After Kaiser left, back at the Silvaria main cabin, Fatima and Angelia were having a talk with their mother.
"Mom... everything's going to be fine, our Cecil isn't so weak. You know that better than anyone," comforted Fatima.
"...yes, but I still can't help but worry Ima."
Angelia, upon seeing her mother being so dejected, spoke up in comfort as well, "Mommy~ big bro's strong!"
While she was saying this, Angelia was cutely flexing her nonexistent muscles and trying to smile just like her older brother. Anastasia faintly smiled upon seeing her little baby being all cutesy. She quickly replied to her little Angel, "Yes, yes. Your big brother's very strong!"
"Right??? So cheer up! Okay, mommy?"
"Hmhmhm. Okay, sweetheart."
"Yay! ...Mommy I'm hungry..."
Hearing her little baby, Anastasia quickly got up. She patted her little Angel's head and walked towards the cabin's roughly-made kitchen.
"Wait a little bit, okay?"
"M'kay~" Angelia responded happily with a huge grin on her face. Seeing their mother cheering up, Fatima ruffled Angelia's hair.
"Good job, Angie"
"Hehehe~"
As they were waiting for their mother to finish cooking, Grandma and Grandpa Silvaria came in. Seeing that Fatima was sitting and talking with their youngest grandchild, Grandpa Silvaria went over and asked, "Fatima, shouldn't you be helping everyone else?"
"...I've already sent my people to do the work and father told me to accompany mother."
"Hmhm, is that so? Anyway, where's my cute little Angel?"
Grandpa Silvaria quickly picked up his smallest granddaughter and raised her high in the air. Despite being rather old, Grandpa Silvaria was still a very fit man, so lifting up his granddaughter like this and playing with her wasn't a problem for him. He glanced at his daughter-in-law who was making herself busy in the kitchen and whispered into his granddaughter's ear, "... Is mommy alright?"
Angelia didn't say anything and only nodded at his words. While Fatima, who happened to overhear what he asked quietly replied, "For now mother is okay. She's only worrying, there's no need to be so overly concerned. You know how father is. He's always blowing things up in proportion when it comes to mother."
*sigh* "...who's the actual family head here?" Grandpa Silvaria asked as he shook his head.
"It's obviously mother, right Grandma?"
Grandma Silvaria, who had taken a seat, could only smile at her granddaughter's cheeky response. She quickly spoke up and replied, "You've been more cheerful lately... more outgoing too. Did something happen, young lady?"
"I-it's nothing..."
"Is that so? It doesn't seem like 'nothing' to me." Grandma Silvaria says while raising an eyebrow.
Listening to her Grandmother's inquiry, Fatima fell silent and thought, 'I can only do this to distract myself grandma... I might lose it if I don't.'
Although Cecil's mother was greatly affected by his disappearance, his eldest sister was also similarly affected, but unlike their mother, Fatima couldn't stomach the fact that her youngest brother had disappeared since she always felt guilty to him. She also felt that it was her responsibility to look out for her siblings and believed that she was at fault for Cecil's disappearance, when in fact, it was no one's fault at all.
'Even now, I've failed to protect him... again. What kind of sister am I?'
Fatima's expression almost cracked, but she quickly regained herself. She looked back up at her Grandmother and firmly said, "There's really nothing, Grandmother."
The slight change in the way she addressed her didn't escape Grandma Silvaria's ears. She also saw the split second where there was a slight change in her granddaughter's expression, but seeing as her granddaughter was being so adamant in not sharing her feelings, Grandma Silvaria could only sigh and let it go.
"If you say so honey, but just remember. If you have any problems, come to grandma okay? To other's you may look fine, but your distress can't escape my eyes, young lady. I know you're forcing yourself to be like this, and that's not good. That goes for you and for those around you."
Seeing that her own façade had been seen through, Fatima could only nod her head.
"Okay, that's good enough for now. Let's go help your mother out in the kitchen."
"Yes, grandma."
The two quickly got up and headed towards the kitchen and began helping Anastasia cook. Half an hour later, the 3 women had started laying down food on the dining table.
"Alright, we're finished. My husband should also be finished gathering everyone together. If not... then he's SO gonna get it."
"Actually, honey, he already left earlier with the advanced group."
"Huh? He did?"
"Yes. He said he's going to secure the valley first and wait for us there."
"...He didn't even wait for lunch."
"Don't worry about him. He'll be fine."
After they finished setting the table and laying out the food, Anastasia went out with her in-laws. Outside the house, a crowd of people had already gathered, waiting for the Silvaria family's announcement. The crowd immediately quieted down when they saw the Silvaria family matriarch appear. Even though she was a small woman, her presence alone was able to garner the full attention of the entire crowd without even having to raise her voice.
