Chapter 75 – EVO
***Tirnanog, The Plains***Updated from novelb(i)n.c(o)m
***Magnus***
Astra gently touched the back of my hand. ‘Do you also get the feeling that they are worried about something? The two behind the captain look like they were caught taking a break when they should be working.’
‘I do,’ I replied with our secret communication method. It was only prudent to practice the ability as frequently as possible. It improved our control and blindly trusting the chat function’s security too much wasn’t a good idea anyway.
The caravan had intruded into Hochberg’s territory out of schedule, yet the scouts behaved as if this situation could come back to bite them if it wasn’t handled carefully preferably by someone other than them.
Given their status, I would have rather expected them to act the part of the confident border control.
The fact that the captain took her sweet time to choose her words very carefully only heightened my suspicions. Meanwhile, her subordinates behaved like fresh recruits who had been caught listening to a military secret.
Granted, they could be just that. New recruits who had unexpectedly stopped a high diplomat’s transport and didn’t know how to handle themselves.
Smiling amiably, I took a step closer to Mia, deliberately almost violating her personal space. Captain, is there something we should know about? You seem worried.
I wasn’t a trained diplomat, but I knew how to extract information from people. Funnily enough, asking directly often yielded the best immediate results. Always assuming you weren’t up against someone who was heavily trained in interrogation tactics.
It certainly wasn’t the type of education I expected to find in a scouting party on peaceful border control duty.
The captain turned her attention to me and lost her composure for a moment when she grimaced. There’s nothing I can share with you right now. You will have to wait for our matriarch to inform you. This should be handled by someone far above my station. Forgive me for returning your earlier argument right back at you.
She smiled, seemingly satisfied by how she had handled my question, but she had told me everything I wanted to know.
There was something she regarded as problematic, but she was unwilling to tell us.
I used the UI to fire off a quick message to Thalia, informing our special friend that her skills were needed. If possible, I preferred not to walk unprepared into whatever situation the captain and her subordinates were so worried about.
Thankfully, we should have the time to work out the issue.
It isn’t a problem. Why don’t we have a drink together and you can tell us how our allies from Clan Hochberg did over the winter, Astra suggested.
Peter caught on and nodded. We certainly had a tumultuous time and would be honoured to extend our hospitality to you.
Mia seemed reluctant to socialize with us, but there wasn’t a real way for her to refuse. In the absence of any of her superiors, she was the highest authority present to entertain the foreign diplomats. Then I guess I will join you in an hour or two. Just let me organize the rest of my patrol group.
Once everything was in order, we entertained the captain with all the hospitality we had brought with us from clan Aerie, always mindful that her UI wasn’t activated and that she couldn’t eat just anything.
With the scouts interacting with the caravaners, it took less than a day for the news of the UI to get out. The result was a bare-bone explanation for Mia which resulted in her sending another group of messengers after the first one.
In a way, the information about the UI getting leaked was a good thing, because it wasn’t hard to invite the captain to more meetings afterwards. Her desire to learn more about what we had to share outweighed her caution.
It took Thalia two days of invitations to breakfast, lunch, and supper while she worked her mental magic during casual chatting.
When the captain left our quarters on the evening of the second day, Thalia turned to us with an answer.
It wasn’t easy without using blunt force, but now I am sure. The Hochberg are entertaining a delegation from Thich.
Peter pursed his lips. This complicates things.
How is this possible? Astra asked. They wouldn’t have had the time to send someone back to Thich and for a diplomat to get to Hochberg after their ambush. She stood up and went to get a map. The timeframe doesn’t work unless they have a way to travel through the snow.
Aside from Hochberg providing various important herbs to trade with the other clans, they made a living by hunting the powerful predators populating the plains.
The herds of animals they cultivated only had marginal value as a food source or for mutations. Instead, their main purpose was to be bait and attract the larger predators which wandered into the area.
When attacked, the animals would retreat to the safe pens at the base of the fortress. Once the predator pursued, the Hochberg could fight and kill the attacker from the safety of their fortifications. By relying on this strategy, they always had the backup of heavy weaponry like large ballistae and trebuchets.
The huge predators living out here required actual siege weaponry to be taken down. Due to this, Hochberg hunters rarely ventured out of their fortress for the sake of actual hunting. Instead, they specialized in evasion techniques and luring their prey towards fortified positions where a trap could be sprung.
Peter told me how the clan utilized their chosen craft to deadly effectiveness during the war. Hochbergs entire doctrine lay in taking a strategic position of interest and digging in. Then they would wait for their enemies to attack and earn themselves a bloody nose.
I winced at the thought of a titan like a saherna being a carnivore. If the entire herd suddenly decided to attack the twin fortress, they could likely do considerable damage before they died.
Thankfully, Peter assured me that pure carnivores of such size were rare and never worked in groups. But unlike the saherna, some things usually living as herbivores liked to improve their diet with high protein snacks.
Hochbergs tendency to use large creatures for their mutations partly explained why most of them grew to such enormous sizes.
Its not like you havent grown either, Peter pointed out during his explanations.
Grown? I looked down at myself, then at him.
He grinned. Many mutations add a little bit to a persons size. A few millimetres here, a centimetre there. The growth is incremental, so most newcomers and people born in this world dont realize it. Most daily items are also adjusted to fit the slightly larger norm. You should find a measuring tape and check. I think its an adaptation the nanomachines automatically apply to everyone to account for the slightly increased gravity. More muscles, denser bones and such.
My left eye twitched involuntarily as I thought of instances which should have made the change obvious, but were dismissed as a fluke. Like Astras music player looking so small and filigrane. Or the colony-supercomputers keyboard which seemed smaller than during the training sessions I remembered back at the organization.
Peter waved his hand dismissively when he caught me looking around in an attempt to compare myself to others. People like Elijah or Mia had to stand around 2.2 metres, while I remembered my old size somewhere around 1.8 metres.
Now that Peter had pointed it out, I realized I must indeed be taller than my old self, or those people would have literally dwarfed me.
Just go and find a tape. Tell Astra that we are about to arrive in two or three hours while you are at it.
I excused myself and went to find said measuring tape, which ended with a very confused Caravaner who had been doing carpentry repairs on the fortress.
The monster which had attacked us a few nights earlier had done a number on the doors to the training yard and also damaged the roof.
The carpenter looked at me with a dubious expression while I checked my new height against a door frame while awkwardly using the tape and a goniometer.
To be honest, I cared little for the questioning gazes I received while doing so. I was far more concerned about not realizing what had been happening to me. The nanomachines must be doing a little more than just size increases. They also had to adjust a persons perception or they would feel awkward in a body which changed so quickly.
And yes, I had a slight phobia about mind-altering experiences! If anyone asked, I would admit so freely.
My improvised measurement revealed my new size to be roughly 1.91!
After returning the tools, I made my way back to Astra who only laughed at me when I revealed what I had been doing.
We used the remaining time to pack our things and prepare the drakes for our arrival. Strangely enough, Loops seemed to be a lot cosier with the two females.
Fearing a detailed inquisition would destroy whatever was going on, I didnt question the why and simply hoped it would lead to my mount calming down somewhat.
The caravan finally arrived at our destination a few hours later by entering an overhanging cliff at the base of the western fortress. It was large enough to protect the entire herd of saherna and was heavily used. Judging by the booming construction work I figured the Hochberg were dealing regularly with several different groups of Caravaners.
The setup reminded me of a seaport for freighters. They even had properly sized ramps which allowed us to easily debark our transport.
And at the end of the ramp, a very official-looking group from Hochberg was already waiting for us.