Chương 49: (49) 2.2. Plotting a Course

Vin hadn't gone too deep into the forest, meaning it wasn't long before he found himself at the edge of camp once again. Already the additional thousand people they'd gained from the second wave were hard at work. Crafters were working on a legitimate wall around the camp and assembling simple houses for people to live in, warriors were sharpening weapons and training against one another, and he could only assume the myriad of random people working on their own individual projects were the support classes.

He got caught up for a few minutes watching a man with a rather thick, dirty looking beard entertain a sweaty group of crafters with his guitar before finally pulling himself away, continuing deeper into camp. Despite all the new construction and people buzzing around, he knew exactly where to find Spur. To his surprise, he discovered two familiar faces still standing guard outside the command building. And based on their reactions when they spotted him, they clearly recognized him as well.

Greg's face paled and he clutched his heavy mace as Vin walked up to them, but Abby actually snapped a salute, even going so far as to nod respectfully.

"Councilor," she said curtly, planting her quarterstaff on the ground and stepping aside, clearing the doorway for him. Jumping slightly, Greg hastily followed suit, saluting and moving out of his way. Giving them both a strange look, Vin nodded, heading into the command center and finding Spur deep in conversation with General Witherson. The two of them were hunched over, pointing and arguing about something on Vin's old map he'd left for Spur what felt like an eternity ago.

The moment Spur spotted him entering the room, the colonel paused, a massive grin spreading across his face.

"Well, well, well, look who finally decided to grace us with his presence!" Spur said, walking over and clapping Vin on the shoulder.

"I was beginning to fear you weren't coming back!"

"I just needed some time to think," Vin said, returning the colonel's smile. Before the giant battle, Spur had been practically delirious from lack of sleep and juggling far too many things for a single person. It was good to see him in such high spirits.

"Good to officially meet you Vin," Witherson said, shaking his hand and offering a brief nod.

"Spur's briefed me on everything you've accomplished since wave one's arrival in Edregon. Impressive work for a civilian." Witherson was a rather large, muscular woman, so it was strange to realize his grip was actually stronger than hers due to their difference in strength attributes. If she noticed, the general didn't say anything.

"Thanks," he said, gesturing toward the map.

"What were you guys talking about?"

"Possible trade allies, fragments with the potential to kill us all, you know, boring stuff," Spur shrugged, waving a hand dismissively.

"Nothing to worry about in the here and now. How are you holding up after the battle? Lieutenant Myers wanted to check in on you, but I figured it was better to give you some space."

"Fine, I guess," Vin said, scratching his head. He wondered how to put everything he'd been feeling into words.

"It was certainly… a lot, seeing people dying all around me like that. Honestly I feel a bit strange that it's not affecting me more."' That would be your focus attribute,' Alka sounded inside his head.' Focus helps with mental stress, and yours is already more than double the average human's.'

"Huh, makes sense," Vin muttered, before realizing Witherson was giving him a strange look.

"Sorry. Alka pointed out that a higher focus means you handle stress better. It hadn't occurred to me."

"Ah, Spur did fill me in on your… ghostly companion," Witherson said, shooting Spur a questioning glance.

"While I'd love to sit down and chat with her sometime in the near future, it's you we need to talk to at the moment." General Witherson looked like she was about to order him to do something before catching herself, shaking her head slightly.

"Spur thought it would be a good idea to hold a new council meeting. Seeing as you're already a council member, what are your thoughts?"

"Seriously? We're sticking with the whole council thing?" Vin asked, raising an eyebrow at Spur.

"I thought that was just because Patty brainwashed you into making one."

"That may have been how it started, but to be honest, I kinda liked not having to run everything on my own," Spur shrugged.

"I also don't want to accidentally turn our new society into some sort of dictatorship like Patty intended, so I think maintaining the council is in our best interests."

"I guess…" Vin said, clamping down on the shudder that threatened to travel through him as he remembered the sound Patty had made when the crossbow bolt snatched her life right out from under him.

"... But with Patty gone, won't we need a new election? Things seem busy enough now as it is with all the new people getting settled."

