Chapter 41 - Fortress!
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PART 1 – East Fortress!
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The first city was cleared, but it was not livable, as a result, all the survivors found were transferred by vehicles along the road paved by the Earth Mages on the way.
2 A-Rank experts, accompanied by 10 B-Rank experts, went with that group, while the rest stayed behind to take care of nearby villages.
I was the one who worked the most, but I am the one with the most power and I really don't see any problems with that.
What makes me happy is seeing who I love grow up.
Renner is the one who is showing the most progress, since that rat taught him something scary, it looks like my little princess is going to climb to the top as he can now take care of A-Rank creatures!
Together we fought, I saw how he froze our enemies, how he asked me to fight the strongest.
But besides him, Kassia was also progressing, since obtaining SS Rank Skill, she has gotten stronger and it turns out that Abyss Beasts receive bonus damage from Holy Power!
And I noticed something in Kassia, her confidence grew excessively, it's not bad, but that could hurt her in the future, she also has the fact that her hair has been getting lighter with time.
It seems that the [Blood of Archangel Michael] has more to talk about, likely that at her Class Advancement, she will stop being a Swordsman and become some kind of Paladin, but whatever the case, she will become much more strong, that's a fact!
...
The East Stronghold was my goal, a place to clean and control, the foundation of my Guild in the future, the world is already like this and by the title of the Chapter, surely the structure of the world as a whole will change.
It is necessary to have a self-sustaining base and then we can think about other things.
The Reiter Kingdom, unfortunately cannot exist, not that I have anything against it, but a nation is made by its people, not just by its leaders, what good is Kings and Queens, without at least 1,000 subjects to rebuild and spread the culture?
But the way the Nobles of the world are, especially the Royalty, I know that only very late will they think about the commoners and when it is, it will be too late.
I believe I would be the same, I'm no hero or saint, I'm a selfish woman who is saving people out of selfishness, as I'm 100% sure that Act 2 will reward the Players for how many lives they saved and formidable enemies slain.
I need more Hero Upgrade Cards, make all my women a bunch of talented little monsters.
But… I believe that one of the safest places in the world could be the City of Garipus, that place is an immense fortress city, with plantations for millions of people, cattle raising, high walls, a city divided by several rivers, not to mention countless fortresses with thousands of inhabitants with similar situations.
I believe that after Hilal Garipus' care against the monsters, it will become the place that everyone will want to live, even I'm wondering if I should go there, but the problem is… how?
Laughing, better not think so much about these things, it would only make me frustrated, let's create our paradise right here.
...
As the days passed, we sent more busloads of survivors to Latius City, we received constant supplies and obviously, we weren't the only ones working.
The military, under Angelise's orders, secured enough food and even with many farmers who were rescued, they are starting to plant.
And finally, after my group and I cleared 2 cities along the way, we came across the East Fortress!
High walls that are far away, seemed intact, Abyss Beast and Infected corpses were strewn everywhere, the road being clear, we were able to move forward and of course, I went flying to ascertain the situation.
Soon I got to the walls and… I couldn't see anyone, but I could feel them.
I jumped off the walls and looked inside the well-damaged fortress, but without any corpses, they certainly fought hard, I saw signs of a fierce battle, at least the confrontation between Ranks A!
Going deeper, I soon arrived at what would be an old cemetery and there I found a woman in black clothes, fallen on her knees, her clothes being well worn, but from afar I can feel the intense murderous intention exhaled from her body.
With my slight advance, she reacted, where I heard her sigh, looking tired, before standing up as she brought a hand to her face and then she turned, a look so cold and chilling, her hands wielding long, curved daggers with a black glow.
As soon as she saw me, her look went from cold to astonishment.
"Are you alive?" - He asked her with a hoarse voice.
"Yes, I'm from Latius City, I'm on a team to clear the region of monsters and infected." - I say calmly to this woman in the robes of assassins, a tired look, but she seems to have a great figure.
[Image] →
I can't see her face through the mask, but I don't think that matters right now.
"I am Roxana." -I add, her sharp eyes stare at me and she looks beyond me, probably spreading her senses or using some ability to see far away.
Maybe she believes I'm some monster in disguise, but from her startled look, it looks like she's spotted the people outside.
"It's just you here, right?" - I ask, she looks at me and does not answer.
"I am under the command of the 4th Princess, Angelise Reiter! I'm securing locations, rescuing as many commoners as possible and annihilating these freaks, I'm in a group of over 100 fighters, do you want to join us?" - I ask extending my hand.
