A Quarry is an Open-pit mine utilized for the mining and excavation of Stone, Gravel, Sand and other similar building materials.
The Quarries back in the human world have transitions from a large hole dug into the ground into the process of digging out the side of a cliff.
And looking at the Quarry where The Hyena has supposedly made into her base of operations, I can see why.
You see, the Quarry in the valley outside of the southwestern looking forest where the Hedgehog and Turtle villages reside, has been abandoned for a very particular reason.
Granite, as it turns out, doesn't absorb water as well as sand and soil. So when it rains, The large circular pit dug into the valley gets filled with water that will take years to dry out or be fully absorbed into the granite.
And since it's really hard to dig Granite up when the quarry you were digging in is now submerged in rain water, It's easier to abandon it and build a new quarry into the side a cliff, hopefully not shaped like a giant bathtub.
Looking at the giant swimming pool taking up a large portion of the valley, I can see why it was abandoned.
"The Hyena and her Henchmen should be in a cave dug into one of the walls in the quarry. It has a red flag hanging off a pole next to it." The dejected hyena prisoner tells the soldiers that I'm sending to capture the bandits.
What, You thought I'd go fight The Hyena myself? No Way.
All my fighting knowledge is from the OSK memories, I ain't testing myself in live combat just less than two weeks after I found myself in this world.
"And where do you fools keep the hostages huh? If your lying I'll spit in your eye!" Cheryl is also here, When she was told that the prisoners are going through questioning she insisted to join.
"Same cave, further back. Please don't spit in my eye." The prisoner explained.
"The Plan is simple, We wait till night, And when the bandits are sleeping we sneak in, free the hostages and when we are sure they are rescued, we detain every bandit in that hideout. Any questions?" A Storm Creature, I think I will start calling them Storm-born from now on to keep things simple, asked the soldiers with him as they wait behind a rock overlooking the quarry.
They can spot the Hideout from where they are, if the red cloth hanging by the pole is anything to go by.
"Yeah, I have a question. Who put you in charge?" Another Storm-born asks the first.
"Who put me in charge? Lord Strife did, He knows I'm the one who can come up with a plan, so he put me in charge of this operation." The first soldier explained.
"Since when does Lord Strife have the authority to put you in charge?" A third soldier asked. The other soldiers in the squad nodding in agreement to the question.
"Since when? Since he became the right hand man to the Storm, Only the king himself has a higher authority in the kingdom, And you don't want to make the king angry." Soldier 1 explained.
"I mean I guess, Lord Strife is basically the one in charge of Micro-managing whats going on in the kingdom, so I guess it makes sense for him to put one of us in charge. So, how are we going to sneak around the bandits?" Soldier 2 asked.
"Did you not listen? We wait for them to fall asleep and then we-" "No, no I got that part, I mean, We aren't very sneaky are we? Won't we just wake up every bandit in the hideout?" Soldier 2 explained as he interrupted soldier 1.
"I mean, I-um, I didn't really think that far." Soldier 1 sheepishly answered.
"You stupid- Hey, where are you guys going?" Soldier 2 sees The rest of the soldiers are taking their spears and heading towards the hideout.
"The coast is clear, let's not dilly-dally." Soldier 3 answers as he and the seven other soldiers head out, leaving soldier 1 and 2 behind.
Looking at each other before picking up their own spears and joining the group, Soldier 2 mumbles "So much for your great plan"
"Shut up you." Soldier 1 grumbles back.
Getting inside the Hideout was fairly easy, The guards weren't even paying attention to the entrance. Knocking them out and tying them up was a simple matter. Heading further in to the cave, the path splits into two.
"We need to split up here. Four of us go left and four of us go right while the other two stay behind to keep watch or run in as backup if anything goes wrong." Soldier 3 instructs before choosing three other soldiers and heads to the left path of the cave.
As four other soldiers take the right path, Soldier 1 and 2 stay behind.
"Is this how this was supposed to go?" Asks soldier 1, "I thought these guys terrorizing the villages in the region was going to make them tough and hard to beat, but it seems easy- are you even listening?" He notices that soldier 2 isn't looking at him but rather at all the mining and excavation equipment that's been left behind.
