As soon as we passed through the gate, the rock door from before raised back up with a slam, causing Eleanor to yelp as she turned to look behind her. Both guards ignored her as they turned to look ahead at the outsides of the fort. Eleanor sighed in relief and turned to continue walking behind the elf.
There was a wide court between the rock walls and the building that stood in the middle of this fort. It was mostly desolate, with exposed ground, and a few patches of grass here and there. From our left side, as we walked forward, there was a small building, where we could see men walking out, sitting, or just resting by the walls watching a couple of men training themselves by doing push ups in front of the building.
At our right, there was just a small shed without walls where pieces of stacked wood could be seen, and another man arranging new logs.
Ahead of us stood the central building, made from dark gray rocks like the walls. It was a couple of floors high, and there were hardly any details on it. From where we were, a man doing rounds could be seen at the roof, with a large bow strapped on his back. He looked like another elf, but this one had dark black hair instead.
The building also had small windows on its walls, but they were just small slits that wouldn’t allow a person to walk out of them, and as we got closer, the couple of men that were standing by the entrance followed Eleanor with their gaze.
By now, Eleanor realized something strange about this place, just like I did. Her gaze swept the men training, who had stopped what they were doing to look at her. Then to the man stacking woods, who was also staring at her, and finally, to the men by the entrance that were looking at her up and down.
This fort appeared to be full of men and nothing more. There could be other women inside of the building, but just having the men outside was odd… Since women like Eleanor weren’t that rare in the sense that women could use powerful magic and train their bodies with it like any other being capable of using magic in the outside world, so the guards be women just the same.
Eleanor tightened her lips and glanced around, unsure about the place that she had just walked into. However, as long as nothing strange happened, there shouldn’t be a reason for her to do anything strange either.
“Yo!” said the elf that led us here to the couple of men by the doors. “I found another survivor. I think it would be best to introduce her to the boss.”
“Hm…” replied the man on the left, someone with a large bear-like build, leaning forward to look at Eleanor up and down. “Will she be good enough? I don’t want to be dealing with another one that couldn’t keep up again.”
The elf laughed out loud. “Come on, Rick. We haven’t had another new one in a long time. We can’t just leave her behind to be captured by demons.”
The big man continued intensely looking at Eleanor, causing her to cower slightly as she raised her shoulders and looked away. After a short moment, he slammed the large rock door behind him, and it opened outwards with a loud boom. “In you go then. Don’t disappoint us.”
“Shesh…” the elf said, taking a step forward. “No need to say it like that…”
The inside of the building was strongly illuminated by torches. It appeared to be wide, with a few wooden doors at the back, a long table in the middle, and a few weapons at the sides of the hall. There were more men sitting by this table, eating meat and other vegetables, who turned to look in this direction.
Eleanor carefully walked into the building, right behind the elf, who turned with a smile to look at her. “Come on, don’t be shy. We’re all looking after each other here.” Saying that, he looked at one of the doors at the back. “The boss should be there.”
He walked with certainty in that direction, and Eleanor walked behind the elf, trying to be as close to him as possible, while avoiding the looks that she was getting from the eating men. In just a few short steps, we reached the door, which easily opened to reveal a short hall that spread both ways. This one also had a few more doors, with one being wider than the others.
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“This way,” the elf said, walking into the hall and giving a glance at the other doors. “This is where the boss stays with the next ones in command. It's only for the officers and the strong people.”
“I-is that so…?” Eleanor asked, glancing at the doors. “How did you end up here?”
“Ah, well…” the elf said, stopping by the large doors. “It’s better to ask the boss about it—IF he wants to talk about it, that is.”
Without waiting for Eleanor to say anything, he knocked on the door a couple of times. There was some silence from the other side as the sound of someone moving could be heard, followed by steps getting closer.
It was then that the door was opened with a swift movement to reveal the person inside. It was a young man, with pale white skin, blue eyes, blonde hair, and a thin but well-built body that was revealed by his shirtless torso. He looked at the elf first with a serious look, and then at Eleanor.
