Chương 65: Journey (1)

Shrugging, he responded.

"I'm ready now, so I guess I'll head back right now." He jogged a bit, catching up to Eren before slowing down and walking beside her.

"Do you need me to help pack anything up?"

"No, it's alright." She shook her head.

"Packing everything up doesn't take much time, and we started working a few minutes ago, so we'll probably be all done soon." She paused and thought for a moment.

"Actually, if you can help us carry some things once we head out, that would be appreciated." Nodding, Rowan agreed. A minute later, they were back at the camp and, just like Eren had said, the packing was almost done. Henry was putting away his cooking implements, and it looked like Lucas had just finished folding up the tarp. The twins were carrying boxes to the campfire so that they would be more easily accessible once everyone decided to head out.

Seeing him, Lucas immediately marched toward him, brushing his blonde hair out of his angry eyes.

"So you're just going to come here, eat twice as much of our food as anyone else, and then disappear the moment we need to do work?" The man snapped at him. Rowan grimaced. Lucas was certainly overreacting, but he wasn't entirely wrong.

"I'm sorry," He replied.

"I didn't know we were packing up just yet. I lost track of time. I'll help carry anything you need me to, though." For a moment, the blonde-haired man seemed at a loss for words before he snapped at him again.

"What were you doing out there that you lost track of time, anyway? Sleeping?"

"Training," Rowan replied, wanting but not sure how to de-escalate the situation.

"Oh?" Lucas sneered at him.

"You were training? Is that what that explosion we heard was? It really scared Cynthia, you know?" Rowan raised an eyebrow. Eren had already told him that the girl had been perfectly fine. He'd been fine with just letting the man let out whatever anger he was holding inside of him, but now that he was making things up about Cynthia, he'd gone too far. Yet, before he could even open his mouth, Cynthia spoke.

"Hey! I wasn't scared! You were the scared one, not me!" Everyone glanced over at the little girl who was sitting on a log with her arms crossed, glaring daggers at Lucas.

"Don't lie! Lying is bad!" The man opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. But then, before he could think of a reply, Henry stepped up and put a hand on Lucas's shoulder.

"Why don't you go get us some firewood? We could always use more, you know?" After a moment, the man reluctantly nodded before grabbing an axe that was resting against a nearby tree and set off into the woods. As he walked away, Rowan shook his head.

"What the fu…" He cut himself off, remembering that Cynthia was there.

"What the hell is wrong with him?" Henry sighed.

"I'm sure you noticed he has…problems, no? He gets jealous and angry very easily."

"Jealous?"

"He's jealous of your power, and probably a bunch of other things, too. We all saw how you destroyed the bloodspawn who were attacking us. He wants that." Rowan laughed.

"If he knew what I had to endure to get it, I doubt he would still want it." Henry just smiled.

"Perhaps." He displayed a relatively calm and unbothered front, but on the inside, Rowan was worried. Would keeping Lucas around be a risk? What if his jealousy or pride or whatever was motivating his actions got in the way, and ended up with someone dead? He took a breath, still trying to figure out what in the world the man's thought process was. Rowan thought that Lucas had to know how dangerous the world really was.

And, while he had no plans of doing so, the man had to know that he could've killed him with ease, right? Was he just that stupid that he would start arguments with people far more powerful than him over such small things? Lucas was acting as if he were some kind of entitled prince or young master in a storybook, and it frustrated him. Turning to Henry, he asked, "Are you sure he's not going to cause any problems? If he gets this angry over things like this, I don't know if I can trust him to do anything."

"Will he cause more problems like this? Probably," The man said.

"But when it really matters, I don't think he'll do anything. He might not seem like it right now, but he can be a pretty good guy." Rowan nodded, but he didn't have the same trust in Lucas as Henry did. Perhaps he just didn't know the man too well, but he thought Henry might've been blinded by his own kindness. Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators! If he were being honest, from what he'd seen so far, the bald man was one of the nicest people he'd ever met.

But he also thought that Henry might be too nice, making him overlook or downplay any threats that Lucas might pose. Still, he was going to trust the man's decision for now. But he was also going to be extra careful against the blonde man. A few minutes later, they were done packing up. As they waited for Lucas to return from the task Henry had given him, the group briefed Rowan on what was happening. They were going to head back to Outpost, which was quite a ways away, all the way on the other side of the forest.

First, though, they were going to head to a nearby town to see if they could get their hands on any resources.

At first, Rowan perked up at the mention of the town, but once he realized that the group was talking about the same settlement that they had been intending to stay at on the way to investigate the bloodspawn, only to arrive just in time to watch it be destroyed, he couldn't help but feel a bit of disappointment; he had been looking forward to getting to better know how they societies in the Tutorial worked.

