There was a saying among adventurers that Sedhoust Grasmord could be your god of fortune. The reason was simple; any quests which involved him in any way would reward you an amount of money so outrageous that you could choose to retire and live the rest of your life without lifting a finger if you chose so.

However, he could also be your grim reaper. Quests which involved Sedhoust were often highly dangerous to the point that even high-ranking adventurers could easily get killed without ample preparations. A couple years in the past, a team had unexpectedly encountered a high-tier Calamity Beast and got wiped out, leaving no survivors.

Kurt Warden, the leader of the adventurer team Fledglings, knew about this saying for years. Therefore, when Guildmaster Keith Biggwarde had personally offered a quest very early in the morning, which mentioned that Sedhoust Grasmord would be coming along, this saying had been the first thing coming into Kurt’s mind. Unfortunately, with only a few hours of preparation time, stocking up additional rations and buying some expensive potions were all the team had managed to do.

A lot of things had happened, and what had started as an expedition quest to investigate a mysterious falling object had become a days-long quest of guarding and escorting a large group of people with unknown origins. Stocking up additional rations had turned out to be the right decision, since their rations would have run out long before today if they had not done that.

“Uwaaahhh~~”

Kurt yawned as he was waking up from his slumber inside his team’s tent. He stretched his arms and then he rubbed his eyes. With his eyes still half-closed, Kurt looked around and saw that Leon and Anna weren’t there. Their blankets were already folded and stacked neatly, and their adventuring gears were nowhere to be seen within the tent.

“I’m the last again... as always.”

While still a bit groggy, Kurt stood up and walked out of the tent while still being unequipped. As he stretched his body some more, he saw that the sun was already some distance away from the horizon. The weather was fair without any large clouds as far as the eyes could see.

“Good morning, Leader.”

Kurt heard the greeting of a familiar voice from his left, and he then replied without looking at the person.

“Yeah, good morning, Leon.”

“You might want to go to Elana. Heh, they sure got things.”

“What..? You mean..?”

Kurt turned his head to Leon as he asked, while the latter just stood still with his arms folded and his mouth cracking a small smile.

“Dress up first, then see for yourself.”

Leon’s reply made Kurt curious, so without saying any word in response he went back into the tent and quickly changed into his adventuring gear. Right after that, he went out straight towards the nearby cluster of tents where the survivors were camped. What soon came into his sight was something which made his eyes go wide.

Right in the middle of the survivors’ encampment, there was a four-wheeled vehicle now. Its shape was different and the size was smaller, but it strongly reminded Kurt of the guild’s RV. An empty carriage, which was the fourth carriage spoken about yesterday, was tethered to the back of the vehicle with ropes. A few of the survivors seemed to be doing some work on it, and Elana was supervising them nearby.

Being highly curious, Kurt walked to Elana in a hastened pace and immediately asked a question.

“Is this... is this what you meant yesterday?”

“That’s right.” Elana replied with a mildly smug smile and her arms folded, without taking her eyes off from the vehicle.

Not hiding his confusion, Kurt scratched his own head as he spoke. “But how? I mean, I didn’t see this thing at all yesterday.”

“Disassembled into parts for easier carry. After all, we only have one.”

“Oh, yeah. Makes sense, I guess...”

“It should be ready in half an hour. When shall we depart?” Elana turned her head towards Kurt and looked at him in the eyes as she asked the question.

For some reason, Kurt was a little startled by the supposedly normal question. “Ah, I’ll.. I’ll go ask Chief Zachary. Please wait a bit.”

“We will be ready when you are.” Elana said right after making a small nod.

Kurt then turned away and walked from the place. He went straight towards Zachary’s house, which was just a couple minutes of walk away. Upon arriving, he noticed that Zachary was right outside the door, seemingly closing it.

“Chief Zack. Good morning!” Kurt greeted as he came closer.

Zachary turned his head towards Kurt and waved his right hand. “Good morning, lad!”

“They said they would be ready in half an hour. They also asked what time we will be departing.”

