"I swear to god I'm going to get revenge for this" - said Eric while throwing an annoyed look at his fiancée and his best friend.
"You have to admit it was fun, although you don't have to worry, I had everything ready to record your first time" - said Elisabeth while showing him a sphere - "Too bad the show couldn't go on".
"Fuck you!" - Eric shouted as the others started laughing.
"Ok, jokes aside about Eric's anal virginity, it's time for us to move on, we already have all the preparations to perform the alchemy" - said Ren while looking around - "And we still have a few days to go before we can reach our destination"
"Son of a bitch, I'm going to have nightmares today" - said Eric with irritation.
"Relax, I promise I'll be nice" - said Elisabeth as she pulled out a strange phallic shaped object.
Those present looked at Eric with different kinds of expressions.
"She's kidding, I don't like that kind of thing!" - Eric exclaimed while shaking his head - "Believe me!"
"If you say so" - said Ren while giving him a pitying look.
* * * * *
Another two days had passed since the group had resumed their journey, and they had finally arrived at their destination.
This place had been marked in advance because according to the [Tower of Babel], there was an ancient and advanced civilization here in the past, which meant one thing, this place had a treasure to be discovered.
Ren not only knew where the treasure was, but he also knew that there were hundreds of buried buildings that they could use as bases for their new civilization, he would only need to use a few days to destroy the small hill that had formed over the city, although he was also prepared for this, that's why he had been training his magic power since they had started to devise the Neo Bahamut plan.
"You know your orders, I want you to split into two groups, the first will create an outer area to work in, the other will search for supplies in the surrounding area, and I don't want you to do anything stupid, if you see danger, retreat and come for help" - Ren said seriously.
"Ok!" - His subordinates exclaimed.
Erika stood by Ren's side the whole time, watching in wonder at the actions of the prince, who was much stronger than she thought, more so when she saw how he was moving pieces of the mountain with just his mana.
"I'm going to use these fragments to create a cultivation area" - Ren said with a small smile. Using nature, water and earth magic, the prince concentrated all the vitality of this mountain fragment into a small dark sludge.
"What is that, your majesty?" - Erika asked curiously as she felt the powerful natural power radiating from that black mud.
"It's an ancient technique developed by a now unknown civilization" - answered Ren honestly because he felt he could trust this woman with his life, a feeling he also had in Elisabeth and Eric - "That civilization created it to revive their crops after their lands were ravaged by hundreds of battles."
"But that doesn't make sense" - Erika said as she twitched her cute little nose - "War can cause lands to become infertile?"
"It wasn't the war itself, but the corpses that were scattered on the land" - Cloud answered while looking at the sky - "The enemies were demons, their blood is poisonous because it contains a huge amount of magic power, that overload of mana, caused the land to harden, creating a thin layer of magic ore, a situation similar to Surt's"
Erika frowned slightly before touching the ground, only to be surprised to see that it was true - "And that sludge, what is it for?"
"It's simple, this mud will absorb the magical properties of the ground so that it becomes soft again" - Ren answered with a smile - "After that, everything will be much easier."
Ren had mentioned it before, but he had already planned all the first steps of his stay in Surt.
First, he would create a safe area to grow crops, and thanks to the huge magical concentration of the soil, the crops would not only grow faster than normal, but also be more nutritious, there might even be cases where advanced species of such plants would appear, or perhaps rare medicinal plants.
Second, he would use an alloy of mithril and obsidian to create a wall around his new city, which would be connected to a magical storage system. This was not as complicated as it sounded, after all, Surt's soil was teeming with mana. Ren just had to find a way to collect it so that it could be used, and he had already done that.
Third, after recovering the buildings of the ancient civilization, he would use all his resources to recover its most important facilities, in which there was an alchemy room filled with strange minerals, the royal palace with the treasures he needed to start the second phase of the plan, and finally the armory, which should have golem cores, as well as exoskeletons for them.
Erika stared at him silently as she felt that he was the most wonderful person she had ever met, though this wasn't so hard, after all, the only good people in her life were her deceased parents, Rhea, and the people in the prince's group, who possibly only respected her because she had gained the interest of their leader.
"Are you all right?" - Ren asked with concern.
"Ahem! Yeah, I was just rambling" - Erika replied with a red face as she saw how she had been caught watching her beloved.
Ren gave her a smile as he took her hand gently, something that made her feel her heart pounding - "We're done here for the day, the first building has been brought to the surface, now we just have to wait for the others to investigate it."
"Aren't you going to do it?" - Erika asked in surprise.
"No, it's no good for me to do all the work, they will become dependent on me, and I can't afford that" - answered Ren while shaking his head - "Come on, let's check the surroundings"
Erika lowered her head before nodding weakly, this was like dating, and she was happy to accept her beloved's proposal.
Ren smiled again before leading the girl off with all the attention in the world.
Erika could feel her heart trying to escape from her generous bosom, this was a dream come true, she was not only beside a handsome boy, but he was kind, loving and cared for her as if she was his greatest treasure. She hadn't felt so loved since she was with her parents, which caused a few tears to start welling up in her eyes.
Ren didn't know what to do when he saw this, he had never caused someone special to him to cry, let alone a lady as beautiful as Erika - "I'm sorry!"
"No, I'm happy, these are happy tears!" - Erika exclaimed as she hugged the prince - "Thank you for giving me all this, you don't know how happy I am!"
"I'm just starting, I promise you that the future will be much better" - replied Ren as he hugged her back.
"I'll be looking forward to it" - Erika murmured as she sank her face into her beloved's chest. Her nightmares about the past were over, as if these had never existed and her past was nothing but an illusion. She was happy, and there was nothing that could change this - "This has to be a dream."
"Then, never wake up" - Ren replied as he stroked the girl's cheek, who simply smiled.
What the duo didn't know, was that two girls were watching them.
"Tch, this is like eating dog food" - said Rea while snorting with annoyance - "I mean, I know this is part of the plan, but seeing how their relationship develops, it's annoying, more because in the game these were simple static images with a bit of dialogue, so that then there would be a time jump of two or three weeks..."
"They look cute to me, I mean, I've known Ren for many years, and this is the first time I've seen him so happy" - smiled Elisabeth as she put her hand on his cheek - "Maybe it's because I've been in this world longer than you, but for me, this is not a game, this is my new life, and seeing as I'm Ren's ally, I guess I have to go in with the mindset that things are about to go to shit."
"Well, you're right about that, this is real" - muttered Rhea as her gaze darkened as she remembered her best friend's last moments and gritted her teeth - "That's why I can't help but feel bad for her."
"Like I said, that wasn't your fault, and if you want to blame someone, then you got that son of a bitch" - Elisabeth said neutrally.