Hvisland: A VR Colony Sim Game

Leva and Eric continued walking in silence. Eric's gaze was directed downwards while Leva continued to make uncomfortable gestures. The woman repeatedly shrugged her shoulders, whistled, and scratched her head.

"Hey, don't you have anything to talk about?" Finally, Leva spoke. "I feel like I'm walking with Kat."

Eric raised his face. "How about you? Don't you have anything to talk about?"

"Why are you even asking back?" Leva snorted, then paused for a moment. "I've always wondered, how is life in that place called Earth? I've heard about it from Seb, but I also want to get some insight from you."

"What about Kat? Have you asked her?"

Leva scratched her head again. "She only answered briefly, and I didn't understand what she was saying... Hey, why are you keep asking me back? What's so hard about answering my question?"

"Honestly, I can't remember much about it. I was there about twenty years ago, when I was under ten, before leaving for that expedition." Eric looked up at the clear sky with few clouds. "I only remember my family, my dad, mom, and my little sister...."

Eric stopped talking when he realized Leva had slowed down. The red-haired woman narrowed her eyes and looked at the wet ground around her.

"What is it?" Eric went to his partner.

I immediately whispered to Leva to tell Eric how she felt before she said it was nothing.

"I can feel it...." Leva gulped. "The ingredients for making that gunpowder...."

Eric's brow furrowed. "I know you are a mineral detector, but I never told you about what it feels like to find materials for making gunpowder."

Leva crouched down, took off one of her gloves, then lightly touched the ground. "Actually, my mom also told me about that material. At first, I didn't know if it was gunpowder, but I was able to connect your description with my mom's story after a while. You two are talking about the same material... Ah, my mom thinks knowledge of the material is dangerous if it is known by others, so she doesn't want to tell it in my old tribe."

"Why don't you two dig it up first? Don't worry, Leva. We're not going to use it right away, really." I whispered in the woman's ear. Although I'm not sure whether to ask my colonists to produce firearms or not, it wouldn't hurt to store these materials first.

Seeing that Leva didn't respond, I asked Eric to persuade the woman. Eric then sat down on a flat stone.

"On Earth, making gunpowder is not as easy as it is here. In this planet, all you have to do is mix the material with charcoal, add water, and form it into balls. It's done." The man started talking.

"Why did you even start saying that?" Leva raised an eyebrow.

Eric was silent for a moment, probably looking for a good reason other than the sudden urge to do so. "Well, you wanted to chat, didn't you? It's noon, after all. It's time for a break."

"Oh, that's right." Leva shrugged, then sat down on another rock and drank through her leather water jug.

"On Earth, we had to look for a substance called potassium nitrate to make gunpowder. The ancients got it from bat droppings, horse urine, or some other source..."

"Sounds nasty." Leva shuddered a little. "Wait. If you leave Earth before you're ten years old, you shouldn't be taught this, right? Who teaches something like this to a child? Gunpowder is dangerous, right?"

"When I was little, you could say I really liked to seek new knowledge." Eric smiled slightly, starting to unwrap his pemmican. "I like reading things... Therefore, I also know how dangerous firearms are, but they can be useful..."

"I know, you want to say that gunpowder is like a double-edged knife, right? If used well, then it can be good for us. If it is misused, it will be something bad." Leva laughed bitterly. "Do you know what my mom said when she talked about this material? If other groups find out we have knowledge of explosives, then they will target us. Either because they want to learn too, or because they are afraid of our increasing power. And both can become a bad thing. Do you know why?"

Eric swallowed the pemmican he was chewing. "As for those who are afraid of us, that's obvious. They want to eliminate the threat. For those who are curious about this material... Well, an even worse war may ensue. As we discussed earlier. Firearms are very deadly indeed."

"In that case, I refuse...."

"I'll give you a night to think." Eric cut off Leva's words and shrugged. "We may have trouble finding this material again in the future."

"Hey, I don't want us to use weapons like that!" Leva stood up with a sharp look in her eyes.

"I also don't want us to have things that can kill easily, but are you willing to lose your loved ones again?" Eric said in a cold tone. "Just imagine in the future there's a group raiding our place with guns again. We can't do anything, Leva... Like your colony that couldn't do anything when Congraylham came."

Leva was instantly at a loss for words.

"So, we're spending the night here now while you think about it. I know you're not stupid. You know the possibility I just said, right? You've been ignoring it all this time." Eric also stood up and approached the woman. "Now I ask, is it easy to find the gunpowder material in this land? If it was where I used to be, it was very easy."

Leva gulped, looked into Eric's eyes, and was still speechless.

"From your expression, I can tell it's challenging. This material is scarce for you to detect." Eric sighed. "In other words, this opportunity is extremely rare."

***

It was getting late. Leva was still moving around in her sleeping bag. Meanwhile, Eric who was on guard continued to stare at the fire.

"Fuck!" Leva straightened up with an annoyed face, took the pickaxe she was carrying, then stood up to approach the point that contained the material. "Okay, you win, Eric!"

"Let me help." Eric stood up from his spot.

Perhaps you inherited a talent for diplomacy from your father, Eric.