“According to our scouts, the enemy is two kilometers north of the town. There’s an abandoned tower deep within the forest that stands there. It was once used as a watchtower but due to budget cuts, it had to be abandoned.”

The guildmaster and the wanderers, including us, stared and listened intently to Kris, the captain in charge, as he talked. The light from a lamp illuminated the dim large room as we were talking about information and strategies about the upcoming hunt. The map on the table that could be barely seen illustrated where the enemy was and the sight of it was enough to make me anxious and restless.

Risa wasn’t with us today since they wouldn’t let a child join our meeting, so I left her with a good family again, she was completely against it but I did it nevertheless. I would have left her with Chance but he, too, was busy and I didn’t want Risa being disturbing to him. Hopefully, she wouldn’t run away like last time.

“Wait a minute,” a man put up his hand as he looked at the captain with a lifted eyebrow. “Why should we listen to a soldier?” the fifteen wanderers in the room, including us, looked at the captain for answers. The sight of only fifteen wanderers was enough to cause doubt about the success of the hunt but there was nothing we could do about it, there had been few wanderers in this town to start with.

He was right. A wanderer and a soldier were two very different things. A wanderer was similar to a mercenary, they were usually an independent group that moved according to their own while a soldier was part of an army and an army was an organized force consisting of complicated chains of commands. Additionally, wanderers were made especially for monsters while soldiers were for wars with other nations or races.

“I understand what you’re trying to say but as a military man, this is my job. Planning is what I eat. We need cooperation if we want this to succeed.” The captain looked at the man. “Any more questions?”

”Please, continue.”

“As I was saying earlier,” he laid out the design of the tower and map surrounding the area. “The tower is ten meters high. It’s visible if you look on a high ground. There’s only one gate and it’s on the front, there’s no other way to enter. It also has four windows positioned in the cardinal directions. It’s most likely going to be locked while monsters are camping outside of it. It’s just one tower, so the Famen holder or their leader would surely be the one who would be inside with his personal guards. At the top, there’s a large room that is used to host noble and other high status people, so it’s likely his going to be there.”

“What about the other monsters?”

“According to scouts, the monsters numbered to 30 and most of them are camping outside, surrounding the tower. When you see a fire outside, it’s imperative to know that there are monsters surrounding that fire. The monsters outside are mostly kasaks and the undead.”

“Ten of you would stay outside and kill the monsters while the other five would come with me and deal with the Famen holder. So, who’s going to be outside and who’s going to be inside?”

The other wanderers were thinking whether they should be inside or outside. From the looks of it, they were reluctant. They must have not really wanted to fight a Famen holder.

“Terrin,” Takana poked my shoulder. “Go and volunteer our party.” He sounded bossy.

“Why?”

“What do you mean “why”? If we get lucky, we might be able to kill the Famen holder. That’s five gold coins, you know!”

“That’s a big if. I thought Famen holders are strong. We don’t even know if we can kill him.”

“Just do it! If thing go south, remember what he said? We could just bail and get the money. It’s a win-win!”

“You guys okay with this?” I asked the rest of my party.

“It’s up to you. I’ll follow you, anyway.” Merry said coldly.

“I’m not really great at making decisions, so it’s up to you, Terrin!” Fuyuki said cheerfully.

“I-I’m okay with taking the risk…” Kihana said shyly.

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Hmmm…so Kihana’s okay with it, huh? If we do volunteer, I might put my party in danger. If we don’t volunteer, we will still get the money and if we’re outside, we could escape easier. Outside might be safer than inside. Damn, at times like this, being a leader is hard.

I look at Kihana. “You sure you’re okay with this?”

She nodded hard. “I-It’s an opportunity for us…”

“Well then, it’s decided. I’m counting on you, Kihana.”

“Nice job, Kihana.” Takana gave her a thumbs up which made her become shy and go to Fuyuki.

I raised my hand. “Umm…we would like to volunteer…” everybody looked at us.

“There we go!” the captain shouted gleefully. It seemed he was worried no one was going to volunteer. “Oh, you’re the people from before.”

“Yes, we hope we could be of help.”

“Of course! Based from what I’ve seen before, you’re good folks, so I know you would be of help.” He looked at the other wanderers, “And as for the rest of you, I have five soldiers who would help you, so don’t worry about being outnumbered.”

