Vol 2 Chapter 6 (1/1)

fuuuuuuu “Who would have thought ere so close by auntie…?” A hs as he stands with his hands behind his back, facing a small hill full of zinnia flowers in bloo the sound of festivity from somewhere nearby “When we arrived and exited the cavern, it was a sea of fire as far as the eyes can see We lost a fewto force our way out We should’ve beenas a Dry Season and that it’s a common occurrence for that area to be set aflame? I fail as a commander” The caninoid laround, in front of a gravestone a few paces away He drinks fro “We rushed back into the cavern after our failure to get out, hoping to find another way out We ended up stu into the heart of the cave where a Guardian Familiar resides It spoke in old Nessik, so old that I had a hard ti it It was fortunate that you and es, otherwise I think it would’ve killed us all It seeuard the lake of lava for so about some empire and the outside world It seems it has been many years since it last had any visitors It ended up offering to protect us as well as long as we stay in the cavern With our dwindling supplies, we really had no choice So we set up a hibernation cha awake to make sure no one died in their sleep” Theround “Supplies dropped to zero, there was nothing we can do, we simply let some of thethem suffer a slow, painful death fro smile “Then the ied to kill the intruders after the ied back the much needed supplies of food and water to us, they caet out We tried to send some scouts out, but they were attacked by the i some nonsense about ‘Raredown, grabbing so it “We waited asin, that’s e knew the i Our supplies went from zero to barely sustainable after oke everyone up to feed the in cycles as the others go back into hibernation We wanted to be in top condition e break out So we ateup supplies all the while We should’ve gotten out sooner, we could’ve reunited! We were so close!” Theit in half with his ed to turn a forest into a sanctuary for orphans with the help of two iirl has for you is like frohter… And the rest of the kids, they are ing fro it “You held onto our secret and treasures to the very end… I guess you didn’t want to cause another tragedy like with our kingdo for our citizens, but I don’t think ill try to revive our kingdom This is a new land, with new people and immortals to boot We will seal most of the treasures until we absolutely need it But I think I should at least return this” za za za “Commander” A shadow approaches fro, where nuure carries a large tray of food in one hand and several bottles in the other “Ah, Echo Soet soured you could use so everything to her” The round before drinking it straight froreat, we’ve got so ure and sits down as well before setting the bottles nearby He grabs one of the fist-size, leaf-wrapped chunks ofthe food, but way better than the those travel rations we’ve been living on” “ Is food always the first thing on yourand sparring in the distance “Food and shelter are needed for survival, with this kind of weather, we can sleep under the stars” “‘Clothing, Food, Shelter, Transport’ Clothing we can make our own, and we’ve our Faain, but he eht just calling it “basic necessity”] “I wouldn’t be your advisor otherwise” Echo tosses a chunk of meat that looks like a roasted rabbit into his co another one of the leaf-wrappedit into his mouth “So Mr Advisor, what should we do?” “Honestly? I don’tdown here, no war, it’s peaceful, there’s even a future here I’ve no idea what possessed Ma’am Defaye to set up an academy, but I’m damned i track of the food and drink that we are eating right now? Your dad would’ve kidnapped thehs heartily before taking a bite out of the rabbit and washi+ng it doith a swig of the bottle “You are daht he would” “I think we should at least contribute here We can make this our base of operations, that e have a place for the, ill at least have sooodwill that can help us should we have to ht actually” “Good, so I was thinking, use a plain camp blueprint, substitute the Co We will expand the farh for a growing season, ill ask sorow here and copy thehouses near it for the ti around More per how packed ere in the cavern, this should be fine for the tiiht as the rest of their ht at the Acadehouse is ready for inspection!” “Good, I’ll get to it right away” Echo does a quick bow to his coer and Sekn behind “How are the fields coress sloe’ve already dispatched a squadron with Lieutenant Elms to procure supplies with some of the immortals, Sir!” ta ta ta The slow sound of footsteps approaches the two, causing the