They had a brief talk together catching up on what had happened. Eli sent Audrey a message through the system telling her to not discuss the will skill with anyone, but he did ask her what it was called and what rarity it was. She responded that it was legendary and it was called 'My Lord's Ambition'. He smiled at the name and encouraged everyone to get moving north. That night he and Tara went away from the group and had an energetic and vigorous goodbye as she went ahead to scout the towns that they had threatened.
Eli stayed with the group wanting to get to know everyone better, he kept his mask off as they told stories of their past. Stevens and Eli particularly told stories of each other trying to one-up each other in embarrassment. The others were laughing in tears at some stories and shedding sad tears at some of the more traumatic stories. They paired off again for the monster fights, working on team tactics and feeding each other openings. Their progress north wasn't slow, Eli pushed them to move fast and wanted them to get used to fighting while tired.
They camped at night, but only for about two hours, Eli stood watch while they slept. They had plenty of food from the system store and so far, they only needed to eat about half a meal a day but Audrey predicted that this would increase as the system unlocked further. She also told them that they should spend all their money when they got back, since she also predicted that the system's help would decrease and probably lean more toward an auction system instead of a store. Professions would become very important soon and their group did not have any, so maybe they could be monster hunters to get crafting supplies. They were seeing them with loot more and more.
Not knowing what was the best direction to push the group in, he decided to lean on Bethany's business sense. He asked her to come up with a plan and when speaking privately to her he stressed that this was important and the reason she used to join him.
"We are all counting on you, but I am trusting you, and it would mean a lot to me and everyone if we get ahead of this. You make this work and I will owe you a favor…" He paused and thought about what she might want. "I will owe you a Tara approved favor."
"I can't promise that my skills will translate, this is literally a new world. However, my knowledge and skills should give me a good foundation. By the way, do you notice anything different about me?" She asked with a hopeful expression.
"Yes, you leveled your body, it's a good look," he said. He wanted to compliment her because she honestly looked amazing. She was in her late thirties but now looked like she was 25 with perfect skin, perfect hair, and perky feminine curves. But he didn't want to encourage her drive to chase him. However, after he had looked her over and made his comment, she must have noticed something about his expression or body language because she smiled big and winked at him.
"I've been working hard on it, and I'll continue to improve it. Any time you want to check it out, you know, for science, let me know," she said with another wink and a batting of her eyelashes.
"For science?" he asked, and immediately regretted it.
"Ya, you can give me a good inspection and see what the magic inside me feels like."
Out of reflex, he focused his magic sense on her, then immediately withdrew, but not before she noticed his expression again and smiled.
"You are just too much fun to tease, but, like I said, I will come up with something."
It was two days until the monster horde when they made it back to the safe zone. Eli, still not letting any of them know that he could enter, stayed outside with Cory and Bethany while the other two went to look at how the towns were doing. They didn't have anything specific, but were told by Bethany to just look around and see if any kind of crafting or markets were starting. It was basically a shopping trip for the two of them which excited Audrey, but when she was told not to wear the cloak until they knew more about how the towns felt about him, she was less excited. She liked wearing the same cloak as him more than he realized.
The three outside the safe zone stayed close to the barrier, Cory and Bethany would step inside to check out the shop periodically while Eli, now wearing his mask again, was working on clearing out the area they had fought last time. There wasn't much new growth but there was enough that it would cause him problems when the event started. Another reason they were there was because Bethany thought that there would be scouts checking for their arrival and she wanted to give them time to report back then send someone to talk to them or attack them or whatever it was that they wanted to do.
Bethany's advice was something that Eli was starting to lean more on her as his trust in her grows. She might be eccentric and more into him than he knew how to handle, but she was dependable when it came down to getting the job done, at least in a fight, the other stuff was more him hoping because he didn't know anything about business. On the other side of that, he knew that there was a chance that she knew how to get on his good side and her obsession with him was what was driving her dependability. He liked to think better of people though so he let those thoughts dissipate, he would trust her until she did something to show he shouldn't, and he knew he didn't always pick-up on everything so he would let her plans go even if they seemed crazy.
The particular crazy plan he was thinking about right now was what they were doing. It didn't sit right for him to just stand here, preparing for the horde event, knowing people were watching and planning. He was worried that some of them might get hurt in an ambush, a well planned one might even kill one or more of them. But the odds were that they would stay in the safe zone since you face serious system penalties if you kill someone there. They will want a better gauge of his strengths before attacking and with the new buildings and defenses you could buy they probably didn't feel like they needed his help.
