“Shouldn’t a representative of your adventurers be present for this?” Tiriana asked with a frown. As she spoke, the attendant that had just entered laid out ceramic plates. She didn’t stop at three, however, adding a fourth before an empty seat the two women had assumed was only there because the table was sized for four.
“Yes, yes, but she seems to be running a bit late I’m afraid- ah, here she comes now,” Doctor Kanhton replied, noticing someone approaching from his vantage point facing the door.
“My apologies, I was finalizing our plan for securing the perimeter at the fortress,” the fourth person answered, entering the room. Sera and Tiriana turned in their chairs to find Cadenza entering the room, minus her weapons.
“Not to worry, we were just about to get started,” Kahnton told her mildly as she took her seat. The attendant poured Cadenza a fresh cup of tea, having been waiting for her arrival before doing so.
“I didn’t realize you’d be part of the expedition,” Sera said, surprised by her arrival, “much less the leader of the other adventurers.” Typically someone in command would send a scout or liaison for such things, not go in person, especially not without an escort.
“Did I not mention?” Cadenza asked, taking a cake from the platter in the center of the table. “I’m the head party leader for the Aegis Company contingent here, but I’m still an adventurer. Most in my position would want to see things for themselves.”
“Most of the leadership in adventurer companies rises from the ranks. Old habits die hard,” Tiriana provided, seeming unphased by the reveal. Her eyes were on the cakes, though, so it was hard to tell. “I’m not sure what you need from us, though. I’d think most of what you need to know you saw from the air last time you were here.”
“If that were the only concern, you’d be right. But just because I’m in charge of my adventurers doesn’t mean I’m in charge of yours, so I thought it would be best to coordinate with you as an equal. If the other can’t be bothered to make an appearance, well, I suppose they’ll just have to accept whatever you agree to,” Cadenza replied cheekily, already having accounted for the non-existent command structure of Tiriana’s group. Sera wasn’t so sure it would be that easy, but Cadenza was probably right that a lot of them would sooner just accept their new accommodations than actually hold a conversation with anyone.
“In that case, some single person rooms on the edge of camp will probably be good enough for most. Vivi will need space for a shrine, somewhere near the center so everyone can see her if they need a cleric. And…our support staff is small, but they’ll probably be willing to work things out with yours, minus our smith, who would be happy with an underground workshop,” Tiriana listed out, looking up at the ceiling as she thought.
“That all sounds perfectly reasonable. Will you be assisting with security?”
“Most of the group understands the necessity so they’ll take shifts if asked, but I wouldn’t count on them coordinating very well,” Tiriana said dryly.
“If anything goes wrong and someone fails to speak up, we’ll just follow the sounds of things breaking,” Cadenza replied with the same energy. She probably knew the type well.
“How were you planning to set up the camp?” Sera asked. “I’ve heard a few things about making this a permanent settlement, so are you planning for that, or just building a large field camp?”
“Typically in a situation like this we would do the latter, yes, yes,” the doctor said, rejoining the conversation.
“If possible, would you mind if I laid out a plan for that? I have some education in city planning. I was studying to be an architect- I didn’t graduate, admittedly, but city planning was part of my coursework,” Sera said, hoping to do something more than just sit around for once.
“I don’t see why not. What did you have in mind?”
“I’ll draw up a plan after we land, but we should probably set up by the elevator initially. It’s connected to the warehouses underground, so we can put an airfield nearby, and we can use the initial camp we set up for inns and other temporary housing once the rubble in the city center is cleared out. That would be the first place anyone sees when they enter whether it’s through the elevator- if we ever get the place standing again- or via the airfield, so we can plan for it ahead of time,” Sera explained, calling up the layout of the area in her mind. That would put the camp near the rear of the turtle, with the airfield and accommodations replacing some of the farmland.
“That would probably be best for security as well,” Cadenza confirmed a moment later, swallowing a mouthful of cake before speaking. “The elevator shaft would be the hardest entrance to the underground to seal up, so it would be best if we locked it down and kept a close watch on it. The other two known entrances aren’t far from it, either.”
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
“I’d suggest laying the streets out on a grid too, so we don’t end up with a confusing tangle of roads due to unplanned expansion. Once we start clearing the rubble in the center we can start zoning out sections based on what we want to put there, as well. And…I think we should either just seal up the workshop entrances for the most part and build any production we need on the surface or seal up most of them and combine the workshops into one big factory floor. The way they’re built right now is a needless security risk and it isn’t even very convenient from a zoning perspective,” Sera continued, finishing by taking a sip of tea to wet her throat. Then fighting not to grimace at the taste.
“That will likely be quite a ways down the road due to the need to sift through the ruins for cultural artifacts, but having a plan wouldn’t hurt,” the doctor said approvingly. “I believe that before we begin making plans to stay permanently, though, we should discuss what to do if the locals ask for the fortress back.”
