Chapter 89: Moonlight Dancer

The two ran into the forest as Ciaran led the way. He didn't stop at the border and crossed into the tundra.

"I need a lot of animal fat, and I get the feeling you won't let me destroy the Empire's ecosystem." He answered her silent question.

They ran for three hours straight and got to a mountain area. On top of it, there was a stronghold with a bunch of powerhouses parked there. Even tho this was technically not a part of the Empire, they made sure no beast past Rank Three would ever pass them.

As such this was the safest part of the Danger Zone, but they weren't here to seek a thrill, they were here to gather materials.

As a Ranger, Diana had a legal right to enter the Tundra and get what she needed, but she doubted anyone had ever adventured here having soap as their ultimate goal in mind.

"Normal hunting will not suffice here, we either need to hunt hundreds, if not thousands of beasts, or something truly large. Do you have any suggestions?" The boy asked her.

She thought about it. Any beast who retained the properties of size and mass in the Forth and Fifth Rank would do, but then they needed to cross the stronghold, and she didn't think a General would be as forgiving as the Lieutenant Colonel was.

Then there was the question of if they could even kill such a beast, in time to have Ciaran do his thing as well. They were on a very tight schedule, and she knew it.

"We can hunt Rank Two boars. They tend to become big, their fat percentage would do us nicely, and they are one of the most common animals here. Plus, we can stockpile meat for ourselves." She said.

Ciaran didn't question her decision, she knew the area better than him after all. There was also the fact that she would be doing most of the hunting, while he just did his thing.

It wasn't long before they found a group of a few hundred wild boars.

"So how do we do this? I can lay some traps and you can chase them and lead them to death." He suggested but she just told him to stay put.

The next moment her hair and eyes glowed. It was still daylight, so there was no synergy with the moon, but Ciaran could barely tell the difference.

Silver armor slowly started covering her, until she was engulfed whole. She looked like a knight, covered in silver plate. She had two warglaives, one in each hand. They were curved, double-bladed weapons, and their blades shined with a light similar to her eyes.

Not that you could see her eyes in her current form. Her helmet hid them and her hair, she had become less human and more Warmachine.

Before the boy could even utter a sound, the slaughter began. She was fast, precise, and ruthless. One slice and half a dozen pigs died. She did not fly, nor did she float. What she did couldn't even be described as running. She danced on the ground and in the air, and blood sprayed all around her.

The boy was absolutely speechless. She had never let her aura out, not even once since he had met her. She was constantly goofing around with him, and even when they had hunted, she still seemed mostly harmless.

'She is a monster. A fifteen-year-old Rank Four, and even an Aprentice. You don't get that far that fast if you are not at least this strong.' He thought as he swallowed a gulp of saliva.

He was trembling all over, as he watched the massacre. Contrary to how he looked tho, he was not scared, or even nervous. He was excited. Exited to one day be where she is, to one day be able to wield power similar to hers.

A little more than ten minutes later, all had become quiet. There was a mass grave of wild boars, and a little lake formed of their blood.

The silver warrior was now wearing crimson and black as her prime colors, as she was covered in blood, and some of it was starting to react as it was exposed to oxygen.

Ciaran came next to her and placed his palm on her chest, then the blood slowly moved away, and the silver shine was once again reviled.

"That was quite the performance. Now I feel pressured to show you something nice as well." He laughed as he got to work.

He commanded the Wind and gattered all the carcasses into one giant pile. Then he began extraction. One by one, he sucked the fat out of them and then processed it into the oil.

"Burn some trees for me, I will need their ashes." He told her, as he continued to extract.

Diana did as she was told, mostly because she had no idea what the boy wanted all this weird stuff for. She was a little interested in the process, but when she asked, the explanation was a little too complicated for her.

"To put it simply, I will use Water magic to cheat, and I am currently using my body as a catalyst to speed up the process. Just so you know I didn't lie. If we had all the ingredients ready, I could deliver on what I promised. But we will only be able to make about twenty kilos tonight. The rest will take a few more days." He said and laughed.

She didn't think he would straight up admit he lied in the negotiations, but it sort of made sense. If he gave the real numbers, the army would have either refused or given them a worse deal. Now however the deal stays the same, and once he delivers the goods, the soldiers would be inclined to overlook his earlier dishonesty.

"You are an evil businessman aren't you Ciaran?" She asked amused.

"The worst there ever was, and ever will be." He declared without even giving a hint that he was joking.

He worked tirelessly for four hours.

"Go pick some flowers, whatever you think smells nice, and isn't poisonous." The boy told her and she ran off.

She came back with a bucket full of lilacs, and Ciaran thanked her and asked for more. As she ran off to supply her partner, he got to work.

Usually, the process required multiple steps, with the ingredients being exposed to different temperatures. They had to be melted, mixed and then left to cool off, but Water had this unique capability to expose things to both hotter and colder temperatures.

He made it boil, and then freeze. He sped up the process by hours, and soon his mixture was complete.

He made molds out of ice and poured them into them. There it cooled in seconds, instead of hours, and all that was left was for Ciaran to cut it into bars, which he did, using his Wind.

Just like that the first five kilograms (eleven pounds) were done. They carried the smell of the lilacs, and just like the flowers, they came in three colors – white, purple, and pink.

They repeated the process again and again until the time for the meeting with the army had arrived.

"So, as you can see, I lied. Twenty-five kilos is all I can give you today, as we hadn't started collecting the materials. Tomorrow however I can deliver the correct amount if you are still inclined to trust me." Ciaran said to the old man.

Despite his worries, the Lieutenant Colonel was far from angry, in fact, he seemed ecstatic. He knew that the first offer was bullshit. He just wanted to see if the boy could deliver, and the quality of his product.

"We have a deal boy. You have no idea how much you would be improving our lives. Besides if I don't take the deal, my female soldiers would have me killed in my sleep." He said as he laughed.

The base was bursting with cheers as the soldiers rejoiced they no longer had to smell like animals.

The man in charge, however, had a few more questions for them.

"Would you mind selling this to the villagers for even cheaper? I know it's a big ask, but they don't have a lot to give, and proper hygiene would save more lives than you think." The man decided to try his luck.

The man had been stationed at this base for years now, and he had grown attached to the northerners. He knew them and their plights. Many thought that since the weather was cold, people didn't need to pay so much attention to their cleanliness, but they were wrong.

The Ranger and her assistant looked each other in the eyes and a silent question was asked.

'Are we idiots, why didn't we think of that?'

"Of course, in the first place, our mission is to save as many lives from the upcoming winter. The plan was always to sell the majority to the army, while we peddle a small part to the commoners for dirt cheap." Ciaran lied through his teeth, earning himself the admiration of all of the soldiers.