Tycoon May: Chapter 10 (Patreon)

Chapter 10 

As the wagon rumbled down the trail, Grant watched the terrain turn from hilly forests to a wasteland of bone and mud. The region had clearly been trampled by hordes of monsters that passed through the area. Mounds of bone marked graveyards of titanic battles waged between beasts.   Grant was starting to understand why  the humans of District May lived behind such thick walls.   there was no way for people to live in a place like this.

“I think we lost them.”  The scarred woman was watching the trail behind them, her hands gripping her spear with whitened knuckles.  “ I don't see them anymore.”

“Thank the Regents!”  The wagon driver shouted with joy. "I thought we were done for sure."

“Next time, we should be more prepared. Sending out flankers to either side would have helped hold off that ambush. Especially if they knew to look up."  Grant was seething with anger.  No one had warned them to look up. Now, as he counted the survivors, he felt a rage burning in his chest when he only counted four.  “We were massacred. No one even warned us about what to expect.”

“I don't see why you're so surprised. I'm pretty sure they don't want us coming back anyway. We're just more mouths to feed." The scarred woman held out her hand for Grant to shake.  “My name’s Alicia. What's yours?"

“Grant.”  His rage at what they had done made his voice tight in his throat. "Who decides what person is put in what group?"

“Oh that depends on the day, usually it's one of the Wielders.”   Alicia turned to look at the wagon driver. "People like him are the ones the Guard Captain doesn't care about. He was probably caught taking bribes or something."

"So what's our next stop Alicia?"  Grant looked around at the wasteland surrounding them.  "You seem to have done this before, what do you recommend?”

"We really only have one option. We keep going, and find the nearest monster den. If we can come back to the city gates with something they want, they'll have to let us through." Alicia engaged the condition of everyone else in the wagon. "It looks like it's up to you and me if anyone is going to make it home tonight."

"I'm okay with that if you are, but I have no idea what to look for." Grant waved his hands expressively, motioning to the vast nothingness in front of them. "How are we supposed to find a monster den without any landmarks to go off of?"

"Oh, that's the easy part, we just look for the giant hole in the ground that smells like death." Alicia tapped her nose with a smile. "Out here, you just follow your nose and you'll find treasure."

The pair fell silent while the wagon Creek creaked its way across the desolate landscape.  Everyone was still in a state of shock from the events that happened in the forest. No one had seen the attack coming, and the sudden violence had ended more lives than anyone could have suspected.

<That attack wasn't your fault, Grant.>  Sarge's words fell on deaf ears. Grant didn't want to hear how things weren't his fault. He still felt responsible for the sudden loss of life. <The person truly responsible is whoever should have briefed the people going outside the gate. Like you said, they didn't even warn you about what kind of monsters to expect. Even the greatest Generals in history wood have suffered the same fate.>

Before Grant could answer, there was a commotion from the people riding towards the front of the wagon. Grant shuffled forward to see what was going on, but the smell that assaulted his nose gave away what was going on.

“You boys smell that? That's the smell of riches!" Alicia hopped down from the wagon, not waiting for it to slow. "Come on, let's go!"

Grant wasn't as excited as everyone else happened to be. The pungent smell of manure made him wrinkled his nose, and his eyes water. He understood why it was important to bring fertilizer back to the city for the greenhouses, but that didn't make him any more  happy about having to do it.

“It doesn't look like there's any monsters here, so we should keep a close eye out in case they decide to come back.” Alicia looked over at the wagon driver. "Can you handle that while we go inside?"

The driver waved her on, and the group hurried toward the opening in the ground.  Grant still trailed behind, looking around carefully for any signs that the inhabitants would be returning.  Something was telling him that they weren't safe, and it wasn't just the rancid smell that permeated the area.

“What do you think lives here?"  The scared young man poked at the ground with the tip of his weapon. "I don't recognize any of the tracks around here."

"It doesn't matter, we just need to hurry before whatever it is decides to come home.  Besides, the reason we even came out this gate is because Tycoon May pushed most of the monsters in the area through the barrier.  So stop worrying, and start moving." Alicia moved past him, delving deeper into the opening in the ground. It was more of a ramp that led steeply down, and Grant found the footing to be precarious. "Be careful, and don't move out of range of daylight. We can't risk using torches."  The angle of the sun let them go several yards underground, but they would run out of time quickly.  “Keep your ears open.  There might still be a few monsters deeper in.”

As the group moved deeper, all thoughts of caution flew out of their heads. Glinting along the walls in the dim light, the shine of precious metals winked at the small group like the temptress it was.

“Ore!  By the Regent, there’s ore here!”  Everyone carrying the sacks meant to hold manure dropped them in the dirt and rushed over to get a look at the windfall.  Alicia was already using her spear to dislodge chunks of metal from the ceiling.  “Hurry!  There’s enough here for all of us to make a killing!”

Grant came over to mine some, but his weapon was too short to reach the ceiling.  Instead, he picked up the sacks and started collecting the piles of manure that lined the sides of the tunnel.  It wasn’t just the monsters in District May that were heavier and more dense.  Their poop was as well.  Lifting the heavy bags turned into quite a workout, and Grant even got a minor boost to his Mental cultivation.  The need to focus wholly on the task unless he wanted to get covered in manure made every move slow and deliberate.  Sarge made sure to point out every small adjustment he could make to maximize the job into a workout routine, and Grant was quickly sweating from the hard work.

After filling most of the wagon bed with the bags of manure, Grant went deeper in the tunnel to check on the others.  They were frantically stuffing chunks of ore into their pockets, each person lost in their own world.  The section of the ceiling they were digging out caused the occasional shower of dust and grit, and Grant had to take a moment to catch his breath.  Not because of the poor air quality, but because of the memories of fighting the Greenlock underground in District April.  It had been a hard battle, and the memories seemed to wear on his mind.

Deciding that he was feeling better, Grant was about to interrupt them to ask if he could borrow a spear for just a moment when a chance ray of diminishing sunlight hit something shiny deeper into the tunnel. It caught the corner of his eye, and Grant turned to go delving a little farther in.

<There is definitely something there.  Just be careful.  Those others are making a lot of noise, and you don’t want to be the first person that monsters coming from below find poking around in their home.>

“I couldn’t agree more, Sarge.”  Grant followed the tunnel, checking the wall for the thing that caught the sunlight.  Right before he was about to give up, Grant found a narrow crack in the wall.  It was a tight fit, but he managed to squeeze his way through the gap until it widened into a small chamber.  One that was covered in metallic crystals.

<Metallica!  You found a Metallica grove.  This is probably the best Summer metal you could ask for.  It’s easy to collect, and any blacksmith would pay a handsome price for such a large amount.>

“Yes!”  Grant immediately walked over and started breaking clumps of the heavy material off the wall and stuffing it in his pouch.  It was like everything else in District May, dense and more heavy than its size should allow.  After snapping off several large chunks, Grant paused.  “Sarge, do you hear something?”

<I don’t have ears, Grant.  I’m a sword.>  Before Grant could argue with the sword spirit, Sarge corrected the mistake.  <But I can hear through your ears.  And yes, I heard something too.  You better go check it out.>

Grant squeezed himself back through the gap, his ears straining as he tried to figure out what he had heard.  Which is when another sound echoed down the tunnel, and Grant knew exactly what it was he was hearing.  Screams.