Amazon Apocalypse 5: Chapter 58

I ended up lying in wait while leaving the bulk of communications and scouting to the council. Since I would be leaving for a bit on the Goddess in Jade’s errand and to pick up my stuff on Ladwick, it wouldn’t make sense for me to take charge of any important operation.

The military men Frank and I ran into seemed particularly suspicious to me, and I couldn’t shake the feeling that they were up to something. I listened in on the council meeting, where Margaret and the others crafted an ongoing trade proposal with them over the radio.

“We have plenty of staple foods. We’d be willing to take some military rations off your hands in exchange for them,” Margaret suggested.

The person on the other end of the line was some sort of supply officer, and he and Margret went back and forth before coming to a decision.

“We have decent metallurgical capabilities here too,” said Reginald, our most prolific smith and council representative for the crafters. “If you need anything forged or made in bulk, put those orders in too. As long as you’ve got spare primers, we can make bullets. Our alchemists have developed a form of gunpowder based on a type of local monster.”

My eyebrows rose. That was new to me. I was under the impression we’d been running out of bullets. But the fact that Frank still lugged around his handgun should have proved that they were still around on some level. I shouldn’t have been surprised our crafters were figuring out a way to keep the supply lines operational.

The notion of new bullets really got the supply officer on the other end of the line going. I got the impression that they could do much the same as Reginald was offering, but only if they had the powder. That was probably running out around now, even with a military bases reserves.

“Good, we’ll expect you in Crownhill in the week to drop off the supplies. I think--“ Margaret cut herself off as I waved.

“Have them drop off the supplies in the San Antonio settlement. It’ll be closer, and we can load everything into the Obelisk,” I said.

I kept the more important part of that plan to myself. Having the military guys arrive at the San Antonio settlement would keep the true scale of Crownhill and its defenses secret for a while longer, just in case I wasn’t being overly paranoid and there really was something up with these military guys.

***

The next few days passed surprisingly smoothly. Things passed without issues. Our scouts failed to turn up any other major faction, despite considerable searching. That wasn’t too surprising, though, given the sheer scale of the newly integrated territories. If they were city-states on a similar scale to us, there was a lot of nothing between us and them.

I expected this stage of the integration was meant to take much longer than the others. We could spend years just trying to find the enemy, let alone working to subjugate them.

But General Marshall’s men proved both capable and true to their word. They arrived in San Antonio for the agreed-upon trade, lingered a while to interact with the local residents there, and then swiftly departed. The only thing that surprised me was that they didn’t spend more time talking to Dan and the other apocalypse survivors there. Dan certainly wanted to talk with them, but whatever officer was leading them wouldn’t let his soldiers linger in town too long.

Maybe it was for the best. A few of the soldiers had been eying some of our female adventurers with expressions like drowning men seeing a lake. I was particularly curious about how they’d react to their first encounter with an Amazonian. There were nearly a thousand of them back in Crownhill, thanks to all the recruitment drives we’d done, and every one of them was a warrior hungry for battle. And often, a husband as well.

"Notice anything strange?" I asked Dan. I'd had him interact with the General Marshall's men because I knew he and a few of his survivalist friends had military experience.

"Their insignias are wrong. The leader had nothing on his shoulders like he was a private, but one of his subordinates had stripes like a lieutenant," Dan said.

I stroked my chin. "Maybe that was what I was noticing. Still, they could have changed things up since the integration. Maybe command is decided by highest level these days. General Marshall was certainly the highest level in the platoon I encountered. Anything else weird?"

Dan shrugged. "They didn't stay to chat long, so I could really feel them out. But they seemed normal enough, if a little hush-hush."

In the end, nothing seemed to come of my suspicions. It had been too faint a feeling to really credit to my bloodline, so maybe it had been nothing more than nerves on my end. Maybe General Marshall's people were up to something, or maybe they were just as paranoid as I was. At any rate, I figured they weren't an immediate threat, and I couldn't spare the attention for them until my promise to the System and my promise to the Goddess in Jade were both fulfilled. Then, I could come back here and do some real sleuth work.

I ended up doing some additional scouting hoping I could find the rest of our enemies, but other than a few late C-Grade or early B-Grade monsters I found and killed, there were no apocalyptic threats heading toward Crownhill.

I had a chat with Bridget, Sakura, and the council before leaving, letting them know about the shield and other countermeasures I had in place.

"We have shields and and a whole bunch of automated defenses. Keep an eye on those guys while I'm gone, but early scouting suggests we have a lot more heavy-hitters than they do. Still, be careful and don't reveal more than necessary until we know we can trust them, got it?"

There were nods of agreement all around, and soon our official diplomatic policy with regards to the new group was in place. Hopefully, we could treat them like Dan's survivor group, who we'd encountered in the ruins of San Antonio. They'd started suspicious and hostile, but now were a valued part of our extended network.

With things running well, I couldn't justify delaying any longer. Things here in Crownhill were doing just fine without me. It was time to go.

So I went to the Goddess in Jade’s shrine, reaffirming my commitment to her quest, as well as asking her about specifics.

