The World of Tactics

Chapter Twenty-Four II: A Conspiracy

"Many years have passed and there are countless countries and history buried under the ground. One kingdom after another and one empire after another. None can last for so long, no things that are created are eternal. Time changes and so do people. There were rumors about ancient forts that were fortified with immense amounts of magic that worked by gathering the surrounding mana within the air. Soldiers who occupy such forts would have an increase in certain power.

However, those rumors were just scratching the surface of it. There are certain qualifications that the fort could activate such power. One, the recognized leader needs to infuse some mana into the 'throne crest.' A 'throne crest' is not an actual throne, but a resemblance to the crest markings that resemble a throne. This is called the owner of the fort. Once this 'throne crest' is destroyed, the blessing will break and the leader will be weakened. The same works if the leader were to fall in battle. Then someone else can be established as the owner once again.

Two, all else that was afflicted with the leader will receive the same blessing within the fort. Of course, there are some occasions when the fortifications are overly strong, even if the soldiers weren't within the fort. As long as they are nearby, then the soldiers will also receive blessings. Ridiculous as it sounds, the forts weren't the only things that were fortified. Castles, towns, cities, capitals, and such also apply.

Finally, anybody that is deemed as unfriendly or neutral will not be able to get the blessing. Worst yet, some forts do not provide blessings, but the opposite. It would weaken the enemies attacking. There could only be either a blessing or a weakening at a time, which is why everything comes down to picking one or the other.

Currently, there are many dramatic changes over time to such outdated fortifications. The current ones were giving the option to the leader to choose if the fort were to bring a blessing to the allies or to weaken the enemies. It could interchange during battle as well, which will cause headaches for enemies attacking the fort. However, such border-edge technology is expensive to apply and create." Written down by a fortification researcher.

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When looking from the outside, the vines do not look as thick. Once, he reaches his hand to open up a passage through. His senses had already told him that there were a few dozen presences at the tip of his sense's range. As for the vines, as he kept trying to continue, the vines considerably thickened in numbers and he began to feel a slight squeeze by the vines. It was not as bad, but the bad part about this is that he needed to open his passage forward. He even wondered how the vines could grow in such a tight space without sunlight.

Just that thought entered his mind, his senses had touched two familiar presences that set his heart on fire. A few seconds later, he was able to pass through the open field on the other side of the massive number of vines. It was bright, the vines were cleared, the trees were the same, and the space was open even though the sky was clear from the ground up. Likewise, there was also a small fort made of giant stone slabs in the middle.

The fort could easily contain one hundred people inside and the wall's height was also high enough that he would need at least a very forceful jump to barely reach the wall height. However, he also had a little question about this hidden outpost because it does not seem like it was made recently. It must have been abandoned here long ago before his father moved in and discovered this hidden outpost.

The reason being was that the fort design was a bit unfamiliar and it was covered almost completely in green moss. Some parts were newly patched and seemed like they were newly added. Most importantly, this hidden outpost was easy to defend while hard for others to attack. Four watchtowers extended outward and an archer could attack them. It was also easy to notice watching over the vines.

In fact, due to the vines surrounding the fort, it was easy for the soldiers on the watchtower to easily tell if there were any unknown personnel entering the open vicinity. It was quite strategic since it also did not allow many enemies to openly attack the fort at the same time. The only flaw was the open sky since fliers could easily come inside, but other than that, the fort situated here was quite good.

This was just his thought before he quickly rushed to the gate of the fort alongside Henry. Once the people on top of the gate see Henry, he quickly hears the 'click-clunks' coming behind the gate and some ordering yells. The gate had a very unique way of opening since it operates on two mechanics. The first gate was continuously pulled left and the grinding on the ground was evident that a considerable amount of force was used to open it. Behind the first gate was the second door. Even if the first door was broken, there was still the second door blocking the other half of the side. Another round of mechanics rolling and the second gate grinds to the right side. This time, nothing obstructed their views.

