Getting the corpse of the Crookstrider ended up being a very uneventful affair. I expected to be interrogated over and over about how the fight went down and how the monster ended up dying, but there was none of that. The only thing mentioned was how sturdy the pillar was. After all, despite the Crookstrider slamming its head on it, there were no marks or anything of the sort. At the same time, no one was surprised that headhunting a concrete pillar wasn't enough to cause the creature to bleed. Everyone worked together to load the monster’s body onto a cart, using some old and beat-up fur as a layer of protection against the blood that still covered its body. Chris brought four people along, all members of the guard. He introduced the others to me, but I didn’t pay much attention, thinking I wasn’t going to stay for long.

There was something odd about Fort Ennis. People were too obedient, and it wasn’t just discipline. If Chris or another one of the guards told someone to do something, they would do it without question. Which wasn’t a problem by itself, but as we prepared to leave, another member of our small group asked a random passerby, a man carrying a basket of food, to grab his boots. The man dropped the basket on the ground and rushed to get the boots from storage. It felt like more than just discipline or teamwork, especially considering that there was a table only five steps away. This could be something that happened due to their circumstances. Everyone in the city was, in a way, trapped inside the walls. Not in the sense that they weren’t allowed to leave, but if something got inside, they would have nowhere to run. So maybe that’s why whenever a guard asked for something, they were taught to do it quickly.

Whatever the reason, it already gave me a strange impression, and I had no intention of staying for long. A day, maybe two, if it started to rain.

'Sys, is there any part of the Crookstrider that I should try to eat?'

[If the creature follows the same structure as a horse, the Crookstrider's heart may bring beneficial effects to the user. In addition, skills are generally kept inside the brain. Unless they require a specific limb or body part, in that case, they will be stored in the corresponding limb or body part. Aside from that, any meat that the user consumes from the Crookstrider has the potential to reveal new skills.]

'Okay. The heart I can take, but I'm not eating its brains,' I frowned.

"Is everything okay?" Chris asked.

"Yeah, sorry. I was just thinking about its heart," I gestured to the Crookstrider.

"The heart?"

"Yeah. On the rare occasions we could make a bonfire to prepare meals, we used to barbecue bird hearts on a stick. I just realized I’ve never tried it with anything bigger, so I was wondering if it’s okay for me to have it," that wasn’t a complete lie. Back in the Hidden Horn Village, we tried to use everything from the animals we hunted, including their hearts, but they were usually prepared in a stew, not on a stick.

"Oh? Yeah. I’m sure no one’s going to mind. Usually, we just turn the hearts into compost. They’re too chewy for a meal," Chris frowned.

"The ones I ate were too, but I’ve never tried this thing, so I got curious."

Chris nodded and tossed me a rope to help tie the Crookstrider to the cart so it wouldn’t fall. "So, a nihilistic traveler who’s also a bit of a gourmet?"

"Never saw myself as nihilistic. But everything is a mess, so I try to enjoy the moment. If I start thinking about the future, I get sad and I prefer to avoid that," I said with a smile, making sure to tie the rope properly.

"That’s a nice sentiment. And I suppose you’re able to travel because you enjoy it?" he asked as he checked to confirm we were ready.

"Yeah. Then again, I didn’t start traveling by choice."

"You mentioned you lost your home. Is that when you started?"

I nodded, but before I could say anything, the System gave me a warning.

[Reminder: User's story mentioned traveling with a group of people.]

With that in mind, I continued, "Yeah. We had nowhere else to go after our home was destroyed. Then, when we found a new place to stay, it didn’t last long. That village ended up seeing an Eater pass by, and people accused us of bringing it there. Eventually, that led to someone accusing one of us of hitting the Eater and it chasing us. Never mind the fact that if we had hit one of them, we would have died before reaching the village. In the end, we decided to leave together. That lasted for a while, but eventually, we got caught, and I’m the only one left. And that’s my sob story."

Chris wasn’t the only one listening; the other guards were paying attention too. Most of them seemed to feel sorry for me, which was kind of the plan. But there was one, the same man who had fired the arrow close to me earlier, who kept a frown on his face the entire time. A part of me wanted to ask what his problem was, but honestly, it wasn’t worth it. I wouldn’t be dealing with him for long.

Of the six people that came here, three of them were pushing the cart, leaving Chris, myself, and the man who continued to stare at me to be their escort. Thankfully, nothing happened. We arrived back at the fort without any worries. This time, however, we didn’t return through the same passage we used to leave. Instead, we went to the side that faced the river. They had a large barn here, which they used to keep all their carts and larger items that wouldn’t fit through the tunnels. Funnily enough, that didn’t include horses. The animals lived inside the fort. Someone else would come by to wash the furs later and try to take the blood out to not attract predators.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Once more, we moved the Crookstrider's corpse to a smaller cart, one that was almost like a sled. Everyone helped push it toward a nearby passage on the wall. This one was significantly larger than the one I used to enter, but it was still only large enough for an adult horse to pass through. Anything else wouldn’t be able to squeeze its way in. Our return was celebrated by people who were already excited about the prospect of eating meat. They had a stone building with several layers of walls used for cooking, though it didn’t seem very healthy for whoever was inside with all the fire and smoke, but I wasn’t about to argue with their methods.

