TtOW! - Side Story 47.1 - The Valiant Captain of the Guard and the Wandering Knight (Patreon)

Opiter Caelius Curio heaved a sigh.

He hated this.

Opiter had all sorts of fancy titles.  He was the Legate of the Legio per Castra Turannia, the Captain of the Guard.  A high-ranking and decorated officer of the Imperial Legion.  He was the one in charge of the security of Castra Turannia, the Legion’s most important base in the entire province.  A province where Imperial control was not absolute, that still saw regular large-scale combat.

One might assume Opiter would therefore be one of the most experienced and effective soldiers in the Legion.

One would be wrong.

He was the commander of the limitanei in Castra Turannia.  Aka, the home base of the comitatenses legions and the Exploratores for the entire province.  So he never actually saw combat or made any real decisions.  Any problems he encountered would be turned over to the Exploratores so they could pay off their tabs.  Anything too serious for an Exploratores to handle would be handled by the comitatenses.  And the Governor of the Province, the Dux of the Comitatenses, and the Magister Exploratores per Turannia were all present, and would assume all authority in reacting to any given crisis.  Opiter was never truly in command.

So what did a limitanei legate do under those circumstances?

Break up tavern brawls.  Check identification at the gates.  Write some small ‘official’ bounties for the rookie Exploratores.  Inventory the latest delivery of supplies for the comitatenses.  Stand around and look important on the rare chance Turannia actually received a guest from the Empire proper.  Take care of the Legion’s paperwork.  Put out some fires at the most dangerous.

But Opiter had no problem with that.  Had he any ambition, he would not have ended up in the limitanei at all.  He just wanted a grant of farmland and a spear with which to defend it.  He only ended up in his current job because he demonstrated a talent for administration and the last legate had a talent for getting drunk at inopportune moments.  And since Turannia was not the most popular of destinations for Legion officers, the former legate’s administrative assistant ended up getting a promotion.  Of course, no thought was given as to his qualifications for the role should he ever be forced into actual battle.

Which was why he hated the current situation.

Opiter felt deeply uncomfortable anytime the comitatenses were away.  There was a small, but very real chance something big might happen.  And if that something happened, suddenly Opiter would be the highest ranking officer of the Legion proper.  So people might actually expect him to take charge and command.

Opiter had barely been in a real fight, and he was in no rush to repeat the experience.  So to take charge, command the defense, order the troops?  Please, Opiter was a glorified clerk.

And this time was worse.

Because the Exploratores were gone too.

That meant there was no one around to solve issues of any sort.  Not only the big, once in a lifetime issues like an incursion making its way to the capital, but the smaller things too.  Monster rats sneaking into the granary, a Felix Pluvia wandering too close to the farmland, a wulver raiding party probing the outskirts.

These are the sort of things that could absolutely be expected to occur and that Opiter and his men would now be expected to handle.  Despite the fact that none of them had done any of the sort in as long as most of them could remember.

And Opiter would now be expected to tell them how to do it.  To figure out how to handle things.  And to take the blame if they weren’t handled.

He bit into a loaf of bread, his fifth that day.

He couldn’t help it, the stress was getting to his stomach, so he needed something to keep it down.

It was just then that his assistant knocked on his door.  Opiter groaned and prayed with all his might it was nothing serious.

“We have…a bit of a situation, sir.”

Opiter heaved a sigh and just held out his hand.  The assistant handed him the report to read over.

“A…wandering knight, was it?”

The secretary nodded.

“Just entered town this morning, in the company of two locals from further north.”

Opiter looked over the report.

“It looks like they got a status on her.  Human, level 26, not part of any official knight order, huh?  Enslice Seero Seero Pee?  Interesting name.  Well, all the paperwork seems to be in order for that case, is there a problem?”

The assistant shook his head.

“No sir, but since they couldn’t identify her or her order, the men at the gate just thought you should know, just in case.”

Opiter bit back a groan.  See, there it was.  People now expected him to know how to deal with anything out of the norm.  His normal response would be to file the paperwork off to his superiors and then head off for lunch.  But now…now he had to figure out if this was a problem and how to deal with it if so.

So he did what he did best and stuck to the exact letter of policy.

“Log the report per official procedure and inform me if anything happens.  Otherwise, we shall treat her as any other visitor to the Empire.”

The assistant gave a salute as he took back the form.

“Sir.”

As the soldier left, Opiter placed his elbows on his desk and rubbed his temples.

Great, just great.  A wandering knight of unknown affiliation walking around town.  Just what he needed.

He could only hope that this wasn’t the start of any trouble.

***

Several days later, Opiter was massaging his temples again while chewing on a loaf of bread.

Even since that wandering knight arrived, it had been one thing after another.  The wandering knight accosted townsfolk around town, casting illusion magic on them in broad daylight.  The wandering knight was seen heading in and out of the slums.  The wandering knight was seen paying for a room at the inn but was rarely observed actually using it.

