TtOW! - Interlude 34.1: The Magister Exploratores per Turannia (Patreon)

In Castra Turannia, within the main fortress stood a large, three story structure.  It held two small barracks, a mess hall, a large warehouse, and a number of offices. Despite its location, no legionnaires stood guard, nor walked within its halls.

For this was the headquarters of the Exploratores.

And within the largest office, a man sat at a desk, scribbling on a scroll rolled out before him.

Magister Exploratores per Turannia Tiberius Cantius Falx heaved a sigh as he looked over the report.  That’s right.  Report.  Singular.

Now don’t get him wrong, Tiberius hated paperwork as much as the next official.  Being stuck at a desk reading about other Exploratores’ adventures was not exactly a dream job, albeit one that was much safer and had an actual salary.  And worse was having to take all those report, read between the lines for all the issues left unresolved or worse, actively caused by the Exploratores, and then report on all that the Provincial governor and the Dux of the local legions, after trying to come up with explanations and justifications for all the Exploratores with more ambition than sense.

But the one thing worse than that?

Having no reports at all.

He heaved a sigh.  The comitatenses had just left, some sort of trouble on the mainland.  Supposedly.  Magister Utriusque Militiae per Utrad Mettius Burrienus Caelinus had gone and requisitioned Turannia’s entire force, but had been cagey on the exact details.  Not that the magister would need to say anything to anyone in a province like Turannia.

Well, being left completely defenseless was deeply uncomfortable but it wasn’t unprecedented.  Turannia’s legions had mustered out to the mainland more than once in the past, and the province had survived.  No, that wasn’t Tiberius’s concern.

Tiberius’s concern was that ninety percent of all the Exploratores reporting to him had gone with them.

Now he understood.  By the Aesdes, if he was still an active Exploratores, he’d have gone with them.  The Exploratores had been reformed into a separate organization from the Legion proper, granting them a great deal of independence and personal authority.  That was great.  What wasn’t great was that the Exploratores were cut off from Legion logistics and bureaucracy from that point onward, and the Emperors had not seen fit to expand the Exploratores’ overall budget to match.  That meant the Exploratores had to go and build out their own independent organization, which had its own logistics and accounting and intelligence and analysis.  Which meant money.  And where could they get that money?

There was a reason Exploratores now did more work hunting down valuable monsters for some rich merchant than they did scouting for the Legion.  The active Exploratores at least could earn a good amount of cash in that way.  The support staff keeping the organization afloat, on the other hand, were dependent on their salaries.  So the Exploratores had to prioritize their salaries over the boots on the ground.  And then those staff had to go and find ways to support the Exploratores on the ground, generally by negotiating offers and monster part sales with the locals, or the Legion proper.

Now all that is to say, all but the most successful of Exploratores tend to be strapped for cash and forced into dangerous missions to try and earn their next meal.

So when Magister Caelinus put out a generous offer for any Exploratores willing to accompany the legions, they leapt at the chance.

Which was odd.  Paying a couple of Exploratores to join a campaign is standard procedure…but it is normally organized through the local Magister Exploratores and normally only a fraction of the Exploratores available will end up going.  Appealing to the Exploratores directly and then accepting them all was not normal.  In fact, it was a blatant slap in the face towards Tiberius.  Not that it mattered.  He may have had ‘magister’ in his title but the ‘per Turannia’ negated anything that came before it.  Tiberius wasn’t exactly happy about it but he could live with it.

What he might not be able to live with?

The fact that he had a bare handful of Exploratores left to patrol the entire province.  He, and by extension the Legion and the province, were now entirely blind.

Sending the comitatenses away was only acceptable because the Exploratores would give them time to call for help.  Or arrange an evacuation if help could not be given.  Now neither of those were options.  If something happened, no one would know about it until it arrived.

The only good news was that Miallói had rejected the call.  But that was to be expected.  And not as reassuring as Tiberius would like.  Miallói was ultimately more committed to her people than the Empire.  She had joined the Exploratores only to protect those people.

But that meant her loyalty only went as far as the Empire’s commitment to Turannia.  And right now?

Well the Empire had practically vacated Turannia at the moment.  Left the door open on its way out of the house.  Tiberius could only hope that nothing would end up walking through that door until it returned.

It was just then that there was a knock on his door.

“Yes, come in.”

One of his assistant stepped inside.

“Sir, there’s a bit of situation.”

He heaved a sigh and rubbed his temple.  Of course.  There’s always a situation.

“What is it now?”

“It’s Ateia Niraemia, sir.  She’s back.”

Tiberius exhaled his breath.  Well that was a situation he could handle, at least.  Not that it would be any more pleasant, crushing a young girl’s dreams wasn’t Tiberius’s favorite thing to do, after all.  But it was for her own good.

He would have thought the Hero of Elteni of all people would have prepared his own child for the life of an Exploratores.  But then again, the Hero of Elteni would not have been expected to move to Turannia of all places.  Or specifically request that his daughter be rejected.  So perhaps that was intentional?  But that wasn’t Tiberius’s place to say.

In any case, Tiberius just sighed and shook his head.

“Answer is the same as before, my decision is final.  The Exploratores are not so desperate for recruits that we will send children to die.”

The assistant frowned.

“Sir, I’m afraid she’s insisting.  She’s claiming she has a Dungeon Conqueror title and demanding we check her status.”

Tiberius heaved a sigh and stood up.  Well, it wasn’t like he was busy with reports, for once.

He walked down the stairs to the main lobby of the building.  There was a counter with a receptionist, as well as a wall with requests listed on it.  Two teenagers were standing at the counter with arms crossed and frowns on their faces.  Ateia turned and grinned as she saw him walk down the stairs.