"These things keep coming, they are concentrated where there are more people, we try to help the nearby villages, we accept everyone, but the infection came, everyone killed themselves, the soldiers were killed and the Commander… he became a freak who killed the rest of the people…" - She said in a monotonous and distant tone, I don't know what she's talking about, but I don't think it's a lie, because she would lie.
"In fact, the infected have a strange way of finding people alive, maybe a sixth sense, so we have to get rid of them as much as possible, because if any of them evolve and an intelligent capable of commanding them appears… the City of Latius with hundreds of thousands of inhabitants and growing will be the target of a horde of millions!" - I say seriously and she looks at me in surprise.
"How did so many survive?" - She asked shocked.
"The Luminous Academy Annual Competition was taking place, being on a much larger scale and with so many talents, naturally many of its affiliations, B~A Rank powerful individuals, came to watch the competition, so there were many experts there, which made it easy to a quick action and then maintain order in the city, the problem was the infection, but we acted quickly and we are already finishing cleaning the infected from the city, as well as rescuing survivors from nearby villages and cities, we are also creating training programs, developing farms and much more." - I say calmly.
Normally I wouldn't say so much, but this person is strong, by her clothes and how she hides her face, she must not be a military, probably some Mercenary, Assassin, Thief or something.
"You who buried the dead?" -She asked as I approached and looked at the recent graves.
"Yes… I was born here, I was visiting the Commander and all this happened." - She said vaguely, not seeing me as a threat.
"On the way we took care of many, in addition to the known ones, we had to burn the remaining bodies so as not to spread the disease or cause problems for the soil." - I say calmly.
She was silent, until she said. - "Are you going to take the fortress?"
"Yes, we will use it as a base, our main objective is the Port City connected to the Tyropian River." - I say.
"I believe there are no more survivors, most of the monsters that come here are from there." - She said.
"It doesn't matter, we are a rescue and extermination group, this catastrophe unfortunately seems to be just the beginning, soon the second invasion will arrive, we need to save as many people and resources as possible." -I say and look at her, I think I made it pretty obvious, now I just wait for her answer.
"Call me Shadow, I am an Assassin, Rank A, I will help you!" - She said.
"Roxana, Berserker, Rank A/S, I am leading the Extermination and Rescue Team!" - I mean, she's surprised.
"There was no one more capable, did they have to send a child?" - She asks.
"That was pretty offensive. But it's not because of the lack of capable people, but because of the lack of integrity, I was the best choice and I wouldn't accept being commanded by one of those greedy bastards, because I'm one of the strongest and they are forced to accept my demands, or they lose their best ally, they just accept it!" - I say laughing.
"… an interesting girl, well, I believe we had better open the gates for her people to enter." - Said the Shadow and I nodded.
…
I asked Sombra what she meant about the Commander, as well as the fact that she was born here.
She informed me that she was a poor girl, her mother died giving birth to her and she grew up in the stronghold's orphanage, later she was adopted by the Stronghold Commander and trained, years later she left and became a professional Assassin.
Sombra didn't bother to reveal this to me, maybe because he doesn't care about the past and at the moment the time of peace is over, we need all possible specialists, regardless of what they did in the past.
Now about the fact that the Commander killed everyone, he was infected by the virus, but it was by the virus of a Rank A monster, initially nothing happened, he did not have the green and blue veins exposed, nor did he lose control, he acted normally.
It was then that people began to disappear, while the Commander grew stronger.
And then, one day she saw a distortion in the Commander's body, coming from his back, that's when she understood that it was a monster and she was barely able to control his transformation.
So she murdered him, but it turns out he was a Mutant, needing to have his heart and brain destroyed to truly die.
In the end, all the specialists died during the combat and the Commander spread the virus around the place, wiping out the rest of the civilians, many ended up trying to flee, the gates were forcibly opened and they fled.
Huge pandemonium and she had to kill the Abyss Demonized Commander.
In the end, she succeeded after many sacrifices and when she noticed, all the survivors were killed, not even those who fled the fortress, escaped this fateful fate.
It turns out that the Commander was evolving while having his mind corroded by the virus, people missing, he hid and infected them, absorbing their power somehow, including he absorbed the power of the monsters they killed too, initially they thought he was leveling up quickly, but unfortunately it wasn't.
