I can scarcely remember the events of the last six days.

…

“It looks good. Thank you, Celis.”

Alisson said, nodding in satisfaction at the nearly perfect copy of the door they'd ran into.

Alisson had tried all sorts of ways to break into the structure in the meantime. None of his spells worked. He tried digging through the earth around the structure, but there was a barrier of equally hard stone all under the earth. Alisson was just about fed up, but at the very least, they had something to show to Sidonia - A location on a treasure of a map, and a replication to boot. If they had charcoal, and paper that wasn't so valuable, they could've also made a rubbing of the door's design, but unfortunately they had neither of these.

With this out of the way, they now had an arduous task before them. All that hardship, fighting, struggling, death, they would have to go through it once more; this time without any walking talking buffer zones. Thankfully this time, they knew where they were going.

They started with trying to go back through the tunnel. The tunnel itself as Alisson now knew was bad news. It recreated an entire environment, enemies and all, and he himself fell for it without question. But perhaps, by going back through it, it would lead them back another place, farther away from the center of Freigat.

This turned out not to be the case. Him and Celis marched through the blackness of the tunnel, eyeing both directions. At first it was going well. Then, the lights started to go out – When they blinked. When Alisson realized this, he promptly withdrew from the tunnel. To hell with that nonsense, he thought. He wasn’t going to tempt fate. He’d rather plant his feet on ground that he knew existed.

To this end, they traveled above ground, and melted into the inner forest undergrowth of Freigat. With their lack of manpower came an emphasis on avoiding combat. Whereas the adventurers brazenly went where they pleased, because they could afford to, him and Celis carefully tiptoed. This of course slowed them down, but not to the degree that fighting did. Alisson still remembered the first day in Freigat, how they moved so incrementally because of the constant fighting.

Without a team to fight with, they were liberated to act efficiently and without hesitation. Part in thanks to the fact that the team had forced them to fight together, him and Celis had bonded quiet closely in combat over the past time in the jungle. They no longer fought as two separate entities. And thank Sidonia that they did. The beasts that they did encounter were like the ones he fought with Rei – Very smart, very strong, and tough as hell. Unlike the adventurers had said however, there seemed to be a criminal lack of beasts within the deeper parts of Freigat.

According to them, there should’ve been ten, twenty times the number of beasts here. But there was hardly that. For that Alisson was thankful, but at the same time he knew this lack in numbers was made up for in tougher and more ‘interesting’ opponents. How Alisson had grown sick of ‘interesting’ enemies.

Off in the distance they would see the tall figure of a Darkwalker, and then be hit with that damned feeling. Visions, fake realities. Alisson was all expecting it by now and as such took care not to fall for them, and most importantly, not to accidently attack Celis in the process. These Darkwalkers became ever less prevalent as they left the center of Freigat however; and they only appeared behind them; like they were pushing himself and Celis away. There must be something that they didn’t want the two of them to see; if it wasn’t the structure, then Alisson could only imagine what that could be.

…

My legs hurt. My everything hurts. But I shouldn’t be complaining. After almost dying, I’m willing to put up with anything to get the hell out of here. If that means sticking close to Alisson, day and night, then so be it.

“There, that’s where you were pinned down with Crimson, right?”

Alisson whispered, staring off into the rocky canyons before us. We’ve finally emerged from the deep, inner part of Freigat. Ahead of us, past the canyons and ravines, are those familiar tall trees. I can already see a plethora of Ravens circling the canyon, they’ve probably been in a perpetual feeding frenzy ever since Alisson killed so many beasts when he broke Crimson out their predicament.

We’ve busted our butts getting back here through the night. It turns out, that tunnel really didn’t take us that far – Had we avoided the underground caverns entirely, then we probably would’ve saved time. And lives. The deeper part of Freigat was easier for me and Alisson to traverse. Either to the lack of teammates, or beasts. Or both. When it comes to me and Alisson, it’s a numbers game. When it comes to intelligence, the more stupid the enemy is, the harder they are to predict. By those sentiments, the tougher beasts at the center of Freigat didn’t offer us unbeatable odds as we thought.

The real enemy will be the massive hordes that now bear before us.

We made our way into the network of rocky ravines and canyons. The odd roamer trotted here and there, but we knew full well where all the beasts were. They were still feeding off of corpses in the largest canyon. We took care to go around that area, obviously. But with rocks, you can’t exactly pick and choose your path. We had to turn around many times just to avoid heading in that direction.

