Chapter 896 Chapter 895: Back To Custodia (1)
"Whew~! This is the last of it, right? Everything we've managed to get mined up and everything we've harvested... How the hells are we going to transport this?"
Jahi stood beside me and looked out over the sea of crates and bags we had filled during our time here, the Dungeon's bountiful offerings prepared to be shipped out into the open world for further use by whoever's hands it ends up in, be it ours or the Demon Clans.
Not a significant, monumental shipment of goods, but something that would make most Noble Houses salivate, including some of the bigger ones; there was a lot of short term benefits to be found in these crates, but their long term impact was dependent entirely on who made use of them.
In the hands of the Demons, these ores, bones, pelts, herbs and gemstones will solidify their foundation even further and give them some serious bartering power over the next few months, but in the hands of some others... it might be ripped away quickly or wasted by idiots.
My trust in the general populace - even of the Empire - was nil, and my trust in the Demon Clans was only slightly better thanks to the time I had spent with them, but even then it wasn't the highest in the world; the Cimeriesa's were geniuses of the highest caliber, but that also meant a lot of this would go to waste on their experiments, some of which might not see the light of day or even be deemed worthy enough to keep funding, so...
On one hand, it would be wasted, but at least I knew that the people wasting it were doing so in a worthwhile manner, I guess... and I was also assured that a good chunk of everything we worked for in this first delve would be made into gear right away so that our next delve would be even more bountiful.
But on the other hand, knowing that some of this material would be completely wasted was a slight sore point, but there was nothing I could do about it since that wasn't my material, but instead theirs, and it was theirs to do with as they saw fit, which could be to just toss it into lava to see its melting point or something stupid...
"Two, three trips. That's how we'll get it out. There is far too much for a single trip, at least with our numbers. Even with everything compressed down to the refined versions of themselves, we still have this many crates... Honestly, I can see why some people fall so easily to greed. Imagine having rooms of this..."
"Oh, I would love that so damn much... just giant vaults filled to the brim with hundreds of thousands of ingots waiting to be forged... I would kill for that. Like, massacre an entire city of innocents. Honestly, I think I would."
We all turned towards Anput, who was staring at the crates with a small smile and a distant look in her eye whilst nodding her head, only to clap her hands together and act like she hadn't just let her inner voice slip as she said "Well, let's get everything packed up, hm? The sooner we get back to the city, the quicker I can start. It's a days journey - plus or minus a few hours - back to the Empire, and we need to use these days wisely to prepare! Which is going to be me churning out dozens of weapons and armor, which will then be enchanted and distributed before we arm ourselves and return for even more goodies! Ah, I can't wait..."
Silence shrouded us all as we stared at Anput, and the Jackalkin just tilted her head as she innocently asked "What? Is there something on my face?" when she noticed that we weren't moving, only to shrug and get to work, prompting us all to look at one another for a moment before joining her, though not before Jahi muttered "Well, we all have our sins, and it would seem greed is hers..? Good to know, I guess..."
"Yes, it would seem we will need to invest in vaults so that she doesn't go on a murdering spree... or perhaps we need to steer away from vaults so that she doesn't go on a murdering spree to fill them even more? Quite the conundrum..."
Chuckles filled the air as we began to load up the various sleds we had and tie them all together, making sure everything fit and was secured before beginning our journey out of the grottos and back up into the world above, where the sun was shining and the breeze was filled with more scents than just sweat, dirt, earth, flora and more dirt.
Though, the sun was damn near blinding as we emerged into the forest above, and the walk back down towards the city was spent readjusting to this openness and freshness as we walked down the mountain paths, which were not obstructed by anything, thankfully.
No monsters, no fallen trees or overgrown path, nothing; we reached Custodia in a hour or two - honestly, judging time was odd now that I had the sun again, so I wasn't too sure since I wasn't checking it as often, nor using my pocket watch since I was trying to break the habit of checking it every few moments to see how much time had passed, which I had created down inside the earth thanks to the lack of sun...
Honestly, being able to answer the question about what happens when you 'lose' the sun for a few days was interesting enough, and as we approached the pockmarked walls of Custodia, it was one that was interesting to look over and answer, even if it held little real importance to my life.
All I was really trying to do was re acclimate myself to the fresh air and keep my mind from going crazy now that I was walking without my guard up and constantly focusing on the air on my skin or its scent to worry about monsters; that overload of information was rather debilitating when it was of no use anymore...
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