Time passed and ironically Ikaris felt his insatiable hunger nagging at him more and more acutely. Ellie, Malia and the others began to notice his fidgeting and twitching and found it hard to hide their concern. Anaphiel and Ramiro remained silent, content with just watching him.
At long last, an employee came into the tea room to inform them that everything was ready. Ramino thanked his subordinate and then walked them to a vast expanse of lawn as wide as five soccer stadiums placed side by side.
Hundreds of small Transportation Portals about 3 meters high and 2 meters wide were placed on it at equal distances from each other, filling almost the entire space. On the far left side of the lot, in the last row, grain, fresh fruit and vegetables, wood, iron and other necessities were neatly arranged in wooden crates. But to Ikaris' dismay, no meat...
Wood seemed superfluous where Ikaris and Asselin were going, but food and iron would probably make the difference in the first few days. Unfortunately, because of his particular diet, he would have to hunt for food as soon as he arrived at Cutthroat Island.
The Tartarus Enforcer assigned to them for protection were also present, standing silently in their creepy armor. But what interested the two boys was the large purse full of coins that they were eyeing.
Ikaris immediately opened his purse after weighing it and poured it on the ground to count the number of coins. 500 gold coins right on the dot, just as the contract promised. With that, he could make 250 round trips between his territory and Tartarus Shade. If he needed more, he could always take out a loan.
Ellie, Toby and Malia did not have Welcome Packs like the two Lords, but they also received a well-stocked purse of 200 gold coins. This was to allow them to fund their first term at one of the Academies if they so desired.
Seeing that the sun was about to set, Anaphiel unexpectedly invited them to spend the night in the castle, but Ikaris flatly refused.
"The sooner the Stele is in place, the sooner I can get my first batch of migrants."
"That doesn't give you much time to prepare for the Evil that lurks at night..." She tried to dissuade him without success.
"I'll be fine." He replied plainly.
She did not insist and showed the two new Lords how to drop their blood on the Portal to bind it to them. Then they would be able to activate it with a thought and be directly informed if someone tried to use it.
Ellie looked depressed at the idea of sleeping in a hostile land rather than a cozy castle room, but when she saw the indifference of Malia and Horny she accepted her fate with tears in her eyes. On the other hand, Asselin and Toby accepted Anaphiel's offer, happy to get a well-deserved night's rest before starting serious things.
"You can spend the night here Ellie if you want and join us tomorrow morning." Ikaris offered dismissively. At least for one night they wouldn't have her around.
The fearful young woman wavered, but finally mustered up the courage, and said while shaking her head,
"No, I'm coming!"
"... As you wish." Ikaris complied, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
Ikaris and the two women said their goodbyes to Asselin and Toby, and then he activated his Portal after loading the bison like a beast of burden with lots of crates. Ellie and Malia were also crumbling under the weight of their respective loads. Fortunately, they had the Tartarus Enforcer whose strength was just plain gargantuan. With its help they managed to barely take everything with them.
Before they left, Ramiro gave them some words of advice,
"Remember, the Portal's location out there was set a very long time ago, way before our earliest historical records. By default, it is always located in the center of the chosen region. However, once there, it is quite possible to relocate it provided you have enough strength to carry it. I won't hide from you that a Transportation Portal, even a small one, is ridiculously heavy...
"My second piece of advice is to waste no time in establishing your village. It will be dark in less than two hours and you absolutely must have completed the inscriptions specified in your booklet on your temporary place of residence, the Lord's cottage. Otherwise, you will have to carve them on the ground in the grass or rock, but I won't hide from you that this includes... certain risks."
Ikaris and the two women took the second advice very seriously. Even the bison mooed solemnly.
These runic inscriptions were the only way to survive the scourge that raged through the Warring Lands every night. Orym may have told them everything he knew about it, but the truth is that he himself didn't know much about it.
From what little the teen understood, it reminded him of those tales where all he had to do to protect his home from ghosts and evil spirits was to dump salt in front of his door. It was a little different, but very similar in spirit.
