Chapter 18
Noon came quickly.
The bell rang once across the Stonewatch compound. By then, Alden, Jaro, and Lysa had already made their way toward the administrative building. Renna joined them outside, cloak pinned neat across her shoulders, and Siv arrived not long after with the Scourge.
The building itself looked plainer than its size suggested, with three stories of fresh-cut stone, plastered walls, and shuttered windows. It smelled of lime and mortar.
They waited on the steps in silence, with more and more recruits joining them as the sun climber higher.
Finally, minutes later, the door creaked open.
Darius Blackholt stepped out. His eyes swept across them once, and his shoulders sank the smallest fraction. He didn't speak, but his looks suggested that he wanted to be anywhere else but there.
Still, duty was duty. Darius straightened up and came down the steps with his usual detached air. "The captains are finished with allocations." He said briskly. "Hunter squad number four, with me."
Darius led Alden's group towards a place where they were shielded from the heavy sunlight.
He pulled a folded map from his slate, and flicked it open. The parchment was fresh, lines drawn in crisp ink. Circles, marks, and runes dotted the fields beyond the city walls. Darius pointed to the southern edge, where farmland gave way to ridges and sparse woods.
"This is our patrol sector." His finger traced a route along the ridge path. "Starting here, past the farm boundaries, then following the ridge down to the southern road. Check the markers. Report anything unusual: tracks, signs of horrors, disturbances in the wards, and anything along those lines. You'll walk it once each day. If you see trouble you can't handle, you come back and report it. Understand?"
The squad leaned in to look.
Alden studied the parchment carefully. It was the first time he'd seen Lint mapped in this detail. The walls were marked in thick, steady lines, the outer farmlands shaded pale, and beyond them the ridges fell into a patchwork of symbols.
"Everyone here can read, yes?" Darius asked, glancing up, his tone dry but not unkind.
They nodded.
"Good. Makes my life easier." He folded the map back against the slate. "Your rotations are fixed for five days. After that, reassignment. You'll get your chit stamped after each run. Don't miss it."
He waited a beat for questions. None came.
"Alright." He said, turning. "Better get this over with, let's go."
With that, they strode off, heading towards the gate.
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The southern gate was quieter than Alden expected. A handful of guards leaned on their spears, bored, while scribes noted merchant wagons coming and going. Beyond the stone threshold, the road stretched wide and dusty, flanked by wooden fences and the occasional orchard.
After captain Darius presented the guards with some papers, the squad slipped past without fanfare.
As soon as they stepped out, Alden felt the difference. A surprised 'huh?' escaped his lips as he suddenly felt lighter, as if weight he didn't realize was there had been lifted.
The Scourge glanced at him, and arched up an eyebrow. Alden met the man's eyes, then looked at the others, but they didn't seem any different. As if they hadn't realized it.
He wanted to inquire about what just happened, but held back. Maybe it was his intuition, but Alden felt like it wasn't the time for it.
Alden shrugged at the man and walked as if it was his fist time seeing nature. And technically, it was. His eyes were wide open, absorbing the details. The trees rose higher than any he remembered from Earth, their leaves curling like serrated shells, catching the light with a faint shimmer. The grass had a bluish tint, reflecting the sun like it had been brushed with powder. Strange birds darted overhead, their wings leaving faint trails of light in the air before fading.
It was beautiful, but also alien. And it reminded him, more than the walls or the arena ever had, that this was another world.
Jaro muttered something about keeping his bow strung. Lysa adjusted her wrappings. Siv trudged silently, charms rattling faintly at his belt. Renna walked steady, calm as ever. And the Scourge, after briefly analyzing Alden, strolled as though the road belonged to him, humming under his breath.
Darius spread out his map and referenced each of their stops to the map. They followed the ridge path, keeping an easy pace. The farmland thinned behind them, replaced by scrub and rising stone.
For a time, the path wound along the ridge, offering a view of the valley below. Alden took it in, the forest stretching wide and deep, a sea of green-blue leaves, dotted with strange glimmers of light. Their patrol route took them just around the edge of the beautiful, but strangely menacing trees.
"I will remind you, just in case the idea ever cross you mind, that your job is to scout a delimited path. Not to explore." Darius warned as he peered into the forest. "If you see something that catches your eye, you're free to come back for it later, but before that, you have to relay the information."
The group huddled over to the captain. The sun was still high in the sky, but strangely enough, only the outskirts of the forest was visible. They couldn't see beyond a couple dozen of meters, the rest was shrouded in dark.
Later, when the group paused by a stream to refill their flasks, Alden and Renna drifted closer to the Scourge. The man crouched near the water, washing his hands with a careless air.
"Hey, old man, remember me?"
The Scourge looked up at him. "I remember your face." He then smirked. "I also recall making a deal with you."
Alden nodded. "Yeah, about that. You said if I reached rank 5 in the arena, you'll introduce me to cultivation."
"You sure those were my words, kid?"
"That's how I remember them."
The two stared at each other. The older man seemed to think it through. Then he shrugged. "Have you reached rank 5 then?"
"The arena's closed off for high tier fighters now. So, that path had been cut off. But there are other ways I can prove my strength."
The Scourge dried his hands on his coat and straightened up. His eyes were sharp, even when his smile wasn't. He had an inkling about where the conversation was going, but just to be sure, he asked: "How do you plan to do that?"