It must have been difficult to kill someone who was like a father to her, I didn't ask too many questions, we just opened the gate and everyone was able to enter, where Kassia went to the Cemetery, to see if there are any chances of the disease spreading from the corpses, luckily not.
Sombra has officially joined us, we can't trust her, but we need strength from her, it's not easy to find A Ranks around.
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PART 2 – Night Assault!
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Once we were established in the Fortress, we had to investigate everything, we took a look at the electrical installations and water supply, they were in good condition, the mages for now could take care of things, but we would have to have people specialized in this area.
The Fortress started to be cleaned to accommodate people and we don't have incidents of someone getting infected because of some infected bloody nail in the streets or walls.
And some infected were found, buried in rubble of houses, in some basements and even in prison, in the end, Sombra is only 1 person and it hasn't been that long since the beginning of the calamity.
We take care of that, we bury the bodies, as it was requested by the Shadow, we can't displease an A-Rank Stealth Specialist, I don't want to wake up with a dagger in my neck.
And speaking of waking up, we didn't even get a chance to sleep as the warning horn sounded and I had to quickly change into a shirt and pants before jumping out the window and taking to the skies.
Flying Abyssal Beasts, I took care of them, my blows obliterating everything and as we were already experienced, Wind Mages threw wind barriers in the areas I was fighting, to control the blood, bones and flesh that escaped from the monsters I ripped apart.
The sky was mine, interesting how I went from a crazy Tank to a crazy Helicopter!
And while I took care of the security of the skies, the others took care of the walls, since we were being invaded.
It was intense, like every day, but we can say it was less, because now we have a place to keep ourselves!
Smiling, I could see opportunities and future!
...
Tiring, that's all I can say, the intensity wasn't the greatest, as we were able to separate our groups to rest and sleep, which made us have good control of the situation.
Sombra was exceptional, showing the power of an Assassin, her speed was unreal, naturally I can see her easily, I have 110 AGI, which categorizes me as Rank A/S in that regard, is she Rank A still, or that is, below 100 AGI.
But she has abilities that give her speed boosts, the ability to blend into shadows, and much more… gosh, she's amazing!
I saw her kill an A-Rank Abyssal Beast in less than 20 seconds, she manifested shadows with her appearance that dealt real damage to cloud the creature's judgment and attention, before finding its weakness and exploiting it again and again, until finishing with the creature.
2 more A-Rank Creatures attacked us, where Renner took care of one of them, it was a humanoid creature with very long arms and legs, a wide and long body, a hideous face and that spewed acid flames.
It was interesting to watch, yes I took care of the flying creatures, giving me time to watch the show while I rested.
Renner used the so-called "Ice Particles", something very scary, if I lost the magic barrier coming from [Divine Body] and received its attacks, I believe that in a few minutes I would die.
Of course, I would kill Renner before that happens, as he needs to prolong the battle as much as possible until the particles seep into the blood vessel and continue further, into his heart and kill them.
Knowing that, I wouldn't let him, but the chances of me and Renner becoming enemies are low, but after what happened to the Commander that Sombra talked about, I'll be even more careful.
Unfortunately I couldn't get to watch the whole thing, a Rank A creature appeared and, sorry, but that's mine!
Entering the fight, I asked them to cast all kinds of BUFF and Heals on me, why? No, the creature wasn't strong, I could easily beat it, but if they give me BUFFs and Healing, they will be considered allies by the System and respectively will receive part of the EXP when I kill the creature.
8 seconds, I split the creature in half and then sliced its halves into dozens of pieces, before squashing everything, just to make sure there wasn't anything left!
Some leveled up, which was good.
"You are more amazing than I thought." - Said Sombra, I admit she scared me a little appearing out of nowhere, but I smiled and said. - "You haven't seen even half of it!"
"Then I will wait to see more! I'll scour the surroundings, see you later!" - She said and before I could say something, she disappeared!
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PART 3 - Kitty!
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Sombra arrived at 9 am, she had a map of the area and came to talk to me. - "I marked places with strong creatures, they may invade in the next hours or days, I didn't get to enter the Port City, but it seems that there are still survivors there who are fighting."
I nodded and looked at the map, soon a meeting started and Sombra was informing the locations with more precision.
"Shadow, go rest, it's obvious you're on edge, thank you for all your support, but if you want to help more, sleep, eat something and then fight, leave the rest to us now!" - I say, because as far as I saw, she hasn't slept since we met.
