Manga World: Bringing Steam Technology to the World of Sanctuary

A long distance away from the cave where Christel and the group of archer girls just finished their fight, there is a camp surrounded by a wall of tree trunks. There are thicker trunks positioned at strategic points and in a vertical position. Each vertical trunk has a sharp point at the top and serves to hold the trunks in a horizontal position and thus create a wall that protects the camp from invasions of evil beings and beasts. The entire log wall is on a thick stone base that surrounds the entire camp.

The camp is on a hill where a river flows. The river acts as a natural defense beyond the log wall and the survivors have modified its course by digging ditches around the camp. They also built a bridge of stones and wood to cross the river and enter through the only entrance to the camp.

The Rogue Camp is also large, about the size of a major football stadium, and is divided into 4 sectors, the area where the main forces and the Rogues' archer leader and their tents are to the left of the camp entrance and to the right of the camp entrance is the tent of the Rogues' spiritual leader, further inside the camp on the right side is the weapons and food storage area with a barn and stables, where there are chicken coops and other farm animals.

Tents and marquees are made of animal skins and some kind of linen fabric or some plant material.

Further back is a large tent that functions as a command center, and beyond that is the blacksmith's workshop, with wooden sheds covering the various tools such as the anvil and smelting furnaces and other things necessary for blacksmithing work.

On the left side of the smithy is a series of tents, carriages and carts with merchandise, this seems to be the area where travelers and merchants rest when passing through the rogue camp on their travels.

In front of this area is a tent not as large as the one that serves as the command center where the leader of the rogues lives, followed by smaller tents and camping tents.

There are campfires and torches throughout the camp with a larger campfire of stone and logs in the middle of Camp Rogue, all of these with the aim of bringing light and warmth in this cold darkness that has enveloped the entire camp since its founding by survivors more than 20 years ago.

But all that changed today, when they felt the darkness surrounding them suddenly fade away a little and the Sun, which they hadn't seen in years, managed to pass through the dark clouds that covered the entire sky, letting its rays of light fall on Camp Rogue.

A mature woman, who looks in her 40s, was hanging around a campfire in front of her tent, she was worried that a group of six girls ran away before dawn and now it is almost dusk, where the Sun behind those dark clouds gets lower and lower and the darkness becomes as deep as an abyss at the bottom of the ocean.

The group of leaders of the Rogue Camp had gathered yesterday in the largest tent to carry out a plan, since the spiritual leader, a priestess of the order of the Brotherhood of the Blind Eye, had had a divination that the arrival of the heroes who would defeat Diablo and his minions of evil would arrive, but not before a wave of attacks from undead creatures and fallen ones coming from the -Blood Moor- and a cave in the middle of this moor that had been cursed and from where infernal creatures came out as if at the bottom was the direct entrance to hell.

But who would have thought that the young talent and candidate for the next leader of the Rogues would eavesdrop and only the part about the attack, wave and cursed cave and would take a group of little sisters. This was discovered after noon, when everyone was doing their work of strengthening the defenses and setting traps, when the leader of the rogues noticed that she had not seen about six girls working and looked for them. She then found a simple note saying "We went to clean the cave of evil and we will return before the sun goes down."

With her hand clenching the wood that functioned as paper she tore it apart, and with her fists clenched and an angry look she headed towards the priestess' tent and denounced the rebels. With divination magic and the belongings of these six girls, the priestess was able to bind their lives to the objects and prove that the six girls were fine. So the leader of the Rogues opted to create a rescue party of the elites of the Rogue Camp and bring these girls back so she could kill them herself. But when they were about to leave with horses and carts, a group of Quill Rats attacked the entrance of the camp.

The Spiny Rats are very large, the largest already the size of a dog, with some thick hair on their backs like porcupines that they use to attack from a distance, they are not natural rats, they were influenced by the energies of hell making them one of the worst pests in the world of Sanctuary.

This was a delay, which caused everyone in the camp to worry, and by the time they finished with this wave of evil rodent attacks, they returned to the camp to heal the wounded warriors, which, although there were no casualties or serious injuries, definitely reduced the defense level of the camp.

The lead Priestess and a group of priestesses and nuns helped with the healing, while a group of leaders ran to repair and reinforce the log wall. And with the pressure high, a group of Rogues had to go back to prepare the supplies to leave at least to recover the bodies of their little sisters and not have them contaminated by the energies of hell and corrupt their souls.

But the leading Priestess gave the surprise that they were still alive, or at least that was what the objects linked by divination to the girls' vitality showed.

And so, with the lead Priestess circling the campfire muttering spells and the Rogues about to leave, light came to the Rogue Camp. Astonishing everyone within the camp and especially the Priestess, who could feel the evil moving away.

....

"...puff~ It's finally over" Christel, after the explosion ended, got up with a sigh and a little exhausted, she went to check on the other girls, that, although it didn't seem like anything dangerous had happened to any of them, it was better to be safe, any stone could knock you out and even kill you if it hits your head badly.

All the girls were fine, although dirtier and covered in dirt all over their bodies, but visibly happy and proud, the girls hugged each other and laughed with tears in their eyes 'The good thing is that it seems that no one suffers from tinnitus from the explosion'. The leading warrior girl was the happiest, although she did not show it, but she was certainly more relaxed and thought about things that only she knew.

Christel, seeing that everyone was fine and happy, went to the back of the cave, towards the altar, and when she arrived, everything was burnt or still burning, and the crystal sphere was nowhere to be seen. In the place where the sphere was, there was a rock with a kind of letter engraved on it in relief. Christel quickly recognized the object. 'A Rune...'

Christel heard footsteps behind her as she looked at the rune, it was the leader girl with her spear in her hand. Christel was not bothered by the distrust towards him, and with a movement of her finger she pointed at the things on the floor and then pointed at the Rune handing it to him.

