The journey back from the settlment took another few hours. The additional three carts of merchants following them only extended the route, so they reached the store some time after noon.
Without wasting any time, the merchants occupied themselves with browsing the store's inventory. Nothing escaped their eyes and everything had its value. From the actual equipment intended for sale, to purely social items such as cutlery, cups and plates, ending with furniture. Of course, the dwarf answered all questions about the prices, with a tempting, almost impossible to ignore discount. Even Rock, hearing Dewar throwing out prices out of the corner of his ear, and his customers salivating at them, thought about taking part in this informal auction. However, since his and Revy's funds were uncertain, and he himself did not know the value of money in this world, he just shook his head, pushing the thought out of his head.
For the next two days, the merchants traveled between the shop and the settlement, successfully taking away more and more items from the shop's assortment. On the second day, another person arrived with the merchants. He introduced himself as a horse merchant. Dewar initially wanted to sell the 4 horses from the bandits only after returning to the city without reducing their value, but seeing that the merchant was willing to pay the full price, he did not waste much time on negotiations, leaving only Rock and Revy's mares and his large draft horse in the stable, which he used to pull to the cart.
Rock and Revy spent most of these two days training, especially Rock. Revy decided that his shooting skills were not sufficient, primarily with the use of rifles. At first, he used Revy's rifle at the shooting range, but after a while she brought him a single-shot rifle, which she took for next to nothing from Dewar, telling him that it was his new weapon. Rock wasn't happy with how she had forced it on him, but he kept quiet about it after only few complains and began to practice shooting with the new weapon, even though it didn't look new at all.
It might not have been destroyed, but its entire construction, compared to what Revy used, was downright primitive, as he, a layman in the matter of weapons, could tell. The rifle was heavy and downright clunky, without a magazine, and the cartridge was inserted directly into the chamber, and after closing the bolt, the hammer was pulled back so that it would drop after pulling the trigger, and at the end of the long barrel, hidden in the wooden lining, there was a flash of a shot. The blowback itself was much stronger than from Revy's rifle, which could be owed to the much larger cartridge than the one used in her rifle. Rock didn't necessarily like this new weapon, but at Revy's urging, he continued to train with it, achieving various results, slowly getting used to it.
In the morning of the third day, when the merchants had already stripped the entire building of its goods, in exchange for the considerable money given to the dwarf, Rock and Revy saddled their horses, preparing to set off. Dewar himself, who had packed the last of the unsold junk onto the cart, was just saying goodbye to the wooden building and the tombstone behind it.
"So... What will happen to all this now..." Rock asked Dewar, who just returned from behind the building.
"Oh... With this?" He replied with a heavy breath, approaching the cart and leaning against it. "I guess it will all just rot..."
"Don't you feel sorry for it?" Dewar shrugged.
"Of course it's a shame, it was my brother's house... But I won't rip off the boards or roof tiles..." He replied with a gentle smile, but melancholy shone in his eyes. Rock, hearing his answer, nodded. Suddenly Revy spoke.
"What about the land? You won't sell it?" Dewar just shook his head.
"It belonged to no one when my brother setteled here... And now it will unclaimed land once again." He replied, still looking at the wooden shell. "In the east, or around the cities, people care who owns a plot of land... But here... It belongs to whoever dares to settle here."
"Hmm... So all this will belong to whoever dares to live here now?"
"Exactly... Unless of course it falls apart first." The dwarf then turned his gaze in their direction. "Interested?" Revy shook her head.
"Too much of a fucking backwater for my taste..."
"Mine too..." Rock added after her. Dewar laughed lightly to himself, then climbed onto the wagon and took his place behind the reins.
"Okay... No need to waste time here anymore... We have two days of travel ahead of us. Let's go." He said and then steered the horse forward, and with it the cart. Revy and Rock, on their mares, followed him. "By the way..." He spoke after a short moment. "Before you two came back, I created an escort contract with that young girl in which I indicated two of you..."
"And why?"
"You'll have one more contract complited when we reach the city..."
"Since this is a contract... Will you pay us extra when we reach the city?" Dewar leaned out of the cart and looked at her.
"I'm doing you a favor... Sometimes the number of contracts is worth more than the fee for them..." Revy, however, was still waiting for an answer to her question. The dwarf sighed. "Yes, there is a reward for this contract..." Revy nodded, satisfied with the answer, while Rock only sighed displeased.
Much to Revy's dissatisfaction, as well as her's body from the waist down, the journey had taken all day. Aside from a single, brief stop at a stream to water the horses and quickly stretch their legs, Rock and Revy had spent the entire day in the saddle, riding through forests, hills, and meadows on paths hidden by sparse grass. It was only when the sun began to set below the horizon that Dewar informed them that they should set up camp for the night.
