With my paranoia kicking in, the moment we descended from the hill that housed Megvuroz far enough to leave the gate we had just out of sight, I immediately used a [Life Radar].
With the scan clear of anyone but us and a few animals, I felt a bit more assured, but some [Primordial Step] later, I would use it again. And then once again. Thankfully, each time, the result would end up being clear of any human presence but ours.
"No need to spend mana, Master Lindar.-" Seeing that I was about to intone the spell for a fourth time in this half an hour of walk, Falko touched my shoulder while shaking his head, then proceeded to explain before I could ask, "-The city guards patrol up to the first well every hour or so, and the last patrol had just returned when we left."
"But..?" Between his own words from before and me adding a bit of paranoia into the mix, I couldn't help but ask.
Yet, I didn't even manage to speak out as Larcia, who had been walking on my other side, flanking me in the same manner as Falko did, somewhat explained, even if interrupting me to do so, "The fucking city guards may be slackers, but they are neither cowards nor so stupid as to fucking mess up and allow something to happen inside the effing city's ring. They know that they will have their balls ripped off if something happens. Every damn passerby between the well and the gates is usually questioned at least twice before reaching the gates, and if the fuckers have some nonsense on their minds, they will be detained or killed on the spot."
"Ehh, thank you..?" While Larcia's explanation was more of a long chain of swearing, it still somewhat cleared the point.
"With no fortress on this side of the hill, Megvuroz' guards are the ones to guarantee the safety of the track between the closest well, where the [Central Tract] starts, and the city itself." Thiph, walking just ahead of us, stopped somewhat while turning her head towards us and clarifying Larcia's words.
"Oh, I see, thank you." I also gave her a nod in thanks before she turned her attention back to the road in front.
"So, like I was saying - there is no need to spend your mana. Not before we reach the well and even make some way from it." While Falko had allowed the two women to give their own explanations, he was the one to speak last. And, last indeed, as from that moment and up to when we reached the well, neither member of our group spoke up. The others concentrated on the path while I looked around, this being my first time on this road.
***
The gentle slope that started right from the gates would continue for nearly a kilometer, making the descent from the hill housing Megvuroz easy. From there, the same flats, as on the other side, started - with just a few shrubs and trees on an otherwise plain grassland.
The road was in a very nice state, and while I could see the odd chipped stone, I would also see several stones that looked far newer than the rest, showcasing that the local Viscount did care about the road, repairing and maintaining it. A fact that I found surprising for both the highways I already knew as this one was the lack of trash and the small number of animal byproducts. {I doubt there are cleaning brigades working outside the city, so I should take note and ask someone later about it.}
The road continued in a nearly straight line, with nothing on the sides except for the odd side path that started towards the sides every ten or so minutes. Each led to a farmstead or small village, with the only difference being that the paths to the latter had some semblance of pavement and were visible, as opposed to what basically was a trampled dirt path leading to the former.
"I wonder if it's safe for the smaller villages now that the traffic lessened." It was more a thought than a question, but Falko assumed it to be the latter and quickly explained that the villages would have some guards of their own, as well as the heads having a way to request the city they paid taxes to for help.
As for the farmsteads, he went more into details, relating that he was from one of such himself and that while a big bandit group was still a severe danger, they would rarely become a target because there was not much to loot, far above the losses the bandits would suffer.
"Most farmsteads and ranches are owned by a single family or sometimes a clan of several intermarried ones, so every person in them will defend it to death. Thus, small groups are not enough, and big ones wouldn't risk losing members over nothing. After all, there are no farmstead owners dumb enough to hoard anything of value at home, not with some cities, Megvuroz among them, and the Guild for the ones that traded with it, providing banking and safe-keeping services at nearly no cost." Falko explained as he nodded to one of the dirt paths, adding that his older brother was now in charge of one akin to the one barely visible from the road, even to my eyes.
Though, I did discern that the farmstead similar to the one where the girls lived as I met them, with nothing but walls facing outside.
"Moving fast! We already reached the damn well." While I had noticed it for a minute already, I didn't think to shout about it, opposite to Larcia, who even pulled at my sleeve while pointing towards the well with her spear.
"Good. As soon as we reach it, we make a brief stop, and then we continue onward, at full guard, agreed?" While skill-wise, Falko was actually below every other member of the group, he was still the leader of my escort, and the four agreed almost immediately. Though Larcia once again managed to add an f-word to her yes.
*
As we approached more, I discovered the well to be almost the same as the ones on the [Royal Tract] on the other side of Megvuroz. The visible difference would be that the stones of this one looked older, as the widening road starting from it. It was logical, though, as the cities like Bigradh were pretty recent, having been rebuilt or even built from scratch just over a decade and a half ago, the [Royal Tract] having about the same age.
And there was another difference, a group of open-sided structures on the farthest side of the well. "Shelters?" Reaching the well and having a closer look at the simple wooden roofs held by stone columns, I asked Falko. But the one to respond would be Larthi, who politely took the word and explained that with the rains being stronger - than in the western part of the country - because of the mountain range to the east, it was required to have some roof at every stop. And she also explained that every surrounding noble, city, or village took over them to maintain them in shape.
***
Between the explanations, lack of visible danger, and Falko's previous assurances extinguishing my paranoia, I almost felt like sightseeing. This turned out to be a mistake, as just as I walked to the well, intending to check on the water - as I had found that depending on the well, the flavor changed - Larthi shouted out in alarm while pointing her hand to the north, almost along the direction of the road. Following her lead, everyone saw a couple of figures mounted on horses that were making their way toward us.
Falko looked at the figures for a few moments before commanding, "On your guard, they may be going to one of the farmsteads or villages, but a single pair of people on the road, now..?"
