29 Astra 10,391 day 8 of trip

After three more days of this Six had accumulated quite the amount of skill increases.

Analyze, Athletics, Earth Magic, Butchery, Enchantment, Inspect, Heavy Armor, Herbalism,Taming, Perception, Polearms, Stealth, Survival, and Meditation, they all rose by one or two, Enchantment rose by three.

Six fell into the training, losing himself in it. Fighting monsters with Charles and pushing deeper into the wilderness. The days were filled with Denny carefully molding him into something that could survive out here while he filled his nights with his passion of crafting, enchanting as much as he could with the mundane cores he harvested and the time he had remaining.

The more martial of the settlers had even approached him asking for simple enchantments to be applied to their weapons. At first they offered gold and Six took it but most of these people were non-humans that lacked fair access to wealth in the empire so Six also accepted three mundane monster cores for one of his natural enchantments. He used one of the cores for the enchantment and he pocketed the other two.

He liked the praise he received from the settlers and just like Ravna he wondered if he was vain. Nothin wrong with a little bit of vanity, helps you take care of yourself, he thought.

He began to experiment on suffusing different items other brought him. Most things gained a slight increase to durability or their armor value but certain things, like shoes for example, gave a speed increase when enchanted in pure mana or a stability increase when enchanted with earth mana.

On the ninth day of travel they began to home in on Six’s previous location. The looming mountains were much closer when they peeked through the forest canopy but in general it all looked the same to Six but Denny reassured him.

“My Ranger perk will let me find it.”

Six trusted the reliable old man but kept his expectations low. When the three of them came across the cairn, Six knew Denny had brought them back.

The cairns were undisturbed, the rocks still in place. There was a part of Six that worried that a large monster would come to eat the bodies. This was not the case. There were the remnants of his old fire and with his basic survival skills he could see where he ran into the forest. His escape from the poisoner quite clearly broken into the underbrush.

They had made it within the glade that was nestled between the ridgelines, the base of the mountain just a few kilometers away.

Six looked within himself and felt a small sense of accomplishment. He knew he wouldn’t have been able to make it back here alone but he had survived many challenges and had also grown significantly in these past days so he allowed himself to briefly enjoy the feeling.

But there was still one more day of Denny’s tutelage left and he needed to maximize any gains he would receive from the man. He could relax when the man left.

They waited for the settlers to arrive and Six waved at Alison who walked in front. She looked at him and her eyes darted to the piles of stones, the cairns Six stood by, she grimaced with a questioning look on her face.

Six was somber, he nodded. “I did my best to… honor them.”

She approached the cairns and rested a hand on one, closing her eyes and saying a prayer for her fallen friends. Six stood by and waited, there was a silence that had spread throughout the scene, the only sounds were the soft rush of wind and river. She finished and thanked Six.

Quest Complete, Giving Mercy II

Rewards for Completion: 359 EXP

Bonus Rewards: Fame +247

Six could feel a speech coming on and he felt a bit awkward standing there. Slinking away would look even more awkward so he just stood up straight and regarded Alison as she turned to the gathered crowd.

She spoke. “Here lie Carralevine, Orifec, Roshgar, and Matt. Our friends. They sought to make our dreams of freedom and happiness something real and true. They died in the pursuit of that. We have enemies, enemies that took them from us. I am doing my best to take up the mantle they left behind but I need your help. This place is not like the city we came from, it is wild and hostile. Already many of us are growing stronger but it has not come freely.”

She named the dead, people Six didn’t know, she knew them all, or at least had the grace to learn their names for this moment.

“This is where we will begin anew. It will not be easy but it will be ours,” Alison finished and a cheer rose up.

Six could see relief on the faces of the people. Each day had been a danger filled slog and being able to begin to finally establish themselves must have been a soothing feeling.

Alison broke the moment with a beckoning wave to the people and headed further in. She began organizing and Six could see Franklin making her way to the front.

“Where are we putting the longhouse?” Franklin asked.

Alison turned and looked at Six. “Any ideas?”

Six shoved down the impulse to tell her that it wasn’t his problem and instead thought about it a bit. “There is quite a bit of land here from what it looked like from up there and trying to control it all would be impossible so making a setup like Alita Village would probably be your best bet. I think putting it close to the river near the base of the mountain would be good for access to water and limiting offensive actions against you guys.”

“You guys?”

Six nodded.

Alison sighed. “It sounds like you know what you're doing. Could you go ahead of us and find a good spot? I'd like to remain here and give my friends a proper burial.

Six huffed but nodded and went to scout some more. It was not the time to think of himself. Still, Alison stopped him.

“Do you think I am not listening to you Six? Do you think I want to ask you for help? You’ve made it very clear that you don’t want to give it. I don’t want to give those soldiers any more responsibility than necessary. I don’t want any of them to think that we owe them.”

“They have already killed more monsters than either of us. I don’t think you can get out of acknowledging their contribution without looking like a snake.”

Alison rubbed her face in frustration. “That’s true, and asking them for more would just make it worse. I’d rather owe you. Please. You have been here before and I just need a little bit of personal time to bury my friends.”

