The World of Tactics

Chapter Twelve: Another Nightly Encounter

"Myth has once portrayed that the Umux continent was the origin of darkness. That is where the dark forces first set their feet on the world. Till then, the whole continent became shrouded in a world war between the dark force and the light force. The war between the two forces lasted eons.

Until, finally, the blue-haired hero rises against the dark force. The hero's name that shall not be named had, at the risk of his life, sealed away the darkness beyond. Which then closes the gate entrance of the darkness from the world. But, the price was huge and the hero passed away right after the gate was closed forever.

The Umux continent finally reigns free from the dark forces. Peace and prosperity come, but that comes with a price. Now and then, the hero descendant closely follows the seeping darkness. Now and then, the descendant must follow their ancestor's path and destroy all of the seeping darkness.

That seeping darkness came through the gaps of the closed gate. Darkness will slowly seep back into the world and reign in the destruction of the land. The ancient abode tablet says that "If thee shall find [the] darkness. Thou shall find [the] hero's bloodline. Thine hero descendant shall perish [the] darkness. Ye shall listen."

The world of peace does not last forever because that seeping darkness will try again and again. Listen to the ancient abode tablet and find the blue-haired hero's descendants and the darkness shall perish." A written passage was written by an anonymous author.

---

John Smith was startled by the zooming steps of the horses and it was getting on his nerves. He went through tiring hot days and a tiring hot night battle. Now, he just wants to close his heavy eyelids. However, the rumbling horses did not allow him to do so. Even his comfy pillow from behind also got everything. The ‘neighs’ of the horse finally made him snap. Who would be traveling this loudly in the middle of the night?

He opened up his eyes and found that Mike was the target of the armed men that were riding the horses. This was the first time he had ever thought that Mike would get such treatment from strangers in the middle of the night. He focused his eyes on the middle-aged man leading the front. The hair is brown and the stomach is round while wearing a lowly common noble's attire. He could recognize those because of how decorative they were. Compared to the armed men in the back, the difference was huge.

The nobleman reached in front of Mike, looked at Mike's face, and spoke, "Oh my. Wouldn't you be the son of Darcus?"

This might have been the first time Mike met with a noble who was well beyond the commoner's class. Mike spoke a bit shakily, "Y-y-yes?"

As if surprised at himself, at the nobleman "Ah, how rude of me. My name is Orion Bogs [1]. It's a pleasant night to meet you, Sir Mike."

Seeing that Mike did not comprehend what he was talking about, Sir Orion Bogs could only continue, "Ah, how forgetting, of me." Sir Orion Bogs continues, "Your dad and I go back a long-long time. We have been the best of buddies for as long as I can remember-"

Just as Sir Orion Bogs was about to continue, an armed man that seemed to be the leading captain of the rest of them came forward. The man said, "Sire, I smell blood. A hobgoblin's blood."

The moment that the word 'hobgoblin' came out, all of the armed men either unsheathed their swords or their lances and were at their ready. Just the scene of a dozen men pulling out their weapons gives him goosebumps. He just checked their levels and most of them were higher than fifteen, some were even one to two levels close to level twenty, and the leading captain was level at twenty-three. Against them, he believes that only his father could fight them because the armed men's health points were over twenty, the strength of seven or over, the skill of six or over, speed of seven or over, and defense of six or over.

Surprisingly, none of the men's class were militia nor were they soldiers. All of the men's class were cavalry knights, but the only difference between his father's stats and their status was way too far apart. His father's level was indeed higher than that. Even so, taking those cavalry knights and comparing them to his father's soldiers. His father's soldiers at the same time would have wiped the floor with them in a one versus one. The growth rate, levels, and weapon mastery of his father's soldiers and the cavalry knights here are roughly around the same as well.

The only difference that he spotted was the strength and defense along with their movement speed. Likewise, he saw something interesting and it was the horses. The horses have deadpan eyes and unusual behavior. He thought that he heard the horses' neighs when the cavalry knight got there. As he got more curious, he went and touched a horse while Sir Orion Bogs was talking with Mike. Just like its deadpan eyes and silent behavior, the horse was not a living thing. It felt like... Mana!

The horse was just an entity made of mana and he could probably guess where the horse came from. It came from the class itself. Hence, the class name is cavalry knight. That might also be the reason why he could not look at the horse's status screen. He also found something else on the cavalry knight's status screen. They all have a skill called [Horseback] and he could pretty much tell what the skill could do. The horse made of mana is the prime example.

Just when he finishes his thought processes. Mister Mike over there is done talking to Sir Orion Bogs. He overheard that the 'capital' was not that far away and that they 'should' just make the last run to the 'capital' because there was 'hobgoblin's blood.' Well, he did not mind, but his tiredness was gnawing on him. He saw Mister Mike getting on Sir Orion Bogs' horse made of mana and he too went on his miniature donkey, Dork.

