Chapter 30: Moving Out
The order to relocate was given.
The humans in the Valley Base began packing their things.
Actually, there wasn't much to pack.
A few tattered clothes, a bit of dry rations—that was all they owned.
The villagers of Bone Village wrapped their belongings in cloth, moving slowly, their faces expressionless.
Blacksmith Paul carefully wrapped his old hammer, which he had used for half his life, in several layers of rags.
This thing was more important than his life.
In another wooden cabin, Lloyd and Rosen were packing the beast skin maps they had drawn.
These skins covered in lines and marks were the only result of their time here as teachers.
Lloyd rolled up a map and asked in a low voice:
"Do you think that Lord will really let us return to Iron Fortress?"
"Who knows."
Rosen didn't even look up.
"Can you guess the thoughts of that Lord? Don't think about it. Just do whatever we're told. Surviving is the most important thing."
Just then, the sound of bones rubbing against each other came from outside. Scritch, scratch.
The sound wasn't loud, but it was rhythmic, and there were more and more of them.
Lloyd and Rosen exchanged a glance, seeing the vigilance in each other's eyes.
Putting down the things in their hands, they quietly walked to the window and peeked out through the gap.
Not just them.
All the humans in the valley packing their things stopped what they were doing.
Those Skeleton Soldiers who served as apprentices were walking over from their respective posts.
In the fields, the farming skeletons put down their hoes.
In the smithy, the forging skeletons left the furnace.
They hadn't received any orders. They just spontaneously, squad after squad, quietly gathered around the wooden cabins where the humans lived.
They did nothing, just stood there.
Their empty eye sockets looked at the humans packing luggage inside the houses.
The valley suddenly became terrifyingly quiet, with only the rustling of wind through leaves remaining.
"What... do they want?"
A villager's voice was trembling.
"Could it be... they don't plan to let us leave?"
Another person's guess raised everyone's hearts to their throats.
"Are they here to send us on our way... to the afterlife?"
Buck, the young man who had been teaching skeletons to farm, took a deep breath, pushed open the cabin door, and walked out.
He looked at the Skeleton Soldier who used to plant hoes as seeds and water them daily.
"Hey, what are you all gathering here for?"
The Skeleton Soldier just looked at him.
After a while, it spoke slowly.
"You are leaving."
"Yes, we are leaving."
Buck nodded, his tone unconsciously taking on a teaching cadence.
"So, don't bury yourselves in the soil anymore, hear me? And you."
He pointed to another skeleton.
"Potatoes sprouting is a good thing; you can plant them directly. Don't boil them before planting, remember?"
The skeletons didn't answer, just looked at him.
Buck wanted to say more, but found he couldn't continue.
These days, he got angry at this group of brain-damaged bone racks every day, shouting until his throat was hoarse.
But now that he was really leaving, for some reason, his heart felt empty.
At this time, Blacksmith Paul also walked out of his shop.
He looked at his ten bizarre apprentices.
"In the future..."
Paul's voice was very hoarse.
"When gripping iron, remember to use tongs, don't use your hands anymore."
"Also, pull the bellows at a steady speed, don't go fast then slow..."
He rambled on, not even knowing what he was saying himself.
In this strange silence and atmosphere of parting, a Skeleton Soldier suddenly took a step forward.
It walked up to Buck, and then... opened its arms.
Buck was startled and instinctively took a step back.
"The Common Knowledge Teacher said in class before."
The Skeleton Soldier's voice rang out.
"When humans express the emotion of reluctance to part, they engage in a form of physical contact called a hug."
Saying this, it hugged Buck directly.
The bones were cold and hard, hurting Buck and nearly breaking his ribs.
Then, a second one, a third one...
All the skeleton apprentices began to imitate this action.
They walked toward their human teachers, using their clumsy, cold frames to form one hug after another.
The villagers were terrified at first, then stunned, and finally, an emotion they couldn't describe welled up.
Buck, this strong young lad, was the first who couldn't hold it back.
"Woo..."
He raised his sleeve to wipe his eyes messily, his voice choking with sobs.
"Damn it! You are skeletons! Shouldn't you be cold-blooded and chop people up at the slightest disagreement?!"
"Acting like this... how can we bear to leave... wuwuwu..."
His crying was like lighting a fuse.
Other villagers couldn't hold it back either.
The fear of leaving their homeland, the confusion about the future, and the absurd experience of living day and night with skeletons during this time.
It all exploded at this moment.
Crying rose and fell in the valley, wave after wave.
Humans were crying.
The skeletons tilted their heads, looking at these humans leaking water from their eyes, seemingly unable to comprehend.
