CHAPTER 17
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Parker POV
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“Parker….. wake up…” someone whispered and rocked my body, forcing me to awake from my slumber.
“Huh? Who is it? Stella?” I tried to open my eyes. Only to find her waking me. Now what? Don’t tell me she is awake in the middle of the night and can’t fall back to sleep. If it were true, I would forbid her to sleep before anyone else.
“So, what is it?” I yawned while asking halfheartedly. Now that my mind is a lot clearer, she isn’t wearing her nightgown but her mage robe. She even carried her staff. My mind was jolted awake.
“Could you come out with me?”
“So, why the get-up?” I asked about her clothes. The magician’s robe isn’t uncomfortable. It is not unthinkable for someone to use them in their sleep especially if the night is cold. But she is even carrying her staff outside with her now.
“hmm…… how should I say this?” she said while pondering. She was always hard at wording herself. Let’s be patient.
“Let’s attack the city now.” She said after much thought.
“Hah?!” I said dumbfounded. Attack the fort now? In the middle of the night?
“I can’t wait any longer. Let’s attack them now.”
“Wait. First, we would need around 1 day if we travel on foot. Even if we rush it. And then, how come you plan to attack the city with only 2 people? Of course, we are double S but we are an amateur. Our power might only amount to an S rank at most. In the first place, we haven’t even consulted with Richard. This is defying orders.” I tried to retort.
“Yes. You are right. This is quite a gamble….. Then, you may go back to sleep.” she quickly gave up. Geez, just because you are strong doesn’t mean you can do as you please you know. I understand if you are agitated and want to rush and save those civilians. My conscience also said to hurry, but you know, if we think logically, we shouldn’t care that much you know. If they are completely worthless then that’s another matter but from what I’ve seen the people here are quite competent at their job. Amateurs shouldn’t meddle too much against professionals
“Okay, let’s go back to sleep,” I said while yawning.
“I am going to attack the city by myself then. You can go back.” She said while gazing toward the city.
“Wait. What?” I said while turning my back in a hurry.
“I will go to the city today with or without you. To be honest, I am weak physically. Bringing you along would improve my safety so I would like it if you tag along. But, if that brings you trouble, I am sorry.”
“Wait, so you will attack the city today no matter if I come along or not?”
“Yes.”
“Are you stupid?” I said in surprise. She has gone insane.
“Hmmm. We have to save the city today or tomorrow.”
“Are you talking about citizens again? As I said before, there is no proof of the citizens being transported. And even if they were, it is none of our business. Call me heartless but we should only care about what’s in front of us. There is a saying ‘Don’t bite more than you can chew.’ It means we should not overextend ourselves. If we die here then it would all be meaningless. For humanity in this world and our family in our world.” I said while explaining to her
“Aren’t we rank triple S and double S?”
“Yes. But we are newbies. We are beginners. We are just infants that have just been able to walk. Rank is not everything.” I tried to argue.
“Aren’t you belittling yourself? Rank double S should be more than 10 times more powerful than rank S right? No matter how inexperienced an infant is, if that infant is 10 times more powerful than it should be, even adults will have a lot of trouble. Moreover, it’s not like we will knock on their front gate.”
“…” Her speech make me silent for a while. She is unlike Hart so she won’t go into battle that thoughtlessly. So, she planned to infiltrate into enemy’s headquarters and cause a disruption? If we manage to assassinate their gladiators, the rest of the army would flee. With my sense ability, we can somehow pull through. That’s why she asked me to come, isn’t it?
“So, what is your plan? We should consult with Alan about this.” I replied.
“No. I will go out tonight. If you want to hear about the plan, it would be on the way or in front of the city. If things didn’t go according to plan, we can just go back. Besides, I want to confirm several things“ She answered. She is already bent on going to the city tonight huh?
“I will go with you. But if I deemed your plan to be dangerous or unnecessary, will you retreat obediently?”
“Yes.”
“Wait 1 hour no, 30 minutes okay? I will pick my armor and sword.”
“Hm… it would be good if you wear leather ones. The noise is less horrible.”
