The Guardian System: The strongest Summoner's quest to save his family-Chapter 417: Caravan in the Crosshairs (5)

The caravan continued through the forest. The sun moved across the sky, casting shadows through the trees. Reidar's Sky-Hunters patrolled the perimeter and took care of threats whenever they got too close to the caravan.

By evening, they reached a clearing where the caravan stopped to make camp. The guards set up a defensive perimeter while the merchants unloaded supplies for the night. Fires were lit, and the smell of food filled the air.

Reidar remained at the edge of the camp, choosing to keep his distance. His summons didn't need to eat, and he had enough rations in his inventory to last for years. Mostly monsters' carcasses, but he got used to the taste by now. Besides, he wanted to think.

The information Kara had given him was valuable, but it raised more questions than it answered.

Why had the church shifted its focus from attacking the Aegis Phalanx to fighting monsters? Was it just because they had lost many fighters, or was there something else going on? Plus, why were their tactics in this region so different? And why did no one fight them, considering they attacked settlement after settlement?

<Unless those who got attacked didn't know it was the church…>

Maybe the church hadn't directly attacked settlements, letting monsters and proxies act for them.

<But that would not explain the survivors we found before reaching the church outpost. They clearly said the church attacked them. This doesn't make sense.>

Besides, was the new portal at the borders real, or did the church use the portal that brought him to the Ignis world as a convenient lie?

And what was the World-Carver Behemoth's interest in Kingsgate? There had to be a reason it was so obsessed with the city.

Reidar didn't have answers yet, but he knew where to find them. Sweetwater was a hub for the church, which meant it would have vendors and people working for the church. Once he got there, he could start putting the pieces together by asking around or interrogating people.

He also needed to be careful. He and the church were enemies, after all.

<I'll have to use the stealth perk as much as possible. Maybe buy a disguise skill from a vendor.>

The night passed without incident. The guards rotated shifts, and the merchants slept in their wagons. Reidar stayed awake, watching through his Sky-Hunters' eyes as they patrolled the surrounding forest.

By morning, the caravan was moving again.

The terrain changed as they traveled. The forest gave way to rolling hills, and the dirt road became more defined. Signs of civilization appeared: abandoned vehicles, collapsed buildings, and the occasional skeleton picked clean by scavenging monsters.

Though most of the times not even bones remained.

They passed through what had once been a small town. The buildings were burned out, and the streets were empty. A faded sign on the side of the road said, "Welcome to Millbrook."

<Another ghost town.>

Reidar had seen dozens of places like this. The apocalypse had been thorough. Most human towns and cities had been destroyed on the first day, overwhelmed by monsters before the survivors could even wake up.

The caravan didn't stop. They had a destination and a schedule to keep. After all, time was money.

By the second day, they reached the outskirts of Sweetwater.

The town was larger than Reidar had expected and was filled with guards patrolling the top with crossbows and spears.

Banners flew from the walls, displaying the emblem of the Church of Unbinding.

<Another one of these… uh?>

Contrary to the church's settlements he had gone through until that point. This wasn't purely for military purposes. Here people lived, so destroying this place was out of the question.

<I can still do some damage though.>

The real question, though, was why there were vendors here if the church despised them and the church itself was an enemy of the Allied worlds.

Reidar doubted anyone knew the full story. The people here didn't know what the church did. While the church spread its gospel—preaching that the system was a menace and its vendors were threats—somehow they all coexisted in these kinds of settlements.

After all, the church benefitted from the vendors since they could supply them with anything they needed, of course, through proxies.

At the same time, the vendors could not really refuse to serve humans. If someone went to buy something, what proof did they have that they were affiliated with the church?

And even if they weren't, selling to the church was almost mandatory in this place, since there were many people who genuinely thought they were the good guys. Which meant that either way, things ended up in their hands.

However, all of this still puzzled Reidar. It was entirely possible he'd only seen one side of the church—but watching them actually do what they were supposed to do, protect people and work alongside other humans, felt wrong.

<I guess I'm biased.>

The church ended up being more right than Reidar cared to admit, at least about the Allied Worlds. They weren't exactly enemies, but they weren't allies either.

The only allies humans had were themselves; that was why it was so important for Reidar to find Lena and Jake.

They needed to go to Creamont and set things up.

The caravan stopped at the gates. Kara spoke with the guards, showing documents and explaining their cargo. Reidar hung back, keeping his head down to avoid people seeing his nametag.

However, before the guards could even spot him, Reidar had already left and entered the city.

At a certain distance, it was not possible to see the nametag, but avoiding people was not easy.

Inside, Sweetwater was bustling, contrary to what Reidar expected. Merchants called out from stalls, selling everything from food to weapons.

Survivors moved through the streets, going about their daily lives, which mostly involved going to hunt or crafting something.

Surprisingly, children played in the squares; their laughter was strange compared to the devastation outside the walls.

<It looks like the church is doing better than I assumed.> He sighed. <If only they weren't trying to sacrifice half the worlds they went in, I would have even rooted for them.>

Everywhere Reidar looked, he saw church members.

They were easy to identify. Some wore black robes with the Church's symbol. Others wore normal clothes but had the telltale signs of mutation: pale skin, elongated fingers, and eyes that reflected light like an animal's.

Reidar watched them carefully and, most importantly, avoided them carefully.

Most behaved normally, talking and laughing with the regular survivors. But he noticed the way some of them moved, the way their heads turned to track people as they passed.

<They're not fully feral yet. But they're on their way.>