He just heaved another sigh.

“Ateia, for the last time it’s a no.  Go home.”

“Not this time, Magister Exploratores Falx!  This time, I’ll prove I’m ready for the Exploratores!  Come on, check my status and you’ll see it too!  Exploratores policy states the Dungeon Conqueror title is an adequate substitute for the application test, you know!”

He crossed his arms and frowned.  This was her weakest attempt yet.

“I’m fully aware of Exploratores policy, Miss Niraemia.  And none of it requires that I entertain requests from rejects.  Now be on your way.”

She immediately frowned.

“You’re not even going to check our statuses?!”

He sighed once more.  Well, he knew he couldn’t sugarcoat things with Ateia.

“I will be honest with you, Miss Niaremia.  I find the claim that you two conquered a dungeon of all things utterly laughable.  By my assessment, you both would have turned back or perished not even a tenth of the way through.  And this is not the first time you’ve attempted to force my hand, so I see no reason to entertain you any further.  Go home, Miss Niraemia, and be thankful that you are alive.  That is a lot more than a lot of Exploratores can say.”

She grit her teeth but shoved her hand into her pack.

“Then what do you say to this?!”

Tiberius raised an eyebrow, until Ateia pulled her hand back out.

His jaw dropped.

It was a dungeon core.

Ateia grinned at him as he stared in silence.

“So, how about that status check?”

***

Tiberius sat back in his office, grimacing with his brow furrowed as he stared at the scrolls in front of him.

Now, a dungeon core itself was not conclusive proof.  Hypothetically one could have been purchased.  Maybe even the Hero of Elteni had one stored away, as reckless and dangerous and foolhardy as that might have been.  But at the end of the day, those hypotheticals were not reason enough to turn the girl away.  Confronted with proof of her claim, Tiberius had no choice but to check her status and sure enough, she and her friend had the Dungeon Conqueror title of all things.

There was no longer a good reason to turn her away.  And her status was now on record.  Exploratores policy was clear, anyone who had hunted down and conquered a dungeon was more than capable for the role.  Now he was pretty sure they had help with this, but even that wouldn’t matter.  What the Exploratores cared about these days was the ability to solve problems.  If they solved it by acquiring and organizing help to do so, the problem still counted as solved.  And the Aesdes could not be deceived.  If they had the Dungeon Conqueror title, they had earned it, no matter what sort of help they had in achieving it.  So as long as she had the title, he could not reasonably turn her down.  Even if he rejected her here, she could simply go to any other Exploratores headquarters and get the job.  And then questions would arise as to why he had rejected her in the first place.

The Hero of Elteni’s request had been just that, a request.  It had no official authority.  And he had also requested it be kept secret.  Which Tiberius couldn’t do if he was officially questioned on this situation.

He heaved a sigh.  No choice but to go through with the paperwork then…

Then he paused for a moment.

And he smiled.

Looks like there was a way out after all.

Because the next order of business would be for the pair to be trained out in the field by an active Exploratores.  The nature of their job was that any sort of standardized training regime was inferior to real world experience.

But the vast majority of Exploratores had left the province.

And he had no idea how long it would take before they would return.

So he couldn’t officially start their training because there was no one left who could train them.

And as time went on…well he was one man doing the work for an entire province with a barebones staff.  He couldn’t be blamed if certain documentation were to be misplaced…

There was a knock on his door.

“Yes, what is it?”

His assistant stepped inside once more.

“Sir…it’s Miallói.”

“What?  What happened?”

“She’s…”

The door opened and the Selkie Exploratores walked into the room without a word.

“...here to see you.”

Tiberius held his head.

Of course.

Of course, there was still Miallói.

He just hadn’t considered her because she pretty much never stopped by the main headquarters.

Well, this could still be fine.  He would ask her, as he had to, but Miallói had never helped out with this task before…

***

Tiberius just stared blankly out the window, a drink in his hand.

He could see down on the street as Miallói led two giddy teenagers away.

Of course.

Of course Miallói would come to check in like she never did, worried about the whole Empire leaving the province entirely defenseless situation.

And of course, when he asked the same Miallói who never once trained any other Exploratores, who in fact never really interacted with any Imperial personnel outside of combat, she simply said:

“Ok.”

And of course, when he asked her in panic why she would possibly accept now of all times, she would simply point out:

“We need the help.”

And now the daughter of the Hero of Elteni, the daughter the hero had specifically requested that Tiberius look out for and keep away from this dangerous life, the daughter who in Tiberius’s opinion was woefully inadequate for the challenges ahead of her, was now walking out an official Exploratores cadet, following the deadliest and most intense Exploratores in the province.

The only good news was with the province entirely defenseless, maybe he wouldn’t live to see the Hero of Elteni return.

He grunted, downed his entire drink at once, and then poured himself another glass.

Author’s Note:

And now for the post-Turkey day, where all of us Americans regret all our life choices as our digestive systems complain about the beating we subjected them too.

And then we do it all over again cause after Thanksgiving comes the leftovers!

And so Ateia and Taog have started on their quest, guided by only the best Exploratores in the province.  Things are looking up!

Good thing they haven’t left anything behind and unsupervised that could cause any potential problems while the Legion and Exploratores are utterly gutted in the province!  Something that no longer has any humans in their party!

Anyways!

Will Tiberius survive this deadly situation?  Can Miallói train Ateia and Taog to become full-fledged Exploratores?  Have Ateia and Taog left something behind that could end up causing problems?  Tune in next time, to find out!