Mistaken for a Returnee

Aldritch was sitting on a large stone bench outside the aerial dock; his head leaning back and his eyes closed to the midday sun.

The area he'd found was some kind of rest stop, or perhaps a picnic area would be the more correct term?

Either way, it was the first place Aldritch had seen since leaving Mag Arsa that had grass- but unlike the grass back home, this stuff wasn't oozing toxic waste into the air, nor was it blackened by death and smelling of brimstone.

It looked so comfortable, Aldritch had already taken his boots off and was just enjoying the feeling of the lusciously green grass between his toes- It was slightly damp from the early morning dew that had yet to dry, and refreshingly soft compared to what he was used to.

He could see why people would picnic here.

The spot even had a good view of the edge of the island, which was just behind a steel fence about a hundred feet from where Aldritch was sitting.

He opened his eyes and glanced around at the people present; several young couples who were just getting to know one another, a couple family gatherings with multiple generations of parents and their children enjoying the pleasant day out, and the loners, like himself, on the periphery of the park; each with their own reasons for coming here today.

It felt like a paradise compared to what Mag Ársa had become.

"As beautiful as this place is, it's a bit boring- isn't it?" The feeling Aldritch got through the bond was that of a cat ready for a nap.

Which was understandable, and also a bit funny.

It reminded Aldritch of days passed.

He couldn't remember how many times he'd gone to visit the dragon god, only to find him sleeping atop literal mountains of gold. Only a fraction of which had been offered by the dwarves of Than Kaldur.

The memory brought the slightest smile to Aldritch's face… But Oakairo was right. As nice as this place was, it was also a bit boring to have all of his needs met for him.

Aldritch reached into the back pocket of his trousers and retrieved a piece of paper that was about the size of his palm; it was a magically printed copy of the much larger, and far more detailed map of Auris Aldritch had taken a glance at in the hunters guild dormitory.

The map was a bit barebones, only having a few landmarks and the easiest ways to travel between them. But even that little bit of information was useful to him.

Aldritch wanted to see most of the areas represented on the map before the end of the day, even if he couldn't go inside the landmarks and take a proper look around.

The aerial dock appeared on southwestern side of the map; It was the largest area by far, which was why Aldritch had started his exploration from there.

After looking around the docks for about half an hour, Aldritch had seen even more than he'd expected; flying pufferfish, horses with wings pulling carriages through the sky, and at least three species of dragon. But, since he was growing tired of looking around the docks, it was time to move on to the next area on his list.

"Before we go… Think we could take a peek over the edge?" Oakairo said in a pleading tone.

A six-foot tall fence surrounded the entire aerial dock and stretched about five-hundred feet to either side of it- even surrounding the little picnic area. However, it wasn't the fence itself that'd caught Aldritch's attention; It was the occasional shimmer that moved across it.

Aldritch focused on his "True Sight" and funneled a bit of mana into his eyes- the world through Aldritch's eyes went completely black, almost as if he'd gone blind.

Then something flashed in front of his eyes.

Aldritch watched as the shimmer changed before his eyes; the wave of mana traveled from beneath the ground, to the top of the fence, and beyond- flowing high into the sky, before curving back towards the city and merging with the gigantic walls visible from every part of the city.

"Interesting." Aldritch stopped funneling mana into his right eye, splitting his vision down the middle.

He looked down at his feet and located a small pebble, the kind you'd find basically anywhere and picked it up using his index and middle fingers.

He inspected the pebble for a few seconds, doing a couple of quick calculations in his head to determine how much strength he should put into the experiment he was about to perform.

Once he was somewhat satisfied, Aldritch allowed the pebble to roll down his fingers and settle in the palm of his hand. Keeping his palm as flat as possible, he brought the pebble up to eye level and used the fingers of his right hand as a guide to aim it at a spot a few feet above the fence.

Aldritch aimed with his left eye and flicked the pebble with the middle finger of his left hand- the sound of breaking glass drew nearly everyone in the park's attention, pulling their eyes over to Aldritch.

But Aldritch didn't bother looking at them. His eyes remained locked on the barrel sized hole he'd punched through the ward.

