Chương 85: Responsibilities
15th day, the month of Rocto, the year 1661.
It has been a few days of walking and from what Cliff, our cartographer, can tell we are halfway to our destination.
Knowing the exact distance to our goal gave the guild.. no, clan a morale boost but it didn't last long. the men are tired and the children restless from being restricted.
Through our journey we had been attack by 4 pack of monsters and 2 band of bandits. each confrontation procure a few wounded on our side but luckily no death as of now but we couldn't keep this up.
Among 3425 people that come with us, only 1012 are able to hold their own in battle while the rest are elderly, women and children too young to fight.
With the recent conflicts about 362 of them are wounded not including the ones from the battle at the capital. all in all, we have less than half that number readily available to protect the whole group.
Another problem that arise are famine and sickness. We all left in a hurry that we didn't had time to grab any supplies other than what little available in the warehouse but with our number, for food it would at most last us till tomorrow night even after rationing it out. as for water we can hold out with magically created water by our mages but we can't depend on it as we need them available in case of combat.
As for medicine.. we had long run out of it. 2 days out from our journey, an unusual fever broke out among the children within the crowd. the usual medicinal herbs were unable to cure them but only suppress the illness to some degree.
The herbalist within the group had started foraging any berries or herbs along our path but it wasn't enough as we couldn't risk stretching our manpower too much.
A few parents had appealed about the condition of their children but we could only give priority with the herbs for those reaching critical temperature.
Having the parents carry the sick and being exposed to the element aren't helping with their condition either as we have no methods of transportation available and we can't isolate the sick from the healthy ones as well. luckily, Elea and myself are still in top condition despite a few cuts we suffered from the few confrontations.
Of course Elea and I have a few panacea from the alchemy maniac but the members of the upper echelons told us to hold onto it until the condition reach critical as we only have a few of them.
Personality I disagree with them but if we think about it rationally they are right, we can't afford to waste resources at our current predicament.
I always thought being a Hero would only consist of training and defeating the villain. but without pops here everyone somehow look up to me to lead them, sure Mark are the one giving command and making most of the decision but whenever the upper echelons need to make decisions or plan something for our people they always include me and Elea in all their meetings and Mark even goes as far as taking up the responsibility of nurturing me and Elea to become leaders my pops would be proud off.
But even with all their trust,
As Lucas was lost in his own thoughts, the person he is thinking off had walk up behind him. the man lift his hand before loudly smacking it on the boy's back, making him almost stumble down.
"I don't know what you're thinking about but man up kid, ya can't put such disheartened face in front of your people." he said with a wide grin on his face, clearly enjoying acting as a tutor of sort.
Rubbing my aching back, I gave him a wronged look as I complained. "That's a good advice and all but can you use less force? my back are not made of stone you know!"
"Hahaha I didn't hit you that hard, stop whining about it." he replied with a laugh but when he look back at me, his eyes are full of warmth as he ask "So, what it is that's bothering you?"
"It's nothing, just kinda miss my folks." I told him, turning back to the path upfront.
"I miss them as well kid but chin up, they're not dead yet so we'll meet them again one day." he said before taking off, returning to the back where a couple mothers seem to be in some sort of argument.
I don't know what they are arguing about but I think I can guess with how one of them are gesturing towards the children. Mark is also right, both wooden charm mom gave me when I first join the academy are intact, meaning my parents are safe and the same are to be said for the ones she gave Elea. So that's some good news at least.
Speaking of him, I turned my attention to the treeline around the dirt path. after our first confrontation with bandit, we had sent out scouts to keep a lookout around the group to inform us of incoming danger. Elea volunteer to be one of them and rarely took break ever since.
I can't help but release a sigh, even tho I'm not good with psychology I can pretty much tell he is keeping himself busy so he won't have time to think about his parents. I can understand that but I really think he's pushing himself too hard right now.
Well, whatever. If it comes down to it I will just have to knock him out so he will get a couple hours of sleep.
.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
19th day, the month of Rocto, the year 1661. Southern gate of Vermilion city.
"What do you mean you can't let them in?! they are children for God sake!" I snap at the guard who stood there with an unreadable expression.
"I'll repeat myself once more, we can't risk an epidemic by letting them in. We don't mind the healthy adults but we can't let the sick children enters." he stated calmly before quickly excusing himself to go back to his post.
I couldn't help but grit my teeth, I couldn't accept that reasoning. I know what he said made sense but these people are my responsibilities, I can't abandon them. not after the losses we've suffered.
"Come on, organize some people to enter and get the supplies and transportation we need. then we can skip town and head directly towards the temple." Mark said as he give a firm pat on my shoulder. Heaving a sigh, I nodded and turn around to choose who to go.
A few minutes later a group of twenty men and women separate to enter the city on supply run.
The rest of us move to the side, away from the line of people entering the city.
As I sat among them, my thoughts return to the numbers. 102 men and 32 children.. who would have thought the bandits we've faced were not all of them and that they would band together to attack us.
We were outnumbered but we prevail, it was a boost we needed while the battle made us all closer and gave us a sense of belonging as a clan. the number of fights and argument drop considerably then but it made the loss of our people much harder to bear.
Blood loss, poison, hexes. pick the way you want to die, we have them all. they were all good men, fathers, brothers, family.. and worse of all, some of their children follow them yesterday.
We didn't had enough, even diluted to serve 206 children, it wasn't enough. the panaceas as so diluted it wasn't potent enough to cure them but only act a bit better than the herbs.
I have no excuse for it, I've failed them. If we hand out the panacea before it got to that point maybe, just maybe. none of the kids would have died.
If pops were here, it'll probably end on a better note. no one voice it out but I'm sure they are thinking the same thing, I just don't understand why no one confront me about it. why aren't they enraged at my failure, they have every right to-
A heavy hit to my cheek brought me out of the spiral I'm having. I glared at the culprit but seeing who it is, I could only lower my gaze in shame.
"Stop putting that kind of face idiot, It doesn't suit you." Elea said as he heave for air, the hit must have taken a lot from him.
"Then what is it you want me to do, smile?" I said with a sneer, does he even know what I feel right now?
"That's your redeeming feature isn't it, smiling like an idiot no matter how bad the situation is." sighing he sat down next to me. "Look, even if I don't know what exactly going on in your head I know you well enough to know what you're thinking right now. it was inevitable so stop blaming yourself."
"Inevitable? so you're saying we can't save them no matter what we did? that we should stop thinking about it because we can't save them? are their lives that insignificant that it won't matter whether they lives or die?" hearing his words, I snap. I shouldn't but I did and I quickly regretted the words that came out of my mouth.
"What I'm saying is, I'm here, you're here, the rest is here. the past can't be changed Lucas, it is set in stone. so just focus on what you can change and do your best not to repeat the same mistake!" he snap back before leaving, back towards where the sick gathers.
Left alone, I think back to his words and realize that he's right. He didn't outright say it but I am stuck in the past, as their current leader I should keep moving forward. besides being all gloomy like this really isn't me.
Slapping my cheeks, I brought out my brightest smile before getting up. I gotta thank him later but first, I still have so much to do around our camp. It's already noon so I better hurry things up.
Tình trạng nguồn điện hàng tuần
-- Xếp hạng
Quyền lực 
-- Đá
Quyền lực