The night passed, and the humans had gotten little sleep under the perceived threat of another attack. Opal, on the other hand, was calm. She had already tracked the remnants and eliminated them when they approached the abandoned mining town.

  The attack on the convoy ended with the loss of most of the civilian wagons. A quarter of the civilians on them had perished. The horses tied to trees for the night either escaped into the night or had been killed and partially eaten. The soldiers had been quick to respond, but most had taken defensive positions to defend their orbiting camps along the highway. Damage to the soldiers was limited to the Godswood squad and Liminal Squad – both the rearmost wagons.

  Sergeant Marlon had lost two men, and Liminal was completely wiped out. Without prompting, Marlon had spoken to her about Liminal Squad. The squad was from a rural village and the men in the squad were younger, more idealistic-driven humans. One ideal they held was protecting those who could not fight. Hence, how the squad had been wiped. They charged too deep, and stretched too thin to put up any proper defense.

  Opal already saw it.

  Young humans, especially males, were full of energy and passion. It was what helped drive countries and political movements. In the vein of males, their overzealousness to fulfill their tasks often left them in precarious situations. The need for older, more grounded leaders within those teams was needed to bring them to heel; or they would meet their ends, such as with Liminal Squad. It was not a bad aspect – rather Opal admired their ability to pull such determination, even down to its sheer irrationality in the face of overwhelming odds that the AI was well aware she’d never face.

  Yet, the reality of this eagerness was on full display. The youngest was two sixteen-year-old twins and the oldest, their leader, was twenty. Wooden dog-tags had been pulled off their bodies – bodies that were thrown into a mass grave come with twenty-one civilian KIA come first light. No markers had been erected. Only a silent prayer by the Godswood squad and the several townspeople who were grateful for their sacrifice.

  “I find it unthinkable to throw your life away,” Opal said as she watched the small group disband.

  Marlon shot her a warning look. “It was honorable.”

  “Honor isn’t a quantifiable currency,” Opal said. Something in her was misfiring. She didn’t like that this had transpired. It had taken her a total of six minutes and 30 seconds to respond to the situation here. She had expected better of soldiers. “It has no binding contract, and it only lives by those who care to spread it. It mostly losses it’s effectiveness beyond the third in the spoken chain unless an entire demographic remembers and believes.”

  “As a mercenary, I don't expect you to understand,” Marlon hissed as he finished securing the tools back in their respective crate. “Honor is something you live with. Without it, you’d be no better than a bandit. When you fight – when you’re taking lives – you need something to separate yourself, or you won’t be able to live. Either you have honor, and no one fears you; or you have none, and all those around you will keep their daggers close.”

  “I am sure people already keep their weapons close in the presence of soldiers,” Opal said. “Veterans of combat are prone to unexpected violence than any other –”

  “Miss Opal!” Marlon slammed his hands on the case. “I advise you to keep your lips shut, lest you wish to ride in my wagon! I respect that you came to our aid, but I will not let you slander us! This is the only courtesy I will extend with that little respect you earned.”

  Opal processed his words. She felt… Miffed? Annoyed? The AI wasn’t sure, but it wanted to argue more. She didn’t understand why he would act this way to her lack of understanding. What confused her more was how his anger-painted face slowly morphed into that of regret.

  “You weren’t looking down on them,” He stated, but Opal could read that it was a question.

  She shook her head slightly. “No. I just didn’t understand. I cannot process that they would do it for honor. Their lives had value, and now that they are dead, their value has become zero. In return, only a few of those they helped came to bury them. The cost versus the repayment resulted in an imbalance that should not have happened.”

  Marlon looked back at the grave. “I… Opal, it was their choice to spend their lives.”

  “They did not choose to spend their lives,” Opal said. “As you explained earlier, only Godswood and Liminal squads responded to help the civilians. Liminal delved too deep on the left flank and stretched themselves too thin. Their eagerness killed them coupled by the lack of reinforcements to help them survive.”

  “What were we supposed to do?!” Marlon pivoted on his heels and roared the woods at her. “Were we supposed to die with them?! Dive in after them and leave the others undefended?! We’d be burying a lot more than we just did then!”

