Chapter 971 (2/2)

Mrs. Hamilton considered that. Some of the joviality left her face. “...if word of these fruits got out… I have no doubt that the other Zones would go to war for them. Maybe not yet. But soon, when growth begins to stagnate and the threat of monsters grows once more…”

Alana’s eyes narrowed. “There are more fruits?”

Mrs. Hamilton smiled sweetly. “Not for us, no. I think the biggest lesson I learned from this fight… is that Randidly wasn’t really worried about what we can do. No, it seemed that his gaze was far in the future… to the fight that our children’s great-grandchildren will fight. And that, I find, makes his concerns all the more salient.”

The two women looked down at the furiously training Squads of Donnyton. Alana cleared her throat. “I also hear that even our experts were unable to stabilize the area around the sinkhole totally. And quite a few of those mages have been working furiously to prevent it from expanding. Hopefully… their tasks succeeds.”

“Ha!” Mrs. Hamilton barked out a laugh. Then she playfully shoved Alana. “Sometimes you are too sharp for your own good. I’m sure that the efforts of our best mages will result in… fruitful results. It’s all a matter of laying the groundwork now.”

Alana shook her head, unable to keep the smile from her face. But then her expression turned extremely serious as she produced the sketch from her ring and handed it to Mrs. Hamilton. “Raina asked me to give this to you. Unfortunately, her wounds-”

“I get it, I understand that we are destined to never get along.” Mrs. Hamilton flapped her hand. Then she considered Alana. “But I’m endlessly fascinated by the fact you two get along so well.”

“Why?” Alana asked. “I may be Donnyton’s spear, but I do enjoy more sensitive pursuits as well. Her drawings-”

“No, no, not that.” Shaking her head, Mrs. Hamilton stored away the drawing. She patted her interspatial ring in satisfaction. “Because I have no doubt that she badgered you about your struggles with condensing an image. Likely she brought up Randidly as well.”

Alana coughed awkwardly. She wondered what sort of expression her face was making.

Mrs. Hamilton laughed awkwardly. “See? You can’t have thought we didn’t notice. Hide in your tent all you want, that energy you throw off shouts your mental state to the world. Honestly, I don’t know why you are so wound up over it. It’s only been four days. And although Paolo and Kayle can sometimes cause an image to appear when they are using Skills, it's still far from the raw strength you can generate with your orange wind.”

“But I’m Donnyton’s spear,” Alana said quietly. “Even if I know I’m putting too much pressure on myself… I cannot help it. I need to lead the charge. If not me, then who?”

Mrs. Hamilton sighed and then pointed toward the wooden monolith. “Careful. ‘Here lies Donnyton’s pride. Don’t forget this lesson.’ To quote a much pithier individual than me.”

“Your jokes are extremely aggravating sometimes.” Rolling her eyes, Alana turned away and looked toward the base of the bluff on which they were standing. Sam, sunburnt and carrying two heavy hammers, steadily ascended toward them. Noting with bemusement that Alana seemed done with this line of discussion, Mrs. Hamilton didn’t say anything further.

When Sam arrived at the top of the hill, he scowled at them both. “Well? Are we ready to leave? I don’t want to waste much time. I have a lot of work to do.”

Although Paolo and Kayle were the two that had made the most progress in terms of manifesting images, Alana secretly believed that Sam was the one that had benefited the most in the wake of Randidly’s challenge. The air around him positively hummed with his razor sharp focus. His will was becoming increasingly palpable.

“Hello, Sam, I’m glad to see you are in a good mood.” Mrs. Hamilton said dryly. Below them, the rest of the expedition slowly gathered, chatting and stretching. But as she studied the group, Mrs. Hamilton frowned. “Didn’t you add someone last minute? Who is it?”

Sam’s frown actually twitched into something resembling a smile for a split second. “Some girl of Ed’s. Apparently, she has made herself so indispensable to him that Bekany is getting jealous of all the time that they spend together. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have let her go.”

“Her name?” Mrs. Hamilton sharply asked. “Although this isn’t exactly a secret mission, I would prefer to know who she is.”

“You don’t think we can handle ourselves?” Alana asked sourly. But Mrs. Hamilton just gave her a suspicious look that left Alana speechless.

I may be struggling with images, but I can still lift a spear...

Sam thought about it for a second. Then he pointed to a slender figuring hurrying to join the casual crowd below. Out of everyone who had gathered, this teenage girl was the only one who didn’t store everything in her interspatial ring; she was wearing a rather large backpack. “I believe her name is Mareen. Ed recruited her out of the Orchard.”

Chuckling, Mrs. Hamilton nodded as she looked down at the young woman. “Ah… interesting. Very interesting.”

Then she turned to Alana and smiled. “Well, well, Miss Spear of Donnyton. Are you ready to depart?”