Chapter XXXVIII – Folk in the midst of planning.

24rd of Summer, 5859
Libertycave, Mount Curry

Trees. They’re quite the common sight, unless you’re in the Arctic. Or the desert. Or the tundra. Or in the middle of the ocean. Or in a city. Thinking about it, trees aren’t a common sight at all for a lot of people. Thankfully, Gemeinplatz in its northern parts were chock full of trees that even the American pioneers couldn’t even begin considering cutting it all down. For miles the ocean of green stretched, ready to be prime fuel in case some dolt decided to start a forest fire.

Up far away from the forest, where the trees got coniferous and the lands treacherous, sat the men of the now-reformed League of Gileadites. Most of them hadn’t actually known anything about Gilead until Brown told them the story of the brave Israelites, not on an exodus but the Exodus, who gathered to face their foe on the mountain – such a story was relatable to those who were currently stuck doing the same thing. Pharaoh or emperor, it mattered not when their enemy was the same enemy that has befallen man since the beginning of civilization: tyranny and barbarity. Some had even begun referring to the “emperor” as a “pharaoh” as an insult which, while probably not a crime punishable by death since not many in Gemeinplatz knew what a pharaoh was, would still bring quite the shock to the average citizen of the Gemeinplatz Empire to see the highest office in the land being so openly and wantonly insulted.

However, there was someone who hadn’t become a member of the League yet. Someone who had been asleep during the discussion.

“Shinasi! Wake up, you sack of potatoes!” Ayomide came into the room, banging a pot and a pan to create noise that sounded like Satan’s own brand of music.

“Mmh… Argh…” The noises coming out of Shinasi were not ones that showed contentment with being waken up in such a vocal manner. He swore to beat up whoever was making all that noise into a pulp, before he opened his eyes and found that the one making such cacophony was Ayomide. “Eh? What’s happening?”

“Good morning.” Ayomide finally dropped the pan and pot, and silence reigned over Libertycave once more.

“Good… morning? What’s the noise?” Shinasi looked around him, eyes still half-closed, to find that there didn’t seem to be any trouble going on.

“We’re going on an expedition to Casamonu, and Brown needs your help.” She pointed to a small group outside, a group that included Brown.

“Huh? What’s with the sudden expedition?” Shinasi was calmer now. Travelling somewhere else instead of standing at the same spot everyday seemed better to him. Plus, knowing that they were not in danger probably helped.

“Yesterday, when you were asleep…” Ayomide quickly related the events of yesterday to Shinasi “…and Brown has gathered together a few people to go on a shopping spree. Come on, get up.” She extended her hand towards Shinasi, whose body was still tucked under the bear fur.

Shinasi extended his hand, not expecting much from a catgirl who was so short and stout. He was surprised when she managed to pull him to his feet in one pull. “How the…”

Ayomide tilted her head. “Hm? Why’re you surprised?”

“I wasn’t expecting you to be this strong.” Shinasi let go of her hand as it felt a bit awkward.

“I run around, carry logs, do magic…” Ayomide rolled up her sleeve to flex her muscles, which weren’t much thanks to a lack of protein in Mount Curry. Her arm contained more flab than muscle. “I’m not like those lightskin ladies who look as if they’re walking twigs.”

“I guess teapots are better than twi-” Shinasi shut himself up after having made an insensitive comment, and he closed his eyes while expecting retribution. He was surprised to hear a hearty chuckle from Ayomide.

“Right? It’d be quite bad if I, let’s say, snapped in half.” Ayomide added a sarcastic shrug to her own comment. “Then what’d you do without an easy bounty to snatch?”

“I don’t know, it’d be quite the hard time for poor old me.” replied Shinasi. He added a fake sigh of worry for comedic effect. Suddenly he heard Brown calling out for him, thought the old man was far too away for his voice to sound coherent.

Ayomide looked towards the general direction of Brown. “Come on, let’s not keep the old man waiting.” She took a step towards Brown’s direction while beckoning for Shinasi to come alongside her. “Otherwise, he’ll be giving us a lengthy lecture on being punctual and whatnot.”

Shinasi found Ayomide’s point to be quite poignant, so he followed her without further question. He passed by the camp, which had quite vibrant thanks to the addition of the mud huts. Now that people were not huddling around the cave doing their best not to freeze their posteriors, they were much more energetic and hopeful about their situation. A few fires, carefully kept weak as to not be too noticeable from afar, lit up while the people of Libertycave prepared their breakfast.

