Chương 162: (158) 3.23 An Eerie Expedition

The Red Dawn never showed. Responsible for the wellbeing of nearly a thousand people, Vin's head was practically on a swivel as they made their way out of the prisoners' fragment. He hadn't known what to expect, but like Waltz, he'd expected something was going to happen. Instead, the group made it to the desert fragment without a single incident.

Never before had Vin been so ecstatic to see miles upon miles of burning sand, and he even welcomed the massive temperature hike as they left the heads on spikes behind them. Other than Alka having to go take care of a giant sand frog and disappearing with her team of Slayer trainees for a bit as they dragged its carcass over to the Sacred Forest for Erik, travel through the desert was uneventful as well.

Based on the number of nervous faces from the former prisoners, Vin could only assume most had never witnessed anything even remotely close to a desert before, but they all stuck with the group and continued moving as directed. Finally, nearly half a day after leaving, Vin returned to camp with about four hundred more faces than he'd left with.

Shredder had sent one of his men running ahead to inform Spur they were approaching, so Vin wasn't at all surprised to see the colonel waiting for them outside the remnants of the camp walls. With Myers on his right, and Golrim on his left. As Shredder directed his combat classes back toward the temporary camp, Vin led the four hundred new people up to Spur, giving the colonel a nod.

His nerves were shot after waiting for hours on end for an attack that never came, and he wanted nothing more than to lie down and slip into Introspection for a bit to relax. But Spur had other plans.

"Come here," Spur hissed, subtly pointing to his right next to Myers while his eyes scanned over the crowd. Sighing, Vin followed Spur's orders, giving Myers a friendly nod and briefly taking note of the new and improved crossbow she had strapped to her hip. This one didn't even seem to have any sort of string to pull back, which was definitely confusing. Before he could get the chance to ask about it however, Spur began speaking.

"Welcome, people of the Niahra Kingdom," Spur announced, waiting a moment for Golrim to translate for him before continuing.

"I'm sure you are all tired and rather thirsty after today's journey, so I'll try and keep this brief. Many of you probably recognize Golrim here, and I'm happy to say we have Kym also staying with us at the moment. It is largely because of the efforts of these two men that we decided to extend the offer of allowing you to join our new town currently in the process of being built."

Vin didn't miss how the simple act of seeing Golrim beside Spur, or hearing that Kym was here as well, softened many of the hard faces staring back at them. Clearly, the two men were just as respected as Golrim had claimed.

"However," Spur continued, a hint of iron slipping into his voice.

"If you wish to join our people, there will be rules you'll have to follow. I'll have some people come around and go over specifics once you're all settled in a temporary camp, but let's make the consequences clear here and now. For starters, Golrim has explained all of your… dislike, for any sort of prison or jail." Even the mention of the word 'prison' sent a wave of tension across the former prisoners, and Spur was quick to continue upon seeing it for himself.

"… which is why you all will have separate consequences for your actions than any of our own people. If you are found guilty of any more serious crimes, depending on the severity, you will be either banished from the fragment entirely, or sentenced to death." Vin blinked in surprise as the mention of death seemed to actually calm everyone down, and a few weary smiles broke out across the crowd.

Vin didn't even want to imagine the torment these people must have experienced for them to so openly and warmly embrace the threat of death rather than being tossed back into jail for even a moment.

"These poor people," Myers whispered to him as Spur began giving more logistical directions regarding where they'd be staying while the town was being built.

"I can't even begin to fathom the pain they must have gone through. It's like laying eyes on hundreds of POWs. Prisoners of war," she explained, answering Vin's unspoken question.

"I only hope we can all help one another."

"If it helps, increasing one's focus seems to do wonders for trauma," Vin said, thinking back to all the horrific things that had happened to him over the past month. Alka had explained that his high focus was helping him get through all the near death experiences, so Vin could only hope that these people were investing at least a few points into it here and there.

"That might be so, but it's no replacement for actual treatment," Myers said, shooting him a sideways glance.

"You know, we actually have a Healer that came in with the third wave. No significant magic abilities or anything just yet, but they used to be a therapist back on Earth. You should stop by when you're free sometime."

