In the end, every single one of the former prisoners had decided to follow Lanek and his companions on their trek to the north. Lanek wasn’t really surprised as many of the people they had released were still not in good shape, so they didn’t really have a chance on their own, and they knew it. However, Duristor had mentioned that he wasn’t sure how many would want to go to Caelis after visiting the villages to the north. Apparently, some of the families were hoping to settle down, potentially in the houses and villages that may end up empty if their occupants choose to follow Liv to Caelis.
Lanek didn’t particularly mind either way. This would be their best chance for survival and it would help him keep a clean conscience. While he did hold out hope that they would want to join the community in Caelis, he would settle for getting them to a new home if that’s what they wanted. To be fair, Lanek wasn’t entirely sure if Liv’s family, friends, and neighbors would even be willing to relocate, much less the handful of other villages that her people knew about.
Once the decision was made, the party decided to spend another two days in the fortified camp to give the weakest among them a chance to recover. In most cases, this turned out to be the children and a few adults that had been on the ship the longest. There were no elderly individuals among the former prisoners. When Lanek asked, Liv had told him that the sea trolls killed the elderly and infirm when they raided.
Lanek had been the only one willing to enter the shipwreck and had spent quite some time looking for anything useful. To his surprise, Lanek found enough spare clothing and packs to outfit the entire group, although the clothing would need to be adjusted as even the orcs were shorter than the sea trolls. He was disappointed at the lack of weapons and armor, but he supposed that the trolls had probably been carrying it all on them when he attacked. All of the former prisoners, aside from the children, were now equipped with a spear and knife. Maybe a third of those were also carrying shields.
A few people that had been hunters in their former villages had laid claim to the twelve bows that had been found among the corpses. They looked almost comical with the amount of arrows they were carrying. It turned out that there had been a large supply of arrows within the ship and no one wanted to leave them behind. However, to spare the former prisoners the experience of returning to the ship, Lanek and Liv had taken it upon themselves to unload the arrows.
Beyond the clothing and ammunition, Lanek and Liv had found chests of gold and maps within the captain’s quarters. Lanek didn’t care about the gold, but he had been excited to find the maps. They may not be of much use right now, but if his people ever expanded beyond Caelis, it was probably a good idea to have as many maps as possible to guide them. Lanek eyed Liv as she pocketed some of the gold, becoming embarrassed when she noticed his gaze.
“I don’t care about the gold, take however much you want. Might I recommend splitting it with everyone else, though? Some of that probably came from their villages.” Lanek said.
“Oh! I hadn’t thought of that! Help me transport the chest back to camp?” Liv asked, looking slightly ashamed.
Lanek helped her carry the chests back to the camp and left everyone to distribute the gold appropriately. He didn’t understand why anyone really cared about gold with the world in the state it was in, but he didn’t really care enough to ask at this point.
The next morning, the company began moving north at a decent pace. The seven children that had been among the prisoners were distributed between Yuri and Maximilian. While Lanek missed having his mount, the children would only slow them down if they were to walk the whole way to the north.
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As they continued on their journey, Lanek had Sanguineus, Pharaoh, and Kazuma resort to scouting rather than hunting. The main purpose of this approach was to give the people in the caravan something to do and potentially raise their levels. Additionally, Liv had expressed concern over the clothing that the people were wearing.
While they had been able to put on clothing that was in good condition, the sea trolls were naturally tolerant to the cold, so their clothing tended to be lighter than what most people required. As a result, Liv wasn’t sure that their new traveling companions would be able to survive safely in the cold reaches of her homeland.
Luckily, a few of the former prisoners had crafting skills focused on clothing. All these individuals needed was a bit of time, typically a few nights of camping, to convert the hides from the beasts the hunters brought in. Little by little, the caravan was starting to be fully equipped with warm clothing and tents.
The making of the tents was a great thing for Lanek as he didn’t mind making shelters for the people, but trying to make a shelter similar to the one he had made at the beach every night was unsustainable. Creating so many shelters burned through seeds faster than he could replenish them. With the tents, the people in the caravan would have their privacy and Lanek could just focus on a simple wall to keep them safe.
His job became even easier as they finally left the plains behind and entered a hilly and heavily forested area. In this terrain, he could get away with placing filler walls between the trees and save a ton of mana and time. It also helped that there were plenty of seeds available in this type of environment.
During those nights where people were feeling more talkative, Lanek would ask them if they knew where their homes were and if they wanted to return. It turned out that aside from Duristor, no one had ever heard of Caelis or where it was in relation to their homes. They had also confirmed that there would be nothing left of their homes once the trolls were done with them. When Lanek asked if they had family or acquaintances in the area, he was told that their villages had been isolated hamlets and they hadn’t been aware of any neighboring people.
Their journey continued for another two weeks with no issues aside from a few patrolling gaunt packs that Liv and the furballs wiped out before the majority of the caravan knew they existed. However, Lanek had been receiving concerning information from Pharaoh and the hunters. It seemed that they were being followed by gaunts. This alone would not have been much cause for concern, but the most recent report from one of the hunters claimed that their numbers were growing.
“Dammit…” Lanek swore as he listened to the report from Kinat, the human leader of the hunters. Kinat was a ranger with tanned skin and black hair that was about a head shorter than Lanek and looked to be in his early thirties. The man had been a fantastic addition to the group thanks to his tracking skills and his accuracy with the long bow.
“I know. It looks like the bastards have been trying to delay us with these patrols Liv’s been dealing with while they increase their numbers. It’s looking bad, most of these people haven’t been in a battle aside from when the trolls took them prisoner.” Kinat said somberly, his eyes hardening as he spoke about the trolls.
“We’re going to have to deal with them soon. The longer this goes on, the higher the chances are that they’ll gather enough gaunts to drown us in bodies.” Liv said.
“Do you think this is a response to how large our group is? You mentioned that when enough people gathered up north, the gaunts would seemingly come out of nowhere to wipe them out.” Lanek asked.
“Aye, I think that is part of it. My village has more people than this, but we weren’t traveling around bringing attention to ourselves.” Liv explained.
“Why were the trolls left alone, then?” Lanek asked curiously. “Surely the large number of trolls should have triggered the gaunts.”
Kinat spoke up to answer him. “Even the gaunts don’t like going to sea. Aside from that, the trolls aren’t easy targets. Compared to them, this group must seem like a tasty and easy target to the gaunts.”
Lanek thought for a moment before coming to a decision. “Kinat, I want you to work with Pharaoh and the other hunters to find us a defensible spot. I don’t care if it’s a hill, a cave, or even just a clearing at this point. The most important thing is that you find it quickly so I have time to fortify it as much as possible.”
Kinat looked surprised by the order. “We’re not running?” He asked, not in disagreement but out of curiosity.
“We still have some people that are in poor shape that wouldn’t be able to run very far and we are still months away from any help. If we run, the gaunts will just get stronger and we’ll die tired.” Liv explained.
“Understood. We’ll find you something.” Kinat saluted him before walking off to find his hunters.
Liv chuckled at Lanek’s pained look. “You know who to blame for that.” She said, eyeing the nine orcs arrayed around him and clearly having taken on the role of bodyguards.