Once Chris confirmed that I was free to stay, he talked to a few of the fort’s inhabitants about helping me set up for the night. I also started searching for things that could help with my travels. Mainly, I was looking for a coat or something to face the cold nights. In addition, I was hoping someone might have a map, even an old one, to at least show me what lay to the north. I knew that if I kept going, I’d eventually reach Canada, but that wasn’t really the plan.

Or was it?

I didn’t actually have a goal in mind, and maybe a map could help.

Trading was pretty straightforward. I gave some of the soap and pieces of cloth from my backpack and got a decent-sized coat that reached about mid-thigh. The sleeves were a bit long, but Gareth had been kind enough to include a sewing kit with the supplies, so I could fix that. Well, it was more like a couple of spools of thread and a single bone needle. People ate, talked, and we had a pleasant late afternoon meal, thanks to the meat from the Crookstrider.

After finishing the meal, any hopes of getting a new skill vanished as the System spoke up.

[SP present in Crookstrider is insufficient to create a new skill. However, the creature's heart had unique traits that increased progress in the quest related to the title Enduring Heart.]

'Okay, and do you have a timeframe for when the quest will be done?'

[System is still unable to give a proper deadline for the completion of the quest.]

Eventually, night came, and everyone headed inside to sleep. They gave me a room in one of the houses, which was being used by only one other person. It wasn’t as comfortable as the ones in Madison or the Hidden Horn Village, but it was still much better than sleeping on the ground. A part of me was half-expecting to be attacked during the night, but once more, nothing happened. My sleep came and went without any problems, and the woman I shared the house with was very kind. She did complain that her grandson had been grounded by the village, which meant he would be staying in a shed by the horses for a couple of days. Apparently, the punishment was because he tripped and pushed one of the guards by accident. Again, this felt very strange, especially since the guard didn’t seem to be injured at all, but it wasn’t my place to say anything about it.

Thanks to my contribution to yesterday’s dinner, I was allowed to have breakfast with the village. But they made it clear this was the last meal they were offering. If I wanted to stay longer, I would need to find more food. That felt excessive. Sure, the Crookstrider’s body didn’t last more than a single meal, but that wasn’t my fault. Everyone in the fort ate some of the meat. I thanked their mayor, an old man with a bald spot and a thick mustache named George, for his 'generosity' and promised to leave after the meal.

However, before leaving, Chris offered to show me the map they had. He took me to a building that functioned as the town hall and showed me a massive picture on the wall. It was a map of the United States as it had been before the Eaters appeared. There was a good amount of detail, and even some minor roads were marked. The entire thing covered about half of the back wall. Normally, this map would have been destroyed by time, but it wasn’t exposed to the elements. In fact, it was encased in a block of solid plastic. If I remembered correctly from what Pops told me, this should be resin. According to Chris, they had found it in the city, in the same building where I killed the Crookstrider.

'Sys, any chance you can save this image?' I asked, already expecting a "no." Asking it to take pictures was too much.

[System is able to memorize the map and replicate the image to a certain extent whenever the user wishes. Keep in mind, the picture will be accurate, but details may be missing. System will also be unable to track user’s position on the map during travel due to lack of geographical information.]

'Oh, wow. No, that’s fine. Just having this will be amazing. How long do you need?'

[System already saved an initial version in user’s memory. If user continues observing the map for the next five minutes, System will analyze the information and create a more complete version.]

'Go for it.'

"You’ve been staring at it for a while. Did it help?" Chris asked.

"Yeah," I replied without looking away from the map. "I’m just trying to figure out where I’ll go next. For now, I’m going to keep heading north since that’s the only road I can take. Then, I don’t know. Maybe I’ll go west. Eventually, I should reach the beach, and I’ve never seen it before."

"Is there anything I could say to convince you to stay?" Chris asked.

I raised an eyebrow, stepping back, so he stood in front of the map while the System continued working. "You want me to stay?" I smiled.

"You’re fun to have around, and you know how to travel. We could use someone like you."

"We?" I chuckled.

Chris gave me a deadpan look. "Yes. We. I’m married."

"Oh! Shit, my bad. I didn’t know. Where was your wife last night?"

"Home with the baby. He was born a couple of months ago, so we’re still teaching him not to make noise. Until he can control that, he stays underground to avoid trouble," Chris explained.

"Right, right. Yeah, that makes sense. Sorry." Great job, Cassandra. The first time someone’s nice to you, and you think they’re flirting. "To answer your question, no. I’m leaving. And not just because of this conversation, though it didn’t help."

Chris chuckled. "Fair enough. Take your time, and let me know when you’re ready to go," he said, stepping back to let me continue studying the map.

[Does user Cassandra require System to monitor others for romantic intentions?]

I ignored the System, especially since I could swear it had an amused tone. After about 15 minutes, I thanked Chris for his help, and we left the building. Outside stood a group of about a dozen guards and George.

"Oh, hi. You didn’t all have to come say goodbye," I said, feeling a bit flustered by the situation.

"That’s not why we’re here," George replied.

"Then what’s going on?" Chris asked.

George cleared his throat. "Sabrina, you are hereby arrested for stealing the supplies we sent to Madison," the guard who had been staring at me the whole time stood by the mayor’s side, a large smirk plastered across his face.

With a groan, I just said, "You have got to be kidding me."