Leon and Makoto found a road that would lead them directly to the next big city. However, that road was very near to the border, and since it was in pretty good shape, both Russians and the Chinese used that. Leon could see the signs of dozen of battles nearby."I don"t think it"s a good idea to move during the day," Leon said. "I can build an underground shelter, and we can move freely at night using my earth platform."
"Unfortunately, they don"t fight only during the day," Makoto said. "I also heard that the Russians managed to save a lot of their military equipment. It"s only a rumor, but it seems that they have several satellites working and in orbit. We will be noticed if we move too fast."
Leon nodded, since their territory was big, several military facilities escaped the dragons" rampage of four years ago. Although guns were quite useless now, there were other ways to kill a human and obtain an advantage over other nations.
"Luckily, most humans move faster than cars now, " Makoto added. " And I"m pretty sure that Seiji and the other traitors are moving by car, so we have a chance to intercept them before they reach Moscow."
"So, we have to find them before they reach Moscow," Leon said. "However, we cannot get noticed by their satellites, and we also have to discover the route they are using…."
Makoto nodded, acknowledging that it was easier said than done. Regardless, it was the only thing they could do, so there was no point in complaining. Along the way, Leon and Makoto found several survivors camp. Although several cities in Russia had been recovered, the numbers of survivor"s camps were stupidly high because a lot of the survivors who couldn"t fight became farmers. Thanks to mana, any plant could bear fruit in a matter of a few hours. So, those who didn"t want to fight used their mana to plant and reap food while a few soldiers protect them. That being said, Leon and Makoto didn"t find more than two soldiers in each of those camps, and they didn"t look all that reliable. The same thing as that was also probably being done in America, but Leon didn"t notice until now.
"Maybe I should see with my own eyes the situation of the new farms back home… I don"t think there could be so terrible like this, but I guess it"s a good idea to think of a way of how to decrease the danger to the farmers."
Leon created steel bows and arrows, Tom and Sarah probably sent some of those to protect those places, but he wondered if that was enough. It wasn"t easy to master a bow, something more friendly-user would be preferable…
"Like a rapid-fire crossbow… it would become pretty heavy an object made of steel that could shot steel bolts, and the survivors would have a hard time maintaining the crossbow usable, but it was more useful to save lives."
Leon would have to do a few tests, but it looks promising… but he also felt that he was only creating more problems for him to solve. Anyway, after running for an entire day, Leon and Makoto arrived at a city called Khabarovsk. Although it was pretty close to China, the city was pretty big and had a lot of houses that endured the chaos of four years ago. As expected of a place so near the border, the security was tight. The number of guards was tight, but they stopped those who looked strong and had magic items. Leon"s magic items were inside the magic box, but he and Makoto also were stopped. Apparently, one of the guards didn"t like Leon"s eyes.
Leon tried to act naturally, and Makoto stepped forward to talk with the guards. Eventually, the guards lowered their guards, and then Makoto whispered something on a certain guard"s ear before offering a handshake. Makoto bribed him.
"What did you say?" Leon asked.
"One of the guards said that you looked too suspicious, too angry…"Makoto explained. "I said to them that we lost a few friends in a recent battle, and we separated from the other members of our group. We are here to look for them, and I also paid the guard to make him help us."
"Won"t that backfire us?" Leon frowned. "If we leave a trace behind…"
"Don"t worry, he offered himself to help," Makoto said. "But it"s clear that he only said to gain a few easy coins, he won"t do anything. Anyway, don"t talk, all right? They don"t like strangers."
Leon nodded, even though he whispered it was better to be safe than sorry. Fortunately, the number of soldiers using helmets and armor was quite high, even inside the city. It was probably because that city suffered a little from dungeon breaks. Thanks to that, no one looked at Leon or Makoto when they entered one tavern without taking off their gear.
Even though they had a lot of supplies inside the magic bag, Makoto ordered them a lot of food and beer. It had been a long time since Leon drunk anything alcoholic, and he didn"t like the idea of drinking while working, but it was necessary to do that as a cover. Makoto intended to stay there for a while and hoping to hear something interesting, after all. However, the mood in the tavern was quite gloomy. Everyone was drinking silently.
For some reason, Leon didn"t feel anything while drinking the beer, even though it had been a while, beer was weak like juice. After drinking the fifth gla.s.s, Leon frowned while looking at Makoto, but he just shrugged. It looked like the problem was with him.
"Mmm… maybe my Poison Resistance is counter-attacking the effects of the alcohol."
It was the only logical explanation, and considering that he spent four years eating slightly poisoning fish, it was kind of obvious. Anyway, when Makoto realized that Leon couldn"t get drunk, he had an idea.