Chapter 209 - It Is Time

Noemi tried to rase the morale of the people to fight for their lives. Still, she could only do so much in the end since she had no experience in trying to boost the morale of an army that wasn't even an army. The people looked at each other, but they only felt some slight discomfort.

"Ugh… this is so annoying! Have you no shame? Can't you see that our very lives are on the line here?" Noemi said. "You didn't see these people fighting for us, but they don't have any obligation of doing that. I can't see any more other people bleeding for me because that is just too embarrassing."

"Noemi…" Ameria said and then put her hands on her shoulders. "You need to calm down… say what you have in mind first. They are thinking that you want to put words on their hands and make them fight experienced soldiers."

"… As much I wanted, I know that I can't fight with the others. I would only get in their way," Noemi said after taking a deep breath. "We can fight in several other ways, throwing rocks when the enemies try to climb the mountains, and we can also craft bolts for these crossbows. We won't be able to gather many rocks of craft, many bolts. Still, it is better than just waiting for the situation to be solved without us doing anything."

"Noemi…" Orleand said while sniffing.

"We will do our best not to let the enemies got close to any of you, but all the help is more than welcome," Erean said. "Like Noemi said, new bolts and boulders will make a difference during the battle."

Although they hesitated at first, the people began to get up and then leave the mine to look for rocks that could be throw and wood that could be used to craft bolts. Once the first group got up and then left the mine, the others followed behind. Those who stayed behind were only kids who were younger than five. That being said, Noemi and Ameria had a hard time convincing them to stay behind.

"Did I miss something?" Zaos asked as he put another deer in front of the cave.

"Noemi convinced the others to join the fight and do what they can to help," Drannor smiled, feeling pretty excited after seeing all that.

"Eh… it was about time," Zaos said.

"Zaos!" Ameria raised her voice.

"What? I meant that it was about time for them to realize that," Zaos said. "Anyway, with so many people moving around, I will have to look for more animals in other areas, so I will take the carriage with me."

"I will help with that too," Drannor said.

Drannor would be a fine addition with his stealthy skills, but Zaos was worried that he would be a pain in the ass since he never shuts up. They hunted together through the whole night, and then when they showed up in the following day, the carriage was filled with bodies of many deer and boar. The head of a certain merchant family began to skillfully skin all those animals. Although he was one of those leaders who had a plump belly due to several years of working behind a desk, he still had the skills that he learned from his father when he was a kid. Weirdly enough, apparently, he was running a business of raising cattle in several country islands.

While some people were unloading the carriage of the hunted animals, Zaos noticed that Ameria and Noemi managed to teach people how to properly carve the bolts out of wood. While not all types of wood could be used, they created quite a stock of bolts in just a single night. Although they didn't have proper knives to do that kind of job, they were using the swords that the assassins used. Those were very sharp…

"Impressive, right?" Ameria said, quite proud of herself.

"I am sure you can do better if you try harder," Zaos said.

"You always have something to say…" Ameria said and then shrugged.

Zaos and Drannor took a nap since they were tired and the smell of blood they left behind needed to dry up. Otherwise, the animals of the islands will stay scattered and make their job harder.

In the end, everyone worked like that for an entire week. They had enough time to create a massive stock of water and food thanks to all that time. Not to mention, the people also brought many boulders to the highest mine in the mountain and created a fearsome stock of bolts. During that week, Erean divided the group into several smaller groups. Those who were stronger would throw the rocks at the enemies, and those who were handier with their hands would load the ammo boxes.

Things were looking good, but those who had experience on the battlefield were showing some worried expressions. The soldiers, the guards, Erean, Drannor, and Zaos were worried because the enemy waited for one week and didn't do anything.

Due to the volcano, Zaos couldn't see the port at the peak of that mountain. Still, eventually, he and others managed to see a dust cloud rising from the other side of the island. The enemies were finally marching to deal with them.

"It is finally time…" Drannor said. "Are you scared or excited, Zaos?"

"Neither, I don't feel anything right now," Zaos said. "Just a little bit of anger… toward those assholes who caused so much problem to me."

"Usually, I would tell soldiers not to think about that before an important battle," Erean said. "But I guess you have your feelings in total control."

"How do you think they will proceed, captain?" Drannor asked.

"Hmm… they don't know that the families who stayed behind will help us, but once they learn that, they will probably try to use that tactic," Erean replied. "They will wait for us to run out of supplies and fake some attacks to make us lose some sleep. Only after all that, the real fight will happen."