Kingdom of the Weak 21 Next Morning

That was the sum total of casualties when Kairos counted all the funerals requested by the five gangs. The Burning Steel gang, with the best equipment in town, suffered only eight losses. The Secret Waves and the Circling Ravens suffered much worse, each losing two dozen. Either of their losses were as much as the Cruel Rose's and Blood Claw's combined.

"It could have been worse." Max mentioned. "At least our trainees survived. They might have lost a few limbs, but they're all alive."

"They're saying it's our fault." Markus said grimly. "Since I was the coordinator."

"Hey, I remember you giving orders. The only ones who followed them were us, the Legion. Everybody else didn't, and the Wilds broke through their stations, not ours."

Remian groaned and shifted on the bed.

They were sitting at his bedside, in one of the rooms of the Open Frontier Inn. For lack of a better place to be, the Iron Legion had ended up staying the night at the inn along with the Adventurers Guild. They had all fought to protect this place; the innkeeper thought it only fair to accommodate them for no charge for a couple of days. They didn't have many rooms to offer, and they were roughing it out four to a room, but the food was warm and the beds were dry and the Legionnaires did not complain.

"They want us to pay compensation." Markus went on. "Damages to buildings, condolence money to the families… it totals well over 200,000 Lir."

"Forget it." Max threw up his hands. "I have half a mind to move our camp to join Remian on the west side. Let them face the next wave without us in between! Let's see how well they handle it without us!"

Markus grunted. "They'll probably all die."

"Are they even worth saving?" Max scowled.

Markus sighed. "It's a nice idea, but you know we can't do that."

"For the honor of the Iron Legion." Max made a face. "We'll all die protecting ingrates for the sake of the Legion's reputation!"

"Don't we always?"

"Not always." Max muttered, but he did not meet Markus' gaze.

"We'll help you." A hoarse voice said.

It was Remian. He was awake.

"Are you all right?!" Max asked at once.

Markus asked something else. "You heard?"

Remian nodded to Max, and then again to Markus. "I heard everything. We'll help you. The Adventurers Guild will give you support in battle against every Beast Wave that comes."

Max cleared his throat. "That's great and all, Remian, but if these Beast Waves keep getting stronger, we're going to need a bit more than lights at night to deal with future Waves. Also, I don't want to risk the children…"

"Guard towers." Remian summarized in two words. "We might not have the time, manpower or resources to build walls, but we might be able to manage at least one guard tower. If the walls are strong enough, given scrolls and bows… they can help without being in danger."

"They're going to be in danger anyway. The whole Frontier is in danger. That's why it's the Frontier." Max muttered.

"We'll do it." Markus said. "The Legion will build, own, maintain, and run the guard tower on a permanent basis."

"We will?" Max blinked.

"During Beast Waves, anyone on long-range support duty will be welcome to make use of the tower." Markus went on. "I will give priority to the especially vulnerable."

Remian drew a deep breath. "Any chance of a defense wall?"

Max burst out laughing on the spot. Markus only let out a snort, and shook his head wordlessly. A tower was really all they could manage at this point.

They were going to need to build a really tough one if it were to survive a charge from a creature like last night's Tier 4 elephant. That thing had led the Wave and broken right through the town wall in a single charge all by itself. Whatever tower they built was going to have to be tougher than the previous wall. A lot tougher.

Markus and Max left the room. Mandy came in next with a bowl of hot soup. Mindy came too, and she had some bread… but… "Mindy? What's wrong? Why are you crying?"

Mindy didn't answer. She just dropped the bread into the soup and ran out the door.

Remian's heart was in his throat. "Is everyone all right?"

"We are." Mandy assured him. "But… we've lost friends, back at the Raven Tavern. Kage alone couldn't protect everyone all the time." Her voice was heavy.

"How bad?" Remian asked quietly.

"Half the tavern is destroyed. More than twenty Ravens died in the fighting." Mandy closed her eyes. "Ten of them were not much older than Mindy. They died to knives."

"Knives?" Remian stared. "Wait. That's not possible. Wilds don't use knives."

"Wilds don't. Gangsters do." Mandy said, in a voice like ice.

Remian felt his blood run cold. "Is that why the gangs don't really mind Beast Waves? So they could use them as an excuse to murder?!"

"They're not like that!" Mandy protested. "The Ravens… we… they… they're not like that!"

No longer 'we' but 'they'. Remian appreciated Mandy making the distinction. "We need to ramp up the training. Everyone needs to be able to defend themselves in a fight. Even the kids."

