Enthusiastic sounds rippled over the tables. Some of the manaless who were the most knowledgeable about magical artifacts stood up and went closer to inspect what lay beyond the doorway.

“Why someone would craft something like this is beyond me,” she continued, “but there is no reason why we should not take advantage of it. The tower has more than thirty floors—though we didn’t even have time to count them all yet! Each floor has many spacious rooms, so there are enough to host all of us. That said, I would suggest we don’t occupy any rooms on the top five floors for the time being.”

“Is the tower furnished, Krysha?” asked Kard, whose fingers were still moving in patterns even without his metal thingy.

“The tower is completely empty,” she answered, “but there are big platforms inside the staircases which can be operated without the need of mana. They can elevate themselves to all floors which means that we can easily furnish the whole tower if we need to.”

I saw smiles on some of the people around me. This was something that gave them hope and strength. I capitalized on that high note and continued with my list.

“This is a wonderful thing to have for our travels,” I continued. “After we’re finished here, the door to the tower will be placed in the center of the village and everyone will take their stuff inside. Now, to make transferring items and furniture easier, we will be utilizing some large chests and boxes that are also magically enhanced. We have enough backpacks that can hold many times their weight and volume for each of us to put our personal things in, but the furniture and other larger items will need to be placed in one of those chests or boxes.”

I nodded at Kard and everyone’s eyes shifted to him as he nodded back at me.

“We will split these twenty-seven containers around the village and leave them open so that people can put their beds, tables and other large items in them,” said Kard. “The older ones among us will have to help the youngest. Once everyone is positive that they have everything they want in there, we will make one final round of the buildings and take whatever may be useful into the tower. Is everybody okay with that?”

Approval was unanimous once more so I continued with the rest of the plan.

“We were fortunate enough to find numerous food and water generating items to safely travel for as long as we want to, so you don’t need to bother bringing any with you. We will be traveling on four carriages led by magical ox mounts. The door will be placed in one of those carriages, while mundane trading items will be placed on all of them as well to help disguise our purposes.”

“What about defenses against raiders on the road?” asked a fairly young-looking teenage girl.

“We have a very long list of minor and major magical items which may prove useful on our road along with barrier orbs that will make us invulnerable to most attacks. I think we should also hear what Man has to say since he has traveled this road before.”

“You are heading to a place with many people that do not use mana,” he explained. “You cannot flaunt your magical items or we’ll soon become targets to people that have little fear of magic. For this reason, we should lay low. We should use normal weapons as much as possible.”

I noticed how he had switched from using you to we.

This guy is good. Really good.

Man had lost no family or friend during the massacre but he still considered himself one of us. Or at least that was what he wanted to portray, which was just as good for the time being.

“Normal weapons?” asked Kard.

“Yes, normal,” he continued. “Bows and arrows, swords and shields, lances and axes. And you should train with them.”

“I understand the need for appearing with them,” Kard protested, “but what is the point of training with them?”

“What you don’t understand, my friend,” Man started to explain, in an almost patronizing manner, “is that you will live the rest of your lives without mana. You need to learn how to protect yourselves.”

Kard turned his gaze to the ground, no doubt hurt by the thought that his dreams of meeting dragons had been shattered, while Man let that statement settle and grow in everyone’s mind.

“Where are we to find weapons of this sort, Man?” came the next question, from Krysha this time.

“Normal weapons don’t need to be mundane. There are a few scores of enchanted weapons in the market but not nearly enough for everyone,” Manal Im replied. “You are probably not going to like this, but we should take the weapons of the angels.”

As expected, nobody liked this idea. Some back and forth ensued since many people loathed the idea of utilizing weapons that had taken the lives of their loved ones, but ultimately everyone agreed that they were just items and that it would be in our best interest to take them.

“There is one last thing I would like to ask all of you,” I said, once the issue with the weapons was settled. The room went quiet once more. “Is there anybody here who doesn’t want to follow this plan, or has plans of their own? I know some of you are not from Nara and may have family elsewhere. Are you all sure you want to go on this journey?”

I was happy to see that everyone’s head, and perhaps most importantly the heads of those I did not recognize, nodded in agreement.

“Our families were with us,” I heard a voice say.

“We have no one left,” said another.

“You have us,” I interjected, “and we have you. We are one.”

I knew that there was a chance I might leave them or make a detour sometime in the future, but I decided that they did not need to know that now. I did think it was important to know now if there was anybody that wasn’t totally convinced of the plan though, as the journey might prove hard and I didn’t want anyone bringing other people down.

To my satisfaction, nobody said another word. Regardless, I offered myself for consultation should someone change their mind.

“Since everyone is clear on what we are doing, please let’s start distributing the containers around the village,” I said, recapping the plan one last time before we got started. “Once that is done, we all should prepare our bags and bring them to the tower’s entrance. The next step will be transferring the personal furniture into the containers and then into the tower. Furnishing the rooms themselves can start once we’re already on the road.”

“Please, when you are done with your furniture,” interjected Kard, “help someone else carry theirs. For those of you that do not live here, help yourself to the furniture from this inn. Nine containers will be left here.”

“Also, in case you get hungry or thirsty, food and water will be available here at all times,” added Krysha.

“After all personal belongings and furniture are in the tower,” I continued, “we will make the last round of all of the buildings to pick up non-magical items we will need as well as the angel weapons. Hopefully, we will be able to transfer all of them into the tower before nightfall. If we can manage it, we will be traveling through the night with the ox carts populated by very few of us, while the rest will be working inside the tower. Are there any questions?”

I waited for a few moments but, nobody reacted to my question.

“Let’s work hard everybody!” I said, and clapped my hands.

Kard immediately joined in. So did Man and eventually everyone in the room was clapping. It almost brought tears to my eyes seeing how powerful and united we could be, considering how damaged we all were.

***

We worked non-stop for the rest of the day almost until midnight. The work was strenuous but my mind was occupied with the responsibility that had befallen me.

I was the only one in my family that knew what had happened. My sisters Seika and Smyrna, and my brother Haad, deserved to know the truth. They deserved some closure and I was the only one able to provide it. I would make sure they learned of our parents’ brave sacrifice.

When we finally had everything in the tower, I could barely feel my arms anymore. It was all crammed into the entrance and first floors but at least it was in there. We could work out how it would be distributed later on.

The most important thing was leaving before anyone from the Order visited us. The eight oxen were summoned using their magical horns and the carts were attached to their massive necks.

Each cart had two riders, those in the first being Man and me, while the rest of our group entered the tower and continued working in there.

At last, our little convoy left the village and I felt oddly relieved as we put some distance between ourselves and our former home. Man held the oxen reins while I got accustomed to the two longswords I had acquired from the angel squadron leader. They felt heavy in my hands, but I knew that they would eventually provide me with safety so I had to learn to work with them.

I decided that even if I would have to live my life manaless, I would not allow myself to be powerless.