co suit soon after “Greetings, Co man with black hair and a fair coloured youth with s fro-eared commander “Ah, Master Kun And…?” “Mak’ra, Sir” “Eh… just callman scratches his cheek at the unexpected title “H up on trying to get another co so far?” “Quite well, we’ve finished the planning process and co The fields would need soht tools H else, Private?” “Sir! We would likely be lacking luh the construction We are also in need of a source of fresh water if we are to reduce the amount of manpower to acquire water” “Hm… water…?” “Why?” Mak’ra and Kun look at each other before looking back at the er Who in turn looks at the two in confusion by shi+fting her eyes back and forth between the to break the aard silence “We need water to sustain ourselves” “Can’t you… just create your oater?” “With no disrespect, Mas- ahem, Kun-sensei Conjured water immediately weakens individuals who drink it since it draws upon the person’s internal mana to completely manifest the complete physical form of water” “Huh…?” It’s now Kun’s turn to look confused “Is that true, Mak’ra?” “I’ve no idea sensei, we’ve been using conjured water as long as I re as we use it within the [Forest of Illusions]” “Alright, can you please get afor me, Mak’ra?” “Certainly, sensei” The deer-horned youth dashes off towards thethe three others behind “We can run a little experiment, if it works, we can provide all the water you need” Kun squints his eyes as a group of caninoids gathers around a pillar of wood, standing it up next to the co that house?” “Hmm…? Private?” “Sir! It seeuess they got the go ahead to start h, “I don’t ht want to stop that and reconsider the planning” “Not at all Kun-sensei, please, speak your et Echo here as soon as possible” “Sir!” The private gives a salute to Sekn and Kun before running off toward the cohouse “What seems to be your concern, Kun-sensei?” “H constructions done atknown as a Fire Code that I recently learned” “Fire Code?” “Yes, there is an established law in ate the potentials of a fire disaster In this case, if, say, that house there is to catch fire for any reason, it wouldn’t be hard to iine that the house next to it will catch fire soon after as well” Sekn nods in agreement “Yes, that’s certainly the case We modeled it after an encampment we’d use on a plain, we didn’t take that into account since we usually just destroy the tents that caught on fire since they are tes… We are very thankful for your wisdoain, “I just learnt all this recently, I’lad to be of help” “If you don’t ets here We should’ve asked you and your co proble here” Kun tilts his head to the side, a look of concentration appears on his face o, Kun-sensei!” Mak’ra appears suddenly with ait to Kun “Oh, uback toward the blind commander, “howeffect you h” “Okay, please excuse me then <>” pichan pichan pichan Pearls of water ht into the cup, causing a continuous string of splashes As soon as the last pearl disappears into the o and finish with a haaaaaa “H, if you don’t ain filled ater, Kun hands it to his student, who starts drinking it with audible gulps Mak’ra hands the cup back to his sensei after finishi+ng “Feel anything?” “Not at all, it was refreshi+ng though” “If you don’tfilled can be heard again Kun place thenear the blind commander’s hand, who turns his wrist to hold it properly He starts drinking it right away “WHAT THE hell ARE YOU DOING?!” An angry looking Echo knocks thefor Kun with the other A sudden mass of colour slaes to reach his target batann A surprised and angry looking Mak’ra is on top of an equally surprised and angry Echo “STAND DOWN, ADVISOR!” “BUT-” “STAND DOWN, THAT’S AN ORDER! I apologize for his behaviour” Sekn walks over to Mak’ra and offers a hand in a relatively obvious fashi+on The deer-horned youth takes the hand and gets up with the co reaction” Mak’ra can only sta to where his sensei is still standing Kun also gives the youth a pat in appreciation and whispers “guess the training paid off hmm?” The commotion draws attention fro as ordered “What’s the e is audible within the tone of Sekn’s voice Using Echo’s title instead of his na, Echo isn’t stupid enough not to notice it as well “He was going to give you conjured water! I saw hi it to you!” “You idiot! I knew that!” Echo’s face change froer into a face of confusion “What?” fuuuu “So, Kun-sensei, please make another cup forthat’s resting on the floor, gives it a quick polish, before handing it to the youngit over to the angry Sekn “Wai-” Echo tries to get up and stop his coes to drink it all in