"Hey, Arin, are you, you know, permanently stationed here?" asked Johnny as he searched for his little brother. Arin had matured quite a bit over the last few years, and he had gradually taken on more of a leadership role within the family, even if he had not yet realized it himself. Johnny could see the difference in the way Arin carried himself and how seriously he approached his responsibilities. However, his social anxiety was still just as bad as ever, Johnny thought as he finally spotted him sitting in a tree.
In fact, Johnny was fairly certain that even the recruits currently defending the portal had no idea that Arin was sitting above them. His little brother had somehow managed to position himself in the branches without drawing the attention of the people stationed below, which was honestly impressive considering how many recruits were nearby. Arin had always been good at disappearing into the forest, but after gaining his new physique and becoming even more connected to nature, it had become almost ridiculous. Johnny had to wonder whether Arin even realized how difficult it was for other people to notice him when he was sitting quietly among the trees.
"Yes, I am," Arin answered without taking his eyes off the portal. "The forest has not felt right for the last few days, and it is getting on my nerves, so I want this whole thing over with." There was clear irritation in his voice, and Johnny could understand why after spending enough time around Arin to know how strongly he reacted to changes in the forest. This was not merely something he noticed with his eyes or ears; Arin could feel that something was wrong, and the longer it continued, the more uncomfortable he became.
The forest had been in a damp, unpleasant mood for days, and while the rest of the family and the guild could also feel the strange conditions, Arin was connected to the forest on an entirely different level because of his physique. To him, the feeling was genuinely nasty, and there was no simple way to describe it. The closest comparison he could make was the sensation of trying to vomit only for it to get stuck in his throat, leaving him with an awful feeling that refused to go away. It was as though the entire forest was holding back something unpleasant, and Arin could feel every bit of that tension through his connection with it.
The portal itself had only made the situation worse. Every day it seemed to become darker, slowly resembling the state it had been in when Arin had first seen it, and even the light around it seemed to be getting swallowed. The darkness did not merely make the portal look blacker; it seemed to interfere with the surrounding environment itself, making the area feel wrong in a way that Arin could not properly explain. He had spent enough time around the portal to know that something was changing, and whatever was happening was clearly not something the forest appreciated.
"But now that I have you here, how is it going with the arrows?" Arin asked, finally shifting the subject toward his brother. Johnny had been put in charge of arrow production by the family, a responsibility that had apparently landed on him more through circumstance than personal ambition. Arin knew his brother well enough to realize that Johnny had probably not volunteered for the position. Still, someone had to oversee production, and Johnny had somehow been standing in the right place at exactly the wrong time.
"It is going great," Johnny said. "We were one of the first people to clear our portal, after all, so we had a head start." He sounded genuinely pleased when he spoke about the business, especially because the family had been able to take advantage of the situation before many other groups had recovered. "It seems we realized the seriousness of the portals earlier than most people did, so merchant travel has been incredibly successful." Johnny was still amazed by how many arrows they had managed to ship during the previous week alone.
Their arrows were some of the best available, after all, because the family practically handmade everything in their workshop. They were not simply buying cheap materials, assembling them as quickly as possible, and sending them out to whoever was willing to pay. Every stage of production received attention, and that extra care improved the quality of their arrows enormously. With people expecting massive amounts of fighting around the portals, having reliable ammunition was becoming increasingly important, and the Sonnenberg products were benefiting from that demand.
"Yes, I can believe that arrows are selling well, especially now that everyone expects massive fighting," Arin said. He continued staring directly at the portal as he spoke, his bow resting across his lap with an arrow already nocked on the string. Even while having a casual conversation with his brother, he never completely relaxed around the portal. His body remained prepared to react at a moment's notice, and the fact that he kept his eyes fixed on the darkness made it obvious that his attention was never truly away from the threat.
"How were you even roped into looking after the arrow factory?" Arin asked. He genuinely could not imagine Johnny volunteering for the responsibility, especially considering how much work the factory required. Johnny had always been capable, but that did not mean he enjoyed being buried under endless production numbers and shipments. There was a certain difference between being capable of doing something and actually wanting to spend your days doing it.
"That was just dumb luck," Johnny replied with irritation. "I was the first person to show up when they decided they needed someone to look after production." He sounded like he had already explained this story several times, and perhaps he had. The family had needed someone immediately, Johnny had happened to be there, and apparently that was enough to make him responsible for an entire arrow operation.
