"There is a response from the city!"

What previously was a bustling place froze on the spot yet again. There was not even a single soul that could break out of this stupor. This coincidence was just too much!

"Klimmer, take the whole unit and head according to the route. When you rendezvous with other detachments, pass the news and act accordingly. I need to check what's going on in the city!"

With just a slight delay between the report and his response, Victor sprung into the action. Dropping his fighting gear on the ground, he pulled a small knife and started cutting his robes. If he wanted to enter the western world from the mountains and through the recently excavated tunnel, he had to make himself look like a stranded survivor from the merchant caravan. As such, there was no point in bringing all kinds of elaborate weapon, since it could only serve as a clue to those who would be potentially interrogating him.

"What the hell do you mean by that! We received direct orders from the higher ranks. Did you forget what it means to oppose them?"

Irked by the decisive reaction of Victor, Klimmer blocked his path to the route leading to the mountain pass.

"Our people that live in the city should be more than enough to tackle any obstacles on their way, are you going to risk your whole life just for the sake of visiting a city for a while? Or do you think about desertion?"

Infuriated by the commander's action, he didn't budge even under the murderous glare of his direct superior.

"You actually believed when..."

Before Victor could respond to his friend accusation, hurried they could hear hurried footsteps as several figures suddenly showed up on the scene. While all of them were masked, their uniforms immediately betrayed their identity.

"I missed you so damn much!"

One of the figures instantly jumped at the Victor, hugging him from the midair and spinning around due to the attained interia. What was really strange in this situation, was the fact that insignia on the voice owner uniform was a lot higher than those in the Victor possession!

"Dear, it's not a time to act like that. Did you receive the news?"

Startled by the sudden change in the situation, Victor still took a while to recognise the newcomers. Thankfully, this time was short enough to not sour his fiance mood, otherwise, the scale of a massacre that would commence wouldn't fall short of what awaited the barbarian detachment.

"Yeah, that's why I hurried here. Knowing you, nothing would stop you from inspecting the city by yourself, and there is no way that I would let you go into this pitiful joke of a town by yourself!"

Seeing and hearing this exchange, Victor troops couldn't believe their senses. Looking at her distinctions, the girl clearly outmatched their commander in terms of rank, but living together with him for almost a year now, they perfectly knew how little attention did he pay to the titles.

If anyone else would ever dare to utter such words to his face, no matter the rank, he would end up beaten up and lying pitifully in the pit somewhere around the camp. But contrary to their expectations, not only Victor didn't fly into a rage, he even smiled calmly, as if all the troubles in the world disappeared just like that!

"What are you smiling for! I'm not some kind of fluffy mascot for you to hug!"

Suddenly breaking her character, the girl broke up from Victor's arms and stood to the side, hiding her reddened face. The joy from the reunion might have overcome her innate shyness, but the look of comfort and peace of her fiance's face swiftly reminded her of the situation.

"I'm not breaking any orders. I'm overwriting them. According to the field laws of the military, an acting officer of high enough rank can choose to modify received orders to make them suit the current situation."

While grandly stating those facts, Victor pulled out a small medallion from under his shirt and showed it around.

"By the authority bestowed upon me by Perran headquarters, I'm ordering you to set out. Your people should join them as well. The two of us should suffice for the matters in the city."

What he showed around, wasn't just a fancy medallion. It was special insignia proving his rank. Apparently, he wasn't just everyday officer, but a lower-class general!

"You heard him! Move out!"

Completely changing her attitude, the girl turned around to face the troops that came with her. Without any hint of leeway for the slackers on her face, she simply pointed out the direction of the forest route that would lead them towards the next detachment.

"What do you think you are waiting for?! Move!"

Seeing that her people stood there frozen on the spot, stupefied by the situation, she could only take a serious look on her face and strictly order them.

"Yes, Ma'am!"

From the way her underlings didn't dare to oppose her words, one could see how strict she was with their discipline. As the saying goes, the officer's group was like their own children. Every single one of them had a different means to make them do their superior's bidding! With the way Victor acted during his mission, one of the higher-ranked soldiers dared to accuse him of the intention to desert the army. Compared with how obedient were the forces under his fiancee, he understood that he was nothing more than a frog in the well when it came to commanding other people!

Just a moment later, all the soldiers left guided by Klimmer, who actually had the highest rank after taking Victor and his woman out of the account. Left finally alone, the girl's face turned gravely serious as she asked.

"If it's true that it's starting, do you really need to go? Can't you give up on it and just live with me? Please!"

With a pleading voice, she cried out while hugging her husband-to-be arm. With her trembling body, unstable posture and tears flowing out from her ears, she was the perfect example of someone any man would love to take care of for their whole life. Additionally, her fragile emotional state was caused by her worry about him!

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'How lovely!' Unable to utter even the smallest voice, Victor just hugged his fiance back, before pushing her away and looking her into eyes.

"Leila, you know why I joined the military and as far as I know, your reasons were the same. If the clues are right and he is starting his game yet again, there is simply no choice. All we can do is hope that it's just a great misunderstanding!"