The reason why he is calling Mike Mister Mike now was that Mister Mike over at the front had forgotten about him. That was after Sir Orion Bogs had approached Mister Mike. At the very least, Mike should have introduced him during the talk so that he could also join in with the conversation. It was then that he realized something. They had not introduced themselves yet and the conversation that the two of them had was during the first night when he tried to teach Mike how to light a fire from scratch.

During the whole journey, it took roughly four hours to reach the gate of the capital. On the way here, the group of cavalry knights had been going a lot slower than they should. To which, at full speed, Dork was able to catch up to them. It was not fun being at the tail of the group, but there was nothing he could do about the dust. He was forced to bite the dust by the fast-moving cavalry knights.

Dawn was rapidly approaching the moment the gate opened. The walls were scaled so high above and a matching gate with it. Archers and plenty of soldiers were stationed appropriately spaced apart in between the high walls. A quick estimate and he could tell that the gate was, at the very least, five floors tall. The quality of the soldiers stationed at the gate was no worse than the cavalry knights. The soldiers were even stronger. He saw that none of the soldiers' levels were less than twenty at all. This is the cream of the crop type of situation.

He heard Sir Orion Bogs quickly talking with the soldier at the front gate, but he could not quite capture the words. The soldier waves at the top and the magnificent huge gate finally opens. The rumbling sound of the gears and chains turning for a while. The gate was finally opened up to a wide expanse of space. The moment they had entered the giant gate, the street was so wide that a couple of carriages could go through. The ground was made of stones that neatly lined up the street.

The rush of fantasy came alive again. Lines to both sides of the commercial street were architecture made of stone and wood. This was a concept that is commonly found in fantasy worlds. His first impression of the capital was quite great. There was little dirt and grime unlike his thoughts of what old age feels like. There was a sculptured fountain in the middle of the square. That was straight from where they were at. He was amazed by the sculpture because it was a life-like dragon.

The gate closes with thundering noises along with the sound of chains and gear moving. With a loud 'thump' the gate was sealed tightly. He felt that only a huge battering ram could do the job of destroying the gate. After strolling around a bit, he realized something else. There were also some buildings in the yonder even taller than the walls. The sun was still up as of yet, so the buildings were also quite hard to distinguish.

After a few glances here and there, he also realized something else. There was also another inner wall which was even taller than the one on the outside wall within the perimeter. He could only estimate that this capital is roughly around one to two miles. It might even be a three-mile radius. As for the population, it might even be over one hundred thousand. This is just all of his estimation. He could be wrong compared to the real number. Currently, that is not important.

What was important was how could the average human possibly build such a gigantic castle in the middle. At first, the darkness started to fade away as the sun came up. Then, when the darkness fades away, he finally realizes that the long shadow of the castle stretches. Most importantly, how could he not have seen such a gigantic castle way before they came to the gate. It was just a moment of thought and he realized something else. A dim circular dome-like spherical line was covering up the castle.

He would not have seen the blue lines stretching from the right side to the left side. The best way that he could describe it was just a strip of the faint blue rainbow. It was faint, but it was there. That blue strip of lines might have some cloaking magic covering the castle. Unless someone steps in through the gate, that person would never be able to see the outline of the castle. The conclusion that he got from the blue dome was 'magic.'

Only the word 'magic' came to his mind and for 'magic' to be able to do such a thing also meant that it might have taken quite an amount of mana to maintain such a thing. His concern was how they would be able to maintain such a thing and the logical reasoning behind it. It was quite interesting and he could come up with some thoughts about it, but since he is not a mage. He did not know anything and put his thoughts about it behind him.

He followed the cavalry knights along the way, but the moment had come when he had to depart from Mike. It seemed that he was not welcome to go inside the wealthy sector at all and was stopped by the wardens that were guarding the intersecting gate against the commercial sector. Since even Sir Orion Bogs did not even add a word to him. He knew that he was not welcome by Sir Orion Bogs.

It seems that Sir Orion Bogs was not such a good person at all because of the way he was treated. He was just a puff of air and he was the commoner, on the other hand. In this situation, he did not care at all. He wore his cloak to cover his body from the morning chills and turned his back from the gate. Alone, again, he sighed and went on an exploration expedition. The morning came and his weary body needed someplace to sleep. Preferably, he wants a proper bed.

He did not take long to find the inn that he was looking for. In reality, it was not an inn. It was a tavern bar. To the side of the tavern, the bar was a small walkway to the back of the tavern. Found the right place to shelter Dork for the night. He randomly chose a small room that was big enough for Dork. This was common knowledge that he had seen often within the village and he was right to choose this tavern bar.

When he finished settling down Dork, he went through the back entrance. It is also common to have at least two to three entrances for the customer and it was quite a custom around the area. He could feel that his body had become even wearier and rushed through the drunken men and women. He quickly navigated around some of the drunken ones lying on top of the floor, dead drunk. He also saw some that had just woken up and some that started to chomp on their breakfast.

He directly went up to the counter impatiently. The clerk was a man in his thirties or some. A light brownish beard and quite the look with a monocle on it. The man asked him, "What could I get for you, young man?"