  Opal held up her hands to ease the tension. “I am not blaming you Sargaent. I am speaking from my standpoint. I believe you did what you could. I blame the rest of the convoy for not responding. I understand the need to defend the other wagons, but the way they went about it was certain to cause more deaths than attempting to group and defend.”

  Marlon’s face was red, and his eyes a little glossy. Opal now saw that he was grieving over the men. It was her miscalculation. She had offended him on a deeper level than she thought. The warmind looked up at the coming sun as it peaked over the distant mountains. “I’ll walk, Mr. Marlon. I see I’ve spoken too much. I did not intend to offend, simply wished for some insight.”

  Harlequinn came into sight as they crossed a hill’s crest at noon. The last three days since the attack had been a forced death march, but the order to slow their pace had come down the line as they reached their destination.

  The first day had been slow but picked up once they’d come across a small caravan of merchants. Requisitioned by the leader, they were forced into service. They had been packed with foodstuffs mostly, and they’d been taken and split among the survivors. Despite the promise of payment upon reaching Harelquin, the merchants themselves had been upset the entire time. Not that Opal could fault them. It was not in their plans to have their wagons and horses taken.

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  But it was better than being dead she assumed.

  Opal found the merchants more welcoming after she informed them that she was not in fact with the Army. Sargeant Marlon seemed unable to meet her eyes and she found it better to reserve her power banks on the merchants' wagon. It proved fruitful as they were more than willing to speak of different towns and what goods they sold there.

  Of course, they were more tight-lipped on pricing. Not that it would be a problem. Come a moment to trade, Opal had several smaller spoils of war from the knights who attacked the Hikari village. Jewelry. She had spoken of it and they held interest, but because of the Army, it would have to wait until they returned to their stores.

  The outskirts of Harlequin were populated with plowed fields. Small groupings of buildings dotted here and there. Humans worked the fields here and there, accompanied by cow-sized animals she could not identify.

  An hour in, Opal was able to observe one up close. It looked similar upon closer inspection to be similar to an Ankylosaus. A type of dinosaur from Earth. But it was the size of a normal cow, but one-third larger. Its studded back shined in the sun as its strangely shaped head turned slightly in their direction, and let out a sound similar to a deep fog horn in the distance.

  “The Ankys are on edge,” The merchant she was with stated with a sigh.

  “How can you tell?” Opal asked.

  “That sound,” He gestured to his throat. “Its a warning.”

  “Is it going to attack?” Opal asked.

  “Nahhh~” He said. “Ankys may descend from monsters, but they were one of the rare non-hostile monsters. Story goes that they were chased into proximity of a village, and the Adventurers were off busy with what not; leaving the villagers and Anky to eventually grow used to each other, which led to them eventually being used as beasts of burden.”

  “Do you believe that story?” Opal asked.

  “Eh.. I believe the latter half,” He said. “Its how we got dogs. Domestication happens in odd ways. The Anky are similar to that of Quarter horses, so I’d assume domestication happens in the way that it happened for horses.”

  “Mmm.” Opal nodded her head. She was fascinated by them. “I want one…”

  “That’d be difficult….” The merchant responded. “Ankys are a restricted livestock. You’d have to get permission through the Merchant Guild to purchase one.”

  Opal put off the idea of having an Anky.

  The caravan was met with much fanfare in the form of medical teams that greeted them at the gates. It appeared that the front gates here were far more reinforced in the form of large uniform stones. A customs checkpoint had been erected, though their situation and whom they came with allowed them to avoid being checked, fortunately.

  Opal watched as they were guided through the forcibly cleared cobblestone streets. Cursing and yelling from all around as people’s days were interrupted by the town’s soldiers, only to quiet down when they saw the state of a few of their wagons. In that regard, the AI had to assume they looked thrashed. Something that was confirmed a few minutes later when she passed a clean wagon. A glance at the army wagons showed the difference.

  Sooth and dirt caked their wagons. Blood stained the last three where they attempted to triage the wounded. The merchant’s wagons had been tacked on to the rear, only to be marked by torn Empire flags that had been haphazardly tacked to their sides; the only way they would be seen as part of the original caravan, and thus would go unmolested by most people.

  Regardless, it was clear that their arrival was an ill omen to the townsfolk.

  Ten minutes later they arrived before what looked to be another fort.

