Kyfe
patreon
Chapter 189 - When it Rains, it Pours
🕑 Added 2023-01-20 08:15:53 +0000 UTCA/N - My laptop broke, so I'm writing this on a different computer. I don't have any of my notes available, but I didn't lose anything. The hard drive is fine, it's just the monitor got smashed by one of the kids somehow without me noticing. I'll get the data transferred over as soon as possible, but the story won't suffer too much as most of it's in my head, anyway.
The weather was still dreary the last morning of their mission. Reivyn had been correct in assuming they wouldn't be able to catch all of the spies, but he wasn't too terribly upset at their success. Judging by the number of spies verse the number of units in the city, Reivyn estimated that they captured about two-thirds of them.
Reivyn glanced at the unrelenting sky and then at Kefira. She just shook her head and rolled her eyes.
"Definitely still have to run the last leg of the journey," she said. "I can see a bit further than yesterday, but it's nowhere near enough to be effective for travelling."
"Alright," Reivyn shrugged. "We've already spent three days running through the muck, what's one more morning?"
The trio once more made their way out of the city gates. The mud and grime from their trek through the rainy weather had been washed off with magical means the day before. It was a waste of time and energy to try and keep it clean during the journey, but there was no reason they couldn't be comfortable setting off the next day.
The three took off at a run toward the last two minor camps displayed on the map. The terrain was fairly consistent throughout the journey, and aside from one small swamp they had avoided on the first day, it had been mostly a straight shot. That trend continued, and they didn't have any plans to deviate from the line they travelled.
Having let the spies escape the previous day meant that there was some elevated risk toward an ambush, but Reivyn didn't know if the enemy understood the extent to which they were rooting their spies out. They may assume it was just something that happened in the one city if they weren't able to communicate with each other, and they had moved relatively quickly.
Reivyn led the group westward a bit to avoid a huge mud pit in the distance.
"Why don't you use your Earth Affinity to harden the ground and just run through it?" Serilla asked.
Reivyn glanced at her, and from her expression, he could tell that she had been wondering about that question since the first day. Kefira turned her questioning eyes toward Reivyn as well. She had more Mana than he did, but his Earth Affinity was much higher than hers.
"Two main reasons," Reivyn said, holding up two fingers. "First, I don't want to unnecessarily use my Mana. Using it to shield us from the rain is magnitudes cheaper than harden the ground. Two, keeping in line with the first reason, the constant rain means that I would have to expend extra effort as the environment would be fighting against me every step of the way.
"If it wasn't raining, and if I wasn't worried about a possible ambush, then yeah, I would do so. Then again, if it wasn't raining, we would just be using Kefira's teleport abilities."
Serilla grunted her understanding of the answer. Reivyn turned his attention back to the surroundings. His Divine Sense was a powerful Skill that allowed him to miss literally nothing within range, but it was a wall of pure black beyond the range. His other senses still functioned perfectly fine for seeing things much further away.
Movement in the tree line to the west caught his attention, but he dismissed it after noticing it was just a bird.
[New Skill Unlocked!]
[Tier 3:]
[Eagle Eye: (0 ->1)]
Reivyn glanced at the notification and dismissed it.
That was a surprise, he thought. I wonder what other Perception Skills there are at higher Tiers, and does this fall under the umbrella of Divine Sense?
It wasn't a question with a ready answer, especially so far away from anyone he could ask. It begged a further question, though: If it was under the umbrella of Divine Sense, why would he still be able to unlock something that was technically a lesser version? Would it get incorporated or enhance his better Skill once Divine Sense reached a Level that it would encompass the distance Eagle Eye affected?
More questions that he didn't have the time to brood over. He dismissed the thoughts from his mind and maintained his focus on his surroundings once more.
The rest of the journey to the first minor camp beyond the last major bastion was uneventful. Either the spies that had fled hadn't said anything about them, or they hadn't had time to set up an ambush. It was also possible that their slight shift to the west earlier had caused them to simply miss anyone laying in wait on the straight path.
The trio walked through the gates of the palisade unhindered after displaying their badge. Kefira was huffing and puffing more than Reivyn or Serilla, but they hadn't travelled far enough to drain her completely, yet. The mud on their legs also hadn't had time to accumulate more than barely above their ankles.
