After hours of sweeping the area, the Werejackals had gathered up of all the enhancements of the Steam Tech as the Mousefolk called them. The Steam Tech was then brought back into their home instance where Jin’s zombies would move it over to Ayse and the Elfish researchers every few hours to analyse. (The Zombies needed time to …do things.)
When most of the injured Mousefolk had their conditions stabilised, they asked the System to transport all of them back to the Ording Sanctuary. Keyrin, on the other hand, decided to stay in his home territory for a while longer, stating that as the King of the mountains in these areas, he should be able to do something to repair the damage done by the Rats and his own attacks.
“Lord Scholar, if you do not mind…” Keyrin asked with his front legs kneeling in front of Gold, a begging gesture which no one expected from the proud, majestic ram.
But he had his reasons.
To the others, this place may just be a battleground and not as important as one would like to come here ever so often. But to Keyrin, it’s been his home for decades and his ex wife’s burial ground. He might not be able to reverse all the damage done, but he was willing to do what he could to help the land recover.
Gold nodded solemnly as he walked to Keyrin’s right flank and took out a magical brush. He began to ink Keyrin’s body with a few magical occult symbols that acted as a sort of converter for his magic. For the time those symbols were active, his usual lightning magic would change to earth based nature energy and regrow the land as well as covering the Litoride extraction site.
Keyrin thanked Gold tremendously and proceeded with the recovery process while Gold was the last to enter the portal to Ording Sanctuary. Upon entering, the Mousefolk started to gather around Lady Meomi for returning victorious against the Demon Rats. Some of the warriors who participated in the skirmish used the opportunity to boast about Lady Meomi and her daring exploits against the Demon Rats.
Especially the tale of taking down the Ogre Demon Rat by herself.
Everyone in Ording Sanctuary also warmly welcomed the Werejackals to their humble abode which was situated in a large hollow underground cave. The miners of Ording Town used to extract the Litoride from this cave itself, so there were tunnels as well as secondary caves that were large enough for these humans turned mousefolk to live in.
It was slightly squeezy given the number of people being teleported back to Ording Santuarcy, but the main cave was still spacious enough to allow such a gathering to occur. Flame Ripper and Sebastia were surprised that Meomi was very well received in the Sanctuary considering she always had been known for her cold, aloof attitude.
While Poppy the vice leader for the Sanctuary commanded the mousefolk to care for the injured, his brother Pippy, brought Gold, Grey and the entire scouting team to their makeshift military quarters within the caves. The rest of the werejackals and even Nyanmi had decided to make themselves useful by assisting the mousefolk with any problems that they had.
“Lady Meomi, to be honest, I assumed Grandmaster Zeru was preparing us for the worst when he said that he was going to train us. Like a last wish that you had asked of Grandmaster Zeru. To see you in the flesh, the entire town has been delighted that you’re still alive.” Pippy told her as he bowed to Meomi as a sign of respect.
“Heh, if Pippy knew how many times I died, he would be devastated.” Meomi faked a smile back to Pippy to cover her thoughts.
“Indeed, when you went missing, we only thought of the inevitable since there were such rumours of Demon Rats having a way to make people talk their secrets out. ” Pippy said as he loosened his collared shirt beneath his mini armour chest plate.
“So we had prepared for the worst. Stockpiled food, trained the people how to escape should the Demon Rats attack us until Grandmaster Zeru graced us with his presence.” Poppy entered the makeshift quarters made out of improvised materials.
“Still, to see our Lord’s little daughter handle herself in a fight against the horde of those bastard Demon Rats, I could only cry tears of joy out.” Pippy was elated as he and his brother Poppy had once been the knights serving for the Lord of Ording Town and had watched her grow up from a rascal to a young lady before the disaster struck. If not for Zeru’s interference, they might be the only ones capable of ensuring the security of this secret hidden haven from the Demon Rats.
“Due to erm…special circumstances, Gold and I went to meet a …legendary grandmaster. One that even Grandmaster Zeru has acknowledged as a master.” Meomi tried to tell their story but quickly tapped Gold on his back while he was drinking a cup of hot tea.
“It’s your turn to explain! I do not know how to lie!” Meomi practically begged Gold in the secured System Channel, and the rest on the table had a slight smirk on their face as if to see what story Gold could conjure out of the blue.
“Eh hahahah! Yea, at the time there was an error with our communication. We thought that someone had stolen the seeds of the Living Armour Plants, but it turned out to be that Zeru’s master was just interested in acquiring them. We had offered to cultivate it for him in exchange for his help.” Gold nearly bit on his tongue while trying to think of an excuse.
