Remember to frequently take time out to let your hair down and relax. Although we have superhuman bodies now, our minds are still the same as before.

Lavanya Sanghvi - the Monster Bane - Adventurer’s Guide to Surviving the Idroan Wilderness

____

Silas had arrived at Riverside with a day to spare before the third horde attack. The first thing he had done was told Elise of their military alliance with Lyfort, before dumping Krisa and Ish onto her hands as envoys to look after - he simply lacked the energy to watch over the furtive ryfin and the seductive nymph.

Fortunately, Elise had received his news far better than expected, seemingly impressed that he had managed such a diplomatic feat without prior planning, although he had made it clear that Kore had done all the work for him. After telling her to send suitable envoys to Lyfort, he then began the task of getting himself up to date with Riverside’s progress.

One of the major changes was their continued growth in population as they had gained some 200 people that week, bringing their total count up to 673. To govern and police such a population, Elise had expanded the council and the Riverside Constabulary, growing the police force to 50 officers with Bandana Dom still at its head. She had also bought more houses and other buildings to improve their quality of living, whilst simultaneously developing their current industrial capabilities.

Plots had been cleared and assigned around the village, and the first batch of rapidly grown produce had been successfully sold, crowds thronging the marketplace on the day of the sale. Wood and leather goods were also popular, and various weaponry and armour were in development to be sold. The issue with them was the lack of material, especially large quantities of metal for the forges, but a potential solution to this had suggested by Josh after his journey to the north.

It only made sense to clear out the quarry and claim it as their own, not least because it was dangerous to have so many magical beasts in their backyard, but also because they had a chance of finding various useful resources down the mine shafts. The foremost amongst these materials were the blue arcane rocks.

After hearing Josh’s description of them on the quarry’s slopes, Silas had thought about the matter for a while before recalling Ish’s comment that the pill bug car being fuelled by manastone. This meant they were likely from Caen and had many uses, but Silas kept their discovery hidden from Ish and Krisa for the time being as he first wanted to get an idea of how valuable they were.

On the matter of the Order of Tyr, he also realised that Lyfort had never appeared on his nearby settlement’s section despite being just over a day’s walk away.

Nearby Settlements

House of Nox - 47 miles away

New Derby - 112 miles away

This suggested that this section only showed nearby human settlements, which left the question of how many non-human settlements there were in the region. Could it be the quarry was in fact a settlement set up by wild animals? He knew the only way to check was to make contact with them as Lyfort had appeared on his diplomacy section shortly after arriving at the Order’s village.

Diplomacy

Lyfort - Friendly

He could demand tributes, create trade deals, offer vassalage, and so on, but Lyfort would also have to agree to put them into effect. Because of this, he left the diplomacy section untouched, hoping that Riverside would accumulate sufficient strength before Lyfort did a 180 and started demanding tributes or such.

Still, it was curious to see that the System refused to acknowledge their recent pact, and checking up on it, he saw that a teleporter was a minimum requirement for a proper military alliance. There was nothing he could do about this as they were currently far off from buying even a communication monument, let alone a teleporter.

The next day, the horde attacked with another portal spawning in Riverside’s direct vicinity. The monsters looked like giant angler fish on legs and used their long, powerful tongues to wrap around men, before hauling them into their maws filled with knife-like teeth. Although Riverside faced far more foes than last time, they eventually won with Mike, Alice, and Sabine, in particular, having significant impacts.

Afterwards, they tested out the theory that the portals remained open even after the hordes completed for waste disposal purposes. Silas watched as Dom chucked in the first corpse, immediately clearing the area in case anything untoward happened. The angler fish slipped through the tear in space with a plop and disappeared into the red and green spirals. They waited ten seconds, one minute, ten minutes but nothing changed. Finally, the clean up plan was wholly set into motion, and the monster corpses were thrown in one after another, while the human ones were taken back to be buried.

Following this, Silas returned to his old routine of training with Iris and Josh, nodding at the changes Elise made, and drinking tea with his friends. However, rather than feeling pleased with the sphere of peace he had carved out for himself on Idroa, he instead felt more anxious with every passing day. What was the point of an easy lifestyle when the two people he cared about the most were out there in the dark, dangerous world, struggling for their lives, if not dead? He needed to find them, and if not that, he needed closure!

Although he religiously checked the citizen’s list, it soon became obvious he was wasting his time by simply hoping that a classer would appear out of the blue with the ability to locate his siblings. As such, two days after the horde, he began preparation to travel to other settlements to search for such a person himself. Since he had already tried Lyfort and received a negative answer, this left House of Nox and New Derby.

He was almost ready to leave when suddenly a runner came from Elise, requesting his presence urgently. He found her in her office, speaking heatedly with Dom.

“Ah, Silas,” she said on seeing him, “We’ve got big trouble incoming.” Although she kept good form, her voice was strained, and her hands clenched.

“What up? Is it something about Mike?” he asked. Big Mike’s faction had dramatically increased their activity over the last few days and several rumours had popped up.

“Oh, I wish, mate,” Dom said with a humourless smile, snorting out air. “Would be nice to pummel the cocky bastard’s face in.”

Elise shook her head. “The House of Nox has fallen. A ratkin army crushed them to bits - we just had two survivors make it here a few minutes ago.”

Silas gulped, and his heart fell. “Fuck. Did they say anything about the army? Have you contacted Lyfort about this yet?”

“Ish has already relayed the information to the Order, but even if they rushed here, the ratkin army would still arrive an hour or two ahead.” Elise paused and took a deep breath. “As for the army’s composition, from what the two women said, we can expect several hundred soldiers and some mages.”

“What?” he replied. “They have mages?!”

Dom nodded. “Seems so. It sounds like it’s them who did the worst of the killing as well despite having only a handful in number.”

“I need to talk to these survivors,” Silas said, tensing up. “Organise the war council now - I’ll be there in a second.”

____

I’m scared another war is going to break out. Mike’s supporters are growing by the day, and I see in them the same zeal I saw in Grace’s lackeys. They want a strongman leader who’ll take bold strokes, not Silas who they say sucks on Elise’s tits and Dom’s dick. I don’t think he does; I think they just don’t like the rules and the people on top.

When I remember the past, it hurts: Lazzaro took care of me when others pushed me aside, and he was killed for sport. Silas came to save me, and he almost died for it. I remember how he cried when he saw me. I don’t want him to cry again - tears make him look ugly. But I guess it doesn’t matter because he’s leaving anyway.

He was acting angsty for a while, and yesterday he told me he’s going to find his brother and sister. So, who’s going to beat Mike? Josh can’t, Dom can’t, Natalie can’t. Maybe if we work together though. Dom is acting stupid now because he won’t make the first move - he says it isn’t right, that he doesn’t want to sink to the same level as scum. But morals didn’t save Lazzaro, and I don’t think they’ll save the rest of us either.

I’m scared, but I hope everything turns out okay.

Iris Azer - Diary - Day 27 on Idroa