Arrival and Negotiations

The group were traveling through the passageway and torches were on both sides lighting the way for them as the youth was leasing them downwards. During the walk we were able to converse with him and get his name which was Hane.

He told us that the passage led to the underground tunnels that were made years ago and due to the invasion from the swarm of sandstone centipedes caused the tunnel to expand to which it could be used to hide us.

Not only that, he said we weren't the only ones that came here as 3 smaller settlements made their way to them due to their location being found out by the hunters and could only rely on relocating to other larger settlements.

Hane said this with a frown as the group understood the problem which was that there might be less settlements nowadays and more likely they would either be larger and medium sized settlements due to being discovered and hunted by others.

Karisa and the others were extremely thankful that they were under protection from a god as their settlement might be the next target for attack and all of us know what happens to those who are captured which is a worse fate than death.

The light source at the end of the passage was finally coming up to view towards everyone until they finally reached and what they saw made them astonished as the entire settlement was underneath the ruins as you could see that everyone was doing something and running up and about.

Looking at them they noticed that their clothing is not new but were better than their own clothing but ignored these things as they were concentrating on the underground settlement as it looked like it was in similar condition to our settlement. It's just that there are loads of people here.

With the recruitment mission given by lord Nile as he had said bring as many people if not all as the more people they are the more safe it will be for them as well as provide the help that is needed to build the place they dream of being free and unrestricted.

With their arrival at the end of the passageway, Hane talked to the two guards about the matter of us meeting with the chief. They attracted many people's attention as they were staring at them to try to figure out our goal but most of them were continually doing their tasks ignoring us.

Karisa and the group ignored this as they were mostly staring at the underground place and if they had to say anything it would be that's it is very big and hidden well with the entrance above but in the end it was considerable the same as our settlement with some tents being using while ours were more shabby houses due to the environment.

Upon closer inspection Karisa noticed most of the people were carrying stones around and walking with worn out pickaxes toward different places as if digging for something she then asked Hane " Why are they so many of you guys mining in this place are you looking for minerals or something under here"

Hane hearing the question shook his head and then replied to Karisa's question by saying " It's not that we're looking for something it's really because we're trying to expand, possible find minerals and Ores or even more resources that can help us tide over the increasing population"

"The leader is a Kind person and knows that by inviting and helping more smaller settlements or others that are in need or in a daunting situation due to their own settlements being destroyed by either hunters, beasts or natural disaster"

Hane shook his head thinking about the many problems they faced daily just to get to live a new day everyday.

" Not only due to this we need to expand it's also due to us being unable to survive long if we don't search for these things as even if we sent people to scout outside many will come back injured just to bring back one piece of fruit"

" So if this is not done how will we survive and even though we know this was a hidden mine back in the past and most likely will not be able to find much materials as they might have been dug up but if we don't try we're dead people anyway"

Karisa shook and head and the rest of the group understood as this is the type of mentality they developed after being scorned and hunted by basically all sides as if they are desperate people like us will even dig to the abyss just to find a small piece of iron which would look like the greatest thing in their situation.

But it's really sad as even the littlest things are considered to be treasures among us due to the deterioration of ourselves as a whole. The Karisa and group said nothing thinking to themselves and continued to walk towards the direction Hane was leading them to.

They finally reached a large Tent with many guards surrounding the tent looking at our arrival with straight faces and they all had spears in their hands prepared to deal with intruders if need be.

Hane told the group to stop at a certain point near the entrance of the crude wooden gate surrounding the tent. He then went up toward the guards and spoke to them of the matter to which one of them, which was clearly different from the others as they had a bodybuilder's body, walked toward Hane which came from out of the tent.

They were conversing and the group could only hear a few tidbits of information as if they were discussing something serious as we could see that Hane expression took a different look and he then rushed into the tent with no one stopping him with the guard who was conversing with him before following behind.

After a few minutes of waiting around only until the guard and Hane came back Hane had a solemn expression on his face and said " The chief right now will be unavailable at the moment it's better if you come back another day"

Their expression turned livid as they had to come back another time but before anything was said more about the matter to the group everyone nearby heard a voice coming from the tent saying " They can come in after all they went through such trouble to get here so we have to hear them out at least"

Hane hearing this just sighed as he knew that he had no other choice other than to allow them to enter so Hane just guided them in and what they saw was shocked them as it was an old man which shocked them and had a long gray beard with a face that was wrinkled with the experience called life but the thing was that he looked as if he was a skeleton.

This was until it was finally noticed that on the left arm of the chief he was bleeding out black blood and the only reason why it would be colored like this is that if someone tried to kill him by poisoning him directly but seeing him still means that the poison must be slow acting with addition to it just happening a while ago possibly.

" You visited here to see me well. I'm sorry to see guests right now in my state as it is" The old man said with a sigh.

Karisa then walked up to the old man an introduced herself and the group saying " My name is Karisa and these are my compatriots as we're here to discuss upon a matter our leader sent us to do"

When Karisa said this the old man looked at here with a serious face saying " Well my name is Ivan and I'm the chief of this little settlement we have here so I wonder why has your leader sent you here and for what reason if your asking for your settlement to stay here you'll need to work as well as we can't be having anyone wasting time when every second is precious"

Hearing this Karisa and the group were frightened a bit by his stance as it looked like the old man was someone who could kill them with a swipe of his hand but Karisa maintained her calm and the group soon followed.

Karisa then answered " This is because we need to ask if your settlement would be inclined to join ours as to create a larger force especially we live in a forest so the resources are ok it's just that it's dangerous somewhat with the magic beasts"

For a second everything was still as if the old man Ivan was thinking on the matter then he said " Do you know how many settlements have joined us until now"

Karisa shook her head and said " I don't know at all chief Ivan"

Old man Ivan then said " It has been at least 5 smallers settlements and some groups from either medium or large settlements and seeing your little party here by yourselves means that your settlement must be either small or just underpopulated but I'm asking do you think your settlement can hold at least 200,000 people "

" Think about it and the forest your talking about is that forget that no one dares to enter because entering means that your throwing your lives away"

" So I'm asking now what can your little settlement offer that can make us move from a place like this where we're more hidden as it's better for you to have asked if your settlement can move in hmm"

" So answer my question little girl" Old man Ivan gave a shout towards the group at that same moment.