Felix glanced back at the last living bandit, strapped atop one of their mounts. Cixi and Yang Mei had doubled up to allow them to use the mount. A spark of guilt flashed in Felix as he stared at the man who looked more rope than man.

Poor idiot. Suffering like that for days. I suppose it is better than how the other three end up. Especially that last one. It was just so… gory. Been hard sleeping after that.

His eyes stopped briefly on the man’s limbs, their twisted shapes explaining the man’s constant grunts of pain.

Did Daiyu really have to break all of his limbs? When he first tried to escape and stab us, I was all for it. I was quite angry and breaking an arm seemed like an in the moment response. But going further after his second attempt… now it just seems… excessive.

The man finally noticed Felix's gaze and roused to return eyes filled with hate. Guilt bloomed again but Felix ignored it, holding the man’s gaze. Absently, he tried to trace where the guilt started this time.

I really am a mess. Even after all this time, my true emotions are so mixed. It is hard to know what is truly me. I suppose it all is but… well it does make it easier to compartmentalize stuff like this.

He turned back toward the front and the city wall looming in the distance. It was massive, at least five stories tall, and stretched far into the distance on either side. Starting 100 meters from the city, golden fields lined the ground and extended far into the distance.

“I am surprised to see the fields not better protected.” Said Felix. “I know it would be costly to build more walls but clearly from the behemoth in front of us, they should have the skill to do so. Even something rudimentary.”

“Well,” said Cixi, nudging her horse closer. “What do you think they are defending against?”

“Huh, I never considered that. I suppose that would influence what defense method makes the most sense, wouldn’t it? The city up ahead should contain a large number of low-level cultivators as well as mortals, correct?”

“Unless it is an oddity, yes.” Said Cixi.

“Then I would assume the main threat would be spirit beasts. From Elder Zhenzhen’s lesson, I doubt anyone invested in walls on the small chance of an elemental causeway appearing outside the city. Wait, do you even have to worry about spirit beasts here, or is that only a bigger concern closer to the wilds?”

“While it is true that the number of spirit beasts and other non-human threats tends to be lower further away from the Endless Wilderness, there are still enough of them to serve as a significant threat. You also have to worry about human threats, as our captive here illustrates.”

“I would think that humans wouldn’t be, you know, stupid enough to attack a city like that. Or, if they were confident enough to attack the city, then the wall wouldn’t be able to stop them.”

“Well, walls can be combined with other methods to deal with higher level cultivators, but they excel at limiting the effect of quantity over quality. Also, there are other threats out there that the wall does help against, and there is actually more going on here than you are seeing.” Cixi starts looking around. “Yep, it looks like this place uses one of the more time honored strategies.”

“Really?” Said Felix, trying to follow where she was looking. “and what strategy is that?”

“Well, they likely start out by having higher realm cultivators in the city ensure nothing too strong lives by. Information gathering and active culling policies can actually prevent most issues. Now, you see those towers that appear randomly in the fields?”

“I mean, they are kind of towery, more like square blocks.” Said Felix, then he flashed a grin. “So yes, I do see them.”

“Well, they are watchtowers that are likely placed in some kind of formation. Normally low cost, such formations can be used to supplement the walls. The towers themselves are often manned by two cultivators that practice some kind of detection skill. If a minor problem occurs in the field, one of them can leave to solve it. If a major problem occurs, they will signal the city and lock themselves in.”

“Lock themselves in?” said Felix. He looked at the tiny door at the base of one of the towers. “From what?”

“Well, whatever the threat may be. The strategy allows them to deal with issues in the field and also have a warning system. When the threat is truly monstrous, they have a chance to hunker down until help arrives. It is also really effective for spirit beasts as many of them tend to get bigger as they increase in power. It also helps prevent people from abandoning their posts and makes it harder to silence the guards. Not impossible, just difficult.”

“They use this strategy in the kingdom then?”

Cixi paused but then slowly nodded.

“Yes, my father thought it wise that I am aware of these things. A smart merchant has to understand the world to be able to make good decisions. Half of being a merchant is seeing patterns in society and taking advantage of them.”

After that, they continued in silence till they reached the line that extended quite far from the walls. Daiyu didn’t stop however and led them past the line, to the disgruntlement of those waiting. Most hid it after they took a good look at them, however.

As they neared the gate, one of the guards noticed them and pointed them out to the others. They huddled up for a minute, leaving a very annoyed merchant waiting to be let in. Then the one with a fancy feather in his helmet broke off to meet them. He neared and pulled out a scroll and looked between the images drawn and their robes.

“Excuse me,” said the man. “But do you four come here on business of your sects or of the Martial Alliance?”

Felix, Yang Mei, and Cixi exchanged looks before staring at Daiyu. She stared back before she turned and nodded at the guard.

“I… is that nod for the first or the second option.” Said the man.

Daiyu held up two fingers.

“Fantastic. We have standing orders to treat anyone representing the Alliance with full courtesy. Please come with me and I will lead you to the rooms set aside by the city lord.”

“Wait a moment.” Said Felix. “We have a captive, the man on the horse was part of a group of bandits neared by.”

