Zensuon: Crystal Age

The Quest For Food

Where our agents get to know their new frienemies better, as well as the situation.

They were led by Owen, followed by Alexandria, who kept a close eye on Frank and Conroy, who left last.

The two new ones and Frank made sure to wave back at the home they were leaving behind, the town's head and his wife waved back.

Conroy, of the only non-wavers, was considering this as they were venturing toward the south: their route will of course be by foot, given there were no roads for the new duo's carriage.

The four stopped by the large black carriage inlaid with golden aesthetic lines along it, and the symbol of the EverIce Alliance on the side.

Frank traced his fingers across the symbol.

Owen smiled and moved closer.

"Do you know about the symbol?" Owen asked.

"Uh... I know it's EverIce's, right?" Frank extracted all the knowledge he could recall about their mission, that, or he was exercising subtle subterfuge by looking like a hapless adventurer- either way worked.

"Yes, that's right! You see, the large mountain is EverIce itself, and the strange symbol on it means 'Knowledge' in an ancient language, behind it the sun indicates the importance of Terra, watching over all!" Owen said through a perpetual smile pointing at each and every noted thing to Frank.

What he did not say, Conroy internally added, was that the sun was initially not there, and it was added later on when Tayon needed the church's aid to control more territories influenced by the Terran faith. Of course, since then Break City has become less religious, and more independent over time, likely from the unique cultural influence that comes from being connected to the rest of the world- maybe that's why Tayon is meandering instead of helping it, some kind of power play?

Alexandria finished getting the rations and seemingly carried all of everyone's portions on herself with little visible issue.

Her backpack was two times larger than theirs, so it made sense, Conroy guessed.

"How many day's worth did you get?" Conroy asked the giantess.

Alexandria looked down at him with a sneer.

"Four day's worth for the four of us." Alexandria gauged the alchemist's reaction.

Conroy just nodded back.

Alexandria smirked and moved on behind Owen.

Alright, so they expect this inspection to take a day, and she doesn't want to bring a lot of food. Probably since she saw us finish the entire meal at the house at record speed. She doesn't trust us with food. Conroy liked her, but also hated her, dealing with smart people is a hassle.

"So where are the horses? You must be on a time limit since they can't be fed properly in town, given the situation." Conroy commented as they were already on their way, poking at the situation.

Maybe he could get a clue on where the food is being kept, even if it is horse food, some of it might be edible for humans.

"Oh, I know the Phantasmal Horses spell." Owen smiled and patted the spellbook fastened to his side.

Conroy glanced down at it. Right, a wizard. Since Tayon is known to be a wizard, and this man is his apprentice, he can assume any spell this man knows his master likely knows. If he could somehow get his hands on that spellbook...

Conroy was jarred awake from his daydream by a Whack on his back. He was looking over to Frank and suddenly noticed peering around that they'd arrived at the edge of the southern forest.