Chapter 4

"Welcome to the Nest, fresh meat."

The man drawled out the words, but he wore himself with confidence and experience. Remy would not make the mistake of assuming he was some random bum.

"Who are you? What do you want?" the bandit leader spoke up. He and pretty much everyone including Remy had their guards up the moment the man approached them.

"I'm Vincent, an outer layer striker from Xander's camp. As for what I want? Heh, let's just say I have a bleeding heart."

An amused smile graced the man's weathered features. He might pass off as a cultured artist or even a noble if their circumstances were different. His hair was tied in a small ponytail, white strings combining perfectly with its main dark color.

Seeing our confused faces his smile turned into a smirk as he continued to talk.

"Don't worry too much. I'm just going to give you lads some general information about the Nest so you can get your bearings straight."

Vincent was not perturbed by the frowns he received. Everyone here was a criminal and they knew the others were the same. How could they not be suspicious of good intentions?

"Do we have to stay here or are we free to leave?" The bandit leader asked, visibly tense.

Vincent simply shrugged. "The gate, if you're nice enough to call it that, is over there. Nobody's keeping you here. Just don't nab anything on the way out."

The bandit didn't expect that answer and if he was being honest with himself neither did Remy. What? They could just walk away?

A few seconds of tense silence passed. Well, it was tense on Remy's and his group's part, Vincent looked like he was half asleep.

"Let's go guys, we can manage on our own." The leader spoke and almost everyone perked up. With much hesitation they began leaving towards the gate. As they advanced, they noticed no one was paying them any attention so they grew increasingly bold. In the end, they managed to leave without any incident.

Out of the thirty people who came inside only five were left, Remy being among them. He understood the bandits choice to immediately leave rather than risk another moment here. They already knew each other and could stick together. Remy, on the other hand, was not part of their original group and neither did he want to be for that matter.

Surprisingly, out of the five remaining, another two left after seeing nothing happened to the bandits. Those two didn't seem to leave out of fear but because of other reasons. Remy could not be bothered to care.

He needed information and he was not confident enough to survive in the Nest going in blind. He may be considered a criminal, same as everyone here, but he was actually just a normal office worker from the modern era. He didn't have the necessary mentality to survive as a lone wolf in a foreign world, especially in a prison camp.

Vincent waited patiently for the other two to leave before he spoke up. "Well, congratulations are in order. You're smart enough to actually have a chance in here."

The way he looked at them was more attentive than earlier. It was obvious he believed Remy and the other two were a cut above the common rabble.

"What do you mean?" Remy found himself asking.

"I mean exactly that. Smarter people tend to last longer. It's not some philosophy I came up with, it's just the way it is around here. Refusing to take free information when it's offered? Especially coming from the outside world into a place like the Nest? No matter the reason, that's a stupid thing to do."

Remy agreed with Vincent. That was exactly the reason why he chose to stay and not leave like the other two. You had to know the rules and how the board looked like before playing. Right now they knew nothing of the life inside the Nest.

"In any case, perk your ears up fresh meat because I won't be bothered to explain this again."

Remy shoved whatever thoughts he had at the back of his head and paid full attention to Vincent.

"The Nest has three human settlements inside it. The Cultists on the farthest mountain to the west, the Seekers in the valley to the north and Xander's camp, which everyone here is a part of, in the south."

The barrier has been up for twenty years already. Remy did not find it strange that factions formed.

"The other two dedicate themselves to getting out of the barrier, while we take a better approach and do nothing."

He must have seen our confusion because he chuckled and further explained. "Let me put it this way. The Emperor, even with all the money he has, couldn't take down the barrier for more than two decades. What are some rag tag groups of lowlifes going to do with only what they have inside here?"

It made an unfortunate amount of sense, but it still felt wrong not actively doing anything to free yourself.

"Xander chose instead to wait things out, barrier or no barrier, we're still all a bunch of criminals in the eyes of the Empire. Except we have the chance to live the good life. Our faction is the only one that trades Mithril and we enjoy nice things because of it."

It was true, even if they somehow took the barrier down then what? The second the thing fell down the army would roll in faster than a wheel down a slope. But, more than a few people might manage to get away. That was a chance people were willing to bet on.

Remy understood on an intellectual level what this Xander's approach was. It was the safe and comfortable option. But Remy was not content with it at all. He had arrived in this new, fantastical world and he was expected to rot away in this place? He refused!

If he was a normal prisoner he might have joined the other two factions, but that was not the case. Not after he passed the barrier and activated his system. He might not know what it does exactly, but he was sure it would be the key to getting out of here. He might as well have access to more resources by joining this group.

"Xander's camp is the biggest and welcomes everybody. As long as you contribute with something you too can live a nice life here."

"What do you mean to contribute?" one of the other two men asked.

"Well, I might have been getting ahead of myself. For newbies like you the easiest and most reliable method would be to work in the mine. A share of the Mithril you mine is given to you as pay. And you can use that to trade with the merchants in the camp for anything you need."

Remy was not surprised an entire monetary system had formed around Mithril. Nor was he surprised to find out he had to struggle as a new prisoner in order to get something around here.

"What about weapons and armor?" He curiously asked. Were they regulated or could anyone get some?

"A weapon is easy to get as long as you're lucky or you can afford it. You can even make your own if you have the skills. Our camp has more than a few blacksmiths. Armor, on the other hand, is harder to obtain and much more expensive. Any other questions?"

"How do we reach Xander's camp?"

"You follow the road from the gate. It will take you past the abandoned mine and after a few hours you should see the camp."

"Abandoned mine?"

"It was abandoned way before the barrier was even made. I suggest you don't go snooping around that place. Rumor has it a dungeon formed inside it."

Indeed, this world had dungeons. They were naturally or in some special cases artificially created subspace that contained monsters, traps and treasure. The scholarly knowledge the old Remy had informed him that mana and magical energy played a big role in creating dungeons. The condition a certain place was could affect the mana in the air, forming a magical matrix and, shortly after, a dungeon.

Remy found it fascinating the natural word could theoretically cast spells if the conditions were right.

Of course, what the common man knew about dungeons was that it was a place for greedy or stupid adventures to die in.

Remy had no need for treasure at the moment and he was certainly not stupid enough to explore it for the heck of it. At least not until he had some confidence in himself and solid equipment.

"Well, if you're not feeling up to it, you can also wait for us to finish up here and come along."

Remy didn't plan to leave right now. He wanted to find a secluded spot and learn about his system. As for the other two, one of them departed right away while the other chose to stay.

Vincent left without another word and Remy found himself a tree behind some old crates. It was out of the way and people had no reason to come over there. Anyone watching might think Remy chose that spot simply for the shade the tree provided.