We could hear them too; Even though they were so far away. All the gnawing, crunching, and chewing. It was that many of them, that we could hear the echoes of their feast from the walls of the canyon. This works in our favor though, the canyons are mostly clear because of the feeding frenzy, and they aren’t paying any attention to us.

It turns out that the flight scrolls Alisson got weren’t in vain. To get up the cliff, we either had to go around, or go through the feeding frenzy. We stuck a middle finger at both options, and made our own.

I was still a novice at flying, but I managed to ascend alongside Alisson on wobbly legs. Our rise was not uncontested though. Ravens dove for us. Since the flight spell isn’t powerful enough to propel blades through flesh, we had fend them off with our spells. I would call it a shooting gallery, but that would imply that these beasts were easy to hit. They weren’t. But thankfully we managed, and we were soon on solid ground again.

It’s a good thing that we did go up the cliff. From the elevation, it’s obvious that going around would’ve tacked on a full day more of travel.

That’s a no-no. As Alisson informed me, we’re running out of food, fast. Water won’t be a problem, since we can find streams just fine, but there’s no way to get any kind of food in Freigat. Except beasts. Mostly beasts are inedible because of the toxins in their bodies. Even the ones that aren’t poisonous still give you adverse affects. There’s plenty of evidence of people who ate beast meet, who then grow tumors and die years later down in their life.

There are some berries here and there, but they’ll only prolong the inevitable.

Now that we’ve cleared the exciting center of Freigat, it should be easy sailing from here on out – Is what I would’ve liked to say. I thought the going would’ve gotten easier, but what lays before us is the stretch of land that warranted us using adventurers.

It’s been five days. Five long hard days and nights. I haven’t slept. Or eaten. I’m surprised I’m still on my feet. The problem with this land, is that its open, flat, and has little to no cover to hide. The only cover comes from the massive trees, but of course we can’t exactly climb these, so we’re left scampering around on the forest floor, perpetually in an untenable position.

I’ve kept my back against Alisson, and anything that got too close, we killed. We killed, and killed, and killed. When we couldn’t kill, we ran. I’m surprised at my own ease in neutralizing beasts. With my mind and body so worn away, I know for a fact that my muscles are what’s killing these beasts, not my brain. In a sense, I’ve gotten far stronger. But that’s not how I look at it. I’m exhausted. Plain and simple. It’s like my first week as an apprentice, but worse. I felt that tire and exertion and pain then, so that I wouldn’t have to now. That’s the thinking with most conditioning, but when the task at hand is exponentially more rigorous than someone is prepared for, it’s all up to willpower from there on out.

Looking around, shooting vapid glances at every tree in my vision; Not necessarily fearing beast contact as I was dreading it. It’s like getting your nails pulled one by one. You endure the pain over and over, knowing that it will end but not when it will end; resting lethargically until suddenly blaring to life to do your duty, before fading back into a trance of anxious, dull emotion.

After so much time here, after so much time spent doing one specific task, my body quite literally moves on its own. I’m only around to feel the pain and fatigue, it feels like. But if that’s the job I need to fulfil to get out of here, to rest, to finally pull the last nail, then so be it.

There was a torture class at the Academy. It didn’t teach torture, that was Interrogation, but it put its students through common torture methods, which inevitably resulted in indescribable agony. No one took up that session, not that I know of. The teacher that hosted it was a total freak and the session itself was used it as an idiom to express stupidity.

Standing out here, dead on my feet, I found myself wishing I had taken that offer.

Being drowned in a trough of water suddenly doesn’t sound so bad.

A cut here, a bite there, being tackled and nearly losing your newly regrown arm…All in a day’s work. Except, after your nine to five, you have to work a five to nine, and there’s no days off.

I realize I’m daydreaming as I normally do, but anything to take my mind off of reality is exceptionally addicting in these boots I’ve found myself in. Every second I spend in these this armor, I shiver and twitch. My skin pricks from the cold air. My biceps and thighs feel like they’re going to pop, like my muscles are just balloons, reaching a breaking point. The time I ran out of mana when I was healing myself…well…ehe…

…

Alisson took a deep breath.

