Ch.308Escort Mission Accomplished, and…

After defeating the Cruel Vulture horde and collecting the spoils, we returned to the carbonated water cave where the dwarves had taken refuge.

Fortunately, the cave hadn’t been attacked while we were away, and the remaining 10km journey concluded without incident. The twenty or so wagons safely arrived at the fault cliff where the entrance to Technopolis was located.

“So… now how do we climb up this cliff?”

“We’ll have to build scaffolding again, won’t we?”

Just as we were about to rack our brains for a solution, an unusual sound came from the direction of the cliff.

‘Ku-ku-ku-ku-kung…’

“What’s that?”

“Sounds like machinery moving…”

The source of the sound was revealed before Phyllis could finish speaking. About 5-6 meters to the side of where we stood, the cliff face moved, revealing a large entrance. It was big enough for covered wagons or camping carriages to easily pass through.

“A secret passage!?”

“This wasn’t here when I came before.”

“Could they have built it in the past month? I suppose it’s possible for dwarves.”

I’m not sure if just three people could construct such a mechanical passage in a month, but regardless, there was now undoubtedly a route to enter Technopolis with our wagons intact. Under Morgan’s direction, we sent the covered wagons into the passage one by one, then entered last and confirmed that the secret passage closed behind us.

Beyond the gently curving passage was a vast underground chamber. It was spacious enough to park twenty covered wagons in five rows with room to spare.

“This place…”

“It’s a loading dock built by the remaining personnel. There was a letter on the shelf inside the passage.”

The letter Morgan handed me explained that they had constructed this loading dock over the past month with the help of an artificial intelligence unit. It mentioned that we could use an elevator through the door at the far end, but due to time constraints, they hadn’t been able to connect heating, cooling, or communication facilities, so we should load our cargo onto the elevator and come down to the Grand Hall on our own.

“So this completes our escort mission for the immigrants.”

“Indeed. To be honest, I didn’t expect we’d arrive without a single injury or loss of cargo… It seems we underestimated your abilities.”

“Hmph! Of course! Mediocre monsters and outlaws are no match for us!”

“Still, we survived that final monster encounter thanks to the dwarves’ signal fire.”

“That’s right. Without that signal fire, we would have been ambushed by the Cruel Vulture horde and suffered heavy casualties.”

As Seti and Iris said, if the people of Technopolis hadn’t warned us about the dangerous monsters through the signal fire, we would have led our wagon train straight into the Cruel Vultures’ territory. Even if we could somehow survive attacks from lesser creatures by hiding in the wire-reinforced cargo holds, if the special individual had started targeting people inside with its liquid-controlling ability… I don’t want to imagine what would have happened.

“Anyway, the fact remains that we completed the escort mission in the best possible way. From now on, Mina and Iris will stay here to research the bio-converter, while the rest of us will return to Westend Sevens once to purify the black mana.”

“And while we’re at it, we’ll take the horses to sell at the Pioneer Bureau, with half the proceeds as payment for this mission, right?”

“That’s correct. Ten horses will be kept in the breeding room under the Control Tower, and the remaining thirty are yours… but can you really take all these horses to the western city?”

“Taking thirty at once would be too much. Maybe if we had skilled cowboys, but…”

So the plan is to take as many as will fit in the Stone House, making multiple trips to sell them all. It will take some time for Mina and Iris to complete the improvements to the bio-converter using the dark sword sample and create a working model for us to use.

Now… let’s see what the Prisoner’s Stone House can do.

~~~ Route from Technopolis to Westend Sevens, Campsite ~~~

The camping carriage that departed from Technopolis late in the afternoon was returning toward Westend Sevens at a much faster pace than our journey there. One notable point is that this was true despite the fact that Ancestor wasn’t pulling the carriage.

“We should camp around here today.”

“OK. Whoa!”

“Neeeigh~!!”

The four horses connected to the shaft slowly came to a stop as I pulled the reins to signal them. Ancestor, the original master of this position, was running alongside the carriage carrying Seti, who was serving as our scout.

“It’s not as fast as when Ancestor pulls, but it’s better than I expected.”

“That’s because we’re using four horses at a time in three shifts. If we’re not trying to maintain top speed for extended periods, there won’t be much difference.”

Our experiments showed that the Stone House could accommodate a maximum of eight horses. To transport all thirty horses, we’d need to make at least four round trips, but Mina suggested a three-shift system. By putting eight horses in the Stone House and having four pull the carriage, rotating them at regular intervals, we could not only move all the horses to Westend Sevens in just three trips but also travel long distances almost as efficiently as with Ancestor.

Of course, this is only in terms of mobility. When considering combat value, feed consumption, and other factors, there’s no comparison with Ancestor. Perhaps obtaining Ancestor so early in our adventure was our greatest stroke of luck.

*Whirr~ Click*

After tying the horses in a suitable place and transforming the camping carriage into camp mode, we took out meat dishes and pasta that we had stored in the Box of Stopped Time and ate.

I doubt anyone else in all of Grantis can enjoy such comfortable food, clothing, and shelter while on the march.

“I’ve completely gotten used to this camping carriage lifestyle.”

“I remember how hard it used to be, carrying a travel bag loaded with a tent and sleeping bag.”

I recall when I first formed a party with Jessica and left Mothertown. I had wailed at the fact that we had to walk everywhere, without even a train, carriage, or horse to ride.

And now here we are, enjoying a comfortable journey in what amounts to a camping car. Life really is unpredictable.

“You know what? While we were resting at Moon Lake recently, I got a message from the leader of a party I briefly belonged to before.”

“Oh? A message from an old comrade… What did they say?”

“They said they’d apologize for mistreating me before and asked if I’d consider working with them again.”

Not just me, but Seti and Phyllis as well couldn’t help but laugh at Jessica’s words.

“A proposal not worth considering. You refused, of course?”

“Obviously. My place is with Will and all of you. I wouldn’t be swayed even if someone offered me a million gold check like a certain someone. I just found the whole situation satisfying.”

“Satisfying? Despite receiving such a shameless proposal from people who mistreated you in the past?”

Jessica smiled gently at the puzzled Phyllis before continuing.

“In the adventurer profession, once you’re looked down upon, it’s hard to recover your reputation. I was already a Codex Mage with a bad reputation among adventurers, and after being mistreated and eventually kicked out by my party members… it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that Jessica Walter’s ‘value as a party member’ had dropped to zero.”

“……”

“But look at me now. In less than half a year since meeting Will, I’ve earned the title of Advanced Mage, our exploits have made the front page of newspapers multiple times, and now the very people who cast me aside are apologizing and asking me to come back. And I get to turn them down flat. What could be more satisfying than that?”

“Ah… I see what you mean.”

I feel like I’ve seen a similar story somewhere before. Like a drama where a woman rejected by a man works hard to become beautiful, then coldly rejects her ex when he approaches her without recognizing her, getting her revenge.

“I’m glad you feel vindicated, but it’s too early to be satisfied with just this. Once Mina completes the bio-converter improvements, our camping carriage’s range will become virtually unlimited. Let’s keep discovering amazing things and dominate the newspaper headlines with our stories.”

“Good idea. Those who mistreated Jessica will weep tears of blood in regret and envy.”

“We could even head straight west and see the edge of Grantis.”

“The western edge of Grantis… indeed. If Mina’s research succeeds, that wouldn’t be just a dream. Hehe.”

We stayed up late into the night, chatting about our future activities, finally falling asleep after midnight—completely unaware of the massive storm waiting for us in Westend Sevens.