The Gate Traveler-Chapter 466 B7— 46: The Great Mana Lobbers Confiscation (Absolutely Not Robbery)

Once Mahya's mana regenerated enough, we flew out to look for people who could teach us the language. At the outskirts of the city, the crowding was less intense, but still very much there. Outside the city wall, a group of nine gnomes with enormous tubes on their backs talked among themselves. We landed a short distance away and listened. Once we had a good enough grasp of the language, we switched to practicing telepathically. By this point, two more gnomes had joined the group, and they all headed out together. We already understood they were leaving on a hunting mission, and wanted to see what they planned to hunt.

To save Mahya some mana, we followed them on foot, keeping about two hundred meters behind them while continuing to practice the language. Once I had a solid enough grasp, I realized the world name was actually a collection of words they had attached into one long word. In loose translation, the world name was "arockwithgreenstuffontop."

They headed toward the nearby forest, and when they reached about a hundred meters from it, the one in front took the tube off his back, set it on his shoulder, and fired it like a mortar. A large ball of green energy shot out of the tube, slammed into a tree, and sent splinters flying everywhere. The recoil flung the shooter backward, where he crashed into four of his friends and knocked them over like a bowling ball hitting pins. The whole group ended up tangled on the ground, shouting at each other and calling one another blundering oafs. We almost gave our presence away with the choking sounds we made. It was hard, but I managed not to laugh out loud.

While the fallen group was still trying to untangle themselves, creatures came running out of the forest. They were strange. Maybe mammals. Six legs, green, hairless skin, black mohawk hairdo, a round, flat face with big yellow teeth, four eyes, and two bushy black tails. The stuff of nightmares. The ones who stayed on their feet fired at them, but this time with much smaller energy balls, shouting "Waa-hiii!" in excitement. They mostly stayed upright. Here and there, one landed on his butt but hopped up immediately and kept shooting. I had to hand it to them. Every shot dropped one creature. This kept going for quite a while, with more and more green mohawks rushing out and the gnomes taking them down. The green balls began to shrink, and the last ball from the first group was tiny. They all stopped shooting and drank a green potion.

"Mana potions," Al sent.

This strange hunting expedition continued for more than half an hour of shooting until no more creatures came out of the forest. The gnomes waited a little longer and fired another big ball of energy. This time, the shooter didn't have anyone behind him, so he blasted backward over ten meters and kept rolling across the ground for another twenty, legs flipping over his head again and again. I had to bite my cheek not to laugh out loud.

Nothing came out of the forest, so they stored all the animals by touching them and headed back.

"If they have storage devices, they're not as hopeless as I thought," Mahya sent.

"Lis did say they use Magitech, steam, and fire technology, so they can't be that bad," I pointed out.

"Don't forget that worlds vary," she sent.

I had nothing to say to that.

Language in the bag, we flew around the city to figure out the best direction to approach it from. The Map didn't show a road leading to the city, but we assumed it was simply because no Traveler had passed through it yet. Wrong. It took us over an hour to circle the entire place, and we didn't see even a tail end of a road. From above, the city looked almost sealed off from the world, as if it had grown out of the ground on its own and decided it didn't want visitors.

The direction we originally came from had an open plain with mountains in the distance, a vast stretch of grassland broken only by scattered boulders. Almost opposite that, an expansive forest began about a kilometer from the city. It hugged the wall in a long curve, running parallel to more than half of it, forming a sort of half-moon of deep green. From above, I could see the tops of ancient trees, thick canopies that hid everything beneath them. Whatever lived there had more than enough room.

The north side, between the plain and the forest, held cultivated fields, all protected by another wall. Neat rows and tidy patches of crops stretched out like a quilt, cut through by a river that ran right through the middle, continued into the city, cut through it, and then turned into the forest. The south side was the opposite. A rocky area with low cliffs extended as far as the eye could see. Shapes moved between the cliffs, but they were partially hidden, and I couldn't tell what they were exactly.

"How the hell do they travel from here?" I asked telepathically.

"Probably on that giant abomination we saw," Mahya said.

"We should investigate beyond the field. The road might be hiding there," Al suggested.

Well, the road wasn't hiding there. No road, period.

We landed beyond the field, a few kilometers up the river, far enough to stay invisible from the city, and became visible. This area was wooded on one bank, with the trees becoming increasingly denser until the land blended into the forest. The other bank held the plains that extended to the mountains we came from.

"The RV idea won't work," Mahya said. "We will have to use the boat."

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

"The river is too narrow, and it doesn't look deep," I said, leaning forward to get a better look at the water. It looked less than two meters deep.

"I'm not sure I want to use the balloon," Mahya said.

"Why not?" Al asked.

Mahya waved at the sky. "You saw that thing with the wings and the banging, and you still need to ask?"

Al gave a slight shrug and folded his hands behind his back. "Then they will learn something new. There is nothing wrong with that."

"It also doesn't solve the lodging issue," she said.

That stumped Al and me. She was right.

Mahya kicked a stone. "Lis and Malith talked about the Genomey worlds as a lot of fun, but neither of them bothered to explain how to deal with the size issue. I'm going to write to Lis and give him a piece of my mind."

"I believe they did not consider it a problem," Al said. "The four of you are close in height and will not have much trouble entering their buildings. Yes, you will have to stoop, but once seated, it is not an issue. Sadly, it is a problem for me."

