377 Meeting the Overlord and his busty daughter once again (1/2)
The only saving grace was my ability to use the barrier freely, as it was something I already shared with others, and it would only be strange if I suddenly refrained from using it. Thanks to this fact, my travel through the forest limited itself to just running in an overall straight line, while only avoiding the trees and allowing the barrier to carve the path amongst the bushes and other small vegetation.
Despite being all alone, no magical beast dared to cross my path. I could wonder whether it was the case of some sort of internal communication between the tribes that experienced me culling their numbers without even a single weapon in hand back when I was leading the first batch of locals away, or if there was any other reason that warranted this situation, but my journey remained calm nevertheless.
That is before I reached the vantage point from which I could not only detect the city guards with my energy vision but also see the city itself. And it changed quite a bit since the last time I was here!
Starting from the outer rim of the town itself, what once used to be just empty, open space that could at most serve as the perimeter for the potential defences was now filled with trenches, barricades and a primitive, wooden wall. The number of patrols outside of that area also increased, from just a few of them back when I first visited, to at least fifty energy signatures that I detected in my immediate area alone!
*What do you think I should do? Try to save the slaves first, or go in with a bang straight away?*
”If you turn aggressive out of apparently nowhere, they will know for sure that you perceive them as enemies. If you just go in as if their preparations didn't bother you, you might either reaffirm them about not being their enemy, but that also means going right inside the trap. I can't decide for you.”
Just from this short exchange, I could tell the difference between old Bonger and the current one, holding my killing intent back. Before this hurdle became a thing, he wouldn't cut the discussion so decisively!
But he was right about one thing. I was the one to make the calls, as I was the one to suffer through its consequences. With how talkative it recently became, I started treating it as an equal partner, but there was a reason why I was the host and he was…. the system.
Raising up, I moved to the side, quickly getting on the small path leading to the city. While I could easily get there sooner and save quite a bit of time, I wanted to take a look at the state of the city before really approaching him, forcing me to take this time-costly endeavour.
”Halt! Stay where you are!”
Almost immediately after I revealed myself on the path, a voice of one of the closest guardians set me in place. Considering the primitiveness of these people culture, I had to admit that their semi-military forms were quite developed to reach the level known from a certain German-speaking country of the late first half of twenty century of Europe…
”Come on, are we seriously going to do this?”
The chances that this guard didn't recognise me right away were seriously low. Since I didn't want the enmity to explode right away, pushing it for a slightly later date, looking at the first reaction I got after revealing myself I might have to recreate my plans.
”Going to do what?”
This time, it was the voice of another guard who came out from the bushes. From a slightly better dress and a proper sword attached to his hip, I could tell he was serving as some kind of officer of sorts.
”You know, spend half the day in here, confirming that I am who I am, that I have the right to enter the city, that I do not carry any illness that could spread through your community… Wait, if that's not the case, why did you stop me?”