In the end, Edward gave them the instructions to head to the eastern border of his state, on the new area that they had obtained. Aside from that, he didn't write anything specific… After saying goodbye to Rosalie and Aura, Billy's party and Marie began to travel at night again. She didn't receive other orders, so she was following them. She was a bit troublesome, but lately, she was a lot meeker than the first time his party saw her. She didn't even force others to solve bothersome things for her anymore...
"Here we go again while moving at night like bats…" Billy said and then sighed.
"Can't you do something with your magic?" Marie asked.
"Not for several hours," Billy said.
"Then it can't be helped," Marie said. "Let's keep moving at night while we are close to the borders."
"Putting that aside, is there any trick to your dual wielding style?" Billy asked. "Natalie is skilled, but I feel like there is a difference between your fighting styles."
"One of the differences is the fact that I use daggers and the other is that I am ambidextrous," Marie said. "Natalie is right handed, even though she is fairly skilled on the left."
Billy didn't consider that… but it made sense. However, upon checking the skill list, he noticed that the dual-wielding skill was there and only existed fifty skill points. So, it wasn't a skill that he couldn't learn, and the same thing probably applied to others.
"Try to stop using your right hand for a while and see if we can see any changes," Billy said. "I am fairly certain that you can become more skilled with your left hand if you rely more on it for a while."
"Okay… but I think it will be faster if I practice it while training," Natalie said.
"We can't make much noise, so, you will have to wait for a while," Billy said.
After having to walk for five nights, Billy made a mental note to forge the parts of a vehicle and then eventually craft one that could be used in many situations. They were wasting too much time while moving like that… he needed a vehicle that would consume magic to move, but not much. It would take a while before he could come up with such an idea.
After moving away from the border, Marie didn't feel the need to keep themselves hidden, so she got for them a carriage. According to her, Jean probably was going to do something at the border, and he wanted their help. Much sooner than later, their actions would be found in such a place.
"We are heading to the new dungeon town that was annexed to our territory, while it is a dangerous that had only three floors and was already cleared by us, no guild is taking care of it as of now," Marie said.
"The clans think that they might lose that territory pretty soon, so they think that it isn't worth the hassle to move to that area?" Billy asked.
"You are right, but that is only half of the reason," Marie said. "The dungeon town is pretty close to the new border, so everyone nearby is bound to participate in the next conflicts."
There was still the issue that they were short-handed, both in the army and in the number of Adventurers. It was also hard to imagine the original inhabitants of the region staying there after the war since the Hiloh state was weaker… even if they stayed, the new inhabitants would look at them with concern, worrying about the possibility of betrayal and of spies relaying information.
"Speaking of which, Lily and Alexander were hired to train some people… was that plan delayed?" Billy asked.
"I am not sure," Marie said.
"We still have two months until the appointed time, so we don't have to worry," Alexander said.
After a few days of traveling, the group reached the dungeon town, and as if he had been waiting for them for quite a while, Pierre was at the entrance. He looked as worn out as someone could be, the poor guy had been working like a mule, and now he had to deal with his unreasonable elder sister.
"Hello again, dear elder sister," Pierre said. "Thank you for coming, everyone."
"Skip that nonsense, why are we here for?" Marie asked.
"Marie… you are here to lead the few adventurers that had come in case the enemy attacks," Pierre replied. "Billy's party are here to help with the defenses of this town. As you can see, we don't have walls here, so we want to make some thick ones as soon as possible."
"We can, but it will take months," Billy said. "We will need the help of more elementalists. Can you send a letter to the best elementalists at Earth Manipulation?"
"Yes, but half of them are helping on the fields, that leaves us with fifteen or so," Sarah replied. "I also am guessing that only half of those will want to come."
"With that in mind, it would be better if we could wait for them to build the walls as soon as possible," Billy said. "That way the enemy won't have time to react and stop us."
"True, but it will take at least two weeks for any help to come…" Pierre said. "We can't afford to do that, right now, even if they aren't reliable, we need to put some pressure on the enemies."
Billy considered his options… he didn't have many, to begin with, but he had at least a week for his party to make any resemblance of a wall to protect the town. The enemies won't be able to gather a force and attack them any sooner than that.
"We will see what we can do, but you should look for some free hands in the area to help, so that we can save as much mana as possible," Billy said.