Sera looked at Tiriana, expecting her to take over for this part, but found the elf chewing quickly, trying to get through a very large amount of snack cake she’d stuffed into her mouth. Glancing at her plate, Sera found a lot of crumbs, and glancing at the platter, she noticed a lot of snack cakes missing from Tiriana’s side specifically. She gave the woman a judging look, having put together that she’d spent the whole time the others were talking eating as much cake as possible.
“I haven’t had anything this good in months. Don’t judge,” Tiriana defended once her mouth was empty, looking away. “Moving on, I’m not sure what you mean, Doctor Kanhton. All of our encounters with the nachzehrer have been hostile, and we haven’t found a trace of any other survivors.”
“Yes, yes, that does complicate things diplomatically, but you have not ruled out that they are capable of communicating just yet. Your encounters so far have been few, and you may have caught them by surprise. Despite their hostility, they are the rightful inhabitants of this frontier, and we cannot simply colonize their lands to sate our curiosity,” the doctor explained disapprovingly. “I should tell you now that our instructions are to withdraw if asked directly. You aren’t obligated to do so as well, of course, but what would you do in such an event?”
“It would depend on the exact circumstances,” Tiriana said slowly, looking at Sera uncomfortably. Something about this didn’t sit right with Sera, either, but she wasn’t sure what exactly. He hadn’t said anything wrong, per se, but… “We would likely withdraw to our previous camp rather than stay there without support, at the very least.”
“Of course, of course. And I have no intention of dictating a policy of pacifism if we come under attack, I assure you. I simply wish to establish that we are researchers, not invaders, and our mission is predicated on the assumption that the region has been depopulated.” With that said, the doctor took a cake and took a wedge-shaped bite out of it, holding it in his mouth for a seconds to savor it before swallowing the bite whole.
“The tricky part is that we have no way of talking to them unless they already know a translation spell,” Tiriana pointed out, slowly claiming another cake as if hoping no one would notice. “Since their world had mana to begin with we can’t just cast one on a native. But everything we’ve seen so far suggests any magic users in the area when it was taken by the mist were captured by nachzehrer, and they don’t seem very talkative.”
“Is it possible people could be hiding deep within the underground of the mobile fortress?” Cadenza asked, setting her empty teacup aside. The same attendant from before stepped up to refill it.
“Possible, but unlikely. I’m sure you know as well as I do that the deepest sections are almost certainly filling with monsters by now. A mage could take precautions to prevent it, but only if they know they need to do so, and if they did, they could have likely stopped the frontier from forming in the first place,” Tiriana explained while she nibbled at another cake.
“Now that I you mention it…what if that’s the reason you’ve never seen a frontier with its own mana before?” The explanation had given Sera an epiphany and she couldn’t help but raise the point even though it was somewhat off topic.
“That’s…huh.” Dumbfounded, Tiriana froze for a moment. “Actually, that’s entirely possible. We’d never notice if it’s an uninhabited region and any mage could interrupt the process if present- even accidentally.”
“But this frontier was in an active state of war where the mages were being suppressed,” Cadenza continued, pieces falling into place. “With a frontier this size the fortress’s power core could have drawn enough mana in to slow the process down and eventually halt it entirely, but it was destroyed first.”
“And then the shift happened. We thought the battles took place after the shift, but they were actually the trigger,” Tiriana finished. “That’s why it seemed like the fortress had stopped moving for a while and the military base had been cleared out without a fight. They were blinded by the mist and didn’t start moving until they came under attack. Assuming it works the way our models predict, anyway. We’ve never been able to gather data from the other side.”
The room was silent for a few moments as everyone processed the new information. For now it was just speculation, but Tiriana seemed to think it held up under scrutiny, and she was the resident expert.
“Pardon my asking, but does this change anything?” Doctor Kahnton interjected, a bit lost.
“Maybe, maybe not. It allows us to make some predictions about what survivors we might find if any,” answered Tiriana with a shrug.
“Well, I believe that is everything I wished to cover. Thank you for your time; feel free to relax here until we land. Someone will be along to inform you of our arrival,” the doctor said, dropping down from his perch and shuffling out of the room.
“We didn’t actually finish the conversation about how we’d talk to the natives…” Sera pointed out after he left.
“He’ll figure out the problem the first time he encounters the nachzehrer,” Tiriana replied.
“Don’t worry, we’ll be sure to keep our guard up so nothing unfortunate happens. In the meantime, I’ve been wanting to have a chat with you!” Cadenza said, abruptly turning to Sera rather than Tiriana.
“Me?” Sera squawked, pointing at herself in surprise.
“Yes! This is the first time I’ve met a fellow mistwalker, after all.”