AN: Some readers were surprised to see the MC hold back in the last chapter and feel intimidated by the aggressive lieutenant. Well, I admit that I might have overdone it a bit, but let us not forget that we are dealing with a white-collar person from modern Earth, who has been seeing all this as some type of weird but fun vacation. On top of that, the MC just made his very first contact with the local humans. Give him a few more chapters to find his pace.

PS: This story currently has around 17k words, including this chapter. My word-file is already at 35k words, but I have to go back to change some details from time to time for the sake of plausability. That's mostly why I did not post last week. I guess release intervalls will tighten again from now on.

Chapter 5:

Wrapping a bandage around the arrow sticking out of her torso, the soldiers had somewhat slowed the girl's bleeding. The female soldier still had 38% life force left when the group started heading north.

They had stripped the two wounded off their heavy armour to reduce the weight and even left some of the other soldier’s armour behind to reduce the strain on the carriers and increase the travelling speed.

There wasn’t much talking, so Markus used the opportunity to check on the soldiers’ levels and stats.

Davon Clements, level 29

William Boyd, level 19

Bradley, level 16

Ashton, level 17

The unconscious soldier, Guthrie, had a level of 22. His life force was down to 78%, but not falling. A bandage was wrapped around his head. The female soldier was by far the lowest in terms of level.

Apart from the lieutenant, all of the soldiers were rather young looking, in their late teens or early twenties.

They had four people carrying the stretchers with one person walking besides them. They regularly rotated the carriers, although Markus refused to take a break. His stamina wasn’t actually dropping that much. The lieutenant was the same. He was taking the front position carrying the stretcher with the female soldier on it. Markus was behind him, taking the rear position.

The other three soldiers were therefore taking turns carrying the stretcher with Guthrie on it.

While walking, Markus noticed that the lieutenant was carrying two weapons. A long sword on his back and a short sword at his side. Markus had seen him shoot a fireball at the bandit, so he was probably something like a magic swordsman.

An hour long march later, they had finished around a third of the distance towards [Springkeep], but the three guys on the other stretcher were getting gradually slower by now and had fallen behind a few meters. Even the lieutenant, who had not taken a break so far, was lowering his pace.

Wynn, the wounded girl, was drifting in and out of consciousness and was down to 25% health.

Finally, the lieutenant ordered the group to halt. They had reached the charred remains of what used to be [Allistor Farmstead]. It looked like this was a regular spot to take rest, because the well near the slightly overgrown ruins had been cleared and the remains of a recent campfire were nearby.

They carefully set down the stretchers with the wounded and then dropped down into the grass next to the road. Boyd was going straight towards the well and used a bucket on a rope to draw water.

Clements had sat down next to Wynn and was looking at her. She was currently awake, but clearly not totally aware of what was going on.

“We are going to bring you back to base, Cora. Drink this for now.” He held a small flask with some muddy looking, brown liquid in it to her mouth. Pouring a bit into her mouth, the girl fell into a violent cough, spitting blood and making a terribly pained expression. When her cough had settled, the lieutenant wiped the blood from her chin with the hem of his shirt and started pouring the potion into her mouth again.

The other soldiers were quietly watching while drinking water straight from the bucket that Boyd had brought over. They also passed the bucket over to Markus.

He wasn’t really comfortable with drinking the questionably clean contents, but for one he was really thirsty, plus he was counting on his resistances to somehow counter any illness caused by germs.

After the lieutenant had finished administering the potion to the female soldier, she had fallen asleep. The reading on the AR was showing her health to be slowly rising. It was back to 28% when the group started moving again, but she still had the (bleeding) status effect.

Over the next 15 minutes her health steadily rose up to 38%, then slowly started falling again.

The short break seemed to have had a positive effect, they were making good progress again and walking at a steady pace without taking breaks or talking. The soldiers were sometimes stealing a glance at Wynn or Markus, but no one said anything. All of them were exhausted, but looking determined.

Unfortunately, determination could only bring them so far. Less than an hour after the break, the group carrying Guthrie had fallen behind again and the lieutenant was holding back Markus as well.

They had already passed the halfway point, but if this went on the remaining distance would take way too long.

Markus decided to make a suggestion. “Lieutenant Clements, if someone went ahead to the base, would they be able to send help here?”

