Frontiers Unexplored

6) Churning Earth

The sun was starting to set by the time Takuya saw any traces of life after the group left the factory. He heard the buzzing of distant conversation, and he tore his eyes away from the ground to look up. A frown appeared on his face, and he tried to see just what they were about to head towards. 

To his surprise, Takuya saw a city. His eyes went wide. They had seen a few villages since arriving in the Digital World, but a city was a different beast entirely. The town was built into the side of a mountain as far as he could tell, and there were Digimon of countless different species running around even from faraway. He glanced down to Bokomon, the one who had led them there, hoping that he would be able to offer some sort of explanation. 

"I believe that we can pass through this area and then keep going after we've gotten some rest," Bokomon announced. "This city is large enough that any agents of Cherubimon could very easily lose us in the crowd, so it's the perfect place for us to rest for the night. Maybe we can find some money along the way."

"Money?" Junpei echoed before letting out a sigh. He seemed to realize that they hadn't spent any money since arriving in the Digital World. "Oh, I see... You're broke. That's just perfect. It's not like we'll need to pay for a place to stay in a busy city like this."

Bokomon sighed with a roll of his eyes. "I left my money in Evergreen Dawn. How was I supposed to know that we were going to be attacked by a maniacal bunny rabbit with enough power to kill a god?" he questioned bitterly. "When we get there, I can gather all the funds I had saved up before Neemon and I were forced to evacuate, but until then, we need to find a way to get some coin in our pockets."

"This place is pretty large, and in any big city, there are people to help it run. Maybe we can pick up a small job to tackle tonight and then keep going," Izumi suggested. "That should at least be able to let us pay for a place to sleep and some food."

"Exactly. We'll be fine," Tomoki said, though judging by the way his voice was wavering at the idea, he was trying to convince himself just as much as he was attempting to persuade the other members of the group. 

Everyone fell silent afterwards, and Bokomon gestured for them to follow after him. Much to Takuya's surprise, it wasn't horribly difficult to navigate through the huge crowds the city contained. Nobody gave them a second glance either, instead treating them as simply tourists. He was thankful for such, not wanting to attract any unnecessary attention that could potentially have them noticed by Cherubimon or his minions. Even if Bokomon seemed to believe they would be safe, Takuya wasn't quite convinced yet. 

After a few minutes of walking, Bokomon found a tavern of sorts, and he told everyone to follow him inside. Or at least, that was what Takuya thought he said. The city was too loud for him to hear Bokomon exactly since he had taken up a position at the back of the group. Regardless, he followed the others into the bar. 

A bulletin board was stationed against one of the walls, and Takuya couldn't help but sigh. Just like in all the video games he had played back at home with Shinya, the tavern board had the quests that could bring in some money. Takuya shoved the reminiscent thoughts into the back of his mind, knowing that he couldn't afford to focus on something like that when so much was left to be done. 

Tomoki was the first one to arrive at the bulletin board, and he pulled a page off the pin that was keeping it held up. "This says that the KaratsukiNumemon are looking for someone to fend off an invader who's been trying to break into their home as of late," he said, raising the page for everyone else to see. "They're offering a free meal to whoever volunteers to fight off the enemy."

"Sounds like a place for us then," Takuya grinned. "We could certainly use a free meal. That would allow us to focus all our money on finding lodging for the night. I say that we should go for it."