Into the Mountains

In this era, no one dared joke about a true god, so Boss, a believer in Knowledge, believed Kronos.

"Give me your map. I'll mark the locations for you."

The map was quite detailed, enough to mark their actual locations. Boss made three dots on it with a pen, then handed it back to Kronos.

"Life in the mountains has been getting harder every year. Several villages couldn't hold on anymore and finally disbanded. Some people left the mountains, while others moved to other villages. Now only these three are barely hanging on."

"If their locations didn't have decent resources, they would have collapsed long ago too. But I don't think they'll last more than a few years. Resources only dwindle the more you use them."

"I'm just curious-what resources do these three villages have?" Kronos asked.

Boss gave Kronos a suspicious look, then said, "Ingredients used in rare spices. A few kinds of plants grow there. If it were anything else, they would have run out long ago."

Kronos could see how deeply Boss distrusted him. If he hadn't sworn on his faith, Boss might not even have spoken to him.

Now that he had the locations, Kronos had no intention of lingering. He chatted a little longer and left, secretly leaving ten pounds for Boss before he went. This information could prove very useful.

After returning to the harbor, Kronos began quietly working things out. Those three mountain villages really were treasure troves.

People struggling to make a living were the easiest to deceive. Give someone hope of a decent life, and they would give you everything, including their soul.

Kronos suddenly felt something was off. Didn't that line of thinking make him sound a little too much like a villain?

Forget it. Never mind. Back to the plan.

Since these people lived off rare plants, wouldn't a few spells to promote plant growth be enough? He might not even need Gner to play along.

Now he just had to see what useful information Gner brought back.

Around two in the afternoon, Gner returned, drunk and looking very excited.

"Guess what I found out?" Gner asked mysteriously the moment he arrived.

"Just tell me. I need your information to finalize our route, and then we still have shopping to do. We can't go in completely unprepared like last time. If you keep dragging this out, we won't have enough time." With a single remark, Kronos crushed Gner's air of mystery.

With no other choice, Gner abandoned his attempt at suspense. "Someone at the bar said there's a village on the western side of the mountains called Saint Luo Village. There's been an epidemic there for over two weeks, and quite a few households have caught it. It isn't serious-they just feel sick and listless. They've called in plenty of doctors, but none could find the cause."

"And the strangest thing is, the patients recover on their own after spending three days outside the village. Luckily, there aren't many infected people yet, and the illness doesn't have much of an effect. Otherwise, the whole village might have emptied out by now."

Kronos quickly caught the key point. "You mean there might be something in the village that makes people sick while they're there, but they recover once they leave?"

"Exactly. And the doctors haven't got a clue. Doesn't that make it pretty likely that some supernatural power is causing it?"

Gner had a point. While the doctors in this world could hardly all be called miracle workers, even a completely new disease shouldn't leave several doctors without any idea at all. That made supernatural powers a fairly likely cause.

"Let me check the map." Kronos took out his map and carefully searched for Saint Luo Village.

Once he found it, he realized the village was rather remote. Going directly from the harbor would require quite a detour, but it wasn't far from one of the mountain villages. They could easily take that route on their way out of the mountains.

The ship would only remain at Tiana Harbor for five days, and today was already the first. To avoid disrupting the fleet's normal voyage, Kronos worked out a three-day plan.

They would leave tomorrow morning and reach the first village that afternoon to begin his acting. Then they would travel as fast as possible, reaching the vicinity of the second village that night to rest. After acting there the following morning, he would reach the third village that afternoon. Once he finished acting, they would leave the mountains that night. On the third day, they would deal with Saint Luo Village and return to the harbor, probably arriving before nightfall.

Of course, that was the ideal scenario. If anything unexpected happened, Kronos had left one extra day as a buffer.

There was nothing else wrong with the plan. Its only problem was how rushed it was. If they hadn't both been Beyonders, an ordinary person following this schedule would have run their legs off over those three days.

Gner clicked his tongue at the plan. This was even more rushed than the forced marches he had done as a soldier. Fortunately, this plan didn't require him to enter the villages and play along, so he would have more time to rest.

Kronos was another story. He had to hurry along the route and put on his supernatural act. To maintain his mystique, he couldn't even stay in the villages and would have to sleep outdoors. Wouldn't those three or four days practically peel a layer off him?

