The Clifrig province extending northeast from Trade Town was… bland. Rock in all kinds of forms made up most of it. Cliffs, ridges, gorges, mountains that would be better described as hills, caves canyons in all kinds of greys and reds were all one could see travelling through it. Occasionally, a few hardy bushes would distract the eye or the occasional mining town provided some distraction. The only guide one had in this part of the human ‘plains’ were the roads.

A small caravan of three carts and a few riders were travelling alongside one of those roads. They were no more than flat pathways cut into the stone curving through the inhospitable landscape. The carts were filled with important resources: food, wood and alcohol. They were not even pulled by oxen but instead mules. The animals ate much less which meant more wares could be transported.

A vanguard and rearguard of four riders with lances and bows were the main protection of the traders. Two more were scouting a kilometre ahead, regularly switching out. Every cart had one driver and two personal guards. On top of that, there were four passengers coming along.

Alexandra was one of those. She had almost taken the job of personal guard but decided against it as soon as she found out they wanted to [Identify] her. That would have been a high risk. Everyone assumed she was some kind of rich ‘lady’ from the interactions she had. The mask and hiding every inch of skin were the main reason for that. The way she had interacted with the people in the inn only worked to reinforce the image. Two of the guards and the other three passengers had stayed there as well. They were the ones who told her about the caravan, even.

The living fortress simply stayed put in her spot and kept her [Essence Sense] active to observe the surroundings. She had evolved the Skill more than half a year ago with the help of Fio. The way her friend could manipulate the essence on the surface of her body had made for some very interesting imagery for her old way of seeing. The Skill had not been altered, though. The evolution simply added a deeper understanding on a rather literal level. She could see a few centimetres into objects she was focused on which completely nullified Fio’s [Mingling]. As long as Alexandra knew where the owl was, at least.

For the simple task of keeping tabs on her surroundings, such measures were overkill. She only wanted to avoid being surprised. The merchant leading the caravan had mentioned bandits hiding in the caves throughout the province after all. At least the guards seemed capable. She had observed them sparring and even without any vis enrichment, some of them were moving too fast for her to casually observe. She had to use her bread-and-butter Skill [Target Focus] to follow their movements in detail. Even then, it only worked on one person at a time.

The three guards that were able to move that quickly had bragged to her about their ‘speed build’ which she presumed to be a one-minded focus on Dexterity and Perception. The same Attributes she was investing in. For her, they both sat at a comfortable fifty but she had spent some points into will and force Attributes as well to make a more well-rounded build. Then again, they might simply be much higher level. Alexandra did not have the convenience of [Hidden Identify] Fio could use. Even if, with her Intelligence and Wisdom below twenty, she would not be able to use it haphazardly.

The journey to Cliffall, the largest city in the province and seat of the lord, was supposed to take a total of eight weeks. Half of that would be spent in mining towns along the road for trading. The merchant was rather chatty about his business practice, selling food and wood for the first half of the trip and mostly buying things for the capital in the second half. The return trip would work out the same, buying food and wood in the capital and selling mining products, mostly ores and gems, in Trade Town. Alexandra suspected he wanted to win her over as an investor but at least the company was pleasant.

The whole caravan had a total of three women, including her. One was a guard, the other a passenger spending most of her time in close proximity to the living fortress. She was a shy girl in her early twenties wearing simply leather robes over a cotton dress. It seemed like she was scared of approaching Alexandra and equally fearful of getting too far away from her. Even right now, they sat on opposite ends of the cart but still on the same side. The female guard was also sitting up front with the merchant and the driver.

They were driving second in line on a narrow road. To the left was a sheer drop three dozen metres deep. To the right was a vertical rock wall about three metres high. Every few metres there was a crack in the wall, letting them see a slightly gentler slope beyond and once in a while it was a little wider with gravel forming a path into the cliffs. On the other side of the drop was another vertical wall, though this one had no road cut into it. Below, a river bubbled cheerily.

Alex perked up as her [Essence Sense] picked up weird movement across the crevice. Essence of darkness was muddling the image but a moment later, she had stripped into the magic. There was a person. A man holding a bow stood hidden in a small gap. Frantically, Alexandra pushed her Skill to search the wall. There were more archers. She counted five within the next ten seconds, all of them carefully observing the caravan.

The living fortress sat up from her slouch.

“Ambush”, she said, calmly.

The girl to her left flinched but otherwise, nobody showed a reaction.

