Soul of the Warrior

Refix kept a weary eye on the surroundings as the miles passed them by. It had been over a week since they had seen smoke from a ransacked village, but nobody knew if there were still enemies all the way out here. He was pretty sure that they wouldn't bother going so far out of their way and would remain concentrated closer to the larger population centers, but it wasn't something he would take for granted.

The field of view wasn't the most favorable at this point in their journey. They had been in a fairly thick forest for quite some time, but Refix's Perception, as well as his more experienced subordinates', was high enough that he could still notice anything amiss in the immediate vicinity.

He looked over his band of followers, proud of their accomplishments. Cecil, the newest member of their crew, had been worth recruiting, and it hadn't taken long to find Ameliyn and his girls in the nearby mountainous wilderness. The others he had brought along as companions hadn't been flung too far away, either. There was a distinct correlation between their positioning on the void bridge during the teleportation with where they ended up in the real world.

The barbaric soldiers that had chased down the fleeing refugees near the capital had only been one small part of a vast army invading the Region. At first, it seemed like they were bent on wanton destruction, letting the soldiers rampage and commit terrible atrocities. It was still true that they were let loose to do whatever they wanted, but there was also a heavy leash applied after their goals had been attained.

Marching across the Tier 4 Region, one only Cecil and his wife had any information about, they had witnessed the results of the conflict, and they had pieced together the goals, too. The commanders of the invading army were consuming all of the natural resources, including the people. They were like locusts, and they had no regard for human life at all, not even their own.

The populace of the Region was enslaved and put to work, receiving a brand of their own on their foreheads. They weren't afforded a "4" mark like the commanders of the enemy army, but they were instead branded with a "1" as a conquered people.

The conflict had nothing to do with Refix and his family, so they avoided it as much as they possibly could, but that didn't mean they went completely unnoticed. There had been more than a handful of battles against some truly ravenous lunatics, but they had obviously not been expecting the level of resistance Refix and his crew could put up.

If they ran into a situation where they could help without exposing themselves too much or taking up too much time, though, they would. There were several instances where Refix simply led his people through an enemy encampment or occupied town. Their goal wasn't necessarily to liberate the people, they didn't have the time or resources to look after so many people. They just couldn't stand letting the atrocities occur right in front of them without doing something.

They had eventually "liberated" some mounts from an enemy cavalry unit, too, and their Marching had transitioned into Riding. Not everyone already had the Skill, and Refix, and the others that did, spent several hours helping the others unlock it. It might have seemed like they lost some time, wasting it with Horsemanship training in the middle of their journey, but the training didn't mean they stopped in place and didn't move. Any loss of progress they had suffered was easily made up for later.

It wasn't always ideal to trade one's legs for a horse's hooves. If it had been just Refix and his Party, they would have simply run, but not everyone in their group had super high Stats.

There was more than one person, Adventurer or otherwise, with a Combat Class and nothing else to lose who had decided to follow Refix, and he didn't turn them down. The numbers of his crew swelled from the original Party of five to a small troupe of seventeen. That included Cecil and his wife. The young lady wasn't a Combat Class, but she had nowhere to go, and Kailey and Riley took her in.

Cecil continued to display his worth as a Deep Ranger, now having proper guidance from someone who knew what they were doing, and watching his wife interact with Kailey and Riley only reinforced his loyalty toward Refix. It wasn't just that Refix had saved them and taught him valuable Skills, he was a true leader and took care of his people.

He also wasn't a brash leader, charging in at every instance of injustice he saw that he didn't think he could easily solve. The fact that he chose not to risk his people's lives at every opportunity had more to do with garnering the loyalty of the new people than his righteousness.

They had garnered the attention of a local commander at one point, and they had been chased for many days. It had finally come to a head, though, when the enemy commander, a man with a "4" branded on his forehead, grew overconfident because Refix had been focused on fleeing, and he exposed himself to retaliation. He hadn't been able to put up much of a fight against Refix, and they had had a mostly smooth journey from that point on.

They had already been far enough away from the center of the Region that there wasn't a large concentration of enemy soldiers anymore. They had only encountered a few bands of smaller squads roving the countryside. Those people had been eliminated, and neither Refix nor any of his people cared that they didn't personally witness their terrible deeds. There had been no remorse after several weeks of traveling through the horror show.

"The border to the Tier 3 Region, Vaskan, is just ahead," Cecil came riding up, returning from a scouting mission. "There's a fortified military camp just on the other side of the border."

"Are they preventing people from fleeing?" Refix asked with a frown.

