When Aloy was woken up by a passing Guard, the sun had risen above the trees, the night had faded in the blink of an eye. She did not remember dreaming of much, only the slight ache in her ankle reminding her of life. Checking upon it mere minutes after waking up, she was dismayed to find it still swollen around the injury. New footwear had been attained already but it would be uncomfortable for many days more.
The guards had found no trace of the creature while they had been left to their own devices. No deaths, no injuries, and no signs of there ever being one was proven, except for the original injury that started all the trouble. Even the few arrows that had survived after the trampling of the mice corpses had been delivered to the woman without larger issues attached.
Now if only the rest of the day would go as great. The prisoners, miners, whatever they wanted to be called had grown tired after a mere day of work. Aloy had been forced to subject them to a bit of a regular prison atmosphere to make them rise from their beds yet it wasn’t done by her hand, the injuries on her foot causing a slight unbalancing. The way the opened skin ground against the back of her new shoe made it more painful than ever. No [Healer] had been brought out during the initial creation of the camp, the only one in the entire area permanently resident in the prison, forcing Aloy to make use of herbal healing instead. It was without speed but it would work in the end. If only it could dampen the pain so she could work.
“Are you going to be commanding the new group inside the [Dungeon]?” Alexios questioned from her side, the man watching over the prior ordeal as well. Both leaders had the utmost respect of the guards below yet neither seemed to like it. The [Hunter] was especially against it, only recently gaining a rank that allowed such views upon her to manifest.
“I fear the injury might leave me without the expected combat prowess,” Aloy dryly answered, moving the aforementioned foot as it pulsed inside the skin. There was no love sent towards it. “If I were to ignore such a disability, it would cause great danger to all in the group. Most importantly, it would lessen the chance of more miners returning than yesterday.”
“Indeed,” Alexios said. Neither truly looked at the other, the view ahead seeming more important. Or maybe it was a form of respect, nobody wanting to acknowledge their weakness in the face of another. “The regular [Commander] will take charge today then. I will see to it that he is informed of the change.”
“You could just send a [Guard] to deliver the message.”
“I fear that anybody under me would be killed with his sight alone. The man likes to get antsy when a lower rank forwards him orders,” Alexios commented. Aloy wondered if the pun was intended but thought it better to ask. “Has the building efforts progressed according to the plan?”
“The fence needs more upgrades with the recent discovery of interesting monsters,” Aloy answered plainly, not having much regard for anything at the current moment. “The paths need to be replaced so wheels can travel on them without sinking into the ground, the entrances need to be fortified for the oncoming horde of wannabe heroes, and we have to set up an actual sleeping area before anything else. The smaller pillars with a board on top will not help us in the coming, colder months.”
“So… everything at once?” Alexios surmised.
“That would decently explain our current needs, yes,” the [Hunter] agreed, seeing the situation similarly. Limited resources and an unlimited list of requirements that needed to be completed in a finite amount of time while the only workers were of lesser or terrible quality. “Our only method to complete all the tasks would be to have the [Merchants] arrive within the minute.”
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“Well, I’m afraid that one minute isn’t giving them a lot of breathing space,” Alexios commented, though Aloy had to raise an eyebrow at the more light-hearted tone he used. “However, they should arrive within two hours or so. One of their scouts arrived at camp while you slept. Had to make sure they were going the right way and all.”
Already? There was a need for preparation, to the point where Aloy almost wondered if she should run to the guard post to get the necessary paperwork. Everything had already been prepared beforehand yet there was still a need for it all to be systematized to not discourage any of the merchants. Permits, lots, and different parking rules had to be signed so the Royals could tax them properly. It was a whole error if they didn’t do it from the start, seeing as they were owned by the very same royals to start with, the prison running under the kingdom's name.
Putting pressure on her left foot out of reflex, Aloy hissed at the pain that came without hesitation. The wound had perhaps been forgotten for a moment yet that did not mean it wasn’t still there. Alexios laughed it off, much to the annoyance of the [Hunter], before leaving to go prepare the [Commander] for the plan-changes. That left Aloy to sit around doing much of nothing. The bandage around her heel was changed out to let it breathe for a few minutes, breakfast was served in the form of very hard gruel, and the sun hit her eyes more painful than normal. It was the standard effect of being wounded in battle, something which hadn’t occurred to the [Hunter] for more than a few years.
When growing up hunting the smaller ranks of wildlife, one did not come into lethal amounts of danger often. There was perhaps a time when she could have died due to incompetence or due to a prisoner trying to flee yet such incidents had been isolated. There had never been a time where something had targeted her specifically.
And then it had happened without any forewarning and she had almost lost her foot. How utterly fun. The woman was not one to cry but there was some part of her that felt emotion in those carefully hidden moments. The prospect of losing it all just to get four arrows back did seem more than a little ironic. So much had been worked for and those iron tips would be the turning point of her life? It was rather unfunny, though a mental laugh was had about it.
The hours after the standard group had turned towards the Dungeon, Aloy had spent her time making sure all the papers were prepared. The [Warden] had already filled out his signatures and templates. The man was normally meant to do them all as the last yet convenience had stopped the usual format from happening, even if the new method allowed for the exploitation of those signatures. Not that Aloy would allow such a thing, either way, only the thought of it keeping her from ripping them apart in the name of safety. The man they saw as their leader was not meant to be threatened in such a way, after all. He was the icon that they all needed to look up to.
Not that Aloy could truly know what the possible ways to exploit it were. She could barely read the word ‘contract’ to begin with, her parents never thought she’d need it. And they had been right, the [Hunter] certainly never requiring more than verbal communication skills. She knew how to sign her name, how to look for buzzwords, and how to avoid signing any contracts from people she didn’t trust. Anything more had been unneeded for her career. Not that she had expected for the career to change so rapidly in a mere two weeks but that was that.
There was no time to speculate much about it before a guard came running through the post to alert her about the oncoming caravan. There was no surprise that there was one yet the size had warranted a leader to be present before any decisions were made.
“How large is it?” Aloy questioned the guard who had come forth with the news. The walk to the entrance was slower than normal due to a certain handicap, making it logical enough to get briefed on the way. “What are the estimated people count?”
“We have spotted six carriages. Four have been reported as being filled with goods while the remaining two are filled with people of various ages and races,” the guard reported through deep breaths. Even with the hasty walking, the sprint over there had not been good for the person. Aloy would have to increase the training schedule for the men, lest their cardio score would fall even lower with time.
“Any kids among the people seen?” the [Hunter] asked.
“None that made their presence obvious, sir,” the guard answered. Aloy felt like correcting the man on the word usage but just accepted it instead. There were more important things to worry about.
Getting to the entrance gates, the woman was slightly resettled by the fact that the carriages were at least smaller than the average. That changed when she noticed how utterly cramped all those were sitting. It seemed no space had been wasted.
“Good morning to all you fine people,” a boisterous voice shouted from the front carriage. The sound carried through the air like nothing else, as if everything other than the voice had been dampened down to help it make way. “I hear that a new Dungeon has appeared around here?”
“You heard right,” Aloy answered back with a raised voice. “May I ask who I am speaking to?”
“You may and you shall have it,” the man said, stepping down from his placement on the front carriage. Even from a distance, the [Hunter] could see how the transport slightly raised itself after the man left it. “I am known by the name Moshu and I think we’re going to be good friends.”
Aloy had to do nothing more. The [Giant] before she was without doubt a merchant. Standing easily above two meters, the [Hunter] had to wonder if she wanted to break her hand trying to shake his.