Some skeletons even extended pale finger bones, trying to wipe the water off their faces.
Which only scared the humans into crying louder.
The whole scene was filled with the sadness of parting and an indescribable hilarity.
Just then, an elegant figure appeared silently at the village entrance.
Skele-Lust, the Tier 4 Skeleton Archmage, quietly watched this chaotic farce.
She didn't speak immediately, just watched until the villagers' crying subsided a little.
"Have you... misunderstood something?"
Her voice was clearly transmitted to the mind of every creature.
Everyone stopped and looked at her.
Lust's gaze swept over the Skeleton Soldiers who were still clumsily hugging humans or trying to wipe tears.
"The Lord's command is for these humans to all move to Iron Fortress to conduct teaching work."
She paused, then spoke the second half of the sentence that decided everything.
"And you will accompany them as the first batch of trainees sent abroad for advanced studies."
"In the future, only skeletons who pass the training in Iron Fortress and receive certification from the instructors..."
"Will be qualified to return to this Valley Base and serve by the Lord Ruler's side."
In the valley, dead silence.
The humans didn't quite catch the deeper meaning of this sentence.
But the skeletons... understood.
One second.
Two seconds.
The Skeleton Soldier still hugging Buck suddenly let go.
It took a step back, its skull bobbing up and down, as if sizing up a piece of cargo.
Looking at this human who was still sobbing in front of it.
Valley Base = By the Lord Ruler's side = Closest place to the Lord Ruler = Highest Glory.
Iron Fortress = New City = Place far from the Lord Ruler = Exile to the frontier.
Conclusion: These weeping, slow-moving, time-wasting two-legged creatures in front of them were taking them away from the Lord Ruler's side.
"Who wants to go with these two-legged monkeys that only know how to leak water from their eyes!"
The Skeleton Soldier who had just talked about humans hugging shouted first.
Its tone was worlds apart from a minute ago.
"We want to stay by the Lord's side! Protect the valley!"
Another skeleton responded immediately, its jaw clacking loudly.
"Yes! Stay in the valley! Protect the Lord Ruler!"
"These humans are so troublesome! Their packing speed is slower than a snail!"
The huggers who were full of warmth just moments ago instantly turned into overseers filled with disdain.
Looking at these teary-eyed humans, their empty eye sockets clearly wrote: Get out, hurry up.
Buck still had tears hanging on his face. He pointed his finger at that skeleton, mouth open for a long time, unable to say a word.
One second you can't bear to let me go, the next second it's "Monkey, get out fast"?
This attitude change was faster than the Lord of Iron Fortress changing wives in the bards' songs!
Lloyd and Rosen were dumbstruck. They felt their worldview had been severely impacted and trampled upon.
These undead... exactly how are they wired? Are their brains filled with rocks?
Lust turned to the group of Skeleton Soldiers who had started causing a commotion and urging the humans with their eyes.
"If you want to come back, learn well."
Her voice carried no emotion, yet it was like an order impossible to disobey, carved into the soul of every skeleton.
The skeletons immediately stopped making noise.
They looked at each other.
Then, one skeleton stepped forward, grabbed the luggage bag at Buck's feet, and threw it roughly onto its own back.
Another skeleton, without a word, hoisted Paul's hammer along with his bundle.
The force used made Paul's heart ache.
They spoke no more, using actions to express one meaning:
Go, go, go, hurry up and go! Don't delay our studies! Once we finish learning, we can come back sooner!
Thus, an extremely bizarre scene appeared at the exit of the valley.
A group of dejected skeletons with We want to go home written all over their faces.
Escorting a group of humans with dazed expressions who hadn't recovered from the huge contrast yet.
Marching grandly toward the main road leading to the outside world.
The scene was as weird as it could get.
All of this was presented frame by frame before Kaito's eyes through the soul link.
Kaito stood at the highest point of the valley, overlooking everything happening below.
Kaito's soul core fluctuated gently.
He discovered that his undead creations were fundamentally different from the native undead in rumors who only knew destruction and slaughter.
They possessed simple logic, even emotions, and could learn and imitate.
But the ultimate direction of all logic and learning pointed to an absolutely unshakable core—Loyalty to Kaito.
Anything that conflicted with Kaito would be abandoned immediately.
The warmth of parting just now was real.
The disdainful urging now was also real.
Because in their simple logic, these two behaviors were the optimal solutions under different premises.
Kaito dismissed the thought of delving deeper into this issue.
Anyway, this current state fit his requirements better.
A group of citizens who were absolutely loyal, could think, could work, and regarded serving him as their highest faith and ultimate goal.
Kaito's gaze crossed over the strange team walking out of the valley, casting toward the distance.