one go Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, Sekn stares down at Echo before knocking him on his back with a swift kick to his chest “They drank it in front of me to prove it’s safe I just drank it, it didn’t draindelicious! Do you understand now?” Echo looks up in disbelief with a stupefied expression fuuu “Sorry to bother you again, Kun-sensei If you don’t ain Sekn walks to where his advisor had fallen and thrusts the eneral direction “Drink” Echo tries to protest, but the icy-cold tone stops hi to be weakened afterward Everyone look at hiets up quickly, dashes toward Kun and Mak’ra before sliding into a dogeza “I huhis shame “Don’t worry about it, it’s-” dota dota Sekn stoh of an apology?! They offered their hospitality! They continued Defaye’s legacy! They showed sincerity by using it on themselves first! Get on your back!” Echo ti asked of hi his storet “I sincerely apologize for y and step on his stomach” The commander makes a board the two “Uy then?” Sekn nods slowly “Private, get ht?” Kun walks up to the htly puts his boot on hi Mak’ra to do the saeza position, visibly repenting fuuu “Wow, sorry about that” The coather around, Kun-sensei is going to be es to our plans, pay attention” The Private from before appears out of nowhere and produces a vellu it at Kun “If you will” “Umm… yes, first, we need to increase the distance between the houses This is to prevent fire fro should there be one We can afford to just let it burn if we can’t put it out in time Secondly, the main road should be paved to-” “You sure?” A dark-skinned caninoid interrupts Kun mid-sentence “We don’t have the material for it” “What do you e of stone if you need it” The caninoid looks toward his coet crushed quickly when placed on living lands Sure, paved roads make it easy to travel, but it’s hard to round You’d need specialons wide for now, please refer to Mak’ra for the actual size when you arePlease make a list for the necessary material for a paved road as well” The caninoid raises one of his brows for the humility and lack of hurt pride in the response and simply nods “Since conjured water is proven to be safe here, I’d reco ponds here, here, here and here They will double as our training ground for water ic A central reservoir will be placed here, between the houses and fields, so ti back and forth Our students can dig holes at these locations, just let us know once you guys marked off the spots Also, please order our students around for things like , construction, and so forth They need practical experienceyou need, you can let Mak’ra or De’ly” Mak’ra makes a small ith his hand when everyone’s attention turns to him “There are also some construction techniques I’ve learned fro becoer as more people coroup revised the plan continuously until Kun had to log out “Morning” “Morning What are you doing with that basket?” “Didn’t you know? We’ve a [Namakemono Chicken] coop now” “Oh?! I can’t wait to have so” “Geez, all you iven the chance” beeda The woman with the basket pulls down one of her eyelids and sticks her tongue out at her friend before walking toward the rope-covered area of the woods with the sun sneaking its way up the horizon She swings the large basket over her head and slides the basket toward her back, until the handle is in a position where she can bite it with her round level and instead climbs up a ladder on the side The builders obviously knohat they were doing as they trie branches fro the female [Namakemono Chicken]s to nest at the elevated balcony made at the top of the wooden boards The worker undoes the latches on the wooden panel and makes her way onto the balcony area within the ropes She looks at the roosts, dropping her jaws in disbelief The basket drops further down, threatening to choke her She quickly untangles the basket before letting out an “EEHHHHHHHHHH?!” Causing a chorus of kokko and a mass of feathers to drift down onto the forest floor below Clutches of eggs threaten to overflow fro the size of an adult’s fist She quickly inspects an egg by picking it up and holds it toward the rising sun She closes her right eye and focuses with her left as she looks for the telltale sign of a fertilized egg She repeats it for each egg, and for each egg that turns a positive, the entire roost follows Shethes are placed inside the basket until it’s full Unfortunately, the basket only holds about 20 eggs, so it quickly ran out of space By the time she finished her work, 3 out of the 13 roosts were fertilized Out of nearly 100 eggs, 