“Go on, tell me what you can.”

I said as I started my routine of shaving, showering, shitting and eating. With a buffer time of more than 3 hours, there wasn’t much to do except wait. Scouting was taken care of by the drone, and It would be exceedingly stupid to leave the comfort of the fort like spaceship. There would be little enemies could do to the half a meter thick carbon palladium alloy armor of the ship. Factor in the 8 12mm gauss guns and the lone 48mm railgun, which had managed to survive the landing, nothing but a grand army could approach in the first place. So, I was not worried about the security. Only problems that I could think of was going to affect the future, and they hardly mattered now if a hostile force banged on my doors.

“Approaching vessel are wind powered small ships. The ships are made of 2 different designs. 3 of them are smaller ships, barely able to contain 30 people each if pushed to the limits. All 3 of them are a little below that limit, I managed to approximate 65 unknowns in total. The other 3 are bigger ships with more tonnage. While some elves are sitting around the deck of these ships, it’s mainly occupied with cargo. With how deep the waterline is, I expect all 3 of them to be full to the brim. I cannot confirm whether the occupants are civilian or military at this altitude. I need to lower the drone to 800 meters for that, but it might get spotted.”

“Do it. It’s not like there is much that they could do at that range. Galdwin had said that, the best mage he had seen, a Tier 4, had been barely capable of a range of 500 meters. Update me when you have gathered all you can.”

There was still time. It was too early to head to the armory to dress up, thus I decided to read the previous reports of what the drone had managed to gather. First, the footage of the approaching ships. The smaller 3 mentioned by Josse was definitely fishing boats. From the size, it was clear that they were made with the lake in mind. It was wider than usual, perfect for the calmer waters of the lake. It had a small cabin near the end, and from the looks of it, didn’t have a cargo hold. The other 3 were quite a bit bigger, almost as big as a schooner. Yet, they also had the same problem of being too fat. In my humble opinion, none of them could go to open seas.

Afterwards, I scrolled through the videos of what the drone had managed to capture of the local populace, and the data on the minerals and rocks that Josse had managed to find.

“I have something to report now. First, while there are 20 or so armed personnel on the ships, majority of them are civilians. Mostly farmers, based on their clothes. The only interesting ones were on the leading ship. As the drone lowered itself, one of the female elves on the deck locked on to it. After a minute she called for the people in the cabin, only for someone we know, Galdwin, to be amongst them.”

That opened up more questions than it explained. Why did Galdwin bring people to here? If they were hostile, the presence of the farmers would make no sense. Also, Galdwin would know better than to bring 20 armed men for the confrontation. If they came to ask questions or research the ship, while the amount soldiers would make more sense, the farmers still wouldn’t. The only thing that I could think of was that they were here to establish a settlement. But Galdwin had claimed that they had tried more than once, only for them to be ruined by the monsters. What changed now?

One way or another, I was about to get answers, as they had cleared the marshes. They would be here in less than half an hour. I put on my armor, holstered my pistol yet left my rifle behind. The cold reflexes of Josse was much faster than mine, if I ever managed to find myself in a position where I had time to pull the trigger near the security zone of the ship’s guns, then that would mean whatever happened couldn’t be dealt with a mere rifle.

Contrary to my expectations, when they landed, they didn’t head to my position, rather to that lone tall tree I had found, under the orders of the lady who had previously managed to spot the drone. I watched them take their time to unload one of the ships, which had been full of grains and tents. It took them till the establishment of a makeshift tent town for 4 of them to split up and head my way.

“When they arrive, don’t point the guns at them unless they come closer than 10 meters to the ship or me. Any closer, don’t hesitate to shoot to kill.”

One of them was, of course, Galdwin. The other 3 were the very same lady, an old man who looked over 200, and a middle aged man with buff arms and singed eyebrows. I saw them get flabbergasted when they reached the ship, before the only calm one started to call out for me.

“Lloyd, can you please come out? I think we should have a talk.”

Even though he was talking with vigor, the camera feed clearly showed me that he was under stress. He was clenching his fists and sweating, also his legs were slightly bent as if he was a rabbit, ready to jump away.

The 3 were once again curious when the cargo bay door slowly descended and touched the ground.

“Galdwin, I am pretty sure that I heard a vow of secrecy last time when you came. And now, you arrive with 168 people. You got some explanations to do, don’t you think so?”

Even through my eyes were on the ex-prisoner, my implant helped me keep the other 3 in focus. It was clear that the 2 men of the group didn’t understand me, while female did. Since there had been no new soul links, it was clear that she was a mage superior to the Tier 0 adventurer. Thus, I raised an eye brow at her, to show her that I knew she could understand me. In response, the lady mage said something to the group before casting a spell. Some kind of white smoke gushed around her, before enveloping the 10 meter radius. It was not taller than 30 cm, and was very transparent. This time there were no horrible response to whatever the spell she had cast. It was clearly a group translation spell, as all eyes focused on me.

“So, you are the short-ear he had been afraid of?”

This time, it was the old man who had spoken. He was leaning on one side, clear that one of his legs were better than the other. He had a smile on his face, not unlike an elder who wanted to tease his grandsons. But his body, his posture was screaming something else to me. His demeanor was not that of a kind elderly. I had seen that a lot. A lot of my instructors and the employees of my father had that very same disposition. It was the manners of a war veteran.

For a second, our eyes locked. He saw something in my eyes, just as I saw something in his. It was the eyes of a man who had made peace with destiny, but not with life. He had the eyes of a man who would throw what very little remained of his life for the next generation. And he deserved respect for that. So I gave it to him, turning my gaze to the young man, not before giving a small nod to the elderly.

“Unless one of you want to answer, my question to Galdwin still stands.”

The youth tried to explain the situation to others, but it was almost impossible to understand anything through his mumblings.

“It’s war, boy. We are running from the war, trying to hide here till summer, waiting for the war to calm down.”

It was the veteran who answered me. The middle aged man busy staring at the ship, and Galdwin was still busy sweating.  The mage looked as if she had lot to say, yet didn’t know where to start.

“Will it be a problem, youngster?”

“No, I don’t own the land, and what you do with your village is none of my problem.”

Of course, the old man knew this. He knew that I could only answer one way. This wasn’t my planet. Wasn’t my land. Nor was I using it. He asked, just so that I couldn’t make problem another day. But I wasn’t interested in the little game of his.

Before I could open mouth, all 4 of them froze. It didn’t take a single second for me to realize that it was due to Josse. The middle aged man had gotten too curious.

“It is okay, Josse, stand down. Also, I wouldn’t recommend you to try approaching the ship without my consent, mister…?”

“Henry. His name is Henry.”

Once again, it was the veteran who recover first. He had been trying to keep control since he opened his mouth for the first time.

“Alright, is there anything else to talk about?”

“I… I s-should set up the plants. They won’t survive much longer in the ships. I also have to scout the a-area for more magical plants…”

It was the lady.

It seems like the shock of the weapons had been a little too much for them.