LENIN

"Isn't that just water he's using?" Rickston muttered.

But before I could say anything, the soil became more purple, almost like it was. . .

"Purpura!"

"Holy shit." I chuckled.

He could turn average soil into Purpura, but that short success was over as the soil reverted to normal.

"Well, we're almost there." Felix smiled as he put on his glasses.

Felix stood still momentarily, a wash of a big smile on his face as he looked at Rickston.

He immediately gave him a big old bear hug, "How have you been?"

"Well, being here is not good." Rickston joked, "This place needs a lot of work."

"Tell me about it." I chuckled.

It surprised me that we had been gone for a few weeks because it didn't feel like that. There was only one place that I wanted to visit now.

While the two of them were catching up, I, too, needed to catch up with my own family.

Luckily for me, I had already spotted them.

"Lenin." Kassie smiled, wrapping me in a hug. "How was the expedition?" A smug look appeared on her face.

"Funnily enough, still in one piece." I gestured to myself as Kassie rolled her eyes playfully. "How's Maro doing?"

"Pretty well; I've been teaching him some classic history." She smiled brightly. "If only there were an actual school institution for every other kid here."

I nodded, leaning against the table, "Actually, I have good news, Ri-"

"Rickston is here." She smiled softly.

Wait to ruin the surprise.

"What?" She chuckled, "Just because I haven't seen him in a while doesn't mean I can't recognise his Solum pattern."

Kassie never seemed to stop impressing me.

"Hey, mind sharing your thoughts with me for a second?"

She nodded, sitting beside me, "Of course. What is it?"

"The way we're going with this. . . Making The Village a better place at the cost of bringing even more danger to us?" I paused momentarily, "Is this the wisest choice to make?"

"Well, you're helping these people here, giving purpose to their lives. I mean, look at Felix; he's doing amazing now."

I sighed, smiling. "Yeah, I suppose you're right with that. . . Things will change now," I declared, looking at Maro playing with his little blocks.

"And we'll change with it." Kassie added, "Like everyone else, we face our upheaval. All we can do now is support Felix and guide him."

I nodded, knowing that she was right.

"Speaking of helping Felix, there's a meeting that I have to attend. See you soon." I smiled, and Kassie nodded, leaving me to my thoughts as I went to the meeting area.

Everyone was getting ready, and I took a seat beside Rickston.

"How are you finding the place?"

He shrugged, "I've just been developing blueprints in my head now." Rickston looked at his surroundings. "It's a whole new environment, but other than that, it'll be fun to work on."

"Alright, may I have your attention, please?" Felix clapped his hands together, and everyone looked at him.

He spoke about the progress we had made due to our remarkable findings. However, there were some problems, as evidenced by signs of a village expanding more than usual.

"They think we're probably a threat now because of that last encounter." Zac stood up, "If that means anything, we'll have to be ready to defend ourselves."

"Violence shouldn't be our first resort." Felix attempted to calm the situation down. "After all, we entered their territory first." Felix managed to add.

Felix made a good point; if it hadn't been for us, we wouldn't have had this problem.

"That's why I've decided that from now on, Lenin will be in charge of foreign affairs." Felix gestured over to me with a gentle smile. "If you have any questions regarding scouting, please ask him."

Everyone is generally satisfied with Felix's decision.

"Now, everyone, you are all dismissed."

Soon, everyone left their seats, leaving only the three of us hanging around.

"I'm assuming this is where the real meeting begins?" Rickston raised his eyebrow.

"Correct." I stood up, "You're a quick learner, you know that."

He smiled, shrugging, "That's why you brought me here."

I nodded, "Well, what do you need from us?"

He tapped his chin slightly, "You certainly already have the resources and more from Lylia."

Felix instantly looked at me and said, "You got Lylia to be part of this?"

I smiled, nodding.

"Moving on," Rickston commented, "As much as I can create the blueprint myself, I need workers. A bunch of them."

"How many people do we have?" I asked Felix.

"Around 1000." He declared, "Probably less. . ." He muttered.

"That's our first big problem; we need more people to work on these building constructions. We should use as many people as we have here, but there comes a point where we must use other ways." He answered.

