"Well, to be precise, it should be all thanks to that Elf," Su'er nodded and said, "I knew you would be able to guess."
"After all, how could things like getting a windfall happen one after another?" Riku laughed mockingly. "And it just so happened that the second batch of supplies that other races didn't have time to take away when they evacuated was found just as the first batch was about to run out. There are absolutely not that many coincidences in this world."
"Oh, did that guy handle things so abruptly?" Su'er couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth, and the image of that subordinate, who seemed to be Think's confidant, stuttering when he appeared in front of him, flashed through his mind.
"She actually did a very good job, and even deliberately disguised the traces of a battle between different races. The others in the settlement didn't discover anything," Seeing Su'er's awkward expression, Riku continued with a smile, "It's just that for people like you and me, we don't need too many reasons."
"Yeah..." Su'er sighed deeply.
Two years had made Riku more mature, not just in appearance, but more in his calm and steady demeanor.
To be honest, Su'er felt a little bored not seeing this man's eyes widen in shock because of his words, but he was relieved after thinking about it—it wouldn't be Riku if his emotions were so uncontrolled.
"We don't have to constantly risk going on expeditions to find food, we just need to regularly collect the latest information about the great war. Although it's still inevitable to encounter danger, Su'er, do you know?" When talking about this, Riku showed a satisfied smile. "In these two years, not a single person has been sacrificed. I think this is probably the reason why everyone is as vibrant as you said, right?"
Not having to worry about survival, not having to live in a state of anxiety—this was the root of the settlement's thriving scene today.
"So, tell me your story from these past two years," Riku propped his face up with one hand and said with a smile, "It must be much more exciting than I imagined."
"Oh, really?" Su'er couldn't help but chuckle. "Then you'd better remember it well, and pass my story down in the future. Let me think... where should I start?"
Su'er lowered his head in thought for a moment before looking up.
"Let's start from the thirteenth day after I left the settlement. I arrived at a desert..."
Su'er didn't hide anything from Riku. He told him everything he had experienced after leaving the settlement in one go, including the fact that he was not a human from this world but a human from another world who had somehow arrived here.
He highlighted the current relationship with the Elves and the Flügel, and listed the information he knew about the various races, as well as the personalities and trigger points of the two gods... ladies who had come with him.
Su'er wasn't afraid of mind reading, but Riku might be, so, ahem, he had to be careful with his words and actions.
In terms of the amount of information obtained alone, the information Su'er spoke of in one day was already worth the amount of information the settlement had obtained in the past few decades—after all, given the lowest status of humanity, there was no way to obtain a lot of information in the past.
This also included the reasons for the start of the great war and the purpose of the gods' battles.
To be honest, sharing this almost hopeless news did make Su'er feel a lot more relaxed.
"...So you still won't stay in the settlement?" Riku asked without looking back, standing by the wall and looking at the map nailed to the wooden board.
"Yeah, I'll leave the settlement here to you. I'm going to find the answer that Aucan spoke of... Just in case, right?" Su'er leaned back in his chair, his eyes blank as he looked at the top of the cave. "Do you think this is okay?"
"...What? You and the Elf?"
"?"
"?"
"What are you talking about?" Su'er reluctantly raised his head and looked at Riku's back with a strange expression. "I'm talking about concealing the Elf's assistance, and the suggestion that Think made. Where did you get that idea?"
"Absolutely not!" Riku roared without hesitation, and then coughed awkwardly as Su'er's gaze became even more strange. "Ahem, I mean your handling is fine."
"Honestly, I'm still hesitating about secretly accepting the Elf's assistance. If you stay in the settlement for a little longer, you might also find that everyone's vigilance and will have relaxed too much compared to the past, even though I'm already trying to solve this problem," Riku sat back down at the table and gripped his hair, looking very pained. "After all, we don't lack food or other living materials now. When there is no need to go out, even the enthusiasm for exploring the movements of other races has weakened a lot."
"It's not easy to go back to the mud after finally making life better, is it?" Riku smiled wryly and sighed. "But Su'er, you haven't forgotten, have you? Our principle for finding a place to live—we must investigate the main locations and spheres of influence of other races' battles, and then migrate to the place with the lowest chance of war."
"There is now a voice in the settlement that says since we don't lack food and other materials, we might as well just stay here. As long as we don't go out, we won't be discovered... And there are quite a few people who agree with this idea."
"Isn't that just lying to ourselves?"
Su'er asked in surprise, looking at Riku's tired face.
In his previous life, this statement might have been fine, but in this world, it was the stupidest thing he had ever heard, just like an ostrich burying its head in the sand. Not to mention the weapons that were being developed with un-activated divine cores that he had just mentioned, even the energy that the superior races casually wiped out during their battles was wantonly drawing patterns on the surface of the earth.
Both their mobility and firepower were far beyond the norm, and the greater their power, the more they liked to use area-of-effect attacks. It was as if they were playing with the planet like it was modeling clay.
In this situation, hoping to live a quiet life like this... to put it bluntly, they were just waiting for death.
They were just enjoying the last good moments before death.
"Who says it isn't?" Riku barely managed to force a smile. "So you understand, right? I'm even hesitating about whether to accept such frequent and hidden material assistance, let alone seeking the protection of the Elves."