We arrived at the capital ruins and used Voyd’s life detection magic to locate the MMP’s. We stalked them until we were able to set up a decent vantage point for Ro to fire off her arrows. Earlier, we ground up the flowers into dust and coated the tips of her arrows with them. Ro took aim and fired. Her first shot hit, and so did the next one, and so did the one after that. Thanks to her amazing aim as well as some minor wind magic course correction, she didn’t miss a single shot, and all the MMP’s were left passed out. We went down and tied them up then waited. After a few hours, they finally woke up. They panicked at first and tried to shake out of their restraints.

“Hey hey hey, we’re not gonna hurt you guys. We just wanna talk.” I told them.

They stopped wiggling around on the ground. “Alright, go on then.” One of them said.

“We’re with a group of settlers that just set up shop in the mine out west and we have a deal for you guys.” I said.

“What is it?” The MMP asked.

“We’ll help you guys clear the ruins and give you full control. In exchange, you let the nomads live in the mine peacefully, and do a little bit of security to make sure there are no bandits stalking the entrance.” I told them.

“While that sounds like a pretty good deal, I don’t think just four people will make a huge difference.” The MMP replied.

“I was the one who cleared out the ruins in the first place, I can do it again.” I said.

The MMP’s all looked at each other in silence for a moment. Then one of them said, “Well alright then. We accept your deal.”

“Awesome.” We untied them and then they used clairvoyance magic to contact the other units nearby. They told all MMP’s in the area not to attack a guy wearing all orange, a young elf mage, a red hair archer, and a guy that looks a lot like a bandit but is just traveling with the rest of us.

“Alright, now that that’s done, how should we go about things from here?” One of the MMP’s asked.

“Well all of us together attacking an average bandit gang would be a bit overkill. It’s probably best we split up to clear ground more quickly.” I said.

“Agreed.” The MMP’s said. 

“I can take out a bandit gang on my own, so I’ll go out alone. You three should be fine too,” I said while pointing at Ro, Voyd and Killer, “so you all can go as a group and the MMP’s will go with their own units.” I told everyone.

“Nope! Killer, you go with Jeff.” Ro said.

“Ok!” Killer shouted.

“Uhhh, hold on a sec.” I said.

“See ya!” Ro and Voyd walked off.

“They’ll be fine on their own right? I mean, Ro basically has aimbot.” I said.

“What aimbot mean?” Killer asked.

“I’ll explain it while we’re out there.” I told him. 

I ran around the ruins with Killer shooting at all the bandits we came across. After the first couple battles, Killer got mad because I would shoot all the bandits before he had a chance to fight. So I ended up running around playing babysitter making sure he didn’t do anything to get himself killed. He could take out the majority of a bandit group on his own, all I had to do was watch his back.

Ro and Voyd took out the bandits they came across from a distance. They were able to take out most gangs before they were even spotted, and any bandits that did get close were swept away by Voyd’s wind magic. 

The MMP’s were able to operate more efficiently thanks to our indirect help. With less bandits in the area focused on them, they were able to move more freely and coordinate with other units to encircle and entrap some of the stronger gangs. 

After a couple days of fighting, the bandits were cleared from the ruins. We met up with MMP’s at the mine to celebrate. It was pouring rain so the nomads invited us all inside. We had all kinds of loot from the bandit groups we took down, so we divided the loot between us and MMP’s while the nomads prepared us a big feast. 

While we were eating I asked the nomads, “Since you guys have the MMP’s to run security on the door are you still gonna build some extra defense?”

“Yeah, we’ve already come up with several trap designs. We just have to gather what we need to build them.” The nomad responded. 

A loud banging noise came from the entrance. “What’s all the ruckus?” One of the nomads said.

“We’ll go check it out, should be one of our men.” One of the MMP’s said.

A group of MMP’s went over to the front door. After a couple minutes, the commotion got even louder.

“What could possibly be going on? Do you mind if you go check it out for us.” One of the nomads asked me.

“Yeah, we’ll be right back.” I said.

The party and I went to the entrance and we saw the elves from the forest in a skirmish with the MMP’s. Without hesitation, my party joined the fight. Ro readied her bow, Killer sprinted forward, and Voyd used her wind magic to blow everyone out of the doorway and force the fight outside. 

Outside there were hundreds of more elves. “Hold the line! Don’t let anyone past this door!” One of the MMP’s shouted. The elves charged and clashed with the MMP’s. It was a chaotic scene with low visibility due to the heavy rain but I could see dozens dropping from both sides. 

This is only happening because I messed up in the forest. The lives of all these people are on my hands. If I can’t stop this, then there’s no way the goddess will ever give me a decent reincarnation. I looked out at the battlefield and saw Voyd using her wind magic to safely remove people from the fight, Ro was firing arrows at people’s knees leaving them incapacitated, Killer was still killing everyone he could, but looking at Ro and Voyd was I needed to see to come up with a plan to stop this fight. 

