Chapter 2 out of 2. We are finally starting to get out of that hell hole kingdom.

I know, my naming sense sux, not going to refute it.

Anyways, enjoy!

Chapter 13: Preparations

Everyone gathered around the adventurer leader and the caravan owner, no matter what everyone else wanted to do, the final say was still in their hands. " Seems like the rumors were true, the border is on lock down. So what do you think we should do?" The owner of the caravan had a bitter smile on his face as he asked the captain of the adventurers team what he thought they should do. "Mm, there's no use in going to a different passage point, seems like our only option is to force our way through if we want to leave. What is your opinion on this Nalser?" The captain recollected and summarized their current situation and their possibilities. He wanted Nalser's opinion because the captain was only a 2 Red Star ranked adventurer.

Nalser thought for a while and observed the fortress. When a few minutes had passed, he opened his mouth, "Njaa, seems like we do not have many options here. No one wants to stay in this hell hole. So we only have one option, that is to cross the border. How we are going to do that, is another question." "You think there is another way through?" The owner of the caravans asked in a low voice.

He had promised that he would get everyone to the other side of the border, his conciense wouldn't live through seeing them turn back here. Everyone were waiting for Nalsers answer and were expectantly staring at him. As a reply to them, he smiled and said, "Places like these usually have secret passages we could go through but first things first, we have to make sure that we can cross Nulans border. If we are certain of that, we can either find a secret passage or well, kill our way through." Everyone were surprised, what he said was logical and none of them had thought about it because their heads were muddled by rage. The captain and the owner were no exceptions.

Before anyone could ask, who the person crossing the border and checking in with Nulans border guards was, Nalser said in a strick tone, "No offence to any of you but the person most experienced in sneaking across the border and back is probably me. If someone with no prior experience fucks up here, we are all going to be screwed. All I need is a black mantle, a piece of black cloth to cover my face with and someone to keep an eye on this little guy." He picked up Curo from his head and put him down.

No one refuted him. In their eyes, someone who could pass straight through that forest would either be ridiculously strong or very adept at hiding his presence and sneaking by. One thing he said was bugging everyone but no one had the courage to ask, " What did he mean by the most experienced in sneaking across borders and back?" Having been pointed out, what the risks of getting caught were, no one there objected. When the preparations were done and Nalser was fully dressed, he moved out.

Getting through the Nadins fortress wasn't hard when he combined Phantom steps with his previous experience in infiltration, it was as easy as a walk in the park. The security here was a lot weaker than it was in his previous world. He managed to get past the fortress in an hour. He dashed through the no-mans land and arrived at the front door of the Nulan empires fortress.

When he reached the fortress, he saw two guards standing by the doors. He approached them, while holding his Guild Card and said, " Hello, I'm a 2 Blue Star adventurer and I am wondering if the fortress is on lock down here?" When the two guards saw him, their hands immediately clenched on their weapons, ready to attack on a moments notice. What happened next stupefied them. Nalser put down his Guild Card and stepped around 10 steps back. He said, "This is my guild card, you can check the validity for yourselves, if possible I would like to talk to your fortress commander." The guards exchanged a glance and were clearly confused on what to do.

At that time an old man with a very built body, stepped out and laughed, "Hahahah, seems like Tobias was right on his money, you did show up." He went and picked up the Guild Card, when he saw the name Nalser vi Dragoncross on it, he was convinced. " I'm the commander of the 13th Nulan border fortress, Thomas Franks. What is it that you need to speak to me about?" as Thomas said that, he started walking towards Nalser, to give him back his Guild Card. When Nalser saw that, he took off his hood and started unwrapping the black cloth that was covering his face. "I need to ask you, if you are willing to let about 700 people pass from here?" Nalser didn't plan on making small talk but immediately got to the point. Hearing such a blunt answer, Thomas was surprised. " Who are these 700 people and why do they want to cross the border?" He observed Nalser suspiciously to make see if he was lying.

Nalser started narrating, where the people came from and why they wanted to cross the border . He even said that they were practically prepeared to force through the fortress. When Thomas heard that, both him and the two guards there, were surprised. Then they started shaking their heads.

"Even I didn't know that the border was on lock down and im a friggin kilometer away from them. Now then, if you can deliver them to the halfway point of no mans land, then I will send the army to escort them here if needed." Seeing Nalsers cold eyes, Thomas said in a determined tone. They talked over the details a bit more and Thomas even told him where a secret passage was. If they could find it, the chances of them getting caught are extremely slim but they needed to be prepared for the worst case scenario.

Seeing that the sky was gradually starting to brighten, Nalser said his farewells and told him, that in 3 days time, they will come through the secret passage. When everything was done, he started quickly dashing back. Now it was 3 times harder to get through the fortress unseen and there were several times, when he almost got caught. Finally reaching back at the caravans camp, he let out a breath of relief. Then he started narrating, what Thomas had said to him, including about the secret passage. looking for the passage took them nearly a day but they found it. In the evening of the second day he told everyone, "Tomorrow evening we will go through the passsage. The chances of getting caught are extremely slim but there is always a chance of it going worst case scenario. Should that happen, sneaking can go f*ck himself and I want everyone to run. I don't want to see people getting trampled over though. Me and the adventurers will do our best to keep the soldiers at bay. When you exit the secret passage you will be at the halfway point. If you see an army coming from Nulans side, then just know this: They are our reinforcements."

He later added a few details on what they should do after exiting the passage. After making sure everyone understood him, he disbanded everyone and told them to pack lightly. He even volunteered to take some stuff into his Spacial ring. He still had about 20x20m space free, about 27x27 m was currently occupied by monster cores. With the latest going to Nulan's fortress thing, Nalser had become something a kin to a leader of this operation. Seeing Nalser take in stuff to make it easier to run through, the others who had room in their Spacial rings, started doing the same.

A day flashed by and it was the evening of the third day. Everyone had a fire burning in their eyes. They were finally going to get out of this god damn kingdom. Seeing that everyone was there, Nalser said in a loud voice, "Everyone remember what i told you, if we give the signal, start running for your lives, until then be absolutely quiet." With that, they entered the secret passage.