The stores clerk returned a short time later.
"I've received permission to sell it to you, but the leader wants you to put your family seal on the letter as well." She hesitantly said.
"No problem." Chronos said.
Any family that had a last name would have a family seal that represented their power and could be used for official negotiations. It wasn't something that would be used lightly as the seal was tied to the power of the family so only a few people in each family would have the authority to use it.
If it was misused not only the family's reputation but their authority and even their power could be affected.
For a deal involving the fortress commander using it would be perfect.
Even though Chronos had run away from his family he still kept a seal ring on him for emergencies as it could be used to contact his family and send messages with real authority to the kingdom.
The Ulv family seal ring was made of dark iron, a simple but durable metal.
On it was the head of a wolf with mountains in the back and a symbol representing a castle just behind the wolfs head. The whole image showed that the Ulv family guarded the kingdom from the mountain's giant monsters and the rank of the family was displayed by a mark just below the wolf head.
Channeling aura into the ring he stamped it on the letter causing a hissing sound. As he lifted it from the paper the same image from the ring was on the paper certifying it as an official document supported by the Ulv family.
"Here you go. Now if the commander doesn't pay for our supplies, you can take it to the Black Fang unit and they'll pay for it." Chronos said while hoping they wouldn't take it to the Aunt Freydis.
She would yell at him if she had to pay for it. It wouldn't be a big problem but being scolded was never a pleasant experience.
"Thank you very much. Here are your potions and make sure the curse mitigation potion stays in the protective wrapping paper until you use it, it uses some dangerous plants that can leak negative energies otherwise." She reminded them.
"Of course." Sariah said.
"Now these are our three types of poisons that work on trolls. The first one can be applied to your weapon to prevent them from healing." She showed them a light green potion with small bits of something unrecognizable floating in it.
"This one can be used on them directly and acts like an acid to eat away at their bodies." It was also light green but faintly glowed.
"And the final one creates a mist that will destroy their lungs and heart when inhaled. Make sure you aren't anywhere nearby when you use it or it will destroy your internal organs too." The potion was dark green and gave off a sickly feeling.
"Hm, I'll take two of each. How many do you want ladies?" Chronos liked to be prepared so he would keep them with himself but even if he didn't use the potions, he could kill most trolls on his own.
"I want three of the first and second potions, but the third one will just get in my way." Lyla liked to fight in close quarters too much to be using a mist type potion.
"I'll take three of the second and third potions. I don't use weapons, so the first one is useless to me. Oh, but give me two of all of them on top of my own." Having a sudden idea, she asked for more.
"Giving them to Gregory?" Chronos asked.
"Yeah, I know he's making his own preparations but just in case I'll bring them for him." She happily replied.
Opening their bags they put the potions away watching how they settled into the internal space and making sure they wouldn't crash against each other or break.
The potions settled on the 'floor' of the internal space just fine, but Chronos thought he might want to add a shelf to hold more items and organize the space better. Emergency supplies near the front spare equipment in the middle and anything else he was carrying could be put at the back.
If this space got big enough, he might even be able to turn it into a living space but that was something for the future.
Having finished their business, they returned to the fortress.
Gregory was waiting for them near the gate. Other than the item bag on his waist, he didn't look any different but the look in his eyes showed more confidence.
He must have made several different preparations for this journey.
"Ready to go?" Gregory asked them.
"Almost, I've got all of my basic camping supplies, but I want a hammock. Sleeping on the ground just causes my fur to get wet." Chronos said.
Lyla and Sariah agreed with him. Sleeping on the ground in a swamp was not very pleasant, if a hammock kept them off the ground and dry then the extra work to set it up was worth it.
"Alright we'll stop by the supplies room on our way out of the east gate." Gregory stated.
The supplies room was currently next to the eastern gate making it easy to stop by and pick up their equipment on their way out, but the supplies officer was intrigued by the idea of using hammocks.
"So, you want to string a hammock between two trees for sleeping?" The officer asked.
"Yes, that way we can stay out of the mud and muck that normally shows up in military camps." Chronos said.
"Hm, that's a good idea but I think I can do better. Portable camp beds are just enchanted cloth made to prevent dirt or bugs from getting into the bed and have been around for thousands of years, but they have all sorts of issues when used in unusual environments like this swamp or the mountains.
If I use four small posts and wrap a thin but durable blanket around some supporting bars it could really change the way the military moves through difficult terrain. Waking up dry and comfortable could greatly improve moral. Allowing our troops to fight better and have a better outlook than our enemies."
"That seems like a really simple solution. Why has nobody thought of this before?" Chronos asked with a puzzled look.
"Well, the sleeping bags we currently use work really well and if you want a more complex set up the mages will create it. In the end nobody really thought about just adding a few posts to a sleeping bag until now." He sheepishly replied
Giving them their hammocks along with two posts each he had another clerk take over the front desk as he went to test his ideas.
At the east gate they greeted the gate guards.
"Hello leaving on a mission?"
"Yeah, we are being sent to the eastern front." Chronos said.
"You be careful out there. We haven't seen many dark beasts recently but that means the natural monsters have come back now."
"Thanks for the warning."
Bidding farewell they traveled through the swamp. Along the way they didn't find any of the black robed men or their knights; and the guards were right there were fewer dark beasts around now that the tear was closed.
However, there were more normal monsters than before which slowed them down a bit as they had to fight snakes and crocodiles and had to take a detour around a feeding pit before they reached the wasteland.
Instead of the planned 2 days to reach the border it took them several days and once they were close enough, they slowed down even more.
Once they could see the wasteland Chronos found it very strange.
"It looks like the Caldrian plains." Lyla said.
"I've never been that far south myself, so I'll have to take your word for that. But something is off here, I can barely sense any world energy in the air of this wasteland." Chronos replied.
The creatures around their location weren't anything special but the way the swamp just stopped at the edge of the wasteland threw him off. And the lack of world energy made the air feel... 'dry' for lack of a better word, like they were standing on the edge of a desert after staying in a tropical forest.
The world energy was just missing when his instincts said it should be present.
No wonder most people avoided wastelands. Even if everything looked fine the sense that something was missing would drive many people insane.
"Come on, let's find a place to set up camp." Gregory urged them, doing anything felt better than staring at the wasteland right now.
After searching the surroundings, they determined that the trolls had not been in the area and there were no foul smells that Chronos associated with the black robed priests.
Choosing a location, they began to build a hidden camp on the border in a large tree on the edge of the swamp. They built it with camouflage in mind using large leaves to keep it from being noticed.