And that hadn’t been all.

Since the wandering knight arrived, he received all sorts of strange reports from the surrounding area.  Loud sounds in the distance, strange lights in the sky, monsters and animals running away from something, the corpses of big monsters and signs of terrible battles.  There was one mad peasant who claimed he had seen a ghost woman floating in the air, even!

None of this was serious trouble but it was all somewhat unsettling and now all the townsfolk and soldiers were worried.  And when the people or the soldiers got unsettled, they came to Opiter, expecting him to do something.

And he couldn’t do anything!

If it were at least some confirmed issue, maybe he could find some procedure in the Legion manuals he could follow and take care of it, but there was nothing!  The Legion didn’t much care about strange (but ultimately harmless) happenings like these.

Normally he’d pass it on to Magister Tiberius, who would decide if it was worth sending an Exploratores to check out.  But now Magister Tiberius just shrugged and told him to use his best judgment. The Magister couldn’t do anything himself as there was hardly an Exploratores left in the province and the Magister sent the few there still were to go patrol the borders.  Opiter didn’t have anyone left to pass these issues to but the Governor, who would simply order him to handle them on his own.

So Opiter didn’t deal with them and the rumblings and rumors grew.  The populace grew increasingly unsettled, the soldiers were on edge, and Opiter could feel a hole wearing through his stomach.

***

It was on a day like this that it finally came crashing down.

His assistant slammed the door open, panic in his eyes.

“Sir, come quick!  It’s the provincial mage!”

The provincial mage didn’t bother waiting, but thrust the assistant to the side as she rushed into the room.

“Sir, mana readings are off the charts, right under the keep!  I’d say it’s a mana storm but I don’t see how that’s possible!”

The assistant nodded.

“Sir, what are we going to do?!”

Opiter practically fell out of his seat.

“W-W-What do you mean?!  We’re going to call the Legion!”

The provincial mage just stared at him.

“What are you saying, Legate?!  We are the Legion!”

Opiter trembled as his eyes widened.

That’s right!

He was the Legion right now!

And something was happening!

“T-T-That’s….I-I-I’m…w-w-what are we going to do?!”

“That’s what we’re asking YOU, sir!”

At that moment, another man calmly stepped into the room.

“If I could make a suggestion…”

Opiter turned to the man, his eyes widening.  He rushed over and clutched at the man’s clothes.

“M-Magister Tiberius! Please, tell me you can do something!”

Magister Tiberius heaved a sigh and hoisted Opiter up, supporting his back.

“Ok, first, take a deep breath, Legate.”

Opiter took several.

“Now, give the order to gather the guard.”

“R-Right.  Go, g-gather the troops!”

The assistant nodded his head as he gave a shaky salute and then ran from the room.  Magister Tiberius nodded.

“Good, once they’re ready, we’ll go and check it out.”

Opiter jumped.

“W-We?  W-We’re going?  T-There’s no need for that, surely?”

Magister Tiberius narrowed his eyes.

“Legate Opiter, do you know what’s happening?”

“W-What?”

Magister Tiberius shook his head.

“I don’t know.”

The provincial mage’s eyes widened.

“Sir…even you?”

Magister Tiberius nodded.

“So we need to go and check it out.  And to do that, we need to bring the troops.”

“C-Can’t I just send them with you?”

Magister Tiberius shook his head.

“I’m with the Exploratores, I can’t give orders to Legion troops.  We need a ranking Legion officer present.”

Opiter gulped but the Magister was right.  That WAS the official policy after all.  And Opiter never deviated from the policy.

It took a while, but eventually the assistant managed to find and assemble a group of soldiers.

And so Magister Tiberius dragged a trembling Opiter and a platoon of nervous looking limitanei and headed towards the sewers below the keep.

***

Opiter was trembling as he stood in the sewers.  He tried to take a deep breath, only to gag on the smell.  The rest of his men and the provincial mage were holding their noses as well.

But the smell wasn’t what bothered him.

There was a stone arch in the sewers that was clearly not built by the Empire.  And there was pitch black void between its pillars.  And all around it, mana crackled and hissed, little arcs of lightning shooting from the dungeon into the sewer walls around it.  Opiter found himself sweating as he approached the dungeon, the temperature rising with each step he took towards it.  Small sparks of flame began to hiss and sizzle on the floor near the arch.

It was a dungeon.

There was a dungeon…right below the keep Opiter was responsible for.  A dungeon that was clearly not there before.

Magister Tiberius narrowed his eyes, keeping his gaze fixed on the dungeon.

“Magus, what’s your take?”

The provincial mage frowned and trembled slightly as she fiddled with a tool holding a glowing magic core.

“I-It…appears like a dungeon, sir, but the readings are more like…um…”

“More like what?”

