Meeting

Five days quickly went by, with Adrian just being knocked out. He had used all the energy he had, and might even have used more than he in reality had.

Adrian woke up in a poorly made wooden hut, and he had no idea of where he was at the moment, all he could remember now, was him fighting the demon. Feeling a heavy headache plaguing his head, he decided to try and find some water. So he got up from the small bed that had been made for him and made his way out of the hut.

When he got out, he was surprised to see so many people. There were tents everywhere in between the forest trees, with many people walking around doing various tasks. Adrian went over to some of the people who were talking and asked what this place was.

The warriors who had taken him out of the city, had with the rest of the survivors, build a small camp in a forest, where they could stay safe until everything calmed down. Many new survivors from small villages and the capital also showed up in these two days, so the camp had grown to be more of a village.

Adrian was surprised to hear this, and he was truly thankful for the warriors who had safed his life. He was truly surprised that they had also started a camp for all of the refugees around the area.

"Oh, you have woken up!" An excited voice came from behind him.

Turning around, Adrian could see it was the young warrior from within the capital. He was glad to see that he made it out alive too.

"Yeah, and I guess I have to thank you for saving my life!" Adrian gave him a warm smile, as well as bowing at a 90-degree angle.

"No, no, don't worry about it, in the end, it was you who safed all of us!" The young man went over to Adrian with a serious look, helping him stand back up. "Please don't bow to me!"

Seeing the face of the young man, Adrina could not help but feel some respect for him. Adrian had seen a bit of his fight from the corner of his eye in the capital, and he was quite strong. Right now he also showed humility in front of Adrian, which is quite hard to do for young and talented people.

"At least tell me your name!" Adrian said as he looked at the young man with a calm smile.

"My name is Alvey! And what about you?" The young man said as he looked at Adrian with admiration and respect.

"My name is Adrian!"

After this small exchange, Adrian and Alvey talked for quite a while. Adrian found out that this camp had been made because all of the survivors from the capital had nowhere to go. Then they decided this place was safe enough for them to make a small camp. In the end, this small camp grew more and more, into something people would rather call a village.

They had gotten many different people with different skill sets, which was pretty good. They had carpenters to build houses, tailors to make clothes, hunters to hunt, and so on. In the end, though, they had grown so big, that the hunters could not make enough food for the whole camp, so they had to find other solutions for that.

They had already started to make some farmland across the woods, but it was not the most effective, as they did not want to cut down trees and break the cover of the forest. This was not really a solution for here and now either, as they would not get any crops from it, before a few months later.

In the end, this was only meant to be a small camp for a few days, which has become more of a village, without any necessary preparation.

What the village was not in need of, was fighters. Many of the survivors from around the capital and the small villages were fighters who knew how to survive. Many of the ordinary civilians who came to this camp, had been either safe by a warrior, or they had been lucky to get away.

Alvey led Adrian into a bigger shed, which had been made in a better way than the one he had woken up in. Inside was a big round table, where four other men and two women sat around. The four men he recognized, as they were the warriors he had fought within the capital, but he did not know the women.

"Your awake, that is great! Come, sit!" The more experienced man who took charge after Adrian fell unconscious stood up with a smile and pointed at an empty seat.

Adrian walked over with Alvey, as he sat down beside the others. There was conveniently a seat for everyone.

"Now that we are all here, we should probably all introduce ourselves to the guy!" The experienced warrior stood up. "I will start, My name is Cadel Jester, and before the demons came, I was the captain of the capital city guards!" He said with a proud smile before he sat back down.

"My name is Seward, and I worked under captain Jester!" A man in his mid-thirties stood up with an indifferent expression.

In the end, Adrian learned the names of the men, as they were called Cadel, Seward, Alvey, Swithin, and Wymond. They were all brave warriors in Adrian's heart, and he respected them all. They were all older than him, which only made him respect them more.

"My name is Aldara Stewart! Before the demons attacked, I lived in a small noble house in the capital!" The older woman stood up with an indifferent expression. "This here is my daughter, Elda Stewart, and she is quite the skilled warrior!" She said as she pointed to a younger girl by her side.

Both girls were quite beautiful. The older woman had more of a mature charm, as she had all the curves in the right places. As well as long shining golden hair.

The daughter looked more innocent than her mother, as she had not fully formed all her curves. Her face also had more of a stern look, probably from training as a warrior. In the end, they were both beauties who could match up to Johanna and her mother.

"Then I will finish it, My name is Adrian, and I am just an Orphan from a small town called Conningsby!" Adrian stood up to introduce himself, as he looked around at the different people. He was not surprised to see that the mother had a look of disdain when he said he was an orphan.

"Tch, what is an orphan doing here ..." Aldara said as if Adrian was a lesser man. "He has no say in any of this camps matters!" She continued with a sneer.

"He was the one who saved the original camp survivors and our lives! I think he is the one with the most to say!" To the woman's surprise, Cadel stood up for Adrian. While the other warriors glared at her in anger.

Adrian thought more highly of these warriors now, as they knew how to repay kindness with kindness. The only one at this table he thought little of, was Aldara, as she seemed like a small-minded person.

"Now that the introductions are over, let us discuss what to do with the food problem!" Cadel stood up. He really seemed like a natural leader in this meeting.

They all started discussing what to do with the food. Many different solutions came up, but many of them were not immediate solutions. They wanted to use husbandry to breed and butcher the animals. In the end, this would take a long time, as well as they needed food to feed the animals too.

In the end, Alvey came up with the idea of going deeper into the forest to gather fruits and berries. Which was the best idea they had had until now, the problem with this though was that they had no idea of the danger inside of the forest.

They decided that they would send a team of warriors into the forest first, so they could clear it out, and then they would send in some gatherers, with some guards to protect them. That would take a few days though, so they had to survive with the little food they had.

This is where Adrian chimed in. As he had lived in an orphanage with very little money, he knew how to ration the little food that was available. He came up with the idea of rationing, and he would gladly do it, with the help of a few people.

"It is decided then, I and a few warriors will go into the forest to clear out any danger there is!" Cadel said as he looked towards Alvey. "Adrian, you will be in charge of rationing, with the help of Elda and her mother!" He said as he looked at the mother with a stern look. "Now, get to work!"

Everyone stood up and left the hut. Adrian as well as the mother-daughter pair, went to where the storage had been placed.