The minor camp closest to Prince Endrew's seat of power wasn't that large. It was still in range of a cavalry sortie launched by the main base, so it didn't have as heavy reserves as some of the more remote locations.
Reivyn had no problems spotting the spy almost immediately upon entering the base. His Divine Sense picked up the disguised man inside the gate guard house, presumable cleaning.
More like snooping for any documents, Reivyn thought. Not sure what he would be able to find at the guard house at the gate. Maybe a list of visitors not documented in the headquarters?
It didn't matter what the guy was doing. He could have been legitimately cleaning and taking care of the place like his stolen position dictated, but he was a spy, and he had to go.
Reivyn turned his steps to the guard house and casually stepped in. The target was in the back office, so Reivyn flashed his badge to the guard at the desk.
"I have some business in the captain's office," Reivyn said. He didn't slow down as he walked around the desk and headed toward the door.
"The captain's not in..." The guard came half-way out of his seat to try and dissuade Reivyn from barging into his boss's office without him being present.
Reivyn simply waved him away without slowing.
"That's not necessary. My business isn't with the captain."
Reivyn opened the door and strode inside. The disguised man didn't pay much attention to Reivyn at first, but maybe he had a Danger Sense Skill or something else that pinged his subconcious.
He looked up as Reivyn's blade stabbed into his heart. The amount of damage caused by such a strike wasn't enough to kill the man instantly, but the drain on his health was. His eyes held a look of surprise and confusion as the light in them dimmed.
Reivyn withdrew his sword and wiped the blood off of it. After sheathing his weapon, he reached down and removed the skin-mask from the man's face. He carried the mask with him and tossed it on the desk in front of the confused guard.
The guard hadn't seen what had transpired in the office, but Reivyn had walked in and out in hardly any time at all. He had no idea at all what was going on, and he subconsciously picked up the skin-mask and unfurled it.
He cursed and dropped the mask as the face of the man cleaning in the office greeted him. It was creepy looking with the holes where the man's eyes, nostrils, and mouth should be. He looked up at Reivyn, and the confusion on his face only deepened.
"You'll need someone to go in there and take care of the corpse," Reivyn said as he casually walked out of the guard house.
"Wait, corpse!" The guard shouted.
Reivyn didn't pause as he led Kefira and Serilla back out of the gate once more. The guards standing there nodded their heads at their departure, but they didn't try to stop them.
The three broke out into a run toward their final destination, and they were over a hundred yards away when a commotion finally broke out at the gate. Reivyn turned back to witness what looked like an angry ant-hive kicked into activity. Several of the guards looked up at them and pointed in their direction, but Reivyn just turned around and continued running.
If they sent men after them and actually caught up to them, he would explain himself once more, but there was no reason that he saw to wait around for it. He had already flashed the badge of Prince Allik to several of the guards, and the corpse had his face with the "3" brand on his forehead revealed.
As it was, nobody gave chase to them.
"I don't blame them," Reivyn muttered.
"What was that?" Kefira asked, shooting him a look out of the corner of her eye.
"Oh, I was just thinking that I didn't blame them for not sending anyone to catch us," Reivyn said, looking up at the clouds still drizzling rain. "Not in this weather, and not with the context of the situation."
"Hmph, they should at least try," Kefira said.
"I don't disagree," Reivyn shrugged. "I just get it."
Silence once more descended on the three as they continued to run in the rain. The skies were gray, the rain was gray, their mood was gray. Everything was gray and miserable.
The last minor camp was further away by a fair margin than their first stop had been. It was just past noon by the time the wooden walls of the palisade came into view. They had started their journey at dawn. The mission had taken only a couple of minutes in their first stop, so they had been running for nearly seven hours straight.
Kefira's breath came in much harsher gasps than after their first stop, though she wasn't to the point that she needed to be supported by Reivyn just yet. If they had to run for another hour, it might have come to that.
"The last stop," Reivyn said, slowing to a walk.
"Technically it's the half-way point," Kefira said. "We still have the return journey to make."
"True, but we won't be on a time crunch on the way back. We'll have completed the mission after this. We can take our time and wait out the weather if we want to."
"Yeah, let's settle down at the canteen, or whatever, after we find the last spy and deal with the interrogation from the higher-ups."
Serilla grunted in agreement. Reivyn glanced at her and quirked an eyebrow at here, which she studiously ignored.