"Not that I could see. They simply make everyone passing through reveal their foreheads. I saw a couple of severed heads lining some spikes over the walls with brand marks on them. They were all just '1's,' though."

Refix's lips formed a thin line.

"Ameliyn," he called to his wife, turning toward her.

She was smiling as she watched their daughters interact with Saralee, Cecil's wife, and a couple of female Adventurers that had joined them. The girls were mostly cheerful, but Refix could see the haunted look in a couple of the Adventurer girls that had joined his crew. Ameliyn turned to face him at being addressed.

"Yes, dear?" She smiled.

"Make sure the girls are distracted when we cross the border," Refix said. "There's something they shouldn't have to see on the walls."

"Of course," Ameliyn smiled and turned back to watching her girls.

Refix nodded his head. His girls had really shown their natural charisma, above and beyond the Stat, on this journey. They had quickly gained a place in everyone's hearts, and not just from their personality. They continued to work on their unique talents by patching up and repairing any damaged gear, and the pieces usually came out stronger than they were before.

They weren't quite proficient enough to work on metal, yet, but they got around that by employing their mother's Mana, directing her, and pointing out where she needed to make adjustments.

They finally exited the forest, and the aforementioned military camp came into view. The gruesome sight of the severed heads on spikes entered Refix's eyes like a magnet. He looked over and noticed that his girls hadn't lifted their heads from their conversation, yet, and he noticed Ameliyn ride a bit closer to engage in the talk.

Refix subtly increased the speed he was riding forward, and the others subconsciously kept up. He really didn't want his young girls to see such a thing, but it was inevitable that they would look up in curiosity. What would come finally came, but his girls didn't bat an eye. He glanced at his wife and noticed a gleam in her eye.

"Mo~om," Kailey suddenly whined, whipping her head around to Ameliyn.

"You're doing it again!" Riley echoed, pouting at her mother.

"Doing what?" Ameliyn asked innocently.

"You know what you're doing," Kailey said.

"Is there something you're hiding from us?" Riley inquired.

"Haha, just a little test," Ameliyn consoled the twins. "I was just checking to see how attentive you were and how long it would take you to notice."

"That's a likely story," Kailey crossed her arms over her chest.

"We're not children, you know," Riley added.

"Oh yes, you are!" Ameliyn retorted. "You're only eleven years old!"

"We have our Classes," Kailey complained.

"You have your Tier 1 Classes," Ameliyn said.

"Reivyn had already served in the military and started delving Dungeons by the time he was eleven," Riley pointed out.

"You're not your brother. First of all, you don't have Combat Classes. Secondly, you haven't trained in fighting Skills for years. Finally, I'm the momma, and you'll be my children forever."

"Yeah, we'll be your children forever," Kailey agreed.

"But not children forever," Riley disagreed.

"I don't see a distinction," Ameliyn said.

The little conversation between the three females of Refix's family lasted long enough to get the two girls close enough to the walls that they would have to look at an unreasonable angle to see the severed heads.

Refix should have guessed that Ameliyn would just do some little magic to block his daughters' sight. They were fabulous with anything related to crafting in any way, even just simple grass bracelets, but they weren't interested in actual Spell Casting. Their argument had been pretty sound after their last demonstration when Refix had returned with news of Reivyn, though. They had simply said that their items could do it for them.

Because of their lack of interest in Spell Casting, their defense against magic was equally as deficient. Ameliyn tried to get them to come out of their shell by "testing" them now and then, but it had so far only increased their Mana Sense and Mana Sight Skills. They would spot the anomaly and then cajole their mother into dispelling it. Ameliyn was usually very strict in her Mana teachings, but she had a soft spot for her daughters, and they had shown enough talent with their likely Lifestyle Class direction that she would acquiesce.

"Halt!" A call came from behind a barred gate.

None of the guards were standing on this side of the fortifications, but there were plenty on the walls that had watched their approach. Refix and his group stopped their horses where they were in plain view.

"Show your foreheads!"

Refix had been expecting the order, so he simply lifted his bangs with his hand. He wore his hair in a style where his bangs didn't cover his forehead, but there was no reason to not make a show of good faith. All of the females moved their hair out of the way, and the companions that were wearing helmets took them off.

The guards standing behind the bars carefully inspected everyone's heads, trying to see if there was anything used to cover up a brand mark. When they were confident that that wasn't the case, they unlocked the gate and let it swing open, motioning the group to move through.

Refix led his team to cross the border to the adjacent Tier 3 Region.

"If you would, we have some questions about your travels," the guard addressed Refix, the clear leader of the band of people.