She turned towards her father-in-law and Grandpa Silvaria nodded at her. Since the Patriarch had already left with the advanced group, it was up to her to rally the rest of the group. She took a deep breath and spoke up in her loudest possible voice.
"EVERYONE! Thank you for gathering here. The Silvaria family has come to a decision today! We're leaving this area and relocating to a safer place to the east of here! The advanced party has already left a while ago! They'll clear out the valley for us so once we arrive, we'll immediately begin constructing our permanent encampment there and start developing the area around it! We'll move out in an hour so please get ready!"
After she finished saying her piece, the people who weren't part of the Silvaria Family and didn't know about the relocation began to discuss what was going on. Nobody voiced any words of rejection because they heard that it was a safer place. At the place they were currently at, they were hounded by monsters day and night. A safer place was something they all very much welcomed, so they quickly returned to their temporary houses and began packing all of their things in a hurry.
"At last, the Silvaria family is finally taking control."
"Yes, it's much better than listening to those stuck up fools from the government. They still believe this is Earth! Can't they see that everything's changed already?"
"Not all of them are like that though, just some of the higher ups that are having some stupid delusion that they're better than all of us and ordering us to protect them from harm."
"Isn't that supposed to be their job?"
"You said it. Some of them even want us to pay food taxes! As if hunting those beasts aren't enough, we still have to listen to all that bullshit!"
"At least the Silvaria family is still like how they've been like since back on Earth."
"They have a lot of strong fighters. I've seen a team of the Silvaria family's bodyguards take down a monster boar and monkey together!"
"We'll at least be safer following the Silvarias!"
Listening to the crowd's discussions, a smile crept up on the old patriarch's wizened face. The old matriarch could only shake her head in disappointment though.
"Even here, the people still look up to us for protection." The old matriarch sighed.
"That's a given."
"They should rely more on the government."
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
"Hah, with how incompetent they are, it's no wonder the people are constantly looking up to us. It's also those fools in the government that have prevented us from meddling in their politics. With our family's talents we could have done a much better job managing Edelesta! BAH. The people's distrust is their just desserts. HMPH!" the old patriarch said with a huff.
"... It's only because of the Goldenia family that was suppressing us in the political field. They're not present anymore. With the encampment being established, we need to make sure to keep the power within our family. It was sickening to watch the people's situation back at Edelesta," replied the old matriarch calmly.
"Hmph, the Goldenias were only lucky to venture into the political field ahead of us, establishing relationships with others that suppressed us from all directions. They couldn't even hold a candle to our businesses even when we let them venture into the economic field, but now that power is within our hands–" The old patriarch wrapped his hands behind his back and smiled while thinking about the future.
"This is an opportunity for our family to rise higher up!"
"Don't be so delusional, we should still focus on the here and now. Let's go back and eat with the family. We have to finish up and quickly leave for the valley..."
"Okay."
----------------------------------------------------------
2 months later, in the valley at the base of the Sky-Piercing Mountains in the No-Man's Land of the Midgard Continent, Kaiser was looking down at the scenery from atop his house's balcony. He was currently supervising his family subordinates' combat training that was taking place in the estate's courtyard. He realized that in this world, strength was the deciding factor of whether one held power or not and right now, his family held all of the power.
During the relocation that happened a while back, the Silvaria family's forces had successfully cleared out the valley they were currently living in of all the monsters that previously occupied it on the very first day they arrived at the place thanks to their incredible martial prowess and teamwork. By the time the rest of the people arrived, the Silvaria family's forces were already cleaning up the corpses of the monsters they hunted. This was the family's very first display of strength towards the rest of the people in their group who were unaffiliated with them.
At the time, not everyone from the original group of Earthlings came with them to the valley. There was still quite a lot of people that remained in the previous encampment with the people that were part of the governing body of the city of Edelesta, the place where they previously lived back on Earth. Thanks to the people in power, they were able to keep quite a lot of people on their side during the Silvaria family's relocation, citing that it was better to stay where they were because of the already established base.
Just like Kaiser said, however, he was going to leave with or without them. He managed to bring around half of the Earthlings in the group that were unaffiliated with his family to the valley. He managed the incredible feat of clearing out all of the monsters in the valley by the time the main group arrived, but afterwards, it wasn't smooth sailing for them. It took another month of arduous effort before their group was able to safely establish themselves in the valley.
