Before leaving, the spies stood in front of Althea, who was watching in silence at the side with her husband as well as the other elders.
It was very low-key, of course, in case they were being watched. They were outside the territory early in the morning, saying their goodbyes and making sure everything was as ready with them as it could be.
The four people were honored by the send-off by the elders. At the same time, they also felt pressured to do their jobs perfectly.
Other than the elders, the four were also sent off by friends and family.
In Amos' case, it was his guard friends Jesse and Angelo, with no sign of his mother and brother. Of course, he didn't tell them what the mission was, but he did tell them that he was going to go somewhere on behalf of the territory.
They frowned when he said this, but—unsurprisingly—there were words of concern, no 'be careful' or no 'eat well while you're away' like everyone else probably received.
Instead, they just asked him for a lot of money because he was going to be leaving for a long time.
With a clenched jaw, he did give them a lot of silver—much of what he had—because he was truly unsure when he'd return anyway.
Jesse and Angelo saw that no one else had seen him off and just gave him a one-arm hug each. "Well, friend, be sure to come back in one piece eh?" Jesse said with a smile, and Angelo nodded.
The three young men laughed and Amos' heart immediately lightened.
Obviously—although it was not his blood relatives—there were people who would still be welcoming him back with a sincere heart!
And that was good enough for him.
For Drake and Jona's, interestingly, it was Yen who saw them off.
She expressed her want to just come and she even came with a pretty good excuse, targeted to Althea.
"Boss, limestone deposit means there's a sedimentary rock formation with loads of calcium carbonate. This meanssss that there could be some important metals nearby."
Althea paused in thought, looking at the woman with eyes wide as she begged.
It made sense, although limestone itself couldn't produce metal, the geological formation that formed it could. For example, there could be either lead and zinc, copper,or—in some rare cases—iron nearby this place.
Regardless of which ones, they would all prove useful to them.
She looked at Yen, who brightened under her stare, obviously thinking she would change her mind.
How funny a woman older than she was was acting like a baby.
"No, the people there are strong. You're too important to the territory."
The compliment naturally made the woman shy, "Aww shucks."
Althea looked at her. "Besides, can't we use copper as the currency?"
This was what a team had been studying for a while now, and—while there was no way they could produce electricity now—this was where Yen was assigned.
Althea thought she had too much copper. While this was the main currency in circulation, she felt she had an excess. Maybe they could use it for something else?
"We have been trying, indeed, but it has mixtures of various metals, some of which have properties we don't know about yet.
"We still couldn't segregate them, or it could also be our temperature isn't hot enough."
Althea nodded, "So you have a lot to study in the territory, then."
A lot of push and pull happened before Yen finally gave up, tearfully saying goodbye to her love and her rival.
Seeing as everyone had finally finished their farewells, Althea said the final goodbyes.
She then gifted them exclusive medicines that were not available anywhere else. These were all pharmacist-made and were invaluable in the market. She also handed each of them emergency paralysis bombs. .
They teared up a bit but only said their heartfelt thanks.
Seeing the bombs, Micheal was immediately drowned with guilt. He walked over to the soldiers and mentioned something that passed by his head.
"Fargo knows about the bombs, or at least the fact that Altera made one," he said, "It was the only way I could think of so that they didn't just kill me or the people around me before they could take an oath. I apologize."
"It's fine. They'll find out on their own."
Ansel sighed, "They're probably sending more right, especially when the spies couldn't get back."
"I wonder if Fufi could still smell them…" Turbo asked as he was still combing his hair from Drake's abuse.
Luis was much more 'confident' with his hairdo and didn't even bother. "Possible, but they might also have washed up already."
"Gochi was really helpful."
"Let's assign him to the anti-espionage department."
Jokes aside, it made sense. Gochi was strong and agile, and he had a very sharp intuition and special senses—one simply not present to anywhere else.
While the discussion about spies was happening behind her, Althea took out the final bottles she'd be asking them to bring.
"Here," she said, handing each one a bottle with a spray nozzle. "One of the new developments in the Research Center."
"What does it do, Miss Althea?" Jona curiously asked, raising it a bit to eye level.
"It's Beast Repelling Potion."
Drake immediately caught the bottle Jona let go off due to the shock.
This time, everyone stopped whatever they had been discussing and turned to her. Althea flinched under their stares.
"Oslo gave us a copy and we only analyzed it and did something similar," she said, as if it explained everything.
Oslo, who was right there with them, was very impressed. How many days has it been since he gave those samples to her?
In fact, some of the materials weren't the same due to their availability, but the research teams found some passable alternatives.
A component of the potion was actually from the grass found near the bog. They enhanced whatever quality it had that served as citronella for monsters.
Interestingly, it wasn't limited to the smell of metal at all. There was a component—something they temporarily called the Citronella scent—that they enhanced to create an all-out potion.
"Theoretically, it only works for level 10 monsters and below, and it only has about five to six hours of effectiveness," she told them. "It also won't work on monsters already used to the smell of metal."
They nodded, mentally noting it down. Even those not going on the mission did the same.
However, even with the caveats, everyone was in awe of what it represented. "This is amazing!"
Althea smiled, "Well, thank you. The Research Center is out to make improvements for sure."
She then turned to Juni and the others with a smile. "I hope everyone returns to witness them together with us."
"Be careful and avoid unnecessary sacrifices. Under most circumstances, I hope you still prioritize your safety," she said this solemnly and sincerely, and the targets of her reminders nodded, looking at her with sparkling eyes.
"I wish you well and a safe return."