Soon after they confirmed we were in the clear and no longer threatened by any mastodons, the caravan resumed moving as we climbed back into the carts. I sat beside the captain, both our helmets back off, his bald head reflecting the sunlight. I glanced at the mastodon corpses being left behind.
"Captain, aren’t we going to do anything about that? Seems a waste," I ask, pointing toward the corpses.
"Don’t worry about it. The Sentinels are gonna pick them up. We can’t carry all that extra, unplanned weight with us. So, the Sentinels will use freeze spells to preserve them and carry them to the nearest city. They’ll get full processed and then distributed as needed across the Imperium. Nothing goes to waste," Captain Ogman replies with a thoughtful look.
"I see," I lightly muttered under my breath, nodding toward the captain. It made me feel a little bit better that the corpses wouldn’t go to waste.
Then, just as the captain had said, I see about a hundred of the black-robed Sentinels fly over us as they make their way toward the bodies. I think I even saw Princess Vernissa among them.
I guess for them it’s not a big deal to haul less than a hundred dead frozen mastodons toward a nearby city and fly back. My guess proves correct an hour later when I observe the same hundred Sentinels flying back over, returning to the front of the caravan.
I felt that now was a suitable time to ask, and because the captain usually reveals information willingly, I decided to question where we were headed. "Captain, where exactly is home base? This will be my first time there, so I was wondering."
He looks at me for a moment quizzically, as if confused, then he nods his head as if he gained some sort of understanding. "Oh, I didn’t know you had joined us from somewhere else. I had assumed you were one of the unassigned Knights from reserve."
The captain then cleared his throat and spoke. "Our home base is along the Nikost Mountains, directly east of the capital. You might’ve heard of our mighty fortress." He pauses for dramatic effect. "Rumastere Fortress! Haha, yeah, I bet you’re surprised you are part of the army stationed at the place that the first emperor had started his conquest from!"
I had to put my mediocre acting into effect to not let the captain get suspicious. "Oh wow! Rumastere, for real, captain? I never thought I’d get to see such a historical place!"
"Haha, I guess you can really count yourself lucky you got dragged into our army, then," he replies with a smile, while slapping my armored right shoulder rather enthusiastically.
Letting the captain continue chuckling in his own happiness, I also ponder on the other small tidbits of information that I had learned from the conversation. Stuff that would definitely be too stupid to ask, since they sound like common knowledge. Especially since I only used the Valleymen excuse on that peasant named Bonti. I doubt the captain would fall for that.
Still, the Nikost Mountains sound important; maybe that is even where Loipherous Valley is located, home to the Valleymen that I impersonated. I’ll have to find a chance to learn more about that if I can. Same about the unassigned Knights from reserve, as that was the first time I heard of that.
I guess it would make sense. Based on how the camp is organized, there is no way they would be able to fit every single Knight into twenty-five-member tents. After all, there were definitely over a million Knights on that first day of battle. Less on the following days. So, it is probable that inside the encampment is a large barracks-style tent somewhere that houses reserve Knights not assigned to a unit.
It’s probably how they refill the units when members fall in battle. However, it looks like the current reserves are depleted, since even our unit isn’t at full strength. I guess even the Imperium suffered massive losses in those few battles.
While I was deep in thought, I felt someone shake me as they called out to me. I looked up to see the captain, his helmet on, bending over and pushing me. "Come on, Knight Vale. Shift rotation."
I stand up, putting on my helmet, only to find out that I am on driving duty. ’Great, I have never controlled horses or driven a cart. Fuck, I can only hope it isn’t too difficult to learn as compared to cars.’
Replacing Asher, I quickly got a hold of the reins, as I saw Asher doing before I replaced him. I should hopefully be able to handle this, as long as nothing unexpected happens. If all I have to do is hold this in place and let the horses do their work, I think I’ll be fine.
At least I don’t have to walk like the others, including the captain.
This is where the road started to feel really long. I felt the hours start to drag on as I just began to familiarize myself with the environment. I saw the enormous, far-reaching mountains to our east, which I assume are the Nikost Mountains. They were truly massive and stretched far into the distance, further than my eyes could see, covering our entire eastern side.
To our south, north, and west were mostly plains, sporadic forests, lakes, and rivers. Environmentally, the land seemed very bountiful and prosperous. I also didn’t notice too many man-made structures. Of course, there is the cobbled road we are currently traveling upon, and I would notice the occasional intersection where the cobbled road would shoot off in another direction.
I think so far I have only spotted four potential cities, towns or fortresses, by the massive walls I would see in the distance. With all this free time, just sitting here in deep thought, the horse caught my attention. Not once did the horse take a break, even though we had been traveling for almost two days now.
Occasionally the Knights would walk up and feed the horses or let them drink without stopping the caravan. They would literally eat or drink while still walking. The horses never even seemed to tire. I already knew they were different just based on their abnormal sizes, yet to think the horses of this world are also magical in this way.
’Well, at least like this we must be making good time since we are traveling non-stop with no need for breaks,’ I thought.