The Insider System

Chapter 269: Helain

Looking forward, Lake stopped and asked. "Do you want to take a break?" They had been running for about an hour but at their speed they hadn't even passed the gate yet. He had just accidentally looked down and saw the face of the lady who he was carrying and had seen she looked unhappy.

"For a few minutes but we don't have time to waste on a real break."

"You want some food?" Lake wished he hadn't said this because all he had was food from the Alchemist guild and he didn't want to share. It had been time for him to take a few bites of bread and it had come out before he had even thought about it though so he didn't plan to say no if she agreed. "What do you have?"

Lake had already pulled the food out so he just opened it and said. "Meat and bread." Lake made it sound really basic so she would turn him down because the second he had to give her any almost half of what he had would be gone. "Alright I'll take a strip of the meat."

Taking one of the slices from the pile he had, Lake thanked her in his mind for only wanting a single piece but made sure to put it away before he handed it to her. Keeping his eye on her face as she took her first bite since this was really the only good part about giving her any of his food, Lake saw the look on her face instantly change to fear after her first bite and dived to catch the meat as it fell out of her hand.

"You poisoned me!" Lake had never expected this reaction but he understood it and said. "No, this is food from the Alchemist guild." Holding the meat back out towards her it took her a while but eventually she reached out and took it from him. "Well I might as well eat the rest. I'm already dead if it is poison."

Lake was pretty sure she was going to have another funny reaction with her second bite so he kept his eyes on her to see what it would be. Seeing her just widen her eyes slightly, Lake finished the last bite of his bread and asked. "What's your name?" Lake had always been bad at asking this question to people so he figured he might as well do it while he was thinking of it."Helain."

Lake didn't think it was necessary since he had told everyone his name before they let him in but he went ahead and reintroduced himself. "I'm Lake. I'm from the Fighters guild." He wanted to make sure he said the fighters guild's name at least as often as he said the Alchemist guilds to make sure he didn't make Lucas mad so he went ahead and added the last part.

"Well I'm ready to go." Lake could tell picking her up was slightly more awkward than it had been last time and he was sure it was because he had made them introduce themselves but he just ignored it because he didn't really care since they would never see each other after he delivered her to the people on their way save the Metal Domain.

It might take a while for him to actually find them though so they might be together for around a day. Passing through the gate Lake could tell Helain tried to say something about it but was unable to hear her small voice over the sound of the wind so he slowed down and let her talk. "What happened to the gate?"

Lake guessed he hadn't mentioned this when he had told the Temple Head about him going to the Holy Domain for help so he said. "The Demon Worshipers had taken it over so I had to destroy it so that the people from the Holy Domain could get here without having to go around."

"Oh in that case I guess it was unavoidable." Hearing what Helain said, Lake picked the speed back up and started to look for the people that should be around a third of the way to the gate from the Holy Domain's capital. Looking down at Helain Lake kept his eye on her face as he sped up to make sure he didn't go over her limit.

Once she started to look scared Lake stopped picking up speed. Guessing it would probably take three hours to get where he thought the group they were looking for would be and who knew how long to find them if they weren't there Lake knew he couldn't go to fast for her for hours.

After about an hour they were passing through a forest so he took the chance to take another break. It was really for Helain though, he wasn't tired. Lake didn't want to find the people and find that Helain was almost dead because he had been too rough with her. Setting her down, Lake asked. "Was I going too fast for you?"

"It was unpleasant but I understand the need for speed." Lake was happy she didn't intend to tell him to slow down because he was getting tired of running back and forth between the two domains and he wanted to get this done as quickly as possible. "Alright let's get going then."

"A few more minutes please." Lake found it funny that she knew that they were in a hurry but still needed a few minutes to get her breath. "So I don't know exactly where we're going so once we get around where they should be I'll slow down and let you walk on your own feet while we look around for them."

"Alright I'm ready." Picking her back up, Lake started to run at the speed he had earlier. Lake wondered if the people from the temple that would be part of the group they were looking for would be willing to tell him what had happened the other day. He had wanted to know what was worth a demigod showing up when the whole war up until now hadn't warranted their attention.

...

"Alright head back." Hearing Rigbis give an order for the people outside to come back Donny Looked at Keel who gave him a small nod. Seeing the nod Donny got ready to head back to the rest of their team since it was about to be their turn to go out. All they were waiting for was Rigbis to tell them to go.

Once the team was about to walk through the gate Rigbis turned to them and said. "We're going to open the gate once so you need to leave at the same time as the other team is coming in. If anyone is watching waiting for the perfect time to attack it should be when both groups are visible so be ready to receive orders and defend yourselves."

Keel nodded before turning to Donny and saying. "Let's get down there." Donny did what he was told and matched the speed Keel was moving towards the rest of their team. On the way he asked. "What do you want me to do?" When Keel was around, Donny really wouldn't have any authority so he wanted to know if he would just be acting like a normal team member while raiding buildings.

"I'll have you lead a team when we're told to split up." Donny could have guessed this but he was more asking what he was supposed to do while they were together but he wasn't going to ask the same question again. He would just wait till Keel started to give orders to decide if he should just do what the other people were or stand next to Keel.

Seeing their team standing in front of a gate, Donny followed Keel to the front and waited for the gate to open. "Here, it's a backup communicator in case something happens to me where you can't get this one." Taking the communicator from Keel Donny almost dropped it because a voice came from it. "Get ready."

Hearing Rigbis' voice Donny looked at Keel who was looking at the one in his hand confused. "Oops I gave you the wrong one." Switching the communicators, Donny watched as Keel answered Rigbis and put his communicator in a place he wouldn't lose it during a fight. "The gate is opening."

Seeing the gate start to open Donny looked back to see how the faces of their teammates looked. He was thankful to find that everyone looked ready and that there weren't any scared faces. He guessed that was the benefit of only taking people who volunteered out to fight. If they had forced people to go outside they would constantly be dealing with people who didn't want to be out there.

With his team in good shape Donny looked at the faces of the people returning who actually looked even better than their guys. He guessed the return after a successful mission was really making them happy. He got it; that was probably how he would feel if they returned with minimal casualties as well.