Five days of nonstop battle and travel. He was running on only a few hours of sleep. His armor was torn, ripped, and by all means ineffective. It was as if a fire was under each and every one of his muscles, perpetually melting them. His apprentice was in a similar state. They were dry on scrolls and items, and terribly malnourished. Well, that was an understatement, his stomach had been empty for some time. It only exacerbated their exhaustion.

They weren’t meant to have gotten this far. After being in Freigat for so long, Alisson had developed a certain sense of paranoia. A paranoia that the world itself was trying to kill him. But he knew that that perception of the world would end as soon as he vaulted this final hurdle. The outer boundary of the Freigat Jungle. The part of the Jungle were the trees were replaced with hordes of Roamers. They were almost always seen running; like they were purposely patrolling, like wardens. The dust and dirt they kicked up, along with the familiar noise of thousands of footfalls, sounded as though a Caliphate Cavalry charge were taking place every few minutes.

That was the ticket however. Every few minutes. Celis and him had a small window. If they didn’t make it out within that period, a swarm of beasts would come slamming into their sides; and they’d be pinned down in a fight they wouldn’t be able to win. So far, the most number of enemies they’d fought and killed were a few dozen. Hundreds though? There’s no way. Not in their condition, especially without artillery magic.

Perhaps if Berein were here, then the going would’ve been easier. But with any other humans, they would have to significantly slow their pace – And getting out of here as fast as possible seemed to be the correct answer, not creeping cautiously.

Him and Celis eyed the open plain before them. They were both prone atop a large fallen tree. It was only when one of these behemoths was toppled that one could see their true size. Because of this relatively tenable position, him and Celis had a moment to catch a breather.

Him and Celis hadn’t spoken much. One, because it was tiring; two, because they didn’t need to converse much in combat anymore; and three…

We’ll move after this next wave.

Yes master.

…Because in their days of battle, somewhere along the line, Celis had broken through her Theresa barrier regarding the telepathy spell. It happened on accident, how new spells usually came about to a caster. She was trying to cast a healing spell, and, judging from how the first few sets of runes are the same in both spells, it made sense why only a second later did Alisson feel a tingling at his ears.

This wasn’t all good though. The mis-fired spell drained her mana as she dumped needless energy into runes that weren’t manifesting, and in the moment of confusion, she was struck by a ranged spike.

Nevertheless, in a more calm setting, Alisson reciprocated the spell, and it worked. Now communicating silently, Alisson truly did feel as though Celis was a full-fledged member of his 51st. Her skill alone showed it, and this past week had most certainly proved it.

As Alisson thought this, a swarm of beasts thundered by in front of them. Being prone, and far away, the swarm didn’t notice, like the previous dozen. That, or they didn’t care. Celis and him tensed, and prepared to dash across the open plain. The last stragglers of the swarm were passing in front of them now. This was their moment.

Alisson rose to knee for a split second before launching off his back foot, jumping of the large fallen tree. Celis followed in the heartbeat thereafter. The both of them ran silently, and quickly. For being so exhausted, their speed surprised him. Considering his normal pace, this was fifty, maybe sixty kilometers an hour?

The last of the beasts cleared the lane ahead of them. It was a straight shot. For a few minutes they ran like that, unopposed. They were only about half way when Alisson saw out of his peripheral vision, a large wave across the ground. This was no optical illusion, that was a swarm of hundreds of beasts, running across the ground, directly toward him and Celis.

Alisson expected this. This was nothing to worry about.

After about a minute, it became ever evident that it was something to worry about. They were no longer in the sights of the swarm proper, but he could see for himself several outlying beasts eyeing Celis and him intensely.

He clicked his tongue. They didn’t have any mana, not enough to blow away that many enemies; And they had no scrolls to fill that gap. They just had to keep running, and pray that only a minute portion of the beasts would be interested in them.

The trees started to clear up ahead of them, and Alisson, seeing this, was suddenly filled with a second wind, and his prior exhaustion seemed to evaporate. Perhaps this was more because of the four dozen beasts chasing Celis and him directly, however. Alisson stepped to the side, a blur flashing past him. He impaled it mid run and carried on at the same speed.

These beasts were thankfully on the lower scale of power.

Alisson took a deep breath. He could see for himself how his body shook, and how he breathed ragged breaths.

Before he knew it however, they were out.