"Boss, can't you ease up a little? Are you really sure you can hold out through this whole schedule? Delaying things by a day or two wouldn't be a big deal, would it?" Gner urged him.

"No. A day or two of delay on my part would mean losses for the entire fleet. The disruption to their procedures couldn't be made up for. I can't let personal matters interfere with public duties," Kronos said firmly.

"All right, then. Look at you, doing all this, while those people out there say you're an amateur ordering experts around and the fleet's biggest stumbling block. And you don't even feel wronged."

Kronos smiled. "As long as they don't interfere with the actual work, they can insult me however they like. But even I wouldn't dare hold up the work. If they do, they'll face the harshest punishment."

Gner suddenly understood. "Got it. You're waiting to hit them with a big punishment. No wonder they say you're the ruthless one."

Kronos glared at Gner, then asked, "You must have marched through the wilderness when you were in the Army, right?"

"All the time. Why?"

"Do you know much about outdoor supplies?" Kronos asked.

Gner thought for a moment. "I'm no expert, but I know a bit about the types and quality. I couldn't tell you what's best, but I can tell good from bad by comparing them."

"Then you go buy the outdoor supplies. I'm a complete amateur in that department." Kronos handed him a sheet of paper listing quite a few outdoor supplies, all recommended in the Adventurer's Handbook.

"No problem." Gner took the paper, then asked, "What about you?"

Kronos waved another sheet of paper in his hand. "We need everyday supplies too, along with food and fresh water."

Early the next morning, just as dawn was breaking, Kronos dragged a bleary-eyed Gner out of the cabin. They mounted the horses Kronos had bought the previous afternoon and headed for the entrance to the mountains.

A carriage was certainly out of the question in the mountains, but in truth, horses couldn't go in either. Kronos had bought these two horses simply to get them from the harbor to the mountain entrance faster.

As for what would happen to the horses once the two of them entered the mountains?

They would naturally just let them go. Perhaps they could sell them too. In any case, none of that had entered Kronos's calculations.

Horses really were fast. In less than an hour, the two of them were walking into Tiana Island's mountains in the morning sunlight.

Kronos really shouldn't have been a novice when it came to wilderness survival. The Argel Family had traditionally served in the Army, so they should have possessed plenty of knowledge in that area. For some reason, though, it hadn't been passed down. At least, Kronos hadn't found any in the family's book collection.

His only source of knowledge was therefore the Adventurer's Handbook he had bought earlier at Damir Port.

Gner, however, knew quite a lot.

Having finally reached a subject he knew well, Gner truly talked nonstop throughout the journey.

Kronos genuinely admired him for that. His mouth never stopped moving, explaining the terrain one moment and the plants and animals the next.

He really talked about everything from poetry and song to classical literature...

"When the mountain peaks lose their edges, when the rivers cease to flow..."

Sorry, wrong channel.

Yet even as Gner kept talking, his feet never slowed. He stayed abreast of Kronos the whole time.

Kronos wanted to take advantage of Gner's constant talking to test his limits, so he quickened his pace. But Gner simply kept following without a change in expression, leaving Kronos himself panting with exhaustion.

After that lesson, Kronos abandoned the idea entirely and focused on listening to Gner's explanations instead.

His own lack of experience was actually why Kronos had suggested bringing Gner on this voyage. Otherwise, setting out alone would have been best for this sort of adventure. It offered far more freedom.

So now Kronos concentrated on learning what Gner knew, preparing for his next adventure.

According to Gner, judging by his experience, these mountains didn't look particularly dangerous. The peaks weren't high and the forests weren't dense, so they probably couldn't support any dangerous creatures.

Gner's instructor in the army had taught him that the farther north one went into mountains and dense forests, the greater the danger from large predators;

the farther south one went, the more one had to guard against small venomous creatures or large aquatic amphibians.

The mountains on this island didn't look particularly damp, and they hadn't seen any large rivers or pools, so the level of danger should be manageable.

Kronos felt Gner's assessment was quite sound. Hadn't it been much the same back on Earth?

The Greater Khingan Mountains in the northeast had Siberian tigers and bears, but he had never heard much about venomous bugs there. In the Amazon Rainforest, however, venomous snakes and insects were the most terrifying killers. Pythons, crocodiles, and the like could still be evaded if you encountered them.