42 Looking for Answers

Atop Three Pines Peak, the Sun Eagle Lord sought to ensure the future of the Wildlands by cleansing all the Destroyers (humans) from it. From deep beneath the Black Depths Lake, the Deepsilver Lord sought vengeance for his fallen kin. The High Crown Stag Lord of the Speckled Highlands believed destroying humans would save the entire world from eventual destruction. The Golden Lion Lord wished to challenge mankind as a matter of pride.

Then, there was the last, mysterious possibility, that the enigmatic Shadowflash himself wanted to rid his territories of these pesky humans.

As to why these five were the suspects rather than one of the many other Lords of the Wilds? It was because these five were the five nearest Lords directly south of Frontier Town; the direction the Beast Waves were coming from. Shadowflash's last known whereabouts was also in that direction.

The most suspicious one? Sun Eagle, because up until now, none of the Wilds in the Beast Waves were birds. It was possible that the Sun Eagle Lord was sending along the 'lower' Wilds, while sparing his own favorites. The least suspicious was the Deepsilver Lord, seeing as most of his Wilds were water creatures, except that he was the nearest of the lot after Shadowflash. Still, he didn't seem to be the type to send in random Wilds; he was more likely to attack in person. The Lion Lord was likely to do that too, except he would bring both his pride and his pride with him. If anything, this random scattering of Wilds in each Beast Wave was more like the Stag Lord's style; he was the sort to prefer borrowing someone else's claws and teeth to fight his enemies.

Then again, knowing Shadowflash, this just might turn out to be one of his weird games. He sometimes had the oddest ideas, such as the one where he simply left humans alone on his land without bothering them.

"We should try and find out." Remian figured. "Just track where the Beast Waves come from. That many oversized Wilds had to have left plenty of tracks. It's going to be a serious expedition."

They packed supplies for a week. Remian, Carrie, Joshu and Xia set out due south.

In a single day, they crossed Shadowflash off their list.

[This is the edge of Shadowflash's territory.] Carrie explained to Remian as they stopped by the river mouth leading into an immense, dark lake. [That lake is Deepsilver's territory. But the tracks do not come from the lake. They merely crossed the river here.]

It was a very wide ford, full of rocks and footholds. Remian could see why they'd pick this crossing. The river, while shallow here, was as wide as the entire town. Crossing it was a physical ordeal only managed by riding on Carrie's back. Actually, to be honest, Remian only made it this far because Carrie carried him most of the time.

"Shall we push on?" Joshu asked, uncertainly.

"Yes. We have yet to find where the Beast Waves come from." Remian grimaced.

"You don't look too well. Are you sure you can manage?" Joshu hesitated.

"I have to." Remian grunted.

They crossed the river. Another day passed as they followed the tracks through a savannah, straight through some sparse woods, through a rocky chasm, and then on the third day…

On the third day, their expedition came to an abrupt stop as Remian keeled over and collapsed.

***

Feverish, he tossed and turned. Completely unaware of where he was or how he got there, Remian found himself aching all over, burning and shivering at the same time, in bed without rhyme or reason with no clue how he got there or how long it had been since they started the Expedition.

Death sat at his side, in a chair, whistling and fishing in mid-air. For some reason, Remian had the impression that he was at a beach, and enjoying a hobby. But why was he fishing? What sort of fishing rod was that anyway…?

"Go away." Remian said grumpily. "I don't want death. I don't want to die. Go away."

"That's really not up to you to decide. But if it's any consolation, you're not going to die today." Death informed him. "I'd end it all here and now if I could, but that's not up to me either. I've got nothing to do here. Why do you think I'm fishing?"

"But you're still haunting me all day, every day." Remian grumbled. "That's why I'm weak, isn't it? Because I've got death hounding me ever since I slipped your grasp a few weeks ago."

"I like to say that you're close to death." He shrugged. "Besides, I've been around you a lot longer than two weeks. It's been… what? Nineteen, almost twenty years now? You just didn't notice me until recently."

That's right. Remian had been weak, 'close to death' all his life. Death was no newcomer. It really was a case of simply not knowing until recently.

"Why? Why me?" Remian asked suddenly.

"Oh, don't worry. It's not just you." Death explained patiently. "It's your entire bloodline."

With that, Remian woke up gasping and dripping with sweat.

