As soon as Helena said that the battle started. Both of them did their best to avoid showing their anger but at the same time glaring intensely at each other."Why do you say that? what makes you think you have the right to make that choice for him?""But Anne, you've been mean to him all this time, and I've always slept by his side, im accustomed now so...""It doesn't matter who came first, Tsao and I slept together when we went to the cave!"Helena's words ignite Anne's face filled with red leaving her almost out of combat. Now Helena is furious and she's looking right into my eye."How could you do this to me Tsao? I thought we had something special""But thats not true! we didn't do anything! we just slept on the cave floor, we had to sleep somewhere! Anne why did you make it sound dirty?""I-I didn't intend to make it sound that way, but we were so close and I even let you..."Anne's cheeks are still bright red from the intense emotion and stops speaking, yet again causing Helen
At nightfall the whole group meets at a midpoint in between both cottages, usually Ayumi would give her daily report informing us about the amount of supplies available, in addition to the daily advances in construction and technology, but this time it's different. After spending two weeks apart, both groups have a lot to talk about and, although the cold is getting more and more unbearable, everyone is excited to be able to spend time outside."We have to go to the village as soon as possible!"Luke exclaims, insisting again on the need to explore the new world."Luke, we've already talked about this, we're not ready yet and there will be plenty of chances to do so"Ayumi replies in a condescending tone"I don't know, I think Luke has a point"Tsao, with black circles in his eyes and a tired expression on his face joins the conversation"It's true we weren't prepared before, but I think the time has come to expand our area of action. If our goal was just to survive we could stay he
"Quickly! go heat up some soup for Anne, her condition is very bad"I order Helena. My mind feels more agile, clear, it is as if all the distractions dissipated and allowed me to concentrate on the problem in front of me.Helena hesitates for a second before letting go of the curtain and heading into the kitchen, I can hear the sound she makes as she reaches for the utensils she needs to heat up the stew for lunch.What Anne needs is not only rest, she must also eat a proper meal. I've long thought of stamina simply as the amount of energy we can expend before getting tired, but since we've long since had enough food to go around, I completely forgot the importance of eating properly.Surely Anne would recover anyway if she didn't eat now, but eating will allow her to recover much faster. If my assumption is correct, the pieces of this puzzle are fitting little by little.Health points represent just that, health. But it's not as simple as thinking that just because you have a large n
"Are you sure this is going to work?""Nothing is certain, but at least it will give us a second chance if things go wrong on the first try"Ayumi and Tsao exchange words while the rest of the group shows signs of anxiety. The plan is to split up before entering the city, Bob and Luke going first and spending the night there, if things go well they'll spend two nights there and everyone will reunite.Tsao provided them with some food and trinkets to trade, telling them tirelessly to pay attention to everything they see. Luke is eager to be the first to make contact, so he walks outside the cave, his excitement overflows and for the first time he looks genuinely happy."Hurry up Bob, we're wasting time""But Tsao said we'll take our time, it must give the impression that we've come a long way""But if things go wrong we will be completely alone""Don't be scared man, just do what I tell you and nobody will mess with us. Just put on your best poker face and don't say anything, just by s
The next day Both Bob and Luke woke up refreshed by the best night sleep they ever had. After meeting up at the entrance Rina greeted them politely."Good morning dear clients, did you find your accomodations to your liking?""Yes! the bed was so comfortable I fell asleep as soon as I lied down""Hehe, thought so, since it's past noon already. Your village must be really far that you were so tired""Miss Rina, has mister Rudd arrived yet?"Rina chuckled after hearing someone speaking about Rudd with respect."Yes, he's been waiting for you since morning, he asked me many times if you were still sleeping"After thanking Rina they went downstairs and found Rudd standing up looking impatient. After exchanging pleasentries they sat down to discuss business."So, mister Ironwood are you ready to talk business?""Yes, I gathered all the funds I could before coming. But first I'd like to ask you a couple questions. Why did you choose to do business with me when you could've just sold your me
"A bit more to the left Ayumi, watch out you're gonna cut him""Shhh, I know what I'm doing"Ayumi does her best to cut Hiraku's hair and she's so scared to hurt him that her hand trembles. We're about to head to the town and the reason Hiraku had to take the risk of being cut is that we need him to look as neat as possible since he's supossed to be our boss."Now the only thing is to tie a bow in Mochi's tails so it can pass as an average one tailed cat, we need to avoid rising any king of suspicion"As soon as we're ready we head outside the cave and set our course straight to the town. Pulling the sled has proven to be quite a difficult task since it's full to the brim with pelts, meat, mochi, croquettes and some trinkets.Bob and Luke are waiting for us just outside the town and they wave their hands at us as soon as they notice our approach. Hiraku walks ahead of us and as soon as we get close to them they bow politely in front of him."Hello guys, so, how did you fare?"The bow
"Hey miss Rina! Claire did a hell of a job with today's breakfast!""Yeah, I'd like some more bread please!"Everyone is cheerful at the tavern, it seems that they liked my cooking even though I only made some regular bread. The only one who seems down is Claire since she knows she wasn't the one behind today's breakfast success. I don't pay her any mind though and just enjoy my breakfast.When Rudd arrived we're all ready to go. Meeting the mayor is one of the milestones we need to cover in order to become part of the town and earn the trust of its inhabitants. Once we are outside he takes out a coin purse and hands it to Luke, who in turn passes it to Hiraku."I hope this is enough for you, I had a hard time yesterday running from place to place making deals but I managed to sell everything. The pelts were a big hit, but most of the coins come from selling mochi and the croquettes"Rudd looks happy making Helena chuckle. This would be an awful time to tell him that those were intend
A week passed like it was nothing and the only one missing their settlement was Ayumi who couldn't stand the sight of another woman hitting on her husband. Meanwhile everyone else was faring well, the most successful were Hiraku and Helena, the first was making a killing on his trading business while the latter was so skilled in tailoring that the richest people in town would fight for a set of clothes.Anne, Bob and Tsao decided to join Rudd in one of his mining expeditions. Since Rudd was also a hunter, it was his duty to keep everyone safe on their way to their mining spot.It was the coldest morning they've faced, but they were not alone in this trip. Every three days hundreds of people would gather at the north entrance for what they call the shift change. There weren't many professional miners, but most inhabitants would go into the mines every so often so everyone knew the basics.Tsao analyzed the equipment everyone had but there was nothing out of the ordinary. Most people ca