"I didn't expect the ward to be that rigid. City wards are normally meant to be supple; the more flexible they are, the better they are able to withstand natural disasters." He walked over to the fence and tapped on the ward above it.

*Clang Clang* He nodded at the metallic sound. "Hard shields like this aren't meant to cover a city this size. They're more of a personal protection measure if anything; meant to withstand blows from enemy combatants or bounce away boulders from trebuchets. But this is an island, a floating island at that. Why would they use hard shields here?"

"Maybe they haven't reached that level of magic engineering yet. Didn't the cultist also have hard shields around his home?" Oakairo pointed out, reminding Aldritch of the ease with which he'd smashed through Edwards wards.

Aldritch frowned at the possibility of Iolara being so far behind. It didn't seem quite right; they had many devices that were far beyond the technology Aldritch had seen back home. Why would they only be behind in the field of Magic Engineering?

"Which is easier to maintain?" Oakairo asked, temporarily drawing Aldritch out of his confusion.

"The hard shield is far easier to maintain… Which would explain why they were using it instead of the superior supple shield method. From what I've seen, Auris seems to be sorely lacking in resources and capable people."

"Could you build the ward for them?"

He thought it over for a moment before nodding. "I could. Not for free, obviously. But I could forge a dozen or so ward stones to encircle the dock and replace what's already there. Why? What're you planning, my Lord?" While waiting for Oakairo to respond, he continued to observe the ward through his True Sight.

While it took longer than Aldritch personally found acceptable, the ward eventually closed the hole he'd created and returned to normal.

Assuming they had the necessary amount of power to draw on, all wards should have a self-repair function built into the foundation of the magic code.

This feature would drastically extend the life of the wards, reduce maintenance costs, and improve its overall efficiency by twenty-seven percent. However, since this ward took seventeen seconds to initiate the self-repair protocol, its efficiency rate couldn't be any higher than 15% percent.

"I'm thinking this new guild you want to start is going to need some startup funds… Which you are sorely lacking. That is, unless, you want to start carving away at the gold you swiped from the temple?"

Aldritch could only laugh at that.

Oakairo was right, they'd need money to get the guild going. And while he did have a few things he'd picked up here and there that he could sell, he'd rather not sell anything from his homeland unless it was absolutely unavoidable.

Most of it was sentimental drivel, but he also didn't feel like answering questions about where he got it… or where he was keeping it.

"Good point." Aldritch hummed and stood up.

He picked up his boots and started walking away at the same time as five armed men arrived at the fence in thick leather armor that had been dyed dark blue.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

They were all wearing dark helmets that covered their faces, while the leather armor covered their entire body like a second skin.

Aldritch noted their weapons were all wooden clubs that had been enchanted, with what effect, Aldritch couldn't say. But it was an interesting find to be sure.

He wondered who these strange individuals were, and what role they played within the confines of the city… he turned his back to them and kept walking.

Sure, a part of him was interested in going over and introducing himself. But his idle interest towards them was but a feather compared to the weight of his curiosity towards the rest of the city.

Besides, he had a feeling he'd run into them again sooner or later. Auris wasn't that big of a city, and he seriously doubted that anyone wearing such… obvious attire would be difficult to spot.

While carrying his boots in his right hand, Aldritch followed the map to the second of the three major landmarks within Auris city; The clocktower at the very heart of the Market Square was a colossal structure that even towered over the walls of the city.

It had four faces, one for each cardinal direction, and the wooden structure had an absolutely fascinating pattern to the wood.

The base of the tower was a light, almost colorless wood that Aldritch realized would release a very sweet scent if the breeze caught it just right. But as his eyes moved up the tower, the color of the wood shifted hues- becoming darker, and less pleasant on the eyes. And once your eyes reached the very top of the clock tower, you could see yet another pattern in the wood. This dark, almost foreboding color caused Aldritch's eyes to twitch every time he looked directly at it-

"There's an obfuscation ward up there." Aldritch muttered. "This world is so interesting." He smiled up at the clocktower's eastern face.

