coin.” Keith spoke in a pretty dispirited tone as he took the coin and put it into one of the drawers. He then took the piece of paper and put his signature along with a stamp on it, and then he gave it back to Sedhoust.“ Alright, that one is settled. Is there anything else you’re here for?” Keith leaned back to his seat, slouching very slightly.
Sedhoust didn’t give an immediate answer. As he tucked the piece of paper into his coat, his head was lowered and his facial expression implied that he was thinking. Less than five seconds later he began speaking.
“I want to buy a piece of land somewhere nearby. Do you know any?”
“Hmm? That’s new. How large is the land you need?”
“Two hectares should suffice, but I’ll take three just in case.”
“What? What are you going to do with a land that larg- Wait! Don’t tell me-!”
“Yup, you’re thinking what I’m thinking.” Sedhoust smirked.
Keith shook his head with another sigh right after. “Hear me out, Sedhoust. I see nothing but problems in your intention. First, that ship wreckage is not yours. Second, how are you going to transport it? And third, people will question everything about it. Not only the kingdom’s people, mind you.”
“I have taken those points into account. I’ll eventually figure something out, but first I need to secure a large enough piece of land for storing the ship wreckage. In the event that I fail somehow, the land will still be an asset under my name so there will be no significant loss.”
“Well, I can’t stop you so I won’t. I’ll get in touch with Merchant’s Guild as soon as I can. You just wait until then.”
“Thank you, Keith.”
“Now that we’re talking about it, I wonder what they are doing now.”
“Assuming they departed from the crash site this morning, they should arrive at Gaston Village soon.”
“Gaston Village, huh?” Keith turned his head towards a nearby stack of paperworks and briefly searched through it before taking one piece and showing it to Sedhoust. “It’s just about time. It might be convenient for them.”
After giving a quick glance on the shown paperwork, Sedhoust let out a smile on how convenient the coincidence was. “Fate can be a funny thing, eh?”
***
“There it is. Gaston Village.”
Kurt spoke as he pointed at the distant village coming into sight. The village seemed to be walled all around with wooden stakes at least one and a half meter tall each. The front gate of the village was wide open but there were two adult men standing guard in front. In addition, there was a wooden watchtower standing right behind the wall to the left of the gate. With enhanced vision courtesy of her nanomachines, Elana could see that there was one man armed with a longbow inside the watchtower.
“It looks guarded.” Elana remarked without slowing her pace. The three adventurers didn’t look alarmed at all, so she could make a guess that it was normal for them to see a village being guarded this much.
“Hostile wildlife wanders off from Quatonne Forest sometimes. Anyway, please wait here for a moment. This many people coming at once may startle the guards.”
Elana agreed with Kurt, and so the entire group stopped to rest at the side of the dirt road. Kurt went ahead to the village alone to greet the guards and explain the situation. Just in case, Elana kept her eyes on Kurt at all times as this happened, but it seemed nothing bad happened. A couple minutes later Kurt returned to the group and spoke to Elana.
“As expected, they don’t have enough housing space for this many people to spend the night. But they will let you use an open patch of land to set up camp.”
“We can live with that.”
“Alright then. Let’s go.”
Soon later, the group of three adventurers and 25 crash-landing survivors entered the village. It was natural that such a large group would attract the eyes of villagers, not to mention that Elana and her men wore clothes which definitely looked out of the ordinary. Elana contemplated on getting new clothes from the natives to help blend in, but the military uniforms and engineering suits worn by her men had each their own features which could be helpful should the need arise, so there was a downside for doing it. Nevertheless, the matter could be saved for later.
Soon, the group arrived at an open patch of grass land which was more than wide enough for setting up camp. They all began doing so immediately, which took less than five minutes thanks to convenient technology. After taking a quick look at the campsite, Elana walked to where Kurt’s team was at. Unlike her group, Kurt’s team was still pretty far from done.
“Need some help?”
“Oh, thanks but no need. We’re good.”
“By the way, why are you setting up camp too? The village should have enough space for just you three, right?”
“I figured that camping by your people would give the villagers some sense of security. I mean, I’m pretty sure they’ve never had this many outsiders staying at once.”
“Hmm, yeah. Makes sense. But they let us in quite easily, if you ask me.” Elana remarked.