I placed my hand on my chin. "Just what are your blueprints?"

He smiled, "A school, bigger farms, bigger facilities." The more he listed the things he planned to build, the more excited he became. "I can assure you, these things can all be done within a couple of months if we have the workers on board."

Rickston paused for a moment. "I'll be honest with you: It'll take forever with the people we have now. But we can start now. Better to have something than nothing."

I looked over at Felix, who seemed surprised, too. "Alright, we'll plan an expedition to one of the villages and see if we can hire some of their workers."

Rickston nodded, "It'd probably be best if you work them on a contract. Offer the Village Solum a thank you, then start a trade with them."

"That sounds like a plan." I nodded. We'll start doing it as soon as possible."

Felix looked at us and said, "I should probably head back to the lab."

With that, we all left to our own accord.

LUSAN

"Why do you think we're here for?" Tara muttered beside me.

"Whatever it is, as long as we didn't get into trouble for something."

"The truth be told. Truth be told." Tara sighed.

The chatter died down between us as Lenin entered the room, and that was enough for us to listen intently to him.

"Thank you for coming, " he smiled at us. I don't want to beat around the bush, so we've been assigned another expedition."

"Another scouting?" Zac was the first to speak up.

He shook his head, "Not this time; we are visiting The Village of Ustrin."

"Ustrin?" Zac raised an eyebrow, "Shouldn't we go to The Village of Scopa? They were the ones who ambushed us."

"True, but we can deal with them later. They're not as big a threat as you think."

Lenin was the only person Zac respected or cared to listen to remotely.

"Have you all packed your things?"

We all nodded.

He clapped his hands. "Good, we should get going then."

———

We took the same route to The Village of Ustrin, and, like last time, nothing too interesting happened except to see the prosperous farming that we knew this Village for.

"Oh, excuse me."

We all looked to see a woman holding a sack in her hand.

"Do you need help finding our village?"

"Uh, yes." Lenin smiled.

The woman returned the smile, "Would you like me to lead you the way?"

We collectively nodded.

While we followed the woman, she revealed her name to be Kristle. She seemed friendly and easygoing, and we told her everything about what the Village of Ustrin had to offer.

Despite most of us seeming more at ease with her nature, I could sense that Zac was ready to let go of his nervousness about walking with a stranger.

On the other hand, Lenin didn't care about the world.

Soon enough, we managed to make our way to the centre of the Village, where it was even more evident that this was a farming village with animals roaming around.

"Our leader should just be right down there." She pointed, having a soft smile on her face.

"Thank you for your assistance," Lenin remarked.

"My pleasure." She bowed before leaving.

We could keep walking down and make it in no time.

As we made our way, a couple of guards stopped us, but with a straightforward look, they let us in, smiling as they did.

These people were quite friendly.

We must have entered a garden filled with vibrant colours. Everywhere I looked, it was just popping.

Even the smell was intoxicating, luring me in to smell the freshness of the flowers.

But there, we say, was a woman all by herself, the most vibrant. Not even the flowers could beat her presence in this room.

She was minding her own business, humming peacefully to herself.

"Should we go talk to her?" I asked Zac.

"Why are you asking me?" He grumbled, but I could tell he was thinking the same thing as I.

She was a true beauty, that was for sure.

"Oh, I didn't see you there. Do what I owe the pleasure." Her angelic voice called out to us, and she placed her hands behind her back as she moved closer.

Lenin was the first to step forward, breaking me from my little trance.

"We were just hoping you could lead us to the direction of your leader."

"The leader?" She tilted her head as she began tapping her chin. "Well, if you want to find the leader, I can show you."

"Thanks." But before Lenin could move any further, she pointed at herself.

"I'm the leader." She answered a bit more seriously.

"Wait, you're the leader?" Zac blurted out of nowhere.

She slowly nodded, "My name is Eleanor. Is there a problem with me being a leader?"

Zac instantly shook his head. "No! I didn't expect it to be a girl."

I rolled my eyes; come on, Zac, you know you're not meant to be saying something like that, especially to someone who is a leader.

Now, shall we get started?