"Look, these explosives date back decades. You think they still work?" He points towards a crate of sticks of dynamite. Likely used by the miners to break apart rocks that blocked the way.
"How should I know if they work or not? I studied gemstones in school before I joined the army. Not explosives." Soldier 1 answered.
"You went to school?!" Soldier 2 asked in surprise.
"Of course I did, I was going to open a jewelry shop before this campaign started. And well, you know, I don't have enough money to open a shop, or get gems, or well, do anything really." Soldier 1 explained.
"I guess, This whole conquest thing is pretty much to deal with our poverty isn't it?"
"I think it's a bit for the economy, bit for the food in it, and a bit because Storm Island kind of sucked and the King wants someplace better to move the kingdom to. Getting recruits from here is part of it."
"I guess, The turtles are doing great work on the agriculture situation. Any idea how their magic works?"
"It makes the ground soft or something, I'm not a wizard."
As Soldier 1 and 2 keep talking about mundane stuff, The group that went right came back, A small line of hedgehogs and surprisingly enough an Okapi follow them.
As they leave the cave, They get one of the soldiers to stay outside with the now rescued hostages before the other three return and go down the left path to join up with soldier 3 and his group.
"That was easy" Soldier 1 says out loud as he sees the hostages be rescued so quickly, "I thought they would have at least some resistance. What are you doing?" Soldier 1 sees Soldier 2 write something on the wall with a piece of charcoal.
"Oh Nothing, Just, You know, Writing." Soldier 2 giggled to himself as he continued writing.
A few minutes pass before the first group comes back, on each of their back they carry a bandit or two. Except for one of them who is carrying everybody else's spears.
"I guess we did it"
"Thank you so so much for saving everybody! Now, as promised, We are officially joining your Empire." Cheryl says as she signs her name on several pieces of paper in the Storm Base.
"Of course. I might seem cruel or scary, but the safety and protection of my subjects comes before anything else." I tell her as one of the Storm-born in the base picks up the papers and places them in a folder.
"Oh and by the way, Can I speak to The Hyena, I want to give her a piece of my mind!" Cheryl asks as I walk her out of the base.
I look towards the Soldier that Strife put in charge of the mission.
"Um, You see your Majesty, This is kind of funny but, um, Thehyenawasntthere!" He quickly bows his head.
"You spoke a bit too fast there soldier, can you repeat that slower please." I kindly ask of him.
He gulps before looking at a soldier next to him. Seeing that the second soldier is avoiding eye contact he turns back to me, "The Hyena wasn't at the hideout, sir."
"..."
"...So your not mad?"
"..."
"...I'll take my leave now..." And as he turn around, I quickly place a hand on his shoulder.
He freezes in place. The room goes quite, everybody is tense right now.
"Where is The Hyena?" I ask the soldier again.
"I-I-I Don't know, your highness." Wrong answer, I squeeze his shoulder uncomfortably hard.
"It's your Majesty and I will ask you one more time, Where is The Hyena?" I look down at his beady eyes hidden beneath the mask that I had all the soldiers wear to keep their faces safe. As long as they are in the army, they will wear that mask.
"I don't know," Squeeze tighter.
"Then go and find her..." I whisper as I look down at him, I can't have the leader of the bandit group out there.
"Y-yes your majesty" The soldier answers weakly.
I smile down at him. And proceed to throw him out of the door with one hand. This body is incredibly strong after all, Strong enough to throw a fully grown Storm-born as if he weighs nothing.
I look towards the other nine soldiers that are gaping at my act of strength.
"Are you waiting for an invitation?" I ask them, And they quickly grab their equipment and run outside in the direction of the quarry.
As I leave the Storm Base and head towards the bedroom on my royal Airship, I sadly miss the expression of sheer astonishment plastered on to Cheryl's face as she watches me take my leave.
Back in the Bandit Hideout, An Aardwolf woman is looking around for clues as to what happened to her base. When she notices a writing on the wall.
Storm Was Here
Now she had her target.