Chapter Two Hundred and Fifty-One - On the Back Foot

“So, now what?” I asked as I followed Bastion out of the headquarters.

The paladin paused, jaw working as he thought. “Are you certain you want to keep following me?” he asked. “This is becoming increasingly political.”

“Is that a bad thing for me?” I asked. “I’m not about to let one of my best friends do something hard without at least trying my best to help him.”

Bastion chuckled. “I should have figured you’d say something like that. Very well, our next step will be informing the guard of what’s going on. Then we move over to the quarry and find Major Springsong. I feel as if everything we’re dealing with leads to him in particular.”

“Alright,” I said. We’d finally reach the person responsible for the entire kerfuffle. I hoped. If we reached Major Springsong and it turned out that it wasn’t them and that someone else was responsible then... “Is your job always like this?” I asked.

“You mean running around, looking for fires, then stamping them out as best I can? Yes, that would describe a good portion of a paladin’s work. We’re often turned into errand boys, sent around to take care of things for the royal family where it wouldn’t be politically or practically possible for them to show up in person. We’re essentially problem-fixers with royal backing.”

“That’s kind of neat,” I said. “The King and Queen must trust you a bunch.”

Bastion nodded. “That’s one of the nicer perks, yes. It’s not every sylph that will even see their monarchs, let alone ever speak with them. The Royal Order is given a lot of trust, which also puts a lot of pressure on us. A mistake carried out in the name of the King is going to be very costly, no matter what.”

I could imagine. That had to be pretty stressful. But then, I was sure Bastion managed it just fine. He was one of the coolest people I’d ever met.

On leaving the headquarters, Bastion gestured towards the front gate, past more soldiers who were running laps around a small field. We weren’t halfway to the gate when I heard some shouted orders being tossed around, and soon the soldiers were snapping to attention and darting towards what I guessed was their barracks.

“The alert level’s rising,” Bastion said.

“What does that mean?” I asked. “I mean, I can guess, but I figure you know-know.”

Bastion laughed. “It means the soldiers here have just gotten a day off from training. Now they’ll gear up and move on to one of the other things soldiers are good at.”

“What’s that?” I asked.

“There’s three things you’re taught to do as a soldier. Train, fight, and wait. Now they’ll have the rest of the day to wait.”

The guards at the gate opened up the door for us, and we stepped out of the base and back out onto the packed-dirt road around town. A few guards were waiting for us there, and Bastion approached them to talk. I hung back a little bit.

Today had been a lot of running around, and while it wasn’t quite as fun as some things, it still felt pretty nice. We were on a sort of adventure, but instead of the stakes being just... me and my friends having fun, they were larger.

Then again, our last few adventures had been like that too, hadn’t they?

I hadn’t really considered it, but more and more of our adventures were big, at least big in the sense that they were helping a lot of people with a bunch of things. That was... well, it wasn’t bad, but I had kind of set out expecting my adventures to only really be about me and a few friends. It was strange to think that more and more often our adventures were dealing with big, important things.

“We’re ready,” Bastion said, snapping me out of my thoughts.

I grinned at him and nodded. “Alright, let’s head out then.”

The quarry was past the halfway mark between Granite Springs and the mole person dam, which meant our run wasn’t quite as strenuous. We’d also had a nice long pause to regain some stamina, though my legs were wobbly at first.

Bastion set the pace again, not too fast, but not too slow, a bouncing jog that made us eat up the distance until we veered off the main road and onto the quarry road. We ran around the edge of a huge circular hole in the ground filled with water at its bottom.

There were a bunch of buildings in the middle of the quarry, where carts pulled by donkeys were bringing big slabs of stone to the side of a workshop where some sylphs picked them up with chains and pulleys. On the opposite end, square-cut blocks were being stacked onto another long cart.

Some of the buildings around looked like barracks, and there was an obvious kitchen to one side. Stables near the rear held the animals used to run the place, and there was a small building that looked like the headquarters for the entire place.

Bastion led us across the quarry, walking with the certainty of someone who was definitely allowed to be there.

The sylphs working at the quarry all seemed very strong, which was strange. They were still short, but short with big bulging arms. Most didn’t wear shirts, but nearly all of them had hard-leather caps that made their heads look like pins. A lot of them stared, but no one seemed inclined to move over and actually stop or ask us any questions.

And then we were past the quarry and heading towards a small patch of woods not too far from there. An area with a small wall around it, and tents installed behind that.

There were sylphs around who were all obviously soldiers, with black tabards over their gear, and spears held by their sides.

They tensed as Bastion and I moved up the hill to meet them. “Who goes there?” One of them asked.

