14xx/05/30 Johannes Calendar
30 days since arrival…
Sup journal.
Latina was a lifesaver.
She has travelled on the mountain range a few times, that's how she manages to get to me back in the mountains at Pornof. The cave leading toward Rostrum was just somewhere at the mountain where I met her and rescued Richo.
She knows the place and has travelled there a few times, so she can use the Harpy feather to fast travel there. She said that Rostrum is at the other side of the mountain and she had explored the place. She said that she doesn't want to teleport to the village, saying that she ends up teleporting over a poison marsh last time she tried that.
So, we decided to teleport to the mouth of Rostrum Cave that would give me traditional access toward the abandoned village. After a wonderful breakfast with the Medal Queen, I decided to ask if she knew anything about guns and if she would be willing if I exchange knowledge for something she might have. She laughed and proceeds to lead me toward a door down a hallway accompanied by two guards.
Bullets, bullets of every kind of ammunition rounds neatly stored in barrels stacked high up to the ceiling. Inside the room was not only ammunition, but guns that ranges from a small basic Makarov to a fucking RPG just propped haphazardly beside a box of TNT.
It wasn't for the fact that almost every weapon there stored in such dangerous manner I would've been impressed by the armoury. I checked every weapon to find them mostly with their safety off and the rounds chambered in at least 1 out of 3 guns. It looked like she found a stash of old Eastern-Bloc firearms somewhere in the desert or some shit. There were AKs, SKS, Makarovs, even a few PKMs and one RPG-7 beside a small pile of Brown Bess rifles. The muskets were the one I found to be the safest as they have no ammo inside and the powder was removed. She said that she has a certain fascination for Makina and she sent several of her personal explorers to collect such weaponries. It seems nobody ever bothered to teach her how to keep guns properly.
If the RPG rockets were missing their caps, she and I wouldn't be here in the future.
It took me and some help from their servants to rearrange everything inside the armoury. Bullets were rearranged by calibre and type in wooden boxes. Guns were unloaded and the safety set to on. We arranged rifles and assault rifles based by size and calibre and placed them inside some barrels. The one that was too big for the barrels was disassembled and placed in their respective boxes. I wrote down the instruction for each weapon and ammunition as well as the schematics for a proper gun racks and gun lockers.
The Medal Queen was impressed by my intellect and asked me if I'm willing to teach some of her warriors to use one of these in exchange for an item or two. After a few rounds of negotiation, we decided for a training fee and one item from her collection.
The training wasn't that bad. As a chief firearm instructor of the mansion back home, I was used to teaching greenhorns on a daily basis. But having only 10 hardened and respectful warriors made the job easier. The desert was a good place as any to train.
The desert's air was split by thunderous gunfire as the lessons carries on. It took us 3 hours of training for this. I felt like T.E Lawrence, except we're using AKMs instead of Lee-Enfield and the soldiers here are wearing leather armour designed to stop swords, not bullets. Almost everybody in the mansion back home was a qualified marksman under my care. Wonder what would Patchouli think of it when I get back home. Do they even miss me? Can I even get back home?
Fuck, I'm getting homesick in just a couple of weeks. Usually, it took me a full year or so. Maybe because the fact that I don't have the option of returning makes the prospect of home much sweeter?
Anyway, the house of Medal Queen won't end up being blown up by their bountiful supply of old grenades and ammunition now.
The Queen was impressed by my work and said that I can replenish my ammunition here as well as a single gift. She then led me and my crew onto the treasure room.
From here I saw several stuffs that I found to be fascinating but useless. I can be a king or a noble just from a simple piece of paper that works as a 'proof' of some sort. But why would I want to be a king? Did I own land or something? I don't like the idea of being constrained by ridiculously large amount of paperwork on a daily management basis. I had enough of paperwork back home to last several generations. If I'm correct being a warrior caste is more than enough to be a noble. I saw several ornate swords that wafted with some kind of innate magical energy.
None of them unfortunately, caught my interest. My own magic power is slowly being unlocked after every intercourse with Sophie, but she also siphoned most of it in each ejaculation. I bet that if I have Excalibur on me while she's sucking me off, she'll probably suck off the magic essence from the sword itself.
Not to mention, there were some articles of clothing that was aesthetically pleasing such as a rainbow-hued dress and this gigantic pair of bras that was designed to look like a pair of angel wings. But I don't need those, what I need is something that allows me to regenerate magic as quickly as possible. Having to rely on potions isn't something I want to do in the future.
The Medal Queen was actually something of a magician as well, so she knew a thing or two about magic. She said that the reason why some people cannot use magic was because the job doesn't allow me so. She said that job influences the amount of remaining magic pool inside the body. Mages usually have higher magic pool than normal warriors. Jobs that do not require the use of magic will have the excess magic poured into other stats to balance out their strength against other jobs. Like how magician has higher magic pool but lower physical endurance while warriors are a physical powerhouse yet magically inept. She said that magic is a useful thing to learn but she said that I was doing fine without magic.
But I want to use magic. This place reeks of magic and guns ain't my only forte. I have quite an arsenal of spells inside my head as an errand boy for a magician. I asked her if there was anything I can use to allow me to use magic. She fortunately has just the right item for it.
