It turned out that they weren't too far from the village. Alex's group followed Aaron and Abby through the foliage, pushing through it to arrive in a large clearing after just about ten minutes of walking.
A dozen cabin houses sat scattered throughout the clearing. Paths had been trampled into grass from use, marking roads between the buildings and gathering largely around the middle of the camp, where a large fire-pit had been dug.
Large piles of wood were distributed throughout the camp. Roughshod stakes had been carved from tree branches and jabbed deep into the ground at angles. The beginnings of a trench had been dug around the camp but it was still shallow and unlikely to stop much more than a charging hamster.
A number of people roamed around the camp, dragging materials from one house to the other or working on the rather lackluster defenses surrounding the camp. The whole thing would have been considerably more impressive if there had just been… more of it.
It looked like the vast majority of the campsite's defenses had been thrown together over the past day or two. It wasn't a half-bad attempt, but given the strength of the monsters they were up against… it was pathetic.
If Alex hadn't known better, he would have assumed this was some college club's LARPing setup.
"You'll want to speak with Rin," Abby said, her voice stiff as they strode past the log cabins. "She's just over here, in the main lodge. Please give me a moment to explain everything before anything happens."
Alex nodded idly. He wasn't exactly looking for a fight here. There was no reason to be anal about things. If anything, he was more preoccupied staring at the camp as he headed by.
A few people glanced in their direction as they walked — some clearly Outworlders, while others seemingly earthlings. The Outworlders all had items to conceal their status, but not one of the people from Earth was above Novice 5.
There wasn't any tension between the two groups that made itself immediately apparent. A human stood, holding a large stick still while an Outworlder covered in thick brown fur hacked away at it, the loud thunk of his axe rising into his air in a steady rhythm.
The Outworlders really integrated themselves in with the humans, huh? I can't help but feel like I'm missing something. Why would they bother grouping up ? I mean, sure, there's safety in numbers…
But why would Outworlders need to group up with people from Earth? Aaron was so held back by whatever it was the Outworlders did to hide that he didn't even know about the Initializations.
Is it possible they're trying to use the weaker people here to somehow abuse a loophole in the System? As cover or bait or something? I don't even know if the System has loopholes like that… but there has to be something going on.
Alex snuck a glance in Claire's direction. Her expression was completely unreadable. It probably didn't matter. Even if there was something in her features to read, there was a good chance it would be intentionally placed there.
If anyone knew how to control their emotions, it was her. His best bet would just be to play things by ear and try to let Claire take charge until they could get a moment to speak in private.
"Here we are," Abby said.
She and Aaron slowed down and the group came to a halt the front of what must have been the main lodge of the campsite before the Apocalypse had struck. It was three stories tall and rather spread out, with probably eight or nine large rooms in total per floor.
Large glass windows had shattered and been boarded over. A ring of sharpened wood surrounded the base of the lodge and Alex caught sight of several Outworlders perched on a walkway at the second floor holding bows.
Abby walked up to the large door and pushed it open with a loud creak. She stuck her head inside. "Rin? Are you here? We need to speak."
There were several long seconds of silence. Abby let out a disgruntled sigh.
"Is something wrong?" Claire asked.
"Rin's hearing isn't the best. She's also rather keen on finding a dark corner and hiding in it until someone finds her. I — oh, it'll be easier to explain when we find her. Aaron, would you help me find her? I don't want to waste an hour doing this."
Orchid's eyes narrowed. Alex didn't say anything, but he couldn't help but feel a spike of suspicion as well. It was a bit suspicious that they both had to go find someone, but he just didn't see any world where Abby or Aaron would try to fight them.
They were just too weak.
"Uh, yeah. Sure." Aaron's voice was distant. He was clearly still lost in all the new information he'd just gotten, not to mention his close brush with death.
Abby shot Alex a quick glance in search of approval.
"Go for it," Alex said, shrugging a shoulder. If this was an ambush, at least it would make things interesting. Glint was ready for a fight and none of the people here knew about his other summons, not to mention any of Claire's abilities. "Just don't take too long. We're on a time limit."
"I know," Abby said tersely. She pressed a hand to her newly re-attached arm and her jaw clenched. "I'll move as fast as I can. This should only take a minute or two. Nobody will bother you, don't worry."
With that, she darted into the house and Aaron followed after her.
If everyone here is roughly around as strong Abby is… then I don't think anyone here could bother me, even if they wanted to. Getting your shit cooked by a mantis monster without even fighting back is pretty bad.
Orchid said something about deserters getting punished for abandoning their families and being weakened. I should probably figure out just how significant that weakening was before I let myself really think about trying to fight the Region Boss together with these guys.
"I can't tell if I'm impressed or disturbed," Orchid said a moment after Abby and Aaron had left. She leaned against the white stick she'd taken from the Mirrorlands. "Seeing Outworlders intentionally choose to live with Natives …"
"You think they're hiding something?" Alex asked.