After a few minutes, they had found a suitable spot, in a clearing not far from the forest they had come thrue. Dewar, carefully turned off the path that only he seemed to know about, then reined in his horse and, stretching, dismounted the wagon.
"This is the right place..." He said, stretching. We can set up camp here."
"Isn't it too close to the forest..." Revy said, riding closer to him.
"Exactly... Nothing will attack us?" Rock added after a moment, but Dewar shook his head.
"As I've said many times, monsters are like overgrown animals. They are dangerous, but they are afraid of fire and if they don't have to, they will avoid it if they can." He said looking into the forest, then he looked in their direction. "And if bandits were to attack us, then if they are brave or stupid enough they will attack us wherever we stop." Rock looked at Revy, and she at him, then shrugged, seeing no reason to question the dwarf's words. A second later his voice called their attention again. "If you have nothing to do, go look for dry firewood."
"Sure..." Rock replied, then slowly started to get off his horse, hissing in pain from aching muscles. Revy approached him after a moment, with an uncertain step.
"How are your legs, Rocky?" She said with a smirk, stretching.
"Better... I'm slowly getting used to riding a horse..." He said, uncertainly touching the ground with his boots and with obvious difficulty staying on his feet. "I'm glad Dewar gave us time to get used to riding horses before we started this trip. Otherwise I probably wouldn't be able to walk now... And what about you?"
"Honestly... I feel like if I ride horses regularly, I can give up my leg and back training routine..." Revy put her hands on her back, rubbing them. "If we travel so much on horseback every day, maybe even some muscles'll start to show on your body, Rock." Revy said this with obvious sarcasm. He just shrugged.
"If I had to guess it'll just end with me getting used to riding Gamble... And that's it." Saying this, he patted his mare on the side. Revy, hearing him, crossed her arms.
"Huh... So Gamble after all..." Her voice made it clear that Rock didn't impress her with his creativity.
"Yeah. And what did you name the your mare?" He asked with clear reproach.
"Bacardi..." Rock looked at her with even more disappointment than she had at him a moment ago.
"Really?" He threw it into the air, but before he could utter a whole litany, Revy interrupted him.
"Okay, okay... Come get that fucking wood already..." She said and pointed her thumb at a few bushes they had passed earlier. Then she headed in their direction, and Rock followed right behind her, continuing to talk to himself under his breath.
"She named her horse after her favorite rum... Really?"
They spent the next few minutes collecting firewood for the fire. When they returned, they set, a large pile of sticks gathered from between the bushes, on the graund. Dewar had made a fire from the wood in his stash in the meantime. He also managed to start preparing dinner, which they both started helping with as soon as they got back.
Before they had finished, night had fallen, and after a quick dinner consisting of some stew and crackers, without wasting any more time they settled down to sleep under the stars. Rock decided that he would take the first watch, Dewar setteled for the third. Revy had no choice but to lie down and sleep until midnight, when it was time for the changing of the guard. So she lay down on the blanket and covered her face with her hat. She glanced at Rock from the corner of her eye, who was sitting on the blanket, in the light of the fire, and began to look through the notebook they had found at the begining. However, she decided not to pay attention to it and focus on sleep while she could.
Revy was woken up by someone shaking her shoulder. She instinctively moved her hand towards the holster before she even opened her eyes. However, when she opened them, she saw Rock's face illuminated by the campfire's flame. Revy quickly removed her hand from the holster.
"Don't tell me you wanted to shoot me..." Rock asked, clearly displeased by her hand's movement.
"I wasn't sure if it was you or if you let someone approach you..." She said, siting up and yawning. Rock sighed and shrugged in response. "Did something happen?"
"No." He replied, returning to his blanket. "Peace and quiet."
"Good to know..." Right after those words Revy stretched and looked around. To her left, right next to her, Rock was sitting on his blanket, in front of her was a brightly burning campfire, next to which stood a kettle, and behind the campfire, was Dewar, sleeping next to his wagon. To her right, stood their horses. Revy stood up and stretched again, then looked around again, this time looking into the distance.
Where the light of the fire reached, she was able to see something, but further away, even the outlines of anything were hard to notice. Although, there was nothing to look for. Apart from the grass and bushes that only received single flashes of light from the campfire they lit, and the tops of trees that were visible against the dark blue sky, she wasn't able to see anything. But there was also nothing to look for, when the sun was still shining.