“Probably, but it would not make a difference. Sending someone from here to Springkeep takes over two hours, and coming back, even by horse, will take some time as well. Sending a single person as a messenger is also dangerous by itself.” He must have had considered the options already. But he did not know that Markus was not an ordinary person.

“I am sure I can get there a lot faster. The idea carrying the wounded back was mine, so I feel like-“

“No one will hold you responsible even if we fail to make it in time. Why are you so determined to help?” The lieutenant stopped walking and looked back at Markus. Markus did not really have a good answer to that question. At first, he just wanted to gain a favour, showing up like a white knight coming to the rescue. Then everyone would praise him and he gets an audience with the local noble. Something like that.

Now, due to Markus’ suggestion, the soldiers had killed a group of prisoners and decided to try to save the wounded girl. If that girl died now anyway, it would be a totally underwhelming outcome for Markus, even if it didn’t reflect negatively on him. It had a ‘Quest Failed’ vibe to it.

“I already decided to help you when I fought against those bandits. It was on a whim, but I want to see this through.” Markus honestly said so, looking straight at the lieutenant.

“It makes me feel bad to rely on a stranger so much, you know?” The lieutenant’s words were quiet, like they weren’t really meant for Markus. After taking a look at the sleeping Wynn, he spoke to Markus again “Well, I don’t see how I have much to lose. Your name was Markus, right? OK then, Markus, go on ahead and inform them about our situation and that they have to send someone as soon quickly as possible. There is an officer by the same name as the girl at the base, Wynn. If anyone hesitates to call for her, tell them that Lieutenant Davon Clement will blow them up once he comes back.”

By that time the three other soldiers had caught up with them. Markus changed places with the guy called Bradley. The three soldiers were making a strange expression after hearing the plan, but it didn’t look like anyone was going to object. They were going to push ahead by themselves, even if Markus was going to abandon them or got killed it wouldn’t make any big difference.

Markus sprinted northwards and took a look back before the group was out of view. The lieutenant had a slightly pleased look on his face. Seeing Markus running ahead full of energy when the group was already exhausted must have been surprising, but at the same time reassuring that he might actually be able to make a difference.

After getting out of sight, Markus sprinted on at full speed. The march until now had drained him of 40 stamina points, which was nothing compared to his pool of 920. He raised the [Cross-Country Movement] skill to level 10, then ran next to the road.

What Clements had estimated to take over two hours was finished in 20 minutes. For the first time since raising his stats, Markus was sweating. When he was getting close to the [Springkeep] marker on the map, he jumped back onto the road and started running normally. The first thing that changed were the fields next to the road. They were actually maintained and growing things.

Soon the soldier’s base came into view. It was a small keep, not unlike a small scale castle. The two-storey main building, which was made out of stone, was sitting on top of a small hill next to the main road. Surrounded by a wooden palisade, it was overlooking the countryside. Markus could make out a few archers on the roof. [Springkeep Village] was a collection of a dozen houses, maybe a bit more, on the other side of the road.

For now, Markus’ aim was the keep itself though. While he was heading straight to the entrance, the two guards were eying him with suspicion.

“Halt! State your business!” One of the guards shouted at him when he got close.

Catching his breath, Markus started explaining. “I was sent by Lieutenant Davin Clement. His group has been attacked by bandits on the road south, they have suffered losses and need urgent support with their wounded.”

The soldier made a troubled expression, then gave a signal to the other guard, who quickly rushed inside.

Soon he came back with a blonde-haired woman in her thirties. She was wearing the same kind of armour as the other soldiers and walked up to Markus.

“You are the one with the report from Lieutenant Clement, right? Tell me what is going on.”

Markus repeated what had happened, while the woman was listening with a firm expression. When he gave the names of the fallen and wounded, she made a worried expression for the first time.

“Follow me.” She stated to Markus, then went inside. Inside the palisades there were a couple of additional buildings next to the main building. There was a stable, containing several horses and a workshop, were a young boy was busy sharpening a sword and a man was working a forge.

Telling Markus to wait near the stables, the woman went ahead and collected several soldiers. As Markus could comprehend from where he was standing, two teams were formed. One group was going ahead on horses, while a second, larger squad was following on foot. Markus wouldn’t have to threaten anyone on Lieutenant Clement’s behalf after all.

After sending the men off, the woman came back to Markus.

“My name is Veronica Wynn, Second Lieutenant of the Soba Federal Guard. Excuse me, but I am quite confused. Who are you and what is your connection to all this?”