Monsters kept on attacking them while they were building their new base, but thanks to the Silvaria family's guards, no one was hurt during the monsters' attacks. The monsters instead became food for the Earthlings and big sources of materials for the weapons, clothes, and armors they were using now. With the Silvaria family's martial prowess, they were able to garner even greater admiration from the regular people that had followed them.
Once the new camp was completed, the people in their group were finally able to start living their lives rather peacefully in the valley. The large walls erected at the mouth of the valley prevented monsters from coming and the area inside the valley was developed into farmland and pastures, so people no longer had to fear about not being able to procure any food. The stream that ran through the middle of the valley was expanded and made into a river.
This newly created river was the source of life for everything in the valley. The humans, crops, and even 'farm monsters' that they started rearing for meat and crafting materials. The monsters they were rearing like farm animals were naturally the more docile ones among the scary beasts that the Earthlings had encountered.
Now, after 3 months since arriving in this strange world, the Earthlings were finally able to live stably without having to worry about their lives. When the group of earthlings that remained in their previous camp learned of their success, the government faction immediately came and tried to take control, but it only resulted in them being beaten black and blue and having their asses kicked back to where they came from.
Of course, Kaiser wasn't so heartless as to turn away the normal people that wanted to join them. He allowed anyone who was willing to abide by the laws and regulations that his family had placed to settle down in the valley with them. Even the families that were part of the government faction that Kaiser and his family didn't get along with weren't turned away. He allowed them into his camp after they swore not to cause any trouble and follow his rules.
If they did cause trouble, Kaiser promised that he would kick them out without hesitation and let the monsters deal with them. He wasn't about to compromise the safety of his camp over a few idiots that wanted to play 'who's the king of the valley' with him.
Everything was fine as there were actually no problems even after he took in all of the people that had been left behind in the previous camp. The regular people who joined after the establishment of the valley base posed no problems because they immediately jumped ship and decided to support the Silvarias after seeing that they were able to live in such a safe and stable place. The real problems came from the government faction and some of the people who were adherent supporters of the families from that side after they had settled down.
It was quiet in the beginning, but the people from that side began voicing out their concerns and protests to the Silvaria Family's laws that were in place. Luckily, at the time, a monster attack happened and the people and the people who were protesting against the Silvaria family bore witness to their overwhelming military force and were forced to shut up.
The laws and regulations in the Silvaria family's valley encampment wasn't really that bad. Kaiser only asked of the people who decided to reside in the valley to pay a 5% food tax of whatever they harvested or hunted to the Silvaria family, so that they could continue raising their military forces.
Since there were no firearms anymore, a person's individual martial prowess and their ability to handle cold weapons like swords, spears, blades, and the like, were what decided whether you could survive or perish in this extreme place. There were monsters constantly attacking the valley and its surroundings, so the people needed protection–protection which the Silvaria family's forces could provide, so at the very least, this small food tax was the bare minimum the regular people who didn't want to fight could do to help out. Kaiser wasn't even hoarding the food all to himself, but giving them out to the brave men and women who were fighting against the monsters and protecting everybody inside of the valley.
The other laws and regulations were similar to the ones back on Earth, only some were slightly changed and others were cut out according to the circumstances of their current situation. Anyways, most of the laws implemented didn't put anyone at a disadvantage and were fair to all. The laws created by the Silvaria family made sure that everyone in the valley that was registered as citizens of the Silvaria Valley Settlement had equal rights and any form of effort was rewarded with the amount proportional to the work done.
Unlike the society conditions back at Edelesta City where the strong exploited the weak and the rich cheated on the poor, the Silvaria family did everything they could do to make sure that the living standards of the people were at an acceptable level. Of course, they could've just done what the people back in the city did and exploited everyone under them. After all, who could protest in the face of their overwhelming might? No one. However, this notion never once crossed the minds of the people in the Silvaria family.
Even when they were back on Earth, the Silvaria family's political members were always trying to push laws that helped all the civilians of Edelesta city. The only problem was that their hard work and effort never paid off since the families who were opposing them constantly suppressed them in the political field.
Now that they were given a chance, the Silvaria family tried to develop a fairer and more civil atmosphere in their settlement. Even though they were transported to god knows where, the people should at least try to maintain every shred of civility they had as humans. Their laws and kind intentions were greatly received by the citizens of the valley. Whether they were from the people who willingly followed them from the start and from the people who only settled down after the valley's camp had been firmly established.
The regular people were willing to follow the Silvaria Valley Settlement's laws not due to fear from the Silvaria family's military might, but due to the gratitude and trust they had in the Silvarias. The only ones who weren't appeased were the people who were previously in power. They had all of their power wrested away all of a sudden due to some freak accident, so it wasn't any wonder why they were so dissatisfied with their current circumstances. They were used to being in power, so they couldn't stand being below someone else.
