Ganersam Volume 2

“See? It’s a good place for sightseeing.”

“The reason we’re walking here is NOT for sightseeing, though.”

“Hey, you got two birds with one stone. That isn’t bad.”

“Whatever... let’s rest here.”

I stopped at a small spot beside the road. We were now heading upward. Based on what Qorsen told us, there was a shooting range near the mountain, which meant we need to climb quite a long way to reach it.

I sat on the patch of dirt, while Emma remained standing beside me. While I’m a bit annoyed at having been brought up here against my free will, the view was indeed nice. As I enjoyed the view of the distant mountains and the rather small town below us, a small carriage raced down the mountain, heading straight at us. The carriage passed us, heading for Kalagai below.

But it soon stopped. It turned around and headed back for us.

“Good morning, are you Emma, by any chance?”

“Good morning. Yes, I am. Is something the matter?”

For some reason, he only asked about Emma. The man behind the wheel pulled the parking brakes, got off the carriage, and walked toward us. He gave us a salute, before continuing,

“Rahel has spoken highly about you. If you don’t mind, could you come with me?”

With that, we skipped the rest of the walk and headed straight for the walls. Several knights stood at the entrance, saluting us as we entered the walls. This wall spans the entire continent, around 1002 km in total. The wall was a straight line from point to point. We were told that this wall, constructed to prevent any further demon incursions. The wall sported 2000 cannons on top of this wall, one each for every 500 meters. These cannons were probably where most of the budget went into.

“How does the map border work here?”

I whispered to Emma as the knight guided us toward a room.

“In total, it’s around 15000 km from the northernmost to the southernmost point, with a width of roughly 1000 km. Tall mountains act as barriers to prevent people from going out of the map.”

“But we have starships, couldn’t people fly over those mountains?”

“Yes, but there’s a height limit. The height limit is slightly higher than the mountains, at around 13000 km. There’s an invisible barrier stopping you from flying higher, as well as barriers surrounding the entire world. You can’t force yourself to go beyond these barriers.”

“That feels lazy, to be honest. Earth is a lot larger compared to this, and that universe is practically limitless.”

“Do you have magic there? Special abilities? Besides, maintaining earth is a pain in the ass, my Masters vouch on never making another universe like that ever again.”

“I guess... but why only 1000 km? A 15 to 1 ratio doesn’t look proportionate.”

“My masters didn’t want to make the world too small, so they settled on 15000 km, but I think after looking at a design, they realized 15000 km is too long and decided to limit the width instead. It does make it easier in the war against the demon’s army though, as the front lines are a lot shorter.”

“1000 km is still very long though. Logistics must be a nightmare.”

As I said that, the knight signaled us to stop.

“Please wait for a moment.”

He said. An alarm rang through the long corridor, followed by some thunderous sound and immense vibrations. The corridor shook, the sound of a train screeching right above us. After around 5 seconds, the sound and vibration subsided.

“... What is that?”

“That’s the Golaana Defense Express. It’s a train that travels 500 km/h from one end of the wall to the other. There is a total of three tracks supporting three different trains. ”

The knight answered before continuing walking. Well, that answers my question regarding logistics. The walls were pretty large, proven by the number and width of the corridors inside. We were on the fifth floor, just two floors under the surface, so, understandably, we felt strong vibrations.

The knight led us into a room. It was a small room, inside there were three chairs, divided by a single green table. There was a whiteboard on the wall, and two narrow windows gave us a view of the outside. The windows pointed north, to which a view of a desert could be seen.

He then politely ask us to seat on the two chairs, while he himself sat on the single one facing us.

“So, my name is General Barlum, a general of Golaana’s defense bureau. Miss Rahel is my wife.”

“Wait, she’s married?”

“Yes, I hope you don’t get any weird ideas about her.”

He said with a smile. A servant brought us tea.

“So, I heard you’re heading into the demon’s territory?”

We went silent for a while. I didn’t remember telling Rahel any of this. I didn’t think Amber said anything as well.

“... How did you know?”

Emma suspiciously asked. The knight gave us another smile.

“Simple, Rahel accidentally saw your ship departing Alpha. She asked me to keep an eye for you, as you are what she described as ‘hope for humanity’. Naturally, I would be rushing to town the second I heard that your ship landed here, but I’m glad to find you on your way here.”

“Ah, that’s not true.”

Emma replied with a short giggle. I searched my memory for our fight scene with Rahel. There’s a single battle where she was with us, but I don’t think it was that impressive. I assumed she heard about our feats like taking out the other goblin camps and fighting that dragon.

Then again, I still didn’t think that stuff isthatamazing.

“But it seemed to me that you didn’t come with your whole party.”

“Ah, no. The others are currently installing upgrades to our ship.”

“Good to know. Then, do you mind telling me your real intentions coming all this way?”

Emma told him our plans to raid the demon’s army research lab, to which he let out a quick gasp out of shock. She also proceeded to tell him about us borrowing the shooting range, to which he immediately agrees.

“I would love to provide real weapon support, but unfortunately I’m not allowed to do that. I could give you some supplies, though.”

With that, he showed us the storage, where he had asked some of his knights to prepare a package for us. Inside were various first aid kits and food. He then showed us to the shooting range, where we trained our shooting up till the afternoon.

“That was tiring.”

I said as I dropped to the bed. We finished training at 6 pm, quite late. We had dinner with the knights back at the wall and were escorted back to the inn. The supplies were sent directly to Amber.

“You’re quite the fast learner.”

“I played shooters before. I wish they were more helpful, though. I’m also surprised at how different LIAR felt after the upgrades.”

Emma had turned my peaceful weapon into a demon-killing machine. It felt far more powerful and was harder to control. I spent quite a while getting used to it.

“I kinda want to return to magic, to be honest.”

“Well, you could always learn it, if you want.”

"Sigh... I hate grinding.”

Especially since I could actually die if I made a mistake here. I wonder if there are any afk grinding methods that I could use, or maybe some in-app purchases that would help.

“I wonder how the others are doing.”

Emma asked as she took a peek from the window. It had started raining again, the soothing sound of the drops of water filled the room.

“Should I call them?”

“Nah.”

She walked away from the window and lie down on the bed beside me.

“They’ll eventually call us when they’re done.”

“Knowing them, it would happen right about now.”

We went silent for 10 seconds. Nothing happened, of course. I pulled my phone out of my pocket. The screen was clear, with no notifications on it.

“I’m surprised they didn’t call us the second we talked about it.”

“Guess this isn’t one of those coincidences.”

“I still often forget we have phones here, though.”

In the era of messaging apps, the act of calling had gone outdated for several people. At least, you won’t call someone just for a quick ‘are you done?’ question. I spent long gaming calls with my friends at some point, but I never called someone just to ask a quick question.

“... By the way, do you want to go to the bath together?”

I could only stare blankly at Emma’s words.

Yes, it was Emma who said that.

“You’re trying to speedrun my heart?”

“Maybe? What color is it on now?”

“Yellow. Definitely far from red.”

“Would a bath event change that?”

“Of course not. You’re such a perv.”

“Ah, I wonder what our little William watches during his free time. It must be child-friendly, very wholesome, high-quality movies. Am I right?”

Emma said as she gave me a cheeky smile.

“Fine, you win.”

I turned myself towards the other side of the bed, facing against her. I let out asigh, not knowing what is her intention with that statement. It’s impossible to read her mind, let alone predict her intentions.

Emma then raised from the bed and made her way toward the bathroom.

“I’m going in.”

“Have a good time.”

The door let out a squeak as it opened and closes. The sound of running hot water filled the room, and occasional splashes followed. I closed my eyes, deciding on taking some rest.