“You see…”

“They didn’t force me into anything!” Lily shouted and stood up from her seat. “I wanted to get strong! Besides! Mama Emeri and the piglets protect me just fine!”

Alex and Rosa looked at Noah and asked at the same time. “Who’s mama Emeri?”

“She’s the mother boar waiting outside.” Noah said. “Lily is a tamer, you see. She doesn’t actually fight on the front lines and just buffs and supports the boars as they fight for her.”

Hearing that made the chief relax somewhat. Although the thought of a child having to fight monsters still felt wrong to him, he understood why it was necessary. In the world now where uncertainty was the norm, having the strength to defend yourself was needed if you wanted to survive.

“Okay, calm down Rosa. I don’t agree with letting the girl fight, but I can understand the why behind it.” He got up and looked Rosa in the eyes. “Apologize.”

“But chief!”

“No buts, you attacked him without even asking them their side of the story.”

“He wasn’t even hurt!” She said indignantly.

“You’re acting like a child. The only reason he wasn’t hurt was because he’s stronger than you.” He looked at Noah and said. “Impressive, by the way. Rosa here is one of our highest-level scouts and you evaded her punch with ease. Was that a burst of air you used?” He said, in an attempt to change the subject.

“Yeah.” Noah replied, saying nothing more. His mood had taken a hit from that exchange with the unreasonable woman and didn’t want to humor them any more than they already had.

Sensing the shift, Alex awkwardly tried to keep a smile on his face and poked Rosa’s side, causing her to recoil in surprise. Resigned to her fate, she stepped forward in front of Noah and apologized. But it was obvious to everyone in the room that she didn’t mean a single word she said.

“It’s fine. As you said, no one got hurt.” Noah replied. “But you really shouldn’t jump to conclusions like that. If it was someone else, they would’ve fought back.” He looked at her pointedly. “And you would’ve gotten hurt.”

“Yes, I am truly sorry for what I did.” She said robotically, practically oozing insincerity. “And who said I’d be the one to get hurt? I heard you lost to captain Owen in a handshake.”

“Then I guess he forgot to mention that I was a mage.”

“Oh, he mentioned that alright. Which is exactly my point.”

“Do you have something against mages, or just me in particular?” He asked with a brow raised.

“Aside from the fact you look exactly like my ex and are letting a child fight monsters when she should be out being a child? What problem could I possibly have with you?” She replied in annoyance.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?! You’re being unreasonable!”

“So?”

“The hell?” Noah looked questioningly at Alex.

The chief smiled wryly and was speechless himself. He always knew that this particular scout of theirs was a bit obstinate but to this point? It baffled him. Especially since the other party had a ranker in their group. “Her attitude is bordering on foolishness. Damn it, if we weren’t in such dire need of capable people, I would just fire her or something.” He sighed and moved in front of Rosa. “I thought I told you to apologize?”

“I already did!” She hmphed and turned her head away.

“Rosa! May I remind you that I am your chief and that these gentlemen are going to be helping us with our spider AND orc problems. So behave and apologize.” He said as Noah sensed a bit of mana being used along with the words.

Rosa seemed to struggle for a bit before her eyes blanked and she relaxed. She then turned to Noah and bowed her head low. “I am truly sorry for my conduct earlier. It will not happen again.” Then, her whole body shook as whatever grabbed hold of her and forced her to apologize wore off.

With a hint of fear and trepidation, she took a step away from the chief, all while her head was still low, not daring to look him in the eye.

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“Good. Now, kindly brief us on the latest reports from the spider nest.”

“Wait a minute. What just happened?” Noah asked as he looked warily at chief Alex. “Was that some kind of mind control spell?”

The chief chuckled and shook his head. “Not exactly. My skill is nowhere near that strong. Its only function is to make people see and do the reasonable thing, but they also have to see it as reasonable and the command must not be detrimental to them in any way.”

“Hmmm, so it’s the perfect skill for someone in command huh. Just a few words and you can pretty much settle any argument between people.” Mark said thoughtfully. “Also perfect against unreasonable people, it seems. Why didn’t you use it earlier though? She could’ve gotten hurt… or worse.”

“I didn’t really think that she would be so foolish as to try to attack rankers of all people. If it wasn’t for our need of capable people, she probably wouldn’t be anywhere near a position of power.” Alex shook his head and sighed. He looked pointedly at Rosa and asked her to continue.

