Grand Saint Alloy

They met the next morning in the field just outside the fort’s gate. Tristan had just found out it was called a parade ground, however ‘dirt patch outside the wall’ seemed a more accurate title. There were four other people, and Lesly. They were the three original members that Tristan had last time, and a warrior who had a large box on his back.

Lesly stood before them, “Alright, you will be heading straight through the center of the plains and straight for the Lake Caldera’s fort. From there you will head to the Alchemist’s port across the lake and get a biological weapon to use on the ghost crabs. Normally we would send you around, but that would take too long, so you will hop from warehouse to warehouse until you reach the opposite side. The weapon will be too precious to risk a return trip, so you will coordinate with the Lake and River Caldera’s to use it.”

She stepped aside gesturing for the warrior to take her place, “My name is William, I will be transporting the payment for the weapon. We are not trying to fight every creature we come across, our goal is safety. Unfortunately, the safety of the devil is a high priority, he has had dealings with the alchemist in the past, so he will deal with keeping the transaction cordial. Everything clear?”

Both Bruce and Eve snapped a salute and said, “Yes Sir.”

Clive and Tristan just looked at them quizzically. William was not instated as a superior, if anything, he was just a glorified courier. Tristan was not sure who the leader was, but if it came down to violence, William would definitely come out on top. Fortunately, it was not up to William it was up to Lesly.

Lesly saw the confusion and decided to clear things up, “Bruce you are in charge of your team, but do not expect William to assist you or obey you. His only job is to focus on the payment. He is carrying twenty percent of the Forest Caldera’s wealth, so do not think he will jeopardize his mission for your lives. William should not need your help, but you are to retrieve his package at any cost if he dies.”

William snorted as if dying was an impossibility for him. Lesly then passed out new weapons. This time it was a weapon that Tristan recognized from descriptions he had been given, but had never seen. Lesly handed out halberds. It was a pole with an axe head that had a blade on one side and a spike on the other. A second spike capped it, and a sheath of metal extended from the head and attached it firmly to the shaft.

It would be far superior to the spears they had previously. The spike in the back of the axe head would be the biggest contributor. Coupled with the leverage that a long handle offered, it would definitely be able to punch straight through a ghost crab’s carapace. Both Eve and Bruce looked like they had used this weapon before, but it was new to Clive and Tristan. He could not imagine that it would be difficult to hit the crabs with the pointy end though, their opponents were giant bugs not master warriors.

Clive inspected his weapon for a moment, before returning it, “I am no fighter, I am only here due to my knowledge of the habits and locations of farm and harvest related things. If I need to use this, then I am a dead man.“

Lesly shrugged and took the halberd back, “That’s fine, the less resources we spend on you, the better. These things aren’t cheap.”

Clive frowned, obviously not happy about the statement. He only meant that fleeing would be his best survival skill and a unwieldy weapon would not facilitate that.

Tristan eyed Lesly skeptically, “What’s the real reason why these three are here. I kind of get William, but everyone here should be replaced with someone a tier higher.”

Lesly and Bruce looked at him sharply, which confirmed to Tristan that the tier four of the Forest Caldera was indeed a Golden Heart. Lesly slowly asked, “what exactly do you mean?”

“Go get Kale, and two other people to replace these guys and your family head to replace William,” Tristan said, “This task is legitimately too expensive to fail, so why are you understaffing it.”

Lesly frowned, “The patriarch has to defend the Forest Caldera, and this is by the order of Elder Forest. He said that no warriors were to be forced to attend you.”

Elder Forest was his uncle, though Tristan was not even legally part of the family anymore. He wondered what all the animosity was about. The only plausible solution was that he wanted Tristan gone, but as he publicly declared his survival to be the will of the grand ancestor, there was no way for him to go back on his word. If it was an accident then he would not be liable.

The wealth of the Caldera was safely stowed with an elite warrior so there was nothing to worry about. In fact the best case scenario would be Tristan dying and William finishing the mission. Elder Forest could then take the credit and the rewards.

Tristan would even suspect the other members of planning his death, however Eve muddied those plans. She was not the kind of person to put up with underhanded schemes. Most importantly, she was related to Elder River, there was no way she would let the Forest Caldera walk off with all the credit for success.

There was still a piece that Tristan was missing. Both Eve and Bruce were very important to their respective Calderas. If something would kill Tristan, it would most likely kill them too. Unfortunately, no one in power would cooperate with a silver devil, so Tristan could only grit his teeth and do what he was told.

However this all could be proven with a simple question, “Why isn’t Kale coming then? He is a friend, and I know he would want to help.”

Lesly winced, “He is one of the strongest warriors at the fort, we need him to stay behind to secure it.”

So he was right, “Alright, with the kind of leaders we are dealing with, having Kale playing baby sitter is better for his health.”

Lesly rolled her eyes, “Get going, the more time you talk, the more time it will take to finish.”

Every one except Tristan saluted, then they left. There was no way he was going to honor a person or organization that was being antagonistic towards him. If it had been Conni or Siren instead of Lesly, he would have most certainly saluted them, they had earned it.

Only a single bridge had been rebuilt in the last ten days. Once they crossed, it was raised back up to stop the ghost crabs from escaping. William vanished as soon as they reached the corn. Tristan was not sure if he was actually gone, or if the shadows of the nearby plants were deep enough to react to a dark kern. The package would most certainly be safe with him.

Bruce called everyone to walk together, “We need to discuss our current plan. We are going to a farmer community, it should work almost exactly like the last one we were at. Well, minus the crab horde,”

“We will spend the night there, it is around twenty miles away. This gives us some time to let threats pass or take a detour if we have to. This place is only five miles outside the Plains Caldera, however it will be southeast of us and we need to go east. A further twenty-two miles will put us at a different farmer community. At this point we will have a choice, go through the Grass Caldera, or go around.”

“Going through will only put the fort three days away. Going around will add an extra day, but it should be safer.”

Eve shivered, “I vote for going around, I’m not sure that I can handle seeing a bunch of human bones scattered around.”

There was something odd about this whole situation. Tristan asked the group, “Why are we going through the plains at all, going around would take more than a week, but there would no danger.”

“Sage,” Bruce frowned as he realized he knew Tristan’s real name, “Tristan, no it sounds girly. Sage, we need to hurry.”

Tristan was at a loss as to which statement to address first, so he went with the latter, “Ok, but why, what happens if we take a month instead of a week?”

Bruce had a serious expression, “These crabs are very similar to chickens to the other mythical beasts. If enough gather in one place, it will catch their attention. Our warriors are good enough to handle some beasts, but if any in the drake family show up, we’re dead.”

Tristan was reminded of the buried civilization. Conni had theorized that something had ended them brutally and swiftly. The best bet, based on the quality of the ruins, was a basilisk. There were other options, a dire wolf pack could have done it, for example. It left the structures in tact, so the upper limit was a basilisk. Unfortunately, with over a hundred thousand mythical beasts in the caldera, they could pull something bigger. If a plague locust swarm or something worse arrived there would be little in the way of options to get rid of them.

Tristan could understand the rush, so he focused on the former issue next, “You think Tristan sounds girly!”