"Certainly," Refix motioned for Ameliyn to lead the others to the side of the road where they could stop and rest for a moment. He dismounted from his horse and handed the reins to his wife.

"Where are you coming from?" The guard inquired.

"The long answer, or the short answer?" Refix quirked an eyebrow.

The guard frowned at the reply, never having heard such a response before. It was a simple question, why make it complicated?

"The true answer," he said after thinking for a second.

"We're coming from Quron, a Tier 4 Empire 70 or so jumps away from this one. The portal was destroyed mid-transit, and we were spilled out over the countryside." Refix didn't have any reason to hide the truth.

"Well, ugh... where are you headed to?" The guard fumbled.

Usually, the people passing through recently were locals headed to their Region as refugees. Refix's answer insinuated that this Tier 4 Region might not have been their actual destination. They usually wanted to know where people were going within their own Region so they could regulate the population of the refugees, but Refix didn't seem like a typical refugee.

"We were headed to Wispan for personal reasons when we were interrupted," Refix confirmed the guard's suspicion. "We want to head to the closest Tier 4 Region where we can use their teleport circle to complete our journey."

The guard looked back at another soldier near the guard station. The other soldier gave him a surreptitious thumbs-up that couldn't hide from Refix's perception. The guard turned back and nodded to Refix.

"In that case, you're in luck," the guard was much friendlier now. "Our empire's Tier 4 Region is unusually close to the next, closest empire. If you follow the highway, but turn south at the first major intersection in a couple of days - you can't miss it, it's the only road the same size as this one crossing it - you'll head toward another Tier 3 Region in about half a week by horseback.

"That Region is on the border with another Tier 3 Region that's a vassal of the neighboring empire. You can get to the capital in about a month or so, depending on travel conditions."

"That is lucky," Refix agreed. "My wife and I have traveled across an empire in a caravan before, and let me tell you, it's a minimum of a ten-month journey to go from one Tier 4 Region to another that way. One month, plus the three weeks we already spent, is a much better prospect. Thanks for the information."

"No problem," the guard said. "Just make sure you keep clear of the roads when any military units are using them, and don't stop for an extended time at any major city. The refugee problem is quite out of hand, and we're having a hard time placing the new ones."

"I understand," Refix said. "After seeing what's going on back there, I can't blame them for running, but, I do have a question for you."

"And what would that be?" The guard asked.

"Why are you all holed up on the border? That's your liege empire, but you're not helping them."

"We get that question a lot," the guard sighed. "The truth of the matter is that we did send help. We sent an entire division, half our military strength, and they never came back. There's been no word, and, at this point, we can only assume that everyone's lost.

"I had a brother in that division, as well as many friends..."

"I'm sorry," Refix said with genuine contrition. "I've just been in a situation where vassal states ignored the pleas of their liege empire, choosing to ignore helping those they swore to follow instead to fight each other for the right to take over. I guess I'm just a little touchy on the subject."

"I've never heard of warring empires before, just the occasional scuffle between lords and Regions seeking benefits. What's this world coming to when someone nearly a hundred jumps away has a similar story?" The guard shook his head.

"It was a little different," Refix touched his nose. "It was due to a Dungeon Break in the capital, and it was more than double that many jumps away. Anyway, it's a sad state we're in right now. Keep your head up." Refix clapped the man on the shoulder.

"Thank you," the guard replied. "Most of the refugees coming through here don't care about the truth and curse us out anyway for standing around. You have a safe journey, now."

Refix and the guard nodded to each other, each one feeling as if they had built a bit of rapport during the short interrogation that had somehow turned into a friendly chat between veterans on the perils of life. Refix walked over to where his group was waiting for him and remounted.

"So?" Ameliyn inquired.

"They were friendly enough," Refix answered. "He even told me that we're not going to have to spend a year traveling to the next Tier 4 capital to continue our journey to Wispan. The next closest Tier 4 region is only three Regions away."

"There must be a Tier 5 region between them," Ameliyn said thoughtfully.

"That's what I was thinking. Most Tier 4 Regions aren't directly next to a Tier 5 Region, but there are almost always two or more Tier 4 Regions connected to it if there is."

"Thanks for the geography lesson. I didn't know that," Ameliyn said, rolling her eyes.

"Hey, I'm just thinking out loud," Refix defended himself.

"I know, my Love. I was just teasing." Ameliyn leaned forward and placed a peck on his cheek. She straightened up in her saddle. "Now let's get going! Only a month away from seeing my little boy!"

Refix grinned at his wife's enthusiasm. He shared the same sentiments, after all.

Just a little longer and we'll be able to bring him back home with us.