  “Have you ever been here… Err… I believe we’ve neglected to introduce ourselves. I apologize, Miss,” The merchant chuckled. “I’m Reggie Dell, head of Dell Merchantry. A small outfit.”

  He held out a tan, callused hand that caused Opal to take in the man for once since she sat on the coach seat with him. Curly brown hair atop an average tanned face. Black eyes and a crooked nose – one that was just a badly healed injury given the scarred skin above the break. Above average height and well built.

  “Opal, Head of the Omega.” Opal shook his hand gently.

  “The Omega…?” His smile faltered for a moment. “You’re not part of some secret organization, are you?”

  Opal smiled. “Nothing like that. I operate in the open. My mission is only to secure supplies and resources for those under me to live in peace.”

  “So… Like an Alderman or tribe leader?” Reggie asked.

  They talked as the wagons were parked outside the warmind head was Castle Harlequin. Unoriginal as names went, but Opal took it in stride as the medical team was quick to take the injured out. There was not much. The worst of them they’d lost on the first day. Constance had suffered from mana-depletion on the first and second day before she too had been forced to rest from the overworking. She only got a little under half before that happened.

  “An Alderman would be an apt description of what I do.” Opal nodded. ‘

  “I see…” Reggie. “Consider this – after this unfortunate situation has passed, we both head over to my store near the west gate. If you’re looking for goods, depending on how far, I may be the man for you.”

  “I’d like that,” Opal said.

  An hour had passed before the castle steward came and handed over ten gold coins to Reggie. The merchantman explained that this was for all the goods they’d unloaded from his wagon too since it would be needed for the extra soldiers.

  The two then rode the wagon down the main street, turned west, and headed to the gate. His office was on the last left street that rimmed the city walls. An industrial-zone street the AI noted as they passed several busy warehouses before they turned into one of them fifteen buildings down from the main street. It reminded her of a normal warehouse on Earth, only that there were wagons rather than semi-trucks in the docks. Tens of young men milled about, loading crates and barrels; as well as unloading them into the warehouse, with what looked to be several women on catwalks with clipboards.

  “All hand loaded?” Opal asked.

  “Yeah….” Mr. Dell said. “We’re still a fairly new company, and we plan to purchase golems next year. Don’t worry though, we have the capital to rent the necessary equipment if you have particularly demanding loads. I pride myself on being able to fulfill most orders!”

  “I’m looking for metal ores,” Opal stated.

  The merchant nodded. “We can do that. At the moment, however, please note that prices are still fairly high.”

  “At the moment, I do not have any currency, but I wish to speak to you about a barter,” Opal said and continued when she saw him stiffen. “I had planned to survey prices in Frontier, but the incident happened, and we had to evacuate as you saw. Omega has good production capabilities, however. If you’re willing to talk for a while, we may come to an acceptable agreement.”

  Reggie had a concerned look on his tanned face, but eventually accepted it. “I can do that. Since I wasn’t expecting to be back for another four days, it won't hurt to listen for an hour.”

  He led them to a humbly furnished office. It overlooked the warehouse and was dim as the only light came from a skylight. He gestured to a worn wooden turn that Opal would’ve classed as a vintage chair on Earth. She sat in it and Reggie took the initiative.

  “I’ll be honest,” He said. “I’m not sure how I can help you if you don’t have the coins. But if you tell me a little about your village, maybe you can come back with some products. I won't draft a contract so this deal will be a matter of honor on our word.”

  Opal nodded and formulated a plan. “We can produce any item, so long as it’d not magic related. Our current stocks will last us three years at current consumption, but we’re in a situation where we need to move our home. Wherever we move will require a lot of resources. I do not wish to put us in a situation that would leave us with dangerously low stocks.”

  Reggie nodded. “I’m going to take you at your word on the production capacities. I will loan you an item. It’s a pump assembly for small wells. The local lord will be expanding a few villages and requested me personally to handle this matter. I will pay you fifty silvers per assembly, and I require ten of them for a total of five golden crowns.”

  “Since its a loan, you will receive ten assemblies and the loaned part for a total of eleven?” Opal asked.

  “Yes. You will be required to return the loaned item.” Reggie said. I only need you to copy the specifications of the assemble as close as possible….”

  “The Omega can do this for you,” Opal nodded and the two shook.

  “I’ll just need to see a form of identification and register it on our books,” Reggie said.