"Especially the kids." Mandy agreed tightly. "They were safer on the battlefield with the Iron Legion than they were on the north side with the Cruel Rose Gang."

"Bring them out." Remian suggested. "Bring the Ravens to the south side with the Legion, or all the way out to the western hills with our Guild. They'll be safer there."

"It's not up to me." Mandy shook her head. "It's up to Aunt Sara."

"But you can talk to her."

"I can try." Mandy bit her lip. "But it will be hard to persuade her. It's not just about safety, it's about business and profits and cost, and being able to access the airship…"

"We'll find a way around town to reach the airship when it lands. We'll just have to trek across the hills and a little patch of desert."

"It's a lot harder to move crates across hills and deserts than town roads." Mandy pointed out. "Also, a lot of the goods in production can't be moved so easily."

"What goods? What do the Ravens produce?" Remian asked.

"What do you think? Beer, mainly. Some wines too. Ever tried to move a barrel of beer over a few hills?"

Remian's face fell. "That would definitely be troublesome."

It also explains why George was so hard up about making a beer that children could drink.

"Can we recruit them?" Remian wondered. "Just… swoop in and take all the children with us to the Guild and turn them all into Adventurers?"

"Not everybody wants to explore the unknown, or hunt Wilds or poke around old ruins." Mandy pointed out. "Some of us just want to stay home and brew beer."

"Maybe if we started our own brewery?"

"Then we'd be directly competing with the Ravens and turn into their enemies. Joining the Guild would amount to betrayal. Just leave them be, Remian. I know you want to protect everybody but starting a brewery is just asking for trouble."

"But it's okay to start an inn?"

"The Ravens main income is from the drinks. That is true for both the inn and the tavern. For us to open an inn is adding another customer to the beer sales, since they'd be our suppliers. For us to open a brewery is to steal customers away from it."

"Still. Opening an inn sounds like gambling with the Ravens."

"No, gambling is what the Blood Claw does. Ravens only do alcohol."

"I was just kidding." Remian let out a deep breath. "So the Burning Steel Gang are arms dealers, the Cruel Rose are slave-traders, the Blood Claw runs gambling dens, the Ravens sell alcohol, and the Secret Waves…?"

"They refine and sell Wonder Oil. It's a kind of chemical that gives you very nice dreams." Mandy supplied.

"Drugs." Remian summarized. "Why am I not surprised?"

"It has good uses too." Mandy mentioned. "That nun Rhema uses it to treat badly injured people sometimes."

"Yeah, well, we need to become more powerful than them. Stronger, richer, and more influential." Remian paused. "We need to corner the market on all goods from the Wilds and the wilderness. That's why we need to get the hunters and the explorers on board."

"But the airship…"

"Once we have enough volume in goods to entice them, we should be able to get the airship to come to us at the western hills." Remian thought about it. "At that point, we should build an airport."

"Won't we have to defend it from Beast Waves?" Mandy queried.

"Maybe. Or maybe not. I mean… we're not worried about the Guild over on the western hills, right?"

"Of course not. Carrie and Buff are there. Why would Wilds attack it when we have Wilds guarding it? At least, I hope they're guarding it."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, we left a lot of meat in storage, and I'm not sure how much of it would be left by the time we get back."

Remian barked a laugh. "There is that. But I won't begrudge those two a good meal. We can always hunt more meat, but how often do we have a chance to befriend Tier 4 Wilds? We'll just count it as payment, or if they really ate a lot, we can take it out from their points."

"Let's go see, shall we?" Mandy suggested.

"Let's." Remian got up to leave.

But when they finally did get back to the Guild, they found Carrie and Buff had caught someone and had the prisoner cornered between them.

"Save me!" the man pleaded, eyeing the fangs and claws most casually displayed by his captors.

Mandy was astonished to see him. "Uncle Simmons?"

"You know this man?" Remian queried.

"Yeah. He's Aunt Sara's biggest advisor." Mandy replied. "What is he doing here?"

"Looking for you!" Simmons blurted. "I was worried!"

Carrie snarled, showing her fangs some more.

"Carrie…? What's the matter?" Mandy was perplexed.

[Danger!] Carrie's instincts formed very voluble thoughts. Remian could hear it in his own head very sharply. [Bad man!]

"Carrie, back off!" Mandy scolded.

[No!] Carrie growled.

"Remian! Do something!" Mandy tugged at his arm.

"Wait. Just… hold on a minute. Something's wrong here." Remian told her. "Something is very, very wrong."

Chapter end