Chapter 736 (2/2)

“Before the war, this way station housed almost one hundred thousand people. As if that wasn’t important enough, this also gave a place for civilians to stop on long journeys across the plains between our great cities. Without these way stations, it is almost a three-day journey from one city to another. For the normal person… that is torture during our calm season, and during sandstorm season it is emphatically impossible.”

Randidly stayed silently, slowly absorbing what Allica was saying. He wondered if her gaze earlier meant something that he had missed. Was she expecting something in particular from him…?

In Allica’s sigh, Randidly heard a reflection of a wariness that he felt all the time. The wariness of feeling solely responsible for the lives of others. “...you will be assigned under Kurag. I’ll introduce you, but it will be up to you to earn your place with him. Don’t make me regret bringing you out here.”

*****

As the light in the sky slowly faded, Allica walked stiffly past the rather boisterous fires of the common laborers to the surveyor’s tent. It wasn’t much more than treated alpaca leather across wooden poles, but it reached three meters of height. Compared to the meter high sleeping tents that were provided to the workers, it certainly was a palace.

She did notice that while Randidly was only eating quietly, he was well within the circle of the men. They roared in raucous laughter at some joke, and Kejt even pounded on the monster man’s back. Randidly took it without even moving from the blow and a ghost of a smile danced across his face.

With the uncanny knack of a perceptive individual, Randidly’s eyes slid up and met Alica’s gaze. Even from the fifteen meters in between them, the vivid emerald of his eyes was clear.

It wasn’t just the silky hair possessed by Spriggit’s that Allica was fascinated by. She also was spellbound at the gem-like gazes that some other races possessed. And of all that she had encountered, this Randidly’s was the most enchanting.

His eyes reminded Allica of the many stories that her grandmother had told her of spring in their old world before the Progenitor had moved them to this land. All fresh grass and cool dew.

But Allica turned away and shook herself. Even in the flickering light of the fire, she saw how much rubble still remained. Here for almost a week and they had only accomplished a third of what they had intended. There simply weren’t enough volunteers to help from the refugees. Allica was forced to rely on spending some of her own money to fuel the expedition. And that money-

Her expression turned bitter as her thoughts turned to Tal Urn, her brother. But as she entered into the surveyor’s tent, she wiped the expression off of her face. Her three surveyors were already within, sipping fermented milk from small wooden cups. They nodded as she entered.

Allica wasted no time getting down to business. Her sharp gaze shifted to Kricsk. “How goes clearing the road?”

“Poorly,” He rumbled. Of them all, Kricsk was the tallest. Had he been standing, his head might have pushed up the cloth roof of the tent. “It is as you see; all that is free has been moved. Now, if we take away the bottom… the pile collapses. And to climb and remove the stone… dangerous.”

It was as she expected, so Allica didn’t bother to reply. Instead, her gaze turned to Norm.

Norm shrugged. “Some of the buildings that have been revealed spread very deeply into the walls of the gorge. There were some collapses, but those have been cleared. In total, I expect almost a hundred souls can fit in there. About double if we must. But without more buildings to clear… my men have started helping Kricsk and Kurag’s men.”

“And you, Kurag?” Allica asked. The news that their week of work could only house two hundred people struck directly at her chest. “How goes the exploration of the Great Under?”

The great under was a network of tunnels and ruins that stretched across the whole of the Earth Golem’s Land. However, it was not made by the Earth Golems. Or at least, not the current generation. Allica’s grandmother used to hypothesize that the Great Under was an old remnant.

A remnant of a tomb. One erected for the Great Emperor, who held such power that the Progenitor himself walked down from the sky to meet him.

Kurag was old, oldest of them all, of Alicca’s grandmother’s generation. His skin was turned to leather by the wind, and his voice was raspy and deep. “...it goes well. The new boy you assigned to me is very efficient. He is sure footed and strong. He has found trails in the Great Under that lead to other buildings we have not yet unearthed. I suspect… if we have Norm’s group clear them, we may house… almost one thousand people here.”

Alicca gaped. Both at the news of Randidly’s capability and because of the windfall of finding room for one thousand people. “That’s great!”

“No,” Kurag interrupted. His eyes were sharp. “It is not.”