The muscular woman was keeping an eye on Beth and her friends, in case they could add something to the speech of her visibly fierce companion. Tught continued. "You will go out there, and bring wood to create weapons or to fuel the fire. Of course, we will accept it depending on the quality. You will hunt any vermin or animal that can be eaten and bring them back. We also need plants, both to eat and to make ropes. The latter is better you do it later, when you know how to distinguish them. Anything that is useful to us, will be traded for food, coins or other items we make here.”
A murmur coming from the students began to mitigate the next words of the humanoid that was not so different from an orc with human skin. "Silence, wretches!" The muscular woman shouted threateningly with her fist.
Tught raised a bone pendant with carved letters on it and explained. "If you are not interested in these conditions, you can leave and never return. But, if you don’t carry this, you will be our enemies out there. I warn you. There is no room for prisoners here, and what you’re going to encounter outside will make you suffer so much that you will be wishing to die. We're the last redoubt of our people in this place. We have been isolated by the various invasions of hateful creatures".
After a short silence, someone more human-like than the previous ones approached. He tapped Tught's shoulder and whispered something in his ear, which amused them both. Tught laughed out loud. "You're right, human! You should continue!"
The human male raised his voice. "I know you are confused and don't want to go out there, where death lurks behind every tree. But that's the way it is. If you are not part of us, you are against us. I was in your place long ago, and here I am." He showed a necklace similar to the one his companion held in his hand. "All of you who contribute will be well received, and will be eligible to get one of these. You will also be given options so that you don't have to risk your lives out there every day. By the way, I recommend you to make groups of at least five members. Out there, whoever goes alone, dies alone. Believe me when I tell you; death is not the worst fate here. Forget about fundamental rights and mercy, that doesn't exist here."
Then, after a signal from the muscular woman, all the warriors who had remained still surrounding them, began to approach and force them to go in one direction. The exit.
Emily began to get very nervous at the thought that they were going to expose them to death. "Come on, Emily! Remember everything you've learned by playing, reading and documenting yourself. Make all those hours that seemed pointless count for something." Little courage came out of those words. She was getting more and more afraid.
They walked as a group, surrounded by the warriors, following the human man. This one looked like a bad tour guide. "If you look to the left." They all turned almost in unison to see a huge pile of shoddy lumber. "You can see we cut wood but that's out of your reach. First you will have to trade what you get for an axe. By the way, they are stone axes, which sucks. Metal is conspicuous by its absence here. He smiled mischievously. “And this is not a video game where you can chop down a tree trunk with your bare hands. Ha ha ha.”
Most of the students understood the reference, but hardly anyone laughed at the joke. "What a shitty audience!” Still offended, he asked very seriously. “How many of you have seen those panels and the character menus?" Emily tried to raise her hand out of inertia, but someone stopped her. Ian grabbed her hand. Emily hadn't realized he was so close to her.
The murmur among the students made that gesture go unnoticed by the rest. Questions were heard everywhere, while, Ian didn't even flinch. "What panels are you talking about? Menus? I didn't see anything!" Emily got terribly nervous. She understood that most of them hadn't seen the panels. But then… Had Ian seen them? For some unknown reason, Ian thought it was a bad idea to reveal it.
It had been years since Ian had touched her. She felt strange because Ian was usually quite scary and was never afraid of anything. That made her hair stand on end. Ian walked away from her and went to the back of the group. She wanted to follow him, but Beth and Rebecca stood in the way. They looked at her for almost a full second. But Emily couldn't hold their gaze and nervously turned around, silently cursing them.
The guide saw them all with raised eyebrows. "Really? No one has seen them?" Then he noticed something without seeing anyone in particular. "Oh, I see! Clever guys! Heh heh heh!" He turned around and seemed suddenly friendlier. "I'll be honest with you. There's not much wood, edible plants or fruit outside. But there are plenty of enemies. From small vermin like rats, moles, lizards and rabbits; to medium-sized ones like wolves, foxes and lynxes. But there are bigger ones, like those bastard apes"
A worried murmur began to spread. The muscular woman shouted. "Shut the fuck up, you shits! Listen to what he has to say!"
Silence reigned until the guide let out a choked laugh. "Excuse Kalha. She doesn't like weak humans like most of you". He paused, not looking at anyone in particular. “Whiners even less!” A jerk glanced at Beth and her friends, then someone elbow him very hard.
Emily was distracted from what the guide was telling them, but attentive to her surroundings. She looked excited at everything that was there, trying to compare things with the video games, movies and stories she had read in her short life. She saw skins stretched on wooden frames, from what she understood that they hunted and stretched the skins to make those primitive clothes.
She saw neat piles of clean bones and wood near the craftsmen shaped both them. They were making clubs, stone axes, bone knives, modest bows, arrowheads or spearheads and an endless number of small objects that she couldn't make out. She also saw some cooks removing the contents of huge clay bowls with long sticks. She didn't know what they were cooking, but it didn't smell very good. At that moment, she missed the food of her demanding mother.
She saw other humans wearing similar outfits to those of the huge woman, although visibly different from each other. Some were whispering among themselves with pity faces. Other jeered yelling. "Have you seen?! Look at all this fresh meat! I've never seen so much at once. They're more than twice as many as when we came here." Emily felt the same as when she arrived at that new school she had only been to for two years. They had treated her like shit.
A shiver ran through her body as the realization hit her. "This is going to be a thousand times worse" Without realizing it, she was already trembling.
One of the adventurers shouted to them. "Stick together! You'll have a better chance of survival. Leave whatever differences you have behind. Trust me!"
Emily felt a small glimmer of hope hearing that, but Beth brushed it away by whispering behind her back. "You're crazy if you think we're going to forget about you, Red Cow." Those words nearly made her run away.
The guide, oblivious to this, continued, pointing to a rudimentary sign made of sticks, which had the nearest hut. It had some pieces of slate hanging on it. All of them had different strange symbols.
The hut was made of stone and covered with a roof of wood and straw. It had no door and didn't look too spacious. Emily imagined that two people could live in some comfort. At the door was an elderly woman with a creepy wooden mask covering her entire face. Emily guessed she might be a shaman or something.
The shaman watched them for a few seconds until the guide interrupted, greeting her. "Good morning! How many do you think will survive this time?"
The shaman asked without removing her mask. "Am I hearing your money backing the bet?"
The guide burst out laughing. "I would never be stupid enough to bet against you." Then, he looked at the group and made an estimation. "I'd guess five... maybe six. Not counting that big guy." They all turned to look at Ian.
Ian, looking annoyed, joined in the bet. "Well, I think we'll survive two."
A murmur suddenly arose, but was quickly stifled by the huge woman. "Shut up, you scum! No one has given you permission to speak."
The shaman laughed and turned to the guide. "Survive? How many days are you talking about. I meant the first day!"
The guide pondered the unexpected question. "Well, my bet was at the end of a couple of weeks, but I understand that the first day more than half will survive, right?"
The shaman looked at Ian and laughed. "I like your bet, boy. But I wouldn't be so generous to include you between those two."
Ian instantly replied with a cocky look on his face. "I bet your head."
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