CHAPTER 12 - Settlement
I had been following these guys for a while already. I thought they were just some people in charge of standing guard around the surroundings of their settlement, guess not! Now that I know that I am getting my hopes up, maybe they already got a pretty big base for the amount of time that passed from day one.
Fifteen minutes later we get to an already isolated path of sand and dirt. After a few more minutes we arrive at a wooden wall of about 5 meters. It comes out of the rocky walls of the hill on my left and ends on the right side in a similar fashion. ‘Not bad, seems like a pretty tough wall.'
We don't need to wait much before I see the door open on its own. They probably got someone on the lookout for intruders close enough to send signals to warn of any threats. ‘This is starting to look good.’ I think to myself.
“This is our base, it may not be the same if you compare to how we lived before, but it’s definitely safer than being on your own out there like you do.” Igor gives me a little tour of the base while looking for the ‘chief’ of this place. It doesn’t take that much time as the walled base is not that big either. It probably hosts from 150 to 200 people by my rough estimation, maybe a bit more.
“Hey Jake we got a new guy for you to show around and help him get accustomed! He says he wants to trade and maybe settle here too!” Igor shouts at a guy that's helping to build some kind of granary or warehouse. Another thing to take note of, the ones in charge are helping too. I am just about to try and look around a bit when the newcomer calls for me.
“You! You are the guy we saw before!”
'Huh?” What’s he rambling about? I am sure that this is my first time seeing him in my whole life.'
“Welcome to our home, ehhh …”
“Leo.”
“Yeah, Leo, welcome. I am Jake, one of the guys that manages everything here.”
“Okay, good to know, but where did you see me? Are you sure it was me?” I can see that this guy is the easy-going kind of guy you can always rely on. Maybe I did get lucky and I won’t need to search for any other group.
“Yeah, I am sure, it is kind of difficult to not remember what you did at the entrance of the city against those monsters that ambushed you.” He laughs as he says so, but I don’t feel like joining him.
“Did you know I was going to get ambushed?” I ask in a bland, emotionless tone.
“Nonono, don't get me wrong. Me and my group were looking from afar on the balcony of a far away building. We couldn’t have possibly done anything, sorry about that.”
“Well, it’s okay then, not like you could do much, I just ran for my life.”
“If you say so. You saved a few of us too. Weren’t you the one that opened the back door for us on the first day of the apocalypse?”
“I guess we do have some connection then.” I wasn't expecting this at all. This took a turn for the better, it will be probably easier for them to welcome me in and trust me knowing I saved them. If they really saw my fight, they will probably know that I am quite skilled too.
“Come, follow me Leo, I will get all of my friends with whom I build all of this from scratch to have lunch while we talk. I am sure they will be thrilled to hear about you and to have you here.”
“Sure, I guess we do have quite some things to talk about.” Okay, let's take a look at his so-called friends before making the decision.
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I am seated at the table where we are supposed to eat. I wait for the people to arrive, I have my sword in its sheath, still held at arm's length just in case, you never know. Some minutes after Jake arrives with three people in tow, two men and a woman. One of the men looks similar to Jake, but just in physique. Jake has an easy going and kind of cheerful attitude while this other guy comes off as a much more stoic and serious man. The last man has no clear striking factor and just greets me with a kind smile. The stoic man presents himself as Josh while the other one is called Tom.
The woman, Cassandra, has striking red and curly hair that coupled with the way she walks with confidence makes her stand out the most. After they all greet me Jake tells us to sit and have a chat while we enjoy ourselves with the food that is already served on the table.
“Sorry for not giving you anything better in regards to food and we have clear rules and we cannot be wasteful with it.”
“Sounds good to me.” Well, I don’t buy it, not that easy. There are thousands of ways to keep up a facade and I am going to start by trading with them as I had planned to be able to see everything that goes on inside the base.
“We really appreciate you saving us before. You can tell us if you ever need anything. We may be able to help you in some way or another.” Tom propose something interesting.
“Actually, I am looking for some people. I would like to know if they are here. I can make a list for you.”
“That’s not needed, you can come with us tomorrow morning. We have a short meeting in the mornings where all the people on the base come to have breakfast and listen to the things we plan on doing for the day.”
“Yeah, as Jake says, we can give you a moment to come with us and have a look and see if there is anyone that you know.” Tom seems honestly grateful as he talks to me.
“I will be doing that then, thank you.”
“It’s the least we could do for you.”
We talk about a few things and they tell me how they are managing the base. They say they are encouraging people to go out for food and hunt, but just in the nearby area where monsters are few and far in between. Making people bring food and sometimes if they are lucky new members. It may seem like a good plan on the surface, but if the people that do the outings are unskilled and unprepared the best you can get is them coming alive with little to no food on themselves. It will get better with experience though, that’s for sure. However, there will be a cost. Some deaths are bound to happen in a wild and dangerous environment like that.
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I however see some good planning, at least in my opinion is not the worst. People need to get accustomed to the new environment we will need to coexist with from now on, so better do it now than when it’s already late. They talk about some other things like how they are gonna try and cultivate the land with a variety of vegetables. They plan on getting their hands on some animals for meat apart from hunting and all that too, yet nothing else to point out apart from the things needed to cover the basic need of everyone on here.
I tell them that I will be staying here for the day at least and ask if they have a blacksmith or someone who can get the same job done. To my surprise they say they got two, even though only one knows what he's doing and the other one is just an apprentice of some sort. They say that there are some people trying to learn jobs that will be needed from now on and that the second blacksmith is just another one such people. 'Well, as long as one of them is capable enough it works for me.'
We say our farewells and I leave to look around on my own. I could have asked for someone to guide me, yet I only told them to send someone to guide me to where I would be staying later on.
