"Victor, why don't you chat with your friend? I'll take charge of things here."
"Eh? It's okay? Alright, I'll leave it to you. Thanks dad!"

Even your father is part of the defence force?

"Hey brill! It sure is a coincidence seeing you here. It looks like you left not that long after me."
"Yeah, I'm surprised to see you here too. Aside from that, why are you in the defence force? Was that your father? Is your whole family now going to defend the capital city while the army is away?"
"It's a bit of a long story but we decided to stay here and defend the capital while the cleansing is underway."

You say it's a long story, so I understand that you want to keep it short and summarize it. However, that is too short.

You did give me your current plans, so I guess that's alright now. The question now is why they chose to stay here when it is very profitable to be a mercenary now.

"I would have been able to learn that from seeing you leading the defence force. The question I want answered is how you got that position a few days after you arrived here in the capital."
"Ah, that's because my father's teacher is someone high up in the military. Even if he is retired, he has enough prestige that he can talk with the elder's themselves. He is an elder dwarf himself after all."
"He is an elder? Why was someone like that teaching the army?"
"Among the elders, he is considered to be someone on the weird side. He trained army recruits, combat students, and he actively participated in military excursions. He did retire but you know what happened. You should have seen him though, he issued your permit to camp here after all."

That old guy? He is strangely charismatic and his assistant did mention him being casual to the elders. Also, he is considered eccentric just for liking to be on the field?

[Elder Dwarf] is a very rare race here in the dwarf continent, and it only shows up from their own family. I understand that they want to protect rare breeds like that. However, it would be pretty boring to live 'confined' like that.

"I see, then you plan to defend the capital city until this whole thing is over?"
"Not only me! My mother and father are with me too! They are each a leader of their own respective defence force. I actually planned to travel all around the continent to strengthen myself during this chaotic time. However, my parents heard about my little panic attack back at the dragon's road. Chatterbox took the opportunity to take revenge on me for telling his parents about what he is like at school."
"That is unfortunate."
"It is! My parents ask the general to help train me to overcome my little outburst. After a couple of back and forths with me and my father, my mother decided that I would get trained, so here I am leading a defence force."
"How is this helping you overcome your fear though?"
"The general said something about feeling the responsibility of my own subordinates as we go through adversity together. It's supposed to help me grow up and keep a cool head no matter what happens, I guess? It hasn't worked yet but he said that I would understand when the time comes."

I think I can kind of understand what the general is talking about. However, isn't this whole thing just pushing him through the fire and hoping he can forge himself out of it? It feels like the method is a little forceful but who am I to argue against an elder dwarf that retired from being a general.

"I see, well good luck with that. As you can see, I'm on my way to the village. I have everything I need to build my workshop and house there."
"I had a quick glance at the cargo inventory. You really are on your way to your dream."
"Hahaha, I thought all of us were. You finished the smithing course too. You can make and repair your own weapon from now on. Chatterbox's family business is expanding to the central island and they should be working him to the bone making and maintaining weapons until things let up that they can send a convoy to the central island. As long as they gain some fame there, they should be well on their way to begin a large merchant guild."
"Hahaha, I guess that's true. Well, I can't stay that long. I still have patrols to do. From what I can see, you chose a good mercenary group. They look trustworthy and they are very organized. I'll try and visit your new village when I have time."
"Great, try and bring chatterbox with you. Don't forget to bring some food."
"Don't worry, chatterbox will foot the bill."

And off he goes. Each of us are well on our way to our own path. As long as things go according to plan, I would be friends with a successful merchant and a powerful fighter, and they will be friends with a great smith that will be hailed as a hidden expert!

I just hope nothing as exciting like a game of tag with elite knights through the forest happens to me in this life. For starters, there are barely any forests here. We have the army instead of knights, and I don't know anyone from the high class families.

The general is an exception, and I didn't make enough of an impression for him to remember me. I doubt I would deal with people of that caliber. I can see myself dealing with nobles when my fame gets some traction though.

I'll handle that when that time comes. I will just keep practicing my craft throughout the rest of the journey. I hope nothing else happens.

It's been a long chase, I'm mentally drained right now. Let's do the mana practice tomorrow. For now, let's sleep until morning.

"Welcome back, how was the capital? Did you get everything we need?"
"Yes, we purchased everything in the list. However, we went over the budget, despite my extensive haggling."
"That is a shame but we can't do anything about that. I thought this would happen, so I gave you the extra with that in mind."

Hmm? It's still early in the morning. The group that went into the capital are back?

"Distribute the items the others asked you to buy and as soon as that is done, we will prepare to depart!"

We are leaving already? No breakfast? Are we going to eat on the road?

"Sir, we shall depart shortly. I have altered our schedule a bit in consideration of yesterday's event. We also need to drop off the deceased to our base, so please allow us to make a slight detour."

I see, so this is why they are in a hurry. They need to drop off their fallen comrades.

"That's alright. Do what you need to do."
"Thank you very much. Our home base isn't that far from the road path we originally decided. It won't take too long but we need to arrive there as fast as possible, for their sake. I'm also sorry to say this but we will have breakfast on the move. Here is your meal."
"This is quite a lot."
"The capital team purchased it fresh from the bakery. We will depart now, please enjoy."

This is the first time for me to have a basket full of meat, cheese, and bread for breakfast. There is no milk but this has that highland picnic feel to it.

Eating this while somewhere on a pasture as a cool breeze fans me sounds amazing but there are no pastures here, and they need to drop off the fallen to the base before they rot. I'm assuming they have their families living at the base, so they want to provide them with closure with what happened.

"Is everyone ready!? Good! We will move past the entrance and submit the permit before leaving! Make sure to be careful of the surroundings and keep your guard on at all times. We have an important delivery to do! Protect them as they died protecting us! Let's go!!"
"Yeah!!!" xAll

*Rattle* *Rattle* *Rattle*

This is probably not the time to mention installing the bombs. We are on the way to submit the permit the general gave us and collect the bombs but it would be weird of me to point that out after the speech he just gave. I'll just ignore them until this whole mourning procession ends.

*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*

"Sir, here are the bombs they confiscated. They also mentioned not to install the bombs until you are somewhere near the borders of the capital region."
"Good, I'll keep them stored for now. I'll put them back once we stop. You need to reach your base as soon as possible right? Go."
"Thank you for understanding."

Yeah, like I can answer that I want to put the bombs back again after seeing that awkward look on you and your subordinates' faces. I think your priority right now is to deliver the dead bodies to their respective families before they rot too much.