A thick canopy no longer rested above them. The tall, imposing trees were far behind them; And it seemed that was no way that any Darkwalker could hurt them.

They now crossed a large gray moor. The land here was dead, plain and simple. It was the buffer zone merely, but that didn’t stop Alisson from feeling a surge of joy.

He looked to Celis, and flicked his head back. She nodded.

The two of them suddenly changed directions, and plunged into the beasts following them. It was a simple matter. Four dozen Roamers, dead within a minute. Like two vectors, Celis and him shot through the group, leaving death in their wake.

With their pursuers dealt with, and no imminent threats, Alisson breathed a sigh of relief. He stumbled back even, and almost fell.

Celis shook her head.

Let’s get to the tree line first.

She said, still impulsively using telepathy even though she didn’t have to. The two of them made their way quickly, albeit at a slower pace than before, to the familiar safety of a normal forest. There were no leaves on the trees, and with every step the crinkle of dead ones sounded beneath their boots. What a pleasant sound that was. Birds even chirped here and there, scarcely however thanks to the approaching cold.

Despite his muscles working so hard, he was still shivering. This was of course due to the lack of sustenance they’d gotten.

Finally getting some cover in the tree line, the two of them knelt down, breathing heavily.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

For a long few minutes they simply sat there, bathing in safety. It was like a longstanding weight had finally been lifted off of them. The body’s defense mechanisms weren’t meant to be used so consistently, day after day, hour after hour. Alisson felt like he could fall asleep right then and there.

“We really made it.” He finally said, staring up into the cloudy sky above. It seemed so dreamlike, and surreal, like his mind was still Freigat.

On that thought, his mind jumped.

What if they were still in Freigat? What if this was all a fabrication made by Darkwalkers?

For a moment, that thought seemed more credible than not. Eventually though, after nothing happening, Alisson resigned to optimism.

“What’s next?”

Celis asked, eyeing the area around them, as if not believing that there weren’t any beasts watching them.

“We get back to Pūshkinskaya.”

Celis nodded. “Then what about warming up by a fire first?”

Alisson looked to Celis quizzically, but then he saw what she was referring to. She was staring off, above the canopy, to where a single smokestack rose.

Alisson’s brow furrowed. “The only humans in this area would either be adventurers patrolling Freigat or bandits.”

Celis nodded. “We can take their horses if they have any.”

“Good thinking. Let’s move.”

With that the two of them started off again, not giving their bodies the rest that they so desperately yearned for. Their weapons drawn, they closed in on the supposed fire. Alisson was expecting either a camp or maybe even a wildfire, but what he saw as he peeked around a tree was completely different.

There was a fire under a large cedar tree. Around the fire were leather cots and bags, and few crates. Around them, a few bodies lay, unmoving. From their pelt clothes, they were probably bandits, and not adventurers. Above the fire, was a black kettle, from its smell, it seemed like a fresh soup was brewing.

There was one person who sat up amidst the scene of death. Sitting before the fire, holding a small mug of soup, was a man wrapped in long, torn cloaks. A hood covered his head, and wrappings concealed his face, leaving the figure to look less like a man and more like a wraith. There was no skin that Alisson could see, even the man’s arms were wrapped in black cloth.

The figure was familiar. It was the same drifter that Alisson had seen when they’d returned from the hive, outside the cave.

“You can come out. The soup will get cold.”

The man spoke coarsely, gesturing with his mug as if they were at a social gathering. Alisson cautiously exited the cover of the brush, and stood before the man.

“What happened here?”

The man’s head looked side to side slowly, as if only now realizing that there were corpses near him. “An unfortunate accident involving a few rodents and the like. They should’ve seen it coming, making a fire and all.”

Alisson walked forward, eyeing the wraith down.

“Oh, and you can tell your friend to come out too. There’s plenty of soup to go around.”

Alisson rose an eyebrow.

Come.

From the bushes behind the man, Celis appeared, her weapons up and at the ready.

“Please, please, put your weapons down. It’s not that it makes me nervous so much as it makes you look like the same rats from the den not far from here.” The drifter looked to the dead bodies before him. “These here were but cowardly cats scrambling from the rats.”

Alisson knew a source of information when he saw one. “Rats? Their den? What are you referring to?”

