The rain had finally stopped. It felt like it had been raining for ages. The last three days had been downright awful. Isaac was in a perpetual state of cold and soaked. Even the animals seemed to be hunkering down until the rain stopped. The group hadn't even seen a squirrel for two and a half days. They stopped seeing tracks in the mud a day after that and the trees had started absorbing or destroying the water to keep the entire forest from flooding. They had also, only around an hour after they had left camp that morning, started to see edible berries. Walter would point out which ones were edible and even picked some leaves off of a glossy leafed bush that he claimed were for making tea.

"Another mile yet." Walter told the duo. Shamesh had long since been returned to Isaac's shadow, in order to keep from spooking the elvish rangers and scouts that operated in the area. A few times, since the rain had stopped, Isaac and Lenna had noticed someone staring at them. Once they had even caught a glimpse of a brown and green cloak vanishing behind a tree.

"Until the fort," Isaac wondered. "Or the next rest stop?" They had kept up their quickened pace through the rain without too much trouble. The rougher terrain was more of a mild annoyance than anything for the two and Copper. Copper had her magical horseshoes to thank and the duo had countless hours training on sand to fall back on.

"The fort." Walter replied. "Don't do anything rash. This is another world compared to what you're used to." He warned them. "The Errantee Guard are trigger happy, especially when it comes to humans. They're all also above level twelve. Every single one of them's a career soldier."

Isaac nodded. "Got it." He replied.

"Understood." Lenna agreed.

"Have they had a lot of problems in the past?" Isaac wondered.

"Yes." Walter replied. "Before the last dragon surge, five generations of kings ago, he was assassinated by a human disguised as a wanderer." He explained. Five generations ago meant that each generation lasted on average at least three hundred years, though, in all likelihood, they were longer than that.

"Five generations is a long time." Isaac commented. "No one that is still alive remembers that."

"Only the Great Sages, yeah." Walter sort of agreed. "They're old druids that've become one with their section of forest. They're always just as healthy as the local ecosystem, sort of like an inverted version of a demigod."

"Are they the reason why the elves are so on guard around humans after all this time?" Isaac questioned.

"No." Walter explained. "It's more like a belief at this point."

"An old tradition of mistrust founded upon a wrong long past." Lenna thought aloud. "How does that sound familiar?"

"That's less 'long past' m'lady." Walter corrected her. "But yeah. It's kinda similar."

A figure in a green cloak covered in actual tree bark and a mixture of dried and still wet mud practically materialized a few dozen feet in front of the group. Walter let out a low and slow whistle which caused Copper to slow down until she was only moving at a casual walk.

"Business?" A voice that seemed both young and ruthless came from under the cloak. The voice was a bit too clipped and deep for a woman but too high and soft for a man. It could have been magic obscuring their voice, a vocal trick, or a person with just very indistinct voice and speech patterns.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

"Escort." Walter told the Errantee Guard. He tapped Copper on the side of the neck and she stopped half a dozen feet from the ranger.

"Name, age, affiliation, rank, for you and your charges." The ranger ordered him.

"Walter Walker, two hundred forty seven, C.A.S.T., double platinum, moniker; The Engineer." Walter told the guard with just as clipped and to the point speech as had been afforded him.

The guard nodded and looked past Walter to the duo. "And you?" The ranger demanded.

Isaac's eye twitched. He did not like being ordered around by some random guard in the middle of the forest. He did not like being ordered around at all. He had a few options on how to handle the situation. He could put the fear of god into the ranger, a shadow-step, a good deal of death flames, and mana usage up to his safe limit, around six or seventh level spells at the moment, would probably do the trick. His other option was to sneer while he complied in a very aristocratic fashion. That was probably a better option. The option that he was most tempted with, just to avoid irritating people like the one in front of them, was to just vanish and follow along until they were deep inside of the Mat-Cel.

"Lenna V'Nova, two hundred and ninety nine, C.A.S.T., double platinum, moniker; Lady of Hellfire." Lenna complied with casual authority and implied power in her voice. So much of it that Isaac had to fight down a grin. That side of her always made him feel a certain type of way.

