Following Orders

  “No need to look so dour, Theo,” consoled the professor, who stood beside the crouching tactician with a dim orb of light in hand.

  Theo quickly gave his bloodied hands a rinse in the dark as he shot back, “Put that away. More people will see us.”

  But the professor ignored his comment, leaving his partner to respond. “These southwestern routes were meant to be safe—I’m surprised people were waiting to ambush any wayward sorcerers.”

  Faris, who was holding up Callie’s spear for her to wash, could only add, “Sorcerers have a disadvantage when it comes to the night—harder to perform long-range attacks when you can’t see your opponent.”

  “The discreetness is helpful,” defended Theo, wiping off the residual water on his coat. “We don’t have any issues with night combat, either. I figured it would be easiest not to encounter anyone at all, if we could help it.”

  Callie straightened up, her smile partially lit by the disobedient professor’s dim ball of light. “It’s no issue. We did what needed to be done—let’s carry on.”

  Theo nodded. “Yeah. Let’s continue.”

  * * *

  “Just you wait until it’s sorcerers after us.”

  Unsurprised by the professor’s ever-ominous remarks, Theo continued to examine the map of their route that he had made in his notebook before leaving. They were halfway to Lycra, their first stop. The path through the plains so far had been smooth, but that also made it easy to get accosted. At this rate, they’d reach town in the evening, possibly even later.

  “What, we’re not just fighting the commoners now?” inquired Elias with little intention behind his words, his eyes focused on the rising sun.

  The silhouette of Cyril against the evening glow. The angry words, Who are you to tell me what’s right or wrong when you’re working for the same organization?

  Callie, who was busy fortifying her spear with a spell, briefly locked eyes with Theo but did not chime in.

  “There were nowhere near that many when I returned after the winter break,” sighed a weary Faris, who was lying on the cool grass.

  Kor crossed her legs and let out a hum while staring up at the sky. “D’ya reckon they think they can win?”

  “No way.”

  Theo watched Selene return from doing her morning blessing and adeptly dodge the forest’s foliage like a fairy. He added onto her curt words, “From how the war is proceeding, they’re probably prepared to die in the name of protecting their people, even if it means sacrificing a hundred commoners to defeat a single sorcerer.”

  “Would they…win that fight? A hundred for every one?” wondered the duelist aloud as he eyed the tactician.

  He didn’t even need to look up the current numbers. “No, they wouldn’t.”

  “That mean world domination is on the list for MATS?” chuckled Kor as she laid her head on Faris’s legs.

  The caster opened his eye to see who it was before closing it again. “Knowing you, you’d be all for it.”

  “I follow the princess’s orders,” countered the chemist with a grin before winking at Theo. “And the tactician when I feel like it.”

  “Ha, ha,” he responded dryly.

  Callie’s tone was sobering. “And if Moriya says that we’re going to go against sorcerers soon…that means we’re going against MATS.”

  “Any objections?” the professor followed up immediately.

  Theo’s gaze met Faris’s as his one eye opened again. Steady, unwavering. And then he moved on to the smiling, lackadaisical Kor. Again, steady and unwavering. Elias was the same. It was only when he moved on from Callie’s downcast look to see Selene’s conflicted expression that he finally took on the burden of being the first to answer. “We’ll see what happens and what needs to be done. I want to fulfill Ty and Darius’s wishes, and that will definitely make me a target of MATS…meaning I am intent on fighting back, but that doesn’t mean that you all have to as well.”

  Elias squinted at Theo. “If we’re going up against the commoners, we’d be on MATS’s side. If we’re going against MATS, we’d be on the commoners’ side. Exactly whose side are we on?”

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  “Ty’s,” whispered Callie, sheathing her spear on her back. “We’re on Ty’s side.”

  “Graces,” breathed Elias, rubbing his eyes. “That’s a tough one. A class against the entirety of Chloris, great.”

  With a gleam still in her eye, Korinna nudged Faris’s leg with her elbow. “Finally sounds like a worthy opponent for you, huh?”

  The caster opened his eye again, about to say something dismissive when he jolted straight up and stared into the distance. “There’s people.”

  “Not again,” groaned Selene. “We’re literally off the road.”

  But Theo was already advancing toward the group of soldiers in the distance. He had enough too. “Let me take care of this.”

  Out of all the chattering classmates, shuffling to get ready to assist their tactician, Kor’s voice stood out. “Man, aren’t you tired? You’ve been doing the bulk of the fighting.”

  “It’s okay,” he responded quietly, doing a quick pat of his pockets to make sure his tomes were in their right place before raising both hands up as a gesture of goodwill. “It’s okay,” he repeated louder, this time not to placate his classmates, but their new guests.

  “Stop right there!” yelled the soldier at the front of the group, sword poised in front of them.