“Hmm… okay,” I replied. I still have several clothes from before. It is mediocre but let’s not mind it. We are going stealth after all.
After changing clothes silently, I hurried my steps and found Stella was missing. But she soon comes up towards me from behind. Apparently, she borrowed leather bags and a water canteen for provision. How thoughtful of you to even prepared rations for just one day of travel. Our position as gladiators sure is extremely convenient. The warehouse keeper just gave us anything we asked without any questions.
“So, why am I piggybacking you?” I said while complaining. While jogging lightly.
“I am planning to borrow a horse if I am to be alone but you are more convenient. And I don’t have to worry about the horse running away.” She said logically. as she hugged me from behind her hand circled on my neck.
“I like honesty the best. But your honesty is quite hurtful. Why am I treated the same as a horse?” I retorted at her hurtful remark
“Of course not. You are not a horse... But it is better to use anything efficiently right? At this rate, we can reach the city at dawn. And the noise is a lot quieter. I am very thankful that you came. It helps a lot.” Stella replied. What the hell, is she trying to coax me? I am not a kid that will be coaxed by such obvious lines.
“So, did you leave any messages?”
“Yes. I leave a message for Nana. She will replace me as the leader for heroes.”
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“I see.”
“It’s about time you start explaining your plan,” I said while waiting just away from the city. I can run faster than a horse, and with my senses, darkness and ambushes are no issue. so, we arrives sooner than expected
“Of course. First, we will circle to their back. If my information is right, a portion of their group will leave at dawn. They will be slow as they are carrying slaves. That is, our people.”
“So, how exactly did you get this information?”
“Until I made sure the information is right, I can’t tell you. I can’t even control it yet. So, it is like a gamble.” She replied.
“Well, wrong information is worse than no information. But, if this information is wrong…..”
“We just need to leave. Reconnaissance isn’t difficult for your skills” She replied. I see, she wanted to test her source. I thought you went out of your character there Stella. She is as calculative as ever.
“Alright. Since it seems safe, I am a little bit motivated.”
“Don’t exhaust yourself. You haven’t slept enough this day.” Stella replied. Damn, so this is the reason she slept early. She has been planning since yesterday’s noon
As the sun rises the back gate really opened and a bunch of people came out. Woah, her information is spot on. I need to know the source of her information at all costs.
“There they are, should we attack?” I asked her
“Hmm… okay.” She thought about something and gave clearance. We walk through normally towards them. The orc soldier then asked. Surprisingly he talked not to us but to some humans. Ahh, so that’s a traitor. A traitor is a human or elves or demi-humans that are on the dark alliance. Most of them can speak both languages and can sometimes bridge our communication. But they are also the most hated person since they only cared about themselves. They usually have a mark from the dark lands somewhere on their body.
”Who are you?” they asked
“We come to free the hostages. Flee now. Or else!” I said while brandishing my sword. At that instant, from behind, ice spears started to stab into the bodies of the beastmans. Forgetting completely that I am in front of them, they all charged toward Stella but she managed to kill them all with firewalls. Am I even needed?
“what are you saying Parker… if they flee they are going to tell their boss our locations…” Stella criticized me. Sorry, I can’t help it. That sentence was on the top 10 list I want to say when meeting bad guys.
“We came to save the hostages right? Are you worried they might chase us?”
“No. saving them is our second objective. We are about to attack the town. And the traitor, you, you, and you. Everyone, please capture them and bring them to the fort.” Stella said while pointing towards the traitor and commanding the citizens to bind the enemies
“H-H-how?” the traitor and his cohorts are then bounded and dragged along with other townspeople. the townspeople and I have some idle chatter for a while but Stella immediately cut the conversation.
“If you follow this path, you will come across the fort. We have something else to do. Please go with haste.” Stella said coldly.
“Alone?”
“There are no enemies past this point. If you are afraid of beasts then you already have weapons from the dark force we fought earlier that should be able to fend off some of them. Okay. Bye.”
“So, is your information correct?”
“Yeah, they have some credibility to them. Now I can roughly guess the layout of the city.” She replied.