"I'm Rank A, I can go days without sleep, I was trained for that!" - She said coldly.
"I know, but you haven't slept for days now, you can tell by your dark circles, you look dizzy too, so please go rest." - I say, she looked at her hands, closed her eyes and soon disappeared.
I say nothing about it. - "I'm going south, there are more monsters scattered around, I'll annihilate everyone there, activate the Magic Barriers, we need to finish all of this in 3 days, then we'll go to the Port City and then we'll visit the nearby Small Cities!" - I say, because we have many specialists eager to look for their families.
I know that every day makes a difference, but we have to take it easy or we could lose everything!
And it's only when I reach S Rank that I can act more recklessly, for now, let's be a little cautious!
...
Oh, I went up to Level 42, so +2 STR!
I look at my Status slightly, I think it's very unlikely that there will be any huge changes in the near future.
Anyway, I take something out of my Ring of Storage, a [Transmission Orb].
"Something happened?" - I ask, since they contacted me.
<We turned on the military radio and picked up some signals, many come from the Port City, they ask for reinforcements, but we received some frequencies and requests for help from the direction we are going, the Viscounty of Wichita, it would be good to take a look.> - Said Mayara on the other side.
"Okay, it's about 2 or 3 hours from here, I'll take care of the 5 A Ranks here, but is everything okay over there?"
<We're fine, there's been a few attacks since you left, it seems you scare monsters, but Sombra helped us.>
I nodded, gave a light farewell before looking at the beast in the distance running fiercely towards me, accompanied by 4 others, 1 Purple Mane Lion, bursting purple flames, accompanied by 4 Lionesses.
5 A-Rank individuals… no, 4 A-Rank and 1 A/S-Rank, well, let's have some fun!
...
With Mineta's Arsenal, I create a long, heavy spear, simply throw it and exert my Aura on it, the more I fight, the more ways I think of to quickly take care of my enemies, I even learned a few tricks from Rayli's twins.
Soon under my control, the spear starts to rotate at a frightening speed, the enemies approach, in seconds they will arrive, closing my fist, soon I punch down and the spear connected to it by an Aura thread, is launched, but I spin in the air, an explosion sounds from my leg as I hit the opposite end of the spear.
BANG!
A crash sounds and like a comet the spear is fired, the sharp sound echoes, the Lion with the Purple Mane dodges, but darling, you were not my target!
BOOOOOMMMM!!
Strike, motherfucker!
I punch the air and smile, one of the lionesses having been impaled and a frightening power explodes, devastating everything in the direction of impact, trees in the path have been knocked down, one of the lionesses had its paw caught in the attack, losing it and roaring in pain.
"Double strike, near perfect, how about a second one?" - I say smiling at no one in particular and I'm already molding a second spear, it spends a lot of Mana, but I need to reduce my enemies as much as possible!
ROAR!!!!
A frightening roar that made everything shake came from the Purple Mane Lion, he was furious that I had killed one of his wives, I would be too, but it turns out I have the upper hand, not you dear.
"WANT TO COMPETE WHO SCREAMS THE MOST?!" - I roar back at him, activating [Cry of Fury], which sounded like an agonized scream coming from hell itself!
The more I improve my skills, the crazier I think I am, but damn, this is fun!
BOOOMM!!
An explosion sounds this time, not even the Purple Mane Lion had time to react, but again, my target wasn't him!
BOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!!!!
A colossal explosion spreads, killing another lioness, but the other two, accompanied by the lion manage to escape.
Half of my mana has already been spent, ok, now I'm going to stop being an asshole!
BOOM!
I shoot forward and an explosion sounds, I see that they were scared, as they started to run away thinking it was another one, but no, it was me!
I appeared in front of the Purple-Maned Lion's face, spinning in the air and hitting its snout with my leg.
BOOM!
A beautiful explosion echoes and his whole head is buried, but I missed the blood, that is, it wasn't enough to tear the flesh, so he's very much alive, I didn't expect less from an A/S Rank creature.
ROAR!!!
A fierce roar, accompanied by fear echoes as one of the Lionesses charges at me, I snort and fashion a shield with [Mineta's Armory].
CLANG!!!
A metallic sound echoes as her claws hit my shield, but sorry honey, I send a charge of my Aura through the shield, then a blast of energy goes off, catapulting her far away.
WOOSH!
A quick sound of something cutting the air echoes, comes from below, I quickly throw the shield and I am hit, where I am soon catapulted into the heavens in dozens of meters.
