Aria

I frown as I pull my hood further over my head while walking through the heavy rain. But even as I walk, I can’t help but notice the rain lightening up the further East I get, instead turning to snow, and eventually, hail.

This is a pain.

At this point in my trek, all of my clothes and armor are soaked to the bone. My hair is soaked despite my hood, and I’m freezing so badly that I occasionally see flashes of crimson light shining from under my gear as my body repairs any initial starts of frostbite or hypothermia. Or any sort of sickness or other types of damage caused by the cold and rain.

This is exactly why the war tends to stall during the winter and spring. Because of the weather at the northern and southern passes.

It just ends up turning into sneak attacks, ambushes, and stealth missions galore instead of an actual war.

I let out a sigh, not pausing in my trek through the northern edge of the Dark Forest.

When I tried to think about why the emperor would want to send me on my own to the enemies, it didn’t actually take very long to figure out the reason why. After all, I’m a weapon to him. And I’m unique to our world.

So what better way to start a conflict than to send a unique being to the enemies alone, messing up their expectations of the war?

Because if they see a category 5 ability user as their first real enemy, then they will have to assume we have more until proven otherwise. Unless they’re just stupid that is.

And that assumption will slow them down and close opportunities that may otherwise be open until they realize I’m special even in this world.

All of this is assuming that these invaders don’t know anything about our world though.

It would be awkward if they did know everything about our world, but we don’t really have much to go on. So it’s best to do what we can.

Not that I have any say in this.

I grimace at that thought as I continue trudging through the trees until I reach the edge of the mountains and begin trailing along the edge of them into the main part of the Northern Pass, out of the dark Forest. And it doesn’t take too long for the rain to completely turn into heavy snow instead. Or for the hail to start, making me grimace at the rather annoying sensation of ice hitting my head.

None of it does any real damage other than bruises that heal immediately though.

I’m starting to wonder if this weather was the real reason I’m being sent out first, since the other teams were held back until the weather lightened up. But I can get through it easily, albeit with a lot of discomfort.

If that’s the case then it makes sense, considering that no one would expect someone to send forces through this shit.

Just the thought of that, no matter how logical it is, has me clenching my fists in anger until I see crimson light shining from under my gloves.

That emperor is going to pay for everything he’s done to me and my family.

I glance at the corner of my vision where those icons from the System are.

Before now I was simply planning on playing the long game of waiting until I climb the ranks to the top of the military simply by letting the old coots above me in rank grow old and age, along with the emperor. Then kill the guy after I have enough power to do so.

But now that I have a way to actually get stronger…

I purse my lips as I raise my fist closer to my face and clench it again, this time in a faint feeling of excitement instead of anger.

That could work.

I blink as a thought comes to me.

Guess I could also hope that some random invader comes and kills the emperor.

Then again, as much as I hate the emperor, I don’t hate Albaria itself. Just the figurehead.

I continue trying to think of possible paths to revenge as I make my way through the frozen pass north of the mountains until I eventually have to stop when I see lights in the distance through the snowy trees. And after a brief pause, I quickly climb out of the snow on the ground onto the trees before jumping from tree to tree, making sure the branches I go to are strong enough before each jump.

Once I get within several trees of the light, I begin to hear voices over the snow.

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“You think those invaders are serious?” A rough voice comes from the light source, which I still can’t see yet as it’s covered by the trees.

I frown as I jump to another tree, and then another. At which point I finally am able to see where the light is coming from.

A strange, makeshift shack? Of sorts.

It’s rather crappy, but at least seems to cover the group of bandits I find living under it. The shelter doesn’t even have walls on all sides. Just on two, with a couple planks on the other sides.

It doesn’t even fully cover them from the snow, letting some snow and still get around through the sides.

I get the feeling they made it mostly for the hail though.

“I don’t know, maybe?” Another bandit says, this one being a lot bigger than most of the other bandits there. “They dress weird so I didn’t pay attention.”

A much smaller bandit smacks the guy in the back of the head, which looks rather comical as they exclaim, “Idiot! What did I tell you about paying attention to appearances?!”

That’s an odd group of ruffians.

Then again, the Passes are full of these sorts. They can’t find a place for themselves in either nation and end up living in the Passes.