“You sure, Lady?”, the merchant asked, “We have some good scouts, they’d notice anyone this side of the road.”

“Five archers”, Alexandra said, “Other side of the canyon. They’re hidden in shadows, using magic. Probably Skills.”

The merchant turned back.

“Listen here, I don’t know how you rich ones do it but a normal bandit won’t have magic. That’s just not…”

He was interrupted by a sound of cut air. Six arrows impacted the caravan. The front and back drivers died instantly, one was even hit twice. Their guards also had one arrow each aimed at them. One managed to barely slip out of the way while the other caught the arrow by letting it penetrate his armoured hand. The last arrow smacked into the cart they were sitting on, right next to Alexandra’s arm.

“ATTACK!”, the guards shouted and pandemonium broke loose.

The merchant screeched and dove off the cart, hiding in the gap between it and the wall. The guard loosened her shield and held it up but an arrow impaled her eye before she could lift it fully. She fell on top of the driver who whimpered and tried to use her body as a shield. Some guards had managed to ready their bows and were answering the attackers but it was difficult to hit a target you could not see properly.

Alexandra moved over to the shuddering girl and grabbed her arm. She looked down into eyes frozen with fear and gave her a slap.

“Move!”, the living fortress said, “Right there! Hide!”

The girl slipped into the bottom of the cart, using the wall and crates as cover.

With the civilians dealt with, Alexandra pulled off a glove. Nobody paid her any attention as she ducked behind the wall herself and transformed her hand. Her thumb was pointed straight up and shortened to less than a centimetre before turning into a hollow arch with a tiny pin standing in the centre. Her stretched fingers fused and formed a barrel which extended halfway down her forearm.

She put a hand to her elbow and aimed. A pulse of vis went from her Core into her arm. Essence coalesced into a familiar shape. Not a bullet, but a bolt. A heavy head pointed and with three backwards spikes followed by a thin shaft and three metal ridges similar to feathers. The ridges dug into grooves on the inside of the barrel together with the spikes up front and would make it spin to keep on track more easily.

More Skills wanted to activate but Alexandra pushed them back. She did not need to energize her bolt or hit a moving target. With a soft hiss of magic, her weapon fired. A new scream from much further away than before sounded out as a man dropped out of his hiding place into the water below. The projectiles from both sides halted as everyone processed what had just happened. Alexandra was already ducked low again to avoid being spotted. She just barely peeked out to see there were only two guards left at the back of the caravan, both of them hiding behind the last wagon.

The living fortress stretched out her sense to lock down the next target. With one swift movement, she hung her arm above the wagon and fired. This time there was no scream. The bolt had taken the man’s life before he even realized it. The remaining guards cheered until three arrows came back to take one of them out.

Alexandra peeked out front and saw that everyone was dead on that side. Even the drivers and the other two passengers had met their end. That was when two new people showed up. One was a familiar face, being one of the scouts that should have warned them, while the other was a rough-looking man with a huge bow on his back. They were riding two horses, a dead body slung over the back of the scout’s.

“What is h-happening?”, the merchant asked.

“You were betrayed”, Alexandra said, “By one of our scouts.”

“W-w-w-wha…?”

He fell unconscious before he finished his word. The girl behind her whimpered.

“Good haul, huh?”, the bandit leader said.

“Yup!”, the scout answered, “And we have survivors!”

“Oh? How many?”

“That’s… four. Oh…”

“What?”, the boss demanded.

“We lost two archers.”

“How?”

The word was a bestial growl one would expect from a rabid beast but not from a human.

“No idea.”

“YOU!”, the last remaining guard shouted as he stood up. The arrow from his bow pushed through the air… and then stopped right in front of the bandit leader’s face.

“Ah, was it you? Did you kill my men?”

He grabbed the arrow and turned it around. With a flick of his wrist, it shot back towards the archer, nearly taking off an ear. The guard ducked again.

“You fuckers over there, who killed you?”, the boss shouted.

“No clue”, came a muffled answer.

“Middle wagon!”, someone else shouted.

Alexandra smirked as her bolt impacted his forehead and he dropped into the canyon.

“Oh, you motherfucker!”

His answer was another archer dropping dead. The last one tried to scramble out of his hiding place and up the cliff side but ended up dropping with a scream as the arm holding his weight was impaled.

“That does it”, the bandit leader growled, “I will murder you so fucking hard!”

Alexandra stood up, her modified arm aimed at the scout.

“So original”, she smirked as a bolt left the chamber.

