---Eastern Plains, New Hope--
“Admiral, the sensors picked up a settlement in the distance. We are also picking up massive heat signals grouped together close by,” the man on the sensors exclaimed to the expressionless girl seated on the central chair of the bridge.
“Signal everyone to follow. Set course for the settlement. Maybe we can stock up on rations there,” she commanded with slight interest. According to the maps, they still had some ways to go before reaching Gamma. Since this was No Man's land, it had to be an old city from the time before the districts were founded. Who would have thought for the Remnants of that time to survive in this day and age?
“At least this means we are not the last ones.” her second in command sighed relieved.
After leaving Epsilon in the far eastern corner of the continent, they initially planned to go south to Alpha, but they soon found that the whole south of the continent was covered by dark and aggressive forests. After losing several ground teams looking for signs of survivors, they had to change course.
Crossing the northern mountain range and aiming for Sigma was also out of the question. The Northern Mountains were filled with powerful flying beasts that were a great obstacle for the fleet. Just entering the foothills almost overwhelmed their defenses.
The colony ships that held most of the surviving citizens were too big and slow. If one of the beasts got through their defense, these ships were practically defenseless. Even the strongest adventurer died to fall damage from this height. The potential loss of so many lives was too high a risk.
With the north and south out of question, they could only cross the eastern plains and aim for Gamma as the closest district. This was where they faced a new problem. Urth had changed a lot. Not just flora and fauna, but the land itself seemed to have grown and stretched.
Only after traveling across the plains for weeks, did they notice that their whole navigation was off because they were using the original maps, while Urth had expanded, and become much more vast. The weird discrepancies they had previously overlooked for various reasons made sense in the light of this realization. It also meant they had searched for Alpha in the completely wrong spot and had still been ages away from its new position.
Now, the real problem this caused was their rations running low. They had barely time to prepare because of the demonic invasion. They were lucky the ships were still holding up, but they didn't have time to prepare ample food and water for everyone. Water wasn't hard to deal with thanks to magic, but food on the other hand...
This was why the gray and grimy cityscape that was like ugly bird poop staining an emerald, as it appeared among lush and green plains before them, looked like an oasis in the desert to them. While the city was mostly desolate, their sensors estimated a population at roughly 75 000 living in the barely maintained parts of the place. The city itself seemed to have been quite big at one point.
“Do we have any info on that city in our database?” she asked one of the soldiers on the bridge who quickly started typing on his terminal.
“I found the scan of an old map that shows a city fitting the size we are picking up. According to that, the name was Andomoor, but I can't find anything else..” he stated quickly. She nodded, it wasn't like she really expected anything.
“Well, good thing our sensors function. Sir, the scans showed that the city had the early versions of a district's granaries. Although they seem to be mostly out of order, maybe we could repair them, if we stayed a while.” the man at the sensors mentioned.
These were good news. If they repaired the facilities and rationed what they had they could maybe make it to the first harvest. If they succeeded, then maybe they could leave the civilians here and go look for their kidnapped brethren.
“Admiral, one of the heat signals started to move. It's moved directly into our way,” the guy on the sensor reported.
She rose from her seat to take a look at the being that stepped up to block their way. She didn't have to look that far down, as it was a humanoid individual that was almost 40 meters in height. On its shoulder stood a tiny person, no it was a normal person, they just seemed tiny compared to the giant.
“ Who are you? For your information, this city of New Hope is under the protection of the Giants of the Rewor Tribe. State your business!” the man on the shoulder asked, his voice enhanced by a skill so it could be heard even in the ships across the fleet.
“Put me on the speaker,” she told one of the men while putting on a headset.
“This is the Commander of Epsilon's Aerial Evacuation Fleet, Admiral Amanda Fulcrow. We mean no harm, but I would like to speak with your leadership.” her voice echoed from the various speakers of the fleet.
The man standing on the shoulders of a giant seemed stunned for a moment before he came up with and answer.
“I will have to ask my superiors. Please stay here while I will go ask them,” he said readily. Well, it was hard to keep the semblance of an attitude in the face of a massive aerial fleet armed to the teeth and floating right in front of his nose. The tiny figure climbed down the giant and skedaddled back to the city.
“Are you sure about this? I don’t think these people are trustworthy, “ the old man, her second in command, commented. After all, this was a city that existed for decades, almost a century, apart from the districts. Who knew what kind of savages they had become at that time or after the introduction of the system.
“If they pose a threat, we can still eliminate them, but until then, I would like to avoid thinning our people even further,” she answered taciturnly. She was always ready to use force, even extreme kinds, but it didn’t mean it was her go-to way to solve things. A great wisdom she realized was, that it was never too late, to use force.
While they were waiting someone brought her a cup of tea. Said cup was half empty by the time a group of people exited from the city and came toward the silently floating fleet. Despite their docile action, they posed a looming threat by simply being there.
“We are here to escort you, Admiral. The council of New Hope wishes to talk with you,” the man at the front of the delegation declared in a neither haughty nor servile voice.
Accompanied by two of her guards, she followed the delegation with a cold expression. Her intuition already told her that the city wasn’t a nice place, full of scum and probably led by scum. But she wasn’t afraid, not even perturbed. Scum made things easier.
You could bribe scum, you could play with their greed and if nothing worked, there was nothing to feel bad about in killing scum. Amanda felt relieved that she was likely going to face scum, it was harder on her conscience if she had to use force on the friendly and innocent.
Seeing the town from the ground made it seem even more pitiful. She felt bad for the people who actually lived in this place, even their tight ships were cleaner and more comfortable than this. What surprised her was the overall strength of the people here. Since she was not a real admiral and didn’t have the related skills, she could only estimate their strength by experience.
On Average the beggars on the streets were already lv.40, with the retched crooks and gangsters hiding in the alleyways reaching 50 or even 60. They had a much higher average level than the people of Epsilon. But maybe that was necessary to survive in this kind of place. The delegation led her to one of the central skyscrapers that still seemed rather well-maintained.
“This place used to be the base of a notorious gangster who put most of his loot into restoration of the place. Thanks to the man, who also asked the giants to protect us, we were able to get rid of him. Since then, the council resides here and tried to guide the future of our city.” the guide told them with pathos, but Amanda was sure it was all bullshit.
If she wasn’t sure before, she was sure after entering the hall of the council. Each and every person seated at the table had an almost cartoonish semblance to gangster stereotypes. Muscled men with scars all over, thin men with treacherous mustaches, women with poisonous beauty, and old hags dressed like the proprietresses of brothels. It would have been funny if she hadn’t faced them for real.
All of their greedy beady eyes were glued to her, who brought great weapons of destruction to their doorstep. She didn’t fear the cunning of mankind. On the contrary, she intended to use their obvious greed to her advantage.
“Let’s get to business. We, the people Epsilon, would like to seek refuge in your city, for the time being.”
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