nagpurpolice Chapter 1656 Cross that Bridge
Chapter 1656 Cross that Bridge
--- kat ---
after they finished up with the break and got moving again kat couldn't help but see mushrooms everywhere. now that she knew the trees were mushrooms it was almost as if something had been unlocked in her head. there were mushrooms everywhere. like that rock they stopped to use? kat was pretty sure that had been a mushroom. she hadn't sat down on it or tested things... but she noticed several nearly identical 'rocks' as they travelled and kat was assuming they were mushrooms now...
but that wasn't the end of it. oh no. firstly, just under the snow were plenty of little mushrooms just everywhere. the long spindly ones. lily informed kat they were called 'enoki' or at least, the closest equivalent back on earth was anyway. it didn't end at just having mushroom stalks everywhere, soon kat noticed that there were mushrooms growing on the 'trees' as well. mushrooms on top of other mushrooms.
there were also mushroom 'bushes' that were apparently morel type mushrooms that looked sort of like honeycombs. they were fairly regularly as well but only as they got deeper into the area. kat was quite sure that they hadn't been around before because while kat would admit to being somewhat inattentive, she wasn't quite that bad. the morel bunches were quite large too, about the same size as a tire.
when they turned in for the night it was in a cave that had been used by somebody else recently. the ashy remains of a fire quite obvious as well as a neat bundle of firewood that had been left behind by the previous group. kat didn't think much of it until hunter said something, "why would someone leave the wood behind without properly shielding it from the elements?"
"i mean, there's wood everywhere so why does it matter?" asked kat thoughtlessly.
"ah, but there isn't wood everywhere," said meg with a smug grin. "seems you've already forgot about the mushrooms everywhere. sure they might burn, but they probably don't burn as well as nice and dry wood from somewhere else. now, if they'd secured it properly i would assume they were leaving it behind for someone else to use... but just leaving it here like this? it's practically asking for it to rot,"
"ah..." intoned kat as she glanced at the leftover wood.
if you can't get wood here that means it's probably worth quite a lot...
"could they have just forgotten it?" read the latest on empire
"perhaps but it's right next to the entrance..." hedged hunter.
kat shrugged and there wasn't much else said on the subject. it was strange but not the strangest thing they'd ever seen.
"it's something she does once she's confident in the group. we're obviously not going to run off without her, and she believes that we can handle ourselves in any fights we run into without complaining that she wasn't there to help. oh, sure she's probably ready with that rifle of hers, or looking around those camps for information... but the vanish act is annoying," grumbled meg.
"but it's because she trusts us?" asked kat.
meg nodded, "yup. lil sis is very much not a 'social confrontation' type of person. if she can avoid it without causing friction in the group she will because guess what? causing friction with the group can lead to more 'social confrontations'. she's loosened up a bunch because she trusts you more and because i'm here to explain things or head off any complaints by poking at people. she's never going to get better at them if she doesn't practice,"
kat wanted to ask more but the person was getting closer. they had bright and shining scales that looked like they were polished exceptionally regularly. the only thing that marred... the woman's appearance was a deep crack that ran along the scales on her left arm. she was bundled up in rather thick clothes though the reason for that was obvious, as was the green glow around her shoes. likely some kind of magic or magical artifact to boost her movement speed.
as the woman approached, she slowed down and looked at them there was a flash of fear before she continued her approach. eventually shouting out "hey there! how did you guys get here?"
"the road?" replied kat confused. meg snorted but kat wasn't sure why.
"does that mean the river has stopped flooding?" asked the woman.
*ah woops.*
meg spoke up before kat could, perhaps wanting to be the bearer of bad news for the fun of it. "nope, i'm afraid not."
"ah... well do you have a way to cross it?" asked the woman. "oh, and i'm julyn by the way," she added after a moment of thought.
"i'm meg, and this is kat, and kamiko. as for how we crossed, we just jumped. we're all quite strong," explained meg with a grin.
julyn winced. "ah... that's... well that's fine but i'm not sure if you'll want to head into the camps then. you might get drafted into helping out. i mean it would be great if you did but... well i understand that if you're strong enough to jump the river none of us can force you and some idiots are quite certain to try... but we do have other issues..."