It was his turn to calm her down now. With how the things were, the events that took place in the city would either be a glorious and happy mistake or a death sentence for him. Through all the ages that separated them from the apocalypse, various key holders were popping up in the remaining populace of the origins. None of those remembered by history people had the luxury to die in their own bed from the old age! If nothing were to be different this time, his death would be as necessary and forced as it would, later on, become obviously futile!

"Come on, we need to go. The faster we clarify the situation, the more time we will have for each other!"

Not wanting to linger on this sensitive topic anymore, Victor pulled Leila's hand and moved forward. The road to the hidden passage was long and full of obstacles. There was no telling how many wild animals would try their luck against them during the journey and every moment wasted would translate into a harder investigation later on!

"We are not going through the outpost?"

Leila asked in confusion. They barely left Victor's camp yet she already realised that the direction they were heading wasn't the one she assumed they would take. While it was certainly longer, it was still a lot easier to take. After all, caravans supplying the outpost couldn't traverse hard terrain. By using alternate routes, they might save a lot of distance, but all the difficulties they would have to face by using it would considerably slow them down in the process.

"If I'm not wrong, the last caravan will arrive in the fortress shortly. We can't waste a single moment, otherwise, our standard excuse will lose its validity!"

As they trekked between sparse trees, initially easy travel was becoming harder and harder. With every step they took, the forest became denser and the terrain started to take various, strange shapes. With just ten minutes worth of running, they got enveloped by complete shadow. Treetops greedily stretched towards the sky, blocking every sunray that dared to think about hitting the ground.

"Please, don't tell me we will use this old, abandoned mine!"

Leila whined painfully, imagining the hardship they would have to go through if that was what was going through her betrothed's head.

"Then I'm sorry to disappoint you. There is no safer or faster way to cut through the mountains. We can't cross through the valley and using the outpost route would be too big of a detour. There is no other way to get on the other side of the rocks."

While it wasn't something that Leila would be unaware of, he preferred to point it out in a straightway. If they wanted to fulfil their objective in the city, they could waste no time!

"Still, if we are going to use our standard method, we need to gather some herbs and animals to do so!"

Leila said while pulling her dagger from the wild boar brain. Throwing or retrieving the weapon didn't slow her in the slightest. It all happened in one, smooth and elegant motion as if ingrained in the basic idea of running for her.

"That's actually true. Pushing this kind of stuff through the tunnels might be a bit difficult!"

Victor used one of the kenners charging at them as a stepping stone. He swiftly jumped up from its back, grabbed one of the tree branches and allowed his motion to carry him forward before he reached the perfect angle and loosened his grip on the wood to glide through the air, vaulted upon landing and continued to run at the stable peace.

"We will have to limit ourselves to some herbs. Carcasses would spoil on the way and be too bothersome when in the mines. Considering how much value fortress put on those weeds, they would let a demon lord inside if that would mean a bigger haul."

"Don't be so harsh for them! It's normal for people to value things that they can't easily get their hands on. From what I heard, those Ikka flowers can be turned into some kind of potion. They apparently use it as a painkiller drug!"

Victor's fiancee argued while plucking some flowers during her run. She even waved it at her partner before storing it in one of her pouches. While her point was right, those flowers were actually everywhere! Even if God were to multiply the herbs in her bag a thousand times, it would still pale in comparison to the amounts of those so-called precious herbs they destroyed by stepping on them!

Don't act like westerner! Stop being a westerner! Those kinds of sayings hailed from common wisdom: Westerners reap what they sowed! They would go at war for just a handful of those flowers, not realising that beyond the walls they built, people considered them as a nothing but a harmful weed!

After just two hours of running, the pair finally reached their first destination. Rotted planks were lying bare on the stone shelves, created by enormous efforts of many miners generations. Few hundreds of years ago, this place was a thriving city, close to the walls yet perfectly hidden from the sight by the forest.

Once known as Hervert, this small settlement was founded by two rival merchants, aiming to monopolise the southern outskirts of the forest. By burying the war axe between them, they attracted a huge bunch of poor people and created safe heaven for past scouting companies.

Despite initial successes in the form of the prosperous mine and great income coming from forest riches, a lack of arable land quickly lead the small town to its downfall. The woodlands that brought them a great fortune were also the reason behind the food shortage. Unable to count on the pitiful amount of meat and fruits brought from the forest, settlers had to be constantly supplied by the Commonwealth caravans, that were too big and heavy to traverse the woods!

Later on, there were a lot of speculations that if those two merchants invested all of their new income into sustaining their investment, that maybe this town would survive its initial years and steal enough lands from the forest to set up enough farms to provide for themselves. Sadly, all of those were just speculations made by people who never experienced local hardship by themselves. If they were to ask Perran scouts, for example, they would simply point at the small list of species that would lose their homes by such actions. Most of them were known to be extremely territorial and a tough nut to crack even for experienced hunters or even soldiers!

As for today, all that was left from the once-prosperous city was just a mine entrance. All the land was previously stolen from the forest for the sake of building homes, warehouses or other necessary buildings was already fully reclaimed by the nature. If one didn't know what to look out for, they might've never found this mine, even if they stood right in front of it!