  Well aware that his classmates had frozen in their places, Theo came to a halt as well. “We’re just passing by. We’ll be on our way soon. We mean no harm.”

  They were wearing unfamiliar robes. Uncolored and plain, not belonging to any domain he recognized.

  “Shut up!” the soldier continued to yell as they advanced with a sword, just like the others behind him. “We know who you are! Stop right now and shut up!”

  Theo wanted to palm his face. They were really doing this again.

  Ten…nine seconds until the blade would reach him. He imagined the cold steel tearing through his chest should he decide not to dodge, even though there was no doubt in his mind what the outcome would be.

  “You really don’t want to do this,” the tactician entreated the aggressors in earnest, lowering his hands to his side. “Please.”

  Five, four.

  “Any time, Theo,” called Moriya without even the slightest hint of worry.

  Two, one.

  He swiveled to the side at the last second and grabbed onto the incoming blade with his gloved hand before speaking a Grade IV Release spell and pulling the weapon out of his opponent’s hand like it was butter. Then, sidestepping the three other soldiers, who were blown back by his casters not a second after Theo made his move, the tactician coolly watched his main prey stumble forward, their expression quickly turn from angry to surprised, and then finally blank as his own weapon was driven into his back.

  Letting go of the sword, a pitiful look on his face, Theo watched as the leader of the group continued to stumble forward until they collapsed onto the tip of the sword sticking out of their chest, the last thing to leave their mouth a bloody wheeze.

  Crouching down to inspect the dead soldier at her feet, Callie put a hand up to her cheek. “If only they’d listen,” she mumbled broodingly.

  “Take care of that one, Callie,” ordered the tactician as he faced the direction of the three other enemies.

  But there was not a single soul in sight. Not even a shadow. “Where…where did you two fools blow them back to? The Earth Mother?”

  “I did an area Molten,” offered the first caster, slight apprehension in his voice as he looked down at the second.

  “Oh. You should have said. I did a Frostforge,” the second added, curiosity rather than remorse in his tone. “We probably vaporized them—they’re definitely dead, probably bone-dry behind some bushes.”

  “Not it,” called Selene out faster than the three other enemies had vaporized.

  Theo palmed his face. “Let’s just do this one and go.”

  * * *

  As expected, the sun was already setting when they arrived at the outskirts of Lycra.

  “Oh, finally,” yawned Selene as they stood at the front gates. “Thank the Earth Mother they’re not under siege yet; I don’t know if I could have walked another few hours to rest at Lynd.”

  Theo, who was also tired, checked his notebook and timepiece before consulting the professor. “You made the arrangements, right?”

  Without acknowledging Theo, Moriya turned to Chelsi. “You made the arrangements, right?”

  Chel rolled her eyes and resumed walking first, taking the road left around the town toward the mountains instead of into the entrance square straight ahead. “Yes, I did. The one you asked for, Theo.”

  “Heh. More walking for you, princess,” laughed the princess’s wife as the group obediently followed the physician.

  The tactician took the time to debrief his classmates. “We’re staying here for the night and disembarking two hours before dawn, about ten hours from now. Curfew is at ten—in about four hours—and I’m not breaking the binding until I know everyone’s returned to the inn. Until then, everyone is free to go out or rest in their rooms; if you are going out, please let me know first. Also, the inn will be providing dinner until sundown. Remember that I’ll be applying a sealing spell to the rooms, so don’t forget the unsealing passage.”

  “It’s…it’s safe, right?” asked Callie, the blood drained from her face. “We can just stay here instead of going out into town?”

  Hoping that he hadn’t misread the information Ty left him, Theo triple-checked his notes before responding. “It should be. The inn is known for housing travelers, are okay with bringing in weapons as long as they remain within rooms, and are politically neutral—if it’d make you more comfortable, I can get you a separate room and write separate sealing spells.”

  A hint of relief could be seen in Callie’s eyes as she stared at Theo, undoubtedly wondering what he knew and what secrets had been conveyed to him. “Y…yes. If that’s okay. Thank you.”

  With a quick nod, Theo jogged over to the senior physician at the front and spotted their housing for the night already in the distance.

  For how remote it was compared to other townships, the inn was surprisingly big. The three-story building was practically right up against the Lycean peaks, its long, rectangular shape housing in its center one of Lycea’s abundant hot springs. Steam rose steadily up into the sky from the baths, dissipating into the dimming sky while the flimsy-looking lampposts that adorned the street leading from the establishment into town were already lit to guide visitors home. The front entrance could be easily seen from far away, a small and grassy winding path littered with candles and stones leading up to two open doors.

  “Alright, then,” Theo exhaled, slipping his notebook back into his pocket along with his black combat gloves. “Just the night. What could go wrong?”