The soldiers' morale skyrocketed after Arthur decimated the Gnolls. While nearly half of the soldiers followed the monsters, the remaining half decided they needed to impress Arthur and painstakingly followed his lessons. Silfa and Ben, who reached levels eighteen and fifteen respectively, were currently resting. Val'narii was silent as if she were reevaluating her estimations of Arthur's strength, but in general, she seemed happy with her recent life choices. Catherine slept for the entire night while Arthur napped lightly. Not because he particularly needed rest, but he simply didn't want to involve himself in pointless discussions with the soldiers. The next morning, he left the tent while Cate was still sleeping and almost immediately bumped into a brightly smiling Amos.

  "You were right, Sir!" The Captain saluted him with excitement. "The survivors fled straight to the cave that appears to be their den. I left the scouts as lookouts and we returned for the rest of the company as quickly as possible!"

  "Very well..." Arthur nodded with a slight sigh.

  "Sir? Did we do something wrong?"

  "You had half of your company with you, Amos. You should have begun the extermination immediately, using the element of surprise, and sent a few scouts for the remaining troops." Arthur explained as he rubbed his face. "No matter. Once the people eat, we will move the camp closer to the den. How far is it?"

  "Surprisingly close, Sir. Just two leagues away."

  Arthur blinked. He had no clue how far that was. "A league?"

  "It's about three miles," the man smiled uncertainly, but that wasn't helpful at all.

  Arthur shrugged and decided to learn about the measurement system of this Kingdom later. Cate seemed to know the metric system he was using, so he would consult her. Or even better, push it onto someone else. After they ate, they travelled a few kilometres northeast, and quickly found the scouts near the rock formation housing the den.

  "The Gnolls are acting odd, my Lord." One of them said immediately after he recognised Arthur and the Captain who trailed behind him. "They sent a few smaller packs into the desert and the rest began building some sort of fence."

  "Hmmm..." Arthur tried to look serious, but instead only managed to look bored. "How would you normally deal with the Gnolls, Captain Amos?"

  "Ummm..." It took a moment for Arthur to realise that the Saftian Captain had no idea.

  The Inquisitor rubbed his face and turned his head towards a smiling Cate. Stealing a glance at her gave him the strength needed not to erupt. Behind the Nekomi was standing a clearly amused Dark Elf who most certainly knew how to deal with Gnolls.

  "Val'narii?" Arthur asked with a hope that the man will use the Adventurers Association Branch Manager's experience.

  "We should survey the area, find out if there are other entrances to the cave system and then attack from all sides at once. Gnolls are territorial, but they are capable of abandoning their lair if they can't stop the attackers." She said calmly.

  "You heard her, Captain Amos," Arthur said and considered it enough. However, just one glance at the man made him realise that it would be a rough few days. "Once you identify the additional entrances, we will seal them and begin an attack from this direction. This cave looks like a main entrance."

  "Yes, Sir!" The Captain bowed and left, visibly happy, leaving a speechless Arthur behind.

  He looked at Val'narii, then at the back of slowly departing Amos, and decided that he wouldn't find any similarities between Arcadian and Saftian cultures. He returned to his part of the camp and dropped heavily into the chair. He calmly looked at Catherine, who was still smiling while kneeling comfortably on a soft blanket nearby. Arthur knew that she was eagerly waiting for him to explain to her how to use one of the basic wind spells so she could start practising. Val'narii sat nearby, took out her swords, and started inspecting them. He activated the privacy field bubble and looked at the Dark Elf with growing confusion.

  "What is wrong with those people?!" Arthur asked with an angry and bewildered voice.

  "Sir?" Cate tilted her head without understanding.

  "They have no idea what to do, and when I suggested to them to listen to Val'narii, they didn't even bother to learn everything they could from her! Why?!" He asked bitterly.

  "She is a woman..." Cate said as if that explained everything. "Listening to you is one thing, Sir, but listening to a woman? No matter how open-minded the Captain is, I don't believe that he would stand taking orders from a woman."

