Chapter 197 - Day DLXIII

This day started early as usual. I had a bad night, because of a swarm of thoughts in my head. The whole situation about Followers of Divine Tree wasn't feeling right to me. I knew that at some point, if we ever were to reach earth back again, decisions like that would come, because of the abilities we had. Abilities that many people would kill for. Abilities that not all people should possess.

I just didn't expect those decisions to come to me so soon. I didn't feel ready, but then I started to wonder if I ever would become ready. Maybe nobody is ever ready to decide about such things, yet they have to as leaders. But I didn't feel like a leader, nor wanted to be one. Others seemed more suitable for that.

Eventually, I got up, took my last bath for a long time, and went to eat my last warm meal before departure. Gulash with bread. It tasted soo damn good.

Then I went to prepare myself. With people's return to hunting the city center was busy, and I had to wait to fill my carts with necessary provisions. I bought food, water, few weapons, some torches, and other useful stuff. Shadows helped me to move things and then took care of pulling.

I headed towards wolf territory, with bears as my destination. I knew that I can get enough crystals there to meet my needs and still have some left for both Rishi and Hatta. They both needed more points. We still lacked defenses and weapons.

Especially Rishi's skills could be a game-changer if another invasion was to ever happen again. I knew that I can't just ignore him. He singlehandedly could increase our fighting power immensely with the objects he could create. Armors sturdy enough to withstand otherwise deadly blows, and weapons sharp enough to pierce otherwise unpenetrable defenses. We needed him to progress faster. He was the key to that.

After some time I managed to reach the gate, and as I was passing through it a fake Tam jumped out of the side. I almost punched her.

- Hey! I told you to not do that! I could have hurt you, or even killed you! You have to stop that!

- Bawk!

- I hope you just said how sorry you are.

- Bawk!

- Just get on the cart.

She without any other noises jumped aboard, and my march continued.

The territory seemed to be already cleared or in the middle of being. After few more hours, I noticed Blue and his men, all in their werewolves form dealing with wolves. There were only a few of them, meaning that Hatta was watching him carefully, and not allowing to grant the power of transformation to more people. He noticed me, just like I did notice him. We exchanged brief greetings.

To be honest, I never expected that to happen, but now he didn't seem to me like an immediate threat. I knew he was genuine about returning to earth and was willing to work hard for it. I also wasn't delusional and knew that just a first step of a much grander plan. That was a bit worrisome.

During the orc assault, he gained a bit of my respect, but still not enough to erase everything he did before that. Maybe he changed, there was definitely a possibility of that, but I was not gonna bet on it. There was just not such an option for me.

For a moment I wondered if they are gonna go all the way to the boss, but this idea seemed too risky with their numbers.

In the end, I passed by, heading to what was further. From that point, I had to deal with some wolves, but since I didn't have to pull the carts, they weren't even slowing me down.

After night came, I created some fire, to light up one of the torches, and kept going, until I thought that I reached the border between two hunting grounds. Only then I decided to stop and set up a camp.

I started by creating barriers around, then finally sat down to eat. Ki'rai turned back to her original form, to eat the sweets I offered her. At first, she seemed happy, but after few bites, she just stuck her gaze into me to the point it felt uncomfortable.

- What do you want? - I finally asked her.

- You don't seem alright. You didn't seem alright before, but it's different this time. What's wrong? - she asked.

- I have a lot to think about.

- Tell me.

- Why?

- Because I asked you?

She was ridiculous, but I also didn't have any strength in me to fight with her.

- Some of my friends are a bit upset with me. They are a bit worried. I also had to make a tough decision, and I'm not sure if I chose the right thing.

- If you are their friend, and you do stupid things like in the canyon, they have to be worry – she said. - You might die if this continues.

- And since when you know so much about friendship, you smartass, huh?

- You taught me. If you like something, you want more of it. They like, you, so they want more of you, but if you are dead, then they can't have more of you. It's simple, and what does smartass mean?

I sighed. There was some logic to her words, I couldn't deny that.

- It's tough to explain, and I'm tired. I'll explain another day.

- Fine. What about the decision you made?

- Eh… I chose the lesser evil, I think.

- Lesser evil?

- Yeah. Sometimes you have to choose between two bad things, so you pick the one that leads to losing less.

- Then why are you so upset about it?

- But sometimes that less is more important. It's hard. Very hard, so let's not talk about it. Let's go to sleep – I said and crawled under the cart.

She didn't follow me, and remained out there, still looking at me. Eventually, she came, to find her spot to sleep beside me, in her chicken form.

That day came to an end with 5 062 920 points remaining on my account, and three class points.