21 The Troubles in Carcer

By the time the group returned to the inn it was almost evening. As they walked in, Jeanne came running over.

"You guys where we-" she cut herself off. "Uhh, your friends?" she said to Connor, looking towards the three soldiers. Hearing this, Connor sighed. "Yes, yes. What happened?" he asked. They were gone for about half an hour to an hour tops, what could have happened in this timeline Connor wondered.

"Ruby Merchant Group attacked the Steelcrushers' territory." Jeanne said before stopping.

"And? Am I supposed to understand something from this? You do recall that this is my first time here in Carcer, right?" Connor replied, they have only knew each other for a few hours and were not even that close. Jeanne was way too childish and naive with her actions so far, this greatly annoyed Connor.

"Ah! My bad, Steelcrushers is basically one of the big six that focus on their power, similar to how Ruby Merchant Group focuses on their trade. Two of the big six fighting each other is akin to two kingdoms fighting, only with fewer people." Jeanne answered, she was slightly embarrassed to forget that they had only met. "Rest here for today, you guys cannot travel anywhere in this state." Jeanne said. If the big six would get involved in a battle it was certain that the city would close down for some time. If she could get them to stay here she could ask them to join and help her and her family if the situation were to get worse. There were still a lot of injured people laying down on the ground to the side or sitting on the chairs. Irene approached Connor, she started to speak in a low voice.

"Commander, shall I help these people?" her duty was to be the medic of the fireteam, from the way her commander has been acting these people seemed like allies so she wanted to offer her help.

Connor was taken aback for a second. He grinned. Miles had never been proactive at all yet Irene had approached him without his order and asked for confirmation. Connor contemplated for a bit and shook his head as an answer. He did not want Irene to be seen as the magical angel that can heal people with a touch. Some things were best kept hidden, until necessary. After receiving the answer to her question, Irene nodded and stepped back to her previous location. Jeanne had been watching them but was not able to hear their conversation.

Connor contemplated about Jeanne's offer. Although they had constant supply of food, water and several other necessities they did not have a place to sleep. Connor could always get a tent from the equipment store but they were not going to sleep outside in the city for sure, especially in a dangerous time like this. Their weapons might be stronger but they were not invincible. Not to mention they have been travelling for hours already, even though he physically felt energetic his mental endurance was getting lower and lower.

"Sure, we will stay here for tonight." Connor's answer made Jeanne happy, now she could rely on these people in case something happened. Jeanne prepared 2 rooms for them on the third floor of the inn. Irene would have to sleep on the 2nd floor with the kids because of the current situation. The group quickly moved to their rooms. Connor and Miles were in one room while Evan and Frost slept in the room next to them.

The day had ended just like that.

….

Elicia had been watching them for quite some time now. Her weariness reached to the levels she had never even imagined before. Every single time Connor's group entered a building she had to increase the amount of mana she was using to be able to perceive and hear them, this put immense pressure on her mentality. She continued to observe them for a few more hours before finally giving up.

'They at least have a bed to sleep on, I hate you…' Elicia said to herself before slumping to a nearby wall located in the completely empty alleyway. She fixed her position and sat with her legs crossed. She then slowly brought two of her hands together forming a triangle. A few seconds later, a blue sphere was formed inside her hands. This was the meditation method for mages, although they can wait for their mana to recover, this was another method that could be utilized to increase the amount of mana recovered by a substantial amount. However, there was one downside to this method. If the mage was disturbed when in this state, the mana gathered in the sphere would suddenly burst and cause serious damage to the surrounding area and the mage.

She checked her surroundings and closed her eyes.

….

Connor flexed his muscles in his bed and slowly got up. He realised that Miles was not in the room. He looked outside the window. Everything looked the same as yesterday.