  "Isn't that the same for you, Lord Ives? Would you follow an order given to you by a woman?" Val'narii said bitterly, but Arthur erupted into uncontrolled laughter.

  They looked at him as if he had gone insane, but he raised his hands to calm them.

  "That was a good one. A word of explanation then…" He chuckled between the fits of laughter. "So... Due to some discussions on the highest level of the Empire, the Inquisition forces have their own rank system loosely based on the Navy ranks. So, as the Inquisitor in the rank of Captain, I slightly outrank a Navy Captain. However, that means that my direct superior is the Grand Inquisitor Dahlia Snowfang. Her superior is Empress Luna va'Theon. As you can see, I have no problems taking orders from two women. Oh, and by the way... The Grand Admiral of the Royal Fleet of Arcadia, who commands the forces capable of wiping out Saftia hundreds of times over, is also a woman."

  They stared at him, with their gazes outright accusing him of lying, but that amused him even more. He finally waved his hand and summoned Ben and Silfa. Still chuckling from time to time, he tried to seriously explain to them what was next.

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  "I must admit that I have no idea how to fight alongside the soldiers. I initially believed that they would independently clean one part of the monster's den while we would clear the other. However, if I have to constantly babysit them, it will be a pain in the ass." He admitted. "Currently, the situation is as follows: they have no idea what to do, and I don't know if I can manage to stay serious. So, for now, we will stay in camp. Once they scout the area, I will take you underground into the den. I will be in front with Ben, who will do most of the killing, and the more problematic Gnolls, mostly stunned, we will leave for you, Val'narii and you will be protecting our rear. Catherine and Silfa, you will move in the middle and focus on killing weaker Gnolls, but if that's impossible, do as many assists as you can manage. If we find anything really troublesome, I will leave it barely alive for Catherine to finish off. Before we go, I want to distribute among all four of you the oil bombs you have prepared. Oh, and I will teach you the Wind Bullet spell, Catherine."

  They nodded. However, Val'narii looked at him with growing frustration. "If I may ask, Sir Ives..."

  "I will try to answer depending on the question." He smiled with a shrug.

  "You are not a mage, so how is it you know the elemental spells, Sir? You are a Paladin!"

  "You are only partially correct." He shrugged. "I have subclasses."

  They looked at him in utter shock. Even Catherine's lips parted in surprise and her feline eyes widened. Only Val'narii remained cool-headed.

  "Subclasses? That's plural, my Lord..." She said with a trembling voice.

  "Because I have a few of them." He shrugged. "While that alone is nothing particularly impressive in Arcadia, some subclasses are impressive. In my case, it's a Hexblade Guardsman."

  "I never heard about any of them..." Val'narii swallowed.

  "I'm not surprised." He shrugged. "But this is a single class. Or more precisely, it's a fusion of classes. Guardsman is an original class only obtainable in Avalon. While there are probably other classes named Guardsman, none is as impressive as the Guardsmen of Arcadia. Enough to say that it's of Legendary rarity. Hexblade is an advanced fusion class of a Warlock and a Swordsman. However, being a Warlock isn't that simple in Arcadia because, technically, you should enter into a pact with an Eldritch entity. And that would bring the Inquisition down on your head. Now, this is where the shenanigans start. To unlock the Warlock class in the legal way, we can enter the pact with one of four beings which are Goddess Verka wearing a half mask and a pink cooking apron, Goddess Kaal'nai who is standing behind a curtain, God Ertu who is wearing a dramatic black cape and full white mask, or God Zephyr who is pretending to be an Eldritch Frog. And no, I'm not joking."

  "But you have to be joking..." Val'narii hid her face in her hands.

  "Nope." He laughed, but once she glanced at him furiously he decided to explain a little bit further. "What do you become if you enter the service of a deity as a warrior?"

  "A Paladin..." Val'narii explained and looked at him cautiously.

  "Yes. What did a Mage who serves a deity become?"