"We'll see," Vin said noncommittally, realizing Spur had finally finished. As Myers joined Golrim and the two of them led his people over to where they'd be staying temporarily, a tired looking Spur turned toward him.

"This here is a magic ball that tells me if you're lying," Spur said bluntly, pulling the familiar gemstone out of his pocket and staring at him.

"…Are you trying to work me to an early grave?"

"No," Vin chuckled, pleased to see the gemstone turn a soft green.

"By the way, how long until I can borrow that from you? I'm hoping I'll be able to pick up the truth-detecting magic from it, but it'll probably take me a couple of days."

"In that case, not for a while," Spur sighed, slipping the charm back into his pocket.

"I've got four hundred new faces I need to interrogate to make sure none of them actually mean us any harm, and then I have nearly five times that in Earthers to work my way through."

"You're going to check out our people?"

"Patty was one of us," Spur nodded.

"And even without the charm we've managed to pick up on a few concerning classes coming in. I'm almost scared to find out what slipped through the cracks now that we have it."

"At least now you don't need to toss anyone in jail just because of their class," Vin said, looking between Spur and Myers as he thought of the woman that had taken the Saboteur class Theodore had mentioned reading about in Myers' notes. The Spy seemed a touch lonely being the only person in his branch.

"Even if their class sounds dangerous, if they truthfully say they don't mean the camp any harm, they should be good to let loose, right?" This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

"Why do I get the feeling you're talking about a specific person?" Spur asked, his eyes narrowing.

"Whelp, I should probably go get some food myself. Nothing works up an appetite like thinking you're going to be ambushed at any moment!" Vin tried to run away before Spur could ask any further questions, but Spur surprised him by grabbing him by the shoulder and stopping him in his tracks.

"Wait, Vin, I wanted to tell you something before you go running off again," Spur admitted, seeing the slight panic in his eyes.

"And calm down, it's not about the people with dangerous classes we're currently holding."

"What is it then?" Vin asked, relaxing slightly as Spur finally released him.

"Two things, both of which go hand in hand. First off, with the discovery of the prisoners' fragment and the existence of the Red Dawn, I'm beginning to realize knowing only what fragments are immediately adjacent to us isn't nearly enough. I want you to focus on mapping out the second ring as well to ensure there aren't any other massive surprises so close to home.

I'm planning to work with Phil to send out a few teams of our own to do some investigating, but I'll still be relying on you and your team for the most part."

"Sure, I can do that," Vin nodded, waiting for Spur to continue.

"And second, I downplayed my concern because I didn't want to worry the others when there's nothing we can do about it right now, but I'm worried about the other Earthers Captain Reonelli told us about. If other countries are sending people over just like the U. S. did, there's no telling what trials they're facing. You know better than anyone just how dangerous Edregon is."

"I know what you mean," Vin said, imagining if their camp had been placed anywhere else. What if the first fragment he'd wandered into had been the death fragment? Or the civil war going on between the trogums? Their positioning seemed so insanely lucky that he'd begun to suspect the Gods had placed them in this exact location on purpose.

"Why are you telling me though?"

"Because I have a new task for you to think about while you're out there doing your thing," Spur said, looking around to make sure nobody was listening in.

"For all we know the other countries' Earthers are hundreds or even thousands of miles away. We'll never find them just blindly wandering around. I don't know if something like this even exists, but I want you to try and find some sort of scrying magic. Some method we can use to track them down and find them. Think you can give it a shot?"

"I can't make any promises, but I'll certainly try," Vin nodded. He'd never told Spur about Shia's divine boon because it wasn't his place to, but at the very least, it proved similar magic should be possible.

"Good man, that's all I can ask for," Spur grinned, clapping him on the back and finally dropping the serious act.

"Alright, get out of here. I've got a hell of a lot of work to do and we both know you're not going to be any help." Chuckling, Vin bid the colonel goodbye before heading toward his friends that had been waiting off to the side throughout everything.

"That sounded like it went well," Shia grinned, tapping her ear to indicate she'd been listening in with Whispering Wind.

