When Billy met Icarus and Lucyna, they looked fine but a bit troubled. The reason was the fact that the chaos was spreading throughout the state, and the slaves that were being mistreated were suffering even more. Lucyna didn't imagine that the situation would become like that. It was clear that she was planning to do something about that and she actually didn't need much help to begin wight against ordinary soldiers.
"I am planning to free all of them before anything too serious happens to them," Lucyna said. "You two have helped me, but I can't help you any more than this. My debt is already far too great."
"Billy probably has to go home, but I can stay and give you a hand," Icarus said. "Freeing enslaved people should be something simple for me. The real issue is what to do with them afterward."
"I have already freed some people over the years. I have a base hidden in the mountains on the east side of my former state," Lucyna said.
"However, your numbers won't be high. Even if you free everyone that is alive, you won't be able to manage a whole state with those numbers," Icarus said. "For all intents and purposes, your former state still belongs to this one and seeing that they will become fugitives, they will hunt again. You should move somewhere else with them."
Lucyna stopped to think about that. In the end, her people truly couldn't be the sole inhabitants of a state that once had almost two hundred thousand people. By her estimations, the number of survivors wasn't even five thousand. They had to move somewhere else… Lucyna had heard from Icarus that the states up north suffered many losses due to the recent wars, but Billy didn't invite her.
"Don't look at me. I have no intention of owing favors to Jean," Billy said. "Besides, I want to keep this group's interactions down to a minimum, so I won't vouch for you guys. If you want to move there, you will have to negotiate with Jean yourself."
"Anyway, you should cross that bridge at the right moment," Icarus said. "I suppose we will split here, Billy. See you later."
"Although you are a bit unnerving and sharp-tongued, I am still thankful for your assistance," Lucyna said. "I owe you one, and I will repay the debt someday."
"Try not to take too long with that because the interests are piling up," Billy said. "Well, I wish you two good luck as well. Without me to think things through, you will need all the help you can get."
Lucyna sighed, and Icarus forced a smile. Billy was the kind of person who would say that in such moments in order to prevent things from getting too emotional. He quickly turned around and checked the loot that he had to take home. It wasn't a mountain of weapons and ores, but it was a pretty tall hill. Even with his vehicles, he would have a hard time transporting those, and he wasn't with them, so he would have to improvise.
Thanks to the magic hammer, Billy didn't have to use magic to make anything. While the ores were valuable, Billy could make copper and iron himself. So, he quickly used half of them to create what seemed like the back of a cargo truck. Trying to return home as fast as possible while carrying all that was too unrealistic, so he might go all out without caring about the small details.
Billy wished that he had enough mana to create a magic engine and feed it to reach his home with his magic as fast as possible, but he didn't have it. Instead of that, he began to pull the cargo after he made some wheels below. Although the whole thing was supposed to weigh three tons, Billy still managed to push it and run pretty fast… he had to use Telekinesis to decrease the weight, though.
"That is that guy who claimed to have a bigger brain than ours…" Lucyna said.
"I guess he just wants to train since the last fight was pretty difficult for him," Icarus said. "The more I live, the more I realize that our powers can't be the sole foundation of our strength."
Lucyna more or less knew that, but she never truly admitted it. She only realized that recently when she saw that Billy and Icarus could do a lot more and beyond the limits of their abilities. She always thought that she had failed at having her revenge in the last few years because of the numerical disadvantage. Billy, on the other hand, could have wiped those armies by himself, but since he didn't want to reveal who he was by overusing his magic, he didn't do it.
While watching the pile of ores and resources that she had obtained, Lucyna knew that she could become a lot stronger. Still, it was time for her to learn more about the world and implement other battle techniques to her fighting style.
Icarus was thinking along the same lines, but since he was a pacifist, he didn't know what to do to get stronger. Maybe he should indeed find some useful magic items and trade for Billy's knowledge like they had agreed before.
Those last events changed those three views of the world. They learned that someone that was supposed to be dead was trying to interfere with the world and that someone probably had some connection with the gods of that world and even with themselves. So, things were about to become even more serious than before. None of them knew what might happen in the future. Still, they knew that if they didn't work together, the challenges would only become more troublesome for them and eventually… they would be smashed.
Suddenly, Billy's actions to return home didn't look silly or stupid. He truly was trying to become stronger using all his free time.
