Frostbound [LitRPG Apocalypse]-Chapter 183 - Agreement

"That depends on the type of agreement," Austin said while leaning back in his chair. Not enough to prop it up on two legs and be impolite, but enough to show his curiosity on where this was going.

With his enhanced vision, Austin could see a vein on the man's forehead protrude from his antics but that only spurred him on further. Marcus reminded him of Thomas, Christopher's father.

Not to say he was a stick in the mud, but he didn't appreciate the frivolity Austin was showing to what he considered an important conversation. It was one of the main reasons he wanted nothing to do with leadership.

It was all serious and tense without any room for entertainment or fun. It was hard to make jokes when you were literally in charge of people's safety.

That wasn't the case for him now. He was off on his own and could do anything he pleased. His actions were linked to Frostheim, but nothing he did would push the boundaries, he wasn't that stupid.

Just the thought of the lecture from his mother on making enemies for trivial reasons was enough for him to act properly if a touch loose. Let alone what Abigail would say.

"While a trade agreement is a good start, what I'm looking for is one of a more... direct agreement," Marcus said ambiguously.

It wasn't hard to guess what he meant by that.

"You want help with your little bug problem." Austin guessed.

The man stiffened but didn't rush to deny it. It was obvious what the man was after but that made Austin curious about what he was willing to give up for such assistance.

"That would be the goal, yes, but any kind of support could be negotiated for," Marcus said.

While it would be fun to wring him for all he was worth, Austin couldn't do so. The letter in his pack spoke of what Chris was doing and he didn't have time to come down here and hunt bugs with him.

From the sounds of his letter, he had his hands full with the goings on up there.

"Unfortunately, that won't be possible," Austin said. "From what I know, they are occupied with a problem of their own." The man showed nothing on his face but the disappointment was clear. "But, I would be happy to help you with your problem. I may not be able to take on the swarm myself but I'm no slouch." Austin said while tapping his chest.

"You know this for a fact? I assumed you would at least send word of such a request if not leaving to deliver it yourself." Marcus asked, not yet giving up on this string of chance.

"Yes, I do. They have problems closer to home and I doubt they'd come all the way here to help with yours." Austin said. From the way the letter from Chris was phrased, it was clear there was zero chance he would come here. After thinking, he added offhandedly, "Not unless they finish up there and you still need it, then I bet Chris could be convinced."

As soon as he said it, Austin regretted it. His big mouth was getting him in trouble again and the man pounced on his slip-up.

"Who's Chris?" Marcus questioned.

It wasn't Austin's intention to reveal how... connected he was to his faction's leadership at the start but he screwed that up. It wasn't a bad thing for the man to know but it would change the way his relationship would be geared.

If he knew how close he was, then he would turn into a diplomat instead of an average person. It would color everything he did and he wouldn't have the same liberties as before.

His words would need to be measured and he couldn't do anything overtly anymore. Sneaking around would be taken as spying rather than exploring, which defeated the purpose of what he was doing.

With a resigned sigh, "He's the one in charge of the pylon."

It was confusing what Chris's exact title was. Technically, the City Lord was Abigail since she had the Profession for it, but calling one the City Owner and the other the City Lord got confusing fast.

He couldn't wait until Chris started upgrading the pylon so he could make fun of the pretentious noble titles and so it wouldn't be as confusing. He already had the posh British accent he would say them in down pat along with a practiced bow.

"And I take it you're close with him." The man asked.

"Sadly. Even through his weird teenage years." Austin joked. "But they're busy. Now, why don't we discuss what kind of help I can provide since I'm here."

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

The next part of the discussion was more to Austin's liking. It was less about what his family was doing back home and what he would get for his direct help.

The man was cautious and didn't reveal much, but it was clear what he was attempting. He wanted to launch an attack against the center of the swarm, hoping to kill whatever kept spawning the swarm.

Be it a queen laying eggs or some other fantastical reason thousands of insects kept appearing. Austin's guess was some treasure was the cause of the population boom and once it was brought away, the swarm would die off.

The one problem with that theory was if the treasure was immovable. If that were the case, they would have to kill the entire swarm to stop more bugs from appearing.

Austin made sure not to slip up with anything more he said and he managed to make it through the rest of the meeting without another mishap. It humored him that he came all this way to get away from that kind of thing only to be right back in it.

After solidifying what, exactly, he would be doing to help, he was given liberty to go about his day. There was a weekly schedule they stuck to which made him have to wait a week until he needed to do anything.

