There were another two attacks during the night, and when morning came Rede ordered a full third of their wagons east with an escort three parties strong. They were to join with Nanami’s outbound wagons, as he suspected she lacked the manpower to transport her loot out of the zone. To be on the safe side he’d hire messengers in Halfpoint to send a warning to Isekai.

  When the wagons lined up for departure they had to handle a third attack, but after that, the stench abated a little and the wagons were on their way.

  Ioha’s status display flickered from time to time. He received a new ability for mass casting his grids, boosted his heat attack by half a dozen points, and laughed with glee when both range and speed casting saw a slight increase. After that third attack, he also gained another all important point to aura.

  Now he stood watching the greybeard talk with a black and pepper, clean-shaven man in his upper forties. He was clad in no nonsense breastplate, pauldrons, vambraces and greaves, over some kind of padded armour with mail where the outer plate offered no protection. His helmet had chin protection and a visor that left his mouth unprotected. From what Ioha saw, it was a compromise between maximum protection, mobility and ease of use. No shield, not even a sidearm. His weapon was something that looked like if a halberd and a spear had a love child together. He’d have a bad day against any well-trained opponent, but Ioha had a suspicion the man was that bad day incarnate for the monsters roaming the zone. There were eight more equipped like him, plus another eight split in archers and casters. The archers wore a little less plate to accommodate for their bows, and in difference from the frontliners they carried swords and bucklers. The casters wore smallswords and bucklers. Spellswords, he’d recognise that hook anywhere, and they emitted aura extensions just like Ai’s did.

  Damn, I didn’t need that right now! Seeing their swords reminded him of Ai and the hurt that never seemed to go away.

  “You recognise these?” came a voice from one of the casters. He unsheathed his sword.

  Ioha nodded. “My girlfr… friend has one of those.”

  He got a questioning look in return. “She’s from Remerrin?”

  Remerrin? “No, she’s an outworlder just like me.”

  “Odd.”

  “Odd, how so?”

  The caster turned both palms up and out as if he were speaking with someone retarded. “Because they went out of fashion in Wergaist some ten years ago?” Then he shook his head. “Idiots!”

  Memories of moron one and two with a huge world-atlas and toothpick respectively surfaced in Ioha’s mind. I think I can guess what happened. “She was recommended it.”

  “Good for her. Maybe she’ll be able to both cast spells better and survive someone getting inside her kill-zone.”

  The description brought a grin to Ioha’s face. “She’s a healer.” And I wouldn’t recommend anyone getting close enough to hurt her. Thinking of his balls that evening on their way to Schooltown still made him want to crouch and grab his jewels in a futile attempt to save his pride long after it was too late.

  “Bet you forgot the buckler.”

  Ioha flinched. “You just keep your money.” I wonder what you’re doing now, Ai.

  “What’s a kid like you doing here? You’re large, but you still have time before you grow a beard.” He stroked his hairy chin as if Ioha wouldn’t know what facial hair was.

  “He’s the protector of the line,” Rede suddenly shot it.

  “He? A child? Has the federation fallen so low, you sacrifice your young ones?”

  “Tawin! Enough!”

  Oh, so every first name ending in a vowel is a federation thing. Ioha glanced at the man called Tawin. He straightened up almost immediately, so whomever the greybeard had spoken with was their commander.

  “Sir!”

  “If Captain of the Host, Sir Ironsnake, says he’s their protector, then he is.” The commander shot Ioha an appraising look, and he met it in return. He might look like sixteen, but he was twenty-seven.

  “Captain of the Host?”

  Rede smirked, and to Ioha’s utter shock he answered in horribly broken Swedish. “In your land so is its name brigadier general.”

  He knew he was gaping, but he didn’t care. NATO style ranks didn’t translate well into federation economy and logistics. Brigade commander? No, can’t translate NATO ranks that way. Ioha remembered Harvali threatening Anthony Clevasti. His house could field three thousand. Shit, that makes Rede a former major general. What the hell are you doing out here old man?

  “My lord, don’t tell me…” Tawin began.

  “Yes, he’s Terem Gaista’s renegade hero, knighted for his betrayal. You do not insult this man!”

  What the hell?

  “That was a long time ago. Let those memories sleep.”

  “Sir Ironsnake, they have slept for too long. I, Lord of the river, beg you in person to help us.”

  “Friend, that makes it an official request. Are you sure? I have soldiers among my ranks.”

  The Remerrin commander went to one knee. “That is my shame and my responsibility.”

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  Rede sighed. A long and deep sigh. Then he put a hand on the other man’s shoulder. “I am Rede Ironsnake, Captain of the Host. I demand that you yield and submit your forces to me.”

  “We surrender. If you will have us we will guide you.”

  What’s going on?

  Around them a few adventurers grew very grim, and all the strangers dropped their weapons on the ground.

  “Rearm! I will take you into the Host.”

  “Captain, is this really a good idea?” That was Rede’s second in command who came rushing after the conversation had morphed into a commotion.

  “Break camp! Line up!”

  There was chaos and then there were neat lines of armed men and women.

  “The hell! He can’t do this,” an angry voice shouted. “I’m a Japanese citizen. You can’t force me into a federation military operation.”

  “Quiet! I am Sir Rede…”

  “I said you can’t force me into…”

  “Silence!” Ioha’s heart jumped in his chest from the verbal whiplash, and he hadn’t even been the target. “I am Captain of the Host, Sir Rede Ironsnake. On behalf of the Isekai republic I will lead a raid into Remerrin to punish them for wrongs done to our glorious president, may his name shine for etern... erhum, the next two years!”