“Why…The city not far from here, and their…what do they call them…? Adventurers, that’s right. There’s a lot of them around now…Here it shows for itself,” He looked to the bodies. “Predator becomes prey.” The drifter shook his head. “Sit down, sit down, I can tell that you two are wary. You’ve truly become hunters since the last time we met; So many weights gone and so much prowess acquired…”

Alisson stared at the black clad drifter, squinting in suspicion. He sighed, and sat against the cedar tree with Celis. The drifter poured them two mugs full of the soup from the kettle. Alisson stared down into the mug.

“You said there are more rats around here now. Why is that?”

The drifter, after somehow eating a spoonful of soup from within his dark void of a face, replied, “I’ve watched them scurry here and there. These ones were but kittens but you, you are far more dangerous to them, real farm cats, rodent killers.”

Alisson’s eyes narrowed.

“You’re saying that the adventurers are looking for us?”

The drifter chuckled. “Of course. After so many of their own go missing, it’s only natural that they search for them; They are such noble creatures, no?”

The man said. Alisson picked up a hint of sarcasm from the man. He was obviously avoiding the real reason.

“If they’re coming, then why leave the fire lit? You’re only going to attract a patrol – They kill tramps like you on sight.”

The drifter was silent for a moment, but replied guilelessly,

“The soup would get cold, no?”

So, the drifter was purposely luring in people. Whether it was Celis and him specifically, Alisson didn’t know. Alisson sighed.

“Will you tell me the truth or not? There’s something you're hiding.”

The drifter looked to Alisson, took another spoon of soup into his dark void of a hood, and then stood.

“If I say too much, I’ll ruin the show. I’m quite keen on watching it, you see. A firestorm is coming, and the rat den will burn to the ground. A little push here and there, will make sure that happens.”

With that, the drifter walked off. A sudden droplet of rain fell, and another, and soon it was drizzling moderately. The drifter turned, and said one last thing before he left.

“Oh, and don’t thank me for the soup. I know you’ll repay me with what comes next.”

The dark, cloaked figure disappeared into the distance. Alisson frowned, and tipped over the soup kettle over the fire, extinguishing it.

“What was all that?” Celis asked.

Alisson shook his head. “There’s a chance that the adventurers are looking for us. Probably more so the expedition at large…but his wording, he was pitting us against everyone us else. That’s how it sounded to me. And I don’t like it.”

Alisson sat back down with Celis.

“Of course, he could just be a mad man but…I didn’t get that impression. He sounded calculated.”

The two of them sat in silence for a long moment. Celis’s stomach grumbled audibly. She frowned and looked away.

Alisson sighed.

“Enhérejär.”

Alisson prodded a sliver of Enhérejär into their mugs of soup. It didn’t pulse brightly as Alisson was expecting.

“It’s safe to eat. The drifter probably raided this bandit camp to take their food.”

Alisson said. The soup was gone within minutes and Alisson thereafter felt a pleasant weight and warmth in his stomach.

“…I don’t know what the situation is in Pūshkinskaya. It may have complicated since we were there.”

Alisson pondered the drifter’s words for a few minutes. The way it seemed like he was trying to set something up, how confident it was that it would play out…And how he seemed so devious, knowing something that Celis and him probably should’ve.

Alisson shook his head. It doesn’t matter. If what he says is true, about more adventurers in the area, that’s only good news – It’ll be easier to find mounts and an escort back to the city. Being supposed survivors of Freigat, him and Celis couldn’t very well walk right back to the gates of the town on horses from a dead adventurer patrol.

That was what Alisson had been thinking, but the drifter had planted a seed of doubt in his head. Something sinister was happening that Alisson didn’t know of. They needed the upmost caution. If they were in for something big,

Alisson looked down to his shaking hands.

They’d need some rest to take it on.

He remembered Celis’s words: “We’re Nekomata, Alisson. We’re supposed to be smart enough to rest up before every battle and be at our best, and know what battles we can win and what battles we can’t.”

He sighed, and looked to his apprentice. Her eyes were heavy, and her body was drifting back and forth, clearly the full stomach had only exacerbated her drowsiness.

“We’ll rest here for the day.”

Alisson declared. It sounded stupid. Just a few hours walk and they could be in a city. There was no reason to sit out in this exposed position.

It was combination of that doubt Alisson had, of something sinister. Simply uncertainty and caution, nothing more. That, and this area wasn’t as dangerous as his intuition let on. He’d just spent the better part of two weeks in Freigat. A little outing wasn’t going to scare him.

