Our caravan was led towards a barracks allowed for our use, and then my party immediately ran off to find a local inn. The first one we found was an ill-maintained place with broken architecture and unclean cobwebs, but I wanted to take it anyway just in case everything else gets bought out. I’d rather get a room of my own than bunk with the rest of the people I was traveling with.
“Relax, Haell,” Granuel reassured me. “While it feels… strange compared to where we grew up in, this is still a city. They’re not all going to be full, and the barracks given to us were nice enough. Many would just choose to stay there for the night. We’ll find an inn.”
“Alright.” I shrugged. “You know this better than I do.”
We continued our search for an inn, and saw a lot more of Agwar City in the process. There were more forges, buyers, and mana farms than what we’d find in other cities. There were also brothels, which I was sure was illegal, but they were just buying some drinks, and some of the waiters and waitresses just happened to be seduced by the ‘very charming’ soldiers. I certainly didn’t care about the rules, but Angelore was usually very efficient in rooting out these sorts of operations.
We walked with our heads held high unlike the other citizens, which the soldiers were visibly bothered by as they tried to walk even more arrogantly in response, roping their inhex slaves along with the act. I did not like them at all(the regular soldiers, I mean), but surprisingly, no major confrontation happened. Some wanted to check our credentials, just as a way to exercise power against us or some other bullshit, but they did begin to be less standoffish once they got to the silver-ranked ones.
They didn’t even have proper level senses. How pitiful.
Eventually, we made it to the oasis in the center of the city, and we bought a suite in the most expensive inn in town. It cost even more than normal while having worse service–though still extremely good–but it was still amazing to experience after being on the road for days.
Civilization wasn’t all bad.
~~~
The following day, we left through the northern gate with a bunch of soldiers who were chosen to join us after negotiations with the army stationed here. There was an entire platoon of them, consisting of around 40 people, three-quarters of which were inhexes, and then a mix of mostly humans and other species. Among them were one tyranight and one sundertop.
The new arrivals split themselves off into two, taking the vanguard and the rearguard respectively, and sandwiching the rest of the caravan. The sundertop, who looked like a bright feathered triceratops, joined the soldiers at the front. The tyranight, who looked like a slick and dark tyrannosaurus but with much bulkier arms, joined the soldiers at the back.
We marched along the road under the heat of the sun, with even fewer monster attacks to entertain ourselves with. We set up camp in some clearing come noon, and I watched as the inhexes of our caravan were led to watch the perimeter, told to catch their own food, forced to eat it raw, but also punished for straying away from their spots and ‘endangering’ everyone.
“That isn’t normal, from what I’ve heard,” Granuel said after asking for a privacy bubble from Moonwash. People were looking at us judgingly now, having recognized that we always wanted to be separated from the whole group, but it did not matter to me. They should mind their own godsdamned business. “Inhexes can eat uncooked food, but they don’t have to. It’s not even uncommon to be able to eat raw meat. A lot of species can do it naturally, and those who can’t can do it anyway if they are high level enough.”
“Well, if they choose to eat raw, then it’s their life…” Angerly hedged.
“But they’re not being given a choice,” I added, and my friend nodded.
“It tastes horrible,” my girlfriend chimed in.
“Exactly Moonwash!” I chuckled, although my tone lacked most of its usual mirth. A horrible atrocity was happening right fucking there, but I could do nothing about it. “Really cutting to the meat of the matter.”
“It’s just frustrating,” Granuel said. “I don’t really know what they’re like. I can tell that most of the information about them are untrue or grossly exaggerated in some way, but I still don’t know how they actually are. No one understands them. No one tries to. And forcing service like this is wrong. They could at least pay them.”
“I don’t know what the inhex are like either,” Berry admitted. “I saw a lot of them in my childhood, but I’ve never even had a proper conversation with one before. They were just so scary, but now I get why they have to be.”
“Yeah,” I agreed. “I’m… honestly impressed, if in a sad way, that they’ve managed to hold it in for this long. It sucks that they have to.”