“Your highness…?” Eleanor exclaimed with surprise as she looked at the man.
However, the man just raised an eyebrow and turned to look at the elf that led us here. “Who is this?”
“This is Eleanor of Andras. She’s a lone survivor that found me in the forest. I led her here in hopes of adding her to our group…” the elf said, losing strength in his voice until he said nothing and just stared to the side, avoiding the blonde man’s piercing gaze.
“U-Um…” Eleanor spoke up, causing the man to look at her again. “Are you… Are you His Highness?”
“No, I’m not royalty,” the man said, shaking his head, then turning to look at the elf. “You may leave now. I’ll talk to her alone.”
“Ah, well, if you say so…” the elf said, but stayed in place, fidgeting slightly.
“What are you still standing here for?” the man said, furrowing his eyebrows. “Are you expecting some reward? Go back and earn it.”
“R-right…” the elf said, lowering his head slightly, and glancing at the side to Eleanor.
The man got annoyed with the elf’s persistent presence, causing him to grunt, grab Eleanor from the wrist, and pull her into the room. I nimbly moved into the room as he pulled her, before he shut the door with a loud slam.
There was the sound of footsteps outside moving away, after which the man sighed in annoyance and placed a hand on his face. “It’s getting so bothersome to deal with this…”
Eleanor didn’t reply and just stood still, wringing her hands close to her chest with a hardly hidden expression of uneasiness. While her eyes were on the man, I inspected the room.
It wasn’t too big, with one small table full of pieces of metal, weapons, armor and food. Close to it, there was a makeshift bed made from simple wood and dry grass, covered with rags of clothes. This room was like everything else in the fort, just walls of gray stone, and a couple of small windows that hardly allowed the light of day to pass through, so to properly illuminate it, there was a torch close to the door.
The man half-turned his face to look at Eleanor. His eyes lingered on hers, but such a thing caused her to look away, which is when his gaze lowered to look at her body. The men in this place seemed to be looking at her with a… particular interest in mind… However, it was up to Eleanor to figure out what to do.
“I hope that our little base here is comfortable enough for someone like you,” he said, walking past Eleanor and to the small table. “You carry a noble’s name, after all.”
“Ah, yes. I’m grateful for allowing me to come here,” she replied with a small nod and a polite smile. “And I hope that I can be of use… Maybe we can work together to leave this Void—”
“Nonsense,” he interrupted, causing Eleanor to raise her eyebrows. “There’s no way out of this place.”
“But Tyrr said that the demons—”
“The demons have a pact with the demonic evil God that created this place. Their God is looking after them, and that’s why they’re able to explore this place without an issue. The rest of us… We’re nothing more than their plaything. The best we can do, is to show them that we won’t lie down and be defeated,” the man continued, picking a small cup made of wood, full of a red liquid, and looked at it. “We’ll conquer this place and make it our sanctuary…”
Eleanor didn’t know what to say as she simply looked at the man while wringing her hands. The man turned his eyes away from the cup in his hands and inspected Eleanor once more. His eyes lingered on the sword in her hips, and then lowered to look at the lower part of her dress, which is when his eyes locked with mine.
However, his expression didn’t change, nor did he seem to acknowledge my existence as he ignored me and walked closer to Eleanor. “I’m sorry for that. I’m sure that you’ll wish to rest. There’s not a lot of rooms open, but you can use the one to the right of this one, and… here.” He passed her the cup. “You should get something to eat. They won’t give you trouble if you ask.” After she took the cup, he walked to the door and opened it. “Name’s Caleb. I’ll be seeing you soon.”
“Thank you,” Eleanor said, and walked out of the room. “I’ll be in your—”
Without waiting for her to finish, the door was closed, and Eleanor was left standing outside, holding the cup of whatever he gave her. She was surprised at first, but after shaking her head, she turned to look for the room that he gave her to spend the night and went to it…