“However, he first wanted to meet up with us leaders to make a final decision, which is why I asked my cousin Silver to get Meomi for me, saying it was urgent. I feared that he could have changed his mind at any moment, so we had to hurry. By the way, how is Silver?” Gold gave them some half truths about the things which happened, hoping they would not ask for more details and at the same time, he tried to change the topic.
“Silver? We hadn’t met him nor any of your Jacks after that day when he came to state that you required Lady Meomi’s help. It was weeks or months later that Brown came along with Grandmaster Zeru.” Poppy said.
“You never got in contact with Silver after that? Why is that? The Jacks should have periodically appeared to give out the standard aid package to all of the Sanctuaries?” Grey was concerned too since Silver was a good friend of his and the protocol to send aid packages was to keep tabs on the Sanctuaries still around, to make sure they were not yet invaded by the Demon Rats.
Unless…
Gold could see Grey’s distressed look and pressed the Mousefolk Knights for additional information. They, unfortunately, had nothing else to add. They had been scraping by with the food they had gathered from the surroundings and stayed strict to their sanctuaries.
Because of their petite sizes, the mousefolk needed a lot less food compared to other werehumans. Therefore, the aid package that the Jacks provided them was just a bonus to them. (Not to mention the occasional additional food supplies by Grandmaster Zeru after they met.)
“With or without the aid package, we could still survive with the amount of food we gather. We assume Silver had decided to prioritise the aid for other werehumans since such cases happened before.” Poppy suggested as Pippy went to take the manifest of the last aid package sent to them.
“We do not come out of the caves that often, so in terms of time, I am afraid to admit we have lost track of time without the dates on the aid packages or the time keepers. You also know how we perceive time differently when we turn into werehumans and live in caves.” Pippy apologised for they could not give a proper timeline to Gold.
“Time Keeper?” Sebastia asked, which Grey explained that it was similar to a town crier who would spread the news as well as inform the twon population about important dates and kept the time. They were merely animated pieces of wood.
The Scholars and their underlings did the maintenance for these time keepers. Most of the mousefolk were not as educated as to the nobles. Hence they relied on these time keepers to keep track of their activities.
Silver had been an apprentice similar to Grey to Gold so apart from being a deliveryman, he would maintain the time keepers. Without the appearance of any Jacks to charge it up, the magic that was powering the time keeper eventually wore off.
“We might be able to backtrack a little. Do you remember the approximate period the time keeper lost its magic? Was it before the appearance of Grandmaster Zeru?” Gold asked which made Poppy and Pippy scratch their heads in agony.
“I guess…so?” Poppy could not confirm it at all and neither could Pippy.
“A rough estimate would be at least a few months since Silver is gone.” Gold did the maths in his brain before spouting it out. “Brown did tell me the dates when he brought Bellator Zeru to scout for the monsters….though the best way to confirm is to travel to one of the towns to learn the exact dates.” Gold added as he looked at the scouting team.
“My werejackals will continue to aid the mousefolk here so Meomi, rest assured your people will be taken care of. We will stick to the old plan by returning to Keyrin’s home and start your scouting from there.” Gold started to give his commands to them.
“Keyrin will stay at the mountains to see if any additional Demon Rats return to check on their comrades. With Keyrin stationed there, it also gives an alibi for the destruction done by the Meomi and the Mousefolk. They should not suspect any foul play by us at the moment.” Gold explained his amendments to the plans.
“If possible, I’d like to aid Lady Meomi in her quest.” Poppy immediately volunteered, and Pippy chimed in his opinion too.
“As much as I’d like to be with my loyal servants, I will have to decline and ask you to stay here and continue to practice your skills. Through the aid of our new master, which Gold will explain in time, you all will have a busy time ahead.” Meomi respectfully declined while staring at Gold.
“What do you mean exactly?” Pippy asked, but Poppy was giggling which eventually turned in a series of loud laughter.
“Are you saying that we are going to have more surprises for the Demon Rats?” Poppy asked with a smile of confidence on him. Meomi nodded her head gently, and Poppy continued to laugh uproariously before he got out of his seat and knelt in front of his Lady again.
“As you command!” Poppy shouted with pride and happiness mixed into one. Pippy immediately got to his knees and knelt behind his brother. “We will do as told by Lord Scholar Gold and be prepared to sortie whenever needed! Knight Poppy at your service!” Poppy repledged to Meomi his oath of loyalty to her again.
Pippy did the same thing which incidentally caused Meomi to have tears well up in her eyes again. “Damn, second time in the day.” She thought to herself.
Nevertheless, she held them in as much as she could while acknowledging their oaths. Flame Ripper could see that Meomi cared much about her subjects and realised that she had a lot of history that she had yet to reveal.
However, one thing was for sure.
She was willing to go any length to defeat the Demon Rats and return the peace they had in their world. Knowing her objectives, Flame Ripper had decided to do whatever he can to make sure they get their homes back.