“I’ll take first watch…”

Alisson said, turning to his apprentice, when he realized that she was already asleep on his shoulder. He smiled to himself.

It felt good to see such an innocent, mundane expression such as her sleeping face. They weren’t in immediate danger. They were far a different pair from how they were first entering the Jungle. Beasts were a far easier opponent now. Even the Darkwalkers, he had identified acute patterns in their methods of trickery, he knew how to deal with them.

Really, Alisson was sick of it all. He was sick of fighting beasts, and sick of his muscles burning and weighing him down with fatigue. Whereas normally he would’ve voiced his complaints, with Celis….with how he now saw her…Alisson didn’t want to be seen as a brat. His pride stopped him from complaining.

Similarly, he would probably be falling all over Celis, praising her, if it weren’t for how he saw her now. If she was just an apprentice, then there wouldn’t be a problem, but now…He’d simply be too embarrassed.

Still, he was surprised at her own restraint. She never complains, does she? Yes, ever since Alisson met her, Celis hadn’t genuinely complained about anything. Alisson wondered why that was. By the same coin though, she never bragged. She didn’t give herself enough credit, really, she didn’t. That’s why Alisson felt such a need to praise her, it was to fill a clearly missing gap in the air surrounding her. By being too embarrassed, he felt like he was letting her down.

He shook his head. It wasn’t just embarrassment. He couldn’t show any affection, no. Not until the mission was over. That’s what Alisson resolved on that lonely night before they’d entered Freigat. By that reason, he couldn’t apologize for hitting her all those days ago as well. Alisson was still thinking about it, but he knew that she probably wasn’t. If he said something out of the blue about it, then he knew that she would have suspicions.

At least, that was Alisson’s backwards reasoning. Inwardly, he knew the truth. He was just scared.

With that last thought, Alisson’s mind drifted out of consciousness.

…

Even though it was the afternoon, the clouds above still obscured the sky completely, and rain still fell. Thanks to the cedar tree above, most of it didn’t reach me and Alisson. I’d managed to get a good rest. That much I know when I opened my eyes, and felt significantly less weighed down by my body. I felt energized, ready to go.

A fire before me cracked. My eyes seemed illuminated only by its dancing flame.

W-wait! A fire? Alisson extinguished it before I fell asleep-!

I turned to Alisson, who I’d been sleeping on, and saw what the problem was. He was also asleep.

I shook him awake.

“Alisson-!” I hissed.

He at first looked around groggily, but upon realizing that he too had fallen asleep, his eyes shot wide.

“Forget it! Look!”

I flicked my eyes to the burning flame. Alisson’s face soured.

“That damned drifter relit it-!”

Before I could respond, a shout cut off my train of thought.

“You there! Freeze!”

Around the back of the tree that me and Alisson were against, a man had come into our vision. On his shoulder, I saw the sheen of four silver bars. Me and Alisson froze, not as instructed, but more so out of surprise. After not seeing any humans for a week, this is quite startling. Or at least, the actual face of a human. That wraith-like man doesn’t exactly count. I was already grasping at my blades; his tone was not friendly.

“W-who are you two? And what happened here?”

The man asked. He had a sword in his hand, and was clearly ready to use it.

Should we-?

No. Let me handle it.

The telepathy spell seemed useful. But after spending time in Freigat, I didn’t really need it. I already knew what Alisson was feeling most of the time. For instance, I could tell when he was thinking about me; The way his eyes drifted toward me with that familiar, melancholic expression.

Alisson stood up in a blur, his hand on his heart.

“T-thank goodness! We’re from Team Crimson – Of the retrieval expedition sent into the jungle not too ago. We just managed to escape with our lives only to run into a couple bandits.”

The man furrowed his brow, but the way he was acting, his facial expression, the way he kept on eyeing me and Alisson like he knew something we didn’t…I didn’t like it. Alisson continued,

“I’m pretty sure we’re all that’s left - We’re exhausted and famished but we still need to report nonetheless.”

The adventurer broke into a frown, but kept on sizing Alisson up, his eyes sweeping up and down, as in disbelief. He squinted.

“…Fine then. Everyone! Come out! It’s alright.” The adventurer turned toward the forest around us, and out came three others. They were adventurers as well, all with their weapons poised at us.

