Chapter 143: What to do with the traps
"Is everything ready?"
Looking at the pile of bags stacked up against the doors of the bas.e.m.e.nt, I couldn"t stop myself from counting them once again. Even though nothing drastic would happen if we would end up forgetting one bag or two, given my plans for the coming journey, it would be simply a pain in the a.s.s to go back just to pick it up.
"Yeah. Weapons, ammunition, carved stones, rations… That should be all."
Going through the list in her hand, Ayda confirmed the presence of each of the boxes.
For a moment, a silence ensued in the bas.e.m.e.nt. Standing beside the boxes, my eyes inevitably wandered towards the face of the girl.
"Are you ready?"
From the very moment that I brought her to earth, my aim was to show her the great sides of this world. From theme parks, through movies candies and other kinds of delicacies, all the way to the sights proving the ingenuity that sprouted in this world. But before I knew it, Ayda already became one of the pillars of my faction. And this was something that I wasn"t quite comfortable with.
That is before the problem in her own world would be solved.
"Of course I am ready!"
Looking at me as if there was something wrong with my head, Ayda rolled her eyes before picking up two of the bags.
"Let"s not stall us any longer then."
Releasing a slight sigh, I picked up a few more bags before following the girl through the doors.
Appearing in Ayda"s homeworld for the first time in a long while, I could feel the fresh air of this unpolluted world spreading through my lungs, replacing the dirtiness born out of industrialisation.
"As great as Earth can be, the quality of the air here…"
Dropping the bags right in the middle of our room in the inn, I looked at Ayda. For some reason, in the light of her home star, her beauty was even more apparent.
"The quality of air? Are you sure you are all right?"
Given how the battle with the monsters happened just yesterday, I could understand Ayda"s worries, if not for the fact that I was perfectly aware of what made her worry in the first place.
"Ah, I know it might be something that I forced myself to believe I can feel… But for people used to breathe the air of earth, it"s just far fresher and cleaner here. While it"s not something that one keep in mind while living here, whenever I moved here from the earth, this was always the first thought that would appear in my head."
It was no wonder Ayda was confused about stuff like the freshness of the air. Ignorant about the influence of air pollution on one"s health, she wouldn"t pay the taste of air any mind.
With a few more trips to move all the supplies between the worlds, the first part of our mission was over. Sadly, achieving my purpose in my girl"s world, wasn"t as simple and quick as just moving some stuff between places.
"Can you call Huskarl? She should have the list. I made sure to pa.s.s it to her in advance."
With so many heavy bags in place, it would be a waste of our time to move it ourselves. Especially given how our own equipment was safely stored in specially sown tourist backpacks.
"Sure, give me a moment."
Pulling on the threads and closing one of the bags she was rummaging through, Ayda ran out of the room. In this short moment, I couldn"t help but sigh once again. As little as I thought of dangers in this world, there was no denying that I knew very little about what to expect here.
With the plan aiming at uprooting the entire order of this world controlled by wizards, there was no denying a lot of effort would be necessary to achieve it. But there was no way that a single or two individuals would be capable of doing it on their own.
That"s where the need for all those supplies came from. Rather than trying to topple the castle of cards built in this world, it was far easier to just equip those personally interested in changing their situation. But as great as it was in terms of solving the problem of necessary manpower, this kind of solution also spelt an almost complete end to my time alone.
"We are here!"
Even though there was absolutely no need to hurry with anything, Ayda still refused to take things the easy way. Pulling Huskarl to the room in the same way as she would usually drag me around, Ayda looked at me with a face full of accomplishment.
"Good job. Huskarl, I believe you know what to do with all of those?"
Pointing my hands at the huge bags covering almost the entirety of the room"s floor, I smiled before moving two steps forward. Reaching with my hand forward, I placed it on top of Ayda"s head before rubbing my fingers through her silky hair. Hearing the gentle purring of the girl as she enjoyed the headpats, I threw a glance at the other girl, currently crazed over the number of goods that we brought.
"Is that all… For us? Are you for real?"
With her eyes opened wide in surprise, it was clear that Huskarl couldn"t believe that someone would part with such a huge amount of insanely expensive items like carved stones of grade beyond anything that her world could produce, or the weapons that no one else in this world possessed.
And as great as it felt to act like a charity supporting a just yet oppressed cause, I couldn"t help but feel a tingle of pain on my soul. After all, how was I any different by supplying Ayda"s supporters with the means to wage great wards from the superpowers of the earth providing warring tools to the poor countries of their backing?
"Yeah. Actually, it"s nothing much. If I were to be super cold-hearted, then Ayda"s help would still amount to several times as much as those wares cost me."
As a leader of a relatively huge faction, even with our finances still strained, my means were still way above that of a small group in the middle of a world chasing them down. For them, a sword was already a precious resource. On the other hand, for me, even a box full of ammo and a set of weapons necessary to make use of it was a sc.r.a.p unworthy of picking.
"Okay then."
Placing her hands on her hips, Huskarl turned around towards the doors.
"Folks! We have gifts! Come and get them the h.e.l.l out of here!"
Shouting without any womanly grace in her, Huskarl proved that her lack of grace was paid off with the effectiveness of her shout. In a moment, the room turned crowded as a huge group of men rushed inside, only to pick a single bag each and run as fast away from the place as they could as if some deadly monster were chasing them.
And to be honest, seeing the glint of anger that flashed in Huskarl eyes as she raised her eyebrow in reaction to one of her men stumbling, I could fully understand why they were in such a hurry. As it turned out, my comparison to having a dangerous monster behind their back wasn"t that far from the truth!
"Good. Now that this part is settled, let"s stop wasting the time. It doesn"t wait for anyone."
Sadly, there wasn"t any way for me to restore the time freeze in this world, forcing the two of us to limit our area of operation to the places at most a single day away from the current camp. Even though we could both move between worlds, we could only do so while in the exact same place where we entered it in the first place.
And even though there was still the option of dying to return, given how I had no idea how it would work in Ayda"s case, I dared not even take this kind of method into account.
"Sure. Let"s go!"
Most likely out of habit, Ayda grabbed my hand before rushing out of the room. In just a few moments, we already reached the border of the village that her followers took over, standing right at the edge of the barrier that protected this place for a long while already.
"Are you sure you don"t want to check the area? While this barrier stops them from entering or influencing this place, I can hardly believe they would ignore the opportunity to set up an ambush for anyone daring to leave the village."
For the third time today, Ayda looked at me as if there was something wrong with my head. After a moment of this unpleasant smile, she finally shook her head before looking me deeply in the eyes.
"If there is any ambush awaiting us…"
Taking a short breath in the middle of the sentence, Ayda smiled, allowing the hints of her wickedness to surface.
"... then all we need to do is to spring it!"