Johnny had seen enough arrows for the moment, especially because the factory produced an absolute ton of them. It was one of the better employment opportunities in the city they had founded, largely because there was not an enormous variety of other work available within the settlement. The other major source of employment was down by the docks, where people were needed to load and unload cargo from ships. With the city growing and merchant traffic increasing, the harbor had become one of the busiest places in the entire settlement.
Every ship still had sails, which meant they had to work around the limitations of the new world while developing new ways of handling cargo. They had also been forced to invent new shipping containers because the old ones were no longer viable after mana had changed the world. The new containers were smaller than the old ones, but they were still roughly two meters long and one meter wide, with a height of around one meter. That was not exactly a small container, and even with everyone's increased strength, moving one was not something a single person could casually accomplish.
At first, the problem had been their awkward shape rather than their actual weight. A container that large was difficult to handle without proper equipment, and things became considerably worse when it was filled with something heavy. If it contained steel ingots, for example, the weight quickly became far beyond what one person could reasonably carry. This meant there was always plenty of work at the harbor, because everything had to be moved as efficiently as possible. Ships sitting in the harbor cost money, so every delay mattered.
"But besides working at the harbor, there is not really any real work inside the town," Johnny continued. "Heck, even our farmers are fishers." The problem was that there was simply no farmland available inside the settlement, because the entire city was surrounded by swamp. The Crimson Guild owned all of the surrounding land, but they had no interest in draining the swamp simply to create farmland. The swamp was part of the environment they had chosen to preserve, and changing it on such a massive scale would defeat the purpose of keeping it.
"So you were scammed," Arin said, suddenly hitting his flat palm against his fist as if he had just solved some great mystery. His expression became almost smug as he looked toward his brother. "You got tricked into taking the job while everyone else gets to avoid it." Johnny stared at him for a moment, clearly unimpressed by Arin's sudden realization.
"Yes, I was," Johnny said. "And meanwhile, you were sitting here high and dry, relaxing and not worrying about anything." There was enough sarcasm in his voice to make it obvious that he did not actually believe Arin had been relaxing. Still, Johnny was not about to let his brother escape the joke without getting one of his own in. Arin, however, immediately looked offended by the accusation.
"Hey, that is not true," Arin replied. "I had to go on an expedition into the Black Forest searching for that mine." His expression became increasingly irritated as he remembered the trip. "And worse, I had to make it so that every idiot could reach the mine safely, which was a pain in the ass." The problem had not simply been finding the mine; it had been making sure that people who lacked any understanding of the forest could travel there without getting themselves killed.
"They did not respect the forest," Arin continued. "And I was shown that the saying about the bear-resistant garbage bin was actually true." Johnny immediately understood what he meant, and a grin appeared on his face. The situation had apparently reminded Arin of one of those old films where supposedly bear-resistant equipment was tested by discovering that bears were considerably smarter than the people who designed the equipment. It was a surprisingly accurate comparison for what Arin had witnessed.
"What you mean is that the overlap between the dumbest humans and the smartest bears is pretty huge," Johnny said. He had enjoyed those films before mana had changed the world, and apparently the memory still amused him. Arin stared at him for a moment before recognizing exactly which one he meant. Despite the unpleasant feeling coming from the forest, he could not help but acknowledge the comparison.
"Yes, that one. Jesus," Arin said. "I went around the territory of one wolf pack, and they walked straight into the territory of an angry mama bear. The idiots." He shook his head as he remembered the incident, clearly unable to understand how people could make such an obvious mistake. The forest had rules, and those rules had consequences, especially for people who ignored the warning signs that every experienced ranger would recognize.
Then Arin suddenly stopped moving.
He stood perfectly still in the tree, his expression changing as a shiver ran through his body. His hand immediately moved toward his quiver, and within seconds he had drawn three more arrows, keeping his attention locked on the portal. The casual conversation was over so quickly that Johnny did not even need to ask what had happened. Something had changed, and whatever Arin had felt through his connection with the forest was enough to trigger an immediate response.
Johnny was already running before Arin said anything. "Get into action!" he yelled toward the recruits defending the portal, his voice carrying through the forest as he moved. "Sound the alarm!" The startled recruits reacted almost immediately, because they had been trained for precisely this kind of situation even if the suddenness of the command caught them off guard.
An air siren soon began to howl across the forest.
The recruits had to crank the specially commissioned air siren manually, because it was not technologically complex enough to operate automatically. Even so, building one that could produce enough sound to carry across the enormous forest had not been easy, and the family had considered it money well spent. The moment it started turning, the siren's cry spread through the trees, warning everyone within hearing distance that something had happened at the portal. There was no mistaking the meaning of that sound.
And then someone stepped out of the portal.
The figure looked entirely too pleased with himself.