…They shouldn’t be acting this way.

“You’re lucky we found you. We’re Tursis, we were just running a routine patrol and we saw a smoke stack. Pardon the attitude, but we thought you were bandits at first.”

Alisson shook his head with a smile. “It’s alright, I understand what this looks like – But we handled them.”

The man gave one last glance at us. “Say, who are you two, er, your names?”

“I’m Alavier, and this is Ferris. We were the newest Five-Stripes a couple weeks back, wouldn’t you remember?”

The man seemed taken aback by Alisson’s sudden question. “Er, y-yeah, I-I’m just making sure.”

They’re scared of us.

Should we kill them?

No, wait.

After extinguishing the fire, and examining the camp for a moment, the adventurers led us to their horses. There were only two. For four people.

“Did you suffer combat?”

Alisson asked, seeing the odd number.

“No, it’s, er…there’s a shortage of steeds in the town and we don’t have the money to buy them for the whole team.”

The leader replied. His hesitation said it all. He was lying. But why? Why lie about such a thing?

“We just use them as pack mules.”

The leader elaborated.

“So you walked all the way here on foot?”

“Er, yeah.”

Very convincing.

“We’ll escort you back to the city for now. We’ve been needing to resupply anyway.”

If you were on a routine patrol…then why would you need to resupply? Resupplying a patrol means that they’re forward screening calvary, on constant deployment, keeping an eye out for a threat.

I tightened my fist.

As we set off, a tense silence overtook the six of us.

“There’s a breach not too far west of here…er…”

Was the only small talk the leader tried to make before shutting up for good.

They didn’t even offer us food. How rude.

Two adventurers rode their horses ahead of us, and two walked behind us. It was obvious what they were doing; leading us down a road in this formation.

What do you think this is?

Alisson closed his eyes.

I don’t know. But it’s clear that we’re the enemy in their eyes. With everything I heard from the drifter…I don’t like it.

Minutes passed in dead silence. I could see the adventurers, grown men and women, staring at me from the corner of my vision, sweat on their faces, like they were near some wild animal.

Eventually, Alisson had had enough. They probably weren’t being as talkative as he’d hoped.

Now. I’ll take one alive.

With that order, the four adventurers’ lives were ended.

In a blur I dashed forward toward the adventurer on the horse in front of me. The mounted ones are more dangerous – We can’t let them escape. I leapt up, and easily impaled the back of the adventurer’s throat. I landed, and threw a baselard back at the adventurer who was following me. My two targets were down in a matter of a second; Alisson’s roughly the same: A throwing a knife killed the horseman in front of him and he was already pinning down the adventurer that was behind him.

The three corpses lay still. The horses however, broke into a panicked run.

“Tch-!”

Alisson cursed.

“Stop them!”

He ordered. We can’t let riderless horses escape – That’s an alarm bell for anyone in the area. And, it means that we won’t be able to use them. I ran forward, just barely managing to rein in one of the horses. The other though, kept on running. I frowned, and launched off two Pictun spells at its rear legs. The fleeing horse crumpled to the ground in a cloud of dust.

It still kept on struggling to flee.

Sorry pal, but the ones who live, are the ones to submit. Riding a startled, non-loyal horse is impossible.

Another yellow lance flew through its head, and the animal went still. I brought the far smarter horse with me back toward Alisson, tugging its reins. Even though it was far bigger than me, I think it sensed just how dangerous I was, even with its level of intelligence.

“Please-! D-don’t kill me please-!”

The adventurer shouted, squirming away from the knife that Alisson pressed against her throat.

“Who? Who ordered you to find us?”

“I-it was Shepard! The A-Andestinian Hero!”

Alisson’s eyes widened. His face turned into a scowl.

“Tell me, who am I? Who did Andestine say we were?”

The adventurer looked rapidly between me and Alisson, with pleading eyes, to be met only by are dull, sour stares.

“He, he said, no…The guild said, everyone said, that, that you’re Sidonians!”

Alisson froze. The area went dead silent.

“Son of a bitch!” He hit the ground next to the adventurer.

He looked to me. “They know! Andestine knows we’re here-!” Alisson looked to the scared adventurer. “What’s going on at the city? How many regiments are there? What do their force deployments look like!?”

He pressed his knife further against the terrified woman.