"A room." He replied with red eyes.

"Five coins per night." The man quickly said while cleaning one of the glasses with a white towel.

He did not need to say anything else and pretended to take out five gold coins from his pouch of meat. With five gold coins in hand, he directly put them on the counter. The man said, "Here, key. The room should be obvious." After seeing the gold coins on the countertop,

He grabbed hold of the key and went directly to the second floor that was alongside the stairs. There was the number twenty-one imprinted on the key and he knew that his room was the twenty-first. The hallway was quite long. One, two, three...

Eighteen, nineteen, twenty...

None of the rooms here numbered twenty-one at all. As wearily as he was, he had to climb up the staircase again to the third floor and final floor. He finally found what he was looking for, room number twenty-one. He directly opened up the thin wooden door which he no doubt could smash. The doors crackled while opening and closing the door. He made sure to lock the door before falling on top of the soft mattresses.

He closes his eyes the moment he falls. His eyes begin to feel better and the itchiness of sleep beckons him to the dreamland that he had longed for. He was no longer conscious of space and time. The time passes slowly as the morning moves to noon and from noon to the afternoon. With a refreshing jolt of warmth, he finally wakes up.

His morning need for sleep finally settles down and clears his muddy thoughts from yesterday. Nothing is as good as a good night's sleep. He hopped down from the mattress and put a good splash of water on his face. He dried the water with a white towel on the side and finally headed down for some hot breakfast, no lunch.

He sat down at one of the empty tables. He glanced at the side of the wooden table and ordered meal number four. There was no name listed except the numbers, so he went to the first number for lunchtime. For breakfast, the numbers were from one to three. Lunch was numbered from four to six and dinner was numbered from seven to nine. As for the numbers after that, it was just ordered for alcoholic drinks which he did not want to try.

His lunch was a bowl of yellow soup filled with what seemed like cheese, potato chunks, a few pieces of meat, and a wooden spoon. To the side, he also had another smaller bowl of salad along with a loaf of bread. A wooden fork also comes with a bowl of salad. As for his drink, it was just plain water. His lunch was quite plain and simple, but the piping hot smoke coming from the soup made him increase his appetite.

With a bite of the soup and he realized that the plain and simple soup was not that simple at all. He could taste a small tint of sweetness, saltiness, ground black pepper, and something else that made the soup brownish-yellow. The potato has a great mashed taste and is quite tender and melts when eaten. The meat was also tender and chewy. Overall, this soup was delicious.

He enjoyed the lunch very much. The bread and the soup. The refreshing salad. Nothing better than a full stomach. Since he had enjoyed himself with a grand lunch. He directly puts down three gold coins on the table before leaving. The meal was just two gold coins, but he left one gold coin as an extra tip for such an amazing experience. He headed outside of the tavern bar because he had forgotten about what he had to do yesterday.

His head had been muddled and tired since the night battle. He needs to get to the garrison or the barracks and hand in the letter. This way, there will be reinforcements coming from the capital to assist the village when there are problems that are brewing. Firstly, before that. He needs to see what he can do with the things that are filled within his inventory.

[1: Sir Orion Bogs - A cavalry knight that was granted a noble rank and title after accumulating countlessly honorable (questionable) merits. He used to be a good friend of Darcus but was a bit selfish and willing to do almost anything to achieve his goals. However, a used-to-be good friend never lasts. He seeks only benefits from making 'good' friends out of them. He is just another poor soul who has fallen to the darker side of humanity, nothing more and nothing less.]

[Hobgoblins - A devilish green humanoid monster that evolved from a goblin. They were known as the 'Adults' version of a goblin in human terms. Hobgoblins were known to be feared when they evolved from goblins. A hobgoblin's growth rate was one to two times higher than their goblin's self (roughly around 1.2x~1.8x) after evolving. This comes at the cost of their maximum limit; their potential to grow becomes stronger (Only applies to goblins that evolved into hobgoblins, not newborn hobgoblins).]

[Example: Using Dork's growth rate:

[Growth Rate][HP: 35][STR: 14][MAG: 56][SKL: 21][SPD: 19][LCK: 3][DEF: 30][RES: 20]

[Growth Rate][HP: 42~63][STR: 16~25][MAG: 67~100][SKL: 25~37][SPD: 22~34][LCK: 3~5][DEF: 36~54][RES: 24~36]

Any decent goblins that become hobgoblins are exceedingly frightening.]

[Wolf - Wolves were pack hunters and their skills revolved around the pack and their hunts. Most of the lone wolves are much weaker than their counterparts and slowly die off. However, there are a few exceedingly well-off lone wolves that become much stronger than the average alpha male wolf. Those lone wolves could suppress their evolution (Wolves in a pack evolve automatically at level 16, alpha at eighteen). Even though exceedingly rare, some wolves within a pack could outgrow the alpha and become the new alpha leader. Usually, the alpha makes sure to keep the underlings under strict control. Take caution when dealing with wolves. They mostly use their jaws and fangs to attack. They rarely use their claws.]