The citizens knew there was no use in overtly worrying about the upcoming disaster. They could just do their parts to prepare their own households while trusting in Alterra as well.
This was especially true for the Terrans who had yet to experience anything regarding the extreme weather. It wasn't like there weren't heatwaves in Terran, after all, though those only lasted a few moments.
One of the people going around the territory was Beany and his son. It was Beany's day off from the newspaper and he had picked up Theo from school so they could bond before the world decided to torture them even more.
So now, they were doing father-son bonding at the market. Carrying the toddler in his arm, the duo ambled about with little umbrellas stuck on their heads.
These were small umbrellas that could be attached to the head, freeing their hands to do other things. It looked a bit silly, but with the duo, it looked adorable, like wearing matching outfits.
Beanie had been away for a long time because he couldn't face not only Althea but also Theo, to some degree. Now, in this heat, he was determined to make up for it.
He bought his son all the cold sweets he wanted, though the kid only bought what he needed saying it wasn't good for the teeth. The little boy also proceeded to reprimand his father as well, thinking he was the one who wanted a lot of sweets.
"Not gwood, not gwood!" he yelled, little eyebrows furrowed, and his cheeks puffed up.
Beany's eyes twitched. "Yes, yes."
At least they confirmed that Theo was learning something at school.
While they walked, they saw a group of guards making rounds. Little Theo's rounded eyes followed them, reflecting their greatness.
"Am I gowing to be stwong like gawd ankles?"
This made Beany laugh. "Sure, as long as you study very hard and don't miss your homework."
The boy nodded very seriously and Beany couldn't help but kiss his chubby cheek.
If Beany knew little Theo was thinking to grow up strong so he could protect him, he'd probably sob his heart out.
Anyway, while the territory was still preparing, the huntings and training—whether it was in the Training Hall or outside—had not halted.
It was a lot more challenging under this heat of course, but the territory had emphasized the usual training requirements were still required. In response, those going outside had their spaces filled with cool drinks, water, cooling medicine, and the like.
There were, at this time, at least two groups of around 20 people clearing the area around the territory. One person had to be at least level 20 in a group and the ones leading the two groups were Plaridel and Turbo, respectively.
Plaridel's group took care of the Eastern part of the territory. They had been fighting for more than an hour already and they were finally about to finish this session, which made everyone thank the skies.
"How exhausting!" one said, wiping his sweat with his shirt. "It feels like I'm doing twice the work with how tired I am."
"Well, I wouldn't need a sauna now," one said, the others rolled their eyes.
"It's not like you can afford it anyway."
Anyway, the group turned to finally head back to the territory. It was estimated that their 2-hour session would end by the time they were in sight of the walls.
Their small group would encounter a few monsters here and there, with the strongman only guarding and keeping them alive.
At some point though, it really got too hot from the mix of the temperature and their own body heat.
"Darn, I can't take it anymore! GAH! So hot!" The handsome Hubert gasped, feeling suffocated.
He felt so suffocated that he took off his already-damaged upper garments, revealing his well-toned abs from all the fighting.
"Stop getting naked!" One man yelled, glaring at his 17-year-old daughter who was gaping at the blonde. "My daughter is here!"
Interestingly a certain red head reacted the same. "Get dressed!" He yelled. "My fiance is here!"
A blushing Winona gently slapped his arm. "That sure rolled down your tongue comfortably, eh?!"
Ansel grinned and looked down at her, challenging. "Why? Shy?"
Winona flushed an even deeper shade of red, though she'd argue it was because Ansel was embarrassing her. "Hell no!" she yelled, about to turn and focus on the path home.
Instead of answering her though, Ansel's eyes traced the few beads of sweat down her cheek to her neck and then down to her glorious valley…
His breath became heavier, but it earned him a punch to the gut.
"Focus!" Winona quipped back and sure enough, they heard rustles of leaves around them.
A small mob of monsters emerged from the bushes, looking at them hungrily.
Unfortunately for the monsters, the heat made the humans irksome and therefore particularly violent that day. How dare these things block their way to their comfy houses!?
Their small group didn't even need Plaridel to move, they pretty much massacred the mob.
However, someone was almost nicked because they were so tired, sweaty, and the atmosphere was just not helping.
Fortunately, there was Plaridel who managed to push away the monster before it could do too much damage.
Plaridel watched the battles closely. He wasn't to foddle them though, and they could still get injured. His instructions was to just keep them from dying or receiving any permanent damage. He was also there to hold the aether letter in case of emergencies, like other territories attacking them.
The rules of going out of the territory were never rescinded. For training, the average level requirement was still high and every team needed to have at least 1 aether letter linked to the Station.
The delineation of scope was that the barracks was primarily in-charge of external problems, especially regarding wars and external threats.
On the other hand, the Guard Station was still under the barracks, but its focus was on internal peace.
Guards assigned in the territory were rotating under the Guard Station. The Guard Station was also where the complaints and calls for help were received, so there were administrative/desk people there monitoring the letters at all times.
This way, if an Emergency happened, the Station would be informed, and therefore the Barracks and Elders would as well.
Of course, this meant that standard groups with civilians could not go beyond the range of aether letters, at least for now.
This was the compromise they had to make. The decent-leveled monsters in Alterra were being cleared and people did have to go a little farther to train properly, but at the same time, they couldn't go too far lest they wouldn't be rescued on time.
The wars were perennial problems now, but they could not grow stagnant and hide away because of fear.
Althea saw all this and felt a little bad. Who wouldn't?
She swore that someday, Alterra's name would be so resounding that no attackers would dare touch them the moment they find out they were Alterra's.
It was a long way before that would happen, but she'd make sure it would.