"Yeah." Orchid let out a snort. "Themselves."
"By using the humans as a shield?" Claire asked.
"I've never heard of anything like that. It must be a technique I'm unaware of," Orchid said apologetically. "If anything, the thing they're hiding is the Natives with them. If they have an item strong enough to disrupt tracking and repress the System from people who don't have a strong connection to it yet… well, this camp might be well and truly invisible for the moment. I doubt it'll last."
I wonder what kind of item can do that. Sounds like something that we should try to get our hands on to make sure the other Outworlders aren't constantly on our asses. Even if Orchid thinks they aren't going to care about us right now, I get the feeling I'm going to manage to piss them off again soon enough.
"It's bad luck for them that the Region Boss decided on this of all locations to wake up," Claire said.
"Somehow, I doubt it had anything to do with luck," Orchid said. "I'd be willing to bet that defensive item they've got hiding them is probably what drew the boss here in the first place. Power begets power… and challenge. You can't walk around with an item like that without expecting the System to make you work for it. That' s just typical for Oathbreakers, though. They stole work that is still being paid for in blood, entirely unprepared to take that burden on themselves.
"This is starting to go from information to a vendetta," Claire said, glancing at Orchid out of the corners of her eyes. "Do you have personal experience with Oathbreakers?"
"Whoa!" A bright voice cut through the air before Orchid could respond to Claire's question.
They all turned as a young girl, probably in her very early teens at the oldest, peered out at them from behind a nearby cabin. She had long black hair pulled into a ponytail and tanned skin with features that looked strikingly similar to Aaron's.
She noticed them all staring in her direction. But, instead of flinching or hiding away, she popped out from her hiding spot and strode right over to them. Her gaze was affixed upon Glint, wonder sparkling in her eyes.
"Hello there," Claire said, crouching to be at eye level with the girl. "You're… Aaron's sister, I take it?"
"Yeah," the girl said with a nod, but she didn't so much as glance at Claire. She pointed at Glint. "Did you train a monster?"
"Something like that," Alex said, mildly taken aback by her complete lack of fear.
"Can I touch him? I'll be gentle."
Alex blinked. Now he was really taken aback. "I… Glint is sharp. That might not be the wisest idea."
"Oh," the girl said. A flicker of disappointment passed through her features before vanishing as quickly as it had arrived. "What if I wore some heavy gloves?"
"That's fine, then," the girl said. "Sorry for the bother. In that case… do you think you could maybe make your monster hide?
Alex tilted his head to the side. The girl certainly didn't seem particularly scared of Glint. He wasn't sure why she would want to make him hide.
Maybe she's just got a really good brave face?
"He's here to help protect people," Alex said. "He isn't going to hurt you unless you accidentally cut yourself touching him."
"I know that. You came back with Aaron and Abby." The girl grinned, revealing a gap where a front tooth had once been. "You're his friends, right?"
"We're something like that," Claire said, putting a hand on the girl's shoulder.
"Then you should hide the monster. Aaron can be a bit dense sometimes."
Alex stared at her in confusion. "Why?"
"He doesn't want me to see any monsters," Abby said. "Aaron gets really stressed whenever I get too close to anything dangerous. He doesn't want me to know that dad is dead and the world ended, so you shouldn't let him see me near a monster."
Alex's mouth worked for a moment as he tried to process the girl's words. They were spoken in a grimly stark matter-of-fact tone. It was a grim world where a little girl was admitting something like that without so much as a blink.
"Have… you considered telling him you know what's going on?" Alex asked. "That seems like it would make things easier."
"It would make him sad, so I'll pass. Put your monster away please."
"Have you considered not standing near said monster?" Claire asked, the corners of her lips pulling up in amusement.
"No. I want to see my brother, so I'm staying here."
Alex let out a snort. He sent a mental command to Glint, who slunk off to stand in the shadow of the inn. The Glasmir was still close enough to be well within reach if someone attacked them.
"Thank you," the girl said.
The door to the lodge creaked open and Abby stuck her head out. "I found — oh, May! What are you doing here?"
"I saw you and Aaron come back. Why didn't you come say there were friends visiting?"
"I'm sorry. We were a bit busy," Abby said apologetically. Her eyes flicked to Alex and the others. "I'm sorry to rush you, but I've found Rin. She's awake, so we really need to hurry. We only have a few minutes."
"Why?" Orchid asked. "The Region Boss isn't going to show up today."
"I know. This is about Rin, not the boss."
"She won't spare more than a few minutes to speak with us?" Orchid arched an eyebrow.
"Not won't. Can't," Abby said. "Rin is really old. She can only stay awake for a short while. Any more and she wastes too much energy."
The hair on the back of Alex's neck stood on end. Abby's words were eerily close to ones he'd heard before.
"Wait," Claire said, her gaze snapping to meet Abby's. "She has to sleep to avoid wasting energy?"
"Yeah," Abby said with a nod. "It's because she isn't human. Rin is a Dhampir."