He wondered if the clock mechanisms still worked, and decided to wait around to see what he would discover. However, despite waiting for several minutes, and periodically moving to view each of the four clock faces, the clocktower remained frozen at exactly [8:49:52].

Aldritch shook his head in disappointment and moved on to the next landmark; A four story building located about half a mile from the market square, with a sign mounted above the large double doors that read; The Sentinel's Roost.

Just as he'd predicted, Aldritch saw more of the blue suited men. But this time, instead of investigating something, they were coming and going from the building.

Aldritch noted how none of the blue suited men ever left the building alone. They traveled in groups of three or more, and often those returning from… Wherever they'd gone, were dragging with them lone men and women.

The people they brought in were always in wooden binds that linked both arms, both legs, and their neck to a wooden brace attached to their waist.

Aldritch used Wisdom of the Great Sage on everyone entering and exiting the building- to his great surprise, none of the people he scanned seemed to have the T.O.S installed onto them.

Both the blue suited men and the chained individuals were, as far as Aldritch could tell, just normal civilians.

"A Sentinel back home was a watcher… Of sorts. They were the artificial guardians of the royal tombs in the human realms. Maybe these men serve the same purpose here?"

"I agree with them being defenders, but I don't think it's tombs they guard. Judging by the prisoners, I would assume they were either a slave trading organization or a group of peacekeepers… And since I don't see any horrified expressions on the other citizens, I'm inclined to believe it's the latter." Aldritch replied, glancing around at the civilians going about their days.

None of them paid the Sentinels, or their prisoners, a second or third glance after sating the inherit curiosity all mortals possessed.

Which meant one of two things; Aldritch was correct and the sentinels were peacekeepers or this world was very used to the idea of enslaving their fellow mortals.

Enslaving your fellow mortals would see you hanged by the wrists on a public viewing platform back home. There you would slowly starve to death- Or be eaten by the birds, whichever came first.

There was only one organization that were given the authority to enslave people across the seven nations.

Oberon's Scales was the name of the group; they were the fanatical worshipers of Oakairo's brother, Oberon; Dragon God of Justice.

Oberon supposedly granted his worshippers the ability to see the sins a person had committed and make them relive the horrors they'd inflicted onto others.

It was said that by the time the group was done with the criminal, the perpetrators would beg for the torment to end and willingly enslave themselves to the families of their victims.

But it wasn't as if this was the fate of all criminals the Scales caught. They only enslaved murderers, rapists, or thieves who directly caused the deaths of another person. Everyone else was handed over to the local authorities, as they weren't worth any more of the Scales' attention.

"Remember when they tried to arrest you?" Oakairo asked, and Aldritch could sense a wave of smug satisfaction coming through the bond.

"I do. They took offense to some of the people I'd killed and tried to bring me before Oberon. They might've succeeded if you hadn't interfered." Aldritch replied, continuing to watch the front door of the roost- he spotted a trio of Sentinels standing just inside the doorway of the roost.

The three's helmeted heads were pointing directly at him, and based on the body language he could see, Aldritch could tell they were whispering to one another.

"Who did you kill to piss them off?"

Though Aldritch thought the question could apply to the sentinels watching him, he knew his Lord was actually still thinking about his run in with the Scales.

"I don't recall." He watched the trio of Sentinels leave the building and walk towards him in a triangle formation- their bodies practically screaming their desire for conflict.

Aldritch imagined them waking up today and begging the gods, or anyone else who would listen, for the chance to prove their power and authority to someone.

Aldritch smiled at the three men as they approached. He found it very interesting that the two flanking the third had their hands resting on the pommels of their clubs, while the third man kept his body as relaxed as he possibly could…

But Aldritch could tell it was all an act; his knees were too stiff, his posture too rigid.

By putting on a show of being 'relaxed', the sentinel had inadvertently made himself seem even more stressed than if he'd just approached normally.

"It never fails to amuse me; how those who've never known combat, always seem so eager to start a fight."

"Hello, gentlemen." Aldritch held out his hand for the leader to shake, "You stand before Aldritch of clan Blackshield. Might I know your names?" He said, Aldritch doubted they would respond in kind, but that wouldn't stop him from showing them some common courtesy.