When the group normally traveled, they would move with a main group of four people, which would always include Cynthia. The other two people would have one person circling between the back and sides, with the other acting as a vanguard up ahead.

"It would be best to have more than just two people looking out for us," Eren said.

"But since Cynthia can't really carry anything on her own, it takes everyone else to hold the supplies, even with our stats." She cleared her throat before continuing." However, with you, we can have one extra person to either watch our backs or sides." Rowan nodded.

"I can carry some stuff and be the vanguard if you guys need." Henry interjected and asked, "How will you fight if you're carrying around a bunch of stuff?"

"With these," He gestured at his chains.

"I can hold things and fight with them." The group looked at his chains with interest, with Henry looking like he was about to ask about them, but in the end, the man held himself back. He had been somewhat expecting someone to ask about them, but even if they had, Rowan wasn't sure if he'd have told them much. After a few more moments of awkward silence, Eren said, "If you can really do both, then that would be great!

Whatever you're carrying might get damaged if something attacks, so you'll probably have to carry something unimportant or durable. Preferably both." She paused, seemingly lost in thought, before turning towards Henry.

"Do you think he can carry your pots and bowls and whatever else you use to cook?" Henry just stared at her in mock offense, although it seemed like there was a bit of him that really was offended. It seemed that the man truly prided himself on his cooking.

"Are you saying that my cooking is unimportant? But you think it's pretty valuable when you're hungry, no?"

"That's not what I meant…" Eren sighed.

"Your pots are durable, not unimportant. Trust me, none of us would've survived this long without your cooking." Henry nodded slowly, still trying to feign annoyance, but Rowan could tell that whatever part of him that had felt insulted had already calmed down.

"Alright, I suppose he can carry the cooking utensils."

"Alright, then!" Eren smiled and walked over to the pile of crude wooden boxes. She regarded them for a second before grabbing two of them, one under each arm, and bringing them back over to him.

"If you could take these, that would be great." As the woman turned away, looking over the rest of the boxes, Rowan decided to try picking up the boxes with his chains. He'd told the party that he could do it, and while he thought he did, he didn't know for certain. So, with a breath, he began pouring mana into his chains. As he did so, he couldn't help but worry about his chains getting stopped by or piercing through his clothes.

Every time before this, he'd been practically naked when he used the metal links, so he hadn't had to worry about that problem. He'd been able to put the shirt on just fine, but his chains had been in their spectral state at the time. If Rowan was being honest, he still had little idea how the chains worked, but he was slowly getting there. As the chains began to solidify, nothing happened. Relaxing, he tried to crane his head over his shoulders to see the chains coming from his back, but it was to no avail.

Since he couldn't see it, all he could do was guess what was happening. He thought that the steel links either managed to somehow pass straight through his shirt, or that a tiny portion of his chains remained spectral even after he activated them, allowing the chains to not be interfered with by his clothing. He would have to ask someone to check it for him later. For now, he had to pick up the boxes.

Ever since he'd seen the being that resided in the spectral links infuse condensed mana into the chains to strengthen them, he'd been doing the same with his own compressed mana. This time, though, just to make sure that they held strong, he pushed hard, condensing his mana until it was far denser than usual. Only then would he feed it into his chains, bringing them to life. Then, he sent two of them towards the boxes, but grabbed only a single container of the cooking utensils.

As he brought it back toward him, he tried to get a feel for what it would be like to hold it for hours. While it wasn't too heavy, the constant drain of both his mana and mental energy meant that over longer periods of time, like the time it would take for them to get to the destroyed settlement, it would be costly. Tilting his head, Rowan retracted his chains, bringing the wooden box closer to him.

Once it was just a foot from his body, it not only took less mana to maintain the chains, but it was also easier to hold up, meaning he would have to devote less of his mind to maintaining it. Still, he could do better. Bringing it around behind himself, he pressed it to his upper back. Then, his chains wrapped around both it and his shoulders, strapping it to himself like a backpack.

It was a bit uncomfortable, since the wooden chest pressed the chains that were already on his back into his skin, but he could manage. Then, realizing something, he lowered the box until it was down by his lower back. At the same time, two more of his chains reached out, grabbing onto the second box and bringing it back. It took a bit of concentration, but he managed to retract the chains acting as backpack straps and stack them on top of the other box.

With a sigh, he wrapped the chains back around his shoulders, holding both containers against himself. A moment later, Lucas came out of the woods, firewood tucked under his arms. Seeing him, Eren took a breath, and with a smile, she announced, "Alright! Lucas, put the wood in that box, he gestured at a half-empty box of firewood, and let's head out."