The Summoning at Devil's Den : Realistic Isekai

Chapter 4 - The Search for Black Powder & Meeting New People

Jason has been holed up in the woods for about three weeks. While he had been keeping a low profile, hunting has been putting a considerable strain on his ammo supply. Out of the 50 rounds he began with, he had 19 rifle rounds left. He attempted to make a bow, but he wasn't able to make anything that would shoot more than a dozen or so times, and when it did fire it didn't go more than about 50 feet. He would have to come up with a better solution, or starve. While he knew how to make black powder, it wouldn't work for reloading the shells he already had. He would have to make a rifle out of the materials he acquired from the abandoned villages a few weeks ago.

 He decided that he would make an attempt at a matchlock due to the simplicity of the design. The first thing he had to work on was the barrel. He managed to find 3 sheets of iron at the abandoned blacksmith shop and decided to use that for his barrel. He heated the iron in his makshift forge first. Next, he took a rod made of steel and began to beat the heated iron around it as tightly as he could, while still giving himself room to maneuver the rod. Lastly he welded it to ensure there was no gaps in the barrel. He made 4 more barrels in this same fashion just in case one of them failed to hold up to the pressure of firing. 

"Now that that is done I guess I need to find the materials to make my powder." He thought to himself as he packed up. The first place he went was toward the abandoned village. "I know this will be nasty, but if they have livestock and I am sure I will find some saltpeter." he thought as he venture on toward the village.

When he arrived not much had changed. The fires had went out, but the smell of burning bodies still remained. He put on a damp bandanna to act as a makeshift mask. "Can't be too careful. There is no telling what kind of illness killed these people and if it is still here." 

He went to the center of the town to get his bearings and thought, "I may have struck gold here. If I manage to find the saltpeter I'm set. There is already an abundance of charcoal from the fires."

He continued until he saw what appeared to be a stable. "Now the hard part." he thought as he kicked the door open. The caucuses of several cows and a horse laid before him. The smell was overpowering, but he continued to kick around until he found what he was looking for,  crystalline buildup beneath the hay in several stalls. Using his knife he began to scrape up the saltpeter into a cloth bag.

"Shit, only able to get half of this thing full." he thought as he sealed the bag and went outside to start gathering charcoal. He gathered 3 sacks of charcoal before setting off back toward the woods.

"Only thing left to find is sulfur." he thought. "Where the hell will I find that?" he thought out loud. 

As he made his way back to camp he made not of his surroundings. In the distance he noticed what appeared to be steam. "That is as good a place as any to look to sulfur." he thought as he continued toward the woodline.

As he got closer to the trees he saw the shadow of something that he hadn't seen before. It wasn't a deer, It was too big. It stood at least 8 feet tall and was looking directly at him. Jason went down to a crouch and looked through his scope at the form. From what he could see it was moving on 4 legs and was very thin. It had blotches of grey fur on it's shoulder blades and chest but that was it. Its skin was pale and taught all over and it's eyes were black as the night.

Suddenly it bound into a sprint at Jason. Before he knew it, it was less than 100 feet away. Jason took aim and fired at the beast. He missed. He dropped his rifle and grabbed his pistol. He emptied the magazine into the monster. That didn't put it down. It only scared it. The beast ran back into the woods. 

"Fuck! What was that?!" Jason screamed as he reloaded his magazine. He reached down and collected most of the brass and continued on. 

"I better not run into whatever that thing is again." He thought frantically as he broke through the bushes into the treeline. When he finally made it to camp, he wasn't able to relax. Every sound made him thing that that thing was still coming for him.

"Dammit, only 18 rifle rounds left and now I'm down to 42 pistol rounds!" he thought exasperatedly. "Now I don't have a choice but to go out and find the stuff to make this powder.

The next morning he left early in the direction of the steam. Still freaking out from the day before he was hyper aware of his surroundings. Every sound, every movement set him off. Although he was exhausted and extremely freaked out, he continued on toward his destination. After walking for what seemed like forever, he finally made it to the area that he was looking for. 

"I knew it!" he stated proudly. "Springs." He began to run toward the water, briefly forgetting about his situation. It was then that he heard a load splash on the other side of the spring. He dropped to the ground, hoping he wasn't seen by whatever was out there. He searched the area in front of him only to see a woman, but something was different about her. She wasn't dressed like the villagers, and she looked much healthier. 

He got back up cautiously and walked toward the woman. "Maybe she will know what is going on here." he thought as he made his way over to her. Before he could say anything to her a man come out of the woods next to her with a rifle trained on him and shouted, "Hold it right there!"

Jason stopped in his tracks and raised his hands as the man walked toward him still aiming at him. "You can understand me, can't you?" the man asked with a confused expression in his face.

Jason just stood there and nodded.  "Holy Shit! Your the first person we have seen in a couple years that can speak our language!" the man exclaimed excitedly as he made his way over to Jason with a grin on his face.

"What do you mean a couple years? There are more people here?!" Jason asked. with a shocked expression. 

"Yeah, but that's not important right now. What is important is we have a guest in out little slice of heaven!" he man said. "I am Nathan and this lovely lady is  Candice." Nathan stated as he reached out his hand.

"Jason." 

They shook hands and for the first time in 2 months things felt kinda normal. "What are you doing out this way?" Nathan asked.

"I am looking for some sulfur to make black powder. I saw the steam from a distance  and assumed it was a spring. I guess my assumptions were correct." Jason answered.

"How long have y'all been here?" Jason asked. "I only have been here for a couple months and you're the first people I have seen that haven't tried to kill me." Jason said.

"Oh about two years. Isn't that right Candice?" Nathan asked. 

"Yeah, been about that long." Candice stated.

"And you still haven't found a way back?" Jason asked with a concerned look on his face.

" Not only us but folks to the east who been here almost 30 years haven't found their way home." Nathan exclaimed.

Nathan looked down in disappointment. "I don't want to be stuck here. I have to get home!"

"Eh it isn't too bad when you get used to it. Sure the people here are assholes, and there are some things out in the woods that will rip you to shreds given the chance, but really it aint that bad!" Nathan said trying to cheer Jason up.

"Jeezus! What else do you want to tell me about this place?!" Jason asked with a depressed chuckle.

"Well, the folks here do dress in potato sacks and don't bath regularly, soooooo there's that...." Candice said with a snicker.

"Thanks, I needed a laugh. I did mean to ask you. What is with the clothes. Were you dressed to go to a back to the 80's block party or something? I mean I don't think I have seen anyone in acid wash jeans and a denim jacket outside of that." Jason asked with a laugh.

"What do you mean? We been here for about two years now. it is 1986 right?" Candice asked.

***Authors Note***

Sorry for the short chapter. With everything going on I didn't have alot of time to put much into it this week. Next week should be at least twice this long.