Chapter 230: Waiting for Battle
———Lerim———
<12: 04 pm>
The others were certainly quite loud as they chatted away in the canteen. Even as I stay in the corner of the room their voices are quite loud. The adventurers are way more talkative than the soldiers who all look quite depressed in comparison.
About as one would expect. The place they’re working with is quite depressing in many ways. It looks bland, the ventilation is bad, the furniture is bad, the place doesn’t even look very clean. It’s like this place hasn’t been renovated for years.
Weird. Until last year the government was very enthusiastic about war efforts, so why is this place so shabby? Was it just because they were too busy funding attacks instead of defense?
…That big guy who loves to complain about the decor is distancing himself from the rest. Can’t say I blame him, they paint less than appealing pictures of themselves at the moment. He chose to not be associated with them if he can help it, just like I am.
It also doesn’t help that he’s a demi-human. Full furry, even. Really not the type that people immediately respect, and it’s really not their fault.
His race and build is certainly quite a contrast, being a rabbitkin but is built like a giant street brawler. Got the torn coat and everything.
…White fur and yellow eyes is certainly quite strange, but I guess everyone has wild colors on their body nowadays.
Much like the others he seems to have quite a displeasure having to eat the slop in the cafeteria like it’s some sort of prison food. I swear I have heard of soldiers eating better food than that.
I don’t have to worry about any of that though. With this spatial bag that preserves anything as if no time has passed, I don’t need to worry about running out of food with how much I have in excess…
I feel like I have been cooking a bit too much nowadays. After going back to the surface I started cooking up a vast amount of food and put it in the bag to make sure I never ran out. I don’t even have to worry about things getting spoiled like before anymore.
…Do I feel bad for him and the others enough to share? Not really. They should at least buy a bag of chips or something before coming here, or any dried food. Not like the soldiers here have the gall to ever approach any of us. They already have a lot to work with as is. We still don’t even know when those guys will start attacking us. It could be next week for all we know. At least we’re not the ones on the lookout, it’s those guys that need to do it, and the guys stationed in this building don’t look all too hot. Maybe the fact that all sorts of conflicts near the borders stopped last year when the Eclipse hit caused them to be caught flat-footed when something like that is happening again.
I’m still surprised that they seemed so stressed out when it wasn’t even an actual army invading as far as I understood. It’s a group of renegades not working for any nation and probably extremely unpredictable. I’m surprised they don’t try to suppress them immediately. Did the previous attempt go that badly?
Anyway, I’m finished eating, so it’s time for me to go outside and get some fresh air. This place is stuffy in a way I don’t like. The outside should be more cool and relaxing.
Putting everything away and let’s get out of the place and go for a walk. There’s no rule on our movement as long as we respond to the call when the invasion starts.
Walking through the sad corridors and quickly walking out of the building to bask in the cool breeze. Now this is the scenery I’m used to.
There are soldiers still patrolling around the base, but they’re not gonna bother me, they have better things to do right now.
I’m going to find somewhere with a shade to rest up and take my mind off things. They’ll probably ring the alarms if something serious happens during this time.
Let’s go to the same spot as last time. Just under the shade of a tree and out of everyone’s sight and mind for a while.
Sitting on a rock with a smooth flat surface that I cut myself, as well as a wood board I cut up so I have something to lean on. Leaning on a tree is just asking for an itchy and dirty back.
Now then, I don’t have a lot to do to waste time, so the best I could manage is just looking stuff up on my phone and listening to some music.
Hmm… I guess I should look up the news around here to see if there has been any report of people being on high alert. There seems to be some secrecy to this pickle they are in, but I can’t imagine that not even a crumble of news wouldn’t leak out.
…Huh. Couldn’t really find anything. Perhaps I give them too little credit. Maybe they’re a bit too busy to even think about posting some secretive info on the internet for fun. Is there at least some sort of report on the nearby area?
…No. Nothing there either. I suppose this is a rather isolated area near the border. A lot of people nowadays don’t have the gall to even leave their little town, so I guess stumbling upon something interesting is way less likely to be reported unless it’s literally in the middle of a city.
Being the weekdays probably doesn’t help. People are more busy and just laying low doing their job. Most jobs have reopened by now so there is a sense of normalcy and therefore the depressing work schedule many are used to at this point, even if that probably shouldn’t be the case.
What even is the nearest town or city to here anyway? I didn’t even really think about it.
“Hey.” Before I could look into it further, someone walked over and actually talked to me. Now this is a surprise, and not exactly one I really want to deal with.
