Chapter 318: They’ll Find Us
With all of the people climbing the wall reaching the bottom it really hit Donny that they had been able to escape the city. It had also been relatively easy, which was something to celebrate to him. It did raise the question of what the Demon Worshipers were doing that kept them from being here to stop them though.
The fact that the only thing that had come after them the whole time was mindless undead screamed that every Demon Worshiper that could think was off doing something else entirely. "I think we can land now." Hearing what Fendis said Donny looked down to see if everyone had made it to the ground yet because he didn't plan to stop watching until that happened.
"Almost. I want everyone on the ground first." Donny knew that just because nothing had happened yet that it wasn't smart to give up their lookout position. If they didn't see something coming, this perfect escape they had just pulled off could become a disaster pretty quickly. It was extremely unlikely though since it didn't make any sense to let them get over the wall before attacking.
A few minutes passed before Donny said. "Alright I'm bringing us down." The last person had just gotten off of the stairs and the golem was starting to come off of the wall to take its original form so Donny wanted to get down there so he wouldn't miss whatever Rigbis said to the group now that they were out of the city.
Landing on the ground near the group Donny was about to dissipate the formation when he decided against it and asked Fendis to turn off its mana supply. Once it was out of mana he sealed it in a magic circle and walked towards the group who had just finished walking over the wall.
They were all obviously still recouping after the climb so Rigbis hadn't started his speech yet so Donny walked towards him so he could ask if Rigbis wanted him to keep the air formation in the air once they started walking again. Unlike the last few times no one stopped him from talking to Rigbis but Donny still didn't get too close as he asked. "Would you like us to go back up when we start moving again?"
Rigbis seemed like the hike up and back down the wall hadn't affected him so he didn't take long to answer this question. "Yes, that would be good. There's probably some Demon Worshipers out here as well so a lookout would be good. It's going to be a while before we start moving again though."
Donny wasn't sure what caused it but as Rigbis was saying this he realized just how thirsty he was. He had somehow been able to forget this while they were moving since they were in danger but now his mouth felt like it was full of sand every time he breathed in. There was no easy way around this either because the Metal Domain was dry.
Every bit of water that the people drank inside the city came from pipes under the ground that came from runoff from all the nearby mountains. "Sir, is water and food our biggest problems right now?" Donny wasn't sure why he hadn't really thought about the fact that once they were out of the city they would no longer have access to food or water.
"Maybe food but look." Seeing a ball of metal start to form in Rigbis' hand Donny realized they had regained access to Earth and Metal mana which would make it easy to find ground water or even a pipe that held water. "I'll get to work on finding water." Donny was able to forget the dryness of his mouth because of the realization that he could use Metal spells again and quickly walked towards the group of mages that had been on his platform with him.
"Are any of you able to use Earth magic?" Half the hands in the group shot up and Donny told them to spread out and try to dig up a pipe for water. Donny was able to match his Metal mana to the principles of Earth close enough that he could actually fake the affinity but people with the affinity for Earth mana would always be better than him when it came to detecting something like a water pipe if it was an earthen pipe and not made of metal.
It didn't take long for one of the people he sent out to start to dig and a few moments after that they heard a stream of water. Seeing a large portion of the people in their group rush towards the sound of water Donny understood they all planned to start drinking right away but he knew the city had enchanted pipes for a reason. "No one drinks until we inspect the water for metal."
Unsurprisingly the Metal Domain had a large amount of metal in its mountains and since this water was runoff it would be toxic unless you were a dwarf. "You're a Water mage right?" A healer or alchemist would have been better in this case since they might need to purify the water but they had neither so Water magic would have to do. Seeing the person he had spoken to start to nod, Donny pointed down at the water and said. "Just do the best you can."
With that taken care of he walked back to Rigbis who was watching from a distance and asked. "Are we going to be trying to find the people who brought the barrier down or running?" Finding the people who had come to help would be his preferred option but he could recognize they weren't exactly in good condition to fight and the people who had come to help might not have supplies for them to take.
This meant running to one of the other domains nearby would be their best option to find food and recuperate. "We'll be staying here to help. I think whoever brought down the barrier will find us soon so we really don't even need to move to find them." Donny gave Rigbis a smile and said. "I'm happy that's your answer."
He felt like he had barely done anything to help at this point and wasn't ready to leave even if it was the best decision they could make to live. The fact the counter attack was about to begin would make it even worse to him since they had been so close to being able to help after all this time cooped up in the fortress.
...
"We're about to pass into the Metal Domain through the mountain gate." Lake looked up as the cart driver yelled this to them from outside. "Would you use the arrow to see if the dagger is still in front of us?" Hearing the Temple Heads request, Lake took the arrow out of his bag and started to spin it.
After a while he pointed off to one side slightly and said. "It's that way." Lake wasn't sure where exactly he was pointing but he was pretty sure it wouldn't be the city. The road through the mountains was pretty straight so off to the side slightly would probably be a mountain or something.
"We'll continue straight in that case. We can't drive the cart directly to the dagger because of the terrain so this is the best option for now." Lake nodded like everything the Temple Head was right because he didn't feel like getting out of the cart and running through the mountains right away.
"What did you call the one with the dagger again?" Lake was a bit surprised when the guy next to him asked this since they had been almost completely silent this whole time but he didn't answer since the question clearly wasn't for him. "His name is Jon." Tiff was the one who answered and Lake looked at her and was about to ask a question himself when the guy did it first. "Did he really tell you he would give it back?"
Tiff nodded to this and Lake could tell she briefly looked at him, which he didn't like, before saying. "He did but something must have gotten in his way from keeping his word."
"Or he was lying." Lake wasn't the only one who disliked this but he still just kept his mouth shut and let Tiff say what she wanted to since he would if he didn't really know what they were talking about. "We'll see if he's still the one in possession of it when we get there." Her tone as she said this was pretty heavy and Lake took it to mean she was still grateful for the time he had saved her life.
It was just too bad he hadn't kept his word then and handed her the dagger because they wouldn't be wasting their time like this now if he had. "Tiff don't be rude, his point is valid even if you don't agree with it." Lake kind of wanted to laugh when he heard how the Temple Head spoke to keep an augment from happening but he didn't because it would probably come off as rude as well.
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