Revy closed her eyes and took a deep breath, the cool night air filled her lungs. She tried to listen for anything disturbing, but all she could hear was the sound of wood cracking in the fire. Apart from that, the silence was almost unpleasant, but she listened further, only to hear quiet sounds that she associated with insects. After a while, hearing no new sounds, she opened her eyes.
"What a silence... Even insects are almost silent..."
"As I said... Peace and quiet." Rock added from himself, then turned his gaze towards the kettle by the fire. "Want some coffee? I brewed some fresh one so I wouldn't fall asleep..."
"How much did you drink?" Rock looked at her with tiredness in his eyes.
"Not much, but enough to last until the shift ends." He said slowly, lying down on his blanket, then took off his hat and placed it on his chest, closing his eyes.
"So you were that bored?" She asked, heading towards the kettle with coffee. He nodded.
"But I had a chance to read that notebook again..."
"And?" Revy asked without looking up from the mug she had just poured herself some warm coffee into.
"And... I didn't learn anything new..." He replied after a moment. Revy sighed, grabbing the mug with freshly poured coffee by the handle.
"Rock... How many times have you read this? Five, six times?" She paused to take a sip of coffee from her mug. "Explain to me why the fuck are you reading this, yet again?" This time it was Rock who sighed, but he was still lying down and had his eyes closed.
"Like I told you, Revy... 90% of the notes in this journal match the teachings Dewar gave us. And the remaining 10%..." Revy suddenly interrupted him.
"And the remaining 10% are notes that make no sense..." She finished for him, then took another sip of coffee and sat down next to him. He just opened his eyes and looked at her with irritation. "You've said that few times already... And I already told you to leave it be..."
"Yeah..." Rock sighed, not wanting to admit she was right, but he continued. "The rest of the notes are very secretive and mysterious... It's like whoever wrote this didn't even want to write what they were describing, so it all makes no sense... Unless would I understood the context... That's what I think at least."
"Mhm... And thats what were you trying to do by re-reading the notes?" Rock nodded, closing his eyes. "And... That didn't work again?" Rock sighed and nodded again.
"Unfortunately..." He replied reluctantly, then shifted on the blanket and covered himself with half of it. "Wake me up if something happens..."
"Sure." She replied slightly amused and took another sip of coffee from her mug before looking up at the sky. Despite the fact that there was no moon in the sky, it shone with the light of countless stars. Before Rock could even fall asleep, Revy had already started connecting the stars above her head into constellations.
"Rock..." She said, nudging him with her foot. "You sleep?"
"Yes..." Rock replied with wearined voice, then sighed.
"Okay..." She said clearly paying attention to the fact that he had spoken, not what he had said. "There were some constellations described in that notebook, right?" Rock began to look for the notebook in his bag, as she continued to speak. "You see these 4 stars..." She said pointing to the north. "They look like an arrowhead or..."
"A Knife..."
"Yeah exactly."
"I mean... That's literally what they're called..." He added after a moment and handed her the open notebook with the same drawing on the sheet of paper that she had drawn herself in the sky. "The one at the top is called Sila and it marks the north."
"Huh... So something like our pola star?" She asked, pointing to the star at the top, from which two lines emerged on the drawing downwards, connecting the rest of the stars. Rock nodded.
"There are a few other collections on the following pages. There aren't many of them, but if you want, take a look at them..."
"I'll take a look..." She replied without taking her eyes off the notebook. "You will have it back in the morning."
"Sure..." Rock replied, then covered himself with the blanket again and tried to fall asleep. This time, he succeeded.
Revy began to look through the next pages of the notebook, searching the night sky for the constellations marked there. In addition to Knife, she also managed to find Knight, Quill and Fork. Despite the clues, however, she was unable to locate the Horse and Rooster. Yet, despite this, she spent the rest of her shift staring at the sky and sipping coffee, remaining just as alert for any sounds that might be a sign of danger. When her watch was over, she woke Dewar and went to bed.
In the morning, Rock and Revy were woken up by Dewar, who already had breakfast ready for them. During breakfast, Revy gave back notebook to Rock, while mentioning the constellations she had found. She hoped that Dewar, being a local, would tell her where in the sky to find the other two. However, Dewar admitted with slight disappointment in himself, that he knew nothing about stars.
Without wasting any time, right after breakfast, they mounted their horses and headed towards the city. Just like the previous day, they spent most of their time in the saddle, only taking a break once to stretch their legs. Apart from that, the road stretched out much like the previous day, but Rock and Revy had the impression that with each passing minute of traveling through the wilderness, this wilderness became less wild. They did not even notice how the path, invisible to them, was suddenly replaced by a beaten dirt road. Further along the way, they began to pass signposts, which were clearly taken care of by someone.
