A new system message loomed right in front of him.
[System: Close the portal before the filter system fails completely. Reward Alchemy IV - VII / Enchantments I - VII / Golem Technologies I - II: Time to total collapse 42:00:00 hours. They fail as soon as they leave the plateau!]
This time the system did not give him a percentage, so there was only a failure or completion of the quest. The reward this time was more than plentiful, something that actually put him off. The higher the reward, the higher the risks, he probably rightly suspected.
In fact, it could be said that the rewards were excessive. After all, knowledge had been the most valuable asset to him. But did everyone get the same offer as him? Apparently he wasn't receiving this quest alone, but unlike him, they were staring at the strange mirror on the table. Was there a difference in how the system was perceived? Did they even call it a system? How did it present itself to them? Could he ask without arousing suspicion?
The discussion that had previously come to a standstill flared up again in a much larger deal. Even the mercenary's expression seemed to have changed. Only Lark didn't seem sure where to set his priorities now. Perhaps the system offered them all something else? Could it know what each of them wanted?
Bard seemed to be waving him to the table. Whatever he was up to, apparently he inadvertently became a part of it. Inwardly, he wanted to scold himself for not leaving when he still had the opportunity. How could a bit of fruit get him into such a mess?
Reluctantly, he joined them. Whereupon Bard took over his introduction.
Bard: This is Magna, as I already reported, I would not be here today without your help, besides, she can heal and also seems to be able to do something against these beings.
The mercenary raised an eyebrow and examined him: You can heal, little thing? No offense, but you don't look like a healer. Maybe more like an ordinary thief or some other exile out here.
Lark seemed to nod in agreement and some of the knights gave a laugh. Not that he cared. Should people believe what they wanted, as long as it didn't hurt him. Basically he had the opportunity to make it clear that he wasn't a woman, maybe they would even believe him, but at the moment this body was part of the fact that it was underestimated. A substantial part of him still wanted to clear it up, but the rational part of him suppressed it quite successfully.
Bard: I wanted to ask you if you have also been blessed by the gods with a task and a reward when you look in the mirror of the information?
At that moment he became aware of something that everyone seemed to be aware of but himself. They didn't see the system in the same way as he did, but in a completely different way. Something in their perception of the system was different that even referred to the system in its address itself! Why did the soldier he once fished from one of his pits not carry one with him or the huntress in the hut? Had he even missed it in the dungeon itself?
Well, he had to sell it and it was difficult to go with the truth here, otherwise he would have had to look for a formulation for a while to get around this problem. He stared at the table for a few long seconds, after which he slowly began to nod. Was that right?
Bard: And? Isn't that great? The gift of the gods very rarely assigns tasks. We only know it from songs of the bards or from ancient stories. For our contribution, it fulfills some of our wishes if they do not go beyond the performance of the task.
Magna: Yes, the reward is really generous, but her henchman is right to bring her back to her house.
Lark's face was taken by surprise at this statement. Support from this direction would never have occurred to him. In the end, it was simply because Magna was no longer insane or greedy enough to jump into a dark hole full of problems.
Bard: It doesn't matter if I make it back if ...
Lark cut him off. These seemed to be important internals of the Astoria family, nothing to share with strangers. Which made Bard clear his throat a few times: Well, everyone seems very interested in the gods' task.
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He wanted to sneak away from here, but something told him it wouldn't be that easy. He also had to wonder if, in an emergency, he could just hand out the reserved items or if they would have noticed and listened to his secrets.
He was left in that chair while all the guards were led into the tent one by one so that they could also see the task in the mirror. Not one of them was not surprised or not ready to embark on this adventure.
The mood in the camp was pregnant with their greed for this adventure, as well as the plentiful rewards. He wasn't even actually asked if he wanted to attend; it was already a done deal.
Part of him was yelling at him the whole time to just go away. The voice in his head lovingly whispered "Let them go to their doom" but he also had to admit that the knowledge offered was plentiful! Presumably he should wait for an opportunity whereby he could disappear without consequence. On the other hand, they had seen his face, so if a few survived they could seek revenge. Single purpose people could be very single-minded if they subordinated everything to that single goal. He could have stabbed them in the back, but was that an option? Even if he didn't, he still had to consider all the possibilities.
For the coming fights he probably had to throw the saved points into his agility, vitality or tenacity. Inwardly, he praised himself a little, not always to use his points directly, but always to keep a few for emergencies. A certain flexibility was always an advantage.
Even the description still hung over his head like a sword of Damocles! Eventually there was talk of closing a portal, but where did the portal come from? Where did the portal lead? Who made it? What was holding the filter system back? But most of all, how were they supposed to close the damn portal?