These people were angry, truly angry, and it was a deep and burning wrath that I could respect.
~~~
Monsters continued to avoid us, but we did see a fair number of fights because of the increasing number of cursetaceans. I managed to pick a fight with one myself, and it went much better than the last time because my friends held it down before I delivered a powerful finishing blow. Their defenses were actually weaker than what a monster with a carapace would have you believe, so it was viable to kill them with one strike, especially for someone like me. It still caused a great amount of damage to my arms, but nothing compared to repeatedly bashing away at the creatures as many fucking times as it took.
Adventurers murmured and discussed my strength with respect both grudging or not, and I hadn’t heard anyone try to suggest I was a demon or something equally outrageous so I chose to just be happy about the praise.
Most of the fights that did happen during this time did not involve me nor any of the adventurers hired as escorts, however. The soldiers showed an initiative to take the brunt of the burden themselves, or rather, some of them were forced to take on this burden as the inhex slaves were commanded to set upon any monster or animal that came close to our procession.
The moment a target for extermination even came close, one of them would rocket forward on their grasshopper-like back legs, and then grab the enemy with their mandibles. Some of their targets survived and struggled, but many failed to live through the piercing front legs of the inhex. If that still proved insufficient, then another one would jump in with eeries precision, seldom ever causing friendly fire. If even that was not enough, then the rest of the inhexes could also be mobilized, and then the sundertop and tyranight might be called to action once the enemy is sufficiently distracted.
I saw them take on a level 40 garosh. The bulky horse-goat monster charged forward, and it was halted by many inhexes leaping all at once and crashing against the charging creature. Many of them got injured or were instantly killed or knocked out by that attack, but with the beast’s dangerous charge now halted by the inhexes that clung and clawed onto it, the sundertop man prepared a massive attack. The magic resolved, and a massive burning orb that looked like a sun crashed against the creature.
The garosh cried, and so did some of the inhexes scream for one final time as they sacrificed themselves to keep the enemy from dodging the orb of fire. Its light was searingly bright, and I could feel a great heat from where I stood.
“Fuck you all!” one of them shouted as she died.
“May your empire burn!” another cried.
“Our queen will rise again and we will kill you all!”
The battle continued despite their death. The monster burned, and inhexes jumped back in despite the pain. The sundertop positioned himself against the creature’s heavily injured side, and he used what was left of his mana to do a persistent beam attack onto the creature’s side.
Once the monster was sufficiently weakened and the sundetop soldier’s mana was depleted, he made an earth-shaking charge and rammed his horns through the gaping wound, lacerating what organs remained within, thereby ending the monster’s life.
The rest of the inhexes were punished for the insolence of their dead comrades’ last words, and my body twitched in restrained violence as I watched it happen. But the ones being beaten bore through the pain with stoic rage, which helped me keep myself under control.
Not for the first time, I wondered why I even bothered to restrain myself. And not for the last time, my friends kept me tied to this place.
We would be adventurers. And the abuses of this regime would not stop me from living out this small dream.
~~~
The sundertop man healed the inhexes after his mana had regenerated, then apologized to the commanding officer when he was berated for his actions. They didn’t want him to waste his sun mana, which they were very inefficiently harvesting through many light repositories. The fountans were under a similar arrangement, with some wagons containing repositories they could dump their mana production into, but there was admittedly still a lot wasted because we couldn’t really pack that many repositories with us for this trip. The merchants who owned their produce were still hesitant to give the mana away for free most of the time, which was ridiculous when more was being produced and just wasted.
The sundertop soldier would later on proceed to ignore orders again and heal the inhexes. He would also apologize for her behavior again, but he never actually changed. It brought a smile to my face.
The tyranight and sundertop of our group were honestly given a lot of leniency by the other soldiers. Even the commanding officer present hesitated to reprimand then too much, because they were believed to be the strongest people here. They were both nearly level 40, and they were very powerful for their level.
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People did not wish to piss them off. Status was one thing, but strength was another, and they did not have the same kind of unfair leverage over them like the queen of the inhex.
