It's been three days, or what has felt like three days, since Alyssia got injured. To my surprise, she and the others recovered much faster than I expected. Apparently, the elves have better regenerative abilities than humans do. It took about a day for her to fully heal. The average human takes around a week or two to heal a wound like that.
The others went back to scouting the area.
I took the liberty of giving them some Goblin Necklaces so that they could be better prepared for an attack. Those types of monsters were more common than any others that I've seen. I wasn't too worried with them fighting any Undead since the bodies of those monsters were incredibly frail and weak. If a crappy wooden sword could cleave through their necks, then a simple chop could kill them just as effectively.
They seemed to appreciate the help since they only came back with minor scrapes. Those injuries healed in just a few seconds.
Like I planned, everyone was given a pouch made out of the sheets from the tents. There was more than enough for everyone.
The large tent would be taken down. There was still a use for it, and that was being a tarp for everyone to sit underneath. It was only for cases like rain or snow if we don't have shelter after leaving the prison.
Above all that. . .
I hope that I'll be stronger by the time everyone gets out. Just a few extra levels, until I'm level ten. Maybe things will be a bit easier from then on.
Hopefully we're close to some town or city. Then again, there might be a large jungle between us and that godsend if there's a bunch of roots and vines.
Some magic users actually went with the scouts to check the status on those roots.
They cast some magic that allowed them to sense something's life force. Of course these roots were alive, but the elves then cast Magic Sense. It was a spell capable of detecting magical properties of a target.
The roots were indeed of magical origin. They gave off a faint purple glow as the magic was casted.
So that proved that magic plant life exists. Am I going to fight a magic plant monster in the future? Knowing my luck, it'll be massive as well.
Anyway, I decided to confront the elder about my plan for the future.
He sat in the middle of the camp atop a wooden board. He carved a staff out of another board and held it in one hand.
I approached him, sitting next to him as we watched the elves around us go about their day, preparing for what was to come.
"Soma. On behalf of everyone, I thank you for your dedication. Even now, you are helping my people." He said, a faint smile appearing on his face.
"Don't mention it. I promised Alyssia that I'd do my best to help everyone. Once you guys get someplace to live, I'll leave. I have some things to do." I said, my head slowly moving down to stare at the ground. I still have no idea why I'm in this world. Since I realized I was, in fact, reincarnated, the question burned into my subconscious. Occasionally, it'd come back up and I'd ponder the possibilities.
There has to be some reason, right?
Someone has to know why. I'm pretty sure I had this thought before that I could be one of many that have been taken to this world. Maybe, just maybe, I'll be able to meet a person that's from my world? I hope so. I'm having trouble keeping it a secret as is. Half the time, I have this urge to tell Alyssia, but it takes all of my concentration to stop myself from doing so.
Not only that, but trying to adjust to this world is harder than I thought.
Living in a fantasy world with RPG elements at your disposal is a gamer's dream come true. But, they never think of what you'd actually need to do when confronted with a world like this.
Knowing how to fight is a big thing. I'm still relying on Fighting Instinct heavily when in a fight so I can dodge attacks, and close the distance between me and my opponent.
Also, trying to talk without letting modern technology slip out of my mouth is pretty difficult.
"You know that Alyssia and I are going to leave together, right?" I asked the elder.
He nodded almost immediately, although very weakly. "Indeed. She's told me so much about what she wants to see during your time together. I hope you know that the world is quite a dangerous place outside of this infested prison."
"Of course. I'm not that stupid. As long as I can get stronger, I'll take on anything the world throws at me." I said, trying to sound more confident. In truth, I was actually a bit terrified. Who knows what the world will present to me? Only way to find out is to go out and let it happen.
It seemed my feeble attempt at expressing such fake confidence was easily noticeable as the elder quickly let out a laugh. My head hung low as a result of my embarrassment.
"Yeah. I am a bit scared, actually. But, despite that, I know I have to ignore it and keep going no matter what." I admitted.
"It matters not, young one. Anyone in their right mind should be terrified of what the world has in store for them. That is a part of life. It is your duty, as an individual, to press on and prove that you are able to overcome such challenges." The elder said to me, his words reaching to my very core as he spoke each word with such meaning behind it. He wanted to make everything so clear to me. I smiled and stood up from where I was.
