Return of the Wind Mage: A Regression litrpg

2.

“Damn, this is good Santi!” Cameron stated between heaped forkfuls of mashed potatoes. His plate, once a platter, was nearly cleared as he attacked the meal with an energetic zeal. All around him, those who had been Acolytes for a while, were eating with an extra level of appreciation. It was one of their first meals made with appropriate food sources that weren’t the ration bars they’d been earning in award chests.

Daniel and Hana were, for once, not staring at each other as they both hovered inches from their plates. Bianca was only a bit more restrained while Yessenia sat quietly and ate slowly. Each bite chewed with a thoroughness that was almost mechanical, her eyes glazed over, lost in thought.

Chloe and Rayleigh were both to Santi’s left, the two girls having rekindled their friendship over the last few weeks. With Abraham gone and Rayleigh now in charge the point of contention between them was gone and they wasted no time in reconnecting.

Grimvr was eating the potatoes like he was angry at them and after having spent an hour carefully peeling and cleaning them, Santi could understand that frustration. Tank sat next to Grimvr and the two spoke in quick sentences, chuckling often as they both seemed to enjoy the hearty meal.

Santi could begin to understand why Dad had liked cooking so much. The act itself was peaceful in a way, rewarding to see the dishes he ended up with from the raw ingredients they had started with. The real reward was seeing everyone’s joy in eating his work. They enjoyed what he had spent time and labor doing, his hard work instantly rewarded not in levels and shed blood, but in smiles and laughter and the scrape of metal on porcelain.

“Enjoy it while you can. The first crop wasn’t big enough and it’ll be a while before the second crop. The meat is starting to get easier to source at least, more and more animals have survived the burst and managed to level. Tristan took some type of hunter class and has been showing people how to track them.”

“The meat is good, don’t get me wrong. But, damn brother, these potatoes are heavenly.”

“Acolyte level food. New taste buds and higher perception to fully experience the meal. I did the bare minimum on them.”

“If this is the bare minimum, I don’t think I could withstand a full gourmet course,” Chloe said. Her plate was cleared and she was leaning back in her chair with her fingers threaded over her stomach.

“Just wait till a [Cook] or [Chef] class appears. We’ll be eating good,” Santi told them. He could remember the camp foods that their [Cooks] had made and heard rumors of the heavenly delights Disciple level [Chefs] could create. Far above his paygrade, it had been something the Council of Champions had been able to partake in or what the ultra wealthy had managed to buy.

“I think Dad would have liked being a [Cook],” Yessenia finally spoke up and the room fell into silence as everyone’s eyes turned to her. She had been so quiet for so long that hearing her speak in a public setting was tantamount to watching lightning strike twice.

“I think he would have too,” Bianca said, breaking the silence and everyone turned their gaze away from Yesi. Santi felt the familiar rush of rage and sorrow he felt every time he was reminded of what happened to her. The helplessness of not being able to fix it.

“Found another den. Well Delilah and her scouts did. A day or so Northwest. Close to the coast. She said it was too dangerous for her or even my team to handle,” Daniel said as the table discussion changed from the joy of food back to work.

“Alright. Chloe, what’s our schedule looking like?” Chloe had taken over the team’s scheduling once she realized Santi was often double booking or even triple booking them to be at places. Santi was more than happy to have her deal with the executive functions while he worked on drills and teamwork.

“Free for two days. Got a rift that Rayleigh and her team said they can clear out, but wanted back up just in case,” Chloe said.

“Rayleigh, do you guys actually need the help?”

“Probably not. We’re just thin on veteran people. Almost everyone is new and raw. Even in comparison to where we were. It’s some type of spider monster and it’s low Acolyte, maybe even peak Initiate rift.”

“Where’s it at?”

“South East. Tiny little town of about four hundred or so people. Rift cleared the whole town we think. There’s some spider webs and stuff everywhere, Daniel’s people didn’t think it was too dangerous.”

“Alright. Daniel, peel a trio of your people over to Rayleigh’s clear team. We’ll get Helena to put up two squads for backup but have it be Rayleigh’s operation.”

A round of affirmatives rang out across the table. It was getting easier and easier for him to issue orders like this. Finding the right people to train and organize had been the key. Torin and Grimvr had been a massive help as they had started to provide training and materials that allowed the settlement to be successful. There were plenty of people in the settlement with the right mindset and skills to organize and Santi had been working on finding them and putting them in place to succeed.

“Daniel, Hana, I want both of you with us when we do and meet up with Delilah. Tank, can you get free from the clinic?”

“It’s been slow. Shouldn't be a problem at all,” Tank rumbled from the end of the table.

“Grimvr, get Torin’s permission and you can come with us.”

“Understood.”

“I want to come as well,” Mom’s voice carried across the room as she and Torin walked in. She still wore her armor and her face was covered in a sheen of sweat. The heady mix of body odor and armor came with her as she grabbed a plate and began to fill it with the leftover in the middle of the table.