In the air I analyze and it was the Lion with the Purple Mane, roaring fiercely while concentrating strength on his paws, then jumping, trying to reach me, but poor thing, the heavens are my domain!
Well, I have time, so sorry kitty, I can't play anymore!
[Power Rage]
ROAR!!!!
I snarl and a mad smile breaks out of me, an elongated bladed ax appears and my body shoots down like a comet, I see the fear and terror on the kitten's face.
BANG!!
ROAR!
My ax comes down, blood sprays into the air and his huge body is catapulted, crashing to the ground, I don't know how he still lives, but it doesn't matter.
I look at my red arms, I can't even imagine how I look now, I certainly look hot!
"I will put you out of your misery kitten!" - I say and I'm going to finish it, but that Lioness who lost her paw advanced against me in the air, I look at her and huff, sorry, but could you be a little faster?
I wave my aura-charged arm, then a blast of energy shoots out with my wave and she is cut in half.
Shit, I've lost my momentum, so I land on the ground, look at the injured Lioness further on, then at the Purple Mane Lion struggling to get to his feet, I'm going to end this, but... the lioness steps forward, staying between us, protecting her man... that's pretty cute.
I raise my ax to finish it off, but I stop, why? The lion steps forward and lowers his head, bowing his body towards me in submission and the lioness soon follows.
It shocks me, I tried to force fear into the Abyss Beasts, none of them showed standard animal instincts… wait…
"Shit, you are not Abyss Beasts!" - I say shocked, I was so drowned in the slaughter of this garbage, that I didn't even realize they weren't the same.
How much to blame? They are monsters, they exuded murderous intent towards me, it means they would attack me even if I didn't do anything.
But… I see this as a great opportunity!
"You guys understand me, right?" - I ask and receive an answer from both, as expected, Rank A and A/S.
From Rank B, animals and monsters develop a higher level of intellect, they don't learn to speak, only Humanoid monsters would have such ability, but the focus is that by some means of magic, they can understand human speech more easily.
"I'll be direct, serve me from now on, I'll give you a safe place to live, refuse and I'm done, either way I'll benefit!" - I say calmly, noting that my Fury is still activated, which further amplifies the intimidation effect.
And the answer is the obvious submission of both, I smile and go down, undo my Fury and say. - "Open your mouth!"
They hesitate, but soon obey and I pour some potions for them to drink, the wound on the Lion of Purple Mane's chest starts to close, the effects of the potion accompanied by his powerful vitality as an A/S Rank Beast.
Even if it's not instantaneous, in 1 or 2 hours it should be 100%.
"Okay, if there's something to do before we go, let's go, otherwise let's go!" - I say crossing my arms.
grr~
A light growl before the Lion looked in one direction. - "Is there anything important there?" - I ask and he nods, then I jump on his back and say. - "You can go then!"
…
After half an hour, we arrived at the foot of a mountain, soon a cave was their objective, a growl comes, another lioness, it means another Rank A for the mother here, the difficult thing will be to feed them.
But soon I hear the roars closer to the meows of cats, when puppies the size of calves appear, 3 of them.
"So the family was much bigger, less-evil." - I say calmly, looking and going down, the lioness who doesn't know me growls, but the lion stops her.
I smile when I get to the innocent puppies, who don't understand anything, so curious, some even attack me, thinking I was the food their parents brought.
It worries them, but I laugh, I like cats, even more so now that we have an annoying mouse harassing us, I think I'm going to love them even more!
"Here's what we'll do, I need to investigate some things, I'll be back at dusk, protect the place until I return, then I'll take you." - I say calmly and the lion nods.
"Be careful what you eat, don't let any of the critters get close to the chicks." - I say and then shoot to the skies, 1 Rank A/S, 2 Ranks A and 3 future Ranks A.
A huge gain, if it weren't for that bastard's damn purple flames, I might have thought a bit more before attacking, hence it would be 5 A Ranks instead of 2, maybe some of them were even pregnant, in fact, I believe this one that stayed to protect, maybe she's pregnant.
Anyway, it's curious how Lions are bigger than elephants, have such small cubs, anyway, I won a lot, I worry later about what they eat.
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PART 4 – Mercenaries!
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I had felt the lions before, because their presence was so strong, I thought they were the strongest abyssal monsters in the area, but I was wrong, I think their presence here is what kept most of these aberrations away.
