17 Lumaki, 891 ED

Oraw, 14:41

Milagre, Empire of Tyrman

Alright. We’re all more than familiar with time skips in stories, right? I sure as hell use them. The trick with time skips is to make sure that there’s enough of a connection in the gap that the readers aren’t left unsatisfied. You don’t have to fill in the blanks entirely, but the more of a picture you can paint, the better. And since I can’t be certain who is writing this story, I’ll just have to take it into my hands to make absolutely sure that the readers get an understanding. Because if I’m certain of one thing, the past ten days have been so boring that they weren’t worth full coverage. Well, boring for the reader, but not for me.

What was I doing these past two weeks? To put it simply, I was training. Yes, yes, I know that’s another staple of the “isekai” genre. Training montages may do well in anime, but for writing, they’re… well, boring. I have no way of knowing who my enemy is as they’re working from the shadows, but I do know that whoever they end up being, it’ll be someone strong. So I needed to power up.

“Ah that reminds me,” I muttered quietly, as the thought struck me. “I should showcase how much I’ve grown.”

Beside me, Gogo looked up and around, frowning slightly. “What?”

I waved casually at him. “Just thinking out loud, don’t worry. I’m trying to think of the best way to take these idiots by surprise.”

Mentally chiding myself for the slip, I brought up the system in front of my eyes and thought of the character statistics. At once, they appeared, as if floating there.

____________________________________________________________

Tuck

Initiate

My training, of course, had mostly been focused on increasing my magical potential. I’d taken part in a slew of sparring activities, of course, but the majority of the time had been spent on learning new spells and perfecting the casting of those spells. I’d more than doubled my available Mana and Ki reserves, and I had quite a few new tricks up my sleeve for magic.

“No point in showing those just now,” I muttered. This time, I made sure to keep my voice low so that Gogo wouldn’t hear me. “That would take up too many words, and they’ve got more to learn about than the number of spells I have now.”

Around me, there were more than a hundred armed men and women. Most were clad in the uniform of the Royal Guards, but not all of them. There were more than a few mercenaries in the mix, either from the Guard Guild, Adventurer Guild, or unaffiliated, like Gogo and I. We were split into different parties. Mine consisted of myself, Gogo, Felix, and Gaurse.

At the head of this small army was Enri Ciayol, and a man dressed head-to-toe in heavy steel armor. It had been tinted red and had gold edges, indicating that he was of high rank. It was Markus Ciayol, the General of the Tyrman army. Equal to rank with his cousin Enri, he had a fearsome reputation. He was a Dragon-Kin, and probably one of the strongest. His fire breath, massive greatsword, and enchanted gauntlets had defeated more enemies than I’d likely ever meet in my life.

“Listen up, folks,” Enri said, his voice pitched to reach everyone. At once, the volume of chatter around us quieted down. “I’m sure you’ve all been briefed on exactly what it is we’re doing here, but I’m going to give it another run-through, just to be sure.”

He inclined his head in the direction of his cousin. “This will be a joint task including both everyone you see here and our second force, on the opposite side of the city.”

Markus Ciayol stepped forward now. His voice carried to everyone with absolute ease by comparison, without him having to raise it in the slightest. “The goal of today is to arrest every member of the Thieves Guild, and take them into custody for interrogation.”

“Keep in mind,” Ciayol added, “That we have gathered some very reliable information in recent days that suggest a mutiny is near with their organization. We have no time to waste. The current leader, we believe, has sent out word to his loyalists, instructing them to surrender.”

“This means that, while you are to treat everyone you encounter in the tunnels below as an enemy, you are only to capture them. If they surrender, bind them at once. If they fight, defeat them. We recognize that you can’t take any risks in non-lethal combat, but you’ve all been vetted by Markus or I. We’ll trust your judgment.”

He turned and clasped with forearms, and I realized that was the end of the briefing. Short and sweet, just the way he liked it. Not that I was going to complain. Too much exposition clogged up the storyline, and I preferred to reveal the plot little by little as I went along. It was the most engaging for the readers, to learn as the character does. The fact that I happened to be the character in question this time didn’t change anything on that score.

The others around us were getting to their feet now, and we did as well. I gave my newly purchased saber a quick check, testing its edge and making sure that the fine rust-proofing oil still shined. My armor was in excellent condition as well, with no cracks in the leather or scratches in the metal. It wouldn’t last, of course, but it was still part of the process of getting ready for the battle.

