Frostbound [LitRPG Apocalypse]-Chapter 232 - Lively

Austin

"Ah, home sweet home!" Austin voiced in relief when Frostheim came into view. He was getting sick of the carts and the... structured traveling. He liked going at whatever pace he wanted and being able to venture off when he found something interesting.

He still did that, but traveling with a group felt like a tether pulling him along.

Austin didn't like being tethered.

He hadn't before, but now it felt even worse. Doing his best not to think about the negatives along the journey, he instead thought of the positives. He would finally be out of this horrendous cold.

They knew leaving when they had would put them arriving just past the solstice but they had decided to go anyway.

A decision some of them were regretting.

Mitchell looked more like a fat bear standing on two legs than a man by this point with all the furs draped around him. Others took his lead and covered themselves in layers of the stuff.

"It can hardly be called home when you haven't been here for nearly a year." His mother chimed.

Austin knew the comment would come up at some point. His mother had been blessedly nonconfrontational about his time away, but now it was time.

"I know, mom. I told you I didn't expect to be gone for so long." Austin droned.

He really hadn't. He expected to get to where his Profession was dragging him, fight the thing around the treasure, and then be off with his prize.

A few months tops.

Not the... escapade it had turned into.

"It looks so much different." He couldn't help but say.

His mother looked toward the snow-covered city at his comment and left his previous answer alone, thankfully.

"I know. It's hard to imagine sometimes that all of this was done in under a year." She said.

Austin still remembered last Winter when they were still trying to find a place to call home. The scene of wilderness and snow it used to be overlaid over the thick walls of stone and his mind struggled to find similarities.

Even the Walls were over-engineered. He knew they would be, but it was absurd how thick they were.

"Who needs Walls that tall?" Austin muttered, "It's not like anyone's gonna march out to the ass end of nowhere to attack. Especially in a place that gets so cold!"

His mother only laughed quietly.

Chris spent so much time designing, building, and dreaming of his great fortress he sometimes forgot to realize that no one was going to come up here to attack. If they did, they were either insane or monumentally stupid.

Every time Austin would mention it or say it wasn't that serious, Chris would channel his father from the grave with a serious face, "Expect the best, prepare for the Worst."

Austin thought the entire thing was insane overkill, but hey, they did almost get attacked by Demons so maybe he was wrong.

But he still stipulated that no human army would be getting through what he was looking at now.

The Walls shouted their endurance and resistance to anyone who would listen and now that he had an Anchor of his own, he could truly appreciate what was done to them.

They felt like a piece of Chris inhabited each and every block that made up their construction. They embodied his Anchor and felt like nothing he could do would mar their chiseled faces.

That alone would've been enough to deter Austin from attacking with a force, but he knew that was only the start. While he wasn't there to see it, he had been there when Chris and Gabriel were brainstorming Ward designs and functions.

Austin just knew that now that Mana crystals were coming in, some of their more... insane ideas were given the green light. They had originally scrapped them because there was no way to power them but that wasn't an issue anymore.

"I don't remember there being so many people," Austin remarked.

When he left, the 'City', more like a small town, was barely a few hundred people. What met his eye now was over five times as many and that was only what he could see.

Most would be huddled away indoors this time of year cuddled up next to a roaring fire. If this many were out and about in this weather, how many people lived here now?

"Well, you kicked things off by recruiting everyone you passed." his mom said.

It was hardly everyone I passed. I had to kill some of them, the spineless thugs.

"Then Chris went a step farther. He sent out people far and wide to bring people in. People come in droves from all over. From Toronto and what used to be Quebec to far to the West of here." She said. "Personally, I could do without the French speakers but they're nice enough. Sometimes."

"How many people live here now?" Austin couldn't help but ask.

"Oh, easily a few thousand. When we left it rose just past the five thousand mark. Now that we've been gone for a few months, I don't know, ten maybe?" She said.

Austin was happy they had the foresight to build with the future in mind. The Outer Walls were huge compared to the few hundred people that could've possibly manned them before, but now that wasn't big of an issue.

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If they'd built smaller, they would be running out of space with all the new people coming in.

"How come we didn't see anyone coming this way if new people are arriving all the time?" He asked.

His mother just looked at him like he asked a stupid question. It took a second, but then he remembered the feet of snow on the ground and the piercing cold he was currently heating his body against with his Law.

