Chapter 16 | Outpost

“Halt! You are trespassing on what is officially acknowledged by the Holy Emperor as the 17th Military Excursion Tower Outpost of the Kingdom of Vandreth. By His Highness, the King of Vandreth’s decree, no unlicensed civilians are allowed entry without proper investigation,” the rough man bellowed. Dizzyingly and unnecessarily loud at that, as there were at most a couple of meters between them.

A soldier, huh?

Theo and the others had just left the passage and exited into the dome. Besides the tall trees blocking their view from each side, they had immediately been greeted by three people in lightweight medieval armor. While one stood in front, sizing them up, the other two stood slightly behind him, to his sides.

The man in the front carried an aura of honor, a sense of duty that weighed on his plated pauldrons. He wore a nondescript chestplate, the rest of his body covered in gambeson and leather. One hand rested on the hilt of his short sword hanging from a thick waistband, while the other was held behind him.

And slightly above the waistband was another, thinner one. It wasn’t holding anything, but Theo could guess why it was there. Considering that this person was a soldier, his eyes had been searching for a sign of his rank. And the only discernible difference between his clothing and the other two’s was the added waistband.

And that was it. Theo couldn’t spot any other symbols. No crests, no carvings on his plate armor. Likely too much of a hurdle to be worth the effort in this godforsaken place.

Not like I would recognize it if I saw one.

Theo’s eyes darted from the man to Satou, who was the only person they could rely on if they wanted to get out of this without having to go back to the maws of that centipede.

Satou nodded. He pulled the sides of his dark green cape and flashed his daggers before lifting his hands without speaking further.

The rough man looked at the soldier to his side, who gulped and acknowledged his gaze with a nod, stepping forward. He carefully approached Satou with his sword unsheathed. Seeing Satou’s hands unmoving in the air, his shoulders rose. He quickly took Satou’s daggers, patted the sides of his clothes a couple of times, and huddled back to the rough man’s side.

“Search complete, Cap’n,” the young soldier reported with a shaky voice, all the while wrapping Satou’s daggers in some sort of fabric.

Then the rough soldier’s gaze washed over Theo and Long Tian. He eyed the anachronistic black dress pants and white T-shirt Theo had found in the last safe room, then the bloody and dirty Daoist robes that Long Tian refused to take off. Without any comments or surprise.

The sides of his mouth did slightly twitch after seeing the unconscious Tanaka on the ground, all tied up. Satou had put him to sleep earlier, guessing something like this could have happened. Theo was relieved, as he too wasn’t interested in this guy spouting nonsense like some sort of profanity turret at people as they carried him around.

“State your purpose,” he simply said. He must have felt that Satou was the de facto leader of this ragtag group of strange people, as he directly looked at him without paying any attention to the others.

“I’m a blue-rank adventurer,” Satou said. He patted the inner face of his cape a couple of times, making the two low-ranking soldiers twitch in place. He then took out a brown card and held it out. In the split second its face was turned toward him, Theo managed to catch a glimpse of the small writing on its surface.

[Name: Jake Wildblade]

[Rank: Blue]

Huh. It must be a fake ID.

“I took a quest from this fellow here and his friend,” he continued while pointing at Theo with his thumb, “…who wanted me to accompany him into the Tower of Fracture to do some hobbyist research on the ancient inscriptions.”

What the fuck? Why throw the ball at me!?

Fortunately, he managed to respond without acting weird.

“Yes. I’m a mage-in-training, and was interested in studying the inscriptions I have heard of for so long.” He made something up. The soldiers looked at each other, confused. He also saw a brief frown flash on Satou’s face.

Shit. Did I fuck it up?

“I see, esteemed mage trainee. I don’t want to be rude, as you are being accompanied by a blue-rank adventurer. But I can’t see your robes on you,” the senior soldier said. Although his words were refined, his voice bled suspicion. “Could you please state which mage tower you are from, and present your mage card?”

Umm… What do I say? Let alone the ID, I don’t even know what mage towers there are! What do I say now?

“Umm… My master is a recluse mage so…” Theo mumbled. The soldiers took a step back in unison, the hands around their weapons tightening.

“What he means is, his master is a member of the Gray Tower and was on an extended leave when he took him in. He still hasn’t registered with the tower yet. But he will in due time.” Satou took over the conversation. At the same time, Theo’s perception caught onto a small shift in his stance, which made the soldiers shiver in place.

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“Understood, adventurer. Then I shall take your word for it,” the captain responded, gritting his teeth. “But that doesn’t explain this… rough-looking gentleman unconscious and bound like a captive, does it?”

“This is a famous criminal with a bounty on his head. I will hand him over to the Guild when I get back to Vandreth.”

“Understood. What is your reason for your passage through this outpost?”

“We were escaping from a centipede mutant,” Satou said curtly.

“We understand. Those accursed entities have been swarming the vicinity for a while. It’s not surprising you would encounter one. I’m assuming you will rest here for a while, so let these two escort you back to the outpost,” the captain said while sheathing his sword. The two soldiers to his sides looked at him pleadingly, but he pulled to the side, patted their backs, and whispered some stuff into their ears. Shoulders shaking, they walked into the forest behind them.

Satou gave Theo another look and started following the soldiers after throwing Tanaka onto his shoulder. Theo sighed, turning to gaze at Long Tian, who shrugged in response before catching up to Satou with a few quick steps.

He followed along and entered the forest.

“We have been in the tower for quite a while,” Satou said. The two soldiers leading them turned their heads in unison. “Has anything big happened in the continent?”