The guard stopped and walked around them to look at their captive. He peered at the man’s face for a moment before pulling out a second scroll, a nearly identical portrait drawn on it.

“It does appear this man is wanted for several crimes. He has recently been charged as part of a group that has been forcing low level cultivators into joining them. Normally we only get the lizard tails with these ones. It has been a nightmare dealing with them.”

“What do you do with those who have been forced into banditry?” said Felix.

“Well,” said the man slowly, eyeing them. “We normally deal with it on a case by case basis. We don’t normally kill them out of hand.”

Felix gave Daiyu a look and she nodded.

“There is actually a group like that about three days back up the northern road. They have weapons but they clearly had no idea what they were doing.”

The guard's face darkened, and he nodded. He spits on the tightly bound man.

“I will have someone sent to go deal with them. You have my word that they will be treated fairly.” Said the captain. “Thank you all for your help. I will have the reward for the capture of the man sent to you later.”

“Do you normally reward people for obtaining a wanted man?”

The guard paused and then stepped closer.

“To be honest, no. You can normally only receive a reward if you have been approved to do so from the proper channels. We can’t have cultivators just going around killing people saying they are enacting the city’s justice. Of course, if the bounty is high enough you would receive a reduced reward. Considering your affiliations though, you will receive the whole reward.”

Felix shifted uncomfortably at the guard’s subservient tone but nodded. He absently nodded that Yang Mei shared his feelings though Cixi and Daiyu seemed unphased.

“Well, that would be great. Thank you.” Said Felix.

The guard bowed and led them to the gate. After a brief exchange with the other guards, they handed off the tied up man and continued on into the city.

Aesthetically, the city inside the walls was much like Greenwood. Only scaled up multiple times. It was certainly more crowded, but the milling people made way as soon as they saw the guard.

“This is quite the city,” said Felix guard as they passed a street performer juggling thirty flaming swords.

“Yes,” said the guard, his chest puffing up in pride. “It doesn’t compare to some of the great cities of the continent, but Pale Hill does hold its own. I traveled a bit in my youth and know the truth of that. Still, it is respectable. Would you believe that it was originally just a tiny lumber town?”

“Oh?” Said Felix, “What changed?”

“Time,” said the guard with a chuckle. “This used to be the very edge of the endless wilds. As more of the nearby wilds has been turned into farmland, this small town became the natural funnel to manage all that new space. About two hundred years ago, that all came to a stop when the clans and powerful spirit beast made it quite clear that such expansion would no longer be acceptable. However, they also opened up trade with the Central region and this small town was perfectly situated to take advantage of it. It is the only such trade route this side of the Beast’s Claw. The results are what you see today.”

“I thought the Endless Wilderness was, well wild.” Said Felix.

“Oh, it is, or at least by our standards. Apparently, it is really a web of alliances between different spirit beasts with a few clans eking out an existence. I’ve heard there are a few cities on the far side of the forest but that is more legend than anything.”

“So much of it is untamed forest then?”

“Exactly young master.” Said the guard and Felix tried to hide his wince at the title. “Going in them is pretty much a death sentence. All trade from there only comes out of one road and merchants aren’t able to enter but must meet at the entrance of the forest. In fact, many believe we are only interacting with an alliance that represents the edge of the wilderness.”

That… is very different from what I thought. I will have to corner Daiyu after this and discuss if we need to change our plans. Maybe we can contact one of these traders from the wilderness and just ask them about the situation in the Endless Wilds. Man, that would make our job easier.

The guard seemed unperturbed by Felix’s sudden silence and began to describe everything he knew about the city. This continued until they reached a respectable looking building not too far away from the city lord’s manor. They thank the guard, and after asking Cixi’s opinion, tipped him for his help. He assured them that the city lord would send someone soon to meet them and left.

They settled in and then met at the manor’s entrance.

“Alright,” said Felix, “we’ve made it here so what’s the plan? Do we try to talk to the city lord first or…?”

Eyes turned to Daiyu and she pulled out her board.

“That should not be necessary and isn’t likely. A city lord of a city of this size will likely not make time for a couple of essence gathers and a single essence condenser even with our background. Unless we were specifically coming as messengers. That said, we can probably meet some of his underlings and can request their help. They will likely have a better sense of what is going on near the Endless Wilderness and we can go from there.”

“Should we just go and investigate it ourselves.” Said Yang Mei. They all look at her and she shrugs. “I am not trying to make us do more work than necessary, it’s just that what they know may be different from what is going on.”

“You think the lord or someone else in power may try to mislead us?” Said Felix. “Why?”

“I never said that,” said Yang Mei. “Though maybe. I meant more that things under such people’s noses can be completely invisible. We may have better luck just asking around.”

“I suppose that makes sense.” Said Felix. “We can at least wait until we get help from the city lord people. I do hope we don’t actually have to go near the Endless Wilds itself. That sounds like it may be outside our abilities. Do any of you think we have to worry about the bandit issue? You know, whoever is riling them up?”

“Hopefully not,” wrote Daiyu. “I doubt it is worth their time pursuing us. From a purely gains loss view, it would behoove them just to move on to the next thing. It is worth keeping in mind though.”