"Yeah, I heard it. Stupid question."

The Walls loomed large from a distance but they were truly a marvel up close. It was to a degree Austin was sad to have missed their construction. Not enough to hold off leaving again, but enough that the thought popped into his head.

"God damnit, get back here you little shit!" A voice called from further in the woods to their left.

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Their group was using the path through the trees that had naturally been carved from so many people coming and going that he hadn't realized someone was nearby.

What followed the voice was a high-pitched playful bark and more grumbling.

It wasn't until Hal came streaking out of the trees chasing a small dog that he got a picture to put with the yelling.

"What is he doing?" He asked.

"...I'm not sure." His mother said curiously.

It was at that point Hal noticed the band of travelers and a smile bloomed, "Austin! It's been too long!"

The target of his chase was forgotten as he jogged over to the group and gave everyone a big hug. Said target didn't like being ignored and followed after, an ironic turn of roles.

"It has. It has. How have you been Hal?"

"Can't complain. Yourself."

"Same here." Austin gestured toward the four-legged creature currently chewing on a stick, "What do we have here?"

"Oh, him. He's just the most wonderful piece of shit to ever exist." His voice was high and inviting as he rubbed its head making the dog completely oblivious to the insult his words held.

"Sarah took in some wolves while you were away and they had a litter not too long ago. I thought it would be fun to take one in and maybe get a companion out of it." Hal said. "I didn't realize how much of a pain in the ass it would be."

Austin observed the man and wolf and it was nice to see them together. Hal handled what happened well, but it was always nice to see people getting through their issues.

Losing Kyle had hurt him more than he let on.

"It's no falcon or eagle, but it's close." He said.

Austin bent down to lavish the thing but it jumped away from his touch. Saddened, but understandable, he backed off. "What's its name?"

"Ryder."

The name sounded so... normal. Like a name that wouldn't be out of the ordinary for a German Shepard.

"The litter ended up being bigger than expected and a few other people stepped up to take one in. Sarah only kept one and that one's a bigger handful than this one is." Hal said.

"You two can catch up later! It's cold as balls out here and I have a nice warm fire waiting for me inside!" Mitchell yelled in faux anger before stomping off through the snow.

Everyone else followed behind and funneled through the gates.

Standing on either side were two guards who watched them pass through. And they weren't the kind of guards like they had manning the gates before. Those had been mostly volunteers who did it because the job needed doing.

These were different.

Their gear was similar enough that spoke of an organization behind them. The people fighting for Marcus were similar to how Austin remembered the guards here to be. A mishmash of all kinds of weapons and armor from people scraping together what they could.

Everyone used their own individual gear or what they could get their hands on which made each person equipped differently from the next.

The new gatekeepers stood with a purpose and were decked out in gear nearly as good as his own. Well-crafted furs over heavy-duty leather along with weapons of a make only few could achieve.

Austin didn't need to get a closer look to know there was a flame motif stamped somewhere on the weapon. He also didn't need to scan it to know that Runes would be lining them as well.

Austin motioned at the two stoic statues with his head. "They seem so official."

"They are."

"What do you mean?"

"Chris started an official fighting force. He did it in the form of Guard Companies, but they're essentially a standing army."

"When did he do that?"

"Right after the fight with the Demons. He realized the need for a funded force directly under the command of the City. We mostly do guard and police work right now, but we train together simulating large-scale battles for when the time comes."

Austin stopped and turned toward the man, "We?"

Hal sighed, "Yes, he convinced me to take charge of the scouts in a more... formal manner. He pays us well and gives us priority when it comes to gear. If it's made of metal, everything gets made by him or Vinny. Runes too, the whole nine yards."

"Oh shit! You're for real!" Austin laughed, "How many people do you command? Should I be calling you Captain or something?"

Hal's face told him he wasn't far off from the truth. "More than I thought."

"The Orders kind of exploded in popularity when the benefits were announced. Not many can afford good gear and jumped at the chance to get it for free. Others liked that we got designated slots in the Dungeons. With the extra people, a wait list began as there were too many people and the Dungeons couldn't keep up with demand." Hal said.

"Elliot and I stumbled at first as neither of us were prepared to organize and lead so many people but we have a handle on it now. Things fell into place after a while. Group unity was something I didn't know how to foster in the beginning. Turned out that giving ourselves a name and calling ourselves Orders instead of up-jumped guards did most of the work."