  You sick bastard! Ioha barely managed to avoid bending double in a guffaw. Isekai had a monopoly on the gates. If you didn’t live up to their standards for residency, you either received a one-way ticket to Nagoya or Gothenburg, or you were permanently denied access to the gates at all and thus trapped here. President? When did Isekai become a republic? Ah shit, the declaration of independence!

  “Company march!” The command came from outside their camp.

  Ioha swivelled to find out who walked around where there should be no one. Nanami? On the eastern road her battered company came marching with another two dozen or so of the Remerrin soldiers. Even from a distance they looked tired. Why are they here? Ioha stared at them as they marched through the gates. “Captain?”

  She flashed him a mock salute. “Not your captain any longer.”

  “Why are you here?”

  “A moment, please,” Nanami said and grabbed a water skin from her pack. She downed the last of it. “Ioha, would you mind?”

  He looked at her worn company. They desperately needed a little something for morale. “It counts as a patrol, sure.”

  “Company, line up!”

  It got a little confusing with two different companies at the same place, but Nanami’s extended company got into position. “Good to see you!” Ioha greeted them before he went among them and cast his cleaning. Idiotically clean. Walking here for a day they must have been attacked at least once, so they deserved feeling fresh.

  “So, Captain, you never answered my question.”

  She pointed at the Remerrin soldiers who had marched with them. “These guys showed up yesterday with loads of funny creeps hunting them. We won’t be able to defend our old camp on our own, and they told us they had two full parties over here.” After looking around her, she found a free place at a table and sat down. “Ioha, our healers are almost dry. Could you ask your old teacher if they could sleep indoors?”

  There was no reason to answer. Ioha just nodded, and a few words later Nanami had the permission she needed. During that time, the chaos in the camp settled down while the three company captains made plans by a table. Still, just settled down didn’t feel enough, and Ioha found himself directing staff and logistics troops to make sure the enlarged camp functioned properly until the three leaders had agreed upon whatever they decided on. That in turn took some time, and when they finally finished food was already ready to eat, and that consumed even more time. In the end, Nanami’s company stayed in camp since a mix of E, D and C ranks simply wouldn’t survive the planned raid, and the C-ranks were vital for defence of the camp. Most of Rede’s logistics unit stayed as well, plus a third of the soldiers who had guarded the camp earlier.

  When they marched out Viking girl threw him stares of anticipation and anxiousness. She must have been happy getting moved here but worried when they marched into what could be the very centre of the zone.

  The camp grew distant behind them until it looked small, scared and lonely. On the road back to the passage north, they were attacked once, but the breach class event got cleared in a few minutes. Ioha managed to mass taunt every monster, but none of them managed to cover the distance to where he stood setting up grids of shields. Archers and casters had a field day shooting fish in a barrel, and the closest monster went down a dozen metres from him. After that, the stench abated a little, but the relief turned out to be a short one.

  Late afternoon saw them climbing the mountain pass where another attack occurred, but this time with them being the aggressors. One mountainside reeked of wrongness, and seemingly out of the stone maybe a hundred monsters walked right into their path. The casters blew everything up before Ioha even had a chance to set up his defences. He still gagged until Rede came up to him with something to plug his nose with.

  “Is that?” He asked Rede close to where people collected the remains.

  Rede nodded. “You go there, and you’ll walk right through the mountainside and into whatever world those monsters come from.”

  “I thought the centre of the zone was the most dangerous.”

  “Normally.” The greybeard scratched his beard and looked north. “Young Ioha, there’s been either a breakout or possibly even a small migration event, and it hit Remerrin.” He growled deep under his breath. “I hoped I’d never see this again.”

  Ioha stared at what should have been solid stone. It wobbled, and something came out just to go down almost immediately under the onslaught of dozens of arrows and spells. Then another and another. They were mostly blobs and spiders, and the archers used them for honing their skills. Once, a worm wriggled through, and the mages joined the destruction.

  “Are we just going to stand here?” Ioha asked. He had set up the usual grids, but nothing much happened.

  Rede shook his head. “The Remerrin soldiers are scouting the safest way across the mountains.”

  “We’re really invading?”

  “In theory, yes. In reality, they asked us for help. It’s a call to arms I can’t decline.” He met Ioha’s eyes. “A long time ago, we fought together.” Rede tapped Ioha’s shoulder with his palm. “I hope you will never understand.”

  The scouts returned a little later, and the entire column marched on, sending arrows and spells into the few monsters that came out from the mountain wall. Rede left the cats as a rearguard. They weren’t to defend the column but to warn them, and for that job running on cliff walls was a superb ability.

  These mountains were a far cry from the Alps Ioha had visited back home, but they were still high enough to gather clouds along the ridge, and he couldn’t see the mountaintops. It also made for a gloomy march with the sun mostly hidden behind clouds just to be blocked by the mountains themselves, when it finally fell low enough to shine from below where the cloud banks ended to the south.

  Something else also occupied his mind. Now the wrongness reeked from the north, despite them having already left the centre of the zone behind them.

  Just before darkness, Rede called a halt at what had once been a way station for travellers on the southern side of the crest. It offered protection from the wind, but couldn’t hide the heavy smell of the zone. Whatever reeked this way lay north.

  The place was small and offered nowhere near the lodging needed for them all. A few rundown stone buildings were enough to allow them to prepare food and repair items broken during the march. For once, Ioha missed the tents. Nanami and Hiro had left them behind at the camp to avoid lugging them up the mountain. Well, they weren’t part of the raid anyway.