***

The first thing he asked for was to be able to send a message back to his family. With his hands being shaky and weak from hunger, he had to rely on Mandy to write the message for him. She also added in a couple paragraphs explaining the situation, introducing herself as 'Remian's girl'.

That brought a blush to Remian's face, weak state or no.

Mandy brought him some food and explained a few things to him.

He was actually back at the Open Frontier Inn, and it had been four days since he collapsed. The airship was due to arrive sometime this afternoon. Xia and Carrie had rushed him back while Joshu continued the expedition. Without needing to track anyone, they had made it back in one day, and Remian had been asleep in that room ever since.

"One week." Remian breathed. "How's the fortifications?"

Arnold had already assembled a functional Repeating Scorpion in the ground floor of the Legion Tower. There were now a Ballista on the first floor of each of the guard towers, and both of them had temporary roofing over their first floors.

"That's it? I thought the first floor should be fully fortified by now, reinforced walls and a solid ceiling…" Remian protested.

"Everyone's been busy." Mandy glanced around. "We've been building the shop and training. George wants to claim the glaive all for himself; apparently there was a contest on who could use it best, and George won. It's rather like a shovel or a hoe, don't you think?"

"What does Tim say about that?"

"Tim wants the Tier 4 spear."

Remian nodded. "That's fine. But they're going to have to pay for those weapons with Points. They can use them now, but they'll have to keep paying a certain amount every week until they've paid off the full prices of those weapons. That glaive is going to cost 7500 Points. The spear will cost 5000."

"And what about the Fire Ball wand? Shouldn't I have to pay for that too?" Mandy hesitated. "Even though it doesn't work anymore."

"I'll pay for that. There were only a few charges left, so it shouldn't be that expensive." Remian pondered. "I think we can give it back to Buff now. That is, if he still wants it without any power. We can drop the price all the way down for a drained wand."

"And what if he's not happy we used up all its power?"

"Then I'll just have to find a way to get him a new one." Remian paused. "I'm actually more worried about George and Tim affording their weapons than Buff."

"Doesn't George earn Points from the farm?" Mandy questioned.

"He should. He definitely should. He should earn a percentage of the total revenue until or unless he decides to buy the farm outright, at which point, he should own all the revenue. I'll have to ask him about it, but I think he actually wants the farm for himself."

"Well, Tim should have no problem. Every 10 portions of Tier 3 rations or meals he cooks up, he earns 100 Points. After all those Tier 3 Wilds in the Beast Waves, if he hadn't bought other things, by now he would already be able to afford that spear. Candice should have no problems with that crossbow either, since she got so many points from Beast Waves and scouting missions. Besides, they're all Tier 2 Adventurers with more than 1000 points earned in total; that means they should all get 10% discounts."

"That's true." Remian glanced at her. "What would we ever do without you? I don't know how the Guild could run if you weren't playing the role of the manager."

"It couldn't." Mandy agreed without skipping a beat. "Therefore, I want a salary."

"50 Points a day." Remian offered.

"Tim could get twice as much cooking rations!" Mandy protested.

"100 Points?" Remian winced. The Guild would eventually have to pay for all those Points when people came looking to exchange them for stuff. Remian was going to have to fill up its stores so it would have goods for redemption when the time came, otherwise those Points would be a joke. "That's practically 200 Lir a day."

Mandy froze, blinked, then ran a few quick calculations. "Goodness. I think you're right! We're actually very well paid!"

"Considering the risks to life and limb on higher Tier missions, I figure it's worth it. Your job would ensure that everything is even able to run. I think it's fair." Remian said.

Besides, 200 Lir a day was the same salary he offered the mercenaries. Remian felt that it was expensive, but they really needed the help, and Mandy's work was an absolute necessity.

"Now, if only I had that much to spend earlier… I could sell to the airship and buy all sorts of stuff from them." Mandy sighed.

"I thought you already did that. With my money." Remian pointed out.

"It's not the same! I have to be responsible with yours. But I can really cut loose if it were mine!"

"Speaking of the airship, it should be in sight by now. Where is it?" Remian frowned, searching the horizon to the north. "I don't see it."

"It's late." Mandy agreed. "Maybe it's just heavily loaded this time."

That was true. They really had ordered quite a bit for this shipment.