Chapter 21: Exploration with mounts!
After closing the messages and shaking her head in disbelief over humanity, Xhemile walked inside the castle where many of her subjects gathered to greet the new arrivals. She directly headed towards the summoning circle and activated it.
[Do you want to summon ten subjects of the Karomama tribe?] [Yes/No]
She mentally pressed yes and a light flash filled the room soon revealing her new subjects.
[Summoned 2 Rank 0 leather workers, 1 Rank 0 Tailor, 4 Rank 0 hunters and 3 rank 0 workers.]
She named her subjects as well as the 100 before, she definitely struggled to think of 110 different names. She then opened the status of the hunters.
{[Tribeswoman of the Karomama Tribe]
Name: (None)
Age:22
Level: 0
Rank: 1
Class: Hunter
Loyalty: 90
Stats:
Strength (Str): 12
Constitution (Con): 15
Dexterity (Dex): 18
Intelligence (Int): 10
Wisdom (Wis): 3
Charisma (Cha): 8
[Skills]:
(Trained Desert adaptably Rank 6) (Trained Desert maneuvering Rank 4) (Apprentice Bow handling Rank 1) (Apprentice tracking Rank 2) (Apprentice dismantling Rank 1) (Apprentice Knifemanship Rank 1)}
Well, they were prepared to hunt a few things. Xhemile gathered herself and ordered the hunters to do their things, hunting that is, without them putting themselves at risk of injury or pretty much everything which can overwhelm them. The leatherworkers and tailors were put under control of Kira and Neeth to focus on crafting more things like clothes and armor. The only thing Xhemile needed for her subordinates was a blacksmith or even better a weaponsmith, fletcher and armorer. She also knew that these things wouldn't appear out of thin air and unless she found a similar scroll like Kira’s class change, she could only summon new subjects the next day. Also, crucial equipment is missing, like iron or any other sort of metal to forge weapons, in fact the whole forge thing is missing to even start smelting and crafting. She also oversaw a critical flaw in her plans. Her subjects started to be sick of eating only meat. In fact, she also was tired of eating only meat with a side dish of meat. So, todays expedition was not for finding Iron ore deposits or other resources, but vegetables and fruits. Xhemile, now almost practiced, gathered a small scouting party, but now with the new mounts. The scouting party consisted of five mounted scout archers, five scout cavalry, Njoud and Nour as well as herself, so a party of 13. When Xhemile, fully confident, mounted a horse, she didn't expect to see the sand of the desert so close to count grains. This also made her painfully aware that she knew next to nothing about riding and finally gave up and begged Marwa to show her how to ride. After a short crash course, she now knew the basics of riding and felt confident enough to ride away to explore. After an hour of light riding to preserve the stamina of the horses they encountered another Giant desert ant fighting a small pack of desert dogs, but they chose to ignore it and ride past it. After a few hours of riding, they finally spotted something different in the barren scorching desert.
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“Guys, do you see what I see?”
Xhemile looked towards her subjects of which all nodded in confirmation.
“My Lady, it appears to be an oasis or a mirage of some sorts.”
Nour responded suspiciously.
“Let's check it out.” Xhemile made the decision.
After riding a few minutes, they were surprised that they actually approached the oasis, instead of it just vanishing. After a few more minutes they were greeted by a small desert oasis with a few palm trees scatted around the crystal-clear waters as well as some bushes and other plants growing there. Xhemile noted very few hiding spots around this oasis and the suspicious silence around the oasis. Normally an oasis would have a few animals which would drink there or birds chirping in the trees, but the complete lack of everything made everyone tense and battle ready. After securing everything they allowed themselves to relax a bit and starting to inspect the trees and bushes more closely.
“My Lady, it appears the palm trees have some sort of fruit growing on them. They smell sweet and are of dark green shade but if cut open have pink juicy flesh and a big seed inside.”
“Could they be dates?” Xhemile asked Njoud.
“Probably.” Njoud the woman of few words answered unsure.
Xhemile pulled up the system and let it analyze it.
[Desert date fruit
Description: A small fruit commonly found on a desert date palm tree. Are safe for human consumption uncooked, but also in other forms. Useful alchemy ingredient.]
“Well, it is a date fruit.”
They nodded, then they started to scoop as much of these fruits up to transport back home. Meanwhile Xhemile examined the other plants and bushes around.
[Reed]
[Sand bush
Description: A sandy green bush found in sandy environments. Good for animals to consume, has no use for human consumption.]
[Sandy shade flower
Description: A darker sandy colored flower with a black flower bud. Highly toxic for anything alive. Alchemical uses.]
Xhemile breathed in sharply and took a few steps back from this plant.
“Guys be careful around these flowers they're highly toxic:”
Her subjects nodded and took more careful steps around these flowers. Xhemile then walked towards the small pond of the oasis and noticed a few small fish living in it, but they were very small, currently not useful to eat. After exploring the entire oasis and finding nothing new except an old charcoal pile from a campfire. The campfire also didn't teach them anything as it was too old to discern its last use. So, they started to ride back towards the castle with fully loaded saddlebags of dates. After riding by the spot where the ant did fight the desert dogs, they only found a few remains of fur and dried blood. Soon they reached the castle and were cheerfully welcomed back. Nane almost jumped in Xhemile’s arms as she gave her a small bag full of fresh dates. After giving all her close subjects her dates, she collected and being teased by Marwa with a knowing smile, a few seductive words, she was alone in her chamber to enjoy some me time and rest.