Turning a corner, Rainer glimpsed Hoplite's golden hair in the distance, and he inhaled sharply, spurred on by the promise of a meal.
However, someone intercepted him, a tall figure coming to stand before him.
'The hell!? I just need some bread, maaan.'
Rainer inwardly nagged and looked up to find a young soldier, probably Kotys' age. He was lean and mildly muscular. His facial features were angular and his brows were knit in hesitance.
His eyes were momentarily distant before focusing on him.
"Y-you are the daemon?"
He inquired in an oddly polite manner.
Rainer drew in a quick, centering breath and offered a smile.
"The name's Rainer. Just Rainer will do."
"R-Rainer, alright. I wanted to say t-thank you... F-for saving me."
Rainer squinted doubtfully, trying to remember when he did something so heroic.
"I-It was when you played t-the drums. They h-help me focus better, and I was a-able to spot a javelin I never would have noticed otherwise. I blocked it just in the nick of time, as it soared towards my neck from an obscure angle. How did you learn to play like that?"
Rainer's eyes rose slightly in realization.
"Oh, that! It's a long story..."
He scratched the side of his face awkwardly.
'That was a tribal beat used to encourage warriors to fight to the death for the entertainment of a feline goddess. One I had to learn to infiltrate their Grand Nyan festival.'
It was a memory he randomly recalled from one of his previous lives.
Rainer sniffed.
"Tell you what, err... What's your name?"
"T-Togodumnus of the Ca–catuvellauni. But the soldiers call me Layer, because I build well."
Rainer tapped his chin thoughtfully.
"The Catuvellauni... Ah! You're British! No wonder! You got that dark blond hair and distracted-looking eyes!"
"British?"
He seemed confused.
"Haha! You won't get it."
Rainer chuckled, smacking the side of his arm lightly.
"Take care of your teeth, okay? For your descendants' sake."
He added with a knowing wink which left Togodumnus at a loss for words. That said, Rainer glanced at his intercetor's waist and spoke.
"Well, eh... Togod—dumnut? I'll just call you Togo, okay?!"
He gave up and made an offer.
"Tell you what! Maybe I can teach you to play sometime, hm?"
At that, Togo's eyes lit up, and he eagerly nodded with a small smile.
"Thank yo—"
"Oh! Nonsense! No need to thank me!"
Rainer interjected, chuckling, while glancing down at Togo's water skin.
"You could at least help me with some water, though. The old throat's a little—tight."
Togo happily handed it to him and Rainer quickly gulped down a hefty portion.
"Ah! Good stuff!"
Returning it, he patted Togo on the shoulder.
"Good lad! I'll catch you later then!"
With that, Rainer walked around and continued on his hunt for the elusive Hoplite.
He came across what looked and smelled like the med bay, with the rancid smell of herbs, dried blood, and rotten wounds choking up the air.
Rainer peeked inside, through the curtains to find rows of injured people lying in columns, being tended to by an old asian man alongside some servants.
Not finding Hoplite, he quickly fled from the smell.
He soon came upon the side of the camp, where palisades were being built.
Here, soldiers worked with pickaxes and saws, digging ditches and sharpening timber into points. They worked with practiced focus, moving as one toward setting up the defensive structures.
Rainer curiously looked around, idly scrutinizing their work. He thought they did well overall, but knew legionaries could do it better.
He tried approaching some soldiers but most went out of their way to avoid him, muttering things like: "It's the daemon." or "Don't let him touch you!"
In the end, Rainer contented himself with his own space, staring idly at bound timber beams, stacked three meters high.
He was in the midst of nodding his approval at how securely the rope was knotted when suddenly—
*Pkat!*
A plum of dust shot out the side of a rope and with rising alarm, he realized that the rope was breaking.
He turned and saw a young soldier digging a ditch before the pile, likely to insert a beam of timber as an added safety measure. But it was ill-timed. At this rate, the rope would break and he would be crushed beneath their weight.
'Is he deaf? Didn't he hear the rope break?'
Rainer nagged.
He knew what to do, but for a brief second entertained the morbid thought of getting there just as the pile came down, burying them both. It didn't stop him from moving, though.
'Move! Move! Move!'
His acceleration was akin to a cargo ship loaded to the brim with tungsten blocks... That was if cargo ships could be begrudging yet powered by positive intentions.
Rainer turned around the stack of beams and crashed into him with all his momentum, lifting him off the ground and out of the way just as the rope broke completely.
There was a great clatter as chaos ensued, and soldiers yelled, rushing toward the scene to see if anyone needed help.
Meanwhile, Rainer was prone above the oddly calm youth, his arms shaking as they bore the weight behind his back.
"It happened."
The youth muttered, and Rainer pushed himself to the side and knelt, panting steadily.
Rainer felt the youth predicted that the rope would cut, which was why he dug a posthole in an attempt to add extra safety measures.
"Yeah. Yeah, it did. You were too late in placing a posthole, you could have been seriously hurt there."
The youth sat up and shook his head with a haunted look in his eyes.
"No. Not that. I...had a dream a few nights ago of this very moment."
He turned towards Rainer, eyes becoming lively.
"One thing was clear though. My grandmother's voice, she kept saying, 'The Hero will save you.'"
"Uh-huh..."
Rainer awkwardly gazed at him, lost for words.
'Seems like I found an odd one.'
He revealed a faint smirk.
'Just my type!'