Searching for a new home

Chris was surprised, as it had been a day or two since he gave the StacheGuard to Berg and yet, he still had not received any feedback.

Luckily for Berg, Chris had a lot on his mind. Titus' direct subordinates were on a mission to scout Molten Valley, the main candidate for their first city. According to Titus and his scouts, it should give them the space and resources necessary to develop while still being protected by nearby mountain chains. The scouts had left few days ago, and they should be on their way back soon. Chris was getting antsy.

"A new home for us...". Murmured Chris.

"Are you looking forward to moving, my Lord?" Said Rinat.

They were currently sitting on tree stomps in front of the caves. Today's meeting was to discuss the details of the throwing traps. But Chris' mind kept wandering.

He turned his head toward the caves. The entrances were tens of meters large and just as high. They were certainly large and could accommodate thousands of people, but everything had its limits.

"Kind of." Answered Chris with a neutral voice while his mind was going wild. [Are you kidding? I can't wait to leave! It's noisy inside, the air is heavy and smells bad, and more importantly I've got no privacy! Every young handsome man should have his own private space! And showering out of buckets every few days? I can probably smell Bergy all the way from the training area!]

"Aren't you?" Chris tried to act nonchalant. After all this place had served Five Cave Village very well for a few months now, he couldn't look down on it too obviously.

"I guess I am." Said Rinat as she was checking Chris' complete net trap. "But mostly because I'll get a real workshop and finally get some real work." Rinat realized something and quickly corrected herself. "Ah. I am not unhappy about the jobs you gave me. The release mechanism on those traps is very interesting. It's just that I... I just miss doing the big jobs."

Chris looked at Rinat, she had a serious face on as she was now taking down the dimensions for Chris' traps. Her ponytail was swinging as she attentively at the device to make sure she did not miss anything.

He was an engineer himself, so he also missed his computer... Ah what he would give for one right now. He also missed his tools, and working on big machines with modern designs. So he understood.

"Oh really? What were your best works?" Asked Chris, somehow this turned into a job interview... Sort of.

Her eyes shined at the question. "What a tough question! Let's see... If we are talking about refined work, then it must the royal cart my workshop made for the previous king. It was delicate work, and I had to hire a lot of artists like jewelers and engravers. But the result was worth it. But if we are talking in scale then it must be the Bailey Castle near the razor hide territory! That took me more than a year to complete with hundreds of workers!"

"A castle? That's impressive. What kind of mechanism did you use for the drawbridge?"

"Oh, that was a lot of trouble to get right! I had plans for something complicated, but it would require too much maintenance, so I finally went with a classic. See, I figured, since there will always be guards at their posts..."

... ...

...

Chris and Rinat continued to enjoy their chat as a craft woman and an ex-engineer.

***** *****

A few days ago. Carl reached Molten Valley with twenty scouts.

This was the first time he was allowed to lead so many scouts, so he was quite eager to please. It was also such an important job that he felt the weight of his responsibilities. After all, at the end of the day, his words would decide where their first city would be founded. He knew that if everything went well, that very city would one day become the hope of the humans and the capital of their kingdom.

Luckily, the trip was mostly uneventful so far. The scouts had to fight off the usual wolves and had to avoid a few areas where dangerous beasts lurked. But they finally made it to the valley in less than a day.

Carl looked around, he could see plenty of flat open spaces surrounded by forests, they were currently at the north-eastern entrance of Molten Valley. (Map of Molten Valley : https://www.dropbox.com/s/m6zxsc2sfqyvjze/Carl%20scouting%20Molten%20valley%20%28chapter%2010%29.jpg?dl=0 )

[It certainly looks lush and fertile. Is it from all the volcanic ash?] He wondered. He had never been to this part of the kingdom before as his family lived in an old mining town up north.

[Let's get to work.] He spread out the map in front of him and his scouts. His hands gripped it tightly. [This is our only map. To think I would be entrusted with it.]

"Alright everyone! Sir Titus and our lord selected those four possible areas for the city." He pointed to the map as he gave orders.

"So let's split into four groups of five scouts to check them out!". Carl pointed at each of his scouts, gave them a team number and a one of the four areas to check out.

"Remember to take note of everything of interest you find! Resources, ruins, lakes, wild life, refugee camps. And so on. There might even be fields or orchards still thriving! And one last thing. Stay safe! Do not engage in combat unless you absolutely have to. If your designed area is too dangerous, then just take a note of it and come back to this spot and wait for us. Be back here no later than in three days!"

"Yes!" And with this the four groups went their own way.

Carl's group took a full day to reach their designated area. He was quite a hard worker and chose the furthest spot from the valley's northern entrance. This brought them very close to the dwarven kingdom.

Carl chose a safe spot and stopped. "Alright, let's camp here everyone."