It wasn't that Serilla didn't talk that much. She did. She just only ever really spoke to Kefira when they were alone. Reivyn didn't get the sense that she didn't like him or that she was shy or anything. It was just the way she was, and he had gotten used to it.
The spy wasn't conveniently located at the front entrance of the camp this time. Reivyn had to walk through almost the entire camp before he found the last target, and he was located in the headquarters building where the commander was located.
"This will save us some time," Reivyn said. "The target is on the far side of the building, so we can go to the commander first and explain why we're here before we take action. We won't have to suffer through an extended interrogation afterward and can get to that canteen, or whatever, as you said."
Kefira snorted, but she was happy with the situation as well. She didn't want to have to waste time anymore than Reivyn or Serilla did, and getting the chance to relax while waiting the weather out was a tempting proposition.
"Let's go," Reivyn said.
They walked up to the front door of the headquarters building. It wasn't anything grand like the government buildings that had been appropriated in the larger cities. There was no wall or gate protecting it, but there was still a couple of guards stationed outside of the doors.
Reivyn once more flashed the badge to the two guards.
"We're here to see the commander," Reivyn said.
"Yes, sir!" One of the guards saluted, more to the badge than Reivyn, as he responded with enthusiasm, and the other man darted into the building to notify the commander. "Just wait one moment for my partner to return, and he'll escort you to the commander's office."
Reivyn nodded his head. The wait was only a few seconds, and the other guard gestured for them to follow him. The trio followed the guard inside and immediately understood why the wait had been so short.
The headquarters building wasn't that large to begin with, and the commander's office was the first one on the left. The target was in the far room down the right hallway, so Reivyn still wasn't concerned that they would spook him.
Reivyn walked in and displayed the badge one last time to the commander. The commander came half-way out of his seat and gestured to a chair in front of his desk. Reivyn nodded his head and took a seat with Kefira in the other chair. Serilla stood behind her, and the commander sat back down as they did.
"What can I do for you?" The commander asked.
"Nothing," Reivyn answered. "We're here to notify you that we're about to kill a spy in your camp, and we didn't want you or anyone else to freak out when we did."
"A spy? In my camp?" The commander asked, confused. "How do you know there's a spy here?"
"I'm Prince Allik's counter intelligence officer," Reivyn explained, fibbing a little. "We've spent the last several days visiting every single major and minor camp on the font lines, and there's been at least one spy in all of them. We've already located the target, so we don't need to search for him."
"Ok~ay," the commander said, dragging the word out as the thought about the situation. "Well, if you're here to kill a spy, go ahead. I don't want those filthy rats dirtying up my camp any longer than necessary."
"Good," Reivyn said, standing up once more. "We'll notify you once we've gotten rid of him."
"Thank you."
Reivyn nodded his head as he strode back out into the hallway with Kefira and Serilla. The spy was still in the last room down the other hallway. Reivyn didn't know what he was doing in there, but like earlier, he didn't care.
The three of them walked down the hall. They didn't bother to hide their presence. If they acted sneaky and failed, they would just alert the spy that something unusual was happening. If they acted like everything was normal and they were supposed to be there, the spy wouldn't think anything was going on.
If you don't want to alert others to your presence, the best way is to convince them ahead of time that it's perfectly normal for you to be where you are, doing what you're doing, Reivyn thought.
They quickly reached the end of the building and walked into the last room on the left-hand side. The room was a storage area, and the man wearing the skin-mask was sorting through some inventory under the supervision of one of the supply officers.
"Can I help you?" The man asked as Reivyn walked through the door. He glanced at Kefira and Serilla following behind him, but his attention immediately went back to Reivyn.
"Nope," Reivyn said, shaking his head. "We're just here to grab something for the commander real quick."
Reivyn's blade was in and out of the spy's heart in an instant. It happened so fast that neither the spy nor the supply officer had time to react. The spy collapsed to the ground, and Reivyn reached out and ripped the skin-mask off of his face.
"Got it," Reivyn said to the supply officer. He held the skin-mask out to indicate what he was there to grab. "You'll have to figure out what to do with the body, though."
"Wha..." The supply officer stammered. He looked back and forth between the dead spy that had suddenly turned into a different person and Reivyn. He was stranded in indecision, and he could only watch helplessly as Reivyn sauntered away.