While everyone was fighting, I climbed to the top of the caves entrance. I pointed my gun at the sky and concentrated on sending as much wind powered mana into the gun as I possibly could. When I pulled the trigger, a gigantic boom shook the battlefield, a large and powerful gust of wind shot up into the sky and pushed all of the rain clouds away, and the recoil knocked me back on my a*s. The fighting stopped, the sky cleared and a small sun shower started. Everyone on both sides looked up towards the top of the mine.

I stood up and looked down upon everyone and then I shouted, “Everyone Listen! I am a hero sent by the Gods to save this world. They gifted me a special weapon that was confiscated from me, and I did what was necessary to get it back. I never intended to hurt the elven people, and let me remind you all that it was you who attacked first! So lay down your weapons and stop fighting at once! Or face the power of the Gods!” 

The elves all dropped their weapons, then got on one knee and bowed their heads. “Please forgive us! We do not wish to upset the Gods!” One of the elves said.

“Should we get on one knee too?” One of the MMP’s asked.

“I dunno, but I don’t wanna piss off God.” One of them responded and dropped to his knee.

The other MMP’s followed. This might’ve gone a little farther than I’d hoped, but as long as the fighting stopped, I don’t care.

We invited an elf representative to come inside and discussed an alliance between the nomads, elves and MMP’s. Here are the terms of the alliance: 

• Total non-aggression pact that shall not be broken as long as all of the following rules are respected.

• The MMP’s get full control over the land and resources within the capital ruins, but must allow free passage through the area and provide security for the nomads. 

• The nomads have the right to all resources west of the capital.

• The elves have the right to all resources within the forest and have the right to deny visitors for any reason. 

• The land to the north and south as well as the stretch of land to the east between the forest and the capital, will be considered shared resource areas.

• Open and tariff free trade between groups. 

• If one group is attacked, the other two must come to their aid. (Nomad aid consists of non-battle related help) 

• If one group's basic survival needs are not met (ex. not enough food) the other groups must come to their aid. A group may request labor or other resources in exchange for giving aid, however, the exchange must be of equal value and be approved of by the third group. If no agreement is made within 20 days, the aid will be given for free.

The pact was signed by a representative from each group and I signed it as well. I guess since I’m chosen by God I’m supposed to be responsible for the sovereignty of the land even though I’m not acting as a king or anything. 

We celebrated the alliance by inviting the elves in to join us in the feast we prepared earlier. While we were celebrating, I started chatting with MMP’s because I wanted to find out more about the city in the south.

“Hey, I heard you guys are from the south. What’s it like down there?” I asked.

“Pretty much the same as up here, except there are less bandits and more monsters.” One of them replied.

“What’s it like in the last city?” I asked.

“Last city? Oh! Do you mean Aitenbureaux?” He replied.

“Is that what it’s called?” I said.

“Yeah.” He said.

“Is it nice?” I asked.

“Unfortunately it isn’t, It’s a ghetto s**thole crawling with crime.” He replied.

“Damn, I wanted to travel there.” I told him.

“Well, you should be glad you didn’t. We just lost control of the city recently.” He said.

“Huh? What happened?” I asked. “I’m not sure, I was stationed in the desert before being sent up here. But I heard word that the city is no longer under MMP control.” He said.

“Seriously?” I replied.

“Without our military I doubt they’ll be able to hold the walls for long. Aitenbureaux will surely crumble soon, you’re better off staying here.” He told me. 

Damn, I was really hoping this new alliance would free us up and give us a chance to move to a functioning society. But maybe this situation isn’t completely hopeless. If I offer to help the MMP’s get their city back, then I’ll have an entire military on my side. With the help of a military I’ll be able to help way more than enough people to redeem my soul. 

I offered my help to the MMP’s. “Are you sure? It’ll be a tough journey to get there.” He said.

“I’ll talk to my party about it and see what they think.” I replied.

I gathered up my party and asked them if they wanted to travel south.

“The farther from here the better.” Ro said.

“Me want what master want!” Said Killer.

“I’m fine with going. But we can’t travel through the desert without water magic. If we can’t draw moisture out of the ground we’ll die.” Voyd said.

“How long will it take for you to learn water magic?” I asked.

“I don’t know, depends on the complexity of the spell. Could be weeks, or months.” She replied.

“Ughhh, I don’t wanna wait here any longer!” Ro said.

“We could go through the jungle instead.” Voyd suggested.

“Will it be safe?” I asked.

“It’s full of dense vegetation and monsters that can strike from anywhere. It’ll be more dangerous than the forest was, but with the life detection spell we should be able to keep out of danger.” Voyd said.

“Well, which would you guys rather do?” I asked the party.

“I’d rather leave now, so jungle.” Ro said.

“Jungle!” Killer screamed.

“I’d rather wait and go through the desert, but the jungle is fine.” Voyd said. 

There’s no telling how much longer the city will hold for. That MMP I talked to earlier didn’t make it very clear so we should leave as soon as possible.

“Jungle it is.” I said.

We told the nomads and the MMP’s our plan to leave. The MMP’s let us know that they’d keep things safe while we were gone and they'll send word south about our arrival using clairvoyance magic. We went to bed after having the best meal since my reincarnation and the next morning we started our journey off to the jungle.