The Witch's Relay

Chapter 50: Camp

We return to Northerton to find it stirred up like a wasp nest. Everywhere you look people are running around with weapons, letters and various supplies.

Confused, we realize that all activity is concentrated between the Adventurers Guild and the north gate, and when Heather grabs a random passerby they seem in a great hurry to get away.

"What is going on around here!?" Heather asks the man intensely.

The man who appears to be on his way towards the gate is reluctant to stop and tries to tug his way out of Heather's grip for the entire time. Strapped around his shoulder is a leather mailbag.

"Haven't you heard!? The dungeon is opening early! Everyone is scrambling to get to their proper posts. I'm delivering instructions to people already on site! Now let me go! This is urgent!"

I make note that the people going towards the gate fully armed, presumably the adventurers called in for the actual exploration or entrance guarding, are way more calm about the situation, which gives me the impression that this really can't be as urgent as most of the people here seem to think. Although we just got here and don't really know anything about the situation, so I can be totally wrong.

"Should we head to the guild?" I ask Heather.

"Yes. If the dungeon is really opening, then we will need to meet up with the other parties over on the mountain."

Without saying anything else along the way, Heather and I make our way to the guild with quick strides.

Like I had suspected, all of the commotion is centered around the guild. Inside, groups of adventurers are gathered in circles and speaking in loud voices, and long lines have been formed in front of the desk where the clerks are buried in work.

Among the clerks is Linda, who, rather than wearing her regular uniform, has equipped her adventuring gear and light armor.

"Oh thank goodness you two are back!" Linda discovers our presence surprisingly fast and immediately leaves her desk-post to scurry over to us. The people standing in line give some annoyed grunts since we apparently skipped ahead.

"I have been waiting around just in case you would show up, but Vanessa has already gone on to the dungeon entrance and is waiting there." She is visibly stressed. I suppose having half your party missing before an expedition would be stressful, but I also imagine this entire situation caught everyone off guard. "I can explain some things along the way if you haven't gotten answers already, but we really do need to hurry on to the site."

She nearly drags us out of the building but when she sees our packs, since after all, we have been camping outside of civilization for a couple weeks, she quickly tells us to drop them off behind the desk. "Everything we might need is already waiting for us, so we just need to focus on traveling fast. And don't worry, the other workers here will move them to my office. Right Vera!?."

The other clerk who Linda addresses, and who also took her spot managing desk, nods hurriedly before going back to attending the line.

All three of us then quickly exit the building, and in a half jog we make our way back out of the city.

I sigh. We had just made our way back, and now we have to go back out for who knows how long! I guess it should be fine though, from what I got, the entire clearing of the dungeon should take less than forty-eight hours. And then I get a nice bed and a good meal!

"According to the information I've gotten, the doors could open earlier tonight, but it is quite possible that they could open tomorrow morning." Linda speaks clearly as if we were just taking a leisurely stroll, even though we are jogging a little bit towards the faster end. Not that I am having any trouble with my breathing. Both Heather and I are well-trained enough to handle this without any issue.

It is unfortunate that horses are so rare, because being able to ride would greatly speed things up. Instead, for us "lowly commoners" running is the only way to get places fast.

While we are all in peak condition, we still don't waste our breaths, and during the entire trip to the mountain, we only break the silence a couple times when Heather inquires about a couple details, and the answers were short and straight to the point both times.

The sun is pretty much set when we arrive, and while I don't know what else I expected, I didn't think the camp would be so massive.

Large tents upon large tents are lined up in orderly rows in orderly columns and here and there a larger gap occurs, and is filled with ablaze fire pits, making the entire camp appear to be glowing.

Of course the entire camp is surrounded by guards with torches, who are on the lookout for any monsters, who happen to have a large presence in this area.

It appears that the fires are pretty popular, which isn't surprising considering the cold, because around nearly every one, a small crowd has gathered.

"Each tent is dedicated to a different party, so we need to find Vanessa and ours." Judging by Linda's voice, while she is breathing slightly heavier than normal, you can hardly tell that we just ran up a mountain. She really is truly something.

Fortunately it didn't take long to see a familiar face looking all bored outside one of the tents.

"Fiiinally! You took nearly foreever!" I am slightly taken aback by Vanessa's annoyed tone. In all this time I don't think I've ever heard her speak without her normal cheery voice. I wonder if it's because we aren't customers out here or if this is just an off day for her.

"Sorry Essa, I decided to wait a little longer for these two to show up, and I also got tied down at the guild."

Essa? I tilt my head at the two of them.

"Never mind. But now that you're here I can finally go to bed. I want to get a few hours of sleep before we enter." Vanessa states groggily.

"Sounds good, I'll do that as well after some food. Where would I get some?" Linda looks amused by her friend's attitude.

"I've brought all your portions in here. Just eat quietly and don't bother me."

Linda giggles while both me and Heather look at each other unsurely as we enter the tent.