"Darkness." Isaac spoke and the local area complied. The heavy cloud cover and dense canopy above and all around them made the command even easier as the forest quickly looked as though night had fallen. He locked eyes with the figure who raised their head in surprise as they stepped back half a step into a ready stance. "That is all." His statement was both a dismissal of the darkened area around them and a declaration that it was all that he was going to give the guard. "If that is not enough, find someone worth hearing the rest."

The guard, who was still difficult to discern their gender, eyed Isaac cautiously and then looked between Lenna and Walter. It looked to the guard as though the two double platinum ranked adventurers were there as guides for a human demigod or a shapeshifting black dragon. Either way, everything had just gotten way out of their pay grade. And that wasn't even taking into account the fact that one of them had introduced herself as a 'V'Nova'. "Follow me." The guard said and slowly turned around only to freeze as a giant red fox was staring up at them as if she had always been there.

"Gypsy, no more playing." Walter told the fox and she gracefully padded around the guard and over to stand next to Copper. "Good girl."

"You're him…" The guard spoke with a hint of fear and awe in a voice that smoothened out just enough for Isaac to be decently sure that she was just a woman who was trying to come off as a man.

"Which story?" Walter asked with a grin and shifted in the saddle which was apparently Copper's cue to move.

She eyed him up and down once more before she turned and started walking down the path. "Don't fall behind." She said and was back to her normal nondescript voice.

"Exactly how much trouble have you gotten into in the last hundred and fifty years?" Lenna questioned Walter.

"Oh, a bit of this, and a bit of that." He waved her off.

The group followed the guard until the forest opened up. In front of them was a fortress two hundred feet across in either direction, twenty feet high, and made entirely out of conjured stone covered in unstripped logs. The logs, with their bark still on them, helped the massive fort blend in more naturally with the forest around it. There was still enough space between it and the nearest tree that there was no way to cover the distance without being seen by one of the dozen guards patrolling the top of the walls. Each guard wore a similar cloak to the one that their new guide was wearing though with far less mud.

The large iron banded gate doors had been swung wide open and a guard leaned against one of them. The new guard eyed the group behind the ranger that had gone out to meet them. "Status?" The gate guard asked informally.

"It's the free-walker and a spirit." She explained.

The gate guard shot to attention and saluted the group with a fist on his chest. "Welcome to Great Forest Fortress Seventeen, Sir!"

Copper sauntered up next to the man and Walter tapped his fist on his own chest twice. "Thank you, soldier. Is the captain in?" He asked the gate guard.

"Yes, sir." The gate guard replied and dropped his salute. "Should I fetch her, sir?"

Walter shook his head. "No need. I'm sure she already knows we're here." He shifted in his saddle again and Copper continued on their way.

The gate guard relaxed slightly but maintained a dignified and perfect stature as he nodded in greeting to Gypsy, Isaac, and Lenna. "Let us know if you need anything." He told Isaac and Lenna.

Lenna gave him a nod in greeting and understanding, from one soldier to another. Isaac gave him a slight nod of a noble addressing a soldier under his command. Isaac's greeting was one that often only distinguished soldiers would receive from their lord or lady which showed that he appreciated the work that the gate guard was doing without lowering himself to the status of even a high ranking adventurer.

The group entered through the gate into a courtyard around forty feet across in a hexagonal shape. There was a smith sharpening weapons, a stable with only a few horses inside, an open air training hall under an enclosed barracks that connected to a central control looking building which was on top of the mess hall. Everything was simple, effective, and efficient from the ground up. There was a gust of wind and ash leaves kicked up from the ground where there were none.

Glimmering brass armor, verdant green canvas, sun-kissed golden skin, autumn red eyes, and oak brown hair almost seemed to materialize in front of them. There was hardly a stirring in the magic from her arrival and the ash leaves were suddenly nowhere to be found. "Walter." The elvish woman greeted the Engineer. "You never stop in to say hi unless there's a problem, or the old man sent you. So, which is it?"

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.