"Why're you loitering around the roost?" The leader asked, his voice slightly muffled due to the helmet and both hands remained firmly by his side.

Aldritch kept his hand extended for a few more seconds before lowering it, and also dropping his smile.

"Try again." Aldritch replied while staring down at the much shorter men. One of the two at the back was obviously a dwarf, but the other two… They were a bit more difficult to place.

The leader was bulky beneath his armor but was also tall- standing only a few inches shorter than Aldritch, so it was unlikely he was a dwarf, halfling, gnome, goblin, or any of the other shorter races.

"What did you say?" The Sentinel replied incredulously. His body tensed as his hand reached for the club at his waist.

Aldritch stared at the sentinel for a second before reaching out with his left hand and grabbing the sentinel's helmet- with a light pull, he pulled it clear of the man's head, revealing a youngish looking human man with a shaved head.

Aldritch noticed the two other sentinels freeze at the sight of him pulling off their friend's helmet. He was also amused to see the hostility they'd been exuding had seemingly vanished into thin air, resulting in the three of them standing in shocked silence.

"I said; try again." He replied and handed the surprised human his helmet. "You wish for people to respect you, yes?"

It took a second for Aldritch's words to register, but eventually the human nodded.

"That's completely understandable. Young people like yourselves have an inherent desire to feel respected. But you won't get respect by acting like self-important little tyrants- respect is earned by your deeds and held by the way you interact with people. It's not given to you just because you put on the uniform of a peacekeeper. Understand?" He explained, "If you understand, then introduce yourselves."

"Er-" The human sentinel flinched as Aldritch thumped him on the forehead.

"Keep your back straight when you introduce yourself. Take pride in who you are and try again." Aldritch said while maintaining eye contact with the human.

Still extremely confused, the human straightened his back and said, "My name is Kal Morthas; Initiate sentinel."

"Good." Aldritch replied and smiled at the human. "Now, what are your names?" He asked the two others.

They looked between themselves for a second before the one on the left straightened his back. "I am-"

"Take off your helmet before you introduce yourself." Aldritch said in a forceful tone- the sentinel froze as if he'd been struck across the face.

"My apologies, sir." The sentinel muttered before taking off his helmet, revealing a young dark-haired dwarf with an unkempt beard. "Lorik Craigbrewer of clan Drakebeard. Likewise an initiate Sentinel."

Aldritch nodded to the dwarf, but was frowning internally.

The dwarf should know better than to act this way. Aldritch didn't know how the other races raised their kids, but he knew dwarves. If this kin's elders knew how he was swaggering around the city with these two…

Without saying anything, Aldritch turned to the final sentinel and was pleased to see a young human woman standing there with her helmet tucked under her left arm.

She had short black hair that was shaved on one side of her head and hung to her chin on the other. "Artemis Maia Theanole; also an initiate sentinel." She said and offered Aldritch a quick salute.

Aldritch glanced down at the armor they were wearing- he hadn't thought it was thick enough to hide their forms so well, but he supposed it did make sense. Without the system, they would need thicker armor to withstand blows their bodies could not.

After a second to absorb that knowledge, Aldritch nodded. "Well then- Kal Morthas, Hillkin Lorik Craigbrewer of clan Drakebeard, and Artemis Maia Theanole. Once again, you stand before Aldritch of clan Blackshield. A pleasure to meet all of you." Aldritch said, a slight smile on his face.

"As much as I'd enjoy getting to know each of you, I do have places to be. You're dismissed, sentinels." He told them and nodded as the three of them saluted before donning their helmets and leaving.

"What did you just do?" Oakairo asked, astounded by what he'd just seen. "Did you use some kind of enchantment magic and I missed it?"

Aldritch shook his head and started heading back towards the guild. "Of course not. I wouldn't waste the mana."

"Then how?"

"They're young soldiers. Sure, they've never been in combat, but they are. I assumed they would behave as all young soldiers would when presented with a higher-ranking officer."

"Aldritch… You're not a higher-ranking officer."

"Oh, I'm aware. But they clearly weren't."