“I’m ready to leave. How will I find the worlds you want people from? And how will I meet up with you to give you your people?” I asked the Goddess in Jade.

“I will give you teleportation coordinates. The Eternal Spring Sect’s teleporters are not normally compatible with the ones your System users utilize, but I’m sure you can figure out a way to make them work. I will be waiting for you at the first location and will provide you more information in person about the worlds I need your help with,” the Goddess in Jade’s statue said.

I nodded, then brought up the subject I’d been worried about.

“I recently had some upgrade rewards thanks to the System. One of them altered the title you gave me. It might cause problems in proving my identity to your people.”

The Goddess in Jade let out a small, unhappy noise. I winced a bit, but she quickly clarified.

“I’m not unhappy with you. Truthfully, I should have expected something like this. But it redoubles the need to meet in person. I will fix things then. Hopefully, the System will not get jealous a second time,” the Goddess said.

I nodded along and promised to meet with her in short order. Most people would consider meeting with a cultivator as powerful as this one to be the height of risk and foolishness, but the Jade hadn’t steered me wrong so far.

I returned home, where my women were already gathered to bid me goodbye. A few of them already knew where I was going, but they only knew the broad strokes. Now, I gave them as much as I could share, assuming Lyra was listening in.

“How long will you be gone?” Bridget asked worriedly.

“We’re coming too!” Sakura said.

“Not so fast. You two are staying here. I doubt the System will let you leave so soon after getting back. I’ve spent some time here already. Only Reluna and Mimiko will be free to leave.”

“Aww...” Sakura’s shoulders slumped.

“Be safe,” Bridget said, patting my chest warmly and placing a kiss on my cheek.

“Alright Reluna, Mimiko, the two of you are coming with me.”

The two ladies tagging along with me followed me to the teleportation array, and soon we were off.

***

Mimiko put on a new disguise, this time more in the fashion of a female adventurer. Reluna wore her Dragon Lodge robes. We’d be passing through Glacia again, which was no problem for Reluna but might cause some problems for Mimiko.

I had debated leaving her at home to avoid the risk entirely, but given I was going to be interacting with cultivators, having a cultivator on my side was simply too tempting to refuse.

Luckily, with two Dragon Lodge wizards along for the trip, Mimiko didn’t raise any alarms, and we bypassed most of the security.

We took a short detour to our usual markets, where I picked up a whole bundle of teleportation array kits and filled my bags of holding with an enormous amount of living supplies. Blankets, food, shelter, and just about anything else I could think of. I’d already stocked up on such supplies in Crownhill and Shadefall, but even all of those together might not be enough.

As soon as we were done shopping, I took us from the markets to the capital. I probably could have gotten us teleported across by going through the same long-range array I’d used to get back home, but if Mimiko was going to be caught anywhere on this trip, it was going to be there.

If we were caught, Mimiko and I had already discussed her alibi. She was a cultivator defector who was now serving me as a consultant, which was close enough to the truth anyway. As an officer from the Dragon Lodge rather than the Glacian military, any Glacian military officials had no jurisdiction over me.

However, getting caught would be a major pain in the ass, so I wanted to avoid that if at all possible. So, at the last minute, I decided to change course and take us toward the Samhain family compound. Hopefully, Matriarch Kyrina and Grandma Luthrin would have a solution for me.

The only tough part would be explaining the situation to them without giving away too much. Thankfully, the two were very understanding on that front.

“Say no more. I know a secret war-time booty call when I see it. You have the full support of the Samhain Clan,” Grandma Luthrin said.

“It’s not--“ I pinched my brows as the Amazonian clan elder grinned at me. “Anyway, I’m sure you have a way to get to Ladwick discretely?”

“Sure. Just take the same way I dropped the big array off for little Herius. I’ll give you the teleportation route,” Grandma Luthrin said.

I thanked her, and she sent me off to a small private teleportation array at the back of their family estate. From there, I went to another teleportation array, where I appeared in an unfamiliar family compound populated by Amazonian warriors who looked a lot like Myrina and Cyra.

I assumed this was another branch family, and after briefly showing off my Samhain Clan mark on my shoulder, I was teleported ahead once more to a third branch family, then after that to the estate of some minor nobles who started bowing and groveling as soon as I mentioned I was married to a member of the Samhain Clan. That last one was a bit embarrassing, but after I told them we were in a hurry, they stopped asking us to stay for a banquet held in our honor.

Thankfully, they were the last stop on our route. They sent us through one last teleportation array to a space dock, not unlike the one I’d been to with Kyrina and Cyra when we went to explore the dungeon I’d gotten Sanctum from.

It was a small wooden structure open to empty space on most sides, and it only had an atmosphere thanks to the magical barriers around us. There was a bar on one side of the station, and on the other there was a sign offering shuttles for rent.

“Grandma Luthrin said to rent a small spacecraft from here. Have any of you ladies ever flown a spaceship before?” I asked.

