Chương 38: Homecoming

As it turned out, the answer to that question was a resounding yes. Over the hour it took for Vin and his group to cross the border between fragments and make it to the location of the new camp, he'd leveled up his new Running skill five times, earning more than enough experience to tip him over into level 18. After obtaining Threat Detection and increasing his dexterity, Vin was feeling confident enough in his defenses to return to his old ways, and he tossed the three attribute points into magic once again.

It seemed his fear of losing more limbs was only ever so slightly less than his excitement toward learning more magic. He wasn't sure what that said about him. Luckily, the run had been fairly uneventful. Vin finally had enough focus to spot most threats long before he reached them in this open terrain, and enough endurance and dexterity to fairly easily run around them.

They encountered a half dozen monsters and plenty more interesting animals in his straight shot back to camp, but they were able to avoid any direct fighting. The run was so uneventful in fact, Vin even managed to finally get to something he'd been meaning to do for some time now. Entrusting his companions to steer him in the correct direction while his mind was elsewhere, he let his body run on autopilot as he focused on learning his latest spell.

He couldn't exactly meditate while running, but that didn't mean he couldn't still focus on runic structures. Once he'd finished that task, he checked his Mental Map and finally took note of the sheer amount of area he'd discovered at this point from his travels. Seeing how much ground he'd covered, he decided to invest a skill point into Cartography after all, just so he could give Spur something more detailed and better looking than a map that looked like it came from the back of a cereal box.

"Okay, I'd hope this goes without saying, but just so we're clear," Vin started as they grew closer to the spot Spur had indicated he'd planned to start the new camp.

"Alka, try not to scare anyone. Shia, try not to look like you want to eat anyone. Scule, don't go around stealing from anyone." After a brief pause to let the quick barrage of complaints pass…

"Their own fault if they're scared of ghosts."

"Come on, that was one time!"

"But what if it's really shiny?" …Vin glanced down at his pocket.

"Reginald… I trust at least you will make good decisions." The rat looked back up at him, nodding his head in affirmation. Taking a deep breath, Vin led his group the rest of the way. Despite the hurry they were in, Vin didn't want to drive the camp into a panic at their arrival so he had Shia return her staff back to normal, and Alka thankfully returned to echoing him without even having to be asked.

Scule offered to hide in Shia's pouch of magic seeds, earning himself a flick from the elf that nearly sent him tumbling to the ground before wisely deciding to just remain on Vin's shoulder for the moment. It was about a half mile out from the camp's new location when they finally ran into someone from his world. Vin spotted the man in standard Project Ark greys long before he spotted them.

The man had a bow and a quiver of arrows strung to his back, but other than that he still looked more like someone from Earth rather than a foreign world.

"Hello!" Vin called out, causing the man to jump and spin around. It looked like he'd been busy investigating a patch of mushrooms growing near a cluster of trees, so maybe he was looking for new sources of food.

"How are things back at camp?"

"Uh, they're fine," the man said, far too busy staring at the tiny man standing on Vin's shoulders to pay any attention to him. Scule's form was so distracting in fact, Vin didn't even think the man noticed the elf standing beside him.

"What...?"

"Sorry, I don't actually have time to chat," Vin said, cutting off the bewildered scout.

"I have an emergency report for Spur. Can you point me in the direction of the camp?"

"Yeah…" The man said, not taking his eyes off of Scule even as he pointed.

"It's that way…" Confirming the man's vague directions aligned with where Spur said he was planning on setting up camp, Vin nodded, giving the man a serious look and trying to put some weight behind his words.

"I know you're probably under orders right now, but I'd come back to camp if I were you. We're about to be under serious threat, and we're going to need all hands-on deck if we want to have even a chance at survival." That finally snapped the man out of his daze as he took in Vin's expression.

"How bad?" He asked, his eyes growing wider as they finally landed on Vin's missing forearm.

"Bad," was all Vin said.

"Oh boy…" The man sighed, coming to a decision.

"There are a good number of other people scouting the area as well. If you're already going to talk to Colonel Spur, tell him I'll start spreading the word for everyone to return to camp." Having made his request, the man took off deeper into the forest, searching for the others. Vin watched him go for a moment, shocked by how slow the man was running before he directed his party to continue making their way into camp. He wondered what a few dedicated crafters could do in only five days' time.

A lot, as it turned out. Vin stared in shock at the makings of an actual settlement currently under construction in the center of an open meadow. They weren't anything fancy, but there were already a handful of rows of simple, bare bones log cabins with primitive cobble paths running in between them, and a couple more houses being built even as he watched.

