David took a short break to look over the caravan, making sure everything was in order. Somehow he had been chosen to lead the blasted thing, no matter how much he had protested. Yes, he had championed the expedition as a whole, but that didn’t mean he wanted to lead it. Leading things was always another’s responsibility. But the world wasn’t the same as it used to be, and he was no longer the low-level salaryman he was before. Now he was to be the head of the first outpost. A dubious honor he wasn’t fully prepared for.

At least it had been quiet so far. His decisions had mostly revolved around how much ground to cover each day, and for that he relied on someone with some sort of topography skill. But ultimately the buck stopped with him. It wasn’t the…

“Monsters ahead! Defense formations!”

David’s head shot up, eyes towards the front the caravan. While he was the one in charge, that luckily didn’t apply to monster attacks. Someone else had that distinction.

She appeared to be doing her job, as he spied her jump atop the front most wagon to direct the combatants. David watch closely as their enemies neared, revealing themselves to be a pack of some sort of large dogs. With rhinoceros horns. And spiked manes. Okay, maybe they were more like small carnivorous triceratops than dogs.

The defenders quickly got into place, forming a rough line around the front few wagons. The river on their left created a natural buffer, preventing any of the various groups of monsters that had assaulted them from launching any pincer attacks. It also provided a convenient water source, which was the main reason they were following it. The plan was to establish an outpost upstream, which would hopefully blunt any hordes of monsters swarming down from the mountains in the distance, allowing their original settlement to more safely expand their farmland without fear of monster reprisals.

The pack of wild dog-triceratops-things should be entering range now, and David reigned in any stray thoughts so he could focus on the battle, although he expected it to go about the same as all the others before it. He counted down the distance in his head, and sure enough, shortly after he hit zero, the bombardment began.

There was a total of fifteen people charged with guarding the caravan. They only needed one, the leader, Kelly. She cut an imposing figure, standing on top of the lead wagon, and as soon as the monsters crossed some imaginary line, she opened fire. Literally.

She held both arms out in front of her as fireballs shot forth in quick succession, setting the charging monsters aflame and soon turning their previous intimidating charge into a full-on rout. The whole battle took barely a minute from start to finish. As soon as Kelly started her rain of fire the monsters never stood a chance.

David made his way towards the front wagon to hear her report. He was nominally in charge, but it was times like these that he remembered it was only because of Kelly’s presence that this expedition left in the first place. The other guards could have likely fought off the monster attacks, but there would have been casualties, and without modern medical supplies or any of those fancy healers people were always going on about the expedition would have been a shell of itself when they reached their destination. Kelly’s power was just that overwhelming.

David walked over to find Kelly organizing a party to collect the corpses of the slain monsters.

“Same as usual I presume, Captain?” David said when Kelly finished giving orders to the last of the guards.

“Of course. There’s nothing to challenge me around here. I didn’t even gain a level from that fight. The monsters must have been too weak.”

Or you’re just too strong David thought to himself. Kelly said she got her fireball skill because she used to perform with fire in the circus, but David maintained, in the privacy of his own thoughts, that she was actually an arsonist. There was something wrong about the expression she had as she set fire to hordes of innocent monsters.

“Right-o, very good then. Any idea how many you took down out there? Our supplies are a bit lower than anticipated, and I’d rather have a buffer for when we eventually settle down at our destination.”

Kelly shrugged.

“Not much I can do about the fact that the previous monsters were inedible. These look more promising though. I think I got a good fifteen of them, maybe upwards of twenty. Most of them turned tail and ran after I fired the opening salvo. Jeff and Leah are on the way to check it out now. Just a moment.”

Kelly climbed back on top of the wagon before yelling out an “all clear” to get the procession moving again.

“There’s not been much else around either,” Kelly said as she rejoined David. “I’ve had Terry out every day searching for tracks, but ever since we hit this plain full of yellow grass the monsters have almost disappeared, except for those in large packs.”

“Any idea when you think this will end?” David said with a frown. “People will complain if we start rationing food, and I have no clue how soon we can start growing our own. The farmers all insist they’ll only know once they see the land we settle on.”

“You worry too much. As long as we succeed in setting up the outpost we can start tracking down some of the larger monster groups. And there’s always fish.”