Bethany came back from the barrier after doing some shopping and said that she thought that someone would make an attempt to contact or attack in the next two hours. Eli's first reaction was disbelief, she was messing with him there was no way she could know that, but sure enough, about 90 minutes later a group was approaching from the east. He couldn't see how many yet but they were walking just inside the barrier towards them. As they got closer, he could make out that there were about 20 of them, they all looked pretty beat up, and they weren't walking very fast.
Stepping inside the barrier once again, she waited patiently for them to make their way closer. They stopped about 30 feet away and one man walked out from the others to speak to Bethany. Eli was pretending to not pay attention and was only getting part of the conversation. They seemed to be sent to Lord Ash for punishment by a local town leader trying to save his own skin and hoped that sending these, probable prisoners or homeless people, to him would keep him for his destruction promise. She invited them to sit down with her and eat, she gave them all some bread and it sounded like they were telling her their story and she was sharing some of her time with Eli with them.
Then they got up and left the same way they came. No fighting or ambush or anything, just some people sent here for punishment leaving with food in their bellies. Now, Eli was totally confused and asked her to clarify what just happened.
"I just ate lunch with some nice people," Bethany said.
"You know what I'm asking," Eli replied.
"This was a test, the guy in charge who sent those worthless people would win no matter what I did so I made us look good no matter what he does."
"How do they win no matter what?"
"If we kill them, they can say that you are a merciless tyrant and they have fewer people to feed. If we turn them back, they get information." Bethany explained.
"So a catch-22 for us then, but since you gave them food, we come out the good guys to the regular people of that town."
"I doubt they would tell anyone that that happened. I didn't do it to get those people to like us, I did it so the people watching could see we aren't here to fight. It's adorable how simple you think things are. You do know that smashing things and shaking hands aren't the only options right?" she asked with a hand on her hip.
"What did you learn from them?" Cory asked.
Both Bethany and Eli were startled since they had forgotten he was there. Bethany was bent over with her hands on her knees catching her breath from being scared, Eli was just happy that someone changed the subject.
"That is a good question," said Eli with a smile on his face.
"Whew, don't scare me like that kid, yes I did learn a few things from them. First, no one has figured out war yet, so the smaller towns aren't worried about being taken over. Second, the economies of these places are in shambles, and third, it's unlikely that we will get attacked." She explained.
She went into detail about specifics and how getting their finances and money making opportunities going was going to be slow without more towns economies being stable. However, Eli's eyes glazed over and he stopped listening. It took her a minute but she realized that basic economics was going over his head so she stopped talking, smiled, and patted his shoulder. Math and economics were never his strong suit, so he was not going to be able to follow what her plans were.
It wasn't much longer that someone else approached. This was a single person, so they stayed outside the barrier, Bethany said it could be trouble since they were alone. The two of them stood in front of Eli as if they were guarding him, and he tried his best to not pay attention and act like he was doing something else. The man looked like a Greek statue, chiseled jaw and muscular, with long blonde hair, wearing the same basic armor as everyone else. He walked outside the barrier like it didn't bother him and walked up to stand right in front of Bethany close enough to touch her if he wanted.
"I wish to speak to your Lord, but we can talk first if you are looking to make a career change." He said with so much confidence all three of them were a little staggered by it.
"Eh hem," Bethany cleared her throat, "My Lord Ash is not entertaining guests at the moment, please leave and come back after the monster horde and he might be willing to lower himself to talk to you."
"False bravado," the man said, "he will speak to me."
"You have 10 seconds." Bethany said with absolute certainty.
"Pffft, do your worst," he said.
"5 seconds," Bethany said, holding up 5 fingers and tucking them in as she counted towards one.
When she got to one, in one swift, smooth, and practiced motion, she pulled her spear out of her inventory and struck it at his leg. He was able to move his leg but the same time she struck, Cody struck his other leg and since he had shifted his weight, he could not dodge it. Cody's sword struck into his leg, it wasn't a lot of damage, only sinking in about an inch. They were making a point, not trying to genuinely hurt him. He didn't react to the wound, but he did take a step back.
"Are you going to introduce yourself, or should I just keep calling you 'pompous ass' in my head?" Bethany asked with a smirk.
"I am…"
"Don't care," Bethany said, interrupting him and waving her hand in front of herself dismissively. "Leave"
"You don't have claim to this land, you have no right."
"What right do you have?" Cody asked. "We aren't in the safe zone, and we aren't even bothering anyone unless they choose to cause trouble."
Bethany glanced over at him and smiled, he was coming along, getting out of his shell and she was happy about it.
"Look, I just want to talk to him," the man said, raising his hands to show he didn't have a weapon.
"Talk to us or leave," they said at the same time.