"That's why we're going to forgo the elections this time," Spur grinned.

"Hey, there's got to be some benefits to performing a successful military coup, right?"

"Colonel Spur," Witherson frowned, clearly not entertained by his antics.

"Right, right, apologies and all that," Spur said quickly.

"And for the record, we didn't just lose Patty. Tasha was among the twenty-six people we lost during the battle as well." Seeing his blank expression, Spur sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Tasha. The representative for the crafters?"

"Oh!" Vin said, remembering the unnaturally quiet woman that had followed Patty around.

"I didn't realize she'd been killed."

"Yes, well, you kinda dipped off into the forest and left the clean up to the rest of us," Spur said, causing Vin's face to heat up. That hadn't been his intention, but that was exactly what had happened.

"Yeah… Sorry about that."

"Vin, you're the entire reason we're standing here having this conversation in the first place," Spur laughed, picking up one of the white board markers and twirling it around his fingers aimlessly.

"Forget your efforts in healing the wounded and taking down that giant snake, it was only because of your warning that we were semi-prepared for what was coming at all. Not to mention stopping Patty from turning us all into her slaves," Spur added, frowning at the thought.

"Honestly we should be getting you a big shiny medal if you ask me. Or three." Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

"Colonel Spur is getting a bit off topic. As he tends to do," Witherson added, clasping her hands behind her back and shooting Spur a tired glance.

"Regarding the now empty seats on the council, I will be taking the seat representing the crafter classes despite my low level in an attempt to placate those in the second wave who still believe I should be the one in charge, and Mrs. Horne will be representing the support classes. We were actually planning on holding our first meeting as a new council later today."

"Oh. Well, good job getting that all sorted so quickly," Vin said, Spur's praise making him rather uncomfortable. At the very least he was glad they didn't need to wait for the thousand new people to get organized and vote for the new council members. He didn't know who Mrs. Horne was, but they were practically guaranteed to be better than who they were replacing.

"You're a crafter, General Witherson?"

"Indeed," she nodded.

"Before joining the military, I worked in the trades. As soon as I saw the classes offered I figured we'd have enough muscle heads picking from the combat list," she paused, glancing at the grinning Spur.

"... so I decided to go with crafter. My specialization is in carpentry. Once we finish up here, I'll head back to organizing the teams putting together housing for everyone."

"I've already filled the good general in on the importance of letting people level up their classes and all that fun stuff," Spur grinned, clearly remembering Vin giving him the same revelation.

"With the knowledge of what's coming in a few weeks with the arrival of wave three, we need to make sure our people are ready this time. Speaking of which…" Spur paused, walking over and slapping the crude map Vin had drawn for him what felt like ages ago.

"... while we're getting the council together, why don't you take some time and give me a new map? Now that you've explored the fragments surrounding us, I'd like one with a bit more detail. You know, maybe something that wouldn't be confused with a kindergartner's work if I hung it on my fridge?"

"I can do that," Vin laughed, relief flooding through him at Spur's antics. He'd felt as though there was a small, dense storm cloud of fear and anger hovering over his head ever since losing his arm and witnessing all that death in the recent battle, but Spur's familiar attitude was a welcome breath of fresh air that seemed to blow a portion of it all away.

"You know, I actually grabbed Cartography as a skill the other day. Though it's still level 1, so don't expect anything too crazy."

"Vin, if I wasn't already taken by my love of this country, I could kiss you," Spur said, wiping an imaginary tear from his eye.

"General Witherson, would you do me the honor of joining me for lunch before we grab the rest of the council?" Muttering something under her breath that sounded like a prayer for strength, Witherson didn't bother to respond, merely turning around and leaving the command center without another word. With one last wink, Spur ran out after her, leaving Vin alone once more.

Shaking his head, Vin walked over to the array of charts, grabbing a giant sheet of paper and tapping into his strange knowledge of map making that hadn't existed prior to purchasing his skill.

"You sure you're ready to jump back into all this?" Alka asked, drifting out of his body and peering at him.

"You sound better, but still don't seem quite like yourself."