Suddenly, I caught myself thinking about how this would look from a reader’s perspective. Surely it would count as a raid right? There’d likely be a lot of fighting for each party even given the numbers present. Certain Thieves Guild members would be stronger than others, making them feel more like raid bosses. Yes, I thought, this would be like a proper dungeon crawl. Again, not that I was going to complain. Plenty of experience to find in a situation like this.

“Tuck.” It was Enri. He’d approached right behind us without me noticing. “Just wanted to go over your party’s role.”

“We’re going in from the southern entrance, right?” I asked. “We’re one of the fast parties so we’ll be going in first?”

“Correct,” he agreed with a nod. “You’ll have to be fast with each party, but I don’t suppose that will be a problem. Capture them fast, and chain them with your magic item.”

I glanced down at the silver bracelet on my left forearm. It had been given to me for this mission alone. When activated, it magically bound a target’s hands and feet together. It was a painless enchantment, I knew, but I hadn’t expected to be instructed to use something so drastic.

“If you come across an opponent you can’t defeat, don’t try anything too dangerous. That bracelet also has a panic enchantment. Activate it, and someone from a higher-ranked party will come and assist.”

I nodded my understanding. Even at level eight, we were one of the lowest of the collected force. We were just strong enough to qualify for the mission, but nobody expected much of us. To be honest, I found the thought mildly insulting. I hoped I was able to put on a better showing than they thought I could.

“Let’s not forget our formation,” I told the others. “Gaurse, you’re the best at range, and you have the best eyes beside Gogo. You’ll be at the back.”

“I take it that means I’m at the front?” Gogo asked, and I nodded. “Figured as much.”

“I’ll be right behind you, both to support you and to cover your flanks. Felix is behind me. He’ll do the most magic out of all of us.”

Felix nodded in quiet agreement. He wasn’t quite dour, but some of his usual cheeriness did seem to have leaked away. It was only to be expected, I guessed. A bit of nervous energy before a fight was common. I grinned at him and gave him an encouraging pat on the shoulder. “Don’t worry Felix. We’ll cover you. Just focus on your magic and we’ll do fine.”

He nodded again, but there was a grateful note to it this time. “Thanks. Sorry, I’ve just never been in an operation this large before.”

“I don’t think any of us have,” I replied. “But we’re strong. We can manage.”

Enri was watching the byplay, and now he nodded in his own turn, an approving look in his eyes. “Well said, both of you. Let’s meet up at the other end and have a drink to celebrate.”

“Sounds like a plan,” I agreed, shaking his hand. “Good luck, Captain.”

-

The tunnels under the city were, for lack of a better word, a total labyrinth. Unlike other labyrinths, however, nearly every branch had been mapped out, and certain people were aware of its layout. I wasn’t one of those in reality, as a vague description or idea of what they resemble didn’t mean that I could conjure the perfect image to mind at will. I had to rely on maps created by the actual characters who had them.

Starting from the southern side of the city, we entered the area known as the Sinks. These tunnels connected to the river just outside Milagre and were one of the most active routes for smugglers. Which meant that the general threat was lower, or rather that it was supposed to be. We encountered a group of people almost immediately upon separating from the larger force, and I could see at once that they were simple merchants.

Still, they were in league with the Thieves Guild. Nobody that used these tunnels wasn’t connected to them in some way. I lifted my left arm holding the bracelet, and tried to sound as commanding as possible.

“Put those crates and sacks on the ground!” I said, my voice sounding unnaturally loud in the confined space. “Step away from them and toward the wall!”

The merchants jumped at the unexpected shout and turned to see what it was. Seeing that they were outnumbered by one and that we were all armed, they wasted no time in obeying my instructions. They set the boxes and sacks down, then pushed against the wall as close as they could. Maybe they thought we were a hostile force attacking the guild, I thought.

“We’re taking everyone in these tunnels into custody,” I said. “It’s by the order of the Crown, so don’t fight us.”

I pointed a hand at each of them in turn, activating the enchantment. Ropes appeared in a tight knot over their wrists and ankles, binding them in place. Satisfied, I ran past the three of them in a light jog. The magical bindings would give off a constant location to the rest of the force so that guards not involved in the fighting could extract prisoners and carry them off to the dungeons.

“Smooth sailing so far,” Gogo commented.

“It will be smooth most of the way,” I replied. “So long as you don’t jinx it.”