Around sunset yesterday, while the defenders were preparing to fend off the Beast Wave, an elderly skinny man crept into the new headquarters of the Cruel Rose gang.
“Mr. Simmons!” Cruel Rose greeted him as a guest. “You came at last!”
“Yes, I have been waiting for this day for a long time!” Mr. Simmons smiled, a creepy, toothy grin. “I wanted to come earlier, but I had to wait until everyone was busy with the Beast Wave. I certainly don’t want Kage to barge in on me when I take Mandy’s first time! You have kept her for me, haven’t you?”
“Um… about that…” Rose flinched.
“You HAVE kept her for me, haven’t you?!” Simmons glared. “We had a deal! How could you offer her to someone else?! You…”
“Watch your tongue, Simmons!” Rose snarled. “I offered her to no one!”
“She gave herself away before you could get to her?” Simmons stared. “I can’t believe it.”
“That’s… I don’t know either.” Rose hesitated.
“What are you talking abo
“Mindy…!” Mandy gasped. “No… this…” “It’s fine. I’ll take full responsibility for it.” Remian told her, stepping forward. He crouched down and put both arms around Mindy. He hugged her tightly. “Let go, Mindy. Let it go.” “Isabelle… Jamie… Siti… Juni… Loh… Karen…” Mindy didn’t let go of the knife. She shivered uncontrollably. “Gary… Tamera… everyone… everyone…!” “Let go.” Remian pulled at her hands, trying to wrest them from the knife. Then, Mindy froze. Her shaking stopped. She stared at her hands, at the knife. “I… I killed…” “Let go.” Remian tugged her away. Her hands were still stuck on the knife; the knife came away from the body; Simmons’ corpse tilted over and collapsed in a heap on the floor. “I killed him…!” Mindy whispered, her voice suddenly turning to horror. She dropped the knife. “I killed him!” “No! He’s still alive!” George was there suddenly. He grabbed the knife, and stabbed it into Simmons’ body viciously. “T
Joshu came back with his first successful Recruitment at breakfast the next day. “This is Xia.” He introduced a tanned, tall, round-faced huntress. “Hi.” Xia said one word. That was all. “She’s agreed to join up.” Joshu added on her behalf. Xia bobbed her head once. That was all. “Welcome aboard, Xia!” Mandy greeted her. “Please read the charter, and the registration form, and if everything checks out, you can sign here…” Xia signed the form immediately. She didn’t even glance at the charter or the form itself. “Uh… okay…” Mandy cleared her throat. “Come have breakfast before you start doing any jobs.” Xia straightaway took up a bowl of oat porridge and started gobbling as if she hadn’t eaten for days. Remian began to wonder if that was really the main reason why she signed on so urgently… “Can we count on her?” he asked Joshu. “I believe so. She doesn’t speak much, but she’s a serious girl.” Joshu said.
It began with fire. Cruel Rose was enjoying herself at the time. Her closest enemies were destroyed. The north side was hers, at last. Madam Sara, the leader of the Ravens was bound to a pillar in the middle of the dining hall, gagged with both legs broken. Wrapped around her broken legs was the dead body of the Ravens’ Slayer, Donny. Unable to fight, unable to flee, unable even to curse, taunted by Rose and her lieutenants on every side, all Madam Sara could do was glare at them through reddened eyes. But all of a sudden, shouts interrupted the revelry. “Fire! We’re on fire!!” Who dared disturb the festivities?! The boss and her top lackeys were in the middle of celebrating the destruction of the Circling Ravens and the complete domination of the north side! A man burst in. “Boss! We’re on fire!” “Did someone mess around with the book again?!” Rose demanded crossly, irked at being disturbed in her moment of gloat-worthy triumph. “Where is it?