Each inscription on the booklet had its own function and they had to write them all in a certain sequence. Their original meaning had been lost, but their usage had persisted until now.
"Finally, my third and last piece of advice... Whatever you hear, do not leave the area enclosed by the runes under any circumstances. Whether you sleep in a thatched cottage or under the stars, if you step outside this area you are dead. Am I clear?"
"C-crystal clear." Ellie bobbed her head, shaking like a leaf.
Ikaris and Malia nodded silently and Ramiro cracked a rare warm smile.
"Good luck." The man in the black robe wished them sadly. "I hope to have positive news from you very soon."
As they were about to enter the Portal, Anaphiel stood between them and the latter and told them with more gentleness and kindness in her voice,
"I also have a more personal advice to give you. It is worth what it is worth but I advise you to respect it. Tonight... don't sleep."
Ikaris, Malia and Ellie nodded gravely. He didn't know about the two women, but he had always intended to stay up all night.
This was an unknown land filled with danger after all. Even without the strange evil that plagues the Warring Lands, the astronomical number of Demonic Beasts was cause for concern.
True to his mission, the Tartarus Enforcer entered the Portal first, followed by Horny, Ikaris, and the two women. After they all disappeared inside, the wormhole shut down and the Morgunis' castle became quiet again.
Asselin and Toby were ushered off to their room for a good night's rest, unaware that their friends were about to experience a nightmarish night that they would remember for the rest of their lives.
*****
"Aaaahh! Finally I can talk!" Magnus roared with joy as they vanished into the vortex.
Anaphiel's presence had forced him to hide and keep quiet all this time, and the last few hours had been especially hard on a talkative, bored man like him.
A moment later, Ikaris stepped out of the Portal and this time he was able to resist the nausea that had hit him the first time around. He leaned on the bison's rump while he recovered his footing, but just then he heard Ellie vomiting in the grass beside him. Malia seemed to have endured the crossing well.
When he felt more relaxed, the boy looked around and found that he was, as expected, in a vast, lush meadow covered with bright green grass and fields of colorful flowers.
In the distance, they could vaguely make out a forest filled with huge trees to the west and south, the lake to the north and its three rivers running southwest, southeast and northeast respectively. He knew from the map that there was a fourth river to the northwest that was out of his field of vision.
Further away and in all directions, he could see gigantic mountains whose highest peaks were covered with eternal snow. There was no doubt that he was in a valley, but so vast that it looked like a plain.
"Wow! So beautiful!" Ellie marveled as she admired the twilight sky painted in shades ranging from orange to violet-red that bathed the valley in a fairy-tale atmosphere.
Finding the location of the Portal as good as any other, Ikaris wasted no time and decided to set the stele a few dozen meters in front of it. This would be the place where he would build his house. He knew it wasn't ideal, but he wanted to be able to flee quickly if any danger arose.
Without wasting any more time, he asked Magnus to retrieve the Stele from the Spatial Ring and the wooden tablet resembling a piece of decrepit bark appeared in his hands.
"Hmm? Where were you hiding it?" Malia asked with bewilderment. It was a riddle that had been dogging her for days.
Ikaris let out a chuckle, and answered with a teasing look,
"If you're a good girl, maybe I will tell y- FUCK! What the hell is wrong with you?!"
Malia had drawn her sword and the tip of the blade was less than an inch from his throat. Pouting, she retracted her blade and muttered,
"I'm not a child."
'Okay, inferiority complex.' Ikaris duly noted for the future. No lame jokes about her height, age, poor education, or appearance. In short, no jokes at all...
After that, Ikaris reached out to the Stele and activated his Appraisal and System Spells. Immediately, he felt the artifact respond with some sort of intent and a notification prompted in his mind,
[Application for village establishment detected. Do you want to establish a new village at this location?]
"Yes."
[Application accepted, what do you want to name your village?]
At that moment, Ikaris remembered his ambitions and excitement from the first time he had consciously used magic and the expectations of Magnus and Malia resting on his shoulders. The name came to him naturally.
"Last Saint."
[Application accepted. Last Saint Village established.]
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