A few weeks have passed since we started the project, the dome was finished and we even managed to build a few houses.
Initially, I let everyone build their dream house, and now I kind of regret it.
Almost every house was in a different style, giving the compound a unique look, to say the least.
Unfortunately, I couldn't go back on my word, and the Elders couldn't comment on them either, since it was the best way to boost morale.
So now we are stuck with this ugly underground town.
"Are you sure we can't do anything about this?"
Froggy gave a tired sigh as I asked him the same question for who knows how many times.
"I told you already Trader, we can't do anything about it, you gave your word and the Elders won't interfere with this, no matter how bad it gets."
In the past few weeks, Froggy became a leader figure throughout the Clan, he was more friendly than when he first came, and he was easier to approach than the Elders or me.
So here he was, a man respected and wanted by the community, and he took it very seriously.
He was more confident in himself and even tried to improve his sleep skedual, but there were few results.
But he's really trying to improve himself for the Clan.
"I think we should step into the next phase Trader."
"But we can still build some more, and try to make the place better."
I said that while looking at a Japanese-style house sitting right beside a wooden cabin.
"We can always improve our home, but the longer we delay our attack, the more we will lose the element of surprise. Nobody would expect us to recover so quickly. We need to train now, not build houses."
I looked once more at what we've built in the past few weeks and gave a big sigh.
"You're right, but I'm not that good at fighting, so I can't teach them anything about this."
"Don't worry, you've done more the enough for us. I talked with Walter and Sara, and they were willing to train them."
They wouldn't become great warriors in such a short time, but they would have some teamwork exercises that would greatly help.
"That sounds like a plan, and I'm sorry for sounding a little pessimistic here, but we don't stand a chance against them. We don't even know what we are up against!"
And from what little we know, they surpass us in almost every aspect.
"I talked with the Elders and decided that I would go and gather some information that we can use to destroy them."
"You're going there alone?"
"Unfortunately yes, as everyone here is needed with something else."
"What about the Elders? We can skip Flora since she's old, but Anastasia can still help."
"She would leave as well, but to get in contact with the spy network and ask if they have any information about what happened. Unfortunately we don't have a lot of hope with that."
So in the end he truly needs to go alone on this mission.
"If so, I'll come with you."
He seems hesitant to accept my offer, but what he needs to realize is that he doesn't have the option to choose.
"Are you sure? You've already done so much for us, this would put you at risk."
I got closer to him and put my arm on his shoulder.
"Froggy, I need you to realize a few things, I'm not doing this because of the Clan, but because of you, also I've been in a lot of crazy situations before and came out on top, so I'm the best person to bring to such places and lastly, you don't have a choice. You either go spying on those Piligers with me, or you won't be spying."
Froggy seemed to freeze then laughed out loud.
"Trader, truly you are the best friend a man can have, I won't ever forget this."
We both laughed at that and everyone around us had worried looks on their faces.
"Then we should get prepared, we need every advantage we can get."
"True, do you need anything from my base?"
"Just a few ingredients for some potions. Thanks again."
We walked back to my underground base and took the necessary items for this spy mission.
Only me, Froggy, and the Elders knew about the location of my base since I didn't want to stress my monster friend with all the traffic that can be generated in such a small space.
And I don't want anyone to be tempted to go into the Nether.
Plus, I was hoping to befriend her so she would help me in a pinch.
It's growing slower than I like it, but there's still progress.
After we got everything we thought we needed, we left the base and went to meet the Elders one last time.
"So you're joining Froggy, Trader."
"I can't allow my friend to go alone on such a dangerous mission."
And it's not like I'm doing something that I didn't plan on doing myself.
"That's good to hear, with you there Froggy would have greater success at getting the information that we want."
"About that, where even are the Piligers?"
Flora took an old map from her inventory, that was clearly made without the system as everything was in black and white.
"I'm surprised there are things you don't know Trader."
"Don't be like that Flora, I'm not a God, and I can also learn like everyone else."
Everyone at the table just smiled.
"I was kidding of course, now back to the location of the Piliger base. This map was made by the first generation of witches that left that place, and luckily not much has changed since then."
I looked at the huge map on the table and saw what I could only assume was the continent.
It was huge since the three kingdoms only cover a third of it and that's with a generous take.
The rest of the continent had a diverse option of all kinds of biomes.
There was even a Mooshoroom island a little further away from the mountains beside the Sandstone Kingdom.
But what truly caught my attention was the black dot on the other side of the continent.
"What's with the black dot?"