The scout’s eyes widened as his chest was punched back. Blood seeped out of the wound as the man slipped out of his saddle.

“What the fuck?”, the rough man shouted, “What are you?!”

He jumped out of his saddle, ripping off the broadaxe on his back. The animal complained and shot off along the road.

As the man sailed towards her, Alexandra turned her body fully into metal. The weight of the thaumium cracked the wood she was standing on. Her arm-cannon was aimed directly at the flying bandit. She had not much time but used every moment to push as much vis as she could into her weapon. The man landed on the first wagon and jumped again, harder this time. He would reach her with just this move. Alexandra held her aim steady until he reached the apex of his jump. Then she fired.

This time, the shot was not silent. A violent crack of purple lightning shot out of her arm cannon propelling a glowing purple bolt. The bandit’s eyes widened as the bolt impacted an invisible field right in front of his chest. His momentum slowed down and milky-white lines like shattering glass spread out all across his front. With a breaking sound not unlike a car crash, the bolt pushed through. And bounced off the bandit’s chest. It had lost too much energy.

Luckily, so had the man’s jump. He now stood only a metre in front of Alexandra, his axe held high. Had he not been as surprised, the weapon would have been a threat but as it was, she even had time to deliver a farewell before firing her last bolt.

“Fuck you.”

This time the bolt not only broke skin but dug deep into his skull. So far that it completely disappeared. Without another word, he dropped backwards.

~ding~ You have killed your targets. Experience awarded.

~ding~ [Golem Sharpshooter] reached level 60. 3 Attribute Points awarded.

Alexandra dismissed the message as her arm returned to its normal form. The last surviving guard was the first to rise from his hiding spot. Only that the wagon had been pulled off the road by the panicking animals. She assumed her [Energized Bolt] had scared them into bolting.

“Was that… it?”, the guard asked.

“I think so”, Alexandra said, “There were six arrows per barrage but only five archers. Some kind of double shot Skill?”

“Those exist, yeah.”

His gaze would not leave her purple fingers. She raised her hand to flex them. Everything was working properly. A push of her mind and her body returned to the properties of flesh. The sudden shift in weight was the last straw on the poor wagon and with a loud crack, I crumpled backwards, both back wheels breaking off.

The girl squeaked in fear but the merchant far outstripped her in noise. Alexandra managed to hold her balance. She carefully walked off, dragging the girl with her.

“Come on out of there before the wheel crushes you”, she told the merchant.

“Y-y-yes!”, he said.

The survivors reconvened behind the broken cart. The merchant and guard were looking at her strangely even though her hand was covered again while the girl seemed conflicted between needing someone to cling to and not touching the ‘Lady’.

“Come here”, Alexandra said and pulled her in for a hug.

She whimpered but let it happen. The living fortress gently caressed the girl’s scalp. Both men gulped.

“So, what now?”, she asked.

“I-i-i…”

She dismissed the merchant as useless. The guard sighed.

“We should gather what we can and get out of here. Probably best to just ride. You… can ride a horse?”

“I can”, Alexandra nodded.

“I can’t”, the girl mumbled into her chest.

“You can ride with me.”

“Are you sure you’re not… too heavy?”, the guard asked with a glance at the broken wagon.

“Are you calling me fat?”, she smirked.

Then she realized she was still wearing her mask.

“Guess I don’t need this right now.”

The men gawked at her purple face. Or her golden eyes. Or her glossy black hair, smooth as polished obsidian and yet soft as silk.

“I’m Alexandra, or Alex”, she started, “I’m no Lady so stop bothering with that. I’m just looking to see the human plains. So far, I’m thoroughly unimpressed.”

The first one to catch themselves was the girl still in her arms. She had stopped shuddering and looked up at her saviour with glimmering eyes.

“Are you… a Cleric?”

“What? Hell, no. I’ve got nothing to do with the church.”

“No way!”

“Yes, way. I’m a living fortress, human model. Mostly lived with the dwarves.”

That snapped the merchant out of his stupor.

“Oh, thank Truth! You are honest and righteous, then. Would you mind telling me a bit more about the Dwarven Hills?”

“Fuck off”, Alexandra said.

The girl in her arms flinched.

“Scrooge, stop it”, the guard interrupted, “She just saved our lives!”

“That I did.”

“It might be presumptuous of me but… would you escort us to Cliffall? Or at least the next village? It’s less than a day…”

“Sure thing. It’s where I want to go anyway.”

