We followed along the rock tunnel from the brother village to the main village. And that was very similar to the trip from the entrance of the desert to the sister village, then from the sister village to the brother village. Even then, we were still playing around, trying to win the race and using everything at our disposal to make someone else fall down. At the same time being sure not to hurt anyone too much. Small bruises were expected when they were throwing rocks at each other, but anything beyond that was not supposed to happen.
As a matter of fact, anytime anyone had a particularly nasty fall, everybody would drop down from their floating rocks and go towards that person to see if they were okay. One of the members of the team even ended up collapsing head first into a wall created by Vera, which prompted Carl to implement a new rule for this particular race. Rock walls could not be placed in a way that they would completely block off the passage. Vera and Astrid were still more than free to create their walls, but they had to be obstacles, not complete blockades.
It was something that everybody agreed on and even made for quite an interesting continuation of the race as they were forced to be more creative with the use of their walls. Making narrow passages made it even more troublesome to dodge incoming spells.
Since Rex was the last child that they were expecting to return, Carl left behind a small detachment from his group to continue checking the entrance of the desert. Just so they wouldn't abandon the other children who might return, but he also came with us back to the main village. The one big difference between the previous races and this one, heading towards the main village, was the distance. While it took us, maybe a few hours to go from the sister to the brother village, just as it took us just a few hours to go from the edge of the desert to the sister village, this last race was taking over six hours.
It was a time much longer than what Rex initially said that it should be considering the distance between the villages. That was something that Carl explained, as Rex himself had never done the trip from the main village to the brother village on foot. He always used the Rock Fly Tunnel. But if one were to try to reach and go from one village to the next above ground without any carts or horses or anything of the sort, it would take them about two days of travel.
Once more, I was thankful for having found Carl and the other Rodenti on this journey. More specifically, I was thankful for them having found us.
When we were about to reach the main village, Carl was once again in first place with Vera and Rex fighting for second. My companions weren't as thrilled to be fighting for silver again. However, the Rodenti were against changing teams if they were in the middle of a journey. People saw that as something that only happened if two of the team members had a very big fight. I wasn't really going to complain about that situation since it meant that I would be winning at every single one of the races.
As we got closer, there was a large group of people waiting for us. They were all cheering for the racers as we approached, chanting the names of Carl, Vera, and the other members of the Rodenti group led by Carl. Even Rex was being cheered. His name was being called as the information that we were arriving had already spread across the village.
From the distance, I could see that there was one specific Rodenti towering over everybody else. He had a muscular build, and even from the distance I could tell he had similar black fur as Rex. But unlike the other Rodenti, who were all a bit shorter than humans, this one was bigger. As a matter of fact, this particular Rodenti should be as tall as Astrid, if not taller.
Seeing the finish line, Carl decided to end this race quickly. His eyes focused on the large Rodenti. The only reason why I was sure this was Rex's father was because they had said he was the biggest Rodenti in the village. And now that I saw him, it was hard to think there would be anyone bigger.
With me no longer holding on to the stone handle that Carl created, we crossed the finish line to the sound of cheers and celebration. All the Rodenti congratulated us on our arrival. Strangely enough, they were not as hostile as the ones in the sister village. Even in the brother village, we were met with some discomfort on their part, but here they seemed to be more open to our presence.
I wasn't really sure if this was happening because someone had already come by and talked to them about it, or if it was just this main village that was more open to our presence. Maybe it was due to the other Rodenti families that were a part of this. As in the crowd, we were able to see Rodenti with various types of fur. The majority had grayish black fur that was very similar to Rex. But there were also many with brown, tan, and even white fur spread about.
It was pretty obvious that this was a very diverse group, but they didn't really seem to be worried about any of that. Maybe the Rodenti had yet to grow to the point where physical differences truly mattered for them. They were all just one big happy family with cousins that looked different from each other.
As Carl finished the race, I watched the chieftain approach while clapping and cheering, but he still made a point of keeping a wide berth from the rock tunnel itself. After all, the rest of the group was still coming. Their race wasn't over. If they got too close, they might end up being hit by the floating rocks that were coming at high speed towards them.
Rex's father nodded towards Carl, who answered in kind, and waited until the rest of the racers arrived. Only When there was no one left to cross the finishing line did he drop down to greet his brother.