“Grimvr, we shall both go. I must see how my works perform,” the older dwarf slapped Grimvr on the shoulder as he walked past him and began to fill his own plate. Everyone shuffled down, creating spots for the two older people to squeeze into as chairs were grabbed for them.

“Are you ready for that, Mom?” Yesi asked, voice trembling.

“Torin has given me the best weapons aside from Santi’s morph blade. I’ve trained hard and have the skill, I just need the levels now.”

“You won’t be able to fight effectively in the den at all, but we can search for opponents for you,” Santi said. If his Mom could get the levels necessary to evolve it’d be a massive weight off his shoulders.

“That’s all I need. Torin will stay with me.”

“I shall,” Torin promised as he poked with his fork at the mountain of mashed potatoes, looking at Grimvr with confusion written across his face.

“It’s delicious, Hall Master. Try it with the brown sauce.”

“Yesi, you should come as well. Try out your power in the field,” Santi floated the suggestion to his sister. He cringed inwardly as Yesi seemed to fold under the weight of the possibility of leaving her sanctum.

“No…maybe, ummm,...next time,” she stammered, face burning red with shame as she stood in a hurry, leaving her half eaten plate behind her as she fled out of the room.

The mood soured as everyone stared at her now deserted seat. Santi wished to have Abraham in front of him again, just to rip him in pieces for what he had done to Yessenia. Santi heard her crying at night, the strangled screams as nightmares tore at her, the haunted look in her eyes.

“Is there a therapist or someone who could work with her or something?” Rayleigh asked, concern on her face.

“Tank?” Santi asked. A psychiatrist would have been in his friend's sphere of responsibility.

“Doc Evans has some training. She started that way and then decided to become a R.N,” Tanks said. Santi wanted to pound his head on the table. A partially trained therapist.

“See if she’s open to talking to her,” Mom said. Tank glanced at Santi for confirmation, but was already nodding along.

“I’ll ask her in the morning,” Tank confirmed.

“Thank you,” Mom said as she went back to eating.

“So tomorrow then?” Chloe asked. Santi nodded to her and the rest of the group got up and started to clean their dishes with a bucket of soapy water that Santi had pulled earlier. Germs weren’t much of a threat to them now, but it was still gross to eat off dirty plates.

“Did Delilah say what type of den it was?” Santi asked, wanting to get away from the sudden social awkwardness and on to dealing with the threat of the den.

“Not really, she sent a messenger from one of our outposts to us to relay where it’s at and threat level.”

“Has the messenger relay system been working well for you?” Santi asked. It had been his suggestion to do since no one had managed to take an effective long range communication skill.

They’d place speed based builds in small, well hidden locations and they acted as small hubs for messages for the further ranging teams. It allowed for faster communication and kept the scouting teams in the field for longer. When Yessenia recovered a bit more and could be persuaded to go out in the field, Santi was going to get her to lay some basic protections around the hubs.

In the future, as they grew, he’d need to establish forts and outposts further away from the settlement. There were just too many people to close by right now. They would begin to hunt the region into extinction and there wouldn’t be enough experience or potential to continue leveling for the lower level people.

“It’s working well. Need to improve the defensese around them though. Lost one of the hubs to the Northwest near the mountains two days ago.”

“All hands went down?”

“Yeah. I went up there with Hana and some of my higher level guys. There were four runners assigned to the spot and we found all four bodies and a bunch of some type of insect monster.”

“Ants?”

“Beetles, they were as big as a car though and tough. Stabbed a few and their carapace was thick and resistant to damage. We harvested what we could and I’ve had a team looking for where the bugs could have come from,” Daniel reported in.

Santi sat back and thought on that. They hadn’t found a hint of Duncan yet, but to the Northwest there were plenty of small towns and then eventually the mountains. Duncan was savvy enough he would cover up the elimination of an outpost and the loss of that outpost would severely limit their ability to report what was going on that way quickly.

“Find a new place to set up and we’ll take Yesi there after we clear out this den. We’ll reinforce the outpost and start searching that region. I don’t like having a threat that can take out an outpost like that,” Sanit ordered.

“They were only Initiates, peak, but still? It shouldn’t be a threat to us,” Daniel wasn’t arguing, but he was searching for a reason for Santi’s new apparent concern.

“Only if it really was bugs. We haven’t seen hide or hair of any of the traitors or that band of humans they were partnered with. Wouldn’t be hard to lead a group of low level Acolyte bugs to a base and just watch the fireworks. Send runners and put all your people on alert up there, double up the patrols and increase the frequency of check-ins.”

“You got it, boss,” Daniel said. Hana was already scribbling Santi’s orders on a little pad of paper she carried around.

“Everyone get some sleep, tomorrow we’re off to kill some monsters,” Santi broke up the family dinner and sat back in his chair while everyone slowly trickled out. He sat in the empty room for a long time.