“Hmm, I dare say as soon as they’re ready. Although... have you seen what they got? Amazing, isn’t it?”

“Uhh, yeah... Never expected that they got their own RV.”

“Hey, you told me that you were escorting them. Who are they, actually?” Zachary said in a low voice as he came closer to Kurt.

In response, Kurt just shrugged and shook his head. “We found them in the midst of Quatonne Forest. It seems they are survivors of a crashed airship, but that’s all we know.”

“Did you just say airship? Could they be from... the Empire?” Zachary’s eyes went wide as he spoke, and the volume of his voice became even lower.

“I don’t know. Master Sedhoust didn’t tell me anything.”

Zachary didn’t say anything in immediate response to Kurt’s answer. It took him a couple seconds before he let out a little sigh and put both his hands on his hip, looking at Kurt with rolled eyes.

“Good luck, lad.” He said while patting Kurt’s shoulder.

Kurt responded with a wry smile as he spoke. “Ehh, yeah... Thanks.”

A little less than an hour later, four carriages were lined up near the front gate of Gaston Village. Three of them were drawn by two horses each and filled with cargo covered by a large cloth which was secured with leather belts, while the fourth one was drawn by a four-wheeled vehicle and occupied by a bunch of people. They were almost ready to depart for the capital city of Arxhige, and right now Zachary was doing the final inspection on the carriage Kurt was sitting on. Elana, who was also inspecting for her own end, spoke to Zachary when they happened to get close.

“May I ask what the cargo is?” She said with her eyes on one of the carriages.

Zachary replied, also without taking his eyes off from the carriage. “Cotton. My village here plants a lot of it. We sell it both as raw material and also clothes. You may say that it’s our specialty!”

Zachary pridefully pointed his thumb at himself while grinning, and Elana just smiled a little glancing at that.

“By the way,” Zachary spoke again. “Your getup, and I mean all of you, will stick out like sore thumbs in the capital. Wanna buy clothes from us before you go?”

“Worth considering, but unfortunately we don’t have any money. Or to be exact, the money we have is foreign and worthless here.”

“Ah, pity... but hey! Come back here once you have money! I’ll give a discount for bulk purchase!”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

Soon later, all four carriages departed from Gaston village. The one drawn by the four-wheeled vehicle was placed at the back, following the other three right behind them. Kurt was seated next to the driver of the second carriage, and Elana was seated next to him at the other side. The pace of the convoy was faster than walking, but it would still take more than one day to reach the capital city.

“By the way, Kurt.” Elana spoke, about five minutes after departure.

“Yes?”

“We both forgot about adventurer ranks yesterday, didn’t we?”

Kurt could barely hold himself from laughing. “Pfft! Yeah, indeed!”

“Now is a good time to tell since we’re just sitting and waiting.” Elana said with a small grin.

“Right. Well, there are seven ranks. From bottom up they are Rock, Iron, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Sapphire, and Diamond. When you register you’ll be tested and depending on your results they may allow you to start from a higher rank.”

“Hmm, suppose there’s a very strong one registering-“

“In that case, there’s a hard rule saying that Silver is the highest starting rank.”

“I see. How do you rank up, then?”

“Promotion test is available during the first week of each month. Anyone can apply for it as many times as they want, but there's an application fee.”

“I’m guessing no refund if you fail.”

“Yup, that’s right. The higher the rank, the more expensive it gets. It is on purpose to make sure those who take the test understand the importance and prepare for it with their best effort.”

“I see. Nobody wants to waste their money for nothing after all. Oh, what’s your rank?”

Kurt didn’t give an immediate answer. Instead, he awkwardly put his right hand behind his head, and his eyes were averted. “Well...”

“If it’s secret you don’t have to.” Elana said.

“No, it’s not. Actually... my team is Sapphire, but we just achieved that a few weeks ago so skill-wise we’re still not far from Platinum.”

Elana visibly smiled hearing Kurt’s answer. “Then you should have said that with pride. Second-highest rank is already very hard to achieve, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, maybe I should’ve. But I’m always reminded that pride can, and will, lead to demise.” Kurt replied while leaning forward, head lowered and hands clasped together. On closer look, those hands seemed to be shaking, albeit just slightly.