The leader girl thought for a moment, carefully took the Rune, and not feeling anything wrong with it, she brought it close to her eyes and looked at it. She had been educated by the leaders of the Rogue Camp, so, although she had never seen it in person, she recognized what it was. She said a few words to Christel that surely meant "I will take care of this..." and put the Rune in a leather bag.

Christel checked further, but it seemed that there was no more loot, and in the crater that Corpsefire left, there were surely no yellow objects, gold coins and other things on the ground. "Anything he had on his body must have been blown to pieces, Tssk."

And so, with the organization of an ant colony, Christel and the girls moved the little piles of loot and food little by little towards the entrance of the cave. Christel, who did not enter through the entrance of the cave, excuse the redundancy, but rather appeared here, got excited when she saw the entrance, and with the jumps of an 11-year-old girl who has just left school and is running home, she left the mouth of the cave, but when she left she froze.

"Ara~ Ara~ Ara~ Ara~ They caught me~..." Christel raised her hands in surrender when she saw herself surrounded 'I think I've done Akeno...', there was a group of more than 20 female archers on foot and on horseback, some carts with some bulls pulling them on the side and in the background some archers were shooting at some species of 'Rats?'.

This group of Female Warriors, when they were preparing to enter the cave, heard something coming out of the cave, and quickly took their bows and arrows and aimed, to take aim with a soft and melodious voice. Everyone stood still for a couple of seconds, and then, a large woman, over 2 meters tall walked over to the little girl who just jumped out of the cave without taking her eyes off her.

Christel felt imposing, it was the first time she saw a woman over 2 meters tall. She wears leather armor and metal rings, with boots that cover up to her knees, gloves and a cape that hangs from her left shoulder, she also wears a brown leather belt with coins and a kind of headband that protects her forehead. She has orange-brown hair and sky-blue eyes. Her skin seems to be the lightest of the warriors, although now it is somewhat stained with blood and dirt.

Her facial expression reflects her determination and combat experience, and I would say she is on par with WonderWoman in her attitude and leadership aura, if not surpassing her.

When this woman came too close she suddenly shifted her gaze from the girl and instantly took something out of her left hand with her right hand and launched an attack. Christel was startled for a moment, but she didn't have time to react when a thud sounded from above behind her and the sound of a sugar sack falling was heard.

Christel, hugging the black staff of unidentified material, turned to her left and saw the leading warrior girl lying on the floor with one hand on her cheek, there were tears in the leading girl's eyes and also shame in her gaze, as if she knew she did something wrong and expected nothing less when she was caught.

Then more girls rushed out because of the noises outside and when they saw their older sisters, they jumped and panicked and came closer. Christel found it strange to see them all like that, fighting scary monsters down below and fighting to the death without fear, but here, it was like six little lambs about to be slaughtered.

"□△▷◇▷▻○▷◇◁▱□△◯▻▯▷◇▷▭▷◇□△ ◎◦ ◦ ◦ !!!..." 'Wow, this older sister sounds really angry...' Christel backed up to the part closest to the cave entrance and heard a series of screams and scoldings.

"...○◺△◁◯◿□◹○◸▻▯◁△▷◿◁▱□◁□▱◯◿◦ ◦ ◦!!!"

"◇△▷◁◯◦ ◦ ◦"

"◇△▷◁◯◦ ◦ ◦"

"◇△▷◁◯◦ ◦ ◦"

"◇△▷◁◯◦ ◦ ◦"

"◇△▷◁◯◦ ◦ ◦"

"◁□▱◯...◇△▷◁◯◦ ◦ ◦"

'I don't understand anything, but it seems like when my mother scolded me sometimes when I was very young...' Christel said to herself, forgetting that she is still very young. And the scolding continued for a while, and a group of female warriors entered the cave, not before giving a series of strange looks with mixed feelings towards Christel. And after a few minutes that Christel calculated were longer than those of the final fight, the Female Leader asked something and looked at Christel, who all the girls also turned around and said something, the girl with blue locks approached and took Christel's hand and said something.

'Wow, looks like it's my turn' Christel thought to herself, the leading warrior girl said a few things and shook her head, and the girl holding her hand said a few more things as if trying to convince. Christel patted the girl's hand and said "Hello" in her language in a loud voice so everyone could hear her. Then, she dropped the staff on the ground, and a couple of daggers, and thinking about it more, she also took off her leather armor, only remaining in her sleeveless shirt that she goes to sleep in and that, thanking the heavens, traveled with her and did not arrive naked to the world of Diablo.

All the women around her, seeing her actions, also let their guard down, and although they know they should not trust any being they find on the outskirts, the actions and the aura emanating from the little golden-haired girl give them a feeling of peace and confidence.

The female leader also feels the same and even stronger, the aura of vitality that comes from the girl is something she had never felt before and is very similar to those druids who sometimes come to the camp. But, even so, with all her experience, and as one of the leaders of the Rogue Camp, she will not trust 100% in her instincts and her knowledge, she will always question everything.

Then, the female leader took out a gem from one of her leather bags hanging from her leather belt, this gem was amber in color and had a flickering glow, like the beating of a heart. The female leader held the gem in her right hand and looking directly into Christel's eyes, she spoke.

"Can you understand me?..."

"Haa! How? Do you understand my language?

"No, the Devil's Contract Stone facilitates spiritual communication... Never mind, now follow us to the camp, Akara will examine and interrogate you. Don't resist..."

Then, the leading woman approached Christel and took out some kind of wristbands linked together, the girl next to Christel wanted to protest, but Christel told her "Don't worry . . ." and simply raised her hands in front of her.

'Wow, this is the first time I've been invited to have coffee at the police station... who would have thought?'