He was kindly assigned one of the tents there, reminding him of the tents at the medieval market. It was big enough that you could even stand in some areas of the interior. But, apparently, he had to share the tent with someone else. It was also a bit bigger than the other tents, but still a lot smaller than the Bard tent.
The interior, however, lost far to the interior of the young lord's tent. In contrast to his tent, this was kept simple through and through. The second camp bed, if you wanted to call it that, looked completely out of place. It literally stood out, like a table leg of a different color. Everything in this tent seemed to have a purpose. An armor stand that was missing armor, probably because it was being worn. Some weapons on a weapon rack, one of which was his dream war hammer, but also spears like various swords - because there was always a suitable weapon for every job.
A lamp powered by a beast crystal hung in the center of the tent. This whole tent reminded him of his time in the military! He just threw the full combat rucksack on the couch that looked vacant, while the big mercenary filled the whole entrance of the dwelling from behind. Her voice boomed to him:
“I'm Samantha, my friends can call me Sam, but for you I'm the group leader. My first or to you is, the mutt is sleeping outside. I don't share my tent with a beast. No matter what the young lord asks! "
Magna: " Rude, but pleased. I am Magna. When Leica sleeps outside, I sleep outside too. I can't fall asleep without my cuddle pillow. ”
It was an outright lie, of course, but he would never reduce his strength by half.
As he spoke, he stroked Leica's head, the mercenary only giving him a suspicious look, grabbed his rucksack again, where he and Leica lay down under a tarpaulin next to the campfire of the tent.
He was already used to sleeping outside and no one could force his companion to sleep outside like an ordinary street dog. They were also in nature, so it wasn't a problem to spend the night outside.
Instead, the campfire and the way he lay there with Leica reminded him of their trip to the waterfall. It would have been interesting to know how much the camp beds gave, but nothing could be better than a massive wolf that wrapped itself around you like a cuddly pillow.
They slept well into the day, but despite Lark's urging to start at night, the others hadn't yet made contact with the enemy. Except for a few missing scouts like trackers, they had nothing to complain about. While this made her seem nervous, that nervousness was easily replaced by the greed of the possible rewards in her eyes.
He was awakened by the clatter of armor being donned. Or maybe they were just worried that they wouldn't make it in the allotted time. Only now did he actually notice how many people the group of mercenaries comprised.
Looking at the many people in the camp, the term group leader seemed completely out of place. It reminded him a lot more of a full platoon of 45-50 people. That doesn't include the young lord's men. Still, these people just seemed wasted to him. They all ran into their graves!
He himself just grabbed his backpack while the group leader stepped out of her tent fully equipped. In her hand was the heavy war hammer he had seen in the gun rack yesterday. Some were carrying rucksacks.
Lark seemed to be protesting against leaving too, but basically the mercenaries had done their job. The knights were eager for the task as well, as was Bard, who felt his track record strengthened with the new team. Perhaps the rewards were enough, even for him, to put aside his trauma?
Contrary to his expectations, the mercenaries showed a high level of discipline. Nobody stormed off without a command from their leader. Nobody gave her an inappropriate look or refused an order. Perhaps she had beaten them with respect? At least that was what you might think when looking at the hammer. In his mind he could literally imagine how many skulls were cracked with it.
He could also only assess their strengths. At the moment he has been identified by Lark once, and he clearly perceived the feeling of being spied on.
So if he could feel it, so could the others, and as long as nobody was looking at him proactively, neither should he. Or maybe it could be seen as rude or even challenging. Last but not least, he did not know their cultural rules.
From here on it didn't take them much longer to very soon cross the first place on the direct route into the ruins. Although the things were active during the day, it was still strange not to see a single one on their way, they had to know of the two who had escaped them.
As soon as they got to the first bigger place, the mercenaries began to swarm through the various alleys, streets and houses. They collected everything that looked like something valuable. With all the metal left lying around, like glass, his heart seemed to be bleeding. Unfortunately, he couldn't just make things go away without a fuss.
At about nightfall they reached the central ruins of a massive city in the interior of the plateau. It was a delusional sight. In the ruins, lamps were burning in various intact buildings, which seemed to flicker again and again, making it seem as if their energy source was unstable and was on the verge of total collapse.
Most impressive, however, was the massive circular river that ran around the ruins, from which, in his opinion, four rivers emerged, which became the waterfalls on the sides of the plateau.
They wandered for a while until they found an intact bridge inside the ruins. Amazingly, the noise level reached a surprising minimum after arriving in the center!