“...By the way, what happened between you and Zachary? He put a lot of trust in you.”

“Huh? Uhh, nothing really special. Four years ago we stopped by the village on our way home from a quest. Chief Zack requested us to escort their cargo, which we accepted. Back then we didn’t ask for payment since it was a free transport home for us. I guess that’s where it started. Oh yeah, Chief Zack is a childhood friend of my late mother, so there’s that too.”

Both Kurt and Elana briefly went silent after the former finished his speech. Elana glanced back and forth once, and then she spoke to Kurt again.

“Do bad things happen often that they need adventurers to escort the cargo?” She asked while pointing her left thumb behind.

“Uhh, there were bandits in the distant past, but nowadays it’s much less. In fact, the greatest threat to the convoy over the past four years was a bunch of hungry wild wolves two years ago.”

Elana lowered her head a little and put one hand over her chin. Kurt had no idea what she was thinking, but somehow her serious, deep thinking posture incited a feeling of uneasiness on Kurt.

“I-Is there something wrong?” He mustered a bit of courage to ask the question.

Elana looked a little surprised, but she immediately replied. “Huh? Oh, it’s nothing. I was merely reminded of the stories I’ve read. Fiction, fairy tales, whatever you call it. When the main character escorts something, it always gets attacked by bandits or monsters.”

“Oh.” Kurt said before chuckling. “Sounds like an unlucky guy.”

Elana chuckled in a similar way. “But a peaceful trip would make a boring storybook, so there’s that.”

“Are you implying that if this convoy gets attacked, we’re in a storybook and you’re the main character?” Kurt said while holding his laughter in.

Elana slightly shrugged. “Could be me, could be you, or your partners, or one of my men. Everyone’s a fair game if that really happens.”

Both Elana and Kurt laughed from the exchange, and so did those within earshot of their conversation.

Contrary to the topic spoken about, the convoy’s trip was peaceful throughout the day. Night has fallen now, and a campsite has been set up on an open patch of grassland near the main road. There were other campsites of various sizes nearby, but there was no interaction between the campsites. Each was just minding their own business.

Kurt and Anna were sitting near a campfire. Most other people of the group were already asleep within their tents. Glancing around, Kurt could see a few other lights, coming from the campfires of other nearby sites.

“Haaahh~~~” Anna yawned, and then she startled. “Ah! Sorry!”

Kurt chuckled as he threw a dry twig at the crackling campfire. “You woke up earlier than me after all.”

Anna didn’t respond to Kurt’s words. Instead, she averted her eyes from him, looking down with her face flushing red.

“You know,” Kurt spoke with his eyes staring at the campfire. “Those people were really full of surprises.”

“Y-Yes.”

“Their RV is nothing like the guild’s, their guns could take out a green drake, they learned common tongue within days, and that airship...”

“What about the airship?” Anna slightly tilted her head.

“...Chief Zack asked if they could be from the Empire. What do you think?”

“Huh? I-If you ask me, I don’t think so.”

“Hmm, we think the same. Yup, there’s no way the Empire can make something like that, even with the technology they have.”

“But... what if it was a secret?”

“Top secret project, huh?”

Kurt gazed at the starry night sky, pondering about the possibility Anna had just told him. But less than ten seconds later he shook his head.

“No way.” He said. “People from the Empire speak common tongue like everyone else. They must be from a place even further.”

To Kurt’s remark, someone suddenly replied. “You’re right. We’re from someplace further than you can imagine.”

The person, a male, approached the campfire as he spoke. He then sat down across the fire from Kurt’s position.

“Oh, hello there, umm...” Kurt said.

“Albert. Albert Charlemagne.”

Kurt awkwardly put his right hand behind his head. “Right. Sorry for gossiping about your group just now.”

“Heh, no sweat. It’s natural to discuss things you don’t know.” Albert said while cracking a twig and throwing the pieces into the campfire.

