Drip-Fed

“Ah, the sun,” Reysha sighed. “Good to feel that on my skin again.”

“Can you even feel it?” Korith asked.

In the time they had spent in the dungeon, autumn had fully made way for winter. They had all changed into winter clothes because of it. Furs were placed over freshly washed combat equipment, keeping them warm but also making it harder to move. Alas, a quick death due to a delayed step would have been preferable to shivering to death. Far down south as they were, the frozen belly of the world was not too far away.

On the plus side, the path they had chosen brought them over frozen flats. The Atlas party would have to weather a shorter distance of frozen tundra. It should ultimately come out in the Inevitable party’s favour.

“Just a tad,” Reysha said, turning her face in the direction of the sun. “I’ll go pale at this rate.”

“I don’t think you can?” Apexus asked. “I was under the impression humanoids are locked into a range of pigmentation.”

“That’s a way to put it,” Reysha snorted with her usual amusement. “Wonder how pale I could get, honestly. I’d probably bottom out somewhere around Korith’s level. Would take years though.”

The redhead shuddered when a cold wind blew over them. Swiftly, she followed the example of the others, pulling her hood up. It took some fidgeting to get her ears through the specially made holes. Her hearing was still muffled, but less so.

For all the detriments the clothing offered, the party advanced with confidence. For one, they had left the dungeon notably stronger than they had entered it. The Incursions that riddled the landscape would prove to be of little challenge to them, even while fighting to keep their clothes untorn. However, fighting was also highly optional. The cold also affected the various insectoids, who retreated to their burrows, only coming out if something was practically within snapping distance.

On their journey east, the party made only a few stops to clean out Incursions and they only did so to get a quick hold of the Mana Gems within. They were good to have. Out there, they were more valuable than most currency and they had need to buy fresh supplies.

They passed through a number of the smaller settlements over the next ten days. Each only had a little to spare, but they did not need much. Reysha had made plenty of the Spice of Magic and food for her and Apexus was the only thing the landscape provided in a vast amount. Every time they bought more food than Korith consumed between two points, they made out with a net positive.

“Could you stay a couple of days?”

The question was presented by the head of the latest village they had entered. Unlike the other places they had visited, this one deserved to be called such. It was no outpost of less than twenty people, but a community of almost three-hundred.

It was located south of the Impossible Strait and the two last Lanaan Hives that the group would pass by before making it to the Lamb’s Court, one of the territories that had been properly or at least mostly been wrestled from the control of the wilderness.

Fitting for its location, the village was simply called Southstrait, short for South of Strait, and it had been built as a major supply hub between that territory and the port all the way back where the Inevitable party had first landed. The road that was planned to connect all of them was not even in its infancy. Still, the village had been sponsored and continued to be financed by noble decree.

Its position was simply advantageous. Located in the narrow between the ocean and the huge freshwater lake on the eastern side of the Lanaan Influence Zone, Southstrait occupied the only viable land bridge for potential commerce. Going south around the lake was colder, longer and potentially infested with level 50 undead. In short, there was no sane reason to ever take that route. The lake being freshwater also meant the village had ready access to it, alongside with the fish teeming in it and the nearby ocean. An ocean that also allowed the village to be supplied by boat.

All in all, it would have been an enviable position for a village had it not been for the Incursions.

Which brought Apexus to the current conversation.

“Is the situation dire?” he asked.

The head of the village, a minor noble of the Sleeping Empire, nodded. Her hair was white, drawing a sharp contrast with the blueish, dark-grey skin. Eyes of a deep, almost brown red sat in features beautiful but compromised. She lacked the materials out there to cover the rings under her eyes with makeup.

“The Incursions have been unusually high this year,” she said. “Our adventurer core is exhausted from constant travel and combat. We need a few days to simply… sleep.”

“Any reward?” Korith asked, while Apexus contemplated the question.

“We can’t offer you much,” the head of the village answered honestly. “Some materials… a few coins… that’s about all we have to spare.”

Apexus was arriving at a conclusion. To the surprise of him and the other two members of the party, Korith raised her voice again before he could. “Weird question, but do you mind leaving your house for a second so we can talk privately?” the Goldborn kobold requested. “Ehm, we can find a quiet corner if that’s more convenient for you…”

“No, that will be fine,” the dark elf assured and rose from her chair. “I will be outside.”

“Thank you!” Korith said sharply and waited until the noblewoman had left them in her well-furnished home.

“Alright, Korith,” Reysha said first. “What’s on your mind?”

“I don’t think we should take the offer,” she stated firmly.

Apexus could not stop himself from shifting his features into a mildly displeased expression. Despite that, he did not say anything immediately and he triply considered his words when Korith noticed what face he made and did not comment on it. “You do not believe we should work for no adequate compensation.”

Korith nodded strongly. “I respect- No, I love you, I love you all a lot.” The blonde crossed her arms in front of her breasts. “I would not dream of changing any of you. I love the altruism and all of that. But we are crossing into the realm of being exploited by every person we are coming across. We spent at least an extra hour in every settlement we went through on the way here, helping people lift stuff or move something or whatever, and we did it for coppers on the gold.”

“An exaggeration,” Aclysia spoke softly. “It was a maximum of an hour and it was only seven out of the twelve outposts that we visited.”

“She still makes a valid argument.” Apexus’ deep voice was the focal point of the discussion. He was their leader, for many reasons, foremost of which was that he found it easier than the three others to embody the different perspectives and balance them. Any other dynamic they had, as men and women, frontliners and backliners, were all complimentary to that fact.