Kurt replied as he hammered down a stake for his team’s tent. “My team’s rank, and also knowing the village chief personally, helped a lot.”
“Rank? As in, adventurer rank?”
“Yes, you know about it?”
“I can imagine it as some sort of merit system, at least. But we haven’t talked about it so I don’t know how it exactly works.”
“Oh, right. I’ll tell you more about it after finishing this. Give me a little time.”
“Sure. I’ll walk around some more then.”
Elana then left Kurt and his partners who were still setting up their camp. She walked back to her group’s campsite which was just a stone’s throw away. Soon, she noticed a middle-aged man with a fairly well-built body talking to Albert and Billy. The latter noticed her coming and waved his hand, and so Elana approached.
“Is there something?”
“Captain, this is Zachary. The chief of this village.”
Billy replied to Elana’s question, and in response she offered a handshake to Zachary.
“I’m Elana Mayer. Nice to meet you.”
“Zachary Gaston. Chief of Gaston Village. Nice to meet you. You can call me with just Zach or Zack.” Zachary accepted the handshake as he spoke with a firm smile.
“Thank you for allowing us to stay here for the night.”
“Yeah, not gonna lie. I was skeptical at first, but it was Kurt Warden who vouched for you so...”
“I heard from Kurt that he knows you personally. I see that you put a lot of trust on him as well.”
“They have been a huge help to this village ever since the last four years, so that comes naturally.”
“I see.”
Before the conversation between Elana and Zachary could continue further, Kurt came to the scene and greeted.
“Chief Zack. It’s been a while.”
“It’s been a while indeed, but thank you for always coming when we ask each year.”
“Ah, about that...”
Kurt put one hand behind his head, seemingly worried about something. Elana remembered that Kurt’s team had another reason for coming to this village and she was told not to mind it, but she couldn’t help thinking that Kurt was in a bad situation because of her. Therefore she made a decision to be concerned about the matter too.
“May I know what this is about?”
Kurt replied. “Well, the truth is, this village makes a request by name every year to my team for a job to escort cargo to the capital city. Right now is about that time of the year.”
“Indeed. I have filed the request to the guild as usual and the cargo is ready to roll. Though if I think about it, you came a couple days earlier than I expected.” Zachary spoke with his arms folded while looking at Kurt.
“We just happened to be here while in the middle of another job which is taking much longer than expected, so I’m afraid to say that I haven’t even seen the job request at the guild yet.”
“Oh...”
Getting a grasp at the situation, Elana immediately chimed in. “Your current job is to escort my group to the capital city, isn’t it? If the destination is the same, isn’t it an option to escort both the cargo and my group?”
“Well, you’re not wrong. The thing is, the cargo is transported using horse-drawn carriages. The pace isn’t the same.” Kurt said
“Hmm, can we hitch a ride on the carriages in that case?”
Instead of answering, Kurt turned his head towards Zachary, who noticed and spoke.
“You could if your group didn’t have this many people. This year there will be three carriages rolling. Considering the space taken by the cargo for each, I’d say that each carriage can fit four or five extra passengers. So only about fifteen of your group, even if you’re pushing it.”
“Only three this year?” Kurt asked with his eyes going wider a bit.
“Sadly yes. Our harvest was less favorable this time around.”
“So there’s an empty carriage lying around...”
“I know what you’re thinking, but unfortunately some horses died from illness a couple months ago. We now can’t afford to spare even a horse to draw the extra carriage.”
“Oh, pity...”
Kurt lowered his head in dejection, but Elana smiled hearing the situation, having got an idea. “So if we can get the fourth carriage moving we can fit all the people from my group?”
Zachary immediately replied. “Yes. An empty carriage should be enough for at least ten people. But without anything pulling it there’s no use.”
“We have just the thing. Would you lend the carriage to us?”
Zachary and Kurt looked confused, while Albert and Billy smiled because they knew what Elana meant.
“Well, I don’t mind since Kurt vouched for you and all, but what is the thing you speak about?” Zachary asked.
“I shall show you tomorrow, first thing in the morning.” Elana replied, speaking while looking at the setting sun in the distance.
Tonight would be the first time she and her men spend the night in the middle of a civilization, albeit just a village. Eventually everyone would be spending their days in the middle of a larger one, and Elana believed that they better get used to it. After all, the possibility still existed that everyone would be stuck on this planet for the rest of their lives.