The next morning, Zachary woke up a little late, having spent most of the night helping Onkie breakthrough. He went out of the hut, stretching and yawning. The guard on the watchtower had changed from Carlos to Oliver. Zachary waved and the man waved back. Aside from him, Olga was sitting at a wooden table, weaving baskets. Beside her, there was a fire going and something cooking inside a clay pot.

“Morning,” Zachary walked up and greeted.

Olga looked up at him with a kind smile, “Morning. I made some breakfast. Do you want some?”

“Alright,” Zachary said and peered into the pot.

It was some kind of soup with corn, mushrooms, and meat. It smelled delicious. He briefly wondered how they managed to make a pot. He understood the basic concept of molding clay and using fire to harden it. But he would have never been able to make one on his own.

He picked up a wooden bowl and filled it with the steaming concoction. It was really good. Sweet from the corn and savory from the mushrooms and chunks of meat. It was a wonderful change from his usual fare.

“Oh, by the way, Heather wants to see you.” Olga said after he was done eating, “She is up already.”

“How is she doing?” He asked.

“Great. She’ll be back to full health soon.”

“Okay, I’ll go see her.”

Zachary waved to Olga and headed for the largest hut. He knocked on the wooden door and received a faint reply.

“It’s Zachary.”

“Come in!”

He pushed the door open and stepped inside the dimly lit interior.

“In here,” Heather called out.

Zachary followed her voice into the bedroom and was greeted by the most unexpected sight. Heather was standing in the middle of the room with her back to him. A piece of animal fur was wrapped around her slender waist. However, nothing else covered her and he was gifted with the fascinating sight of her bare back and the enticing curves of her chest.

“Sorry.” He muttered and covered his eyes with a hand.

Heather looked over her shoulder at him, “Like what you see?”

“Uh…”

She laughed, “Don’t be shy. Come here, I can’t quite see my wound. Can you look at it for me?”

Her voice was warm like a tropical breeze. It was also playful and naturally attractive.

Accepting her invitation, Zachary uncovered his eyes and walked over. He leaned in and looked at the spot she was pointing to on her left side. He tried to not let his eyes roam upward and focused on the area intently. There was a small scar where the porcupine spike had pierced the skin. There was also a slight bruise around it but otherwise, it was nothing to be concerned about.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

“Your wound is fine. It's healing nicely.”

As he said this, he caught Heather staring at him. A brief silence passed between them. Close together in a cozy room, a sense of ambiguity arose. There was a moment of heat and intensity before it passed and she looked away.

“Thanks… for everything.” She said softly.

“No worries.”

After that, Heather finally stopped teasing him and wrapped a piece of fur around her chest. She turned around and faced him with the expression of a serious leader.

“Alright, let’s talk. What do you want? What do you want to know? Since you saved my life, I won’t be stingy.”

“Everything. I want to know what you know, about the jungle, where are the dangerous areas and where there are potential adept rank Ensouled. What has happened in the past months? How many prisoners are still alive? How many survivor groups are there, which ones are the strongest and are they dangerous or not?”

“That’s easy enough, come on.” Heather beckoned him to follow and went into the other room.

She moved some wooden chests and retrieved a leather scroll from one of them. She unfurled it on the table, showing off a detailed, hand-drawn map. Immediately, Zachary recognized some major features such as the ocean to the left, the beach where they landed, as well as the ruins in the center. There were many other markings, some of which had been crossed out.

Heather leaned on the table and described the map in detail, “As you can tell, this place that the republic calls Outpost Emerald is located somewhere to the east of the Old World. We landed on the beach here with the black cliffs. There are mountains to the east but they are home to the monster seagulls. Some people have tried to explore that area but it’s a death trap. Once you leave the cover of the trees, it’s over.”

“Shit… how did we even survive the swim to the beach?”

“The captain’s armored eagle, it probably fought off an entire nest of the beasts, just long enough for us to make it to shore.”

“Why did they even bother if they just wanted us to die here?”

Heather shook her head, “They didn’t want us to die so easily. Otherwise, they didn’t have to go through such trouble to ship us out here. No, our lives are better spent as explorers and settlers. If this land has enough resources and riches, the republic will try to build a colony here.”

“And if it doesn’t?” Zachary asked.

“Then the four people who win the pardons will be able to go back home while the rest of us will stay here forever.”

“…”

Heather shrugged and started describing the map again, “We are one of the smaller survivor groups. Roan Oak Village is located south of the ruins, about five days of travel. We are also about ten days from the ocean. Close to us, there are two other strong groups. You met one of them, the Dark Star Gang. Their base is here.”

She pointed to a spot further east from them. “The second group is led by a guy named Aaron White. They aren’t a large group but they are all dangerous. Aaron is probably the strongest summoner among the survivors and he somehow got a hold of an adult forest elephant as a summon. Try not to fight with him if you don’t have to.”

Zachary barely reacted to the name but inwardly, he felt a surge of anger. He had not forgotten Aaron’s selfish actions in the ruins. That person was near the top of a short list of names he wanted to settle scores with.

“Moving on,” Heather pointed toward the north, “There are three major survivor groups around here. One is the Daybreakers gang. They are similar to the Dark Star Gang so try not to mess with them. The second is a group of psychos from the Blood Church. They kill anyone who enters their territory. I am not sure if any of them even want to compete for the pardons. As for the last group, they are relatively normal, sort of like us. They don’t have any fancy name but their base is called Riverside Village. I know, really creative… Oh, I almost forgot, they have a person you know.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, the pretty girl who was following you the first day, Katherine right? She was among the people from Riverside Village when we met them.”

“Oh…”

“You don’t sound happy.” Heather peered at him, trying to deduce every little detail from his expression, “What happened, I thought she liked you?”

“Nothing happened…”

“Did she dump you?”

Zachary made a face.

She patted his arm comfortingly, “Don’t worry, there are plenty more birds in the jungle.”

Laughing at her own joke, she continued describing the map, including the various hunting grounds nearby.