Reluna smiled wryly. “I am a well-traveled and worldly individual. The Dragon Lodge sends students far and wide to gain experience on distant worlds. Alas, I’ve never gone anywhere so remote I couldn’t take a teleportation array there.”

“I have assisted in directing a flying pagoda,” Mimiko said.

Eventually, we made our way to a counter, where we rented a space vessel.

“One space ship, please. Rental for about a month,” I said.

I had to haggle with the person behind the counter since the prices were exorbitant. They didn’t like gold all that much, and my points from Crownhill were no good. Thankfully, Grandma Luthrin said I could put everything on the Samhain Clan's tab, which was apparently good throughout most of the Arcadia Multiverse. I'd pay them back eventually, but for now it was very useful.

Just the deposit was a hefty some, and I was pretty sure we were renting this rust bucket for more than the damn thing was worth. But when all was said and done we had ourselves a ship.

I was hopeful that would come in handy, but Mimiko’s expression faltered when she saw the space shuttle we’d be renting. To me, it looked like a bug-eyed van with a crude thruster strapped to the back of it. It didn’t look particularly sturdy, and the three of us would be practically stacked on top of one another, fitting into it.

Thankfully, I was with Reluna and Mimiko, who were both on the smaller side as far as my companions went, so we packed into the small vehicle nicely.

“Alright, Mimiko. How do we fly this thing?” I looked for a wheel at the front of the boat, but there was nothing there.

“First, you sit down and attune yourself with the pagoda. Expand your spirit until the structure around you is one with your spirit. Then--“

“I think this is the tiller. Like on a boat.” Reluna pointed to a rod of wood in the back of the space shuttle. To me, it also looked like a tiller. I leaned down and stared at the hole connecting the tiller to the rudder and realized I could see straight through to the exterior of the ship.

“I don’t like the fact that our spaceship has a hole in it,” I said, noting what I saw as an obvious design flaw. Had I known we needed a spaceship, I would have built something better myself. I was still tempted to walk back to the dockmaster and return this hunk of junk, then build something new.

But in the end, we were in a hurry. Mimiko’s experience proved helpful at patching leaks in the hull, which were everywhere. Given cultivators flew around in what were essentially flying wooden towers, they no doubt needed dozens or hundreds of disciples patching leaks as they traveled.

Flying turned out to be a two-person job, with Reluna at the front looking for the planet we were trying to find and me in the back guiding the extremely crude magical propulsion system in the right direction with nothing but a wooden stick.

The trip to Ladwick, which was the next solar system over from this one, should have taken weeks of travel. Thankfully, the shadow realm was just as good a shortcut here as it was anywhere else, and between bending space and making a few improvements to our crude engine while in transit, we only took two days to make the trip.

Against all odds, we actually arrived at our destination in one piece.

“There it is! Where should we land?” Reluna asked.

“Somewhere near Mundwise. I need to pick up my mystic realm,” I said.

Reluna didn’t know what Mundwise was, so I had her switch places with Mimiko, who spotted it from afar.

“Left and down a bit. There, now we are headed in the right direction,” Mimiko said.

“Carter, I just had a peculiar thought,” Reluna said from the ground. There was a tinge of worry in her tone.

“Oh?”

“How are we going to land this thing?” Reluna asked.

I looked around. Sure enough, there wasn’t any way to land this shuttle. I was pretty sure it was never built to withstand entering a planet’s gravitational well.

“Hang on, ladies. I don’t think we’re getting our deposit back!” I yelled as we started hurtling toward the planet’s surface at high speed.

We flew downward in a screaming meteoric nose-dive. I looked for a body of water and soon spotted a familiar large lake. I aimed straight for the middle of it, but I didn’t trust it’d be deep enough.

“Screw this. We’re flying down manually. Come on, you two!” I grabbed Reluna and Mimiko in either arm, then kicked open the back of the space shuttle.

Then, I jumped out of the ship and into the air, dragon wings fanning out behind me to slow our fall. I hadn’t realized how fast we’d been going until the ground was in sight.

The space shuttle we'd been flying down it slammed into the lake ahead of us, sending up a geyser of water that drenched the area for a mile in all directions. The shuttle was little more than a metallic crater by the end of it.

I barely managed to bring us to a stop in time to avoid crashing like the shuttle had, but in the end, we touched down in the now-dry lakebed.

Thankfully, the dry lakebed made retrieving the big stone throne tied to Sanctum a little easier.

“This is why I take teleportation arrays,” Reluna said. She squeezed water out of her soaking hair and clothes.

“I think that went fairly well as far as space flights go,” Mimiko said. She was also soaking wet.

“Next time, I’m building us a proper spaceship.”

<Note>

Whew. Finished this chapter in time mostly by procrastinating my taxes. Even managed to write a second one and rebuild a bit of my backlog, all through the power of procrastination!

Anyway, might relocate the station they are in to somewhere closer to Ladwick instead of the next System over. Realistically, another star system should be at least a few lightyears away, which means the trip would take years unless Carter's crappy shuttle can go FTL. Maybe it did here, haven't decided yet.