Remian called him aside the next morning. “George, I was rather impressed with the way you stepped up for Mindy back then. Tell me, what do you plan to do in the long-term?” “You mean, what I want to be when I grow up?” George shook his head. “Nothing much. I just want to have my own farm and have enough food for everybody.” Remian nodded. “So why wait? You don’t have to wait until you grow up for that. Let’s do it.” “Really?” George blinked. “When?” He expected Remian to talk about five years or ten years ahead, but what he said was, “Today.” “Seriously?” “Right now.” Remian marked out a huge (or at least, it seemed huge to George) plot of land with fire. “From here to here, plant food crops. On this side, you can raise Glass Dandelions. Further out, we need Purple Heartbeat Trees and Blue Ring Mushrooms. Also, we should dig a large pond to raise Rainbow Jellyfish.” “You want to farm the ingredients for Tier 1 and Tier
Carrie arrived with no less than twenty wolfcats; eight Tier 3 adults, five Tier 2 half-grown wolfcats, and seven Tier 1 cubs. To be clear, these wolfcats were not joining the Guild; they were willing to dig and guard in exchange for cooked food, but they were not willing to join forces with humans or help defend the town when the Beast Wave came. They were there to watch Carrie or something. Remian wasn’t too clear on that, and Carrie didn’t elaborate, but basically they would be willing to work for her, but not for him. Also, they wanted a territory where they could live in peace. “Fine! We’ll take whatever we can get.” Remian looked about. “Maybe we can build them some kennels or something on George’s Farm.” [Or we can hunt the nearby Chief Blood Rabbit and take his burrow.] Carrie added. “Or that.” Remian agreed. “That sounds like a better idea. I’m actually quite impressed that so many of them are willing to follow you. I thought Wilds hated humans in ge
In the hottest place of Frontier Town, iron melted like wax. Sparks and flames spontaneously burst into being and lived out brief existences in momentary glory. The roars of man and machine competed to overwhelm any hapless passerby’s ears. There at the heart of the heat, was a man. Truly, there was no other way to describe him. He was a man’s man. Burnished muscles, a towering figure, a six pack middle and shoulders that could bear a cow… women saw him pass by on the streets and murmured with admiration “Now THERE’S a man!” Do you not believe it? Just ask The Man himself! Surely such a manly man would not lie. Even if he did, your eyes would certainly tell you the truth… Anyone could see, very obviously, how manly this man was, compared to, for example, that runt of a boy who just walked in with the pretty, long-legged with hair like red honey. She was holding his hand as if they were on a date. A date? What a mockery! To enter the domain of
“Legionnaires!” Markus barked at the assembled trainees the next day after a morning of training and a quick lunch. “The Adventurers Guild say they are going to build a size 4 Evemont Guard Tower to Phase 2 by the next Beast Wave! What does that tell you?” Twenty trainees, a quartermaster, a drill sergeant and a new agent all stood there in assembly without saying a word. A few of them exchanged puzzled glances. What was that supposed to tell them? “It tells me that they don’t believe in us! They don’t believe that the Legion can protect the town on our own, and that we will not be able to keep them safe!” Markus roared. Again, the exchange of glances. It was obvious that the Legion really couldn’t… “Well, I say we prove them wrong!” Markus exclaimed. “I say we challenge them stroke for stroke! They want to build a Guard Tower? We will build one too! We’ll match them size for size… and we’ll do it better!” Fortifications! Everyone lit up. Now
Don’t tell Markus, but having the Wilds help them was only half the reason why the Adventurers Guild managed to build the bunker form of the Guard Tower in six days. The other half had to do with a new scroll that Remian was Inscribing these days. It was a Lightening Scroll. There were nine different Tiers of the same spell; the Tier 1 version reduced an object’s weight by a few kilograms, up to half its original weight, whichever was lesser. Therefore, if a stone weighed 100kg, the Tier 1 version would reduce it to 95-99 kg, depending on the scroll Inscriber’s and the scroll caster’s power. If used on a 2kg bag of flour, it would reduce the weight by half to 1kg. The Tier 2 version would reduce weight by roughly 30kg (give or take up to 10kg) or half, whichever was lesser. While not entirely helpful with tons of logs, it enabled even children to cart level planks around by hand. Even considering how weak the scroll casters’ powers were, anything below 50 kg would lo