After the camp was setup, rations were distributed and they prepared their next moves.

"Boss, it took us a full day to get here. Our rendezvous is in three days. So we better move fast tomorrow, or we'll miss the meeting." Said one of the scouts as he chewed on jerky.

Carl was still a little uncomfortable being called boss, but he let it slide. "Any of you is familiar with the area?"

Another scout answered. "I am, that's why sir Titus asked me to join. But I mostly lived in the northern part of the valley, with my dad who was a lumberjack, before... You know."

"Yeah... I know." Carl nodded with a sad smile. "Any insight on this side of the valley?"

"Not much, I remember my dad saying to not go south west and stay in our side." Reminisced the scout.

"Because of the dwarves?" Asked another.

"Well, not directly. As you know we never had troubles with the dwarves, so the border has always remained peaceful. That and the mountains making a natural barrier, there hasn't been much activity west of the valley so a lot of beasts have made it their nest. I heard talks of wyverns and such when I was a kid. But I am not sure if it was just my dad trying to scare me."

The scout thought a little longer. "Boss, frankly I don't think this is a good spot. The closer we get to the mountain, the harder it will be to grow food, there are a lot of savage beasts around here and who knows what else. Not to mention that we are too close to the border to build a real city. I think the other teams will have better luck."

Carl nodded. "Very well. But let's still do our due diligence tomorrow and scout the area properly. We never know what useful thing we can find."

The night was uneventful and no troublesome beasts tried to get too close to camp. So Carl and his scouts resumed their work the next day after a good night of sleep.

[Indeed. The soil isn't as fertile over here. But there are plenty of rocks for construction.] Carl made sure to take notes of it. [We could build a quarry around here, if there are no better stones up north.]

"HAAAA!" His thoughts were interrupted by battle noises and what looked like human voices.

[A fight?] He signaled his scouts and said "Let's check it out."

The noise came from nearby forest. Carl and his scouts approached discreetly as to not attract unwanted attention. After all their orders were clear. They had to avoid unnecessary fights.

They went through a few row of trees and up a small hill. "Over here boss." Pointed one of the scouts as he crouched at the top of the hill.

"Hm? Three humans fighting... Undeads?" Said a surprised Carl. "What the hell are undeads doing around here?"

"Should we help?" Asked a scout. "I don't think they can make it on their own."

[Two women and one man. Only the man and one of the women are armed, and they are up against 10 skeletons...] Carl agreed, it did not look good for them. Skeletons are some of the weakest undeads. They are slow and brittle. But two against ten is still too much.

"Alright, let's go. But put away your bows and take out your swords. Arrows are useless against skeletons."Ordered Carl.

The five scouts charged and the skeletons were quickly dispatched with their help. After all, it almost became a one vs one fight and a regular soldier could handle 2 or 3 skeletons by himself without worry.

Relief and a little worry could be seen on the faces of the three survivors.

One of the women, the one that was fighting off the skeletons was the first to speak. "Thank you for helping us. We were in a bad spot."

"It's okay! We should each others out in times of need after all!" Said Carl with a smile but he added."Ah, don't worry we are not bandits. Those guys are my subordinates we are just scouting the area for our camp."

"Haha, that's a relief." She said with a smile. "I'm Jane. We were just gathering food in the woods when, all of the sudden, we were surrounded by those skeletons. We have been around a while, and it's the first time we see so many at once."

It seems her smile struck Carl hard as he started to stutter a little bit. "I-I see. This is strange indeed. Are you guys..."

"Oh! What a scatter head. Sorry." She turned her head to the man and other woman. "This is my brother Shawn and his wife Millie."

Carl nodded to them as they saluted him, the lump on his chest felt lighter.

"Our camp is just over there." Invited Jane.

Carl and his scouts followed the three of them to the nearby temporary camp. It was very simple, it had two tents and a fire was still burning.

Carl and his scouts shared some of their rations as Millie applied treatment on Shawn's wounds. The group just chatted until it was time to part way.

"What are you going to do now?" Asked Carl.

"Since Shawn's wounds are treated and he can walk properly we'll just go back to our group, I guess." Said Jane as she checked on her brother and Millie.

"Say, how about joining us? We are building a city nearby and are doing pretty well for ourselves. You wouldn't need to feel that kind of danger again." Offered Carl.

But this time the man stepped forward. "I am sorry, we are very thankful for your help, but we have our family and friends to take into account. We just can't suddenly join a group of strangers."

"Sorry, Carl." Said Jane. "Let's meet sometimes in the future!"

And with this the three of them left a dejected Carl.

"That Jane girl was cute, right boss?" Asked a scout with a little smile.

"Sure." Answered Carl.

"It would have been nice if she joined us. Right?" The scout continued.

"Ri-... Hey! Stop teasing me and let's go back to camp. We are done here and there is a long road ahead of us."