Noah emerged from the study almost a full day later, his hair in a mess and his undereyes puffy. Research-based archmages were used to pulling all-nighters in their pursuit of knowledge even before they started warrior cultivation, and when they started, this habit of theirs only became more common as their mental stamina grew as a result of it. For a man like Noah, a child of the modern age where average attention span had shrunk to be lower than goldfish, it was practically torture.
‘Ahh, I’m free. If they weren't so useful, I might just have ordered them to kill themselves. Not because they first tried to kill me. Purely because of these twenty four hour sessions. Kidding. A small part of me hates that these sessions are so productive, since I don't have an actual valid reason not to attend them.’
Although he felt like a zombie at the moment, he still had to attend to the military. Inwardly groaning all the way, he allowed the three pairs of harpy wings that emerged from his back to flap him over to the fort that lay on the border between Haldor and the Demonic Forest.
A land formerly a favorite of adventurers as a preparatory area before entering the Demonic Forest, over the past week, the military had made efforts to take over these areas and recruit adventurers as a mercenary force while rapidly militarizing the area. Thankfully, many forts were already present at the border, so these military efforts could progress quickly.
Landing on the tallest wall of the fort, Noah undid his Harpy x 3 transformation, and exhaled.
“What is this, fort number 6, I believe? Alright then. No rest for the weary.”
-
Caleb had not been in Haldor for long.
With Eldoria sinking deeper and deeper into turmoil, adventurer taxes, prices of goods, and just the general cost of living had begun to experience sharp increases, and the former A-rank adventurer had had enough. Eldoria being the nation he had grown up in, he put up with it not just until his coffers had gone dry, but until they shriveled and withered away.
The breaking point was when they began enacting internal border control. By Royal Order, citizens were unable to leave the nation unless they met extremely stringent conditions, that were, frankly, ridiculous to meet for the average citizen.
The justification for the passing of such a decree, despite the protests of not just the commoners, but also many nobles who suspiciously began to go silent, was that the increasing demonic invasion posed a threat to the safety of the citizens if they were outside the borders, and that the decree was passed for their own safety.
Obviously, their justification was nonsense, with the real reason being to keep the populace from evacuating the dying nation.
Caleb, now low on money, had heard faint rumors from the high ranks of the grapevine that he had access to due to his status, which suggested that Noah, one of the former heroes he had once met, had become a truly remarkable force to be reckoned with. Although most didn't believe it, there were even voices suggesting that he had slain a leviathan.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
And so, determined to earn a new living in the country of adventurers, he took the calculated risk of moving to Haldor, despite public announcements that it was one of the minor countries not under the grace of the Heroes who could protect them from the demonic invasion. No, the news of the invasion actually stoked a fire within him, pushing him even more to move to Haldor.
In a world where individuals contained the potential to play a bigger role than even nuclear weapons, talented participants could expect to profit from war. That is, of course, if they were on the winning side, and Caleb thought that if even a fraction of the rumors of Noah he had heard were accurate, the war was in their hands.
The moment Caleb arrived in Haldor, he had mere days before adventurer recruitment began. Being a foreign adventurer, he was not obligated to join, but had been promised immense rewards if he did. Of course, he took the offer. This was what he had come to do anyway.
Being a high-level adventurer, he had been granted the privilege of skipping the training process, and had been assigned to the mercenary squad in a fort on the border of Haldor.
Mercenaries couldn't be expected to work together with soldiers, and were often given roles where decentralisation and mobility were necessary; they were grouped into small squadrons so that these qualities of theirs could be maximised. Each fort consisted of a handful of these squadrons, and were usually ready to deploy anytime as the first line of defense.
At this moment, Caleb’s squad was on guard duty. At least, he was supposed to be.
“So what's a fine one like you doing in a dump like this?”
Caleb’s squad had an attractive older woman in it. Exactly the type he was into.
“Hmm? Mr A-rank? Oh my, we should be on guard duty, aren't you getting too distracted?”
“It would be a challenge not to when someone like you is so close to me. And please, call me Caleb. Just Caleb.”
The fort was in the centre of a large clearing at least half a kilometer wide, and the guard outpost the two were in was close to the moat that surrounded the fort and to the south of it, such that they could strike down potential intruders that may attempt to enter through the drawbridge over the moat not too far from the outpost they were in.
Caleb was leaning on a wall in his heavy armour with his helmet off, his gaze drawn to the lady adventurer who was about to begin her shift with him, a practiced grin pasted on his face. They were to patrol together for a few hours, then swap back. That was the agreed upon plan, and the mercenaries that had just completed their shifts had just left after informing them.
“Caleb, you're making a girl’s heart flutter. I'm Rose, you'll call me that, won't you?“
The grin on Caleb’s face widened just as hers did, and he took a step closer to her. After deploying his cheesy flirting on dozens of women, this was the first time he was being reciprocated.
In his defense, he wasnt particularly bad looking. It was just that he chose to engage in his courting at moments he really shouldn't be, such as moments like now, where he was attempting to get it on when he was supposed to be on guard duty.
“Of course, Rose. You know, I think I heard that guard duty can be slightly postponed. So let's get this armor of yours and mine off, why don't we?”
“Oh my, Caleb, I think I heard that too. It's quite difficult for me to undo my armour myself, though. Can you help me?”
“Rose, you don't even have to ask.”
Caleb took another step towards her, and their faces slightly flushed.
“You know, Rose, I think I might accidentally remove more than just your armor, I hope you wouldn't mind too much. Slippery fingers, you see.”
“Same here, dear Caleb. Slippery fingers.”
Right as their hands were about to come into contact with each other.
The intruder bell within the fort rang with a deafening roar, and a voice yelled out in the distance.
“One intruder in the fort! Entry from the south! Minimum rank: S!”
Caleb and Rose awkwardly looked at each other.
“...We were supposed to guard the south, right?”