“… just like that?”

Alexandra nodded.

“We take two horses each and enough rations for everyone. And then all the other food we can carry.”

“Right!”, the merchant piped up, “We can still sell some!”

The guard slapped the back of his head.

“You just lost all this shit and still think about money?”

“He’s right”, Alexandra said, “The villagers here rely on food supplies, or so I’ve heard. We can’t just show up without anything.”

She looked around at the devastation.

“Should we clear the path for the next travellers?”

The guard looked grim.

“Yes. Probably. Scrooge, get all the food we can take along. I’ll start disposing of the bodies.”

The girl in Alexandra’s arms whimpered. She gently stroked her hair.

“We’ll be fine. We are fine. Just keep looking at me, alright?”

She nodded meekly. The men started their grim work. Most of the mules were dead from stray shots and they would have to catch the horses without riders. The carts were unusable, the front one having a cracked axle from the bandit’s jump and the back one pushed off by the panicking animals. Luckily that one held almost no food.

“What’s your name?”, Alexandra asked the shivering girl.

“Hera.”

“Oh? That is a beautiful name. Where I’m from it was the name of a powerful wife and gentle mother.”

Hera looked up.

“… it means someone who cherishes”, she said.

“Then it is basically the same. You have a good name.”

“What does Alexandra mean? Is it because you’re so strong?”

“It means to protect or to defend. Particularly for protecting people.”

“… that’s what you did!”

“Not very well, today”, she frowned, “I could have taken action instead of just warning others. I was concerned about keeping my identity a secret.”

Hera rubbed her face into the fortress’ bosom.

“But I’m alive…”, she mumbled, “You’re soft.”

“Yes?”

“I thought you would be hard. With how strong you are.”

“I can be hard if you want.”

She turned her chest’s properties to metal. Immediately, Hera bonked her forehead. She whined and rubbed between her eyes.

“Ouch!”

Alexandra snorted.

“Sorry. I’ll go back to soft.”

With some trepidation, Hera snuggled in again, happily mewling when she found softness to rest her head on.

The two men took a little over an hour to complete their work. Every human body had been laid down next to each other along the ledge. With the exception of the bandit leader and the scout traitor. Those were unceremoniously tossed into the water below.

Now, the four survivors of the attack stood still next to the dead. It felt strange to Alexandra. Something about these lives was… not important. They did not matter. And yet, here they lay in front of her. And she might have been able to save a few more of them.

Hera was still clinging to her as the men spoke solemn words. The living fortress closed her eyes and solidified her core. A cover of flesh-like metal was hung up on an immovable frame. Her soul felt for something. But there was nothing.

One by one, the bodies splashed into the water. Hera was crying loudly now. Alexandra kept stroking the girl’s hair. She observed the proceedings with [Essence Sense] all the while thinking about the lives lost today. It had been so unnecessary. Why did humans have to be so cruel?

Eventually, they were done and moved on. They rode in silence along the road. The living fortress made sure to keep observing the surroundings. There had to be some kind of base nearby but it was probably hidden too well for her to find. After a few minutes, they came upon a bridge crossing the crevice. It was built from solid stone in what almost looked like dwarven craftsmanship. The road continued on the other side and soon took a turn up another slope.

Just as night started to fall, they reached the next village. There was barely anyone about.

“The mine dried up”, the merchant explained, “so there’s not much going on here anymore.”

Alexandra had put her mask back on and was still looking out for danger. That was how she spotted a clear stream of vis coming from the dead mine.

“There’s a node in the mine”, she said.

“Wait, what?”, the guard spoke up.

“We’re continuing.”

Hera’s complaints were silenced by her gloved hand.

“Another two hours or so. I’m not sleeping near a bandit hideout.”

“But you’ll have to sleep”, the guard said.

“I can go without for a few days.”

“… right.”

Later at the campsite, the merchant was trying to argue they had made a bad decision.

“The chief probably isn’t aware of the node. We should’ve told him. He could send a runner ahead to the Lord and get the Church involved.”

“And if he’s in on it, he’d send a bunch of goons after us”, Alexandra said, “No matter if we decided to rest in the village or move on. Better get some sleep. I’ll wake everyone up in a few hours and we’ll make some more headway.”

The merchant grumbled something about his old bones but the guard only nodded in thanks. Hera took a blanket and cuddled up next to the living fortress, resting her head on soft metal knees. The girl was soon put to sleep by the gentle caresses of her saviour’s hand.