But after moving away for more than 2 kilometers, I started to encounter more of these freaks and ended up reaching Level 43, I was surprised, but well, I killed 3 A-Rank lionesses, they certainly weren't weak, just that I'm too monstrous!
It also made me understand something, the Abyss Beasts in a way, are stronger, I know that taking lionesses as a Grade A standard is not the best, but surely they are quite strong, otherwise the nobles would not allow a family so powerful of A-Rank beasts near big cities.
Anyway, to differentiate the real Ranks, the important thing is the skills and… looking at 2 Skills of Rank X, SSS, SS and 9 of Rank S… I find it difficult to have another Rank A/S out there with even half of that I have.
…
I traveled jumping, looking for that distress signal, until I felt magical ripples from afar, then I went there and heard furious roars, flying creatures attacking and much more.
I found!
Soon I approach, my presence that I don't hide, attracting all the flying creatures and the strongest on the ground, no Rank A, well, it doesn't matter!
I formed a scythe with chains, to have a long attack range and to be able to spread my Aura more destructively in the skies, I'm still practicing, it's difficult to handle weapons that I'm not used to.
I take the opportunity to investigate the situation and there must be around 200 people, 50 of them being combatants, they all have a gray fist emblem on their chests, they must be from some family or something, I do not feel the presence of any Rank A or above among them, a surprise that they survived.
Anyway, I take care of the creatures of the skies, which must be causing the most trouble, since they were directly attacking the Magic Barrier they put up for their protection.
With the lack of flying enemies because of me, they could concentrate on the ground ones, about 20 creatures, they took care of them all with ease and I ended up in the skies too, soon landing.
I approach and a man does the same, probably their leader, must be around his 30s, long blond hair and blue eyes, a heroic countenance and a long sword in his hands.
[Image] →
"It is an honor to meet you, Lady Roxana, I am Richard Vanreiter!" - Said the handsome man in a respectful tone.
"Vanreiter? Are you related to Royalty?" - I ask, because from what I remember, there are some Marquesas and Duchess Families belonging to former princes and princesses who did not succeed to the throne or become public servants, nor did they marry with other families.
As a result, Princes and Princesses who continued with the Reiter surname, end up creating new families, where they receive subtle or drastic changes in their surnames, as keeping "Reiter" in the surname, indicates that your family must be at least a Duchess!
"Well observed Lady Roxana, coming from the Duchess Vanreiter Family, but I'm just a bastard, so I left home early and became a Mercenary, today I lead the Iron Fist, a B-Rank group!" - Richard said calmly.
"I see… I would ask how you know me, but I find it difficult for someone of noble descent not to know me, nor is it out of arrogance, just that I have already accepted this headache." - I say sighing lightly.
"In fact, even I must thank you, I had many escort missions to take families to Latius City, all for competition from Luminous Academy, in return for a new mission… I think we already know what happened." - He said calmly, the tone of the conversation followed in a relaxed way, that's what I wanted, I hate being treated with so much respect.
"These people, civilians I believe?" - I ask.
"Yes, we were in a village when the disaster happened, we were able to save everyone, but the disease and the monsters came, we managed to escape." - Richard said.
"And even? Were you the ones who sent the radio signals asking for help?" - I ask curiously.
"I'm not aware of that, but may I ask, maybe one of them does, we have some nobles with us." - Richard said and I nodded.
Soon the answer came, no one had made the request, just a coincidence.
"Hmmm… do you know of any villages or towns around this region? I'm not very good at reading maps, and I've been around here so much I don't even know where I am anymore." - I say.
"That's where Wichita Viscounty City is, if it was radios, I believe that's where the Viscount invested a lot in technology." - Richard said and I nodded.
I look at them, many looking at me with admiration, it's obvious what they want.
"I'll go check out the city, it shouldn't be that far away… you know East Keep?" - I ask Richard and he nods. - "There are more than 300 people there, we are using it as a base to breathe and plan the cleaning of the nearby regions, I need to take a quick look at Viscondado and then return to guide you, could you wait a moment? I would even say go ahead, but there are some A-Rank beasts on the way that I ignored and you will surely run into them." - I'll explain.
"… I see, we need to rest, will you return by nightfall?" Richard asked.
"It's not that much, at my speed, I think I'm back in 2 to 3 hours if I don't find anything, if I find anything, I'll deal with the strongest monsters and then… well, I'll see you right away, just wait for me!" - I say confused, I didn't expect to find people on the way, but whatever!