“Yeah, so… there have been some concerning changes in the nest. We’ve observed an uptick in the general activity in the spiders, especially with the workers and warrior types which have been scurrying around, hunting everything they can find. Most of the kills are brought deep into the nest to, what we assume, is the queen that is probably going into overdrive with churning out more spiderlings. This, of course, won’t be much of a problem yet as it takes a few days for the spiderlings to grow into the different types, but we’re worried that if we wait too long, their sheer number will overwhelm all our defenses even if most of them would only be spiderlings.”

Alex paced around the room as he said. “Okay then, it’s just right that we go for the spiders first. What of the orcs? Any changes?”

“Yes, chief, unfortunately. There was recently a big red pulse of light from their invasion gate which suggests that a new batch of reinforcements have arrived in their encampment…”

“And? What type of orcs went through the gate?”

Rosa shifted uncomfortably. “That’s just it chief, none of my scouts got a good look at the new arrivals. The only hint we have is from old man Arthur.” She glanced at Noah and Mark and explained. “Old man Arthur, as you know chief, has a rare class that gave him a skill called remote viewing. It’s still pretty weak right now and is limited in range, so we escorted him close enough to the encampment for his skill to work. He said he saw a bunch of orcs wearing mage’s robes and two big guys that looked like orc warchiefs, there were others too, but we were attacked before he could finish scouting.”

Alex let out an exasperated sigh. “Fucking great. A bunch of orc shamans and two warchiefs and unknowns. I fucking hate unknowns.” He massaged his temples as he felt his head aching. “Okay Rosa, you’re dismissed. Go tell Owen that we need to beef up security at the south gate and he’ll be in charge. Also, station your best scouts around the encampment and closely monitor it for any movement. ANY movement, you hear me? Once we, with the help of our helpers here, deal with the spiders, we will immediately take care of the orcs.”

He looked at Noah and Mark and said. “The bulk of our forces will be stationed at the south gate in order to prepare for the orcs just in case they decide to invade while you guys are away dealing with the spiders so the most we can send with you will be two squads, probably just enough to protect little Lily here. Will that be fine?”

“Yeah, that’ll be fine.” Noah confidently replied.

“Some protectors for Lily would be great. She’ll be able to focus on commanding and buffing the boars that way.” Mark chimed in.

Suddenly, they heard the sound of tornado sirens blaring across the city. They looked at the direction of the door as it was violently opened by a panting, panic-stricken guard.

“Chief! hah hah. It’s the orcs! They’re on the move and headed our way, fast!”

“What’s their ETA?”

Having caught his breath somewhat, the guard answered. “Around ten minutes, sir. But the orc shamans are repeatedly casting some type of mass movement spell, making their entire army move faster and faster. Scouts say that with the acceleration put into account, we have less than five minutes before they reach our walls!”

“Shit! We’re not prepared! Fuck!” But as Alex was swearing up a storm, he remembered that there were rankers in their city right now. He looked to Noah and Mark with a hint of desperation in his eyes. “Please tell me that you can help us through this disaster.”

Noah and Mark traded a look and said. “Shouldn’t be a problem.”

But as that last word was said, another guard hurriedly barged into the room and “CHIEF!!! The spiders are also moving in from the north! Please give us our orders!”

Noah hesitated for a bit and said. “That… that might be a problem…”

“Damn it!” Alex shouted and then took a few deep breaths to calm himself down. “This isn’t the time to panic.”

He paced around the room some more then turned to the first guard. “You, tell everyone, and I mean EVERYONE to gather at the south wall we need to hold off the orcs as long as we can and buy our friends here enough time to wipe out the spiders.”

“Yes, chief!” The guard said as he swiftly turned around

Alex then turned to the other guard and said. “And you, tell squads three and four to gather at the north gate.”

“Right away, chief!”

The chief then released a breath and turned toward his desk. He walked behind it and picked something up off the ground; it was a two headed axe. It was clear that it had seen battle multiple times, judging by the nicks on the blades on both sides.

He ran his fingers across the axe and couldn’t help but feel a hint of sadness. “I put down the axe and swore to myself that I would bring the city to a point where I wouldn’t need to ever pick it up again. But it seems that I’ve failed in my mission.” He sighed. “This is a special axe you see. It gives me power beyond what my body can currently hold, in exchange for some of my life force. It’s why I look so old despite only being in my forties. Otto, Josiah, and I took turns using it when we first got started taking back the city, and now it’s my turn to defend the city.”

The chief gripped the axe in his right hand and, as if a switch was flipped, his aura intensified, his face took on a solemn expression, and his body straightened. No more was the aging old man in his sixties. He was now replaced by a warrior that had fought for and defended the City of Louisville and its people.

“Let’s do this.”