The mission was to start the next morning, and they would be delivered by train to the location. There was no road near where they were going, but the train tracks ran only twenty kilometres from the location of the suspected magical resources.
That would be close enough for them to hike in, and it would be up to Karl and Dana to make sure that the team didn’t get lost.
With Hawk on duty, that should be a simple matter, as he could see where they were going from above, so Karl didn’t have too many concerns about the situation.
There were also no reports of major beasts in the area, only some of the ever present wild boars and a few small monsters that liked to live in the forest. That could become an issue for most teams, but it would be a great test for them, Karl thought.
The small monsters were all Common Grade, and he could deal with them in a matter of seconds, but they would be a good opponent for the students who were still struggling with their early growth.
Also, having Dana along with her pair of Golems would be enough security against the larger creatures that very few things would dare to attack them. The golems didn’t take much upkeep, and by now she should be able to get them to follow complex orders without much distraction from her other casting, which would make them excellent guards.
They all called it an early day, as the supply train arrived at three in the morning, so that supplies would be sorted and ready for pickup by the time that everyone started to wake up. But that also meant that if you wanted to catch the train out, you had to be at the tracks by half past three in the morning, or four at the very latest if they were slow unloading.
The train didn’t wait for groups to come to them unless it was an urgent mission, so being on time was a major part of your responsibility.
That was how Karl found himself waking Dana up at two in the morning, much to the protests of both herself and Rae, who was sleeping above her in the rafters of the Gazebo.
“It’s time to go. I’m going to water the plants quickly, and then we need to grab breakfast and get on the train.” Karl reminded her.
Rae disappeared back into the web in her space, while Dana got up and ready. They both met their team at the cafeteria, with the lone night shift worker on staff for occasions such as this. But there weren’t enough of them, they were still missing two people, and it was getting close to three in the morning.
“Does anyone know what rooms the other two are in? We should go wake them up.” Karl insisted.
“I do. They’re just a few doors down from me.” One of the others agreed with a vicious smile that said she would enjoy waking them up much more than most.
Three students came back down ten minutes later, and the girl who went to fetch them settled back down with her breakfast, while the two boys looked rather lost and half asleep.
“Cook, can we get some food for them, and some lunches to go? We’ve got ration packs in the gear that the school provided, but I think a nice fresh sandwich would be better.” Karl asked as he finished eating and got the last two stragglers settled.
“I will get them something to go. The train is already here, so you should be going if you want to make it before they’re unloaded.” She reminded him with a smile, then handed over a tray full of brown bags, two of which were much larger.
Dana worked to usher everyone out as they finished their meal, for the kilometre walk from the school grounds to the train stop on the ring around the Academy.
“Did anyone bring a light? I can’t see a thing.” One of the warriors complained as they left the academy grounds and began to walk down the road.
Everyone looked to Karl, who was leading the group, and he shrugged. “Sorry, I forgot for a moment that I’m the only one who can see in the dark. I’ve got a flashlight in my pack, and there should be one in everyone else’s as well.”
The packs were issued to them by the supply room, dropped off in their dorm after they were approved for the mission. So, they should have everything that the Academy thought the student needed for the trip, as they weren’t expected to plan out their whole gear set during their first year.
One by one, the students brought out their flashlights and spun the cranks to charge the batteries. The Academy knew that they would forget to bring spare batteries, so even the camping lantern that was in Karl’s pack as team leader was powered by a hand crank charger.
The lantern also had enough battery storage to charge the emergency phone, which served as their lifeline to civilization.
“Ten of you, then?” The train’s usher asked with a gesture toward the passenger car.
“Yes, sir. I’ve got the mission order right here.” Karl replied.
The man looked it over, then picked up a phone mounted to the wall and confirmed the dropoff location with the engineer.
“Alright, climb aboard and stow your bags in the overhead compartments. We have a few more stops before yours, so you won’t be there until lunchtime.”
Karl settled into a seat at the front of the train car, where Dana promptly fell asleep on his arm, and the rest of the team did their best to get a few more hours of rest while they travelled the morning away.
They napped, meditated and played games until the conductor gave them the warning that they had one more hour before dropoff. That was when Karl decided it was time to get them all ready to move.
“Alright everyone, have your lunch early, use the washroom, double-check your gear and make sure that you have your weapons ready. Not in your bag, but on your hip and available for use at a moment’s notice. While it isn’t likely that there will be monsters next to the stop, we will get off in the wilderness, and there won’t be anyone there to clear the area.” He warned them.
“Got it.” The team agreed, while the Conductor nodded in satisfaction to see that the team leader of this first year mission was taking things seriously.
Not all of them did, especially an easy mission like this one was supposed to be, but it always made his life easier if there were no injured students when the train stopped to pick them up again.