He knew they didn't have enough crafter classes to explain the sheer number of people he saw currently sawing their way through logs or hammering in nails, meaning Spur must have organized some of the combat classes to help out in their down time. He'd hoped to spot some defenses in place, but the growing village didn't even have so much as a picket fence surrounding it just yet.

Everyone's focus seemed to be on buildings and roads at the moment, and he saw a few people working on what looked like a well in the center of everything.

"This is bad," he muttered, ignoring the growing number of looks he was receiving as he strolled down the brand-new road into camp.

"Shia, in the least racist way possible, you know wood pretty well. How likely do you think those log cabins would hold against a monster attack?" Snorting at his comment, she shook her head.

"Depends on the monster, but against one or two? Probably just fine. Against a few dozen…" She frowned, clearly envisioning the destruction and death that Vin himself saw.

"…probably not very well."

'The good news is that Spur seems to already have people organized,' Alka pointed out.

'Hopefully switching their focus from building houses to building rows of spikes or whatever will be easy.'

"You got your work cut out for you," Scule added, looking around.

"I mean, the three of us just waltzed right into your settlement, right? Not a single person posted to stop and check us or anything?" The Rogue shook his head, looking disappointed.

"It wouldn't even be a challenge to make off with all your camp's valuables. It's the first time I've ever been disappointed in seeing a place so poorly guarded." Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

"Again, unlike you guys, we've literally only existed on this plot of land for like a week," Vin said, feeling the need to defend his people a bit from his companions' disappointed looks.

"Unlike your fragments, we had to start completely from scratch. The Gods brought over a huge chunk of your Sacred Forest, and your entire goddamn citadel when they moved both your people for crying out loud!"

"You know what, fair enough," Scule winced, holding up his hands in defeat.

"Vin?" Vin turned from the embarrassed Rogue to finally find a familiar face peering at him. Phil, the twitchy, right-hand man of Spur's that Vin always caught staring hungrily at him out of the corner of his eye, had just walked back into camp from a different direction. Unlike most of the people Vin had seen so far, Phil actually looked like someone who had embraced their new life on this fantasy world wholeheartedly.

Phil's grey fatigues had been torn and sewn back together in multiple places, no doubt from numerous battles, and the man walked proudly with his fingers never far from the hilt of the sword dangling at his hip. He'd clearly seen his fair share of fighting already, and Vin didn't doubt for a second the man was one of the highest leveled people from Earth. Strangely though, the closer the man got to Vin, the more his face seemed to pale, until he looked like he was doing his own impression of Alka's ghostly form.

"What level are you?" Vin heard the man mutter under his breath thanks to his enhanced focus. Phil barely even spared Shia and Scule more than a passing glance, his eyes locked almost hungrily on Vin's own as his hand unconsciously gripped the hilt of his sword.

"Hey Phil," Vin nodded, hoping the man wasn't about to try and strike him down. His divine boon was still on cooldown from being slapped across the colosseum after all.

"Where's Spur? We have an emergency."

"An emergency?" Phil repeated, the word seeming to snap him out of his hungry look.

"What's wrong?"

"I'd rather not have to explain everything twice," Vin said, shaking his head.

"In fact, can you round up the other council members? This concerns everyone after all." Picking up the serious nature of whatever was happening, Phil gave him a quick nod, letting go of his sword and pointing toward the second largest of the current buildings.

"That's the new headquarters, you'll find Spur in there. Tell him I'll be back with the rest of the council in a few minutes."

"Thanks," Vin said, getting one last hungry look before Phil tore himself away, breaking into a jog as he ran toward the edge of camp. To Vin's surprise, as soon as the man was out of earshot Shia let out a deep groan, covering her face with her hands.

"Ancient One's sap, is that what I looked like while staring at the cat people?!"

"No, you were actively drooling," Scule said, nodding toward the red elf.

"I remember it well because I had to time jumping up to steal your pouch carefully so I didn't get drool on Reginald." The petian dodged out of the way of another flick from the embarrassed elf, chuckling all the while.

"Also, I feel I should probably bring this up now, but I haven't the faintest idea what the two of you were saying for the record. Some language I've never heard before."

"Ah crap," Vin said, rubbing his brow with a sigh as he made his way to the building Phil indicated.

"Sorry Scule, I honestly forgot about the whole language problem because Shia, Alka, and I all have ways around it now. Shia, until we find a solution for Scule, do you mind translating?"