I take my time to look at their quick growth in this new era where electronic appliances are no longer as useful or accessible. They really worked hard, the base has been built with defense in mind, it is hidden into the rocky walls of a cliff in the middle of a forest, probably one of the few that are in the area. They have built a few wooden small buildings to store food or other supplies. They got a few hen houses with some chickens and they already built a fence for the other farm animals they plan on getting. For now however, they are empty.
The best part of all of it is that they have a lot of people in charge of their last big project, which is to bring water from the river downhill to the base. Freeing a lot of the people in charge of bringing it everyday and allowing for the people at the base to take baths inside the base too. I like the idea a lot, not having to expose yourself to do the daily life activities is always a plus, better yet, taking showers! They really bought me with that. They are trying to connect the river and the base with some pipes they got from a construction provider nearby, obviously by stealing from their factory. They must have at least one plumber or someone who knows how to do it. It will take a while, yes, but it will make all the difference in the long run.
Lastly, I get to the allegedly blacksmith to see if he and the apprentice are capable of working on those knives. I obviously brought the claws of the giant moles with me. It was the idea to find a settlement, so it was wise of me to bring them with me if I say so myself.
*knock* *knock*
“Hello!? Is this the black-”
*whoosh*
I duck out of the way of the door as someone opens it with a little too much strength.
“What?” A teenager my age is the one who comes to greet me.
“I was told that I could get some weapons done here, is that right? ” I ask, kind of incredulous seeing the baggy eyes the young man is carrying.
“We already told the ones in charge to stop sending us people who want weapons we can’t make till they finish procuring us some real equipment.”
“Actually, mine should be an easy enough request.” I can nearly hear him muffle a groan as he tells me to come in after I insists.
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Once inside I can see a few things that are needed for the job; a forge, some hammers and a tong, a few files to polishing and obviously an anvil. You can work with that, but it will be needed something a lot better to get the utmost quality. At least the man working right now on the anvil seems to know what he is doing. The young man that let me in signals me to wait for a second and we wait till he finishes the hoe he was making. I notice they are using low quality materials that can be found everywhere to reforge them into something else. Probably taking advantage of all the useless pipes, fences and all that type of things they can get their hands on.
“Martin I told you we don’t accept commissions anymore, we already told the chief to filter the tasks that we can work on. Sorry young man, but I can’t do much with what you see, we don't even dispose of a stable flame that’s hot enough for the most part."
“I don’t need a new weapon per se, I just need you to craft some handles for me for easy grasp and balance some ‘blades’ that I got my hands on.” I take the opportunity to ask them if they can do it before they stop being so understanding and try to get them interested with the new materials I got.
“I have some monster claws that are very sharp yet light. I would love if you could make their handles as I said and give them a little bit of weight while you are at it. That would help it have more strength behind the attacks and throws.” I await they response, wanting to know if they are interesting in working with the new resources we have now.
“So you are one of those who tried to go out in groups to hunt? I thought that not even one of those groups managed to bring back anything useful..” His eyes already scanning me in search of the raw materials.
“No, I came here on my own, I wanted someone who could use the materials I got to make better equipment with them.”
The blacksmith eyes me suspiciusly yet he nods.“Okay, you came to the right place then, I will make the thing you asked for. However, next time you want something done, try to come here with the monsters corpse and I will tell you how to skin them like a professional. There have been a few instances where the guys supplying us tried to skin their prey themselves and it ended up terribly.”
“Can I ask what they brought you?” I want to know what the normal expectations are for when I trade with other people.
“One of the groups that went scouting nearby ambushed one of those guys that resemble big bulky athletes, similar to those bodybuilding people from before the apocalypsis, they told me they found the guy already hurt hiding inside a crack on the northern hill.”
Wait, did they kill an orc? Or did they kill one of the other ones that resembles them?
“That monster, was it about 2 meters and slim? Or was it taller and even bulkier than bodybuilders?” I am a hundred percent sure that even while injured one lone orc could take on any group this base his way.
“He was tall, but not that bulkier, just jacked. Even while injured the group that went after him ended up with injuries all over their bodies because they didn’t have any clear way to kill the guy with how tough his hide was. That’s why they thought it was a good idea to bring the hide here for me to make armor or something out of it after finally defeating it, but it was already scratched all over by the fights and destroyed by a novice skinning it.”
Okay, that makes sense, he is taking about a the weaker variant. Even if their defense doesn’t compare to the orcs themselves it still pretty hard to pierce their skin or hide, whatever you consider it. I did have some problems to take them down before I got my longsword or the qi infused attacks.
“That’s why I am telling you, if by any chance you got one of such monsters, just bring it in one piece.”
“I will have it in mind. Can I leave you this claws then for you to work on them?” Now that’s everything is discussed and I already got a clear idea of what to expect from the whole base in general I am ready to start working on my plan.
“Yes, give them to me and I will send someone to tell you when they are done. It shouldn't take much time. ” He says so, still eager to see how good the claws are.
“Here you go, see you next time then.” I leave the claws with him and leave before the guys start asking other things like how did I get my hands on them, there is no need to waste time right now. I still have a little bit of time before having dinner. First I will do my daily training with body and qi and then plan on how to get them to trust me or help me as fast as I can.
Unfortunately as I want the fastest method to get them to help me, I decide to just improve my skills while I hunt for useful materials to get myself some armor and equipment to help me while facing stronger monsters. If I start now I will get enough materials for a small group of people to protect themselves and improve their strength and use it as an enticing bribe for this base to follow me.
‘Let’s see what we can do.” I will start my hunt tomorrow and the people at this base are in for a surprise.