  "A Cleric?" The Dark Elf furrowed her brows.

  "Precisely. You can't be a Warlock. Unless... You cheat the World's Words." He grinned. "After extensive searching, Emperor Theon Avalon discovered that the Eldritch being needs to be just a sufficiently powerful entity. In fact, even he could have become a patron for a Warlock, but he doesn't want to because frankly, that's a massive hassle. So as long as the person who wants to be a Warlock enters a pact with someone who doesn't directly admit they are a God or a Goddess, the World's Words recognise such a person as a Warlock. It's only a matter of time until the remaining Gods join the Warlock's Pantheon."

  "This is so wrong... I don't know what's more ridiculous. The fact that you cheated the World's Words, or the fact that you are doing some shenanigans with the Gods!" Val'narii rubbed her temples while Cate, Silfa, and Ben had no idea what the fuss was about, but they seemed impressed nonetheless. "OK, so you are a Warlock?"

  "A Warlock who started as a Sorcerer." Arthur grinned.

  "What?!" She glanced daggers at him from between her fingers covering her face.

  "Yes. To be a Warlock you must be a Mage. I was at level thirty-five when I realised that being a mage isn't for me, so I changed my class to a Warlock once I learned I could upgrade it to Hexblade later."

  "I'm going to be sick..." Val'narii complained with a pale face as her hands powerlessly dropped to her sides. "Getting a rare class in Saftia can pretty much raise your social status and you are telling me that in Arcadia you can swap your classes as you like?!"

  "Pretty much, yes." He shrugged. "Of course it's not free, but it's affordable. Anyway, once I maxed my Warlock class, I obtained a Swordsman class which was far more comfortable for me. Once I maxed it, I fused the two and became a Hexblade. Fusing Hexblade with Guardsman is self explanatory. I can use most of the skills I learnt previously so it was a blast levelling it. Well... Sure, it took me most of last year to level up all my subclasses, but it was fun."

  "So you are Paladin and Hexblade Guardsmen..." Val'narii asked with a shaking voice.

  "I'm Oath of the Watchers Paladin, Hexblade Guardsmen, Inquisitor, Blacksmith, and my newest subclass is an Alchemist." He grinned.

  "A Blacksmith?! A bloody Blacksmith on top of everything?!" She looked at him in shock. "And Alchemist?!"

  "My Alchemist is barely level twenty. Don't get excited about the Blacksmith either..." He shrugged. "I literally have learnt four recipes. I can forge myself throwing knives, make new arrows, a spare sword, and a spare shield. Besides that, I can repair my armour and maintain equipment."

  "Considering everything you just said, I think that what you consider a “spare” sword will be something far superior to this!" She raised one of her own blades.

  "Hmmm..." He looked at the blade and tilted his head. He took it and appraised it. "Very similar, I think..."

  "Huh..." She took her sword and looked at him in silence. She finally dropped heavily into her chair. "So you can, just like that, forge a blade that would be considered a masterpiece in Saftia."

  "To be a good smith, you need something more than just levels." He shrugged and explained in a soft voice. "You need a talent and ingenuity I lack. I can forge myself a good throwing knife or arrowheads because you don't need extreme talent for that. I just repeated the process until the things I forged were judged by true masters of the craft to be good enough. The same goes for a sword. Being without a weapon sucks and even the greatest weapons sometimes break. You run out of arrows, lose all your knives, and your shield might be so dented you must discard it. That's why I learnt as much as I needed and allocated the saved points into my combat classes."

  She looked at him and groaned but said nothing. Suddenly she smiled and looked right at him. "Would I be able to get a subclass if we reach Arcadia?"

  "Sure." He shrugged, and only then did Catherine, Silfa, and Ben look at him in shock. "Anyway... You have to rest once you share the bombs between you. Catherine, now I will teach you the Wind Bullet spell..."

  Thank you all for reading.

  I wish you all a great day and as always I wait for your comments.

  A big thanks to and who edited the chapter!