Shinasi could hear his stomach growl; he had been unceremoniously dragged into a meeting without a chance to get anything. He was thinking of getting something himself when Ayomide suddenly paused. After a minute of talking to someone tending to a fire, she got a piece of shepherd reed bread. “Catch.” The small piece gently flew towards Shinasi. He managed to nick it in time, though such a slow throw from such a small distance wasn’t the hardest to catch in the first place.

Shinasi blankly stared at the bread for a second, before he realized that it was meant for him. “Ah? Thank you.” He quickly chewed down what small amount there was in his hand. It was enough to stop him feeling hungry at the least.

With his hunger satiated, the duo then quickly marched on to meet the old man. He had made himself a makeshift war room from the remains of the mansion: a fine mahogany chair inlaid with gold and silver held up a map of the local area also looted from the mansion. There were no chairs around, for Brown found it impossible to sit around while planning and speaking. He also found it impossible to sit while praying, but that was beside the point at the present moment. The old man is awfully mobile for someone so, well, old, thought Ayomide upon seeing him make rounds around the table.

“Young man! Where have you been?” Brown seemed to not be too angry, though thinking about it Shinasi realized that he hadn’t seen Brown be genuinely angry before. He was oft disappointed, yes, but he wasn’t wont to anger. “The sun has been up for a good hour or two now. One should wake up before the sun does.”

“Sorry old man.” Having sufficiently excused himself, Shinasi intended to quickly drift to the main topic at hand. “So, did you need my help?” He took a look at the map on the table. “I can’t read the map, or anything for that matter, if that’s what you need help with.”

“You can’t read?” Shinasi was surprised to see that the one protesting his statement of illiteracy was Ayomide. “I thought that adventurers were supposed to be literate. What, with all the quest-reading and whatnot you have to do.”

Shinasi was taken aback by Ayomide’s disappointment. “Yeah, adventurers do tend to be literate.” He felt like an uneducated oaf now, which was definitely not a feeling of the pleasant kind. “But all the reading work was done by my group’s leader, Shakir, so I never got to learn all the letters.”

Brown suddenly interrupted Shinasi. “Ahem. If you’d let me speak, please.” Now he looked to be slightly annoyed after having been ignored. “I didn’t call you here for purposes of literacy. I have need of you in other departments, mainly navigation and information.” He pointed at the map that still sat on the desk. “The map only contains the locations of places and their names. I can’t exactly know what lies around those parts, and I assumed that you might have made your way towards Casamonu at some point in your life.” He extended his gaze towards Ayomide. “Perhaps he might help me if he isn’t preoccupied with you?” Ayomide met Brown’s gaze, one of fatherly admonishment refined through having had twenty children.

“I’d be happy to help.” Shinasi stepped forward to ease the situation. “I was actually born in Casamonu, so I’ve travelled back to the city plenty of times to meet up with family.” He took a quick look at the map, realizing the odd situation they were in. “Of course, I haven’t had to travel there from the mountain before.” The former adventurer then took a closer look, trying to orient himself with the place he was in. He couldn’t read the labels, but what was a mountain and what wasn’t a mountain was pretty obvious when looking at the map. After asking Brown to read aloud the names of a few local settlements, Shinasi managed to connect the locations he had visited before with the locations on the map. He then drew attention to a thick line that ran towards Curry, before shying away from the mountain itself and curving towards Casamonu. “This is the main road, the one that connects Casamonu and Zon’guldac. We should head for there if we want safe travel.”

Ayomide didn’t look too pleased with the proposition. “Umm… You mean that there are a lot of people on the road?” She paused for a moment, hoping that someone would notice the obvious flaw in such an idea. Nobody seemed to, so she continued “I don’t think having a bunch of fugitives travel on the main road is a safe idea. Unless…” her eyes shifted between Brown and Shinasi “…you two want to go alone? Can you really carry enough supplies for everyone here amongst the two of you?”

Shinasi closed his eyes to think. Brown didn’t, opting to reply instead. “Young lady, you don’t need to travel as fugitives.”

This reply only served to confuse Ayomide more. “I don’t think we can change our status, old man.”

Brown had another idea. “Well…” He smiled upon realizing a chance to insert a bit of impromptu Bible study “This is the part where we have to be wise as serpents, and slip in.”