She gulped.

“More like…a mana surge, sir.  Or maybe…a Rift.”

Magister Tiberius narrowed his eyes even smaller.

“This is bad.”

Opiter jumped.

“Bad?!  What’s bad?!  I-It can’t be bad, right?!  Y-You can handle it, right?!”

Magister Tiberius shook his head.

“We’re looking at a corrupted dungeon, right below the keep.”

Everyone sucked in their breath at that.  A corrupted dungeon?  The especially demonic dungeons that pour out endless hordes of murderous monsters to conquer the surrounding areas?  Like in the stories of the first hero?  One of the trembling soldiers turned to Opiter.

“W-What are we going to do, Sir?”

“W-Wait, you’re asking me?”

“Y-Yes, sir!”

“I…um…uh…”

Opiter grabbed his head and crouched down on his knees.

“This can’t be happening…”

Magister Tiberius placed a firm hand on Opiter’s shoulder and hauled him upright.  The Magister stared him in the eye.

“Steady, Legate.”

Opiter gulped but nodded.

“Order one of your men back, and call all hands to this position, along with the architecti and have them fortify this position.  Send the Magus to call Utrad and Corvanus and let them know what’s happening here.”

“W-What about us?”

Magister Tiberius placed hand on the hilt of his sword.

“We will stay here, and hold the line as long as possible.  If we don’t, this province will fall and everyone in it will die.”

Everyone went silent at that.

Magister Tiberius patted Opiter’s shoulder to get his attention and looked him in the eye again.

“Well, Legate?”

Opiter gulped and trembled.

“D-Do as he says…”

The limitanei frowned and clutched their spears with shaky hands.  The magus and one of the soldiers turned to leave…

Just then the dungeon started flashing.  The stone archway began collapsing in all itself as the void shrunk.

Magister Tiberius drew his sword and shouted at the soldiers.

“Everyone, stand at the ready!”

The limitanei gulped and pointed their spears forward.  The provincial mage started chanting, stumbling over her words and restarting several times.  Opiter just trembled in place.

The dungeon entrance shrunk down, the stone being pulled into the void until it was a tiny black dot.

Then there was a flash of light and a gust of wind.  Opiter cried out as he fell backwards.

He whimpered as he leaned his neck forward, fully expecting to see death approaching.

Opiter froze.

The dungeon was gone, along with the crackling mana.  The air calmed down, and the temperature started to return to normal, with no further sparks appearing along the floor.

And most importantly of all, there were no monsters.

Instead, there was the wandering knight, standing in place of the dungeon entrance.

“M-Miss knight? What are you doing here?”

“Query: Local authorities identified.  Is something in violation of local legal regulations occurring at this location?”

Opiter blinked as he tried to parse the wandering knight's accent.

“U-Um…I don’t…um…w-what happened to the dungeon?  W-Were you inside of it?”

“Affirmative.”

“T-Then you m-must know, w-where did it go?!”

“Answer: The dungeon master acted hostile towards this unit, so she terminated it.”

Opiter froze.  Magister Tiberius narrowed his eyes at her.

“Hello miss, sorry but you need to clarify for us.  Are you saying…you destroyed the dungeon that appeared here, all on your own?”

“Affirmative.”

Opiter blinked as his mind attempted to process that statement.

And then he passed out.

***

It was evening time, after Legate Opiter had recovered himself.  He was now sitting at his desk, trembling and stuffing anything into his mouth that he could.

At Magister Tiberius’s insistence, Opiter ran a more thorough status check on the wandering knight, one that would show some titles on top of the level and species.  A dungeon appearing under the Legion keep was a serious affair, not to mention a corrupted dungeon, so they needed to verify that she had the Dungeon Conqueror Title at the very least.  Fortunately, the wandering knight cooperated with them, so they had no trouble taking the status.

It was now, after the status parchment had been delivered to Opiter, that the trouble began.

His assistant slowly opened the door.

“S-Sir?  Are you all right?”

Opiter didn’t respond, but just kept chewing.

“S-Sir? Um, Magister Tiberius is asking about the status…did you receive it yet?”

Opiter still said nothing, but held the status out to the assistant.  The assistant slowly walked over and took the parchment.  His eyes widened as he looked it over.

“H-Hero?  W-What does that mean?  Um, w-what do we do, sir?”

Opiter just held his head.  He slowly rose to his feet and turned around, facing the window behind his desk.

Then he clutched his head with both hands and threw it back into the sky.

“WHYYYYYYY?!!!”

Author’s Note:

Just a bit of what 00P looks like to the regular folk around the town.  

Anyways!

What does Legion policy say about heroes?  Will Opiter's stomach survive the stress of the recent events?  Will the comitatenses return before the next thing Opiter has to deal with?  Tune in next time, to find out!