After everyone had climbed to the surface, they began making camp.

  The atmosphere was somber as they had just held a burial ceremony for their lost family members and teacher.

  Setting up a pce to sleep for the night was quite fast, as the camp was a simple fire pit in the ter, surrounded by logs for them to rest on.

  Draco decided to address the others.

  "I uand how you all feel, but we have to remain strong. I need you all to help sort the items in the carriage. I will be heading back to town for o search," he said.

  He was a bit apprehensive about leaving his family like this, but he had instructed them to sort the items in the carriage to keep them distracted, and not have much time to dwell on the gloomy events.

  "Michalis!" Draco called out, and the young boy approached him.

  "I will need you to look after everyone. I should return within 2 to 3 hours. If you hear or see monsters, don't panid remain calm. They will not approach, so stay within the camp," Draco warned him seriously.

  Michalis swallowed nervously, "Yes, Draii," he replied, his voice slightly shaking.

  "Good, I am ting on you," Drauttered, ruffling Michalis' hair affeately.

  Michalis responded with a firmer "Hmm," feeling a bit more fident.

  "Alright, you all take care till I return. Don't move anywhere no matter what you see or hear," Draco warhe group once more before turning and leaving towards the town.

  This time, Draco went directly towards the south side, as he didn't have time for aours.

  This was his st attempt to looking for any survivors that needed help and, if he was lucky, a horse or cows to pull the carriage.

  As he approached the south side of the destroyed towiced many houses didn’t have celrs.

  Ihey had basements so he began going from basement to basement, hoping to find any survivors.

  However, most of what Draco found were half-eaten parts of people.

  He also tried calling out, stretg his seo the limit to hear a reply, but none came, except for the howls of monsters in the distanbsp;

  The monsters had not spared anyone, not even the children.

  'Sigh, I guess there is really no o in this town,' Draco thought.

  'If there were any survivors, they either made it out of town or are all dead. If by some y survivors remain but refuse to answer my call, then there is nothing more I do.' he cluded.

  Seeing the corpses of children or at least what was left of them, made Draco think of his own family.

  'This could have been us,' he thought.

  He could feel his anger growing, g his fist tightly, he punched a nearby wall in frustration.

  "Just you wait, bck dragon. I will be the oo end you," he muttered.

  After taking a deep breath to calm himself, Draco ged his dire to the nearby farms, hoping to find any animals that could help pull the cart, and maybe some they could raise for food like chis.

  Sadly, he couldn't find any rge livestock except stray chis – the other animals had either been killed or had fled when the monsters attacked.

  So he swiftly captured two cocks and five hens, that was the limit he could carry.

  He tied their legs and beaks with pieces of torn cloth from his backpabsp;

  With that done, he didn’t waste any time returning to camp.

  When Draco returo the camp, he found his family gathered around the fire, their faces looking a tiny bit better than when he left.

  Vasileios approached him, his eyes filled with a mixture of relief and .

  "Draii, wele back. We've sorted the items in the carriage as you asked. Did you find any survivors or animals?" he asked.

  Draco shook his head, his expression somber.

  "No, I'm afraid there's no o iown. The monsters have taken everyone." He paused, taking a deep breath to steady his voibsp;

  The group fell silent, the weight of Draco's words hanging heavy in the air.

  After a moment, Draco tinued.

  "I also couldn’t find any animals to pull the cart, but I did gather some chi ” Draco replied, showing the chis he was carrying.

  “We'll have to rely on our own strength to pull the cart till we find some other livestock” he added.

  As the night wore on, the group huddled around the fire, sharing a hot meal in silenbsp;

  The silence was occasionally broken by the crag of the fire and the distant howls of monsters, a reminder of the dahat still lurked beyond their camp.

  With their meal over, everyourned in for the night, instinctively moving to huddle closely together for warmth and safety.

  Draained awake to look at the map of the area.

  He o decide where they would be settling down.

  Since he didn’t find any survivors, there was o make a stop at any nearby settlements.

  ‘We need a pce that monsters are abundant, but not enough to overwhelm us. It will help in training’ Draco pondered.

  ‘No, we need something more hardcore. Perhaps the forest will do’ he sidered, trag his finger along the river that passed through the forest.

  Trag his finger along the map, he noticed that Orario was quite far, situated towards the east of the forest.

  ‘If we settle where this river and mountai, we cross there when we decide to travel to Orario, it will somewhat cut the journey shorter’ Draco cluded.

  ‘We have enough supplies to st around 9 months to a year. Winter will begin in around 3 to 4 months so we should survive’ Draco pondered.

  He spent a good portion of the night meticulously pnning until he found a way for them to survive in the wild on their own.

  His biggest was diseases but that could be somewhat mitigated by maintaining a good hygiene and using his magibsp;

  They could farm and hunt for food, they had a lot of seeds for various crops and spices in the farms.

  Salt wasn’t a problem as the sea wasn’t too far from the mountain, so he could fly over to gather sea water and make sea salt.

  Being overwhelmed by monsters wasn't going to be a rge problem due to the bck dragon scales.

  ‘This could work’ Draco cluded.

  With pns made, he decided to turn in for the night.

  ……………………………………………………………………………………..

  When dawn finally broke, the group quickly packed up their belongings a out, the carriage den with the supplies gathered.

  He made sure to grab every edible and usable item that he could fit into the carriage from the ste sheds on the farms.

  Draco led the way, his sta and his gaze determined.

  The others didn’t pin about or even know where they were heading, they only followed, trusting his leadership.

  As they navigated the treacherous ndscape, the group entered numerous obstacles – fallen trees, debris, and even impassable terrain.

  Draco's quick thinking and tactical skills proved invaluable, as he directed the group to bypass or front these challenges.

  At one point, they came across a small herd of wild horses, and Draco saportunity.

  "Michalis, Dimitra, e with me," he said, his voice calm and authoritative.

  "We're going to try and tame a few of those horses. They will be the key to making our journey easier." he instructed.

  Michalis and Dimitra followed Draco, their faces mixed with apprehension but they trusted their big brother.

  Draco approached the herd cautiously, utilizing his little knowledge of animal behavior to attempt to tame them.

  After several tense moments, he was able to sso a young mare and guide her back to the group.

  "Excellent work, you two," Draco praised Michalis and Dimitra, a small smile tugging at the ers of his mouth.

  "Now, let's see if we find a few more to help pull the cart," he said.

  Over the few hours, the group mao tame several more horses, and soon the cart was being pulled by a team of four sturdy beasts.

  It had been very hard to aplish such a feat due to the skittish nature of horses.

  He had attempted using his physical strength to try f the horses into submission.

  When that didn’t work, he just used the bck dragon scales.

  The bck dragon scales also pyed an important role in this.

  Its presence had been so overwhelming that the horses gave up struggling after being forced to the ground.

  To them it felt like a giant monster had caught them in its cws.

  With this newfound mobility, the group's pace quied, and their spirits lifted ever so slightly.

  As the sun began to set, Draco sed the horizon, searg for a suitable pake camp for the night.

  "There," he said, pointing to a small, secluded cave in the distanbsp;

  "That looks like a good spot to rest. We'll be safe there for the night," he said.

  He first carefully ied if there were any wild inhabitants within the cave before the others followed.

  The group soon made their way into the cave and begaing up camp.

  Draco settled the horses nearby to graze on the abundant grass around.

  Using his magic, he gathered enough water for them to drink.

  With the camp set up and everyoled, Dracht out his map to estimate how long it would take to arrive at their destination.