Chapter 22. Usually I Get a Warmer Welcome When I Enter a New City

Chapter 22: 22. Usually I Get a Warmer Welcome When I Enter a New City

The emergency bell was still ringing when we hit the courtyard, and the sky over Elarion... damn, it looked like someone had taken a bite out of it.

Like literally, though, half of the barrier had gone dark. The crystals on the eastern towers, which had been glowing a steady pale blue when we arrived, were dim and lifeless now, and the guards on the walls were running in every direction at once.

Can’t blame them for acting like that. Even the strongest knight in this world probably would act the same.

Beyond the ramparts, in the gray light of dusk, I could see shapes moving across the fields... what the fuck was that?! They were large and low and fast, and there were a lot of them!

Sharon took command the way a storm takes a coastline. She grabbed the first officer she saw and told him to pull every unit off the western wall, then shouted at a second one to get the royal mages up to the control tower and at a third to start clearing the eastern district before the monsters reached it.

Nobody argued. I don’t think anyone in that yard would have dared to see how SERIOUS she IS right now.

"Laura! Take Martin to the evacuation post and stay there," she said. "Make sure to keep him alive, because he’s the only thing that proves any of this."

"I’m going to the east gate then," Alicia said, already tightening the straps on her gauntlets.

Sharon gave her a quick look and nodded. "Good choice! Take whoever will follow you!"

And there was me... I was only half listening, because something about the monsters was really bothering me.

I’d been watching them cross the field, and it took me a moment to understand why they looked wrong... like it’s not any monsters you’ll find in dungeons or the wild.

These monsters... they don’t move in formation.

They hit whatever is nearest, they scatter when they’re hurt, and they get distracted by anything that bleeds.

What’s even worse is that... these ones were splitting into groups, skirting the strongest parts of the wall, and gathering at the one spot where the barrier had just failed.

"That didn’t look like a normal attack to me," I said.

Sharon turned. "Explain."

"From what I saw... If they just wanted energy, why the hell didn’t they just go for the biggest crystal, right?" I held my chin to make my brain think smoother. "But... they’re all heading for the gap that just opened."

"As if somebody’s steering them."

"Good critical thinking there." Her eyes narrowed. "You’re sure?"

"Yeah, I’m sure... it’s just that I’ve never seen a pack of wolves line up for a parade." I pointed at the control tower, a thick stone spire rising from the center of the city. "And if I’m right, the monsters aren’t the main plan here probably."

"They’re a distraction to keep us looking at the walls while somebody does something else."

Wow! Look at me right here... thinking like some genius, and in fact... I really am a fucking GENIUS.

Before she could answer, the eastern district exploded.

BAAAAMMMMMMMM!

It wasn’t the barrier.

A secondary gate on the inner wall blew apart from the inside, sending a column of smoke and flying stone into the evening sky.

"Dammit! There are still more explosive attacks!" Sharon gritted her teeth.

When the dust cleared, a line of soldiers in black armor was marching through the wreckage in perfect order. All that I can identify is that they weren’t bandits.

Judging from their movements, they moved like a military unit, spreading out to hit the guard posts and heading straight for the crystal housings along the street.

I felt my stomach drop. These people were nothing like the rabble we’d fought in Dunmore.

"Ggghhh! We’re wasting our time here!" Sharon drew her blade, and it made a sound like a door being dragged across a stone floor. "Roland! With me!"

"No... I’ve got a better idea," I said.

"You aren’t even a knight yet! Don’t give orders easily like that!"

"So what? Like, I just... wait around for a title; some of those people are going to be dead before I get one!"

I pointed down a narrow side street where a knot of civilians was pinned between a pack of monsters and a squad of black-armored soldiers.

An old woman was dragging a cart; there were also two children clinging to her skirt, and a man was trying to hold off a wolf-thing with a shovel.

They had maybe thirty seconds to survive.

Sharon followed my finger. I watched her teeth gritted even harder.

And so... I didn’t wait for permission. I was already running.

Behind me, I heard her say something very filthy under her breath, and then the thud of her boots as she came after me.

THUD! THUD! THUD!

’I just hope that I didn’t get upset or anything with what I just said about the title...’

’Yeesh.’

...

The streets were a mess of smoke and broken stone, and I could feel my energy dropping with every step.

The lust... yeah... it’s still a problem, alright. But soon, I’ll manage it if I have many female knights on my side.

But of course, I’d checked the panel on the way down, and it hadn’t been encouraging. My Lust had slipped to 19 percent, and every burst of Aether was costing me more than the last.

So I kept the power use just by a small percentage, just so that I can do a little push in my legs to clear a fallen wagon, a flash of reinforcement in my arm to deflect a monster’s claw, and nothing more.

I’d learned in Blackthorn that brute force was a fast way to run out of gas, and I couldn’t afford to run out that fast.

The rest... well, I did with my head.

The first thing I did when I reached the side street was doing a kick over a vegetable cart, which sent a wave of cabbages rolling across the cobblestones and into the path of the soldiers.

Even though it sounded stupid, at least the two of them tripped.

And I can see the third slowed down just long enough for me to cut the rope that held a stack of barrels to the wall above him. The barrels came down in a thundering avalanche and split the soldiers’ formation in two.

"This way!" I shouted at the civilians, pointing toward an alley between a bakery and a tanner’s shop. "Go! Keep going until you see a guard!!!"

The old woman looked at me with wide, wet eyes, then dragged her cart into the alley with a strength that must have come from pure terror or... adrenaline.

The man with the shovel gave the wolf-thing one last swat and followed her.

I turned around just as the smoke at the end of the street parted.

A man stood in the middle of the road with the black-armored troops arranged behind him like an honor guard. He wore dark plate with a knight’s crest on the chest, and somebody had carved a deep gash through the crest as if to cancel it.

His hair was iron gray, his face was a map of old scars, and bolted to his breastplate was an energy crystal the color of dried blood. A long, heavy sword hung from his hand.

It was humming faintly, like a bell that had just been struck.

At his feet lay two royal guards. Neither of them was moving.

’That... looked like a REAL problem I’ve needed to cover. ’ A drop of sweat fell down on my chin, but I’m ready for whatever this man does in front of me.

He looked at me, alone in the street with my cheap replacement sword, and he almost seemed disappointed.

"Just a boy... playing hero in the middle of a war," he said. "I see that you’ve come to die early, huh?"

"Is that how you greeted the one you called a hero?" I smile while raising both my arms to act smugly. "Usually... I get a warmer welcome when I enter a new city."

His mouth twitched, which might have been a laugh. "My name is Garrick Voss..."

"I used to command the crystal guard of this kingdom, but now... I’m taking back something that was never theirs to hoard."

I studied the carved crest on his chest. A former commander, a high-level swordsman, and a crystal that gave him a boost on top of everything else.

It didn’t take a genius to see he wasn’t some random thug. He’s a fucking REAL deal, alright.

"Look, man... If you wanted the crystals back," I said, "why are you even blowing up the barrier and causing havoc towards the innocent citizens?!"

"You know that there are ten thousand people in this city!"

"Ten thousand people sleeping safely behind a wall powered by the blood of the border villages." His eyes hardened. "Do you know how many of those villages were left unprotected so the nobles in the high district could have the best crystals, hah!?"

"I used to count them! After a while, I stopped, because the numbers made me sick."

"That’s a... uh... horrible thing," I said. "But that’s not what you’re doing right now."

"No," Garrick said. "Right now I’m making them feel it!"