The name suggested some family connection to the wounded female soldier. Taking a closer look, the woman faintly resembled her.

[Veronica Wynn

Level 24

HP 100%]

“My name is Markus, I am a traveller. I was on the road towards here when I encountered your comrades. They were attacked by suspicious people, so I decided to help out. That is all.”

“I can’t see why Lieutenant Clement would accept the help of a civilian, but we can just ask him later. For now, what is your business coming to these godforsaken area? Sure you knew about the dragon plague.”

“I was not aware of the extent. I am currently just wandering around to see a bit of the world.” As it didn’t look like this woman would stop asking questions, Markus decided to go along with it. He didn’t mind talking to her. In fact, she had good looks, even though she was a bit uptight and eyeing him with suspicion.

“It looks to me like you were trying to join up with some criminals. Who goes on vacation here?”

“Please don’t insult me. As Lieutenant Clement will most likely confirm, I was helping your comrades in the fight against the bandits.”

“So what, you were trying to join up with the armed forces? There are recruitment offices in calmer regions.” Markus didn’t know why, but the woman was losing her cool.

“I have no intention to join the army.” He already had experience with being on government payroll, it was something he wanted to avoid this time around.

“If everything you said is true, it looks like I owe you thanks. But for now, follow me to the keep.” The woman went ahead to the large building and ushered Markus to follow her.

Inside, it was pleasantly cool compared to the summer temperatures outside. It was clearly a functional building, with no unnecessary decorations or pomp. A few wall-mounted devices emitting light were lighting the windowless hallway. They resembled cube shaped light bulbs, and a small light could be seen moving slowly behind the milky glass. On the upper side facing the ceiling was a low metal box.

Following Lieutenant Wynn, Markus entered the first room to the right. Inside, a guard was sitting next to a large table. The table had a square surface, on which a large golden magic circle was engraved, surrounded by runes. It reminded Markus of the spell scrolls, but the engraving was more intricate, and the runes much more numerous.

On one end of the table, facing the entrance, a large facetted crystal stood out from the surface.

“Place your hand on the crystal.” The woman ordered Markus to do so. He had a suspicious feeling.

“I did not do anything wrong. What is the purpose of this?” Markus definitely didn’t want to be put under a spell or something. The device looked like it could invoke some powerful magic.

“What, are you trying to tell me you have never seen an identification table? If you don’t have anything to hide, place your hand on the crystal. Otherwise I might just have you arrested.” The woman made a clearly angry face.

Markus didn’t like to be threatened. He also didn’t do anything bad. He should be treated respectfully, so this situation was starting to piss him off. ‘Identification table’ did not sound eerie, but that didn’t mean he would just do whatever that woman wanted. Markus was pondering whether it made sense to get arrested for now and have her apologize when Lieutenant Clement confirmed his help later, or just resist arrest and beat her up in the process.

“Boy, that table mostly shows your name and arrest record. It is standard procedure to check those things when dealing with people passing by.” The soldier who had been sitting on the chair next to the table calmly said so.

“You stay out of it.” Lieutenant Wynn snapped at the soldier. This woman was certainly agitated for some reason and Markus wondered if she was fit for serving as an officer. He decided to have faith in his magic resistance and go along with it for now. He was already prepared to have his stats examined, and there shouldn’t be any other record of him.

If this developed into some sort of trouble, he was ready to give that woman a beating and then make a run for it. With an expression showing his discontent, he placed his right hand on the crystal.

The soldier muttered something and placed his hand on one of the runes, then the circle on the table started to glow. Immediately a number of bright blue runes floated up from the surface of the table, then rearranged themselves and changed shape. Finally, something resembling his character sheet was floating a short distance above the surface.

[Name: Markus

Age: 16

Level: 10

Convictions: Not available

Reports: Not available]

Lieutenant Wynn carefully read the information, then faced Markus.

“Well, for now I have to give you the benefit of the doubt.” Her expression was still stern, but she seemed to have cooled down again. “Please follow.”

Noticing the first ‘please’ he had heard from that woman, Markus went along with her. She guided him to a roofed area in one corner of the yard where there was a large table and some benches.

“Wait here until Lieutenant Clement comes back. I will have someone bring you a meal. Excuse me until then.” With that she turned around and left for the keep.

