Wild Dragon of Rome 49 (Patreon)

Sneaking to a mage was not a good idea even under the ideal circumstances. Having the said mage in a tense patrol while she was under the impression that her strongest ally was currently unconscious wasn’t even in the same country as the ideal case.

Unfortunately, I knew for a fact she would make a loud noise the moment she saw me, unaware that the enemy was already close. She lacked the combat awareness to do anything else. So, I carefully moved to her, ready to throw myself to the side to avoid a reflexive water blade if she mistook me for an enemy.

That didn’t happen even as I stood behind her, which was … troubling. It was good for the current situation, of course, but I made a note not to trust her as a sentry anytime soon. “Calm down,” I said even as I pressed my hand to her mouth, suppressing her panicked cry. “It’s me, calm down,” I said. She started shaking, tears spilling. I moved to her, afraid that I had scared her. “Sorry. I didn’t want to scare you. I just wanted to make sure we don’t alert the enemy —”

She silenced me with a kiss, her hug turning even more desperate. “Idiot,” she said as she pulled back, tears spilling. “I’m not scared of it. I thought … I thought you wouldn’t wake up. Why the hell did you decide to start experimenting without asking me to keep an eye on you. I thought that you would die … again!”

“I’m sorry. I just didn’t expect it to react like that. It felt like a safe experiment,” I said.

“That’s the point,” she growled even as she interrupted me with a painful poke, but luckily with enough presence of mind to keep herself from shouting. “You are too reckless. It doesn’t matter if you don’t expect anything to go wrong. We don’t know anything about what’s going on, meaning none of our expectations matter. You need to be more careful. What’s the point of taking all that risk to find a priestess and hiding in the middle of nowhere if you’re just recklessly experimenting rather than working on every step.”

I silenced her with a kiss, mostly because she was starting to forget about my warning about possible enemies. They weren’t close enough to notice us yet — a win for my new senses, which were particularly successful in catching the smell of the shifters — but it didn’t change the fact that we needed to move away.

Luckily, enhanced senses and strength proved useful in more than one way. I lifted her in a bridal hold, easily carrying her toward the caves at a speed that even a cavalry couldn’t match while kissing her continuously.

I only stopped kissing her when we arrived at the cave, where Astrid was waiting for us, the little possessions we had with us packed. “That’s all we have,” I asked.

“Yes,” Lillian said as she stood once more. “We would have more, but we had to carry a certain reckless idiot with us, so…”

“Sorry about that. I’ll try to be more careful,” I said.

“Wow, what a strong promise,” she responded with a deadpan tone. I couldn’t help but smirk at her attitude. She was surprisingly cute when she was being grouchy.

I was ready to tease her about it, but Astrid closed the distance and kissed me without a warning. The situation wasn’t urgent enough to enjoy a kiss from a sexy priestess, particularly one I had been working to seduce — well, more Lillian than me, but the same thing — so I let her have free reign.

At the same time, I caught Lillian’s gaze. Satisfaction was expected, but I was amused to catch her jealousy as well despite how hard she tried to hide. Interesting. Too bad the situation didn’t allow me to push the situation anymore.

“As much as I want to spend my time like this, we have to go,” I said.

“Legionaries closing in?” Astrid asked, tensing. “I thought we would have more time. I was sure that I covered our tracks successfully —”

“No,” I said as I silenced her with a gaze. Her reaction was understandable. Living at the border, she clearly didn’t have any good memory of legionaries. “Shifters.”

“Traitors or …” she started, then paused. She clearly realized that, after being forced to leave her tribe, she didn’t have a method of referring to the Germanic side.

“I don’t know. It might be legion auxiliaries, or it might be a group of raiders that was near enough to notice the commotion. Either way, we need to get away before we’re noticed, and see if we can find a way to slip away.”

“Do you think we can get away?” Lillian asked, worried.

“Yes, we have managed to escape from a worse situation. A valley has too many paths for us to escape. They can’t surround the whole valley unless they commit a full legion. They’ll have to concentrate their forces near passages while spreading a few scouts around.”

“How about if we move to the other side of the valley. They won’t have too many soldiers there.”

“Good idea, but…” I started, wondering exactly how to put my feelings. “I feel like there’s something at the center of the valley. Something dangerous,” I said. “I have no idea what, but I just know that those new instincts are warning me.”

“Could it be a herd of third-order beasts?” Lillian asked scared.

“I doubt it,” I said, and she seemed relaxed. “I’m pretty sure my instincts would have treated it as a challenge instead.”

“That’s good —” she started, then it clicked. “No, there’s something that’s more dangerous than a herd of third-order beasts! That’s not good at all,” she said.

“We don’t know,” I answered. “It’s just weird instincts. They don’t exactly come with a handy guide. Maybe it’s something completely different. But, in any case, it feels like whatever is there, it’s slumbering.”

“Good,” Lillian sighed. “But, that means we need a different plan.”

“True,” I said. “Now, what are we going to do is to move to the east, hoping to avoid the enemy while finding a path out. Meanwhile, I’ll leave a few false paths leading to the center of the valley instead, and see if the legionaries are willing to go deeper. If there’s anything truly dangerous there, they will stay away. If they don’t, it’s enough to reveal that it’s not too dangerous, and we can pick that direction.”

“Not a bad plan,” Astrid said. “So, what are we going to do. Run straight toward the edge, or walk.”

“It’s better if you move at a slower pace. I still need time to scout to understand exactly who we are dealing with, not to mention laying false tracks requires time. We have already lost a day. We can’t just cut through and hope for the best.”

Well, technically we could. I had no doubt that if I decided to just cut and run, we would be able to get away before they could react as long as I avoided their mages. And, even a full legion didn’t have enough mages to surround a large valley.

Escaping was one thing, and escaping without being noticed was something else. Even if they didn’t realize the extraordinary nature of my existence, they were here to check the magical irregularity. Escaping while showing some unfamiliar capabilities would only turn us into a target.

I was happy that I managed to ditch that mysterious organization. The last thing I wanted was to replace them was a full legion. Forty-eight hundred experienced soldiers were scary enough without factoring in a great number of experienced mages, and at least one sorcerer — more depending on the specific legion — all chasing me in the hopes of acquiring a treasure.

No, I wasn’t ready to just escape, indeed.

“We’re going to split up?” Lillian asked, sounding needy.

I chuckled. “Don’t worry about it. I won’t get too far away,” I guaranteed. “Just try not to use any magic unless it’s an emergency. We need to get away silently unless we want to deal with another army chasing us. And, if you feel my flare of magic, get as far away as possible from the center of the valley, and escape.”

Lillian grumbled, but still grabbed her bag. “What if we split up?” she asked.

“Don’t worry, I’ll find you,” I said, confident that I could find them.

“Alright, follow me,” Astrid said as she looked at Lillian.

“Why should I follow you?” Lillian responded reflexively.

“Because only one of us knows how to move properly in the forest. Or did you forget the mess you ended up with when we were escaping…”

I couldn’t help but chuckle as I left them behind. They were developing a friendship. A very weird one even when discounting their relationship with me, but a friendship nonetheless.

Too bad I couldn’t stay to watch the entertainment they would provide.