ushernet Chapter 506: A New Home
Chapter 506: A New Home
The night was surprisingly peaceful. Our group of about a thousand set up in some of the tents that the plant people had provided us, and while we were still crammed into tents like sardines, and the night was uncomfortably cold, it wasn’t bad enough to seriously harm anyone. The worst of it were the constant rustling sounds, due to how many people were packed into each tent. I ended up sharing a tent with Sallia and Anise, which wasn’t so bad - I already knew Anise’s sleeping habits since we had been sisters last world, and Sallia was fairly peaceful. I felt bad for some of the adults who ended up bunking with fussy sleepers, though. I did wonder how bad winters might get here, if there were seasons at all. I wished I had thought to ask the plant people while we were still in their city.After I woke up, I started to move around camp, to see if we had anything for breakfast. To my delight, I didn’t find a pile of cold rations, even though that was what I had been expecting. Instead, the people who were on watch last night had done some fishing, and so I found a nice plate of hot fish. It wasn’t quite the fish soup that I remembered so fondly from the islands world, but it still brought up the same familiar feeling of nostalgia I got every time I ate fish.
When I thought about that, I started to look more carefully at our camping site. The tents we had slept in were cold and cramped, but they were still better than the rest of the island, at least as far as we had seen. There was an obvious source of water right next to us, which meant that it would be a good place to set up agriculture. We had fish, water, lumber, and an obvious way to set up agriculture.
Perhaps this was a good spot for a more permanent settlement, instead of just a place to camp for the night?
I moved over to one of the [Spatial Mages] who had last watch for the night. I vaguely remembered that the man’s name was Claude. He was a tall, thin man that looked kind of like a scarecrow, and when he smiled at me in greeting, it looked almost like he was eating a mouthful of lemons rather than properly smiling at me.
I gave my warmest smile in return. The man nodded at me.
“Little Miria. How was your breakfast?”
“Delicious. I always appreciate a plate of hot fish,” I said.
Claude nodded. “I wasn’t too sure about the food myself - some of the people from clans closer to the ocean say it was a staple for their diet, but the ish looked kind of weird to me. The taste was a little strange, too. Still, beggars can’t be choosers, I suppose.”
I tried not to sheepishly scratch the back of my head. I hadn’t realized it until Claude brought it up, but I hadn’t eaten any fish in this lifetime either. It wa a good thing I hadn’t mentioned feeling nostalgic towards fish - otherwise, it would have been very awkward if Claude spoke with my father later, and learned I had never eaten fish before.
“Any word on nearby food sources?” I asked, as I tried to cover up my near slip of tongue.
“Yes. This area is actually quite rich in food and supplies. A few of the people on watch last night found some nearby berry bushes. We haven’t finished testing them to see whether they’re poisonous or not yet - the [Apothecaries] and [Alchemists] haven’t woken up yet. But We saw some animals eating berries, so there’s a good chance they’re edible.
“We also found animals, which means we have actual meat on this island. Those mist monsters aren’t edible, but we found some kind of deer. They were a lot more magically empowered than the fish, though. If you startle them, they unleash blasts of silver light at you from their antlers. We aren’t sure what happens if they touch you, but they cut clean through a pretty thick tree. So maybe don’t get hit.” Claude gave me a half-serious, half-joking look. “Otherwise, we might have no healers left in the clan.”
I nodded. “Got it, so the deer have self defense abilities. Either way, they could still be a source of meat, if we get confident in hunting them, or desperate enough to give it a shot. We also have lumber. I’m thinking that if we can figure out the deal with that giant pillar of mist in the center of the lake, this might be a good spot for a permanent settlement. Do we have seeds to set up agriculture?”
Claud nodded. “The plant people gave us some seeds and taught a few of us how to set up basic farms. I’m pretty surprised - since they are plants, I figured they would be mad at us eating plants. I guess they divide plants into sapient ones and non sapient ones? Or maybe I’m just totally misunderstanding their culture and biology. Hard to say.” Claud shrugged. “Either way, not important right now. We haven’t had a big group meeting to decide where to set up yet, but I also think this isn’t a bad spot for a permanent settlement. We have a lot of the resources we need, and we haven’t seen any pits of flesh-eating insects here, so less danger to the kids.”
“I didn’t even notice the lack of flesh eating insect pits,” I said. That was another compelling reason to set up here.
The more I thought about it, the more I genuinely liked the idea of making our permanent settlement here. As long as the other risks were manageable, this could be a good place to build a village, or even a town.
Of course, that was still contingent upon resolving the giant geyser of mist in the center of the lake. We had already confirmed how dangerous the mist could be during the fight with the colony of mist rabbits yesterday, and if this place started creating new swarms of monsters and attacking the children while the adults hunted for food and gathered lumber and firewood, things could get very bad very fast.
However, apart from that, this place was perfect. We also only had a few more days of food, and we needed a place to settle down. We had seeds to set up agriculture, but agriculture took time.
“The adults and the other decision makers are planning to meet up after lunch to figure out our future plans,” said Claude. “Mary was supposed to find you and let you and your friends know, but it looks like you found me first. See you then?”
“Of course.”
A few moments passed, before I got a sleepy mumble from Felix. Sallia sent a wave of mental affirmation a moment later, and then Anise sent me an image of her breakfast - apparently, she was also getting a plate of fish.
said Anise.
said Felix.
The four of us spent the next few hours waking up, getting ready, and relaxing until the meeting started. To my delight, most of the adults also believed that this was a good place to set up a permanent settlement - as long as we could confirm that there weren’t any latent threats left over.
Once we established the fact that we would, indeed, be setting up permanently here, people started to organize themselves into different roles. A few people were tasked to go scout out the areas surrounding this plot of land, to make sure we weren’t missing any other important resources, threats, or locations in our surroundings. Several more were tasked with cutting down some trees, and then drying them out for use as either firewood or building supplies. More were tasked with setting up agriculture, gathering fish, and generally handling food supply.
Finally, a small war party of ten people was organized to explore the misty island tomorrow, and make sure that it wasn’t a threat.
Four of the people assigned to handle it were me and my friends.
I felt a small pang of anxiety at the thought of what might be waiting for us on the shore of the island, but by and large, after the meeting I felt something I had been struggling to find since we fled from the Universal Tree’s grasp.
Hope for the future.