"Thank you, elder. I appreciate it." I said before taking my leave.
What he said constantly repeated itself in my mind as I continued to think about it. I wanted to take those words to heart.
I decided to meet up with Alyssia, who was still training with her bow on the far left side of the camp. She always looked pretty happy when holding it in her hands. The arrows that pierced through the air as they shot through their targets with the perfect amount of force was an amazing spectacle.
She was skilled enough to fire more than two arrows and have them rip through the target with incredible accuracy. Something tells me that it'd take me a while to get that good. The elf saw me walk toward her, and she stopped to face me. "I saw you talking to my grandfather." She said as the bow was then set aside against the wall of the camp.
"Oh, yeah?" I replied.
"Anything noteworthy?"
"No. Not really. He just said he appreciated all that I've done to help is all."
As I said that, Alyssia's eyes locked with mine.
"So, is he fine with leaving early tomorrow?" I asked her.
"Yeah. I talked about it earlier with him. He's really only worried about everyone else. He may be old, but he's still pretty tough."
"I won't deny that. I'm just worried what will happen if I slip up."
"It's not just you who's protecting everyone. You got me, too." She said, walking over to me and lightly punching my chest. "You might not be the most muscular guy in the world. . . or the tallest. . . but you're still super strong."
Was that. . .
Was that supposed to be a compliment? I know there are people who can be way taller than 180 centimeters, but that made me think of how tall people can get in this world.
She's right about me not being all that muscular. I'm pretty skinny as it is. Eating all that meat and fighting some of the monsters in the prison should have added a bit of weight and muscle, right?
Well, whatever. She said I was strong so I'll take it as a compliment.
Alyssia's lips pried open once again so say something, "What's the plan, though? I mean, how are we gonna go about getting everyone out?"
I actually thought about it quite a bit.
My plan was pretty simple. Scouts would be in front of everyone, making sure to keep everyone posted on what is ahead of them so Alyssia and I can prepare to fight. She would be behind the scouts, using her bow to try and take down the weaker monsters. I made the decision to place myself behind the entire group. This is so we aren't attack from behind while focusing on the front.
Within the group of elves are healers which can be of use now that they have recovered fully. Also, some have offensive and defensive spells to help out. The ones with buff and debuff spells would be split. One half in the back and the other half in the front. They were there to help Alyssia and I. Those without any spells would be in the middle of everything with the elder.
It was a simple formation, and it was the best we got. Can't really do much with only two people having weapons. I could give someone my mace if I really had to. My wooden sword was thrown out since it wouldn't be of much use when we got out.
"So, what do you think?" I asked.
Sweat rolled off her forehead. "I, uh, I don't know. It really is all we can do. At least we have people on both sides." She said nervously.
"We could switch our places. I think that could help. I'll even give you my mace to help with close-combat." I suggested.
She nodded. "Yeah, sounds good. Thanks."
Since my sword had far longer reach, I could use this opportunity to really focus on my sword. I planned on selling the mace when we got to a town, but I guess that'll have to wait.
I pulled the mace off and handed it to her. She was a little surprised by the weight of it despite how small it was, but shs quickly adjusted to it and placed it down by her side.
It took us a bit longer to iron out a few details in the formation.
In addition to that, we discussed how to find the entrance to the prison. I told her what the scouts already told me regarding the roots. They became larger and more plentiful at you continue onward in a certain direction. Along with that, their magical energy becomes larger as a result of being bigger. They also appear to move after feeling the vibrations in the ground. The scouts noticed this when they tried to make as little noise as possible around the roots.
It was as simple as that. The more active, larger, and plentiful they become, then we're either closing in on the entrance or some plant monster. The both of us prayed that it was the former. Though, it would be kind of cool to see a giant plant monster.
We finished our discussion and decided to call it a day, but not before one last thing.
I got everyone together for a meeting. I told them of the plan I talked about with Alyssia. Then, I told them that it would be time to leave early in the morning.
Because it got colder at a certain time, everyone assumed that that's the sign for it being night. So, when we noticed the temperature drop, that's when everyone went to turn in for the night. The moment got noticeably warmer, everyone needed to wake up. I'm a pretty light sleeper, so I've been waking up every time the temperature changed.
I was the last to go to sleep.