Chapter 288: The View

Luckily for Kat, the forest didn't spontaneously combust, nor did trees start falling like dominos. In fact, from what she could see of the compound from a quick glance, Xiang hadn't stormed the place as soon as she left. *Well, at least he can meet those extremely low expectations.

Now what am I supposed to do here. I can maybe hover behind some clouds and poke my head out… but if they can manage to see me at all that would be super weird. Another option is just fly in the clouds and look out… but once again, if they can see me, it will be very obvious, especially if they can spot my horns. The deep black would stand out against these white clouds.*

Kat clicked her tongue. *Then again, if they actually have eyes that good, I realise that maybe I should have been more careful when I flew up. I CAN see the compound, and if I'm using myself as the standard, they certainly could see me as I flew up.*

Kat sighed, *Well, nothing I can do about it now then.* Kat sighed again before settling into a slow glide, flapping her wings on the occasion to make sure that she didn't lose any height and hoped she looked more like some exotic bird than a person with wings. Sure, one of them was more accurate, but really, when you think about it, the other is more likely.

And so, Kat looked down, and saw the compound in its entirety. The first thing she noticed, was despite the square that blocked out all sound, and the slight fade away after that remaining in about the same shape, the compound itself was not a perfect square. It was clear that it had been made in stages, slowly spreading out inside the forest, and yet it never belonged, even though it spread slowly.

It looked more like some giant had dropped a couple of different sets of building blocks, flattening the nature around it, and broke the pieces where it was unnecessary. Kat started with the set of buildings she thought were likely built first. What may have once been the entire outpost, she guessed was now an inner compound of sorts. This feeling grew stronger, when Kat used her eyes to see some more details, and noticed it was, in many ways, just a smaller version of the entire thing.

The next thing Kat noticed, was that none of the buildings were higher than the treeline, in fact, all of them were likely nothing more than single story houses but the angle made that hard to determine, as windows were hard to see. Across the entire left side of the walled inner compound, was a large building, it had a strange strip of wood in the middle of its two halves, and made Kat think that it was once two separate buildings joined together, perhaps when the compound was expended beyond its walls.

This little detail, made Kat guess it was a residence for whoever was in charge, and perhaps their family as well. Little details supported this assumption, as the building had two small sets of tables and chairs out the front. Another point in favour of this, was the small clothesline attached to both the bottom and top walls of the compound, however Kat didn't see any clothes on them now.

Letting her eyes move to the top of the wall, Kat found a training ground. Well, that wasn't true, if one was using technicalities. The whole central courtyard was used for training, she could even see a few figures meditating, but Kat didn't worry about them for the moment. At the end of the area, was a series of targets on the right side, and an obstacle course on the left. There was one person indulging in some archery right now. Kat eyed them closely, but didn't let her gaze linger.

She remembered Lily's complaints about how annoying and unrealistic it was that characters in books could always tell when they were being watched. Kat, knowing now that people had auras, magical powers, and dimension hopping systems in people's heads… well she wasn't willing to take the chance someone would spot her if she let her gaze linger too long.

The remaining three buildings in the compound were a series of three smaller square buildings. Unlike the flat roof of the large combined building, these smaller ones instead had peaked roofs, and looked much like a child's version of a house. However, Kat managed to catch a glance at the front and could see the whole thing was just one big door.

*Must be the warehouses then. So they've got family houses, training areas, and warehouses. I wonder if those are where they keep the more important things or the daily supplies? Could be either I suppose.* 

Kat let her gaze leave the inner compound and stretch out, and realised she might have undersold the wider compound. Now that she was actually taking a proper look at it, there was quite a few extra buildings.

The first and easiest to identify, was a series of buildings near the edges, half blended in with the trees, the only buildings that didn't have any area around the clearing. It was a stark contrast to the rest, but it was instantly clear why the decision was made in just a glance.

They were greenhouses. The glass was tempered, and at this distance Kat couldn't see the specifics, but it was easy to see they were all full of plants. Kat noted it as a place to burn down, or at least something out of the way enough to distract Xiang with. *They're even in the right direction for me to get Xiang to run into them first… as long as he didn't decide the compound is the better target. But he seemed to grow up in a place that farms things so he should know the value of crops.*

To the right of the greenhouses were two rows of buildings. The set closer to Kat matched the joined pair from the inner compound almost perfectly in size and design, if one ignored the join work that had been done. This further solidified the idea that they were likely dwellings. They were packed together closely, and the one at the far left, closest to the greenhouses had a lot of clotheslines attached to it. These actually had a large number of outfits hung up, a few bed sheets, and one disciple, though Kat wouldn't call them such, hanging up more clothes from a nearby basket.

Kat then moved further upward and saw another loose collection of buildings. She had the perfect angle to confirm that they were a set of warehouses and a mess hall. Or really, it was more likely the building was just a kitchen because Kat could see all the tables and chairs spread out of the front.

The only other thing in the compound, beside the people, was a large training field that covered the rest of the silent square. There was an archery range, but nobody was using it from what she could see. In fact, other than the people she could see in the inner compound, and the one doing the washing, the place was remarkably barren.

Kat frowned slightly at this. She was about to curse her luck over the limited number of people actually present when she realised this may be a good thing. Of course, reality had decided that if this contract wasn't bad already, it could be worse.

Kat eyed the tables again and noticed multiple meals, or rather the remnants of them. The meals themselves had been eaten, but the plates remained, and Kat would have to assume crumbs as well. Even her eyes weren't quite good enough to count the number of crumbs on a plate from around two thousand metres up. *But where are they?*

Kat scanned the place again. She could find two people meditating, or just standing really still, in the inner compound with the third practicing archery. The one guy that was finishing up with the washing, and nobody else. *What's the point of a giant training field if you aren't using it for training?

Why are there meals clearly eaten and nobody had the decency to clean them up? How many people are there? I can spot quite a few plates… but from up here it's unclear how large they actually are… and most tables have at least twice the number of plates as they do chairs… so they can't indicate a full meal each… but how many people does it indicate?*

Kat let out a long sigh. *Do I have to try and sneak in now? And… do I have to get Xiang first? I'd really love to handle this all myself but I know he won't let me… but maybe I can get away with scoping things out, and just finding out how many people there are. Besides, if I happen to knock a few unconscious as I go… well… that's just me being a nice demon and starting early… totally not preventing any untimely deaths noooo not at all.

Still… not sure Xiang will wait that long… decisions decisions.*