Sofia was back at the entrance of the Forgotten Jungle, with Anna and a handful of contractors. Behind them, was what seemed to be a floating sphere, about twice the height of Sofia, covered in leaves. It was twice as big as the one they used the first time they went here.
“So, that’s the bait, right?” one of the hired men asked, pointing a thumb to the huge ball.
“Correct.” Sofia mentioned with a smile. “It’s a bubble, covered in these leaves; you see. Inside, there’s fish. When an animal comes too close, we pop it, the fish pours out onto the ground, and we try to run away. At that moment, it has to make a choice: either go for the easy fish on the ground, or to go after us.”
“And we pray it goes after the fish, right?” the man asked.
“We have enough fish. Last time it worked.” Sofia replied. She didn’t mention though that it nearly failed - at first, the monster that appeared ignored the fish, but it went back to it to fight a
second beast that appeared to try to take the fish for himself.
“And that’s how you got those two buckets, right?” the guy continued. Sofia nodded - he was referring to the two buckets of sap that they managed to get from their little experiment.
“Alright then. I get the idea.” he concluded, and adjusted his belt, which was full of tools. “I guess it’s just up to us to get out there and do the thing, then.”
“Yep!” Sofia chuckled.
“You’re coming with us, right?”
She chuckled nervous and looked to a side. She didn’t want to go.
“
Right?” the man insisted. “You’ve got to teach us how it’s done; we can’t just go in there blindly. Else, what’s the point you girls having done it before?”
The noble eventually dropped her shoulders, defeated. “Alright. I’ll
go.”
Luckily, this time, they were with more people, so the expedition felt like it could be easier now. She was a bit less nervous. There was more people to stand watch, and more options for a would-be attacker to chase after - which meant that it was less like that it would try to go after her specifically.
Anna then patted the noble’s back.
“Cheer up! It’s not like we haven’t done this before, right?” the little Marine said.
Sofia leaned her head to a side and shrugged as she made an uneasy smile. “I guess. Let’s just go in there and do it.”
---*---
They soon settled next to one of the trees that were near to the edge of the area, so that they could escape quickly if things got too difficult. Sofia was already familiar with that sort of deal - it was the same the first time she was here.
The noble was standing in the middle of the operation, looking over the men that were hacking away at the tree bark with their tools. She could see that, while they seemed to be skilled in what they were doing, they kept on looking around. They were nervous. Of course they were - they were in the Forgotten Jungle, trying to snag some sap.
She held her chin. She wanted to figure out a better way. If she could have just
one tree for herself, that would solve everything. Because she only needs one tree in order to harvest sap. The issue was isolating that one tree, somehow.
Her eyes then continued to observe the men. A few of them already had a sealed bucket next to them, and one was sealing the one that they had just now. That was great progress, and quite a lot quicker than Anna had achieved the first time they tried this. Then again, these people likely had a lot more experience at doing this than her.
Then, as she idly watched them, she noticed another group of people, further ahead. With a large bush of a sort behind them, floating, being tugged around by a rope like a balloon.
Sofia blinked, as she stared at them with side eyes. They had copied her idea.
Someone was going to try the same thing she was going for. But how did they know? Who let the secret out? Was it one of the workers she had gotten? Anna? No. They were all people she could trust - besides, they had a non-disclosure agreement about this. Then who? A spy? Some sort of lucky bypasser that managed to catch eye of their feat the first time?
Quickly, she ducked behind one of the massive tree roots and continued to peer at them.
They were a group of three people. One of them was a large man, tugging on to the balloon. Then, a woman in front of him, with the sap-collecting equipment strapped her to hip. And in front of her: Mint. The doctor and lead of the Marine Station that she visited so often. Anna’s superior.
He was the man that had been treating her when she fainted during the first trip. Did he somehow figure it out there? Or he made her sleeptalk somehow? How did it happen?
She wanted to know, but knowing how Mint was, she understood that it wasn’t going to be easy to get an answer about this. He was a sneaky bastard, and with his position within the Marines, he could leverage that talent even harder, by getting away with things he shouldn’t.
And, he didn’t seem to be hiding right now - he was right out there in the open, walking with the rest of his troupe. He probably didn’t care that she would find out what he’s doing? Or he was just that reckless? Unlikely. Mint was a sly fox - this had to be deliberate.
But for what? Just because he didn’t care or because he was trying to send out some sort of message to her?
“Yo.” Anna butted in, poking her in the hip. “What are you thinking about?”
“...Nothing.” she replied. “Just, Mint is over there. Look.”
“Mint? Like, my boss: Mint?” the Marine asked.
“Yeah. Over there, see? With a balloon thing just like ours. I guess they got the same idea. Or, rather, they copied the idea from us.”
“Likely. He must’ve figured it out somehow when we were at the medical bay with him.”
“What happened anyways, when I blacked out?” Sofia then asked, turning to her.
“Oh. Well, I carried you out of the area. Then, I called for help and a pal came. Then we carried you over, back to the station. And Mint checked up on me and told me to sleep, and I did.”