We then came through the sewers. Of course, the sewers are guarded but my senses are much sharper, I can sense them from far away and assassinate them before they even notice what’s going on. What amazes me is that Stella is also aware of their locations albeit at a shorter distance than me.
She should have no talent in senses. Let’s write it off that high talent affected other talents. Even I can sense some mana even though my magic talent should be low. If I focused I can know when and how large a spell is going to be cast. And I might even guess what spell it is.
“Stella.”
“Yes?”
“Talking with common sense, isn’t it impossible to attack a town with 2 people? No matter how strong we are. Even if by chance we can win, there is going to be some serious damage right? Such as the enemy starting to kill the hostages and so on?” I talked about what was on my mind while hiding the bodies of the enemy I just killed.
“So?” Stella replied. So she doesn’t care about the hostages at all. Their lives aren’t my business either but, politically speaking this one is quite a bad move you know.
“If we attack them upfront, they might do the same right?” She replied. She is completely right. After we dispose of their corpses. we walked inside the town.
“But, you know. We might get some critics.” I replied. While walking inside the empty town there are many guards at the walls but the city itself can be called empty. Sometimes guards are patrolling but using my sense we manage to evade them easily.
“Hmmm…” She then pondered then smiled. Somehow that smile was eerie. What is she planning to do? I momentarily stopped my work
“No one will die anymore this day. In the worst case scenario, only 2 will die.” She replied while smiling. Somehow she seemed so sure.
“Huh? What are you planning?”
“There it is.” She stopped at some random 2 story building. But there are 2 guards at the front door and enemy soldiers are coming in and out of the building.
“What’s there?”
“Enemy’s headquarters. Enemy’s gladiator cum commander is in there.”
“huh? How did you know?”
“I will tell you later.” She replied. That information was astonishingly accurate. She was very lucky to meet the informants whoever that informant is. I wonder if our kingdom has this kind of information network.
“So what are we going to do.”
“We climb to the window. The commander’s room is close by from that window.” She replied while pointing at the window slightly at the back. Of course, it is in the second story huh. Honestly, Instead of headquarters, this building looked like an office building. I wonder why they chose this one despite other similar buildings around.
“Ok. No need to climb. Just don’t scream I can handle it in one jump.” I said while bragging
“Ahh. I forgot. Wait a second.” After entering the room Stella opened the door calmly. She somehow remembered something and touched my earrings. She then closed her eyes and somehow I can feel her mana move. She did something to my earrings.
“What did you do?”
“The earrings can also translate into another language. But somehow, the kingdom blocked it. I was able to speak with the beastmen yesterday. When I investigated my earrings back at the academy. I was wondering why they blocked some unknown function. It turned out to be the translation feature for our enemy’s language.” She replied then continue walking. As if she has been here before, she went to another room and opened it. Behind the table, I see a beastmen working with official papers. His build is quite brawny. And there are also several soldiers standing beside him.
“Hello,” Stella speaks. She somehow speaks another different language. Huh? What’s happening here?
“Who are you? Another traitor?” the beastmen really can speak! It was talking in a random language before. Damn, the kingdom tricked us. Do they fear we would ally ourselves with the demons?
“No. I am Stella. I want to make a trade.”
“What is it?” the beastmen gave a confused looks
“Flee this city and I will spare your life.”
“…” The room went silent then a burst of laughter came out from one of his henchmen.
“Hahaha! To threaten 2 gladiators. It seems this traitor doesn’t value their lives!”
“It seems there is no one who recognizes me in this room... Fang and Wolve?” Stella asked while looking towards the enemy. The laughter then stops at once.
“Who are you?” the commander spoke. The enemy then flexed their muscle and gave an intimidating look.
“My name is Stella.”
“And who is this Stella?” The commander stood and the room’s atmosphere grow tense. My hand was grabbing my sword and everyone took a stance except Stella.
“Hm…?” Stella gave a confused look. But she quickly realized what the commander meant “Ah. You don’t know my name. I am the gladiator that extinguished your troops 2 days ago at the human fort not far from here. Still not enough?”
“Stop!” The commander stopped one of his henchmen that tried to jump at us. in reflex, I already drew my sword to intercept them
“But, brother!!”