The Monk turned his attention to the window. He looked outside, to the mild activity of people that were exchanging goods and patrolling the walls. One of the houses in view had collapsed several weeks ago during the attack of a swarm of flying insects. It had already been stripped of every building material that could be reused, leaving little more than foundations attached to a skeleton of shattered wood.

It was the only sign of visible destruction in the community.

“I believe that we should help everyone we can,” Apexus voiced his own opinion on the matter. “Yet, to be slaves to our altruism is a disservice to ourselves. Perhaps I have been leading us too far down the road of selflessness.” He nodded to himself, then returned his gaze to Korith. “It would be of use to us to stay a few days to repair our equipment fully.”

“We’ve been doing that just fine on the road.” Korith swayed on her heel claw. She did not enjoy being the sole voice of opposition here, but she could stand helping people out just because they asked for it even less. “We have no reason to stay here. There’s a Quest we are on and it has a decent monetary reward. They say they need the help, but I think they’ll make do without us.”

Apexus beheld his upset party member and weighed his responsibilities. She was his Warrior and his partner, both of which made her more important in his life than 300-odd strangers. If he stayed, the best case was that he would save a couple of lives. If he moved on, the worst case was that such lives were lost.

He extrapolated the individual case into the future. There were more villages on the way, many of which would have their own woes, as the ones in their past did. Each incident was another diminishment in his time. How much time did he owe people?

The answer to that was easily found: none.

How much time was he willing to sacrifice for the good of others?

That answer was more difficult and was among questions he would never find a good answer to.

However, if there was any good indicator that they were spending too much time on others, then it was that Korith had decided to speak out about it. It was not in the nature of the shortstack to state her opinions so directly. A break from that had to be respected.

“I understand,” Apexus said. “Call her back in. I will request additional payment. If it is not enough to be worth our time, then we will continue on.”

Korith let out a held breath. “G-great,” she stammered, no longer needing to keep up the tough front. “How much is enough?”

“I do not know,” Apexus said. “I maintain that we should stay for a few days to fix our equipment. We still have not ironed out all the damages sustained from the dungeon.”

The pace that they had taken in making their way through the Lanaan Hive had put many holes, dents, and scratches into their garments. While all of them were mendable with the usual tools, it required persistent and repeated application of them and as much as they wanted to get that done in one sitting, sometimes the laws of craftsmanship demanded to let projects sit for hours between treatments.

“If you do not know then… uh… how does this work?”

“I’ll watch you, closely,” Apexus stated.

Something in his tone made Korith blush. She could not explain why or how, it just did. Something about knowing just how well he knew her? Impossible for her to say.

Reysha poked her head out the door to call the head of the village back in. She moved past them, as proudly as she could, and retook her seat in the ornate chair. “What conclusion have you come to?”

“That we have a Quest to be fulfilled in a timely manner,” Apexus answered, “and that your limited offer is not enough reason to stay.”

The dark elf woman gave a resigned nod, having expected that answer. “Sadly, I am withholding nothing from you. There is nothing out here that I could offer you that is of value. Were you interested in settling, I could try to sell you a plot around here…?” She let her voice drift, transforming the hypothetical into a question.

“We are not,” Apexus denied.

“Settling really isn’t what we do,” Reysha said.

‘Even if we did, this bug infested plain would not be my choice,’ Aclysia kept that rude thought to herself.

“Given the nature of what you told me, I presume you put stock in promises by the nobles of the Sleeping Empire?” the dark elf put forth a question.

“We have had only honourable dealings with your people in the past,” Apexus answered with a respectful nod. “What do you propose?”

“I am in no position to move from this post nor can I have money moved to you, for the influence of my family here is negligible. However, I can offer you a writ of favour. If you ever go to the capital, the Nightsongs will provide to you a quarter to stay.”

An interesting offer with a difficult value to nail down. Apexus was not that interested in the quality of the quarter. Between the Mobile Estate and the range of luxuries afforded to the nobles of the ascendant empire, he was certain that any room would be good enough, especially in the capital. The question was whether they would ever enter said capital.

Had they been humans or a similar species with a regular lifespan, Korith would have shown no interest. However, these were elves, a species that lived hundreds of years, and so any promises made by one of their own would be good for a long, long time. As successful adventurers, the members of the Inevitable party would also live for a while.

With that much time on their hands, they would make a visit to the Sleeping Empire at some point. Having a free inroad into a high society at that time could make things much easier.

Korith glanced over to Apexus, who took that as a signal to agree. “That is good enough for us,” he said and the dark elf breathed a sigh of relief. “If it suits you, we will take the night watch. We are well-equipped for the dark hours.”

“I can see that,” the noblewoman said, nodding towards the Ragressian. “This suits me fine. Two nights of proper rest will assure we have the power to weather through the next couple of weeks.”

“If it further soothes you, know that we will move northeast after we depart,” Aclysia said. “Albeit not our intent, we will likely draw the attention of insects that would have otherwise found you.”

“I will take whatever boon I can,” the noblewoman said. “I will have the writ prepared by the time you are ready for departure. Such things take time.”

“Good,” Apexus said with a nod. “Then we will go to your markets. There are things we still need. Afterwards, you can find us behind our magical door.”

“Mobile Estate,” Reysha pre-empted the question. “Very fancy.”

“…Very fancy indeed,” said the noblewoman in an oddly hollow tone.