A few days later, in Eliza's courtyard. Jane was standing on one hand, straight like a pole, and reading a book she had in front of her. That book was filled with complex circles and formulas.
Not far from her, hidden from the sun under a parasol, was Nohana, who was looking at her friend with wonder in her eyes. Not able to restrain herself anymore, she spoke up.
Do you always do this? Hm? What do you mean? Physical training and reading? No, but I need to catch up on all those years without magical training, no? And you forgot something.
On top of Jane, a bit high, there were three daggers floating, pointing toward the redhead. If she lost concentration for just a single moment, they would drop down and injure her. Nohana just sighed and shook her head, going back to observe her friend.
They were waiting for Eliza. The white-haired woman said she had some information about ruins discovered not that far away.
Speaking of the wolf, Eliza entered the courtyard and shook her head when she saw the strange training Jane was doing.
Can't you do something more normal, for once? No can do! So, did you get the information about these ruins? Yeah, I did. Come here, I'll explain!
Jane jumped a little, landing on her feet again, before collecting her daggers to store them in her dimension. She then stored the book too, taking out a towel to wipe her sweat a bit. Once that was done, she took a seat under the parasol with her two friends.
So. Shadow reported to me that a strange ruin appeared suddenly, a little bit after the skirmish we had with that strange army the other day. I've gone to the Mercenary Guild for information. It seems it's a huge plot of land that suddenly transformed into a villa. Almost half the size of a city. Nobody knows how that could be possible. But the higher-ups think that attack on the city was because of that. That mysterious army must have known about the appearance of these ruins, and so wanted to get rid of us so they could keep it to themselves. But they didn't expect me and the other Mercenaries to step up, right? Yes. We didn't see that army anymore after the attack. Everyone thought they would continue. But now that the ruins showed themselves, they haven't attacked again. The higher-ups think that army is preparing to raid the ruins.
Nohana and Jane nodded. It made sense. These soldiers did flee after Jane cut down a lot of them. And if they haven't seen any other attack, it probably meant they were either preparing one or wanted to raid these ruins.
Jane got up and stretched herself.
Well then, let's go and prepare for this, right? What do you mean? Aren't we going to these ruins? I mean, c'mon! It's a new area to explore! Maybe we'll find artifacts! Oh, but are they already open?
Eliza looked at the report she had in her hand, skimming through it, then shook her head.
No. It seems there's a barrier blocking any entrance we found. Our mages analyzed it, and it seems it will open in almost two days. There's time before getting over there. Then there's time to prepare! We'll store everything in my dimension.
Without really waiting for any answers, Jane was already getting out of the courtyard. The two ladies looked at each other and laughed before getting up and following their friend. Jane's enthusiasm was contagious, and their steps had an extra spring in them.
A bit later, the trio of ladies was in the merchant district, looking at some wares.
I guess we need lots of food, no? Damn, I'm hungry just thinking of it. Ouch! Hey, what was that for?!
That complaint came from Jane, getting hit in the back of her head by Eliza. The redhead turned to look at her friend, an indignant look on her face.
You glutton. Don't eat all of our provisions once in there! We'll need it too. And I think we should all carry some with us. What if we get separated? We'll starve to death? We can't just use your dimension all the time.
Jane nodded at that. It made sense. But the idea of them getting separated was a dreadful one. She knew her friends were strong by themselves, but she would feel more at ease knowing she could protect them at all times...
The three ladies took their time. They each got a set of camping gear, food, and various tools to survive in the wild.
Jane also restocked on her throwing knives. She lost quite a few of them in the skirmish. She didn't really like the quality of the stuff here, but it would do. Hopefully.