David grimaced. He hated fish. It was true they were unlikely to run out of food with the abundance of those slimy critters filling up the river, but a man needed real meat. Even if it came from some odd sources, like small dog-like dinosaurs.

Kelly gave him a pat on the back. “Don’t worry, I have a good feeling about this batch. Look, here comes Leah now.”

Leah ran over before firing off a mock salute.

“Captain Kelly, David. Jeff says they’re edible, although maybe slightly overcooked, which I agree with. Not the overcooked part, but the edible one. I don’t think they’re overcooked, but more burned. Well some of them are. Er, not your fault though captain. It uh, just happens sometimes I guess.”

“Good job Leah, that’s some great news. Alex’s group will be in charge of bringing them back in. Go let them know for me.”

“Sure thing, Captain!”

As Leah sped away Kelly turned back to David.

“See, what did I tell you? You always worry too much.”

“It’s my job to worry. I’m the one people turn to if there isn’t enough food.”

“And that’s why I made sure you were in charge, not me,” Kelly said, chortling. “You’re much better at this being responsible thing. I just set things on fire.”

David sighed as Kelly went off to go check on the aftermath of the destruction she had wrought. How she had suckered him into this he would never know. He didn’t want to be responsible, damnit! He just wanted to curl up somewhere with a nice cup of tea and a good mystery novel and relax in front of a fire. But the world had changed, and he had to change with it. Everyone had things they had to fight for.

Muttering to himself, David stalked off to go find Julius and see if he had an update on their surroundings. He had likely taken the chance while the caravan was stopped to activate his skill.

David found Julius at the tail end of the procession, his guess right on point. Julius had a skill that allowed him to create a 3D map in his head of the surrounding topography. He was only able to use the skill two or three times a day though, and it took some time to activate.

“Julius! I thought I would find you back here. Any luck this time?”

Julius looked up from his hand drawn map in excitement.

“Yes! Well, maybe. I think I passed some imaginary boundary. You know that line before that I just couldn’t see past? I think it was some sort of leyline or something. Anyway, that’s not important. I finally was able to see past it! I could almost reach the mountains this time!”

“Well don’t keep me in suspense, what did you find? Anywhere we can settle?” David was inwardly jumping for joy, but he tried to keep a stern face as benefitting someone of his status, whatever that was. He had refused to be called chief or any other such title, saying his name was good enough, but he still had to at least try to keep up appearances. He was in charge after all.

“Why don’t you take a look,” Julius said, moving his crudely drawn map so David could see it. “So right here was as far as I could see before, right? Nothing past that. Now I was able to follow the river all the way up past here, see? It actually turns to the left, paralleling the mountains for a bit. There’s a lot of rivers and streams that feed into it. I think somewhere here before it turns might be good. Maybe right around here.”

David nodded along, pretending the squiggles in front of him meant something. Julius’ skill was dead useful. He was the only one out of their group of a few thousand who had any sort of wide area mapping skill, so he was an easy include for the expedition. The unfortunate part was, the skill was all in his head, and the maps he drew looked like they were done by a four-year-old.

“I see,” David said, even though he really didn’t. “What makes you think that area would be good?”

“Well, we want to settle on the river, right? For that reason, I don’t think we should go up too far. The river might not be as wide the more we pass the tributaries. I’ve heard the farmers talking about how good the soil is in this plains area, and the spot I picked it right on the edge of that. Look, see this here? There’s also a forest further north, which should provide us a good place to both hunt and obtain timber for building the outpost. There’s also what looks like a natural ford right over here. I can’t be sure about that until we get closer though.”

“Yes, I see, I see. So to paraphrase, you’re saying that the area looks to have both decent soil for farming, easy access to lumber, and potentially a way across this river that doesn’t involve building boats or a raft of some sort? Did I get everything?”

“Yes! Doesn’t it sound perfect! Although I’m not sure about the defense aspect. I’m not able to get a good read on any potential hills this far away so it might not be a good area after all.”

“Nonsense! You’ve done a fine job, Julius my good fellow. This is the best news I’ve heard all day! Try using your skill again tonight when we stop and let me know if you find out anything new.”

“Yes sir! I mean, yes David!”

David gave Julius a pat on the shoulder before moving back to his personal wagon, making plans the whole way. If Julius was right, and he usually was, their journey would soon be at an end. He had work to do.