WebNovels

Chapter 3 - Ironhold and Routes

A/N: A bit of an information dump, please bear with me.

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As Vlahovic ended his debriefing, Mikhail turned around to his squadron.

For a 'squadron', there were only 5 people including him.

It wasn't much but it was the most you could get on the Ironhold.

It was a place where people from all over the Empire landed up.

You couldn't say they were nice people however.

From bastards abandoned by their families, to thieves and rapists sent here as a punishment.

You could find all kinds of moral alignments on the Ironhold.

It was one of the reasons every person was a male here.

As for the reason Mikhail was brought here, he couldn't quite remember.

He and the ones in his squadron were among the oldest people here at the camp.

They had been brought here as kids so naturally none of them remembered.

Turning back to Modric, Mikhail extended his hand.

Without a word said between them, the former understood the command immediately.

He withdrew a map from the back of his uniform and handed it to Mikhail.

"Thanks."

Opening the map, Mikhail saw a very detailed but hand-drawn map of the Ironhold and the world beyond.

The Ironhold was a wall that extended hundreds of meters into the sky and spread as wide as a hundred kilometers.

It was what separated them from the world beyond, the world of Sylaris.

Disgusting creatures that fed on dead bodies of humans.

In his previous life, he and his squadron had died by their hands, north of the hold.

He didn't know where however.

Looking at the map, he saw a majority of the area above the hold unmapped.

It was because nobody had dared to explore the whole world beyond them.

Nobody knew what was in the far north.

However, a minor part was drawn in a detailed format with lines extending from a black point on the wall.

The black point was their camp and the lines were the scouting routes they had to check every morning.

Keeping these routes cleared and checked allowed them to steer clear of any Sylaris nearby the hold.

In case they were to attack, the camp would be prepared.

The wall was there to hold them back but it wasn't enough to just let them keep there.

They needed to be killed.

Fortunately, the Sylaris almost never attacked the wall. They were too disunited among themselves.

Regardless, as soldiers of the Camp Nether, it was their duty to keep guard of the wall.

Looking at the routes, Mikhail only had 3 routes left for the taking.

The others had already been picked.

This didn't happen before. It was the first time because they had gotten late.

Otherwise, their routes were always the same.

Examining the 3 routes, Mikhail tried to connect them to anything that could help him in his mission.

It was then that one of the routes clicked to him.

'Wait, wasn't this…'

He remembered.

It was where one of the riders had gone missing.

Deaths were common on the hold, especially during scouting so no one really took it that seriously.

But for Mikhail at that time, it had always been suspicious.

It was because of the areas surrounding the death of the man.

'Hmmm…'

He stared at his squadron before taking a deep sigh.

Turning to them, he pointed two fingers at two of the routes.

"Modric and Oscar, you two will take this route. Yvan and Icarus, you both will go on this route."

The team looked over, seeing their routes. They already knew that the last route would be Mikhail's.

There was no need to question why he was going alone. All of them had a sense of trust between them.

"Why do I get the shortest route again?" Icarus whined, forming his mouth into a pout.

"You always ask this and you always know the answer, you are too erratic to be let out for too long."

Modric answered before Mikhail could.

Everyone knew the past experiences with Icarus, his curiosity had often got them into perilous situations.

"It's why I pair Yvan with you, he can keep a good eye on you." Mikhail continued with a nod.

Yvan, the tallest of their group, nodded quietly.

He was the younger brother of Modric, having his meadow green hair but different colored eyes.

Both of them were known to be quiet-natured.

"Tsk." Icarus clicked his tongue, not complaining anymore.

Yvan tapped him on the back, pouring more salt on his wounds.

"Let's move on, you knew this would never work anyways."

Icarus' expression got worse but he didn't complain. He knew the guy was right.

Turning back to Modric, Mikhail continued.

"Be careful, the routes are new. We don't know anything about that area."

Modric gave him a simple nod in his reaction.

"Understood."

Turning to leave, Mikhail had just taken a step before Modric called him out as well.

"You should be careful as well." He stared into Mikhail's eyes.

For some reason, Mikhail always felt as if the green-haired boy's eyes knew more than what they showed.

It wasn't his concern though.

Nodding, Mikhail went on his way to the stables.

***

Arriving at the stables, Mikhail was quick to arrive near his horse.

Most of the people had already left so there wasn't much of a commotion or rush.

Greeting a stable hand, Mikhail petted his abyssal-black horse.

It had grown alongside him and there was a strong bond between the two.

He even had a name for it, in an area when men mostly didn't give one because they were common to die.

Sora.

It meant sky or so Icarus had told him. A word he had learned from his time holed up in the library.

He said that its fur looked like the clear night sky.

Strapping up his things, Mikhail was quick to climb on and grab the reins.

Pulling them, he rushed to the only gate in the middle of the encampment.

The two gatekeepers had it pulled up there for them to quickly leave.

Getting to the front, he saw the gatekeeper attach a device to his leg.

It was one of the academy's ways to ensure you didn't explore farther than what you were designated.

Although nobody did, the punishment was already hefty enough.

Furthermore, it was also made to know of deserters or traitors as it kept track of your location.

As the guard took note of his leaving time–something which was done to reward soldiers who got done early– Mikhail noticed something strange.

He wasn't the usual one at the gate.

In fact…

Looking to his right and the tunnel in front of him, none were the same as well.

It was normal for 2 guards to be replaced, but not the whole batch of 8.

"I haven't seen you before." Mikhail initiated the conversation.

The guard looked up from his notepad, with a brown weird and a strange smile.

It gave Mikhail the ick for some reason but he chose to ignore it.

"Just got appointed last night per the Watch Guard commander's orders."

Mikhail contemplated for a second before asking again.

"Temporary replacement or permanent?"

"Permanent."

Mikhail felt something strange gnawing at his back.

"Then where are the other-"

"Oi! Would you hurry up, bastard!?"

Turning around, Mikhail saw a squadron of 6 waiting for him to get done already.

"Yeah, hurry up fucker!" Another joined in.

Giving them no mind, Mikhail turned to the front where the guard spoke first now.

"You are ready to go."

'Hmm…'

As he was going to snap his reins again, Mikhail turned back to the man.

"What's your name?"

The guard hesitated for a second before replying with the same smile.

"Rubert."

Mikhail was quick to reply.

"No, last name."

The guard shook his head, implying that he didn't have one.

The suspicion in Mikhail was at an all-time high but he had to leave.

But he chose not to show it.

"Alright, thanks. Nice to meet you Rubert."

The guard nodded.

"Same here."

With that, Mikhail snapped his reins and sped off into the tunnel that led outside the Ironhold.

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