The commander was standing outside of his office in the hallway when they emerged from the storage room. Reivyn walked up and handed the man the skin-mask.
"This is how they infiltrated all of the bases without being detected," Reivyn said. "You probably won't find him, but you might want to get a search party going for the original person the spy replaced."
"Commander!" The supply officer ran up as Reivyn finished speaking. There was panic on his face. "This man just killed a person!"
"I know," the commander said. He didn't look up at the supply officer as he inspected the skin-mask.
"You do?" The supply officer was taken aback.
"Of course. He killed a spy."
"Oh..."
"If that will be all, we really need to be going," Reivyn said.
"Sure, sure," the commander waved his hand. "Lieutenant Grage will get someone to dispose of the body."
"Good," Reivyn said.
The commander nodded and lieutenant Grage, the supply officer, stood there with his mouth agape. He didn't know what to make of the situation, but Reivyn was disinclined to advise the young officer.
The three once more stepped outside of the headquarters building. Reivyn immediately felt that something was different. He looked up into the sky to notice the sun bearing down on them through a hole in the clouds.
The rain had finally stopped.
"Are you serious?" Reivyn exclaimed.
"So much for relaxing before the weather abates," Kefira muttered.
Reivyn stood and stared at the sky, his mouth forming a line of frustration.
"Of course the rain stops as soon as we're done," he said, shaking his head. "Well, we can still stop for lunch. No need to take off right away and eat field rations."
"Sounds good to me," Kefira agreed.
Lunch was nothing fancy, but at least it was hot as compared to cold rations. There was no reason to delay their journey any further. The rain didn't look like it was coming back. The clouds dispersed even further while they ate their meal.
The three walked out of the palisade and headed to the closest small hill. The vantage, though short, gave them enough visibility for Kefira to open a portal a considerable distance away.
"At least we don't have to run the whole way back," Kefira said with a shrug.
It only took a couple of seconds of concentration for the portal door to open. They stepped through and once more began their journey back.
They hopped across the open plains and from hill-top to hill-top, only running when they had to bypass the woods. They ran at the same pace, but it was much more manageable now that they didn't have to run the entire distance. Kefira never even got the chance to get winded.
They didn't stop at any of the camps, big or small, and the miles fell away quickly. They made great time as they were finally able to make use of Kefira's ability once more.
Kefira opened a portal door to the top of a small mountain and they stepped through. The mountain was too tall to really be considered a hill, but it wasn't anything special. If there had been real mountains around, nobody would consider it one, though it did allow for Kefira to see much further than they had before.
"We can skip right past those woods from here," Kefira said, pointing at the trees that would normally be an obstacle for her.
"Excellent," Reivyn said. "We'll be back to Piori before we know it, and then we can finally get some real rest."
Kefira opened the portal with ease, and Reivyn stepped through.
The world slowed down and shifted as his body passed through the gate. It felt like his body was yanked to the side, and extreme pain erupted all over his body as he was lacerated by Space.
He collapsed to his knees, blood dripping down his face. His Divine Sense immediately picked up the surprise attack at the same time his Danger Sense screamed at him.
He didn't have time to pull his sword to parry the blow, so he simply rolled to the side, ducking under the swing of a sword. He bounced to his feet, sword appearing in his hand in one fluid motion.
Seven heavily armored men stood in a semi-circle around him, and one man in robes holding a strange object stood behind him. Reivyn could feel the Space Mana emanating from the object in the Caster's hand.
Reivyn's mouth once more formed a line of annoyance. It wasn't hard to put the pieces together. Getting yanked away during a portal hop, the Caster with the Space artifact, and the lack of Kefira or Serilla showing up told him most of everything he needed to know.
The "4's" on the foreheads of all the men surrounding him that he could see through their helmets with his Divine Sense told him the rest.
Comments
Jeff091
Hi, thanks for the chapter. Typo quirked an eyebrow at here, here-->her quirked an eyebrow at her,
George Hicken
Regarding access to notes - I HIGHLY recommend using OneDrive/Google Drive/iCloud/Dropbox or similar. All of them can sync local files to cloud storage so you don’t need to change your workflow, but then the notes are backed up in case next time you do lose the hard drive. Most of them have free tiers or plentiful storage for ~$1/m. If you’re up for something that would be a workflow change, then Notion might be useful.