During this time, he took the chance to explore a new city. He noticed people watching him as he walked around but that wasn't surprising. He expected as much after his slip up and he might've well said he was a spy.

Even with a minder keeping an eye on him, the city was fun to explore. It was more rustic than the log cabins of his new home, but it wasn't bad. Everything was made of stone instead of wood which was the biggest difference.

It wasn't hard to figure out why that was the case as everywhere around was made of the stuff. Rocks dominated the landscape outside the walls and it wasn't an exaggeration to say it was more readily available than trees were.

With all the houses, or huts in some cases, being made of stone it made the city appear utilitarian. Almost like a militaristic base rather than the foundations of a city.

Another difference was the markets.

Since the amount of people was easily in the thousands, that made it a bit more hectic, but even with more people, the trade happening was less than what people did in Frostheim.

Food and water were strictly regulated and without coin to pay for things, it was hard to run a business. Bartering for things was the only way to trade and that was mostly done with equipment.

Observing the conditions inside the city made it clear why the man was so urgent. Just knowing Austin was from a different faction made him reach out and see if there was a connection there even without knowing anything else.

What Austin originally thought was odd made sense the more he saw. The man was grasping at straws hoping on the off chance something worked.

It made him think about what he would ask for a reward for his help. They didn't seem to have coins to spare and weren't likely to give them up even if they had them.

Materials were scarce as well except for the mountains of insect carapace but Austin didn't want that. The only thing they had in abundance besides that was stone and that was equally unhelpful.

It wasn't like he could wave his hand and teleport it back home for Chris to use. Still, he pondered on what he would ask for on his side of the arrangement.

Ah, I'll figure that out later. There's still things to see.

It would be a long week but there were at least things to do here compared to being alone. Even if he would rather starve than eat the local cuisine.

Austin's thoughts drifted to what Chris was doing. After the messenger ran into him while he was camping out fighting bugs a week ago he couldn't help but think about what was going on. While he was tempted to turn around, he decided not to in the end.

Chris had things well in hand and Austin doubted things would go wrong. The man had more power than he thought he did.

Chris

"How much further?" I asked our guide.

I kept everyone at a quick pace after leaving and we ended up making good time. Without snow to hinder us the trip was quite quick. All the experience during our travels helped move things along at a fast pace. It took less than a month to arrive.

"We should be coming up on it now," Carson said.

The group of ten that arrived were clearly unaccustomed to such travel. They did not have the same experience with spending every day on the road like we did and they appeared rather haggard.

Some even had a hint of dark circles under their eyes from not sleeping enough during the journey. They kept their own watch at night and I didn't blame them for it.

We were still technically strangers and I would have done the same, but splitting the watch ten ways didn't help their sleep schedule. Especially when we were pushing hard every day.

They didn't complain though, so I kept at it while they managed to keep up. Riding a horse made things easy on me but I still got sore after the long trip.

What we finally came across made memories from the tutorial flash through my mind. The first thing that came into view from the new city was a field of wooden spikes planted in front of tall wooden walls.

Similar to what we did to face the waves and threw as many traps down as we could in front of the walls.

Lines of stakes were angled chest high circled the portion of wall we could see and they were obvious recent additions. People were still working on adding more to the furthest line away.

Mounds of dirt were piled around in various spots from what I expected were either pit traps or the beginnings of a trench. I wasn't sure how effective a trench would be against such creatures but this wasn't my city to run.

It would have to be a wide and deep trench to do anything against higher-level humans, let alone Demons. Unless they had a way to increase its lethality.

Either through traps at the bottom, enchantments, poisons, or contraptions but that was a pricy endeavor. Without knowing if it would be finished in time for an assault was a risk.

Other than seeing the war preparations taking place, I was happy that the city still stood. It was a not-insignificant fear that we would arrive at a city in ruins overrun by Demons.

It was obvious that our companions thought the same because their sighs of relief were audible as the walls came into view.

As I slowed our pace down with the city now in sight, the woman who sat in our meeting with the bow dashed off ahead of the rest to inform someone of our arrival.

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The only thing that bothered me was the city appeared to be on the defensive. I didn't come all the way here to sit and wait for the Demons to arrive.

We would have to go on the offensive anyway if we were to kill them utterly.

Calling for Hal and a few others who had tracking skills, I turned to our guests.

"Take us to the Ritual Circle."