“So... may we know where all of you are from?”

“Well... honestly, I’m not sure if I’m allowed to give you answers to that.” Albert scratched his head.

Anna chimed in immediately. “Oh! Then please don’t. I don’t want you to get into trouble.”

“Yes, I’m with Anna there.” Kurt added.

“Though, at this point the worst that can happen is a scolding from mom- I mean, Captain Mayer.”

Albert awkwardly averted his eyes when he finished speaking. Kurt tilted his head, while Anna’s eyes went wider.

“Elana is your mother?”

Albert shook his head frantically. “No! No! Captain Mayer isn’t even married yet. It’s just that... I have no mother, and Captain Mayer has somehow become my mother figure.”

“Oh, I’m sorry...” Anna lowered her head.

“Don’t mind it. It’s alright. Anyway... The place where we come from is called Columbus.”

Kurt squinted his eyes. “Never heard of it.”

“Of course you haven’t. It’s named after our hero of the distant past.”

“Hero, huh?”

“I think, it’s not the same kind of hero you’re imagining. Columbus was more like... a hero of discovery. His most recognized achievement was the discovery of a land previously unknown by humanity.”

Albert briefly stopped to take a breath, then he resumed. “We, the people of Columbus, are resolved to follow in his footsteps to explore the unknown and discover lands humanity has never known before.”

“That’s so inspiring..!” Anna spoke in an audibly awed tone of speech.

Kurt cracked another twig and threw the pieces into the campfire. “So, does here count? As a discovery, I mean.”

“Well... actually... yes.” Albert awkwardly replied while his eyes were rolling around.

“In that case, what are you going to do from now on?”

Suddenly before Albert could reply to Kurt’s question, Elana came from behind and gave him a light smack on the head. “Enough talking, boy.”

“Ow, mom! Ah! I mean- Sorry, Captain!”

Elana let out a sigh and looked at Kurt. “Sorry about this. Don’t think too much about what he said.”

“Huh? Ehh, alright...” Kurt said as Elana dragged Albert away from the campfire and disappeared into one of the tents.

“What was all that about..?” Anna asked.

Kurt leaned forward and lowered his head. “I think we better don’t dig any deeper than this.”

Meanwhile, inside the tent Albert was dragged into, Elana let go of him after making him sit on the ground. There were several other people inside, and they all immediately had their eyes on him.

“The way you told them was too tense. Now they probably will think we are part of an incoming invasion.” Elana spoke with one hand over her forehead, eyes closed, and teeth gritted.

Albert looked worried seeing Elana’s frustration. “But we aren’t.”

“Yes, we aren’t, but they have no way to know that for sure. To them, we are unknown strangers. Merely our words won’t be enough.”

“...They don’t trust us?”

“Not right off the bat. Trust is earned, not made, and we haven’t done anything noteworthy enough to earn it.” Elana let out a sigh. “Anyway, just go to sleep. All of you.”

“Ah, yes Captain.”

Without looking at Albert and his fellows any longer, Elana walked out of the tent and went to a different tent. Little did she know that a person was standing at the side of the tent she came out from, hiding in the shadows. Without saying a word, the person walked away from the place without making any sounds.

The night passed, and the sun rose, illuminating the land. After breakfast, the convoy resumed their travel towards Arxhige capital city. Like the day before, Kurt sat next to Elana. However, what had happened last night made the situation feel awkward for Kurt so it was difficult for him to strike conversation, especially now that there was the carriage driver next to him. The topic back then could be a sensitive one, and bringing it up now would unnecessarily add another person hearing it.

“Do you think we will reach the capital city today?” Elana suddenly spoke.

“Eh? Uhh... Yes, I think at this pace we will arrive there before sunset.”

“Good to hear.”

“May I ask something, Ma’am Elana?”

“You can call me by just name. What is it?”

“What are your plans once you get there?”

“Well...” Elana folded her arms and lowered her head. “For now, I plan to go see Keith and find out how far he would be willing to help us. Depending on his answers, we’ll make further plans from there. At least for certain, we’ll need to find a way to earn some income. Can’t depend on Keith to provide free housing forever.”

