Chapter 231: Travelling Upriver
In the end, Guy seemed to be more than eager to be the one who stayed behind to manage building the defensive structures to form the beginnings of a mountain town in hostile territory. He was so enthusiastic about it that Kim would have been suspicious of his motives if she didn't know much about him in the past.
She had a feeling that he wasn't as eager to continue travelling with them as he originally had been. Though, she wouldn't be surprised if he would rather continue travelling with them rather than return back to the capital where his family had their home in the city.
Yet, what confused her the most was the fact that they hadn't established a city, or even a town, in these mountains to begin with. Especially since they seemed to already know so much about these mountains already.
Yet, while she wondered about it, she didn't care enough to actually ask about it. Or even learn about any reasons for why the discrepancy existed in the first place. Maybe if she ended up stuck in this world, then she might inquire about it, but otherwise, she was content to just let it go and move on to other matters.
Even though she had hoped that they'd have been able to leave behind 'her' entire army, she felt more than a little appalled at how half the army was still moving with them. She at least understood that most of the army wanted to stay where she was, even though she really didn't care to be considered their general. She couldn't say why, just that it felt like she wasn't really made to be a leader or head anything like an army.
Still, as they moved on, she couldn't help but feel a little refreshed as they walked along the banks of the river that flowed through the mountains. They were walking upstream and Kim wondered if there was a way for them to catch some fish to add to the stew that kept getting made for everyone every day.
She normally wasn't that big on fish, but with how they'd been having the same things for the stews for over a week, she had to admit it was getting a little old and would be good to have at least a little more variety in the flavors. Even if the flavor had to be one that she wasn't especially fond of.
The travel wasn't difficult, the worst part was when they occasionally reached a small bog, marsh, or otherwise swamp. Kim felt like these should be located in the mountains, but it wasn't like she spent much time of her life outside of cities. So, it wasn't like she had much experience in knowing what kinds of terrain to predict.
Her only real comfort was that Elmo was handling the changes worse than she was. Not only had he lost his boots on more than one occasion when they got stuck in the mud and his feet came right out of them. Kim felt more than a little amusement at his problems, but she had to admit that he was at least doing his best to endure the difficulties he was experiencing without complaining. Which she couldn't say the same for others in the army.