“What is it?” I asked the big guy approaching me. It hasn’t even been that long since I left the cafeteria. Why is he out here and looking for me?
“...Just wanna talk. It’s been monotonous for me, and no doubt for you as well.” Awkward way of conveying that feeling, ain’t it? Not that I don’t feel the same way. It’s been quite a while since I had a conversation partner.
“You do have a way with words, rabbitman.” I sarcastically said. He can be more blunt if he needs to be. Clearly not the type to mince his words usually. “No need to be formal with me. I’m not a stuck-up. Sit on the ground somewhere and we can talk.”
He nodded and did so, sitting on the ground against the tree unlike me. Not my business how he wanna sit down.
“So what’s your name, big guy?” I asked as a conversation starter.
“Vatch Robenson. Just a guy who goes to the dungeon very often.” He introduced himself. Rather simple in introduction, but I guess that’s to be expected when you meet a stranger.
“I suppose the same could be said for me. I’m Lerim Hoslep.” I don’t really want to talk about myself as well. I already attracted a lot of trouble as is. I should keep myself from saying anything that could be misconstrued or cause any future trouble. “So what’s your reason for coming here? There isn’t a definitive reward to be given out as far as I’m aware. The call for help seems to be out of desperation than anything else.”
“I don’t live too far from here, and I need a change of scenery. Didn’t expect the place to be so damn depressing though. The atmosphere is so dour.” He explained. So it does look like he is here for altruistic purposes, it seems. As far as I’m aware even the nearest town would probably take a day of travel to get here. He is clearly disappointed at how rundown the place is. “Makes me really think if they would even have anything to compensate us after it’s all said and done.”
“Yeah. That’s a valid concern. Seems to be understaffed and under budget. I would probably try to extort the higher ups if we get nothing.” I said semi-jokingly. It’s inexcusable for there to be so little security at the border in the first place, so surely they can cough something up.
“Seems like an overkill ain’t it?” He said, looking rather alarmed at my attempt at a joke. It’s weird seeing a rabbit face that can emote, those things can’t express anything aside from sulking and tapping their feet.
“Who knows? We don’t even know for sure how the battle will go and such. I’d say it’s best to not worry about it for now.” You know what they say about assuming… “You don’t seem to get along with those guys, not that they seem to be getting along with each other either.”
“Is anyone here really getting along?” He pointed out. “A bunch of people with no connection to each other, stationed here at what seems like an important battle that was never said anywhere. It feels like a farce isn’t it?”
“Certainly not a pleasant place to be at. I’m kinda hoping they’ll quickly invade so we can get this done and over with.” Staying here for even one more day and those guys might actually stir things up and be a hindrance instead. “I’d imagine you want to go back to the comfort of your home quickly, right?”
“Yeah. It doesn’t help that this place’s internet is absolutely terrible. I can’t even kill time by scrolling past all kinds of posts.” He added it to his answer. I didn’t really notice any of that because I use that internet service Karra gave me. It’s so fast and seamless compared to the other services I have used and discarded. No idea what in the world this service even is or who is the one perpetuating it. The biggest inkling I got is someone relating to that EX-VR thing people were raving about for a few years. No one knows who the publisher actually is, or who is even behind its existence that baffled everyone in the tech space.
I didn’t bother buying it even if it’s apparent that it’s basically charity to give it away at that price, but I’m not the type to play games anyway, and I want to make sure my habit doesn't irreversibly change. I want to make sure I keep my body fit and healthy, and even with the ability to accelerate the internal clock it’s still not appealing to me.
Looking back on it, there was probably some sort of magic involved.
“I see.” I shouldn’t talk about the internet situation when I got quite an invaluable service. Best for me to pivot the conversation somewhere else. “...So what do you think of the other guys? I don’t even know how they send out their request for help. Mine was a request for me specifically.”
“Same with me. I guess they just ask one member from each guild. I guess you’re the strongest where you’re from?” He asked.
“Yep. The same for you then?” If that’s the case, then they are really desperate. They probably only ask for only a few people so they don’t have to split the rewards and worry about the possible fallout.
“Of course. Not that I even know if they realized that. I think they just want me out of the way for a while.” Ouch. Was there bad blood?
“Seems like a rather… sensitive topic.” I pointed out. “Hm?”
“What is it?” He asked as he saw me looking up towards the sky.
“...Nothing.” It seems like something just flies over our heads. Not that I caught what that was.