“Income, huh...?”

The driver next to Kurt then chimed in. “Umm, may I say something?”

“Sure. What is it?” Kurt replied.

“Just wanna say that coming back to the village is an option. We always could use more hands.”

Not saying anything, Kurt turned his head towards Elana, who looked back at the driver and asked a question. “Will Zachary be fine with that, though?”

“Ah yes, I forgot to tell you.” Kurt intervened with one hand raised. “Chereck here is Chief Zack’s son.”

“Oh..”

Chereck nodded slightly. “Yes. Dad should be fine with it. After all, Fledglings seem to trust you.”

“Fledglings?” Elana tilted her head a little with a questioning look on her eyes.

Kurt raised his hand once again. “Me, Leon, Anna. It’s the name of our team as a whole.”

“I see. In any case, it is an option worth considering. Thank you.”

“No prob!” Chereck replied.

Later in the afternoon, about half an hour after resuming from a lunch break, the road traversed by the convoy changed from bare dirt to one paved with cobblestones. Thanks to the smoother surface, the pace of the carriages slightly increased and the constant shakings died down.

“Good.” Elana said out of the blue.

Kurt turned his head to Elana. “Huh?”

“Some of us can’t handle the shakings.”

“Oh, yeah. Now that you said it, someone didn’t look well during lunch break.” Kurt said, glancing to the back.

“Yeah. Poor boy. By the way, about this road. This means we’re close, doesn’t it?”

“Well, yeah. You can say that. They plan to gradually expand the paved roads to eventually connect every city. Although, it seems the location of this end is still the same as last year. I wonder if they have a problem somewhere.”

“Hmm...”

The ride continued on without any notable events. Some people the convoy passed by stared at the tail end of the convoy, most likely the RV pulling the fourth carriage, but staring was all they did before going back to their own business.

“Hmm?” Elana muttered with her eyes going slightly wider.

Kurt in response asked. “Something wrong?”

“So there are cars here.”

“Car?”

“That.” Elana pointed forward, and soon a guild RV passed by, going to the opposite direction.

“You mean the RV?”

“So you call the vehicle RV here. I see.”

“Yeah, short for Running Vehicle. You call it... what was it again? In your home?”

“Car. Derived from an ancient language word which means wheeled vehicle. You know what is funny for me?”

“Umm, no?”

“In our home, RV is a specific type of car used for going on a picnic. Short for Recreational Vehicle.”

Kurt chuckled. “Yeah, can imagine. But speaking of which, are R- I mean, cars common over there?”

“Well, yes. From you asking that, I suppose it isn’t here?”

“You guessed it. As of now, only Adventurer’s Guild has several of it, used for important matters at the discretion of the guildmaster. He’s also the original maker, by the way.”

“When you said guildmaster, did you mean Keith?”

“Yup. Master Keith is a really amazing person! I always wondered if there’s something he actually can’t do.”

“Well, cast lightning magic?” Elana said with a straight face.

Kurt leaned back and facepalmed with his right hand. “Oh come on! It was just a metaphor.”

Elana let out a small laugh without saying any word, and Kurt laughed too afterwards. His eyes then went a bit wider as he noticed something ahead.

“Look, it’s already in sight.” He said with one finger pointing forward.

Elana’s mouth went agape a little. “Oh. So that’s your home.”

“Yup. Welcome to the capital city of Arxhige.” Kurt said in a pretty prideful tone as the sight of a city, with the royal castle visibly standing tall at a further distance, came into view. The sun bathing the scenery with its yellowish dusk light helped in making the scenery more mellow and gorgeous.

“Which will be our home too. For now at least.”

Later, the convoy was queuing for entry at the city gate. The line was not too long, and it progressed every few minutes. By the time the convoy’s first carriage almost had its turn, the sky was already beginning to get dark.

Kurt jumped off from the second carriage and spoke to Elana. “Wait here. I need to take care of our entry.”