~~~
We faced another intense battle, this time against a fierce pride of lyons. They were a terrifically intelligent species of monsters that looked like darker-colored lions, but with musculature comparable to that of tigers. They attacked us when we were at camp one night, overwhelming the perimeter of inhexes, half of whom had gone to sleep right in their places. They got in, dragged away a few civilians and adventurers, and slinked away into the night before most of us could react.
Keyword being most. My party always had someone on watch, because we never knew what could happen, or who could be our enemy. Therick woke us up, Granuel immediately shot a stone bullet after one lyon and then another, after which I ran towards the enemies as the fastest one of our party. I managed to kill the two as they had somewhat been injured, but the rest retreated successfully.
Well, I allowed them to retreat successfully. I could’ve hunted them all down if I really wanted to.
~~~
The next night, we slept in a clearing prepared for our use in a military encampment that was vaguely a village.
The night after that, we were attacked again by the lyons. People were lost, and I killed a few of the monsters, but clearly not enough to deter them forever. They were known to be persistent hunters. It was finally clear to everyone that the monsters would do it again.
The next night, the inhexes were forced to stay awake the entire time by the soldiers, and it bore fruit just an hour before sunrise. The lyons found a weakness in the perimeter to assault, so they attacked and killed a particularly unhealthy inhex, and then they slinked back into the night, knowing not to push their luck.
But launching that single swift attack in itself was their biggest mistake.
The shadows lengthened around them. The night turned absolute. I heard growls of distress, and many lyons stumbled out, clearly disoriented. The inhexes moved upon receiving a command, and they shot towards the locations of the lyons. Their initial attack was greatly successful, then they began to be pushed back, but the stalemate was quickly broken by the massive tyranight who moved way too sneakily for her size. She picked off the monsters one by one, ripping them apart with her long and massive claws, or devouring them whole through her powerful maws. The alpha of the lyons tried to call for a full scattering retreat, its roars echoed through the night, but it too was killed and devoured.
A single satisfied growl came from the forest as the tyranight relaxed after the slaughter.
~~~
I’ve had enough.
Later that same day, I ran off right after we’d made camp. I pushed my speed harder, for I no longer cared as much if people began to think I was too fucking strong. I found a massive eagle larger than a common man flying above, so I caught a normal rabbit, gutted it, and then tossed the bloody animal away. The over-level-20 bird fell for the bait and flew down. I charged as it dove, and I collided against its lighter body like a freight train. A wing came off, and a huge gash ran through its torso. The monster definitely had the hollow Mutations, so it bled out to me all too easily.
But it wasn’t enough.
I ran back to camp, told my friends to cook it, then asked Granuel to find me something else.
We searched for a bit, found a beeferal(big cow), and I battled the level 20 animal with the mass of an elephant. I watched its movements, dodged around the wide sweeps of its horns, then crippled a leg. I circled around my prey a few more times before it finally decided to run in earnest instead of trying to both attack and defend.
But it was too little too late.
The monster only made itself an easier target, and a few choice cuts on its neck… didn’t make it immediately bleed out. But the beheading that followed certainly killed it.
~~~
The other people with us grew excited when we started to cook so much food, thinking that we were once again going to share our bounty with them, but this was not for the people who had been traveling with us from the start.
I went up to the inhexes, and they looked at me dumbly as I dragged a whole roasted buffalo behind me. The eagle was for my party to eat.
“What do you want?” one of the inhexes asked. His voice was sharp and biting.
“I want to give you food.”
“Why?” someone else said. She looked up at me, head tilted, and mandibles clacking.
“You seem hungry.”
“We don’t need your charity.” More inhexes gathered around me, now clearly interested. Their words were interspersed with unintelligible screeches.
“Nor do we need your pity.”
“Leave us alone.”
“Go back to your stupid mansions.”
I found that reaction to be incredibly rude when I was putting my neck out there and trying to help, but I remained still, instead of acting on the building rage.
“We appreciate the gesture,” an older inhex whispered, “but this will only bring you trouble, so please go now.”