Lined within the fort were a squad of plainly geared soldiers. From their formation, he realizes that all seven of the soldiers were not even geared with a proper bronze weapon. All of the six were plain soldiers and the last remaining was an archer. To be exact, the archer that he had expected was one with a hunter class that could wield a bow. Only the hunter was properly equipped with a horned bow along with a quiver that could hold sixty feathered arrows at the same time. It was interesting since the bow also had a might, while the arrows also had an increase in might. Likewise, this might be the advantage of being a bow user, which comes with the cost of using two item slots for the bow and quivers.

He sighed at how weak the soldiers were because of their low levels and poor equipment. All except the hunter wielding the horned bow. He also knows why the soldiers were so weak. Supposedly, he believes that the six soldiers were just normal villagers just a while ago. They must have forcefully changed their class to soldiers. He could see why though. Under the condition where there were undead monsters that were roaming around the village that was just three kilometers away. The surroundings are not safe and there is no guarantee that the undead monsters will not find this place. The same goes for survival within the woods. The ability to survive here needs some amount of military power to fight off potential monsters that mistakenly wander through the vine blockage.

He turned his attention away from the soldiers before him and hurried forward inside. Henry was surprised but still followed from behind. Since he was quite a distance away, Henry had to give a brief introduction to the soldiers. He followed his six senses and followed the traces. It was fleeting, but he could still see it. The inside of the fort was plain, simple with no buildings and there was a clear sky. The reason being was that the accommodation rooms, canteen room, and other rooms were fixated on the walls which were a dozen times thicker than normal.

Currently, he had already passed the soldiers and had gone to the central plaza, which was a square grass clearing. He turned to the right and walked into the open hallway and escaped from the sunlight. His senses of the two were even clearer and towards the left side of the hallway. They were underground. It might have been the basement of the fort. After all, the fort does not have any buildings nor were there any signs of human activity.

From his point of view, he saw that there was a staircase at the very end of the wall that started from the left side. Then it leads to the right corner before angling toward his direction, upward. On the other hand, there was an obvious staircase that flowed down towards the basement. That is where his goal was. He got on the staircase that goes down to the basement. This staircase had two sections. The first half was where he came down and the other half was bordering the first half, but it went in the opposite direction downward.

The moment that he landed in the basement, he could see that the wall that he was facing had a door slightly to his right and he had directions to go. He could feel it pumping blood within his body and it was coming from behind him. Firstly, he did not panic and explored the right side first. Once he turned to the right, he could see the dim lights from the candles that somewhat kept this place defined. He angled his sight to the left and could see that it was some sort of dining room. Then to the left was just another passage.

He kept to the left, going along with the wall, and came to a fork, either straight forward or to the left. He did not hesitate to go straight. He could sense his two siblings somewhere on his right side, so he was hoping that there would be a passage to the right after that. During this short journey, the pathway is interconnected with another passage. So he had to go through the next interconnected passage because his current pathway had come to an end here. A brief turn and his heartfelt strangest rollercoaster of emotion, but he found a door.

He still felt that this was not right. Compared to before, he felt that he was further than his sibling. However, he still has to try it because this door might lead him to a right-side passage that could potentially lead him to his younger siblings. Things got awkward real quickly because when he went through the door, it was just a room for soldiers to sleep in. There were four beds and each bed had another bed on top to make room. Four lower beds and four higher beds, a total of eight beds.

He realizes that he took the wrong turn from the very beginning and rushes back from where he came from. A minute later, he finally reached back to where the staircase was at. He was not even embarrassed at all and continued forward until he reached the end of the hallway which split the walls and there was another choice that he had to make. He did not hesitate and moved to the left because that is where he felt the presence of the two.

A few moments later, with a little walk at speed, the short passage opened up to a room. The reason why he had a speed walk was due to his increased hearing. He hears the murmurings and talking of the straight ahead. It was likely a gathering of other people and he was right. In front of him was Henry along with two soldiers and within a gathering of two dozen people. Behind Henry was an open door and to his left side was also another open door.