“Is it troublesome if I come with you?”

Kurt put one hand under his chin and his eyes glanced upwards briefly before he replied. “Well, I guess not. Maybe it would actually help, in fact.”

“Then I will come with you.” Elana said, and she jumped off from the carriage.

Kurt and Elana then walked past the first carriage, in which Leon was the one sitting next to the driver. Just about then, the carriage ahead finished its entry procedure and went past the gate. Seeing this, Kurt gave a hand signal for the carriage to follow him as he walked along with Elana.

There were three armored men standing by, one of them being more decorated than the other two, although not by much. Kurt casually approached them, while Elana followed him at his side.

“Well, if it isn’t Kurt! The annual stuff from Gaston Village if I may guess?” The decorated guard spoke in an audibly excited tone.

“That’s right. Though this time there’s something more.”

“Something more?”

“We’re also escorting a group of 25 people to the Adventurer’s Guild.”

“What?” The decorated guard’s eyes went wide, and the same applied to the other two guards. He then turned his head to Elana. “And you are...?”

“Elana Mayer. You can say that I am the leader of the aforementioned people.”

“Do you have an identification with you?”

“Well,” Elana reached into her pocket. “This is definitely foreign, but see if it can work for you.” She said as she pulled out her military ID card and handed it to the decorated guard, who took a look at it for a few seconds.

“Hmm... sadly this won’t work.” He returned Elana’ ID card. “We can issue a temporary pass, but it will take a while for 25 people at once.”

Suddenly a cheerful familiar voice was heard. “Look at what I found here after sending off some officers!”

“Master Keith!” Kurt said with a pretty wide smile.

“Guildmaster!” The decorated guard said, immediately standing upright followed by the other two guards doing the same.

Keith grinned seeing Elana. “Good to see you again.” He then turned his head towards the three guards. “I’ll take it from here for all these people. Come to me later if there’s any issue.”

“Ah! Sure, Guildmaster!”

Soon, the convoy passed the gate without further trouble. The street lights of the capital city were on, and along with the twilight sky it made a quite pretty scenery.

The Adventurer’s Guild building was just a ten-minute trip away from the city gate. The sight of the massive five-story building had already become normal for Kurt, but with a quick glance he could tell that the survivors, Elana included, were astonished.

“We’ve arrived.” Chereck said. “I’ll park the carriage at the back like usual.”

“Okay.” Kurt said.

Elana’s eyes scanned over the building before asking. “Is this the Adventurer’s Guild you spoke about?”

“Yup! Which also means this is Master Keith’s house!”

Smack!

Keith suddenly gave Kurt a hard pat on the back while laughing heartily. “Nicely said there, boy!”

“Ow! A-Anyway, I need to take care of this quest’s paperwork. You said wanted to see Master Keith, right?”

“Right.” Elana said with her arms folded and eyes glancing at Keith.

“Come to my office then. I’ll have some staff guide everyone else to a waiting room.” Keith said with a visibly more serious facial expression, to which Elana responded with a nod.

Less than five minutes later, Elana was alone with Keith in his office. As she sat down in front of the work desk, she felt quite impressed on how the desk seemed to be specially made to fit with Keith’s massive body. Sitting across her, Keith folded his arms and rested them on the desk.

“So, what do you want to see me for?”

“First, I would like to thank you for providing a place to stay. It means a lot for us. I also would like to know how far you are willing to help us out. Knowing this will help in planning our next course of action, since I strongly believe that you can’t house us forever.”

“Well, can’t refuse a queen’s decree, even though it’s not official.” Keith laughed, then his eyes went wide and he facepalmed with one hand as he lowered his head. “Ah, dammit...”

“We already know. No worries in that regard.”

Keith raised his head again and reverted back to the previous position. “Oh. Good, then. Anyway, you’re correct for assuming that I can’t provide a place to stay forever. So to answer that question, you can stay in my inn free of charge for two weeks. Afterwards you’ll be charged accordingly and if you’re overdue for too long I’ll have no choice but to evict you.”

“Understandable.” Elana leaned back with one hand under her chin.