“W-what are you talking about! There’s no knights in the city! It’s just a summoner pair!”

The adventurer said quickly, stumbling over her words.

Alisson growled. He lifted his knife, and jammed it into one of the adventurer’s palms. She screamed aloud, her eyes wide.

“Tell me the truth!”

“I-if I knew anything – I would tell you! Please!”

Alisson let out a primal growl, his hands twitching.

“Useless.”

With that, he drew the hilt of Enhérejär and gouged it into the woman’s throat. It had a faintly red aura for a moment. The adventurer was dead within the next heartbeat.

Alisson stood from the now corpse, with a disgusted expression. He looked to me.

“We need to move. Now – I asked the worst questions – And all of them were true. Andestine know we’re here, they’ve told everyone, and they have sufficient support.”

I nodded, but moved closer to Alisson. He was so enthralled in his thoughts he didn’t notice me lay my hand on his shoulder. His head whipped to mine.

“Calm down.”

He stared at me for a moment, before his eyes widened and he realized what I’d said. He took a deep breath, and shook his head.

“…Right.” He cleared his throat. “We don’t know what the battlefield looks like.”

With those words, I knew that Alisson was in his ‘soldier’ mode. Especially seeing his attitude with that adventurer…

…When it comes to Sidonia…

“They could have any number of troops on us. We don’t know if they’re in Pūshkinskaya or hunting us down as we speak. Maybe this team was trying to lead us into an ambush. Given the fact that Andestine knows we’re here…they probably know that we joined the guild, and became adventurers, they know that we were in the expedition, thus they sent adventurers to patrol the other rim of Freigat to know if we would try to escape.”

Alisson put his hand to his chin.

“The reason they haven’t tried to chase us down directly…They don’t want to enter Freigat. They either don’t have enough manpower for it or don’t think it’s worth the manpower.” Alisson gestured to the adventurers. “Thus, they’re waiting for us in the town. Either for us to leave Freigat, or to get reinforcements so that they can chase us in.”

He shook his head.

“I don’t know how they’ve been able to pinpoint us…I thought when we saw them on the streets, I thought that was by chance – I didn’t think Pūshkinskaya was their destination. Maybe though…” Alisson looked down. “…They really do know about our objective. The reason they went right to Freigat…instead of any other towns…”

He clicked his tongue. “We just don’t have enough information.”

I remained silent in the face of Alisson’s thinking. I was a little amazed about how much he was able to piece together within the span of a few minutes.

“What that drifter said…he was alluding to this, that bastard…”

Alisson muttered to himself.

“So,” I started, “What should we do?”

Alisson’s mouth furrowed. “We have two fighters, and one horse. We could easily take this horse and flee from the area. Except…”

“We’d only get so far without good mounts.”

“Exactly.” Alisson nodded. “We need our mounts. Good, loyal steeds that are armored. They’re a mission asset. Andestine would do well to kill them, and if they have, we’ll have one foot in the grave. There's also the matter of that medallion that Tsuhara gave us - We're going to need it to rendevous with our allies and its with our horses.”

“So we should infiltrate the city, and steal the horses from under their noses? And if they’re dead, then retreat?”

Alisson nodded slowly. “It’s a good plan, but we’re not addressing the main issue – Andestine. We can run all we want – We’ll never outpace them.”

My face steeled. “Unless we bite back.”

Alisson smiled at me. “You’re certainly inheriting my mode of thinking. Just like the battle in cult lands, if we punch back hard enough, then we should send them stumbling back, and buy ourselves time. However, this is a city we’re dealing with, and potentially entire, organized regiments of knights. Since we know they’re expecting us, I think infiltration is a farfetched hope, and so is open combat.” Alisson shook his head. “Everything is stacked against us.”

Alisson and I fell silent for a long moment, in thought.

“If only we had more manpower…But we’re the only Sidonian pieces on the board as of this moment.”

What else can we use? There has to be something that we can take advantage of.

Alisson’s murmur on more manpower got me thinking in that direction. How could we get fighters on our side, rather, to fight Andestine? No, not even how, but who?

I saw a Raven circling above, the prelude to a beast attack.

That’s it!

“Alisson.” He looked up to me from his deep thoughts. “The breach the adventurer mentioned earlier…what if we lured a swarm…to the city?”

Alisson’s eyes lit up. With that, our plan was hatched.

***