"Alka, I just witnessed over a dozen people die before my very eyes," Vin said, not bothering to look at her as he began sketching out his new map.

"I know your world was a lot tougher than mine, but you should be impressed I'm not curled up in a ball somewhere rocking back and forth. It's going to take more than a day or two before I feel up to joking around with you again."

"Got it, three days it is," Alka nodded, a deathly serious expression on her face. Rolling his eyes, Vin ignored her and turned back to the map. In the center sat their hexagonal fragment, the only one he'd fully mapped out and could draw in its entirety. The fragment was entirely gentle rolling meadows and the occasional patch of forest, with a few shallow rivers for water. Compasses didn't actually work here on Edregon, but for the sake of his map, he designated a random direction as 'north.'

On their north-eastern border was the first fragment he'd ventured into, containing the village of stone workers. Their land was more arid and rocky, and there was a goat that he was hesitant to run into again, but the villagers were good people who had already started talks of trade with his camp. He also still had their educational artifact that they had left him, which he really needed to return at some point. Directly north was Alka's fragment.

A dangerous fragment filled with tall grasses hiding venomous snakes and impossibly large trees with entire deadly ecosystems somehow hidden in their canopies. He filled this fragment with all sorts of danger signs, seeing as just about everything he'd encountered there would happily kill someone. To the north-western border was the fragment that was entirely water.

He hadn't done more than stick his head past the border for the easy experience, meaning he didn't really have anything to add on his map, quickly continuing counterclockwise. South-west was the Sacred Forest, a fragment filled with a sprawling forest containing hundreds of unique tree species. Not to mention Shia's village in the center, a jaw dropping cluster of living houses grown from different trees, all surrounding a tree larger than any building Vin had ever seen.

The Ancient Tree was home to the leaders of the elves, known as the Ancient Ones. Currently only one was active, who Vin knew as Erik. Despite not seeming as outwardly dangerous as Alka's fragment, due to his experience with the Trunkback that had attacked them and the elves' bad blood with humans, he filled this fragment with warning signs as well. Directly south was a fragment he hadn't spent long in; a desert filled with reddish sand and a blazing sun.

The temperature was scorching within that fragment, and other than the giant frog that had nearly eaten Shia, they hadn't really seen any other threats. They had come across an abandoned camp of people, and while they'd discovered what had happened to a portion of that camp, that still left nearly two-thirds of the people from that fragment unaccounted for.

The final fragment surrounding them was to the south-east, a far more friendly environment similar to their own fragment, although one that seemed plagued with small, exploding, fox-like monsters for some reason. Most noticeable of course, had been the massive, multi-mile wide citadel they'd stumbled upon in the center.

There was an entire city of people living within those walls, though they were blissfully unaware of the fact that they'd been ripped away from their world, believing instead that the reset to level 1 was due to the work of some powerful demon. They were waiting patiently for their holy warriors that no longer existed to come and lead them once more, and they refused to open the citadel's gates for anyone to go in or out until that day.

That hadn't stopped Vin and his companions from breaking into the city of course, picking up Scule and Reginald before invading the holy district where Vin traded half his arm for a divine boon and some unexpected information from one of the Gods. He would have traded his divine boon back for his arm any day of the week, but seeing as the Gods' information had led to him saving his entire camp from slaughter, even he had to begrudgingly admit it was more than a worthwhile trade.

Ignoring the phantom pain throbbing in his missing arm, he put the finishing touches on the new map and leaned back, taking it all in. It had taken him a couple of hours, but at least it had been worth it. Cartography increased to lvl 2! 200 exp gained. Cartography increased to lvl 3! 300 exp gained. Cartography increased to lvl 4! 400 exp gained. Cartography increased to lvl 5! 500 exp gained. Vin grinned as the already small amount of experience he needed to hit level 20 shrunk even further.

At this point, he was a single new spell away from hitting his first prestige class. As he wondered what his new class would be, the command center door swung open once again, and he received a pleasant surprise. Apparently Mrs. Horne, the person Spur and Witherson had chosen to represent the support classes, was someone he already knew.