Maybe an hour later, they came across two people riding horses coming towards them. They nodded their heads in greeting as they passed them, which Dewar returned. A little further on they passed a cart, and then another one. The density of traffic grew with each passing minute. After another hour of travel, Revy, riding in front, passed the forest, suddenly stopped, noticing the destination of their journey.
Before her eyes, a kilometer or two away, the panorama of the city unfolded. Behind the high walls, an ocean of roofs spread out. Thanks to the fact that she was standing on a hill where the forest ended, she was able to see, the other end of the city in the mist. However, it did not help in assessing the size of the city. The red roofs of the buildings looked as if someone had thrown them randomly to the ground and then squeezed them to the limit with the wall surrounding them. Only in some places did the wave of roof tiles seem to give way to other infrastructure. Despite this, the buildings were not tall. Apart from a few exceptions, most of them were no higher than 4 stories.
The ring of walls was surrounded by another, thick ring of buildings. These were similar to those inside the walls, perhaps only they seemed larger and decidedly less chaotically placed. As if, unlike those inside, nothing limited them. There she was able to see the roads leading between the buildings. The roads themselves leading from the buildings split and ran between spacious fields of crops, leading into the distance. In some places, still within sight, Revy was able to see smaller buildings and their groups, probably villages, between the golden fields.
At one point she heard Rock's quiet voice behind her. He was talking to Dewar about something. But she was not interested in that, there was smothing far more important in front of her.
"Rock! Come and see!" She shouted, turning to the forest behind her.
"What?" She heard his reply, partially drowned out by the ever-present leaves of the trees.
"Come here, and don't fuck around!"
"What the hell..." His mumbling was audible even to Revy, which meant he was not far away. He was about to say something to her, but when he saw the city in front of him, he could only manage to choke out one thing. "Wow..."
"Yeah, am I right? Looking at how that fucking previous settlement looked, I expected the city to barely exist, and this..."
"This is bigger than Roanapur..." Revy nodded. Rock watched the city for a moment longer, speechless, impressed by the size of the metropolis. Immediately after, he looked to the side, away from the city walls, and pointed a finger in that direction. "Is that... A train?" Revy looked in the indicated direction. There, in the distance, she managed to see a small cylindrical shape heading towards the city, from the front of which white smoke was billowing, and behind it a huge number of cubic shapes were trailing.
"It looks like a train..." Revy replied uncertainly.
"It's the train of the Western Express..." Dewar said, who had just reached them and began to search for something in his pocket. "And as usual, it's delayed by an hour..." He added not impressed, taking his watch out of his pocket and looking at it.
"Western Express?" Rock asked confused.
"The largest freight train line that delivers goods from the east coast here... That is, from the part of the continent that is in okey state, to the part that is in not so okey state..." Rock nodded, hearing his words.
"I see..." He clearly wanted to ask something else, but before he did, Dewar spoke again.
"Alright... We're so close so let's not waste any time..." Dewar urged his horse after these words, moving his cart forward and passing Rock and Revy. They just looked at each other before following him. Coming down the hill, they entered the road leading straight into the city, passing smaller villages along the way. Rock, riding in step with Revy, could see a gentle smile on her face.
"I see the presence of trains hasn't dampened your spirits."
"Why would it?" She replied with slight amusement. "After all, trains charging through the land are a symbol of westerns and the wild west... As well as robberies on them..." Rock's face immediately fell upon hearing her words.
"Please, Revy... No train robberies..." He replied with visible embarrassment, which only amused her.
"Okay, okay... No train robberies... At least not for the next few months..." A sly smile appeared on her lips, at the same moment Rock's face became clearly downed, which amused her even more. "Hahaha Rock... If you could fucking see your face..." She said, clearly relaxed. "Take it easy Rock. I plan on living for a while longer. You know how I like the Wild West. And everything here smells like a Western... Well, maybe apart from those medieval castles... But I'll manage..." At that moment Revy and Rock heard something like a honking horn.
Revy looked away from Rock and looked in front of her. With surprise in her eyes, she watched as a truck that reminded her of old 1.5 ton truck passed them and turned onto one of the roads leading to the village within their sight. Rock quickly turned to Dewar driving in front of them.
"You said there were no cars in this world?" The dwarf looked at him out of the corner of his eye.
"If that were the case, how would I know what a car is?" Rock was speechless at his question. The dwarf continued after a moment. "I said I don't have a car... They're popular in and around cities and in the east, where fuel and parts are relatively easy to come by... But farther away, a horse and cart is more cost-effective and realible..." Rock sat quietly in his saddle, processing the dwarf's words, while Revy continued to follow the truck with her gaze.
"My fucking wild west..."