“Shut it Wolve! Back off a little bit.” He went tense and started to hold his chin like he was thinking.
“Stella is it? How can you talk to us? Ahh, the translation earrings. That guy has it too. So you guys are the rumored new heroes huh? Why do you have that ea… well, it doesn’t matter to us. Is that guy one of the new heroes as well?”
“Yes.”
“Damn you. I will kill you!” another one of his henchmen shouted. “I will avenge my brother!”
“Silence!” the commander screamed. His scream was quite loud.
“…” The room went silent but the tense atmosphere was at its breaking point. No worries, we are at an advantage here. They do not carry their weapons and armor while we are perfectly armed. Even if they take sudden actions I can defeat them. It seems the commander also realized this as he was eyeing my sword the entire time. While Stella looked easygoing. I can sense she was preparing her mana before she entered the room
“Very well. We will bring 1000 more people.” The commander surprisingly agreed to our threat.
“No. leave now.” Stella replied. Her expression grew serious as she started to build several fireballs around her.
“…” The room grew silent again.
“ARGH!!!” Two of the beasts jumped out and tried to attack Stella. I quickly intercept and hack at one of their arms. Stella managed to raise her barrier in time and retaliate with her fireballs resulting in the other one being severely burned but still alive.
“Stop!” As Stella tried to raise more fireballs the commander shouted. “We will leave now.”
“Okay.” She replied. The commander then gathered her underling and walked past us.
3 hours later, the commander gathered all of his soldiers and retreat in an orderly matter. They didn’t flee like a loser but they make an attitude as if the town is no longer important to them and want to rendezvous in other towns to rally with other reinforcements.
I can applaud his cleverness. He might fake a report to his higher-ups such as it is risky to hold the town without reinforcements and such. With a report like that he won’t lose face. The enemy isn’t a fool either it seems. Their honesty surprises me, even though I was prepared to be attacked anytime, they didn’t do it and obediently leaves.
Just 2 hours after the enemy retreated, we met with our own reinforcements, or possibly a rescue team just in front of the town. We then shared the great news and we also heard that the refugees were safely rescued without any further casualties. To my expectation, it seems only the higher-ups knew the real situation about us defying orders and the common soldiers cheered at the success of the “secret operation”. Since I have some proof that the kingdom can’t be fully trusted I decided to hide the information about our abilities to communicate with the enemy.
“So, you sneak inside the town and attack the enemy’s commander. And then they flee?” Alan once again confirmed our statements. It seems Stella also has the same mind not to talk about that matter.
“Yes. The enemy is quite composed despite the surprise attack.”
“I have to reprimand you since you have disobeyed our order. But seeing the result we might get criticized instead if we reprimanded you right?” Richard asked for Alan’s suggestion
“Yes. That’s correct. Since he also saves more than 30.000 people. The city is still paralyzed since most of its population has been abducted but we can somehow make use of the most basic needs. It was fortunate. If we came across an empty city next week, we will be in a disaster.” Alan commented.
While I was listening to them very seriously a certain girl was sky-gazing towards the window in Alpas town. She didn’t even pay any attention and just silently gaze outside. Hey! At least give them fake attention. This situation is completely rude towards Alan and as I am the leader he seemed to direct their complaint to me.
“Stella?” Alan while giving a dry smile called her. It seems he is unable to stand it anymore.
“Hmm…. if we didn’t get any warnings or reprimands why are we here?” Stella asked. Her question is so bold and borderline rebellious. I expect Richard to lash out at her but it seems he managed to hold it in. Bane was just whistling around. His only complaint is that there are so few enemy casualties. but he also praises us for not causing any casualties to our citizens.
“I was asking if there are any plans you would like to give. I am sorry but it would be hard for me to give any support if you acted rashly.” Alan strained his polite gesture. No matter what, our position as a gladiator is higher than his so he can’t really reprimand us since we produced results.
“Hmm… then, hand over the management of the cities to Parker.” Stella said. “and also, let Parker intervene with the support that is going to be given to this city.”
“…” the room went silent