Chapter 143: Slavian Problem (1/2)

”Okay, the night is coming. Let's set a camp here,” Layn announced when the sun neared the line of the horizon.

Time was the only factor for setting up camp on the insanely vast steppe, given how the landscape was exactly the same for miles in every direction.

”Sure,” Sitra nodded her head before sending a look to the two other men she decided to bring along. ”What are you doing? Chop, chop, it's not a fucking holiday for you two!” she screamed at her subordinates while jumping off the horse herself.

”There is no need to be so strict with them,” Layn sighed, both annoyed and amused by the strict behavior of the girl. Even though he never directly belonged to the military, he had his own fair share of time spent in the military camps. As such, it wasn't the first nor the second time for him to encounter this kind of attitude.

”Sir Layn, I'm eternally grateful for your help and sacrifice on the battlefield...” Sitra looked away for a moment before making up her mind and looking Layn directly in the eyes, ”but I would really appreciate if you didn't tell me how I should treat my underlings,” she insisted, clearly unhappy with Layn's interference.

”Okay, okay,” Layn raised his hands in the gesture of defeat, yet he was unable to take down the smile from his face. ”There is no need to think too much about it. It was just a suggestion,” he excused himself before taking one of the sacks off the saddle off his horse.

The stuff that everyone took with themselves was the greatest proof that Castor's people were more than used to traveling through this kind of terrain. Without any wood to use as the erecting pole of the tent, they used a clever trick of the set of interlocking wooden pieces that one could combine into a long pole.

Turning the bag and its content into a temporary lodging only took Layn a few minutes. Yet, he still fell short of how quickly the remaining trio managed to do it.

'That's the difference of experience,' he thought before dropping the idea of comparing how well each of them managed to set their tents when compared to his own work. ”You guys would really be of great use back at my place,” Layn muttered instead.

”Your place?” Sitra pricked her ears before asking. ”You mean that camp we are heading off to check?” she specified her inquiry.

”Yeah,” Layn nodded before putting a sour smile on his face. ”I only have a few people there, so the work is going insanely slowly. To top it all off, we are not really used to living in a place like this,” Layn revealed without reservation, acknowledging the limits to his own knowledge on the go.

”Well, aren't you worried that if that place is really free from the Overlord's influence, you will be swarmed by my people?” Sitra asked a rational question before turning her lips into a wry smile. ”You know, Castor's idea is to migrate the entire population of our country there,” she added before looking away, clearly troubled by those words.

”To be fair, no, I'm not,” Layn shook his arms. ”This place is one, a big, empty shithole. From all I saw, there isn't even a single tree to speak anywhere near, so it won't be that easy to settle in the first place,” he explained as he sat down and started to pull out the grass with his bare hands.

”Do you really think a lack of wood would stop us?” Sitra grinned before laughing out loud. ”I don't really think you understand the situation my people are in.” It wasn't her face alone, but the entire aura of the girl changed.

”That's true. And it won't change,” Layn looked up at the girl's eyes, stopping his hands from gathering the fuel for the fire, ”unless you tell me more.”

”This is a long story,” Sitra averted her eyes, clearly troubled by request.

”We have all the time in the world,” Layn countered, unwilling to let go of this lead.

'I know for sure that some of their people came to the world of mine,' he thought, turning his attention back to gathering the grass. 'And I won't give up on this topic unless I figure out how they did it.'

For Layn, Slavians were just a myth. That is, until a few days ago where he actually met them. What's more, their ability to use magic he didn't know off was proof that they really had the means to do the incredible stuff the myths attributed to them.

There was the problem of the timeline, of course. Without any idea how far he moved to the past with that Gran Arcana of his, Layn could only pick at the straws, hoping that a random guess of his would somehow stick and make sense.