A short time afterwards a soldier brought him a bowl of stew and a large wooden mug with water. Markus appreciated the meal, he didn’t have to eat boar for the first time.

After eating, he laid down on the bench, pretending to take a nap. Markus then opened the map. He wanted to check in on the progress of the rescue party. He found them moving towards the 6 dots heading north on the road. The first group would soon reach Lieutenant Clement and the wounded. Considering that there were 6 neutral indicators slowly moving north, the girl was still alive. Markus was hoping that the soldiers on horseback had a healer or medicine with them, but if that wasn’t the case, it would be strange for them to ride ahead.

Somewhat satisfied that the plan looked like a success so far, he scrolled around the keep and nearby village. There were not that many people around in the first place, but with the rescue party gone the remaining soldiers in the keep were just seven. Sending that many of the soldiers away seemed like a seriously bad decision to Markus. To him, the female officer was totally unsuited for her job.

The total number of people in the village and the surrounding fields was not more than a few dozen. It shouldn’t take too long to wrap up his business here and go somewhere else.

Before long, his ‘pretending to take a nap’ turned into taking a nap for good. A while later Markus woke up to the sound of the smith in the nearby workshop hammering away on something.

A quick glance at the map told him that the rescue party had still to return. It had split into two groups, one heading south, the other one heading towards Springkeep. It would take some time until they arrived.

Markus stood up from the bench and walked towards the workshop. Lieutenant Wynn had told him to wait in the corner, but if he didn’t leave the yard he should be fine. Being treated like a prisoner wasn’t sitting right with Markus in the first place.

The young boy who had been sharpening a sword earlier, was sitting on a stool and replacing the leather wrapping on a sword’s hilt now.

The older guy was still hammering something into shape on an anvil. Markus was certainly interesting in getting some skills for tempering metal and maintaining his weapons. He was sure he could gain the skill by getting some hands-on experience, but he wanted to know if he could also get them just by watching.

After silently watching both of them work for about ten minutes, the smith spoke to Markus while re-heating the metal in the forge. “Got a question? Or are you just watching?”

“Just watching, I am waiting for someone here. Although – “, Markus pulled out the dagger he had in the sheath hanging from his waist. “I kinda damaged my blade. Can I get it repaired here?”

“Show that to my apprentice. We only do free repairs for the soldiers though, civilians have to pay” With this, the man turned his attention back to the forge. Hearing the word ‘apprentice’ suggested that the boy was actually learning how to be a blacksmith, which would imply that he didn’t just raise the skill by levelling up.

Markus had already figured out that the inventory skill was at least rare. The soldiers had left behind their equipment and the dead, which they wouldn’t have done in case they could just store them away. Something similar was true for the map. Why run into an enemy you weren’t sure to defeat when you could check a map in advance?

Markus wanted to ask someone about those things, but he did not want to reveal that he was an outsider to this world to just anybody.

He walked over to the boy, who was about twelve years old and just about done wrapping the leather strap around the sword hilt.

“Hello, the smith told me to show you this.” Markus held the blade in front of the boy, displaying the dull blade. The boy squinted his eyes and examined the blade.

“Yea, just a second, mister.” Markus watched him tying the strap in place. When the boy put the sword to the side, he handed him the dagger. After examining it, the boy handed it back to him.

“3 copper per side. If you get both sides sharpened, I’ll straighten the bent tip as well.”

Markus checked his inventory, but he didn’t have any copper coins. In fact, he had several different kinds of silver and gold coins, in different sizes and with different motives. Casually pulling out the currency of some faraway country didn’t seem like a brilliant idea.

“I will get back to it later, thanks.” With a shrug, the boy picked up a different sword, a fresh leather strap and got back to work.

Just watching without understanding what was going on didn’t seem to yield any results, but Markus watched the two of them working anyway. At least he did get a general idea of how things worked. Over time, Markus watched the smith create several horseshoes.

The smith heated a long formed iron and hammered it into shape, then re-heated it and repeated the process, punched holes into it with his hammer and something like an ice-pick on a stick, all over the course of just a few minutes.

While he was doing so, the boy picked up a newly made sword and used a variety of grindstones to clean and sharpen it. Afterwards he handed it back to the smith, who heated it up and cooled it down again in a bucket of liquid, probably oil.

Markus wanted to try it out himself to gain a few new skills. Making and maintaining his own equipment would surely be a good thing.

Time flew by and soon the rescue group came back to base.