Chapter 1666 Where’s the Town At?

--- Kat ---

"Where’s the town?!" yelled Kat as they looked out over the small valley. It had a few outposts that you could see between the mushroom trees and a river that had frozen over but there just… wasn’t anything else around. It might as well have been an empty field.

Meg looked over the map again and glanced around noting the rough shape of the area as well as the various landmarks that proved this very much WAS the place they needed to be. It was the only basin nearby and the small frozen river was quite clearly marked as right next to the town. There was a very small chance of there being an near idenctical valley on the other side of this one… but it seemed unlikely.

"I’m… not sure. The snow here isn’t so deep as to swallow the town and it’s definitely marked here on the map…" Meg mumbled.

Of course, this was all jumping ahead more than a bit. Before they got to ’the town’…

--- Kat --- (Back at storytime!)

Everyone went around sharing their stories once Kamiko was done with her own. Hunter and Meg told… fairly average stories of their previous adventures. Hunter claimed hers were all like that and Meg claimed to have intentionally picked one of her tamer stories for reasons she wasn’t willing to explain. They may have just been ’because it’s funny’. Kat and Lily told their own stories. Kamiko had heard them before, but Kat didn’t exactly have a wealth of stories to tell in comparison though when Lily took the lead she just went straight for a fairy tail that she’d liked growing up.

The storytelling continued up until the food was ready after which it was distributed, consumed, and then everyone turned in for bed. Time was… questionable. Nobody really new what time it was when they decided to turn in but it didn’t really matter either. They were just waiting so it was fine to sleep for a bit. Though before turning in Kat and Meg worked together to pile up a bunch of the rocks to block the cave entrance, ensuring that everyone could actually rest and not need to be constantly on alert.

Once everyone except for Lily had woken up it was decided they’d best get moving. The snowstorm was lighter but still just as cutting. Lily was able to provide a shield of shadow without draining too much of her mana… but it meant they were all stacked up together. In fact, Kat was the only person doing any running.

Hunter had wrapped herself around Kat’s midsection and just supported herself with the strength of her lower half. Kamiko rode on Kat’s shoulders and Meg had ended up in a princess carry. Probably because it meant she was able to lean against Hunter as well. Lily was held by Kamiko because while Kat needed her arms to help keep her balance Kamiko did not. That and projecting the shield mostly above them and in the direction the storm was coming made it a lot cheaper.

Kat was originally planning to just ski down the same way she did in the desert… but everyone all stacked together were too heavy once you included the shield. Additionally the cliff was a bit too sharp in places or actually required Kat to climb upwards to keep her mostly straight trajectory.

Kat wasn’t sure how long she ran… but it was most the way to the town. She didn’t mind, her regeneration kept her fresh and the extra weight meant that while balance was an issue she also couldn’t use her full speed and become exhausted. So it all sort of balanced out. Once the snow lightened up Lily moved to sleeping between Kat’s boobs and everyone else took to sleeping at times as well.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Kat was especially surprised at Hunter. Apparently the lamia was perfectly capable of sleeping while her tail remained tightly wound around Kat’s midsection. Kat had expected Hunter to release her hold or tighten it dangerously at some point… but nope. Hunter was somehow able to keep her grip perfect while sleeping. Kat would’ve suspected that Hunter wasn’t actually asleep if it wasn’t for the fact she failed to dodge a few clumps of snow that slapped Hunter in the face during travel.

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Which of course… brought them back to the clearing. Kat was no longer carrying everyone… but she had no idea what was going on.

--- Kat --- (Flashback over!)

Kamiko was looking just as shocked as everyone else. Well, Hunter had disappeared and Lily was asleep… regardless she was equally confused as Kat and Meg who were looking around the place. There was no sign of any townsfolk.

At least until Hunter popped back up, "I’ve found them,"

"Wait how?" asked Kat.

"I simply smelt them out. The town was never here. Or at least, not here above ground. They must have regular issues with large amounts of snowfall and to combat this it seems they either turned a very old mine into a town, or simply hollowed out a centralised location and built a time there," explained Hunter.

"Great so we can just go inside then?" asked Kat.

"Theoretically yes… but in practice the two cave entrances I found leading downwards into what I suspect is the town are locked by giant metal doors. Nothing we cannot break through, but I do imagine they’d be quite annoyed were we to simply destroy them," explained Hunter.

Meg nodded and pulled out the compass and started to move around a bit. Sprinting in a rough triangle and sending snow flying as she did so… though notably none of that snow ended up anywhere near Hunter and quite a lot found its way to Kat and Kamiko. *Is this punishment for letting you get hit by snow while we were travelling? Or is she just trying not to hit Hunter?*

"Hmmm… the drake part isn’t in the town… or at least I don’t think it is… but it’s close… I think. It really depends on how large the town is and if the slight downwards angle of the compass means that the drake part is further into the range but lower down, or if it’s in a tunnel connected to the town underneath us… there’s also those pickaxes to deliver… and I’m unsure if the warehouse is underground as well or simply further up the road we can’t see…" said Meg.

"Why did you agree to that anyway? And… did Julyn prank you or something?" asked Kat.

"I was hoping for the delivery to act as an in for the town. Mining colonies in remote places like this can be relatively tight-knit and for the small price of going a bit out the way we could get a large amount of information on who has passed through the town, or if the piece was in the town itself who might have picked it up…

"Now we’re left with the annoying issue of the piece being somewhat close, but not quite close enough that there is some merit to simply running in the direction indicated and hoping we catch them soon… but the underground town has my worried. Plus I DID agree to the job and I don’t necessarily want to leave that unfished. Also yes I do believe she managed to slip this past me…" admitted Meg.

Kat stared somewhat amazed. "Um… how?"

Meg shrugged, "Classic blunder of thinking myself smarter than everyone else in the room by a more considerable margin then was factually correct. Especially when it comes to social situations. I wasn’t expecting her to slip something like this into the deal because I thought I had a good grasp on her personality. I suspect she either knows a lot more about demons then she let on… or she’s more willing to take risks then her backstory would imply,"

Meg put away the compass and turned to Hunter. "So Lil Sis… are there other ways inside? Perhaps a few air vents we can shimmy on through or will we need to figure out the doors? I can probably break open the locks without too much trouble…"

"I am afraid not 23HX502. From my quick investigations and the feedback I got from tapping it, The doors are almost certainly barred from the other side and so there is no need to pick the lock for there is none,"

"Eh, if there’s a big enough gap I could squeeze something through and raise it that way… unless they locked it properly?" asked Meg.

Hunter shrugged. "My hearing is not so adept to work out such small details through a metal door,"

"Right… hmm… back to the vents then?" asked Meg.

"I was not able to smell any. I suspect they are either using some enchantments to keep things fresh down there or the vents are further afield. While the town is HERE on the map that’s clearly just the main entrances and perhaps where they put up certain temporary structures above ground in the warmer months," explained Hunter.

"Hmm… hmm…" mumbled Meg. "Time to investigate then I suppose…"