Although, since I can feel the door it isn’t really possible for me to get too lost. Not much time has passed, so I should still have enough to continue exploring for a while. Not that there is much to see, so far it is all just the same endless and empty plain.
I walk for a while and then I spot five beasts heading towards me, they look like hyenas. They are charging straight at me, but they don’t have armor or anything. They look like normal beasts, just pure white, and I wait until they are closer before gunning them down.
5 Opponents defeated! 50,000 Soul Exp gained!
Loot: 150 Soul Coins!
Well, that was definitely underwhelming compared to the first fight, they didn’t even launch an attack. I don’t see how they could have made it here through the hallway, maybe they are native to this place. If this place wasn’t created just to be a battlefield, then it would make sense for there to be native creatures.
Hunting the native beasts would probably be an easy way for people to become stronger. Of course, that would also lead to competition over hunting grounds, which would lead to conflicts. That might be how this place became a permanent battlefield, but that is just a guess.
It would make more sense than someone creating the place specifically to be a battlefield. Who knows, I doubt that there is anyone around who was there when the place was created. It might have been created for some other purpose and just became a battlefield later.
It is pointless to think about, unless I find some ruins or something I am not going to get an answer. It is just going to have to be one of those things that bugs my curiosity constantly. There are plenty of those already, I have gotten fairly used to my curiosity always bugging me.
It doesn’t matter, even if I answered everything I don’t know, there would always be more questions. Before I can continue that thought, I see another being in the distance. It, like the first one I killed, is a humanoid that is completely covered in armor.
However, despite wanting the exp and loot, I don’t attack first, I wait to see if it is hostile. When the air around me suddenly turns to flames I get my answer and I open fire. The fire doesn’t hurt me at all, but the same can’t be said for my bullets when they hit the figure.
1 Opponent defeated! 125,000 Soul Exp gained!
Loot: 3,200 Soul Coins!
*DING*
Soul Level Increased! Soul Level 8 → 9
Soul HP +500, Mana +1,000!
Well, that was certainly a profitable encounter and it was still far easier than I was expecting. That doesn’t mean that everything here is going to be weak, I still need to be careful. However, that is enough exploring for now, I should head back before I get distracted.
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I don’t really want to see how Mercy would react if she woke first and couldn’t wake me. I don’t see anything else as I head back to the door and return to the hallway. I doubt that the entire place can be that empty, I will have to explore more later.
When I open my eyes I find that the sun is just barely coming up and Mercy is still sound asleep. I don’t have enough time to return to the battlefield, so I enter my soul palace. I spend some time with Maximus and work on expanding my soul palace while I wait.
Come to think of it, Maximus didn’t show up when I entered the battlefield, I wonder why that is. I don’t remember anyone saying that pets aren’t allowed on the battlefield, but I could be wrong. Or maybe it is just that he is a non-combat pet so he didn’t show up since it is nothing but combat.
At least I don’t think there is anything to harvest on the battlefield, but I certainly don’t know everything. In fact, I have mostly just been told how dangerous it is, not much else. I could go looking for more information, but it would be more fun to explore and figure things out for myself.
Mercy waking up puts an end to my work on the soul palace and I give her my full attention. We have a little fun before we are called down to join the rulers for breakfast. It is as we are eating that I find out that both Cecil and Estel will be going with us.
Apparently, they plan to leave their son in charge while they are gone and let him get some experience. That is fine by me, Mercy really enjoyed hanging out with Estel last night. Anything that makes the trip more fun for Mercy has my seal of approval.
Besides, so far King Cecil seems like a decent ruler, his people took good care of those we freed. I also like that the first thing he did was to introduce his wife, I still don’t know the name of Gremshow’s wife. Even though I don’t know her name, I feel sorry for her and hope she enjoys her vacation from him.
In any case, we have another carriage and fifty more guards joining the caravan. As soon as I am done eating I head outside to modify their carriage so it won’t slow us down. Not long after I am done, the caravan sets out following the road southeast.
It is expected to take us about a week to reach the capital of the last kingdom on our list. From there, it will take two to three weeks to move north to the Magic Kingdom. The capital we are heading to is a city I have visited before and is the closest point to the island I need to visit.
It should be fairly easy to convince the group of rulers to take an extra day to rest once we arrive. That should be enough time for me to make a quick trip out to the island and free any slaves. Although, that will leave the question of what to do with the island once I clear it.
If it is just left empty, the pirates and others will just reclaim it and go back to business as usual. I would like to prevent that, but giving more land to a kingdom could shift the political balance. Once the caravan is underway, I join Amn in his carriage to discuss the situation.
Emperor Amn says “Do you know how large the island is?”
“Fairly large from what I was shown.”
Emperor Amn says “That much land would shift the power balance a little, but not enough to be a problem. King Cecil already has more land than King Vex, at most it would make them equals.”
“I take it King Vex is the ruler of the kingdom we are heading to now?”
Emperor Amn says “Correct. He is the last one we need to pick up.”
“What about the kingdom to the north of his kingdom?”
Emperor Amn says “That kingdom is not a part of our alliance. If anything, it is closer to being an enemy of ours.”
“Does that mean it is allied with the northern empire?”