“That’s from me. Maybe Sedhoust or even Vierra will help you in their own way.”

“That would be great, but we will find a way to earn our keep somehow.”

“That’s the spirit!” Keith smiled. “But hear me out. You’ve been through a lot. All of you. Take it easy for a day or two, then you can start tackling the matters at hand.”

“Thank you for your concern. I will take my leave now.” Elana said, standing up.

“Take good care of yourselves, you hear me?”

“Naturally.” Elana replied as she walked out of the office. Outside the door, there was Leon leaning on the nearby wall with his arms folded. Noticing this, Elana asked. “You want to see Keith too?”

“No. Kurt asked me to guide you to the waiting room downstairs once you’re done.” Leon replied.

“Ah, right. Thank you.”

“No problem.”

Leon and Elana then began walking through the corridor of the building. There was nobody else around, and the doors lined up along the corridor didn’t show any sign of somebody coming out.

“...You have our trust.” Leon said out of the blue.

“What did you just say?”

“Ah, nothing. Never mind.” Leon replied without looking at her.

“Well, I do mind.” Elana stopped walking, hands on her hip. “I heard you saying trust, and to me trust is an important matter. So I request you to repeat what you said.”

Leon sighed slightly. “Alright. You have our trust. We won’t think you’re part of an invasion.”

Elana’s eyes went wider a bit. “You heard it?”

“It just happened. Sorry about that.”

Elana folded her arms. “Well, I don’t blame you or anything. It was just a simple tent, and that was not secret stuff anyway. Also, thank you.”

“Ahh, yeah...” Leon awkwardly replied.

Later, it turned out that Keith had an entire floor of the inn reserved for Elana and her men. Moreover, the floor had a conference room large enough to accomodate all 25 of them. While it was convenient, Elana couldn’t help feeling wary about the overly generous patronage. Nevertheless, right now all of the 25 survivors were gathered at the conference room, sitting on the available seats facing Elana, who was standing in ‘at ease’ stance.

Elana cleared her throat quickly before she began speaking. “I know we are tired so I will make this short. First, to summarize our current situation, this entire floor is lent to us free of charge for two weeks, and after that we will have to pay for it like any other guests. I have no idea whether meals are included or not, but this at least means we can afford not to worry about accommodation for a little while.”

Elana stopped briefly to take a breath. “Our main objective is to survive, therefore we need to secure income of local currency. As for how, we are still lacking information so gathering it will be the first thing to do. But we will take the day off tomorrow. Rest yourselves, think of ideas, and discuss with peers at your own leisure. In addition, try not to wander off alone for the time being. If you want to go outside, bring at least two others and avoid conflicts by any means possible. Any questions?”

One man near the furthest point from Elana raised his hand.

“Yes, Theo?”

“Captain... do you think we might end up being stuck here... forever?”

“While I believe Master Renne will try the best of her ability, that is admittedly a possibility we cannot dismiss. I only can tell you, and I mean all of you, to hope for the best but prepare for the worst.”

There was a complete silence within the conference room for five seconds as Elana and a few others let out a silent sigh.

“Nevertheless, we will meet here again in the day after tomorrow, first thing in the morning. Are there any more questions before I wrap this up?” Elana waited for exactly five seconds, and nobody showed any action. “Alright, then. We’re dismissed.”

Elana then left the conference room and went into her room nearby. Despite being a room with two beds, all the others had unanimously agreed to let her have that room for herself. Elana had no idea whether it was their goodwill, or nobody had enough nerve to live with their captain in the same room for a long time.

Elana walked to the window and gazed at the starry sky. The constellations were nowhere near what she knew, but it was still a beautiful view nevertheless. She mused about the possibility of having to live on this planet forever, and also the possibility of her men eventually leaving her to walk their own path should that be the case.

“Master Renne. I hope you are safe out there.” Elana spoke to herself in low volume, ending with a sigh. Tomorrow would be a day off, but after that there would be a lot of things to do. Getting a proper rest wouldn’t be a bad idea.