Ferrol Town, a few hours later
Ryan and Gwen received a post that caused them to look at each other in worry.
After that, they called in several of the representatives of each group. to pass out the announcements.
"Looks like we’re stuck here," Gwen said, sighing as she looked at the letter.
"What?" The representatives, like Bianca and Eloi, naturally felt surprised.
They were so happy to sell all their items in a short amount of time, looking forward to spending the money back home, but... what was this?
Alterrra was still so different! How could they last several more days without all that good food, accommodation, and entertainment?!
Someone even wailed he was going to miss this round of his idol’s latest play: Raniel and Juliana! The premier was in 2 days!
The next time that’d show would be several weeks, or even months! By then, his jerk neighbors would be announcing spoilers! Urgh!
Gwen didn’t know exactly what was going on in their heads, but she could imagine half of them.
"Well, you can go on your own, but the guards have been instructed to stay."
"..."
Basically, they weren’t stopping anyone from going out, but their safety was their problem.
This wasn’t being sarcastic at all, though, because people could also hire mercenaries if they wanted to.
Sigh.
Bianca was calmer, but also hoped to know more details. "Our team will stay," she said. "But...can you tell us what happened?"
Ryan and the others didn’t have to hide most things from the representatives. "Threats are trying to attach to us," Ryan said. "And we’d be in danger for certain."
They wanted to say they weren’t cowards, but any threat, even Ryan’s side, would find worrisome, were big threats.
Seeing them calm down (kinda), Gwen continued to reassure them. "We received instructions that accommodation within the base will be free for the members of this caravan," she said. They’d need to add triple-deckers to accommodate everyone, though.
Anyway, many of them cursed Wazan and the others. Their schedules and plans were now jumbled up.
This was all their fault! Curse them!!
...
Inside one of the inns, a certain aborigine group also received this news.
This was Wazan and his group, of course. They were sitting on a table in Wazan’s large room, listening to his subordinate’s reports.
"Heh, they cancelled their trip back," he said, remembering the discussion he overheard. Basically, after the announcement, the stranded Alterrans went around to distract themselves. A lot of them felt stingy spending so much money for ’subpar’ experiences, but what could they do? They were itchy to spend money!
Even level 40s could be weakened, after which he—a high-level elementalist—could take them down with relative ease. The people from this party were not even level 30. How boring would that be?
...
At this time, Jonathan was looking over a portrait of a young man, kept securely in his space.
I want to live in a place where we can live freely and love without fear of judgment.
You will be the Lord eventually. Can you promise me to be a good one?
That lad was a refugee from a horrid village. When they arrived in the Town, they were so amazed and immediately swore oaths of loyalty.
When the Lord showed signs of illness and weakness through old age, people couldn’t help but worry—especially those who knew what it was like to serve a horrible one.
Whenever he felt a mix of longing and melancholy, Jonathan would always take a look at his portrait as a reminder of his own shortcomings, which was how he had kept himself in line all these years.
Next to it was a Post that came from Alterra, arriving about the same time as the letter to their branch.
They told him some basic discussions that they had, including a mention that the caravan’s departure would be delayed a few days.
They also asked him to subtly investigate how many people they had in Ferrol, exactly.
This should not be against oath to Valov, simply because he wasn’t doing anything directly to them. He was simply providing some basic numbers that were technically harmless on their own.
The main question they asked him was: If, for some reason, due to some strange coincidence, Wazan and the others went missing..., would it cause him trouble?

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