Six nodded, he could see how stressed she was, he was glad it wasn’t him “Yea, yea, no problem.” It wasn’t like he couldn’t train and do this task for Alison.

She sighed in relief. “Thank you.”

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

He left as Alison told Franklin to assemble a crew and clear riverside trees. Smart, he thought, those could be towed up the river to whatever spot he chose. There was no time to waste as he called out to Charles and Denny to join him.

Denny smiled but Charles looked a little conflicted.

“I should probably see if Franklin needs help,” the young muldstanii said.

Six shook his head. “Nah. Alison needs this and you have a good head on your shoulders but if you want, by all means. I’m sure Franklin could use you. That being said I’m probably gonna go farther away tomorrow so it might be a few days before we can hunt again. It’s up to you.”

“Yes, I will come,” the kid said.

They followed the river closer to where the mountain run off was most pronounced, three streams joined together into a lovely bay and that flowed away to create the river. This was the perfect spot for a fort. Six took a moment to appreciate the beauty of the area. It was heavily forested but when he looked out over the river the full weight of the mountains and trees came into perspective. The size and scale was awesome and breathtaking. This was the spot.

“Any signs of Koatl?” Six asked.

Denny nodded and pointed to a few tracks in the mud of the nearby shore. “Not as much when we crossed the river but there is a sizeable pack here.”

Six sighed, he hadn’t liked warring with those little buggers but he doubted they would be peaceful towards the settlers, rather, the colonizers.

The moral and ethical issues of colonialism sprang to his mind but Six quickly discarded them, they were irrelevant in the face of this new world. Still that brought to mind the question of how deep Six would allow himself to sink into the ethics and morality of this new world. Where would he draw the line? Only time would tell, he supposed.

Considering the Koatl, as far as he could tell there was no way to bring them to the surface and he didn’t want to use his waterbreathing potion so he wasn’t going to evict these fish people. If they had cores within themselves he wouldn’t think twice about it… but…

He looked to Denny, “what now?”

“Well now that we don’t have to scout for a slow marching column it's time for some… accelerated training.”

“One more day of super brutal training!” Six cheered!

Denny shook his head. “Three.”

“Now I may be terrible at basic math but wouldn’t that make twelve days?”

Denny nodded. “I think yer need a bit more polishing. Yer almost there but three more days ought to do it.”

“Our agreement was for ten.”

“I know. I’m altering our agreement because your training was disrupted by this march.”

“Yes but that was my decision, not yours. Shouldn’t you be explaining that to me? Or asking for more gold?”

Denny waved that away. “Oh yea, normally, but I like helping people and I respect how you have helped these people at the expense of yourself. That’s something, yah know?”

Six nodded.

“Also, I learned something very important from my time with Charles and considering how close I’m to my first evolution I could have very well crippled myself with the experience deficit. It will be a little difficult to find an item to fuel my growth with but now I know that it’s something critical.” The old man inclined his head in respect at the knowledgeable boy.

“That’s not common knowledge?” Six asked Charles.

“No,” he said shyly. “It is… guarded.”

Six wanted to ask how Charles came to know about it but didn’t pressure the boy. “Well thank you for sharing. But, why would you share something so valuable with Denny and I?”

Charles hesitated for a moment. “You saved me. From the boar. Things are miserable right now, absolutely terrible. Everyone is fighting each other. It’s not going to improve until we work together and protect each other. Be friends and help each other. You helped me for no reason, you also suck at lying and I can see it in your face. You do care despite how much you pretend not to, and Denny is quite open with how he cares. Why wouldn’t I do everything I could to help you?”

Six smiled. “Makes sense.” Six was happy for Charles that he still believed in the good of people but scoffed inside, it sounded like the kid thought that if everyone cooperated we could achieve world peace. But there would never be unity on what world peace meant. There would always be conflict. Still there was a part of Six that respected that perspective regardless of how un-nuanced and childish it was.

Charles looked sad. “I can read your expression’s Six, you look condescending.”

Six smiled and breathed to center himself. “Sorry Charles, don’t worry about me, I’m just a grumpy dude. You do you.” He reached over and grasped the young man’s shoulder reassuringly and gave him a friendly shake. “It’s better to live with hope rather than despair. People like you more.”

“Oh yea” Denny agreed.

Six marked a tree with a big slashed X and gestured for them to follow him back to Alison’s people. “Alright, Denny. We’ll bring Charles back, he can help them with work and show them this location. You and I will enter montage mode and get some real training done. I appreciate your willingness to extend our agreement and I don’t want to waste your time. Let’s get er done.“

Charles seems offended. “I can make it back by myself, it's not far.”

“Nah nah, buddy system dude. Should always have someone at your back.”

“But are you not going to live far away and isolated?”

“Do as I say, not as I do!” Six said with a silly voice as he pranced away from them, half plate jangling.