She came back with three scrolls, each one with different properties. She said the scrolls contained knowledge for me to use. But unfortunately, none of them fits me. White Magic fit mostly on holy magic, something I'm not good at. Black magic is something me and my mistress agreed to never get near unless shit hit the fan. Taoist was the closest thing I have for my magic signal, but my magic doesn't focus only the body and mind. Not to mention, all these scrolls only enabled my magic skills, not enhance them, so it was pretty useless to me.
In the end, I decided that it might be a better idea for her to owe me a favour for me to cash on in the future. She agreed to it and wrote down my name and my deed for the favour in case I want to cash out. She said that she'll look around for magic items that I need. She said that I can try and be a magician, but I need to give up my guns for that.
I cannot give up Sophie, so I pass.
After replenishing our ammunition and bombs we decided to teleport toward the mouth of the Cave. I have Thread of Guidance in case I need to get the hell out of the goddamn cave if needed.
Trying to shake off the feeling of being a Marine in Vietnam we decided to get through the cave system. It wasn't that bad; somebody has dug a proper route throughout the cave system in a maze-like pattern. Took us a few false turns to finally found the exit. Even then we have to navigate through the mountain range. It wasn't that bad; it wasn't a barren wasteland from the first time I get here. The air was cool up here and the ecosystem here was green. Green is good, green means life, green means sustenance, hopefully not alien sustenance.
Speaking of life, the local wildlife doesn't take our appearance kindly. We were attacked several times during our travel, but they were not that strong and a single booming gunshot was enough to scare most of them away.
Rostrum was a depressing sight, an abandoned village devoid of life and almost saturated with poison. I finally understand why the fuck Latina was hesitant on the idea of teleporting here. Several pools of toxic sludge appeared throughout the village; the purple sludge of the pool emits out thin haze of toxic mist from the surface. It looks like it can corrode metal from the look of it. I definitely don't want to end up teleporting in the middle of it.
The place looks like it was blasted to shit by some American C-130 during an invasion or fallout from a nuclear holocaust. Several wooden houses have collapsed from the inside, gaping holes is what left of some spots where a house used to sit. The air was heavy with danger and silence, like the aura of lingering radioactive in a village near Chernobyl. The silence was deafening, the silence that was disconcerting and disorienting, and the type that drives many people insane. We are a creature relying on interaction and senses. When we are deprived of our sense our mind starts to go haywire trying to emulate and remember the missing sense. The sound of a loved one's laughter, the sight of an old waterhole. That happens to me a lot when I travelled to such location. I can hear the giggle of children as I wandered among the carousels in an abandoned carnival in Chernobyl. I can hear the anguished cries of the Jews as they were gassed en-masse in a concentration camp back in Auschwitz.
Here? I can hear the far-away bustling noises of the morning market as mothers and fathers mingled with each other to sell and buy local produces. I can hear the local children giggling in a game of tag in the middle of the village while local guards watch over them with kind eyes. That's what happens when I end up in a silent town. My mind starts to fuck up with me.
Also, right just in front of me around 6 miles away was a large crevasse just likes the rift back in the first Tartarus Rift.
It seems that somebody has attached a ladder at the edge of the rift. It also means that Latina cannot go down there. Guess it's a two-man (or rifle-girl) job.
Going down the ladder was a stressful act that I wish I never felt again, but I have to in the name of adventuring. The darkness was both maddening and stifling, a dangerous combination that always wears down upon my already fucked up psyche as it.
The place down there looks a lot like the one at the first Tartarus Rift, if the design was any indication. Looks like a goddamn underground military base that was abandoned for a long time. But unlike the first one I didn't find anything at all, not even a fucking knife. We didn't see any new variation on the enemy too, and fortunately this time we didn't get caught.
But this place also has the same door I found back in the first Tartarus Rift, warts and all. Except the first door back there has a carving of a lion at the top left corner of the door while this one has the drawing of a pair of fish. If my mind was right the doors might have been marked using horoscope sign. I bet that the next door I found at the next Tartarus Rift would be a crab, or a pair of virgins.
I knew that blasting that door open would be a bad idea, so I decided to just leave it be. Thanks to that decision I manage for the first time in this place manage to not get caught at all. It was twice as stressful to dodge everything and twice as dangerous, but the allure of the age-old game of hide-and-seek was strong, not to mention effective in any assault or defensive position. The adrenaline and thrill of simply moving around without being found was out of the world!
Whoever who attach the fucking ladder really a master thief; he manages to get every treasure down here and not get caught by one. Or did he? I mean, he might get caught in the middle of the act and got his body dissolved or something. But if that was the case, what about the loot inside here? The only explanation I have is that there are more than one motherfucker pulling off the heist and finished the job when his comrade failed or they manage to get out together. Who knows?
Anyway, we didn't find anything, but we can safely say that we have explored every tourist spot here in this continent. So, what now?
The Rabbit said that I'll find good old Hito right in Chapter Two. If my assumption is correct, she probably implied that the chapter she meant is the first continent and the second chapter should be the second continent across the sea. So, all I have to do is figure out how to cross the sea safely. Thing is, Latina has no experience on the other side of the globe, and I don't have the resources nor the time to make a jet boat, or a plane.
Oh well. Tomorrow I will check out the port again, see if there's a ship I can hitch up with.