22 of then of fertilization Mnnnnn She lets out a groan as she stands up, stretching her back as she does so “This is insane, we are going to need more people and more coops at this rate…” patan patan patan “A little deeper for this set of trenches please!” “Yes, Sir!” “Please, I’s a hand up, waving it as to dis “by a lot” quietly “You are our senior in farht the the ar as well, and I’ve seen a lot!” pon A hand pats the youth on the shoulder, causing hireat job” “Rick-sensei! U these people around” De’ them bounce as he stares at the you all! Don’t worry, you will get used to it, these guys respect knowledge, right guys?!” “da too, Headmaster?!” Rick takes a step back fros to do!” “Like headbutting those chickens?” ahahahahahahaha The blonde youth hangs his head before snapping it back up “Maybe I shall tell them to just trade them all for travel rations” “Nooooooooooo! We are sorry!” “We were just kidding!” “Have mercy!” Rick makes a pose with his nose pointed upward as the caninoids play along while De’muel becomes even more flustered by the scene “All jokes aside, I’ you know that the trade to Sardon has been confirate your tasks and co to be be in charge of the caravan” “Ehhhh?” De’o wide in surprise, with a sparkleto be put into action” “Really?! Shouldn’t you senseis do the trading?” “Nope, we are teaching you guys to be self-sustainable, so you all have to do it and experience it yourself See you in a bit” Rick turns to the workers digging in the fields, “ill be having some experiister at the cafeteria before dinner prep gets started!” The blonde youth walks off toward the group that’s training on evasion Sless bow and send several students flying froiven opportunity while looking onto the chaos his sensei is causing for the evasion class “Okay guys, finish up! I’roup later and have thes his head with his eyes closed, giving up on correcting them sha sha sha sha sha A stream of dry leaves tumbles into itself like Ouroboros while it suspends itself infire, I carefully control the air current to keep it stable [T/N: Ouroboros is a snake that’s eating its own tail] “Okay, next batch How et the next basket ready” I direct the streae, mounted, wooden funnel laid on its side at the other side of the roo is tied to the opening with a piece of rope Two young deed tails busy the a shovel to move the leaves into the end of the tunnel, occasionally reaching in to remove an odd burnt leaf every now and then “Ready, Till-neechan” Another party of deed tails carries a straw basket between the two of theated bodies, with the only sio” I focus irls slowly tilt the basket forward as soon as they felt the breeze I just summoned They shake and tilt the basket forward slowly to let the leaves catch the draft without overburdening it, until the basket is eathers into a ball over the fire, resu the Ouroboros dance that’s necessary to cure the leaves The boys finish their task and are busy tying up the bag that’s as big as they are They quickly get another e and refasten the rope for the next batch kara I can hear the door opening and shutting Whoever it is has the courtesy not to interrupt us The faint sain A deep red colour paints the wall opposite from the open , I finally notice the tiht, ill finish the rest tomorrow” I break the circular streaain Obediently, the leaves follow suit The boys start their routine while the girls are setting the re basket of sun-dried leaves onto the the proper racks and generally tidying up the place I turn toward the still silent visitor, recognizing the loveable idiot with blonde hair “Hey Rick-ni~” “Hey yourself kiddo, is that how you guys make those tea leaves? Wish they’d have them where I am, all they have are those bitter beans, ark” He h he can taste it I can’t help but smile at that “Hmm… I will see if I can send so kiddo, don’t worry about that” He turns toward the siblings before giving theet to the cafeteria, we’ve soirls were the first out the door while the boys quickly finish their task and tie up the bag They double-check totoward the door Abruptly, one of the boys stops in front of Rick-ni and asks “will there be more of those ‘tralicks’?” “It’s trail-mix, t-r-a-i-l, m-i-x see my lips, a-i-l And m-i-x, Mmmm-ix” “T-r-a-i-r m-i-xx” The boy tries to ih Yeah, I think both De’ives the boy a rub on his head before sending hi to look like a proper sensei now~” “Haha, come on, these rascals aren’t even rea-” Rick-ni stopsto wait for his train of thought to coo to the cafeteria already,” before walking past hih the door