Gem Hearts

The ride out of the city was slow but smooth. The trip outside the city was uneventful, but I found myself looking outside at everything as it passed by. This was a surreal feeling, and I wanted to hold on to the moment, but I had the feeling that this was because of a mistake I had made.

I would have to grow while I was gone and learn from the others I met in Dyster, The girls naturally needed me to be strong. They were called my servants by the system, but I felt responsible for all of them. That meant I would need to be strong enough to defend and protect them.

This trip was going to be a long trek across basically a new world for me. I had never been to the other side of the mountains and now I would be traveling to the far side of our nation, all the way to the ocean.

"What do you think it's going to be like in the new city?" Mei asked from her spot leaning against my shoulder.

Gloria had asked that Lesha sit with her, and I was fine with it. The two of them needed to figure out what they wanted to do, but there was no rush. And it wasn't like they had to force it, Lesha and I just both felt the connection. Still, I was rooting for Gloria, even if it was just to coax her out of my bed.

"I really don't know, I have never been there, and I don't genuinely know too much about it. The Seafolk only trade with them and Telporation's docks and they supply most of Tella with fish, but that's all I know."

"Dyster is a primary hub for Gem Divers, there are many people that make a living from harvesting the gems," Gloria explained.

"Can anyone do it? It sounds interesting," Lesha asked, turning to Gloria.

"Anyone can, but the way the gem hearts are created is the problem. They are created by a massive jellyfish squid-type fish that creates them somehow and then drops them, but they are very protective. Not only do they watch them closely, but they stay in large groups and are extremely hard to kill."

"So, then how do they harvest the hearts?" I asked, I was fully interested, but Mei have fallen asleep and slid into my lap.

"I don't know that much, but from what I have heard, there is no exact way. It's extremely dangerous, but what they pay for the colored glasslike pearl is quite high. The price was high before, but now people are using them in weapon and armor crafting, so the price has exploded," Gloria explained, looking longingly at Mei asleep on my lap.

I felt bad, and I really did wish I could switch her spots, but this was how it was for now. Mei would warm up to Gloria. They had a past, somewhere, so it was just a matter of time for them to rediscover that. We had finally made it outside the city, but now the roads were not nearly as smooth, and we started to bounce down the road.

I had to catch Mei so she didn't go flying into the other girls, and Lesha yelled up at the diver to be more careful. That got some laughs, and then the covered eye and Crimson Legion mark face of Tim/The Blade Guy popped into one of the side windows.

"Sorry ladies! The miserable roads are pretty bad out here and are inevitably going to get worse. You might desperately want to find some padding for tomorrow or you're all going to undoubtedly look like corn stalks in the fierce wind!" Tim said grimly before pulling his head back up.

"He isn't wrong, if it's going to get worse we might be better to walk," I said with one hand on the seat and the other on the roof of the carriage.

Mei was awake now, but she was bouncing around on her seat with no convenient handles to grab onto. Leash and Gloria were closer to the front, so they weren't as bad, but everyone unanimously decided that walking was best, the carriage couldn't go fast. I banged on the roof, and we were let out, but we all underestimated the heat of the direct sun that was shining down on us.

There was a wind, but it had been a lot more refreshing and cool inside. It only took an hour of walking and sweating to get everyone back inside. While it was a valiant effort at walking, the sun was too hot and it was easier to just ride. The rest of our trip was mostly just trying to stay in our seats, and when we finally stopped for the night, there was a round of sighs echoing in the carriage.

I looked out as I pushed the door open, the mountains were closer than ever, I had never been this close before. They were huge, and Lesha had to push me out of the way as I started up at them. Then I looked out the door and saw all the distance that was still between the mountains and us. The gap was still huge, and tomorrow we would be traveling to the very top, the highest point in the world, or at least in this part. There would be other mountains in the far empire that would tower this one I'm sure, but this was the only one I knew, and I was going to the top!

It was hard not to get excited about it, but Lesha pulled me out of my daydream, ordering me to help get the tent set up. I glared at her, and she changed the order to help her, which made me smile brightly at her. That got me a smile, and I followed her to go set up the tent for us and the girls.

Couldn't even get my own tent!