“No,” I shook my head. “Do not worry about me.” I wasn’t the biggest fan of making use of this, but… I found that I cared less than I did yesterday. My patience was wearing thin. “My Status actually transcends all of the people here combined.”
The older inhex looked at me strangely, and right on time, someone else approached me in rage.
Cute and pathetic rage.
“What are you doing?” the commanding officer asked.
“Giving them food,” I answered simply.
“You can’t do that.”
“Why not?”
“Because it’s against protocol and you are interfering with military matters.”
“You’re the one messing up military matters by letting them starve.”
“What did you say?” She drew the rapier on her waist, and the already tense atmosphere only became more suffocating, but I was unbothered. I was ready to fight. “These are just insects. They are violent creatures that barely know words. We feed them only what’s necessary, and we keep them in line. What will you do if you end up giving them the strength and opportunity to rebel?”
I tossed her my adventurer’s badge.
“They are part of our forces, and keeping them fed will only help us. That is what my grandfather, Golex the Hero, taught me.”
“What?” She checked the back of my badge. “WHAT!? …No, this can’t be true. Lying about this is a high offense, and it will see you executed!”
“But it is true,” I gestured back towards camp. “Ask the merchants, the organizers. They know for sure.”
She frowned. “If this is a joke, then I’ll kill you myself.”
I smiled in response, and though she could not see it, I got the feeling that the idea got through to her anyway.
“I’d love to see you try.”
She turned on her heel, then marched briskly back towards camp.
“Whoa, that was awesome!” The inhexes laughed.
“Seeing Maraya that red was so funny!”
“That bitch fucking deserved it!”
“You’re not so bad yourself, Haell.”
I smiled, but in a kinder way this time. It still could not be seen by anyone.
“Here,” I tried to give them the food again. I would not be satisfied otherwise, regardless of whether I actually helped or not. “If you want.”
“Well, if you’re sure...”
“I haven’t had something that smells this good…” an inhex woman drooled, “in so long.”
“Are you sure this is wise, though? I can’t imagine it will be safe for you…”
“Oh trust me.” I touched them and brushed wrath mana directly against their bodies. “I’ll be fine.”
Those who were fortunate enough to feel the curse shivered for a moment, and then in unison, they devoured the meat in a beautifully chaotic display.
…Revealing a secret here was fucking stupid, and I shouldn’t have fucking done it. There were always snitches among the oppressed, but I wanted to trust that their wrath ran deeper than that.
~~~
“You already fed them!?” the commanding officer had an even larger grimace on her face when she came back. One inhex failed to hold back her laughter, and was slashed in the face for the insult.
I took a deep breath. “I gave them food, yes.”
“I did not allow you to do that yet.”
“I knew what they were going to tell you,” I shrugged, referring to the merchants. “So I just hastened the process. Don’t want the food to get cold, you know? I hate it when that happens.”
“I DID NOT GIVE YOU PERMISSION TO FUCKING FEED THEM!”
“Do I need your permission?”
“YES! OBVIOUSLY!”
“I disagree.”
A tense silence passed. The spectators were at the edge of their seats. It’d be an even better show if we got into a genuine fight.
“Being the granddaughter of Golex does not mean you can do whatever you want. I can arrest you for this!”
“That’s Golex the Hero to you.” I was even angrier than her right now, but riling her up was so much damn fun! “I’ll tell gramps that you are against him if you try and stop me.”
“It doesn’t matter what he fucking wants! This not military protocol.”
“It doesn’t matter what Golex the Hero wants…” I trailed off, repeating exactly what this military woman said as I wrote it down on a notebook I fetched from a small punch by my waist.
“...You’re bluffing.” She stepped back in disbelieving fury.
“Wanna bet?” I leaned forward and leered at the smaller person.
She didn’t reply and just walked away. I guffawed at her departing back.
And then I felt the piercing gazes of the audience we’d made.
Ah, I made some enemies.
I acted like an absolutely spoiled brat.
Oh well.
I tried.
This was the least violent way I could go about it.
I had to do something, lest I do something worse.