"Orders? Like Knight Orders from fantasy books? What did you name yourselves? No wait, let me guess!" Austin said, "The Unbending Steelrods of-"

"No, I'm not letting you guess because everything you say will be an insult." Hal quickly cut him off, "I named it the Order of the Wolf. While that encompasses everyone, it's broken up further into subgroups. There are two currently, but I plan for more. The Trackers are sectioned under the Grey Wolves and the Scouts are the Arctic Wolves."

Austin stifled a laugh and fought to keep what he said not sarcastic, "I like it. It's... creative." He looked at the little wolf following after them and laughed, "And original."

"Oh, fuck off. I never claimed to be creative."

"You said there were two? What about the other one?"

Hal laughed, "Elliot couldn't decide on a name and everyone under him proclaimed themselves the Order of the Lollipop. He got so frustrated he just followed my lead and named it the Order of the Bear."

"The Wolves and The Bears." Austin repeated slowly, "I sense a theme."

"Yeah, yeah. Chris said the same thing and I'll tell you what I told him. If he didn't like the name, he shouldn't have given us free rein to come up with one." Hal snipped.

"Enough about that, let me show you around."

What followed was a much longer tour than Austin imagined. The place was just so big and everything had changed from what he remembered. People were still living in lodges off in the distance before, but now there were streets lined with houses and shops. Warehouses and Inns stood along the road leading in from the gate and there was even a dedicated Crafting district.

It felt like an actual city instead of a crowded campsite. Even Marcus's City felt more like an Army encampment than a population center.

All of it was covered in a thick blanket of white but that added to the charm rather than took away from it. Even with his... distaste for the cold and snow, there was a rustic charm to the design.

Horse-pulled sleds brought people from place to place, sliding over packed snow with ease. Some had sleds designed for cargo instead of passengers.

Plots of land were still open in some areas, as construction was working through the city in sectors, but it felt... lively.

This was the first place that Austin hadn't felt the perpetual worry that usually permeated the air. People walked the streets without being armed to the teeth. Some even walked around unarmed!

The towering walls surrounding the City did more than just look imposing. They gave people a sense of security Austin hadn't seen anywhere else along his travels.

It was so, so different than everywhere else. Not that he had seen the whole world, but he'd been to a few different places and nowhere was like this.

"Last, but not least, is the City center. The Inner wall is still being built but everything else is fair game. There's even a building for you." Hal pointed at the massive stone blocks being lifted in the air by wooden cranes and multiple lines of thick rope.

Their tour weaved through the streets between the construction of the Inner Wall and the Outer, but now they passed over the line and reached the area around the Castle itself.

He knew only family had places in here.

"A place for me?" He asked.

"Yeah. Come on, I'll show you." Hal said.

The buildings in the city center were much more sparse as there were only a few standing. Most of the space was still left open and ready for future expansion. The few that stood were obvious in their use.

Vincent's Forge, a Leatherworking building for Sam and Ashley. Even an Alchemist lab for his brother Connor. A few others were hard to identify but he knew they were for someone else's craft or use.

What stood out was one building surrounded by glass and seemed to be made of it. There was so much of the stuff it looked like an enlarged fishbowl rather than a building.

It was formed in a various array of curves and angles that his mind couldn't even guess at the reason.

It wasn't until Hal stopped in front of it that he realized this was the building for him.

"..." he didn't want to be ungrateful but it was hard to be excited with what he was looking at, "What... is it?"

"Go inside. Chris spent a long time building it." Hal didn't answer but urged him toward the door.

With no reason to decline, Austin inched toward the door slowly and pulled it open. The inside was much like the outside, as much of it was made of curved glass but there were obvious signs of Formations as well.

He wasn't sure what they did, but the glowing lines looped in and around the various glassy curves before all converging at the center of the room where a small seat stood.

As the only thing in the room besides the walls of glass, he walked toward the center.

As he did, the clouds parted slightly and the light of the sun escaped confinement and Austin found out what the glass did.

All the many curves and angles that looked painstakingly built all worked together to reflect the light into one point. The Light mana it carried followed suit and converged at where the seat was placed.

Austin... didn't know what to say.

It was perfect.