Both sides of the war often use them as mercenaries to help in the war and have an unspoken agreement to not just kill them. Unless they try to rob you that is.

If they try to rob you that gives you carte blanche to kill them. Or arrest them, if you feel like bringing them all the way back through the treacherous weather with you, sharing your rations with them.

Although I kinda traded my rations away for extra ammunition due to not needing to eat or drink.

“I’m sorry, boss!” the big guy exclaims while covering his head with his hands. Then the little guy who yelled at him sits down and cups his chin.

“Their offer is enticing, and it’ll open up more paths for us, so I think we should take it,” the man says, making me frown.

From the sounds of it, the invaders might be hiring the wandering bandits themselves to fight against us. Which doesn’t bode well for their situation after entering our planet either.

Then again, they apparently entered our world through the Great Divide. Which, while it’s better than the Northern and Southern Passes, is still not the most pleasant place to live. Especially during winter.

Well, anyways, I listen in on the bandits’ discussion for a little bit longer, ignoring the snow and hail hitting me all the while, until I eventually decide they’re not gonna say anything worthwhile without some extra push. And after a brief count, I find the bandits numbers to be around a dozen or so.

I can take on that many. Especially since they only seem to have a couple pistols total out of all of them, along with pretty bad blades spread across the group.

So without any hesitation, I jump across a few more trees before jumping straight down to land several meters in front of their little shack, startling them all into standing up. But I just raise my own assault rifle that I grabbed from the storage ring I was given to point at them.

“Stop, stop, stop!!! Don’t shoot!” The small guy who I’ve learned by now to be the leader of them shouts while raising his hands and motioning for the other bandits to lower their weapons. “We don’t have anything worth taking, and we certainly don’t want to be mowed down. So why don’t we talk this out?”

I blink, vaguely surprised that the bandits are trying to negotiate with me. Until I feel a light tickle in my side, making me glance down to find a flash of crimson already starting to fade. So I look up at them again to find another one having been hiding right outside of the shack on the other side of it, with a rifle aimed at me.

A distraction?

Doesn’t matter.

As a warning, I go ahead and fire the assault rifle, shooting the one who shot me in the head and killing him. Then I move it to focus on the others who all quickly glance back at the dead man and then to me with terror on their faces.

“I surrender!” Two of them shout at the same time, followed by the big guy who does so after looking at their leader and finding them gritting their teeth and eventually joining the two. Then the rest all fall in as well.

I don’t lower my rifle as I ask, “What offer did the invaders give you?”

The bandits all show surprise on their faces before they look at each other. Then the leader turns back to me and answers, “They’re goin around to each of us wanderer groups and offerin a job to fight for them, just like you soldiers do.”

That has me frowning as my suspicions were confirmed.

But the next part surprises me a little.

“In return for helping them in tha war, they were offerin a home for us to live in,” one of the other wanderer bandits answers, making me understand that their leader is smart and not against working alongside those from the planet he or she is invading.

“Okay, and where are they now?” I ask, finding the snow lightening ever so slightly in the middle of our conversation.

The leader answers this one by pointing to the Southeast and saying, “They are at the Intersection.”

I purse my lips for a second before deciding that these idiots aren’t worth the time it’d take to kill the rest of them. So I lower my weapon and begin sprinting away.

If they attack me though, then I’ll kill them. But none of them ever do, so I just keep running through the snow towards the mountains, through the Pass.

The Intersection is the intersection point between the Western and Eastern Mountain Passes, which are basically just two very narrow and difficult to traverse paths through the mountains in the Great Divide that end up connecting at one point. Then they continue on for a little bit past the intersection before hitting a dead-end.

Any other parts of the Great Divide are damn-near impossible to pass through. Unless you’re immortal like me and don’t care about falling to your death, being frozen to death, struck by lightning, and possibly eaten by a mythical creature that is foretold to be there but has never been seen before.

No one has ever really crossed the Great Divide, and after who knows how many missing people trying to do so and never returning, people don’t really try anymore.

And it looks like I’m stuck traveling into it now for the first time.

That’s not gonna be pleasant. Especially since there is no way I’m going through the Western or Eastern Mountain Passes. Not when they are bound to be guarded by the invaders.

So my only choice is to go through the dangerous path of traveling up and through the mountains to sneak past them.

I sigh at the thought as I continue running through the snow.