However, even if they weren't satisfied, what could they do? If they tried to openly oppose the Silvarias, then they'd be met with exile just as Kaiser promised them. Then, they'd have to deal with the monsters all on their own and could they do that? The answer to that question was a resounding no. Maybe if they had firearms then the monsters would be a piece of cake, but it was crazy to fight against those beasts with just swords and shields.
They weren't like the Silvaria family who were full of crazy people that charged at those monsters like maniacs, so they could only fall in line and keep their dissatisfaction to themselves. The 'backward ways' and old traditions of the Silvaria family had actually turned into their saving grace ever since they were transmigrated to Alterna.
Just like with Cecil's circumstances, every member of the Silvaria family that received the minimal traditional training back on Earth, had experienced a breakthrough in strength ever since they began eating and training on Alterna due to them awakening their mana.
They obviously still didn't know why this was happening since they didn't have any information about mana like Cecil did, but everyone in the family were pleased that the training they did back on Earth that they previously thought were useless, had now become their strengths. Their combat prowess continued to improve every single day and they could feel it. It was why all of the people gathered in the Silvaria family's courtyard this morning were training with so much motivation.
"""HA! HA! HA! RAH!"""
Observing the crowd of people training in the field at the front of their house, Kaiser's lips rose in satisfaction. He raised his head and looked towards the horizon. The sun was slowly rising into the air, shining down rays of light which illuminated the valley. The Silvaria family's new main estate was built on a rather sizable plateau at the other end of the valley that was attached to the side of the Sky-Piercing Mountains.
They began calling this mountain range the Sky-Piercing Mountains because the tall mountaintops shot straight through the clouds in the sky and no one has ever seen their peaks before, even from afar. Little did they know, the people of Alterna also called the mountain range that was surrounding them the Sky-Piercing Mountains. It was just something about the mountains that made the people from 2 worlds refer to it by that particular name.
Anyway, the plateau that the Silvaria family built their estate on was rather big and it had enough land for them to include a small housing complex for their branch families and subordinate families. Even after building the housing complex, there was still a lot of space on the plateau, so they created a medium sized pond near the edge that was connected to the valley's river. This small pond would act as the family's own water source that was separate from the rest of the valley's citizens.
There was no meaning in creating a separate water source for the family. Kaiser just wanted to decorate the plateau because at first it was really barren. They even made a large garden near the main estate to make it look like their home back on Earth. Not only that, but the family even uprooted some of the trees in the valley and planted them around the plateau to make it look a little bit livelier.
After some time had passed, the plateau now looked a little more habitable than the first time they decided to make their estate here. There were trees growing around the edges of the plateau, and since they were on higher grounds, the trees obstructed the view of the Silvaria's Estate. This prevented anyone from spying on them. The only road up was the one the Silvarias created which was located at the east side of the plateau and was guarded by their family's guards, so only those that had important business or were with the Silvaria family could go up and down the plateau.
The Silvarias were a family that practiced seclusion, so they upheld their ways and stepped back from the rest of society and built their house away from the main settlement in the valley. Even though they were away, they still had people overseeing the settlement. The ones doing this were mostly those from the branch families while the main family secluded themselves and focused on training their members.
As Kaiser was observing the training, his wife Anastasia, had finished preparing breakfast. She came onto the balcony and walked towards him with a wooden tray that had a large bowl of steamy soup and something that looked like a loaf of bread. In the thick soup were small bite-sized chunks of red-colored meat and a small array of finely diced vegetables. Even though the meat had been cooked, it was still red in color, making it look raw.
It was obviously much different from the meat on Earth and that was because it was the meat from the monsters that the valley's hunting squads had hunted, while the vegetables were from the edible plants that the people foraged from the nearby forest. These edible plants were currently being planted and raised in the farmlands inside of the valley. Since they were edible, they needed to be planted for future consumption.
After 2 months of adaptation, the people in the valley were finally able to catalogue all edible and non-edible foods and vegetables. There were some mishaps on the way such as people getting food poisoning and the like, but at least no one died from eating the herbs and plants in the valley. As for the meat from the monsters, it appeared that almost all of the meat from the monsters were edible. The only problem would be the taste.
There were some monsters whose meat tasted delicious and were fit for consumption while there were others that tasted like an abomination and weren't fit for consumption. The Earthlings just hunted those that were edible and some people even managed to tame and domesticate the monsters that had good tasting meat, raising them in pastures inside of the valley like farm animals.