"We'll need to use the RV," I said. "It can drive on the plains."

"And how did we cross the mountains?" Mahya asked, raising an eyebrow.

"They're not that dense. And you can always say we carried it through some rough passes," I said.

Al looked between us and gave a slight shake of his head. "When was the last time anyone inquired about how we arrived at a place? It is not a question people tend to ask."

Mahya and I exchanged a glance and giggled. Well, she giggled. I chuckled. I do not giggle.

We flew back far enough to be invisible from the city walls and switched cores in the RV. Next, we threw tools and various metal scraps from Mahya's spaceship project onto it, and I told the core to hold everything in place. Walking around the RV, I had to admit Al had a good idea. It didn't clang or whirl like the other strange vehicles, but with all this stuff attached to it, leaving only the front window and wheels exposed, it actually blended in.

Disguise handled, we drove toward the city. Hopefully, it would be interesting.

The first problem was the city gates. Yes, they were high by Genomey standards, not by ours. The RV couldn't pass through them. We left it outside the city walls, I told the core to activate the non-lethal protection, and we banged on the gates.

The gnome who opened them looked first at me, then at Mahya, and finally at Al. He didn't even notice Rue. His eyes stayed locked on Al, growing even larger. He hiccuped, took two steps back, and flopped down. I stepped forward to help him to his feet, but he slid backward away from me, still staring at Al and hiccupping.

"You alright?" I asked him.

He looked at me, hiccuped, tried to say something, hiccuped again, sprang to his feet, and slammed the gate in our faces.

"What the fuck?" Mahya asked.

I spread my hands sideways, lost for words.

Two heads appeared over the wall. One of them called down, "What do you want?"

"Go inside city," I called up.

"Why?" the other one shouted.

We exchanged glances, bewildered.

Mahya looked up at them. "It is city. We want go inside visit."

Another head appeared over the wall. This time, it was the guy who had slammed the gate. He stopped hiccuping but looked mighty displeased, judging by the number of forehead furrows. "No Stretchlings!" he shouted and pointed at Rue. "And no monsters."

"He's not a monster," I said. "He's my familiar."

Another head appeared over the wall and dumped a bucket of water on us. We all jumped back. Rue growled.

Mahya marched to the gate and gave it a solid kick. The gate flew open. One guy on the wall lifted a mortar tube onto his shoulder.

No you don't, I thought, flew up to him and yanked it out of his hands. He immediately started hiccupping too.

I almost repeated Mahya's curse, but stopped myself. "What is your problem. We want go into city."

The little guy hopped in place and pointed an accusing finger at me. "You. Hiccup. Attacked. Hiccup. Us. Hiccup. Hiccup."

"No. You attacked us. I took away the weapon," I said. At least the language was coming easier.

Another two pointed their mortars at me.

"No Stretchlings in the city," one of them shouted, voice going high and shrill.

I split my mind and yanked the mortars out of their hands with Telekinesis. "Stop pointing weapons at us. We do not want to harm you."

Now all of them hiccuped. I stored the weapons and rubbed my face, utterly lost. Mahya stood on the wall, laughing her ass off. I growled at her. She laughed harder.

"I suggest we explore alternative destinations," Al said telepathically.

Mahya and I exchanged a glance and nodded. I took out the mortar tubes to give them back, but Mahya jumped beside me and grabbed my hand. "No way. Those are mine."

"I'm not gonna rob them," I said, holding the tubes away from her.

She planted her hands on her hips. "It's not robbery. They pointed them at us, so they're trophies of war." 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

I stared at her. "Seriously?"

She nodded enthusiastically, eyes bright.

I sighed and handed them over. She hugged the tubes to her chest like presents.

When I flew down and Mahya jumped after me, the guys on the wall finally realized what was happening.

"Give back the Mana Lobbers," one shouted, leaning so far forward he almost toppled over.

"They're mine now," Mahya shouted back, waving one of them at him like a victory flag.

"And that is why they hate Stretchlings," I said in a dry tone.

Mahya waved my words away with a flick of her hand. "It's their own fault. Next time, they shouldn't point weapons at people and throw water at them."

"What do you wish to do now?" Al asked.

"Let's cross the mountains. There's another city there," Mahya said, pointing in that direction.

I opened the Map and squinted at it. "Actually, I think we should head over the forest. There are more cities that way, and more Gates." I looked between them, then pointed toward the mountains. "We don't intend to cross that one again, right?"

Both of them shook their heads immediately.

Mahya took out the balloon, and she and Al spread it on the ground, making a whole performance out of it. I had no idea if they were talking telepathically, but the exaggerated movements and dramatic flourishes looked suspiciously coordinated.

When it was ready, I didn't ask the wind to fill it up this time. Instead, I circled my mana through my wind channels and pointed my hand at the balloon opening. It worked better than I thought. The balloon filled three times faster than usual. I didn't create the air with mana; the surrounding air was the one rushing in.

When I finished, Mahya clapped my shoulder. "Impressive."

"We have an audience," Al said.

Over the wall, a line of more than fifty gnomes stood watching us fill the balloon. To their credit, none of them was holding a weapon.

"Want to try again?" I asked.

Mahya and Al exchanged a glance.

"No," Rue said. "Stupid Genomey not let us into city. We go different city with nice Genomey."

"Yeah," Mahya said with a nod. "I'm with Rue."

I scratched his ear. "Okay, buddy. No stupid Genomey it is."