“Around two hundred people today,” Luis Albert spoke first, as it was customary by now. “We are still rounding up the numbers. Many are still not accounted for but we don’t know whether they are alive or not.”

Angelo nodded gravely along those words, but also relieved. Since they had started, this was not even close to their biggest loss.

“So, it took us three months to clean up the area up to Teramo?!” Juliet slammed her palm on the table. “Hektor brought you all to L’Aquila in half the time! How is this possible?! We are still in fucking Abruzzo, for God’s sake!”

An oppressive aura spread through the tent.

“Juliet, that’s the difference between warriors and kids. We are the kids. You, even more so.”

Juliet clicked her tongue while turning toward the blonde.

“You are a pathetic imitation of Jacob, Helena. Don’t give me your adult act. Fuck off.”

“If you forgot your place, I’d be willing to remind you a second time. Maybe I should have buried your face in the dirt a bit longer to remind you that you can’t behave like a wild beast.”

The tension was palpable but Juliet backed off, nonetheless.

“L’Aquila had smaller population compared to Teramo. Many people were over there unofficially. The horde we just met is the last one in the region. Many scouting contingents are cleaning up the last dregs,” Angelo spoke, “now we are headed for the border with Marche. Once we are back in St. Liam again, we should divide in two groups. One will go clean up the countryside, the other will move along the coast. We need to save as many people as possible.”

“Those who survived,” Geneva grunted. “It’s been, what, four, five month since this started? Angelo, we are struggling ourselves and Jacob and Hektor distributed many resources to us. I don’t see how the rest of the population may have survived. Plus, many Plain Stalkers have started roaming out of their own territories. If one small city met even one, they might be all dead.”

“And if the situation is anything like what happened in Blacksoil, we will only have more problems on our hands. We found people hoarding food and exchanging it for sex just the other day.”

“Well, we have to take things one step at the time,” Marcus coughed. “Let’s keep fighting and raiding Ancient Ruins.”

“Marcus,” Lucius put a hand on his pal’s shoulder to tell him to shut up.

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“No, Lucius. Marcus is right. We have to focus on the short term. We have to survive, to get stronger,” Helena said while her eyes jumped from one person to the other in quick succession.

“Let’s keep playing Jacob’s fucking game,” Juliet growled. “No matter how many people fucking die because you fucking nutjobs want to become stronger.”

No one spoke for a second.

It was true.

This was all in search for more power.

“Marina, what’s the scouting situation?” Helena turned toward the woman who now never left Luis Albert’s side. Marina had lost her sister when Jacob had discovered the Ancient Ruins near to Fort Mountain and they had found the last survivors from the city. Well, survivors wasn’t the best term for those monsters.

“Minor settlements all around the region have already been alerted of our presence. We have sent Rose’s women to make sure that nothing untoward is going to happen until we can absorb all those people into the main group. But I think Luis has something to say about the supply line.”

The man smiled toward the woman and nodded.

“Jacob’s garden is running out of roots. We have started planting the base roots for the Alchemic Pasta in some Ancient Ruins, in L’Aquila and now around this region. The energy around here should be thick enough to give us some breathing room. But it will take months before they are at full-capacity. So far, we can cover not even 10% of our food demand. Around one person out of seven has to forage their own food. The only reason no one yet started a revolt is because…”

Luis Albert gestured toward the people around the table.

“Because we are fucking monsters who would make short work of hungry people who have been drafted into a crazy war.”

“Anyway,” Luis Albert ignored Juliet’s comment. He was long used to the girl’s ways by now. “We have made a list of people who will build two strongholds in L’Aquila and Teramo. They will take care of menial tasks and we will rotate some of the more burned-out people. We need more police, though. Criminals are not a thing yet, but we have heard many complain about theft and so on.”

“I’ll start rounding up more women as soon as I get out of the tent,” Rose said with a straight face.

Angelo grimaced.

“Rose, I think it would be better to start opening up the police to men too.”

“That’s not happening, Angelo. Not on my watch, at least. We recruit people who suffered trauma and can be trusted. Do you think a woman would ever tell a man that she’s being raped by her husband, friends, or family?”

“Rose,” Flavius started, “men have suffered too. And we need to increase the numbers—”

“I’ll give you more numbers. I have been fighting on the front lines and I didn’t have time to recruit more people. I’ll get to that right now.”

With that, Rose left the tent.

“Fucking chaos, fucking unbelievable. Helena, that dog has gone mad. Are you going to rein her in or do you enjoy this little power trips that some of these fucking idiots are going through?”

“Rose has suffered—”

“Rose is a fucking bitch, Helena,” Juliet spat out, “I don’t give a damn about what she suffered. We are not going to be able to control these strongholds if we let her keep this Matriarchy. We need men too. We need people. I don’t fucking care if they have a dick or not. They would sign a fucking Soul Contract. Is it only me who can see that Rose has lost it or can you recognize that she’s down a rabbithole that could become an even bigger problem in a matter of days?”

Helena scoffed, but she looked unsure.

Sadly, Juliet was right.