Not all of the monsters were carnivorous man-eating beasts. There were some that were similar to the animals back on earth and were able to be domesticated by the Earthlings and brought up as farm animals–well in this case, farm monsters. Some examples of the livestock monsters, would be the ones that looked like the cows back on Earth, except in this case, the monster cow had 3 pairs of legs, bristles on its back, and 2 curled horns on its head. The humans dubbed it the 6-Hoofed Bristleback Horned Cow, or Horned Cow for short.
The animal farmers in the valley were able to harvest milk and meat from these monsters which was extremely great for the settlement overall as the monsters provided a stable source of food. If they didn't have to, they wouldn't even need to kill these cows because the valley's hunting teams would always bring back meat for the entire settlement.
Another example of the friendly, domesticated monsters that the Earthlings in the valley managed to tame would be the Storm Horse, a monster that had a similar anatomy to Earth's horses, except that they were more monstrous than them. The Storm Horses had an extremely muscular build with a height of 3 meters and a length of 4-5 meters from head to tail. They sported 3 horns on their heads and although they seemed intimidating, the Storm Horses were in fact docile and well tamed once they were able to bond with the humans.
After a few weeks of bonding with the animals, the Storm Horses had grown extremely fond of the Earthlings who befriended them and were willing to go out of their way to defend them from the monsters that regularly attacked the valley and even allowed them to ride on their backs, so during the monster attacks some of the Silvaria family's fighters would go into battle mounted on their backs like knights.
Of course, outside of battle, the Storm Horses had other uses. They were able to pull plows, carts, and wagons which helped a lot in the settlement's agriculture and transportation sectors. Although the size, build, and horns were a big difference between a Storm Horse and a regular earth horse, the most prominent difference would be the Storm Horse's unique ability to create wind and lightning. This ability was why the Earthlings named these horse-like monsters Storm Horses.
They could create a whirlwind with their horns and even fire a bolt of lightning from the largest horn on their head. Riding on them when they used their unique wind-striding ability to enhance their speed during a charge made it feel like you were riding on a motorcycle instead of a horse.
The unique abilities of the Storm Horses were something the human's in the valley studied deeply about. They didn't dare to try and dissect one of the horses in case they earned their ire, so their conclusion was that the horses were able to do this because they had some kind of electrical organ inside of their bodies that enabled them to wield lightning. As for their ability to use the wind, the people researching the animals still couldn't make heads or tails of it.
They were on the right track, however, because in a sense, the mana core inside of the Storm Horses could be seen as an organ, and this 'organ' gave them the ability to use the elemental mana of lightning and wind.
Even after 2 months of being transported to Alterna, the humans that lived in the Silvaria Valley Settlement still haven't had the slightest idea of the presence of mana even though some of them were subconsciously using it.
Although there were some noticeable changes to their physiques, the humans, especially the ones who were part of the Silvaria family, only attributed this to the unique foods and vegetables that they ate and the daily training that they did. Just like their deduction with the Storm Horses' unique organ, this was true in a sense because there was mana in all of the foods that they were eating.
After arriving at her husband's side, Anastasia placed the tray of food on the table at the side and said, "Honey, breakfast is ready."
Kaiser turned to his wife, grabbed her hand and kissed it before thanking her, "Thank you, Honey."
He then turned to the people training down below and bellowed, "ALRIGHT EVERYONE! ATTEN~TION!"
The men and women, who were training, immediately stop. They quickly moved and began lining up before facing their instructor.
"This morning's training has finished. Go home and have breakfast. Afterwards, everyone will gather with their squads and begin their duties! The defense squads will stay on the look out at the settlement's walls while the attack squads will go out hunting for food and continue the search and rescue for other humans in the area. ANY QUESTIONS?"
A strong, well-built man on the front row of the line stepped out and raised his hand and shouted, "What about the scouting squad? What are we going to be doing, SIR?!"
Remembering that the scouting squad's 2 day break had finally ended today, Kaiser quickly responded, "The scouts will continue scouting and mapping out the area from the last checkpoint. I'll allow you guys to go as far as you can, but make sure to prioritize your teammates' safeties! Understood?!"
"Yes, sir!"
The man quickly step back and fell in line after having his question answered.
"ANY OTHERS?!"
There was a long silence and after seeing that there was no more questions, Kaiser raised his voice again and dismissed everyone, "No more? Alright then, DISMISSED!"
The crowd of people dispersed, heading back to their homes on the plateau. The sun had finally started shining down onto the valley as the people were heading back. It was a beautiful sight that left many smiling and in awe. The sun was rising and so was the rise of the next era of humanity.