“Did you tell him what we were doing?”
“Nope.”
Sofia then held her chin and looked at the ground. Then he must’ve gotten it from either of them while unconscious, or via some sort of spy. Unfortunately these clues from Anna weren’t particularly revealing.
“So, what do we do?” Anna asked. “We’ve got those guys over there.”
“I guess it's fine.” Sofia replied. “It’s not like they are going after our same area, right?”
“Exactly. See, it all works out. Let’s just continue doing our own thing then.” the Marine replied.
“Yeah. But it bugs me a lot that he would copy us. And it also bugs me to now know
how he knows.”
“We can figure that out later, when we’re not in enemy territory.” Anna mentioned. “You’ve got to keep your senses alert, your eyes peeled, alright?”
The noble nodded. “Got it. Don’t worry.”
Sofia’s group of workers continued to hack away at the bark and extracting sap, ignoring Mint’s team for now. Once they all got three buckets of sap each, they started to make their way back to exit.
“Well, that was pretty uneventful, now wasn’t it?” Anna then commented with glee.
Sofia nodded. “I guess we were just lucky. I’m surprised that we didn’t get jumped on. A bit of a waste to have gotten the fish then, heh.”
And as she looked back to look at the fish-balloon, she noticed a group of dinosaurs chasing after Mint and the large man from before, on the other side, running parallel of them. The woman was missing, although the beast had a trail of blood from its mouth - and it was bright red. Fresh.
Mint hasn’t had the same luck as they have had - more precisely, their good luck here was likely due Mint’s bad luck, having drawn the fauna towards themselves and away from Sofia’s group.
“Anna.” Sofia stated, quick but solemn. “Look over there, we have to act quick. Mint is under attack.”
“FUCK!” Anna yelled out. “The boss? H-how… We have to go after him!”
Sofia looked to a side. “And put ourselves in danger? We have our own men to take care of too, our own responsibilities.” she mentioned
“Really now, Sofia?
Really?” the small one hissed, realizing how Sofia wanted to ditch them. “C’mon.”
Sofia really didn’t want to help the man. She detested him, plus she wasn’t obligated to put herself into massive danger to help him either.
The noble then made a quick look around. Those men were already running away, they must’ve seen the same as she has. She and Anna would be alone in this - she hasn’t hired them for fighting these things, after all.
Sofia then looked back down, back to the little Marine, who was glaring at her.
“Made up your mind already? Huh? Got the luxury of time?” the small one asked.
“What can we even do?” Sofia asked.
“
Our balloon.” Anna replied, as she started to run back towards it. “We still have it.”
Sofia started to chase after her, and pulled out the knife, to then lunge into the balloon that Anna was now holding down, and she pierced it, causing it to burst and making the fish inside slosh loudly down to the ground, with its smell immediately permeating the air.
The dinosaurs turned towards them. It was working. As they’d hoped.
Immediately, they both started to run away, and the dinosaurs were now going towards them - or rather, the bounty of fish that was now on the ground.
---*---
“You’ve saved us.” Mint mentioned, looking up to the tall woman. They were all group up outside of the gate to the Forgotten Jungle.
Sofia held a smile. “But of course! We had to help you, Mint! I just had to. And I’m so happy that you’re alright.”
Anna’s right eyelids twitched. She knew that Sofia was lying, and how capable she was now of painting herself as a hero, and she hated it. But she knew that she could do nothing about it - it was going to be the noble’s words against hers, and she would win.
“I’m leaving.” the little Marine said, feeling disgusted with this scene.
“A-anna? So soon?” Sofia asked.
“Yeah. See you later.”
“Ah, well…” the noble chimed in. “Anyways, Mint. No need to thank me. Please, it’s alright. Just you being in good health is enough of a reward.”
“Oh, you.” Mint replied.
Sofia wanted to figure out how he knew about their technique, but she could seem too venomous if she tried it, she thought. Like, what would she say? “How did you know what we were doing?” “Why did you copy us?”. She could do that, but she would have to sell off the good vibes that was going on right now, vibes which she could use to her advantage towards investing somewhere else to get something out of Mint. It wasn’t crucial just yet to figure out how he knew about their technique. There was better things she could get out of this.
Such as good reputation, to reinforce her political power here in Sabaody. Mint had always been an obstacle for that, given how he was a figure of authority, a sort of power which she didn’t have. However, if it was known that she had saved his life, that should give her some advantage over him, because there would always be that lingering sense that he “owes” her.
“Let’s go back to the Marine Station.” she then mentioned with a chipper tone. “Just in case, we should get you checked up. It’s been quite the ride.”
“A-ah, of course, Lady Sofia.” Mint replied with a nervous chuckle, and rubbed his hands together. “Let’s go.”
She could sense how he didn’t want to go - because then the news of what had happened would spread. But, it was too late now for him, and Sofia knew it. Something like this wouldn’t pass inadverted, and she would be able to nudge him ever so slightly more off the influence map of Sabaody.
“Of course, Mint.” she replied with a warm smile.
[EXIT]
NEWS
