48 Unexpected Aid

"There's an airship coming."

"Really? Where?"

"There!"

Remian overheard the conversation while he was tending to Mandy the next morning. He glanced at where a raised finger pointed; there was indeed, a little blimp in the distance that looked very much like an airship.

"Could it be?" Remian perked up.

He glanced around; they were in the Guild Hall along with half the injured; the other half had had to be placed in medical tents in between the Guild Hall and the workers' quarters along with other temporary shelters set up for the survivors of Frontier Town.

To put it simply, they were in bad shape. There wasn't enough medicine, clothing, or proper shelter. They had plenty of beast meat, so food was no concern, and they had water to spare, but there were many injured who needed better treatment or suffer permanent disabilities.

They needed medicine and bandages. Actually, just clean fabrics would help a lot. Better yet; the injured could be brought to someplace safe to recuperate. A lot of people here seemed to have trouble relaxing or resting properly in these conditions, after such danger.

"Signal lights." Charlie got up. He had been testing Mindy nearby, but at the sight of the airship coming in, he jumped into action. "We need to signal the airship! Do you have any more Light scrolls?"

"Here!" Mindy held out two of hers.

"Take as many as you need." Remian offered three of his own. All of them still had five charges.

"That would do." Charlie took the scrolls and dashed out.

An hour later, not one but two airships dropped anchors from above the temporary shelters in between the workers quarters and the Guild Hall. Remian set his hired hands to tugging the airships down for a landing, an effort that usually wasn't required in a proper airport, but was needed in a rough landing like this one.

They were from Fal'Herim, which was a surprise. A bigger surprise was that they brought relief supplies; blankets, tools, quality tents, and yes, medicine and bandages.

"Can they evacuate the injured?" Remian dared hope.

"Yes. I've already asked." Charlie said, frowning.

"So why don't you seem happy about it? What are they asking for?" Remian queried.

"That's exactly the problem. They're not asking anything." Charlie shifted uneasily. "On top of that, they arrived too quickly, and they brought exactly the kind of things we needed. Doesn't that tell you something?"

"Either someone got word out to the Desert King and he happens to have an extra pair of relief airships on standby, or…" Remian bit his lip. "He's got agents here."

That would explain a lot. It would explain how he was able to pre-empt the mercenaries offer, and why Fal'Herim didn't seem overly concerned about Wilds coming up from the south to attack them. Surely the king of the nearest city would want to keep an eye on this dangerous Frontier.

In fact, numerous kingdoms and nations had interest in the Frontier before. Many had sent colonization fleets. All had been badly mauled in the end, but perhaps they still kept an eye out?

In which case, perhaps help wasn't as far away as Remian feared. Maybe some of these interested nations would be willing to send other kinds of aid in return for long-term benefits. He just needed to find them. Before yesterday, that would have been a monumental task, but now there was an army of Lynxmice keeping tabs on the people in town…

"Also, the airships are not giving us supplies for free." Charlie added. "Their prices are average, comparable to Deutero's, but right now everyone is in dire straits. Some of them barely got out with the clothes on their back.Unless they find some kind sponsors quickly, a good many of the survivors are going to end up indebted into serving the Desert King."

"Can we step in between?" Remian asked in a low voice. "Pay for their medicine, and retain their services ourselves?"

Charlie hesitated, then shook his head. "Maybe for a few, but from the sounds of it, a lot of people actually want to leave. Either they've lost people or whatever it was that held them back here, but now… they've given up on the Frontier."

Remian fell silent. He turned toward the airships and watched them wordlessly as their upper decks began to fill with people. The more badly injured ones received priority. Two airships easily took on over two hundred people, and then Charlie tossed in one more piece of bad news. "I'm going with them."

"What?" Remian stared.

"And… I think you should too." Charlie glanced at Mandy.

Right. Mandy needed treatment and a place to recover as well. Out here, she wouldn't really be able to rest, and knowing her, she'd push herself to get to work and be helpful as fast as she could, even when she wasn't fully recovered yet… the idea of sending her to safety while she recovered had a lot of merit.

"I can't leave." Remian said softly. "But you and Mandy should go. Can I count on you to look after her?"

"Look after her? Remian, if you gave her access to your Deutero account, she would be able to look after herself!" Charlie snorted. "She might spend all your money shopping, but she herself should be fine."

Remian glanced at Mandy, who was still asleep, not stirring despite all the fuss. He looked over her injuries, her pale face, and nodded. "Half. Give her access to half of what I currently have in my account. I'll need the rest of it to rebuild, but half should be enough not only to survive, but to spend."

"You want to give her an allowance?" Charlie raised an eyebrow. "Deutero doesn't do 'half'. You can specify a round number, like ten thousand Lir, or a hundred thousand Lir, but that's it."

How long would Mandy take to recover? A month? Six months? Broken arm, broken leg, broken ribs… maybe even a year? Or maybe Charlie could find her some powerful medicine, which, of course would be expensive. "One hundred thousand Lir. Also, I will need more money for the workers and mercenaries, especially their medical bills. I'll sell you more of those potions."

"Aren't you afraid I'll run off with the potions and cheat you?" Charlie teased.

"And lose the crystal mine? You're not the sort to drop a diamond to pick up a pebble. Besides you need the money to buy an airship too."

"I hate to tell you this, Remian, but a few hundred thousand Lir isn't going to cover an airship. We'll need to take millions in loans for that."

"It's fine. We have a crystal mine, and an airship should eventually pay for itself."

Charlie nodded slowly. "That could be arranged."

An hour later, the airships from Fal'Herim lifted off again taking with them the majority of the town survivors, the injured half of Remian's crew, his trading partner, and his wife.

***

There wasn't much left of the Frontier folk after the airships departed. The Iron Legion was down to ten trainees and their officers, all of whom bore light injuries. The Priests of the church and the nun stayed. The Circling Raven and ex-brothel survivors left with Aunt Sara, including Kage who did not seem particularly injured at first glance. The Burning Steel had pretty much left town except for a handful of criminals who simply could not return to civilization… including, oddly enough, Master Smith Andros and the bulky salesperson.

Many of the children in the Adventurers Guild also left with Mandy and Charlie. Only three were left with Remian; Mindy, Tim and George. At least the four hunters stayed, and obviously the Wilds weren't going anywhere, but the Guild Hall still looked a lot emptier after the children left.

As for the mercenaries hired by Remian, fully half were heavily injured and were shipped back with their medical fees billed to his account. Most of the other half bore significant injuries but could still function in sentry and patrol duties. Three of them even got away with just a few bruises.

Oddly enough, out of two hundred construction workers hired by Remian, only ten were injured. Most of them weren't even hurt at all.

At lunch time, Remian brought the leaders of the Desert Moon and High Rock clans aside with Markus, Arnold and Andros.

"Gentlemen, I think it's time we planned out Frontier Town properly." Remian told them. "I'm not willing to give up on the town, even if there's almost nothing left of it, and since you're here, I'm guessing the Iron Legion and the Burning Steel aren't going anywhere either. So here we are.

"The six of us are going to redesign and rebuild Frontier Town from scratch."