Six and Denny returned from training hours later to see the location picked under a flurry of activity. There was a small ditch being dug and the trees that were cleared from the riverside were being used for palisade. The sun was quickly setting but it seemed like the people would work well into the night. Six waved at a labouring Charles who was cleaning stubs off of logs with a hatchet, the boy’s run-down clothes were a bit dirtier but he was smiling. A lot of people were smiling.

Six found a nice spot within the unfinished palisade and set up his tent. He performed his nightly meditation, it had evolved to include polearm and spellcasting visualizations. He had wanted to expand his meditations more but time was a resource that was limited and he needed to practice his enchanting. He had enchanted all of his weapons, but his armor was too damaged for proper enchanting, the durability being so low would in turn lower the catastrophic threshold of enchanting. It was barely returning any armor value with how damaged it was, he still wore it to train both the Heavy Armor and Athletics skills, but as armor it was basically non-functional after so many days of constant abuse.

He pulled out a hammer, Franklin had given him one to enchant and he thought that it would be a good thing to get finished now that it seems like the settlement had found its home.

Before he could begin Alison approached his sitting form, she came close and loomed over him.

“I need to talk to you privately,” she said.

Six sighed but put the hammer away and got up. “Where’s good?”

She led him just outside the ditch, far enough to not be heard but still within sight of people.

Six waited for her to start, his eyebrows raised in question.

“Do you have it?” She asked.

“What?”

“The Ley Core.”

Six hesitated, he didn’t want to lie to Alison and he wasn’t sure if he could, she was nice.

“So you do,” she said resolutely.

Ah shit.

“Listen Six, I will make this quick because I know what you are going to say but I have to ask anyway. Will you give me the Ley Core?”

Six felt anger, shame and frustration. “No.” It was too much to part with.

“Then it’s your responsibility to aid in our protection.”

“No. It is not.”

Alison made a face, it looked like she wanted to cry. “I knew you were going to say that. I should just kill you.”

Six took a ready position. “Woah, thats a big fucking reaction.”

She nodded and sighed. “That sounds right. Six, Ley Cores are powerful tools, They allow for us to be more than just normal people. You have made it clear that you do not wish to aid us or be part of our community, then give it to me. Carralevine would have used it to protect us.”

“I do not want to give,” Six said softly.

“Then you must help us.”

Six shook his head. “I’m not the boss here. I do not control any of this. This isn’t mine and I am tired of contributing to others' success while they suck me dry through rules and pre-established ‘responsibilities.’ Our respective desires for freedom are incompatible with each other. I know it sounds selfish but I don’t want to invest in something I don’t control.”

“It is selfish, but understandable. Protection is simple, you have already shown yourself capable.”

Six shrugged. “Security and freedom have an inverse relationship. It is not as simple as you would make it seem.”

Alison growled. “You don’t have to lead us, just help us when we get into trouble.”

Now Six growled. “Clean up other people’s mistakes? Why would I do that if I have no control over how those people got into trouble? Why would I sacrifice myself for others' choices? What have you people actually done for me?”

“And if you became the Chief, would you stay and help us then?”

“You’re the Chief, Alison, not me, I’m just some random dude even if I wanted to play lord these people don’t respect me like they respect you.”

She shook her head “I’m a Half-Aelf. I cannot be the Chieftain.” She looked at him with a condescending gaze.

“Oh lordy. You gotta be a full blood human to be a noble in the empire?”

“No. But any Tsuken Aelf lineage disqualifies you from serving in the nobility.”

Six scoffed and then spat. “Fuck it, you’ve been putting more work in for this than anyone. You deserve this and the empire is broken anyway. No one will care, a Tsunken Aelf sits upon the imperial throne doesn’t he? Why can’t you lead a village in bumfuck nowhere?”

She smiled but gestured for him to stop. “I’ve accepted my lot, I have fully human sisters and I knew that I was never destined for leadership. All it takes is a report to the church and they will send someone to purge me and all those who support me.”

“Irduth?”

She nodded. “And you are not some random dude People are already talking about you.”

Six thought about her offer for a second and then declined with a shake of his head.

Alison swore. “The poisoner you managed to get away from? Why do you think she was there? Do you think she was just wandering around and found them by accident? What do you think she was after? Don’t you want someone at your back for when she comes back?”

Six facepalmed. “I’ll figure it out. Anything else? I do have to get back to work.”

“I should kill you,” she spat.

“But you won’t.”

She looked him in the eye and shook her head once, no. “Killing you would not only be wrong, it would be stupid. As much as you moan about it, you do help.”

He took a deep breath. “I have no responsibility towards anyone but myself, after tonight I will no longer even reside in your village. There are others on this mountain and they have survived without me protecting them. You are more knowledgeable than me, you’re a higher level than me. You’ll figure it out.”

“I’m a higher level than you for now, but I don’t think that will last for long. You’re growing fast and most never reach your current level.” Alison looked off at the bustling camp and sighed. “Thank you for what help you did give us.”

Six inclined his head at her. “Can I visit?”

Alison scoffed but smiled. “Yes, you can visit whenever you like.”

Six shot a smile back. “Thank you.”