If I had to say something, the Guild's elites were quick to follow the command, with Thiph moving almost to the center of the road, her left hand resting on the grip of her long sword. Following her, Larcia moved to stop just a meter behind the heavily armed woman, her shield already slipping on her left arm. Caille didn't move much from his current spot near the well, but he still stepped to the side to stand in front of me while slightly hunkering, the pommel of his oversized sword now almost touching his ear. Similarly to him, Larthi didn't move much, merely stepping a bit away from me while her slightly curved bow materialized in her right, while her left raised towards the quiver.
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Even Falko, whose stats weren't even at ten, acted with calm, drawing and prepping his crossbow as he moved closer to Thiph's position, probably intending to be present for whatever happened, be it a peaceful talk or a fight.
And then, there was me. I had neither the experience nor the notions of what to do in such a situation. And it would take me almost half a minute, enough for the riders to be now inside my [Status Screen] range, to remember that I had a lot of stuff that only I could do!
"Martial skills and criminal titles! Left one is damn dangerous!" After muttering something close to [Analyze], I shouted out my findings, only a moment later, realizing that the pair could not be alone.
"Idiot! [Life Radar]! FUCK!" And indeed, after calling myself an idiot and activating the spell I should have used since the first moment I saw the riders, I couldn't help but curse loudly.
"Another four people are approaching from the south and three from the east!" Thankfully, Chubu's experiences allowed me to snap from my sudden streak of idiocy. And I quickly informed the others, casting another [Life Radar] just as the first one ran out to confirm.
And good that I did, as while the seven people I caught upon but still didn't see were somewhere in the middle of the maximum range, so less than half a klick from my position, another two popped out from the west side, just at my range's end, so about 800 meters away.
"There are also two on the west, at max range, some half [Step] from me! None except the riders, and those two are moving right now!" Recalling how Aison asked me questions whenever I used the [Radar], my kicking up mind, or maybe survival instinct, made me word everything without panicking or adding any fluff.
"There are 11 of them! Everyone move back to the Maester!" Falko had paled up, but his commands were shouted out without any panic, as was his next one, which took me by surprise, at least at the first moment, "Thiph, take command. And everyone, protect Maester Lindar!"
"Form a square around the Maester and Larthi!" Since I shouted about the other enemies, as what else they could be, Thiph had started to back away from her position and towards us, closely followed by Larcia, but without taking her eyes from the mounted pair. Thus, by the moment Falko told her to take command, she was already some hundred meters from us and was nearly the first one to step on her position, some five meters from me and Larthi, who had moved just a step from me, all while facing the northern side.
Larcia moved down some ten meters from Thiph and faced the east while Caille drew his sword and took the opposite position, to the former, facing the south. Falko would be the one to be the last one to face his direction. But even so, it had taken barely half a minute for everyone, him included, to look in their respective direction while keeping a distance of some five meters from me and Larthi, with ten separating them from each other.
Surprisingly, the riders stopped moving as soon as we started our reorganization. Yet, they had already closed the distance to some 200 meters, allowing me to discern all about them.
{They are definitively waiting for the guys from the west to close up, and then, they will rush at us. All 11 at the same time!} I was about to convey my thoughts as Thiph told everyone to be prepared for it, beating me.
"I can fight as well." It was more a declaration of intent than anything else, as I faked a [Storage] and called out my sword.
The same sword I had left in a poor state in Chubu as I killed the leader of the mercenaries serving Renrith, the traitorous mage turned torturer. The one recovered by the [Sharagzian Kingdom] dwarven kill team and then returned to me on my last day in Chubu, looking the same as when I bought it but feeling like something far more different.
"Then, as we protect you, protect Larthi in turn. Her arrows will be far more important than anything." Thiph probably had some other words to say, but in the end, such was the command she gave me, and I cared nothing about ranks or anything else. After all, she was the one with the experience. Even if Falko glared at her, turning away from his post.
"And when able, use your locating spell!" Ignoring Falko's glare, she gave another instruction.
"Got it!" Following the sword, I again faked the [Storage] to take out the light crossbow, which I had never stored unloaded.
_______
The rider on the right, farthest from me, riding a brown horse, dressed in what appeared to be regular clothes and armed with a spear that he carried in his right arm. I couldn't discern much of his face, but he was definitively bearded and far from young.
NAME (As I see it) LEVEL (Hiding anything below average) Shaz'r Danr (New? Never seen before) - Strength 11 Danger-Sense 11 Piercing 12 Charge (New? Never seen before) 10 Beasts and Monsters 14 Killer (Title - Criminal) - Kingdom of Neverc Bounty 5 (Silver?)
The left rider, closer to me, riding an ebony-black horse and far more heavily armored and armed. Not only his clothes sparkled in the sun, meaning that he had iron or steel below the robe-like black clothes, but he also had not only a spear but also a sword hanging on his belt, as well as what looked to be a trio of very short spears poking their points from behind his right shoulder.
NAME (As I see it) LEVEL (Hiding anything below average) Shaz'r Danr'oe (New? Never seen before. Different from the other?) - Strength 12 Agility (Dexterity) 11 Education 15 Deceit 15 Negotiation 12 Merchant Eyes 11 Danger-Sense 16 Detection 11 Slashing 14 Piercing 15 Quick 11 Force 12 Close-Quarters 13 Middle-Quarters 11 Accuracy 14 Leadership 11 Command 12 Planning 12 Killer (Title - Criminal) - Rapist (Title - Criminal) - Torturer (Title - Criminal) - Kingdom of Neverc Bounty (Title?) 50 (Silver?)