Chapter 21: The seed store
— As you can see here and here, a large population of monsters is gathering in Ousbury. — Ethan pointed to two separate screens. He moved the old office chair he was sitting in and crossed to the other side of the room full of monitors, where he typed quickly on a keyboard on an iron workbench. — And in these other three images, you can see several winged monsters perched on the buildings.
The boy moved the cameras skillfully through the computers, so that Sete could see many creatures of Chaos roaming around Ousbury. There were groups of the same type of mutant boar she had killed in the corrupted forest roaming the ghost town, as well as flocks of overgrown hyena-like canids in black coats rummaging through the scrap metal and debris. Even huge brown-plumaged birds flew over the abandoned buildings, looking like an ugly mixture of eagle and vulture.
— We don't know why so many of them are coming here, but it's certainly not for a good reason. — Ethan continued, snapping his fingers covered in black gloves. — Because of them, it's been complicated to get out to get supplies. Our powers are limited and it's very difficult to get rid of these monsters, let alone survive an attack from them.
— They're creatures of Chaos, I can handle some of them. As I said before, I'll help you with the supplies. — Sete commented calmly, without taking her eyes off the monitors. — But I'll need help, of course. You and Bianca could be my guides.
— That would be good, if we're not going to get in the way. — Ethan agreed easily, but Bianca nodded a little hesitantly.
༻ ༊*·˚ ༺
It was already the morning of the fourth day until the convoy of prisoners crossed Ousbury, which meant that the young deity needed to go out to get supplies from his new allies and, at the same time, reconnoiter the terrain to set up his ambush.
However, before they left the shelter, they needed to eat breakfast.
The five of them settled around the faded wooden table, there was room for only four chairs, but Ethan pulled out an extra stool and sat on the end. Silent as ever, Bianca placed two boiling teapots in front of them, one for tea and one for coffee. Toast and canned cookies were laid out on the checkered tablecloth, along with a jar of blackberry jam and a bottle of ketchup.
There wasn't much variety due to the current circumstances, but it was enough.
Sete missed some fruit as an accompaniment to the meal, perhaps strawberries and oranges...
The base they were in was a well-hidden underground bunker, camouflaged enough for the E.G.O. not to have noticed them. There wasn't much of a planting area, just a bed under a frosted skylight, so that the sunlight could enter the place without giving anyone outside a clear view, which was ideal.
"You can start using the seed store, there are lots of fruit varieties in our catalog!" — Vez commented excitedly.
"How can I access it?" — Sete asked, bored as she ate a piece of toast with jam and sipped her tea.
"Just think 'open the seed store', a menu will pop up and you can access the tutorial on using the store through it." — The System seemed a little too eager for this, which Spring found very suspicious. — "After watching the tutorial, just buy the seeds you want. I don't suppose I need to formulate another tutorial for you to plant the seeds, do I?"
"No, that won't be necessary." — Sete replied dryly, Vez had a terrible sense of humor. — "But I believe I will need a tutorial to erase your existence..."
"He he he..." — The System laughed humorlessly, its robotic voice shaking slightly. — "You're so funny, Sete..."