“I’m Paladin Coldfront,” Bastion said. “I’m here to speak with Major Springsong, or whoever is in charge.”

The soldiers looked at each other, then one ran off into their camp. I guessed that there weren’t more than fifty or so soldiers here, spread out across about half that many tents, laid out in neat rows. They had built a small wall, loose stones at the base with wooden posts above those, each ending in a rough-hewn spike.

Bastion stood tall next to me, eyes fixed on the soldiers before us, who started to sweat a little at his unflinching gaze.

Then the major showed up.

I was expecting someone tall--for a sylph--in resplendent armour and maybe with the same bearing as Bastion. Instead, the major was a shorter sylph with a squinty look on his face, wearing shiny armour that looked half a size too big for him.

He stared around, noticed Bastion and myself, then ran over with a blossoming smile. “Paladin Coldfront! It’s wonderful to see you, sir,” he said.

“Hello,” Bastion said. He sounded like he was on the back foot. I guess the warm welcome was unexpected.

“I didn’t expect your arrival so soon, but I’m infinitely grateful that you’re here. Please, follow me.” The major took Bastion’s hand, shaking it up and down in a hurry before turning around and walking into the camp.

Bastion and I looked at each other, and I shrugged before we moved on after the major.

The interior of the camp wasn’t anything too special. Tents were set in small circles around campfires, and the camp was laid out so that there was a wide lane down the middle which soldiers could use to move around. A larger tent stood at one end, with a pair of black banners hanging on either side of its entrance. The major stood there, with his back straight and features neutral, but he was also bouncing on the balls of his feet with nervous energy.

“This is our issue,” the major said as soon as we walked in. There was a desk in the centre, with a pile of letters sitting atop it and a map across the surface. He shoved the letters to the side to make room to see the map. “There’s a monster living here," his finger stabbed down onto the map, "and we need it dead.”

“One moment,” Bastion said. “I think you’re operating under a false assumption.”

The major blinked. “Pardon?”

“I’m not here to answer a specific request. I’m here investigating the issue with the mole people, especially with regards to the dam they’re building that’s risking Granite Springs.”

“You’re not here for the dungeon?”

“What dungeon?” I asked.

There was a long silence as everyone in the tent took each other in. “... I believe that perhaps you are right, paladin—there has been some level of miscommunication here. I sent word to the capital three days ago, requesting assistance with a delicate matter. I had assumed you were the response.”

“I understand that much,” Bastion said. “But unfortunately, no, I’m here because I was passing through. I heard there was an issue with the molefolk, and after tracking it down, I came here, to what seems to be the source of the issue.”

The major’s face screwed up for a moment before his expression flattened. “The mole people have been causing me some level of distress, yes.”

“Is that correspondence on the table letters from the mole people?” Bastion asked.

The major glanced then, then back up. “That? Oh, yes, they are,” he said.

I poked at the pile, moving some of the letters around. “Some of these are still sealed,” I said.

“Yes, well, the concerns of some mole people hardly matter to the Inquisition.”

“But these aren’t addressed to you,” I said.

“They might hold information that would reveal what we’re doing here... Paladin, who is this bun?”

“This is Captain Bunch. She’s outside of your chain of command,” Bastion said.

“I don’t recall the army having buns in it,” the major said.

“She’s an airship captain,” Bastion replied, which only seemed to confuse the major more. “And her concerns are valid. Are you aware of what the mole people are doing at this moment? For that matter, are you responsible for the quarry changing the location it’s digging in?”

“I recall reading some base threats. And yes, of course. We can’t have them continue digging where they were, and the nation might well need the stone being quarried in the near future. I can’t possibly just halt all operations. Besides, doing so would only pose a greater risk that knowledge of the dungeon might leak.”

“Ah yes, the dungeon,” Bastion said. “I’m aware that the appearance of a new dungeon is important to the nation, but a settlement the size of Granite Springs—not to mention the nation’s alliance with the mole people—ought to outweigh the value of keeping one dungeon secret.”

The major blinked fast. I had the impression that he wasn’t so much mean, or even incompetent, as he was... focused on his task. “This new dungeon will hardly threaten the town. If anything, the movement of additional people to the region and the change in ambient mana would help Granite Springs.”

“For things to help the town, the town needs to still be around,” Bastion said.

I decided to butt in a little. “I don’t think the entire town is at risk, but, well, if we don’t do something, people might get hurt, and I can’t think of many secrets that are worth hurting people over.”

“I... I see? None of this would be an issue if it wasn’t for that damnable near-dragon thing.”

“... what dragon thing?” Bastion asked.

***