"That's where we suspect was the great war a few hundred years ago, actually the continent was much bigger than this, but suddenly a big portion of it disappeared into nothingness."
The continent was even bigger than this?!
And suddenly a big chunk of it disappeared, making an idea pop into my head as soon as I heard it.
The creation of the Nether.
If what I heard from the old man was true, that would explain the disappearance.
"So where's the location of the Piligers outpost?"
"Right here."
Flora pointed at a part of the map which had an X as its mark.
The outline of the territory wasn't too big, maybe a little bigger than the capitals of the other Kingdoms. It's kind of impressive how at their size, they can make the other nations nervous.
Even a crusade against them wasn't enough to kill them for good.
Surprisingly the Clan location wasn't too far away from them, around two thousand blocks.
It should take us 2-3 days to get to them with our drugged horses.
"That's an impressive map, do you think I can get a copy of it?"
"Unfortunately the system doesn't register it so the only way you can make a copy is by hand."
That's going to take a while, even with my drawing skills. I'll probably do it after I get back.
"That settles it then, we're going to leave as soon as we get our horses, we already have everything we need. Also, you can take what you need from the storage room, but don't enter the Portal room or the Redstone room."
"I can understand the Portal room, but what's so special about the Redstone room?"
I don't want you to mess up that room, because I don't want am angry four blocks Enderwoman fishing what the Piligers couldn't.
"That room is filled with some experiments of mine and I don't someone to break something by accident."
They both nodded their heads in understanding.
Once they did that, I could feel Violet appreciating my rules since she would most likely come with us.
"Let's go Froggy, you have the speed potions right?"
"Of course."
In the middle of the invasion, most of the horses were taken, but some of them ran through the forest getting lost or escaped. We only managed to find three, and it wasn't their breeding season yet, so we had to be careful with them.
With that, we left to get our horses and gallop away.
The horses were used with the speed potions, so we didn't have to waste time on them being confused.
We traveled as fast as we could only taking a break whenever we passed by a river so the horses could hydrate themselves since this is a side-effect of the potion, but as time passed so was the light getting dimmer.
So we found a good place to make our camp and get some sleep.
We put some fance around us and made a simple house where we could sleep in, and then placed a fireplace in the middle of it to cook our food.
As we were sitting on some logs and waiting for the meat to cook, Froggy broke the silence.
"Are you afraid Trader?"
"You have to be more specific Froggy."
I said while flipping one of the pieces of meat.
"Aren't you afraid that we would be found out, that we are going to be captured or even worse, killed?"
Now that we were not at the Clan anymore, the pressure of what we were doing seems to land on him, but I'm sure he was still willing to go through it.
"It's not like I'm afraid, more like worried. I don't want to be controlled by fear since then I'll make bad decisions. It's ok to be afraid, but you have to realize something Froggy, you've grown, you're not the same witch that used to live isolated in a swamp, you are someone that was trained with the blade, escaped the Sandstone palace and even raised to guide other witches. It's ok to be afraid, but don't get ruled by it."
"But you said you are not afraid, how can I not be afraid as well?"
It's not like I'm completely afraid, but the fact that I still have one more life to spare does bring me comfort.
"You'll learn how to manage your fear through more challenges you'll go through. The fact you volunteered yourself for this mission shows the growth you already have."
"That's true, thank you."
"No problem, here's some cooked pork chop, their ready."
Then we ate in silence until we had our bellies full.
"Should we put the dye on our faces now?"
"No, it would wash away from our sweat when we get there tomorrow. But we can put on the uniforms."
We looked too different from the everyday Piligers, even Froggy's white skin wasn't enough to fool them.
So we came up with a plan, where we would put gray dye on our skin like makeup and wear the uniforms of the Piligers that were left behind.
Unfortunately, we didn't have something that could make our eyes green, so our only solution was to look at the ground and stay silent as much as possible.
"Yeah, that's probably for the beast."
After dinner, we went to sleep and get some rest.
The next day we got on our horses and galloped away, we stopped for one more night, and on the third day, we were fully rested and arrived at our destination.
We were on a hill where we could see the Piliger outpost or more exactly their country.
It was all surrounded by a huge wall made with dark wood and stone bricks, and inside there weren't houses for people, instead a bunch of woodland mansions just like in the game.
Probably worked similarly to blocks in my world.
But in the middle of all this, was a huge evil-looking castle emitting a dark aura around it.
"W-well Trader, let's get going."
I looked over where we were going to spend our next few days or maybe weeks and nodded my head.
"Yeah, let's go."
We galloped towards the huge wall.