'I feel like I will wake up back at home every single time I go to bed.' Connor thought. He sometimes would dream about the usual things that would happen back at home only to wake up and find that… he was nowhere near home. He equipped his gear that was left by the nightstand. He made sure that each item was in the right place. All of a sudden, he remembered the weapon selection feature he had got before. He opened the equipment store to check the new weapons he could obtain. Once he opened the store, there were new sub-menus available to him other than rifles and secondary weapons. There were machine guns, snipers, submachine guns, launchers, explosives and several others. Connor had a slight smile on his face.

'Launchers? Maybe one day.' he thought while shaking his head. Using a rocket launcher to kill some men would be too overkill, he justified his own decision.

He changed his M4 Carbine for an HK433, a better, modular rifle that could be changed depending on the situation. Because of their current squad size, he wanted to be the all-rounder. He thought about giving the same weapon to Miles for a second before deciding otherwise, in the end, each weapon had their own advantages and disadvantages.

Connor closed the equipment store and slung his HK433 on his right shoulder, he walked towards the door but stopped right in front of it. "Another day, another set of problems. Here I come." he mumbled before opening the door.

Miles was standing guard at the door. Seeing Connor has woken up he quickly greeted him. "Good morning, commander." he said as he saluted. Connor returned the salute. "Good morning, did everyone report in? What is our current situation?" Connor asked Miles. "Frost and Irene are both battle ready." Miles said with pride before changing his tone to a slightly more embarrassed one and continued. "But Evan is still sleeping." he said, as the words left his mouth a loud snore was heard in the hallway of the third floor. "That is probably him, would you like me to wake him up, commander?" Connor laughed at Miles' face and reaction.

"No, no. Let him sleep for now, we will wake him up if there is a need." Connor answered, he was happy to see some normal people around who Miles was definitely not. "Where is Irene and Frost?" Connor asked him. Miles pointed towards the stairs. "Downstairs, commander." he answered. Connor nodded and walked downstairs with Miles behind him.

….

Irene and Frost were waiting by the stairs with their PDWs in their hands. As soon as they saw Connor and Miles walking down the stairs, they quickly turned with their right foot and left foot respectively before saluting in a coordinated manner.

"Good morning, sir!" both shouted, still saluting.

Their actions and voice garnered the attention of many in the inn. Especially Kate and Jeanne, who were behind the counter. Preparing foodstuffs. Connor saw many eyes were locked upon him as he walked down. He was slightly embarrassed at the sudden attention. He coughed and nodded at Irene and Frost.

"Guys… let's not do that… okay?" he said.

Irene and Frost were slightly surprised, they looked at Miles for an answer. Miles pointed behind them with a nod. Irene and Frost looked behind them to see everyone in the inn looking at them with questioning looks. Connor coughed before smiling towards the crowd and walked to the counter where Jeanne and Kate were located. Jeanne took a glass of water and put it in front of Connor as he approached.

"Good morning, you are not a noble or something, are you?" Jeanne asked suddenly, the way he was greeted was akin to a noble being greeted by their servants, with Carcer being a place filled with people who were exiled from their homes by the nobles, they were not in a favourable position.

"No, I am not." Connor gave her a direct answer. He was not lying after all, he was not a noble.

Jeanne smiled at Connor. "Cool, then there is no problem." Connor rolled his eyes at Jeanne's attitude. "Any news?" he asked. Jeanne put her finger on her lip and looked up before speaking up. "Steelcrushers are gone." she said with a serious face and tone this time. "It is Big Five instead of Big Six now, somehow Ruby Merchant Group was able to take all their territory overnight. Some people say they beheaded the leader of Steelcrushers and hanged his head in front of their base. Rumours say that others are not happy about this and may band together to attack Ruby Merchant Group." Jeanne reported, she was wondering how Ruby Merchant Group suddenly got this strong to even take down Steelcrushers, an organization focused on weapons and boasted with their might.

Connor sighed.

"One less organization, less reputation points... " he mumbled to himself.

Suddenly, a young man rushed into the inn.

"Ruby Merchant Group is gone!" he yelled.