Chương 45: Float

It took a full day before Captain Fitz could understand everything that went wrong. The Versale forces had left their post to chase after the creature Blick. He could fully understand the beast man's reasons, but killing a Captain was not something he could protect the young beast man from. It was too public and too many people would agree with the arrogant son of a bitch who decided to rob an unarmed creature. The situation was fucked.

The only positive was that the Crater kingdom had full uncontested control of both sides of the gate. He was already receiving reports of mana imbued resources, and had layed eyes on some of the most mana dense meat he had ever seen. The other world would spur their kingdoms growth. Everything else would be decided by the politics of the capitals. An elite squad was due to show up at anytime. He had scouts at the cliff to show them the way. As he understood it, they would arrive in maybe another day or two.

And unfortunately for the beast man on the run. The elite soldiers would go after him. Captain Fitz had no authority over such men and women. They would come. They would hear the story. And they would send some after Blick for the map while some entered the gate to establish an outpost. He couldn't stop them. He could hardly delay them, and it ate at his conscience. Blick would forever be a fugitive from the Versale forces.

Quite possibly from his own kingdom should the politics deem the attack on a joint force captain an attack on both kingdoms. No matter how justified, he was still an outsider to both and held something worth starting a war for. As predicted a team of six people showed up the next day. Captain Fitz went out to meet them. He forgot to mention the Blick situation as his mission was to secure the other side of the gate. The men over there had repelled a number of smaller monsters, nothing on the level prior.

They had established a quieter more compact footprint in the new world. The elite would help expand and solidify the position while controlling the search for resources.

"Welcome to the camp ladies and gentlemen. My name is Captain Fitz. I am covering the base camp. On the other side of the gate you will run into sergeant Thomas who will show you around the small camp there. Whatever you need from the men please just ask." With a nod the shroud of six left through the gate. Three hours later only three of them returned.

"Captain, I feel a bit let down that you didn't inform us of the very real possibility of a map of other worlds." The black haired man started before Fitz even greeted them.

"Have you sent a team after this grey man everyone is talking about?"

"No sir, the entirety of the Versale forces left to capture him. I felt if we sent more men the mission would be nearly impossible back here. Without their captain to correct their judgement they left their posts and tied my hands." Fitz responded with confidence knowing he had a legitimate excuse. His mission was his priority. Anything else was not actually his job and nobody could hold his lack of effort against him. Leaning on the failings of an entire other kingdoms forces just made his case that much easier.

"Seems a fair assessment. We three will attempt to bring the beast man in. The other side of the gate seems stable. They will come back and forth as they see fit. Have some men over here begin more formal barracks. This gate will become a permanent duty station someday. Now, which direction did he go." Pointing the way Fitz reminded them.

"He was said to have jumped in the river and floated downstream until he was out of sight. The river is that way." And without even saying bye the three took off. Jumping clear over the 10 foot tall fence that was slowly being built higher, they disappeared into the wood. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Good luck Blick." Fitz said before turning back to organize a building team.

"Hey Dax, when we reach the river I'll need you to take the other bank. I'll struggle to swim across with my sword weighing me down." The man with the short black hair called out as the team sprinted full speed to the river.

"Sure thing Carter, hopefully the princess can keep up hahaha." The shorter blonde man responded before dodging the arrow she sent his way.

"Damnit woman stop doing that."

"Serves you right you short bastard. Hahaha" the slender redhead cackled as she hoped a downed tree in their path with a grace given by years of practice and a solid layer inside her core.

"Hey boss, what's the plan for finding this thing. If it flowed down river there's no telling where it exited. And these rocks won't leave much of a trail to find."

"As much as I hate to admit it. That is probably a good point to not even try Paris. But we have to make the attempt. We will do our best and if we come back empty handed we need to be able to justify that to the council." Carter explained as they reached the river and split off running along the bank to the south.

With no rush at all Blick had simply floated on the river until dark. He focused on healing the bleeding from his thigh first. Mainly because a few minutes into his float something had tried to take a bite out of his bleeding leg. More annoying than dangerous, the fish was easily scared off when it realized he wasn't a dead floating meat sack. The leg hole was fixed with just a few minutes of concentration. It was simple for him at this point with so much practice and four entire drops in his core.

The shoulder joint would take time. Even with his benefits the sword had dug deep into the joint. He could feel a slight grating inside when he had moved it before. As he floated along he stared up at the dark sky he admired the twinkling stars far above. How many worlds could he truly explore. How many different kinds of people. That man who handed him the map had called him a Grok. It seemed like he had met Blicks kind before. Did that mean they existed on another world too?

Always so many questions floating around inside Blicks mind. He knew better than to sleep in the water, that just seemed like a good way to drown. So with a small bit of effort he shifted his weight to slowly drift towards one of the banks of the river. He was tired enough to just let himself drift onto the rocky shore like a beached boat. With a slow blink he gathered his will to struggle on, and climbed to his feet. He picked a tree nearly at random and set up his bed roll between two branches.

With a bit of frustration he tried to yank out the arrow still stuck in it. That hurt a lot. To get the arrow out of the thick weave he needed enough force that it shook his injured shoulder. Throwing the arrow down into the rocks just a little distance away he climbed into his bed and tucked the map that caused so much chaos beneath him. He sat his satchel down near his feet, and with that he had his entire life wrapped in a weave of ivy and leaves. Blick smiled at how simple life really could be.

He could understand how his people had become so comfortable with their relaxing lifestyle. They had plenty of risks already. He was unique in his need to seek out new things. But was this amazing or what. Rocking left and right as he watched the water splash against the rocks below. The few scattered clouds above moved slowly across the otherwise clear start sky. Blick drifted off to sleep to the sound of the splashing river.