Arthur looked at the older man who spoke with some hesitation. What kind of attitude should he adopt towards these strangers as it already was clear to him that they were summoned there for the settlement.
That being said, what should he do to satisfy their expectations and how?
Startled awake from his thoughts with the realization that he was standing there like a mute, staring at the group of five, Arthur cleared his throat and spoke to them.
“Hello, yes I am the settlement leader. Sorry for not welcoming you earlier, but as you can see the settlement has just been established.” Taking occasional, curious glances at the group, he forced himself to be calm and continued. “I am Arthur.”
The oldest of the group took a quick look at Arthur and then looked at Arthur’s shabby hut with a work bench on the side before sighing and saying seriously. “To be quite honest, we are not sure why we are here. Earlier we had a brief discussion on why and where we are, but not a single one of us can recall our past clearly.”
The rest of the group behind the older man came forward and nodded with absolute seriousness. One could practically see confusion and unease on their faces.
Arthur thought that it would be reasonable for one to be panicking or terrified when one finds themselves in a strange place without any idea what is to come or who they are, but they were hanging on just fine besides the unease.
This gave Arthur some fleeting idea on what was going on with the summoning portal.
To confirm this idea, he asked the group to confirm his guess once again. “Do you remember anything? Like who you are or anything that feels familiar?”
The group of five told Arthur that they only had fleeting recollections of their previous experiences and had no idea what was going on.
“Alright, as said before, I am Arthur. I came into this place only yesterday so if we wish to live here properly, there is much to do.” Taking occasional glances at his surroundings, he continued. “There’s still so much I don’t know about this place, so for now, try saying “Status” out loud to see if that works.”
“Status” The oldest of the group spoke out and was startled.
“How is it? Did it work?” Arthur asked.
“I think so, yes… The moment I saw the text, I could understand it perfectly, like it was part of me.” He answered honestly.
In the meanwhile, the others of the group spoke Status quietly and waited quietly.
Arthur saw that status worked for the others, so they did a brief round of introductions and chatted freely.
With some hesitation, Jonathan, the oldest of the group voiced out his concerns that had been bugging him since he looked at his status. “I can perfectly understand the lines of text when I say out Status, but the thing is…I don’t think I know how to read.”
“You don’t know how to read? Now that I think about it, what about the language?” Arthur turned his head towards the only female of the group, Mei. “Do you know any other language besides the one that we speak now?”
Bewildered at being singled out, Mei looked down and spoke softly. “No. I only speak…?”
Realizing the absurdness of the situation, Mei looked at Arthur’s eyes, which after she speechlessly turned to look at the others.
Yes, it seemed that everyone had forgotten even the name of their native language.
Arthur scratched the back of his neck and drew a conclusion on what was going on. Pondering on it for a moment, he shook his head after hearing his stomach growling.
“Everyone, we can slowly think about these issues later, but for now I think it’s best for us to focus on the current situation.”
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He briefed the group on the things he learned, such as construction and the usage of workbench, pointing out the small stream of water that's drinkable and the materials acquisition and conversion.
After waiting for the group to digest these things, Arthur spoke out.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
“Our most pressing issue for now is food and shelter. As the settlement leader, I think that we should split into two teams, one for gathering materials and one looking for food. That way everyone should have a roof over their head, safety and a full belly when the day is over.”
Seeing the group nod their heads, he went on to ask if they had any special skills or anything that would aid them in the current moment.
“Nick, Jonathan and Mei, I think you three should group up and try to find food for us. Jonathan seemed to be somewhat familiar with the fishing, so before we can make a fishing rod, can you help me, Caleb and Sinde with the resource gathering?”
“As for us two, we have one stone axe at hand right now, so I’ll try to cut down some branches from the trees on the outer periphery of the forest to the left of us and Sinde gathers stone from nearby. Does anyone have any better ideas or shall we go with this?”
Finishing delegating the tasks, Arthur heard no complaints and once again stressed them to be careful. Everyone went to their tasks, leaving some breathing room for Arthur to be alone with his thoughts.
‘This is so f***ing tiring, I am not built to be something like a leader. But if I don’t do it, I would be on the beck and call of someone else and have zero control on my own fate… ‘
Despite his personality leaning towards being an introvert, Arthur stepped up and started to feel the weight of responsibility immediately. If 5 or more people appeared every day, what should he do to keep them happy, well fed and sheltered? While many questions started to rush into his head, he breathed a long sight and muttered curses for a small while.
‘I am not their nanny, why should I try to do everything myself? I can just delegate the work to the competent people and let them figure things out as we go further. I can just make sure that everyone has opportunities for a decent life and they can make their own story as they like.’
Once Arthur decided his course of action, he felt a bit more at ease. He was not a god nor a crazed micromanaging dictator, so why should he shoulder all of their worries.
‘Yes. As the settlement leader I will just provide them an opportunity to be what they want. My back is not broad enough to carry useless weight at least not yet… ‘
Having the stone ax gripped tightly in his hand, he looked up and saw fleeting clouds shifting above the treetops of verdant, tall trees.
Enjoying the brief moment of peace and quiet, Arthur looked around himself for suitable trees for cutting branches.
Very quickly, he found some suitable candidates for cutting and started his work. With heavy chops he slammed the stone axe against the branches and after a few dozen minutes or so, he had a small pile of branches to bring back. That was not his only gain. At first, the tree cutting seemed cumbersome and tedious with a crude stone axe, but it had eased substantially once he saw a system message halfway through.
Skill: Woodcutting lvl 1 obtained
Wiping some sweat off his forehead and back of the neck with his sleeve, Arthur picked up the branches and started to head towards his hut. For the moment, the original hut naturally became the gathering spot for the group, as there was already a ready made fire pit and the workbench.
As he was approaching the hut with slightly unsteady steps and saw the others hard at work from afar, a gratified smile surfaced on his grime and wood chip covered face.
Arthur got closer and closer to the hut. Just as he was about to call Nick and ask about their gains, he saw something greenish slowly approach Nick from the tall grass behind him.
Immediately dropping the pile of branches on the ground, he took his stone axe from his hip and started to scream. “Nick! Look out, behind you!”
Without any thinking, Arthur had already accepted the summoned people as his own people, comrades in this new world. Wanting to protect them seemed like a natural act, so he threw caution in the wind and sprinted forward.