*

Deep within the crust of Dlimor, many hard gems lay untouched there. It was said that when you had seen a cluster of these together, it was like looking at the stars as they twinkle brightly in the dark. But just like stars, many of these gems were, unfortunately, out of reach.

The ones who mined these gems were the borgos. Since Shaina had given them the right for the resources beneath Dlimor, it basically gave them control of the gems. With their ingenuity, they built ways for them to get it and with the help of elves, humans and beasts, they were able to get some. Today, ever since the separation of the four races, every race could now get their own gems. But of course, if four races were able only to get some, how could a race get many?

As they were limited supply, these gems were rare. A hundred of this could possibly make a king exhaust all of his treasures and money. Just like many gems that were used for accessories, a dlimor gem was the same. But this one wasn’t used for the body but rather for the weapon and armor. A dlimor gem could make a rusty old sword beat a brand-new metal shield with the weakest hit, at least, that was what they said.

These gems hold powers inside of them and thanks to the innovation and ingenuity of borgos and elves, they were able fuse the gems within the weapons and armors, including a famen. The intricate engravings and lines from the shield Takana borrowed was how the gem transferred its power to the shield.

The gems came in a small round shape barely the size of a fingernail. These gems came in three colors; a red, blue and colorless translucent gem.

A red gem amplifies the power of a weapon, a blue gem amplifies defense of a shield and a translucent gem were for mages or those who would use a staff.

A famen was weapons, armors and equipments that were bestowed with the respective gods. A famen bestowed with Shaina’s blessings was called a Shaina famen and likewise, with Bnakir’s corruption, it was called a Bnakir famen. If you could have these famen, you would have a portion of a god’s power.

Famen were bestowed to heroes before and during the attack in the east. Shaina gave a famen to those who she deemed would do great and spread goodness while Bnakir gave it to those who were the strongest amongst the monsters. Each of them had different, unique abilities and there were only 50 Shaina famen and 50 Bnakir famen created.

Additionally, to be able to control these famen, one must consider whose famen it was. If it was a Shaina famen then the holder must have a good heart while a Bnakir famen must have an evil and corrupt heart. It was like this because each god believed in their own ways and to use their power was to believe or practice their ways.

All of this came from my book, Risa. She sure had a lot of knowledge in her. She even told me how to defeat a undead knight.

“Have you ever read a book ever since you came to this world or, at the very least, have asked question to your friends or other people?” Risa said as she sat in the bed while I cleaned my weapon.

“Not really. I was afraid people would find out who I really am and I didn’t want my heart to be squeezed or die, you know.”

“Makes sense. Just ask Shaina anything if you want to know more about the other things.”

“Will do,” I raised my weapons. I was cleaning it with a towel and organizing my things for the upcoming battle tomorrow. “Famen, huh? Sure would be nice to have one.”

“Don’t even think about it. All the famen are either lost or owned by someone. There’s no way for you to get one. For the dlimor gem, you would be able to get a few but that’s about it. If you think you can get one because the other wanderers or that captain have one, well, you’re mistaken because your circumstances are different.”

“You don’t have to be angry about it…I was just thinking.” but she’s right. Thinking about those things wouldn’t help me. I should improve my leadership before anything else. But still though, it would be nice to have one.

“Oh yeah,” I said, “How’s your stay with the family?”

“Horrible,” she frowned as she angrily looked at me. “Shakna told you to not leave Shakna alone with humans!”

“I’m sorry,” I smiled. “I got no other choice.”

“Then just leave Shakna here by herself!”

“I can’t leave a kid alone here. It’s dangerous.”

“Shakna’s not a kid! Shakna’s a witch!”

“You look like a kid to me.”

“Shakna’s not!”

“Well, you could come with me and get hurt or you could stay with a bunch of people who were nice enough to babysit you. Which one you want?”

“Shakna would rather get hurt.”

She sure is stubborn.

“I don’t know what to tell you. You know the others won’t let you come with us, right?”

She sighed and finally gave up. “Fine…but Shakna wants a lot of food after your mission.”

“Of course, anything you want.”

If there was anything you could use to make someone agree with you, it should be food. Or money.