"Fine," the Druid huffed.

"But if he makes any more comments about my drooling, I'm feeding him to Blossom." Seeing their blank looks, she held up her staff.

"That's what I named my staff. I'm not sure yet if it can eat in cat form, but I'm certainly willing to try and find out."

"Heard and understood," Scule said, saluting Shia before leaping from Vin's shoulder over to hers.

"Reginald, you want to join, or you good there?" Vin heard the content squeak from the rat, feeling it wriggle deeper into his pocket.

"Just don't forget you're my animal companion, alright?" Scule muttered, rolling his eyes. Language issues solved for the moment, Vin approached the new headquarters, surprised to see two people actually standing guard out front. One was a heavy-set man leaning against the wooden wall with a large mace strapped to his belt, and the other was a tall woman standing ramrod straight with a quarterstaff firmly planted on the ground. Walking up to them, Vin nodded.

"Hello! I've got some important news for Spur. I'm the Explorer that left camp on his orders a few days back." The two guards stared with wide eyes at the strange party before glancing at one another, and Vin could practically hear the unspoken argument going on between them regarding which one actually had to do their job. After a few tense seconds, the mace wielder sighed, standing up straight and nodding towards the impassive Shia and waving Scule.

"And those two are...?"

"Companions I picked up along the way," Vin answered, trying not to grow impatient. Every second mattered after all.

"They're going to help deliver the news."

"Right…" The guard sighed, running a hand through his short hair. He looked like he was having some sort of internal debate and was trying to figure out what to do, but the other guard had no such issues." Colonel Spur is busy at the moment," she said, glaring at her fellow guard.

"He gave us strict orders to keep everyone away for the time being, so you'll have to leave."

"Abby," the mace wielder whispered, leaning toward his partner as he nodded toward Vin's party.

"I think that's an elf with a little man standing on her shoulder. Don't you think Colonel Spur would want to speak with them?"

"You're not supposed to think Greg, you're supposed to follow orders," Abby hissed. Immediately, Vin realized Abby must be military, while Greg was probably one of the civilians who'd just happened to have chosen a combat class. Vin suppressed a groan as the two of them bickered. He really didn't feel like dealing with this right now.

"Listen, Abby," he said, stopping their argument before it could take off. He didn't like talking over people, but all he could think about were the screams of people getting torn apart by monsters suddenly appearing next to their defenseless camp.

"I don't know if you heard, but I'm apparently one of the members of the fancy new council Spur put together. That means technically, I outrank you. And seeing as Spur asked me to come give him my report as soon as I got back, that is exactly what I'm going to do. You're welcome to try and stop me, but I am packing magic the likes of which you've never seen, and I have had a very, very, long day." Having said his part, Vin started walking forward, praying the guard would listen to reason.

He didn't know why he even bothered.

"That's not how the military-" Abby began, reaching out to stop him with a hand on his shoulder as he went to enter the building. But before she could even touch him, Alka shot out of his body, stopping directly in front of the guard with a wild grin on her face.

"Boo!" She shouted. Screaming, the guard tripped over her own staff and fell to the ground, scrambling to put as much distance between herself and the laughing ghost as possible. Shaking his head, Vin's step didn't even falter, and Alka quickly merged back into his body as he entered the building. A quick glance at the pale and shaking Greg was all the confirmation Vin needed that he wouldn't try and stop him. Stepping into the new headquarters, Vin was surprised to see it was actually decently furnished.

Along with the same array of temporary whiteboards and flimsy tables that Spur had set up in the old headquarters, there were even a few basic wooden pieces of furniture that had clearly been crafted by hand. Looking to the center of the room, Vin spotted Spur with his sword drawn, readying himself for a fight. After a moment, the colonel blinked, squinting his eyes as if he wasn't believing what he was seeing.

"Vin?" He asked, slowly lowering his sword. Spur's eyes were bloodshot, and the poor man looked like he hadn't slept in days.

"Why did I hear screaming? And am I dreaming, or do you have an elf with a discolored smurf on her shoulder right behind you?" Blinking, Vin looked back just in time to catch Shia translate the colonel's comment, and got to witness first hand the moment Spur dug his own grave. He had no idea what 'smurf' translated to in Scule's language, but based on the petian's hardened expression, it probably wasn't very good. Deciding that was a problem for later, Vin sighed, turning back to Spur.

"This isn't a dream, but you're going to wish it was," he said, wondering where to even begin.

"I've got bad news."