"Let's fight."
The man laughed and was about to respond when he was interrupted.
A roar, low, guttural, and vast rolled out from the depths of the forest. It carried across the ridges, echoing faint against stone and scattering a flock of birds into the sky.
The group glanced warily at the treeline, trying to observe in vain what laid inside.
"That didn't sound like anything good." Siv commented.
"No." Darius agreed, voice firm.
Siv frowned, brushing damp hair from his brow. "A beast?"
"What else would it be?" Lysa muttered, unease creeping into her tone.
Jaro shifted his weight, scanning the shadows that pooled beyond the first rows of trees. "They don't usually come of the forest. And certainly not this close to town."
"Something must have stirred them up." The Scourge said quietly, his levity gone.
Alden's stomach tightened as he stared into the dark veil of the forest. It looked the same as before, but the roar still clung to him. He couldn't shake the thought that something inside those woods was watching back.
Darius stayed silent for a long beat, thinking. Then he snapped the map closed and tucked it back into his slate.
"That's it." He declared. "We've done our circuit. That roar is suspicious enough to report. We're heading back."
He gestured back toward the ridge path, his expression even but unyielding. "We return, file the report, and let the commanders decide what comes next."
No one argued.
And with that, they turned back toward the city walls, the roar still lingering in the air behind them.
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Back in town, Alden once again felt that strange feeling of heaviness. Now that he's become aware of it, it was impossible to shake off. He sneakily glanced at his teammates, and was once again puzzled by their lack of reaction.
Alden shelved his doubts, and continued to march back towards the Stonewatch camp. Once there, they accompanied Darius to report back about their findings.
With work officially done, they each headed back to do their own things. But this time, Alden, Renna, and Scourge left together.
"Still up for that spar?" Alden started as they traversed the camp.
"My, you're really an impatient guy." The Scourge said dryly.
"Can you blame me?" Alden shrugged. "I wanna start cultivating."
"You speak as if you've already passed my test."
"Haven't I?" Alden smirked, meeting the man's eyes. "You wouldn't have humored me this long if you hadn't already decided I was worth it."
For a moment, the Scourge's ever-present grin paused. He glanced at Renna walking beside them, then back at Alden. "I've said it before. But you're pretty sharp. The fact you've won little Thornevale's support says plenty."
He tilted his head, eyes narrowing with faint interest. "Normally I wouldn't waste time sparring with you. But I'm curious. How strong have you gotten since last time?"
The Scourge slowed his steps, scanning the yard until his gaze landed on an open corner of packed earth, ringed by practice dummies and discarded training gear. A few recruits lingered nearby, but most had already left for their duties.
"There." He said, jerking his chin toward the space. "Good enough for a scrap."
Alden's pulse quickened. He flexed his fingers, trying to mask his anticipation with a steady breath as they moved towards the training ground.
Renna folded her arms, staying close. "Don't go overboard." She warned.
"Heh." The Scourge chuckled. "I doubt he'll even suffice as a warm up."
He shrugged off his coat, letting it drop onto a fence post. The scars across his forearms caught the light, pale against weathered skin. Then he beckoned. "Come on, kid. Show me what you got."
Alden didn't need to be told twice. He stepped in with a probing jab toward the shoulder, followed by a quick combination of kicks and punches. The Scourge brushed his strikes aside with ease, he was about to counterattack when Alden suddenly switched it up.
He feinted low, then suddenly pivoted, aiming a kick for the ribs. The Scourge quickly changed his stance, blocking the kick. Alden wanted to use it the force of the hit to break the man's guard, but was surprised at how robust his opponent felt. The older man didn't bulge an inch.
He was forced to change his strategy. If brute force wasn't going to cut it, he would have to bank on speed. He let loose a flurry of punches, targeting joints and weak points, each blow building on the last. The Scourge matched him step for step, blocking, deflecting, letting Alden's rhythm grow.
The packed earth scuffed under their boots as they moved faster, Alden chaining attacks together, sweat slicking his brow. He wasn't holding back. The Scourge was rumored to be undefeated in the arena, and he wanted to see exactly how he measured against someone like that.
Without any regard for stamina consumption, Alden pushed, running circles around the seemingly unmovable tree that was Scourge. He set the man up, opening up his opponent's stance little by little.
Then, just as Alden drove forward with a full-bodied punch, the Scourge's hand snapped up. His fingers closed around Alden's fist like an iron clamp.
Momentum froze.
Alden barely had time to register the grin spreading across the man's scarred face before his world flipped. The Scourge hauled him off his feet as though he weighed nothing, then hurled him across the yard.
Alden hit the dirt hard, rolling twice before skidding to a stop. His chest heaved, dust rising in clouds around him.
The Scourge didn't advance. He just stood there, shaking out his hand, the smirk carved deep across his face.
"Not bad." He said.
From the ground, Alden watched the man with an incredulous stare. There were a lot of ways in which he expected the spar to end. He knew he wasn't going to win, but to be thrown around like a vulgar stick?
That wasn't part of the plan. With his build, Alden estimated his weight to be around 80kg. To casually lift him, then toss him across the field with a single arm, the Scourge had to be monstrously strong.
Thinking this far, a grin slowly crept up Alden's face.
"This is going to be interesting."