They exchanged a quick hug, but it was obvious that Rex's father was more interested in someone else. Rex. He ignored me and my companions, which was completely understandable, and stepped towards his son, smiled at him, and patted his head. They had a brief conversation that was drowned out by the cheering. Rex gestured toward me and the rest of the group. I felt him studying us slowly, and there was even a strange tingling sensation that I was assuming to be my System letting me know that Rex's father was checking our levels. As best he could, anyway.
After a moment, he turned back to Rex and said, "You did well. I hoped you never returned. But glad you did."
Rex's father smiled and picked up Rex, facing him, putting him on his left shoulder.
"My son brings strong fighters to help. He comes home safe. Stronger. Cheer with me."
Saying that, the crowd erupted in applause and cheers while the Chieftain just stayed there presenting his son to everybody. This moment gave me a proper chance to see how he really looked.
The Rodenti man had black fur just like Rex. Exactly the same shade with the exception of a line around his head and going up until the middle of his back, almost forming a downward arrow that seemed to have frosted tips. The edges of the fur were in a shade of yellow. It wasn't really golden or the color you would expect from a blonde person. Nor even the shade that you could see in the fur of the other Rodenti. It was very bright, almost like the petals of a sunflower, but it felt more vibrant, energetic in some way.
After a few moments of celebration, Rex gestured to us, and his father walked over to greet the humans who had just appeared in his village.
"My son said he only alive thanks to you. Thank you for protecting him."
Michael quickly replied, "Rex is a really great guy."
"It was nothing," Riley smiled.
"Great friend." Astrid added.
I felt like I didn't have anything else to say, so I just stayed quiet.
Rex's father nodded in response while Rex continued to puff his chest on his father's shoulder.
"He says you came to help us fight the Eaters. Is right?"
I nodded. "Yes. We have some experience fighting those things and, well, it doesn't matter who we are. We need to get rid of them. They're a danger to everybody."
"Good. For now, rest. Tomorrow we talk how to help in battle."
"Of course. We are tired."
Even though we didn't do that much today, I turned back to my companions, who nodded in agreement. The race wasn't particularly tiring. After all, it was more about using skills than anything else. But it still drained us to be standing up for so long without rest.
"You have place near my house. Place to rest. Please follow."
We just nodded in agreement, following him along.
"I'm sorry if this is rude, but where I come from, humans not doing that kind of thing is even ruder. My name is Michael. And you are?"
Michael stepped forward and asked the chieftain.
"Name Ash."
"It's nice to meet you. There are Cassandra, Astrid, and Riley," Michael replied. But Ash just nodded with a smile and continued to walk forward.
He seemed to be much more interested in what Rex had to say, and that was very fair. According to our Rodenti companion, he had been away for several weeks already, and you can only imagine how worried a father would be about his son. Especially since it seemed he truly loved Rex. Sending him away was an attempt to protect him, not to try to get rid of him.
We were guided through the city, which was absolutely massive. There were easily a thousand Rodenti living here, and there were more than enough buildings to house all of them, including even more for whatever activities they wanted to use them for. This place was even bigger than that one village where we found Nithera. It already seemed to be massive in comparison to anything that I had seen humans do.
Human villages tended to be more spread out and less populated. I couldn't really call this a village, but it was an actual city. One on the level of something that existed in the old world. With the exception of the technology and infrastructure.
Still, we could see Rodenti moving around. Some young, some old. All of them looking to be in their prime and ready for battle, which of course was exactly the reason why they were here. Everybody was preparing to attack the Eaters that existed nearby. Seeing how many houses they had built and how much of their civilization was here, it made sense that they didn't want to give up this place. After all, if they did, who knows how long it would take for them to rebuild all of this.
Eventually, Ash took us to a more secluded area in the center of the village. Going up a spiral staircase, there was a set of houses on a small plateau where a small compound was built. That was pretty obviously the chieftain's house and his family. In addition to the houses of his guests and his children.
We saw Rexnala to the side with a few of the Rodenti that had left the village with her to fight against the Giant Eater. And on the other end there was another Rodenti with the same fur as Rex. This one was bulkier and almost as tall as Carl. He had a more serious expression, although his eyes showed more wisdom and felt deeper in a way. And around him were a few other people, all who just by looking at them I could tell were powerful.
I didn't need to ask the System to tell me their level as they should be at the very least tier two, if not even getting close to tier three. As a curiosity, I also turned to Ash and had my System check him. Only to be surprised by the results.
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Ash - Rodenti Chieftain - Tier 3
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As Rex's father pointed us to the place where we were going to stay, I started to reevaluate our odds of winning this fight against the Eaters. With someone at tier three by our side, I was more confident that we were going to win.