"I'm happy to see Spur is taking measures to ensure you don't have another Patty situation."

"Same here. Though knowing Spur, he's probably planning on handling every single one of those interrogations himself," Vin said, shaking his head.

"Even if he ropes in Myers, it's going to take up quite a lot of their time."

"So? What's the problem?" Alka asked.

"He'll probably end up relying on Golrim even more in the near future," Shia frowned, picking up on Vin's hesitation.

"Eh, guy doesn't seem so bad," Scule shrugged, getting a squeak of agreement from Reginald.

"Other than potentially sending a trained assassin into your camp to kill a few people, what's he really done to be mad about?" The rest of them stared at Scule for a moment, and Scule nervously chuckled under the weight of their gazes.

"Ah… Yeah, I guess that is kinda bad, huh?"

"Don't forget, it's not just Spur leading things anymore," Shia pointed out, brushing over Scule's comment completely.

"You've got Witherson and Alice on the council now, not to mention Phil. If Golrim really turns out to be an issue, I don't see any of them just rolling over and letting the man do what he wants."

"Fair…" Vin said, imagining Golrim trying to sneak up on Alice with his invisibility, only to find his legs blown out from under him before dropping into some form of pitfall.

"Yeah, Alice can definitely hold her own."

"You're damn right she can," Alka grunted.

"Anyway, we finally got the prisoners here safe and sound. What's the plan? As much fun as training up my new Slayers has been, I'm a bit annoyed I missed all the action you guys got with the Red Dawn. We heading out anytime soon?"

"Alka, the action nearly got us all killed," Vin drawled, giving the Slayer an exasperated look.

"Exactly why I'm mad I missed it," she said pointedly. Rolling his eyes, Vin pulled out his journal and took a look at the map he'd been working on throughout their travels.

"Spur did say I should get back to exploring and make sure we don't have any threats too close to us. And it has been awhile since we've ventured into the unknown. You guys up for hitting the next fragment?"

"Only if it's something fun this time!" Scule demanded, rubbing his hands together.

"I haven't gotten to steal anything since the dwarves, and I'm starting to go through withdrawals at this point!"

"Wait, what did you take from the dwarves?" Shia asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, you know… Rocks and stuff," Scule said, waving away the question.

"That's not important! What is important is that our next fragment isn't another flat plane of death or filled with nothing but flowers."

"I liked the flower filled fragment," Shia muttered, frowning.

"Other than those freaky wolf monsters with the long faces of course."

"Speak for yourself, I'm sad I missed them," Alka growled.

"I vote on something filled with monsters all over the place. I still haven't put Dream Shredder through the paces just yet."

"Well, we've got quite a lot of options," Vin said, looking over his ever-growing map.

"Despite all our running around, there are still ten fragments within the second ring we've yet to explore. Nine that are completely unknown to us, as well as Forpurt's arctic fragment. Not to mention we still haven't actually tried heading into Lumel's underwater one in the first ring of fragments."

"Unless you've recently discovered how to breathe underwater, I think we can safely cross that one off the list for the moment," Scule said, rolling his eyes before hopping up onto Vin's hand and pointing down at the journal.

"Why don't we hit the one next to it though? If we aim for the one adjacent to Lumel's fragment and Alka's home town, we'll be far enough north that we won't have to keep checking over our backs for the Red Dawn."

"Fine by me, as long as we don't plan on stopping in my old town," Alka said, her voice slightly strained.

"I'd rather avoid the memories."

"We can pick a new path," Vin nodded, giving Alka a comforting smile as he laid a hand on her shoulder. The battle-hardened warrior would never admit it, but every so often she had feelings just like the rest of them.

"Well then, it sounds like we're finally getting out of here," Shia grinned.

"Not a moment too soon either. I finally put the finishing touches on my newest spell, and I think you guys will be excited to see it in action. I didn't get the chance to use it against the Red Dawn earlier!"

"I might need to use the dungeons to pop back into camp every now and again and check up on things, but yeah, I'm ready to get back out there for sure," Vin nodded, tucking away his journal and giving everyone an excited grin.

"In that case, pack your bags everyone. We leave first thing in the morning!"