金瓶梅第2部

The clopping of another couple of horses drew closer. A mounted Eques was leading another horse towards their wagon.

"Good morning, Decanus," The Eques saluted. "Or should I say Hero of Leopardon?"

Justus recognized him as one of Decanus Constantina's scouts. He returned the salute, "Decanus is fine, thanks. Is there an issue?"

"No, sir. We're a bit short on Equites right now. Decanus Constantina was hoping Duplicarius Zehr could join the rotation."

Justus turned back to his tent group. Zehr was already standing, readjusting the straps on his gear.

Justus nodded, "Go ahead, Duplicarius."

"Of course, Decanus," Zehr tapped a fist on Justus' armored chest.

The man stepped onto a wagon railing and in a peculiarly graceful jump, landed gently on the horse's saddle. Zehr leaned forward, whispered something into the horse's ear, and rubbed the side of its neck.

Justus narrowed his eyes. He knew that Zehr could talk to the kobolds-- could he talk to horses too?

Justus shook his head, "I think... I'll never be as good as that guy."

"Nope!" Rena agreed.

Gianna frowned, "Miss Rena, be polite. Aren't you two friends?"

Rena's face reddened and she turned away, "I mean... yeah! But... Zehr is just too amazing!"

Gianna averted her gaze. Yeah. Justus figured Gia couldn't argue with her assessment, either.

Modestus, the immortal wagon-driver, turned at the waist to face the tent group.

"The Duplicarius has been around for a while, young Decanus. Experience comes with age, after all," He chuckled.

"I think you're doing great, Justus." Gia placed a reassuring hand on Justus' arm. He felt her care and the radiance of her smile warm his entire body.

"You've protected me, after all~" She beamed.

One of the other veterans spoke up, "Decanus, word through the camp is you used a skill the other sun."

The tent group murmured in agreement.

Justus quietly unsheathed his sword, holding it upright and staring at the cool, oiled metal.

"Have you been practicing?" Gianna tilted her head.

"Yeah, I have been," He nodded.

Justus closed his eyes. Mana swirled from within, swirling and flourishing. It fed on his faith, on his courage, and at the same time, fueled them. Slowly, he ran two fingers up the flat of his sword, "⌈Legionbreaker.⌋"

The feeling he had was hard to explain. It felt like... even if he had no hands, he'd know where his sword was, wherever it went.

The tent group had grown quiet, ooh-ing and aah-ing at Justus' soft execution of his skill.

He opened his eyes... only to be disappointed.

His blade's point had been sheathed with a brilliant piercing gold... and it dissipated. He had successfully cast ⌈Legionbreaker.⌋ He knew from the way it looked and from the sharpness he felt in the skill's formation that it would pierce through thick metal armor.

But it wasn't quite the same.

When Zehr used the skill, the light his sword had was brilliant and white. Clearly, the powers he drew from were... nothing short of divine. And while Justus' bright gold was still impressive to everyone else... he had seen a higher level. He wanted that... at least a little of it.

He groaned in frustration, rubbing his red hair. He slipped the sword back into its sheath, "It's not enough."

"What are you mad about? It looked fine!" Rena complained.

"It's very impressive to learn a skill so quickly, Decanus," Gia added. "It looks like you've practiced it to a Middle Completion Rating? Or close to it."

Justus took another deep sigh. A general feeling of discomfort pooled in his gut. He knew his complaints were ridiculous.

He decided to change the subject, "Why do you think the skill is called ⌈Legionbreaker⌋?"

Gianna tapped the beauty mark on her lips, one of the loveliest quirks she had that Justus admired the most, "Well, I have an idea on that. At first, it might seem the skill was developed to use against Tyrion legions."

Justus frowned. That wasn't what he wanted to hear. Why would Zehr have such a treasonous skill?

Rena pursed her lips like she'd bit into a lemon, "That makes no sense, though. The skill channels radiant mana. And that's something, you know... the Tyrion military is known for."

Gia nodded, "Right. So what I'm thinking is... the skill might have been made to combat the legions of the seven hells. I've read stories that they have black-armored, rank-and-file devil soldiers, in a perverse mockery of our own military."

Rena bounced in her seat in excitement, "Ohhhhhh, I love it. Maybe Zehr's a demonslayer!!"

Gia laughed politely, "Um... a devil-slayer. I think they're different, but it's not something that the general population is allowed to study."

Realization rocked Justus' entire body. His heart began to pump faster and he felt sweat begin to form on his forehead.

That was it. He'd figured it out.

That was the reason Zehr was so secretive. That's why he could talk to the kobolds. That's why all of his abilities were high, even though he was only a Bronze-Ranker like himself.

His class must have been Hero... or a branch of it.

It was the rarest and most powerful series of classes throughout the realm.

He must have been on some super-secret mission... maybe for the Archbishop? Whatever it was, Justus was both glad he had never doubted him and that Zehr had joined them.

Modestus interrupted the silence by groaning and standing up in the driver's seat, "I can't wait to be off this wagon and finally reach this Flame-scarred quest. The old wagon was better! My arse has been rubbed RAW!!"

Various members of the tent group muttered their agreements, some lightheartedly mocking Modestus' weakness. A few members, including Rena and Gianna, giggled at Modestus' verbiage.

Justus pieced the puzzle in his mind together. Zehr's presence probably had to do something with the quest the Rhodok adventuring company had accepted.

While it was good that Zehr was around... it was also a sign of trouble.

...Maybe the quest was more troublesome than anyone had thought.

"Seven hells, Brother-Immortal!" The engineer exclaimed.

He was on the team that worked tirelessly at repairing the wagons recovered after the kobold attack, "I've done the best I can with the tools and time they gave me."

Modestus laughed, "Well, you did terribly. Why aren't our wheels made of gold? Where is the barrel of wine I *specifically* requested?"

The members of the tent group burst into laughter. Even Justus spared a chuckle.

After the laughter calmed, a scout muttered, "At least we're moving faster since we're down to a single cohort."

The wagon grew uneasily quiet. The scout frowned and turned away, likely regretting that he'd soured the mood.

Modestus sighed, "Aye... at least when everything's gone to shite-- it can only get better from there, eh?"

Low mutters of approval followed Modestus' words, as well as loose strings of curses and prayers.

"Yep..." The old Immortal nodded slowly, "Almost done..."

"The quest, Brother-Immortal..." Justus asked.

Modestus shrugged, "Some lizard in the mountains. Nothing to worry about, young Decanus."

Justus hadn't worried about it, either, until his recent realizations. If Gianna's guesses were true... a Hero like Zehr fighting against the fantastical devil legions of hell... then the lizard they were hunting...

Could it be a dragon?