I woke up, went to take a bath, then ate with Nadia, talking about minor stuff. Mainly what we are going to do. I told her about Hatta making some kind of deal with Blue but kept the details away from her. She didn't ask for them anyway. Then we split, and I went to Wuxia headquarters, while she to work.
Will, Hatta, Amit, Boris, Nobuo, and Aisha were already waiting for me.
- He is a worm. Snake. He is plotting something, and I won't stay idle. I'm gonna get to the bottom of this - Aisha was saying to Hatta when I got inside.
- Hi, Peter - he said, gladly averting his gaze from her to me. - It's good to see you.
Aisha looked furious.
- Hi everybody. Looks like they told you about our little solution to the problem.
- It's temporary - she said. - We need something after those two weeks. Something good.
- You have what you wanted...
- Peter! - yelled Will. - Let's not argue.
- We shouldn't be worrying about Blue, but about his men - said Amit.
He had his hands crossed on his chest.
- Why? - asked Boris.
- You might think I'm crazy, or stupid, but I believe Blue really wants to go back to earth. I've been thinking about it a lot. He is really doing his best to cooperate. He threw the plan to be a king of this place to a garbage bin, and I think he now wants to rule over the earth, or at least Japan.
- That's actually might be true... - Hatta agreed.
- See? - said Amit. - His men are the problem because he won't be there to stop them now. We should avoid conflicts for the time Blue will be here. Of course, if he is really going to come. And even if he is, and my thoughts are true, we still should aim to have as strong of a position, as we possibly can. Which means Peter should go and look for a new place to hunt.
- I'll pack my things and go as soon as Blue ends up behind bars.
- Then we all should go to wolves territory - added Hatta. - And hunt as hard as we can. Squeeze every last crystal, and strengthen our position.
- I would say that we should also aim for the canyon, but we would be spreading ourselves too thin. We need some forces here, in case Williams, or actually, anybody else would try something - Amit continued.
- Maybe we can't clear the canyon, but we can at least get something from there. If we send Hailwic with Martin and the rest of Aisha's gang, they should be able to do it - said Will.
- What do we get in return? - I asked.
She pierced me with her gaze. If eyes could stab, I probably would be dead.
- I'm already helping you. Gathering intel on Blue.
- That's cleaning up your own mess.
- She will owe us, and return the favor later on. Fine? - proposed Hatta.
She quickly agreed, with a nod, and a moment later there was knocking on the door.
- What? -asked Amit.
- Blue came - answered one of the soldiers.
- Send him in - replied Hatta.
- Morning gentlemen, and lady - said Blue with the usual grin on his face.
- Morning Blue - said Aisha.
Nobody else returned the greeting.
- Let's not drag this out. Promise me what I want, and put me in that cell.
Everybody one by one gave him his, and in the case of Aisha her, word. Only I hesitated.
- Come on Peter - said Will. - Let's get this over with.
- Fine. I promise to let you go after a week. Happy?
- Yes. Very happy actually - he presented his hands.
- I'll take care of that - said Hatta, and have a look to Amit, who followed him.
- Then I'm on my way - I said and went just after them.
The rest remained in Hatta's office and kept talking. I got outside and went to look after my cart. It took a bit of time. Then I filled it with provision for the entire week and started to look for Nadia, to inform her of my departure. This also took some time but eventually I found her in her room. She was going over a bunch of notes made on thick, yellow sheets of paper with a pencil in her hand.
- I'm kinda busy...
- I'll be leaving for a week...
She put it all down and came to me to give me a deep kiss.
- Be safe, and return quick - she said and returned back to work.
- I'll try my best.
With those words, I left. Kinda hurt as I was expecting something more. I quickly got over it though, went outside, grabbed the handle of my cart, and headed towards the rat nest. My plan was simple, to check what is further behind it, and possibly hunt it.
I still kept worrying about leaving the city in such a state, but that was something that simply had to be done.
It was still very early, but hunters already departed, and I was kinda following their footsteps, and with my regular speed, I actually managed to catch up to them. As I was passing, a few gave me curious looks, which soon changed into surprised, then worried, but nobody said a thing. They all were simply afraid.
I increased my speed and beat them to rats territory, but instead of heading to the nest, I good around, adding distance I had to cover. It was worth it though. I didn't want to poke other people more than I had to. Not during the situation we already had with Blue.
I walked all day not encountering any monsters as rats kept pretty damn close to their home. I took few breaks to eat but mainly focused on getting as far as possible. When the evening came, I noticed a slight change in the view.
There was more humidity in the air, and the ground was getting wet and slippery. Treed became wider, with widely spread branches full of green leaves. I decided to camp before getting any further to not find myself in a bad position too close to the night. Nobody was chasing me. I had enough time to explore.
The day came to an end with 3 066 421 points remaining on my account.