The tension of the room was almost visible. Michael felt the hairs on his neck spiking as he saw Mr. Hayes jump from his seat. This wasn't some type of safety protocol like they practiced. It was for real.
Ellis turned back to them. "Mave, get them out of here!"
Michael stood amidst the rush. "What about me?"
"You get to the frontlines!"
Michael ran upstairs to his room and bursted through his door.
Evelyn was sitting on his bed, finishing the cake, as she watched him scramble through his leather armor.
He strapped on his gear like there was no tomorrow. He didn't know if he was excited or scared, either way, he didn't actually expect an attack on Almore. These past weeks he's been getting used to the town, it was actually hard to believe that they've been sent here on a quest to protect it. All the times he's been sent out to the uncharted or simply patrolling the perimeter just felt like some exercise Ellis assigned to him. He wondered if anybody else had the same feeling of panic like he did.
Evelyn licked the frosting off her fingers. "Is it happening?"
"You—" Michael tripped over putting on his boots. "You don't sound happy."
"Because you're going to be fighting."
"They're going to attack the town, I have to be fighting."
"Do you?"
He finished lacing, sitting blankly on the floor. "Evelyn, I have to."
Her face looked uncertain. "Promise me…promise me that you won't do anything stupid."
"I promise."
She reached out her hand.
Michael held it. A bright flash transformed her body into the ego sword. He pulled the sheath from under the bed and slung his weapon around his shoulder. Ellis was still calling his name from downstairs, annoyed at how long it took Michael to put on his gear. Every second had counted because each of the lives of Almore was in their hands.
Michael stopped at the front door. "Are you coming with me?"
Ellis scowled. "No—just go!"
"Where do I go?"
"Michael, you have the magic sword! Get the hell out there!"
Michael felt a shiver run through his body and decided there were enough questions being asked. But it was true, he didn't really know where to go. As he ran farther from the house, he saw the residents fleeing from their own homes with wagons being pulled.
The streets were filled with mothers, fathers, and their children being escorted out by the adventurers. Everything had just seemed so chaotic, Michael was having trouble processing it all. The sudden uproar and loud cries of the children was messing with his train of thought. There were loud blaring horns from the rooftops and adventurers on horses galloping back and forth to alert the town.
If a large battle had taken place, they didn't want to have the people be caught in the midst of the crossfire. Ellis deemed the power of the Falden soldiers was serious enough to have the town cleared out.
He ran into someone with full armor. Michael fell to the ground as he rubbed his forehead.
The man didn't even budge. He turned around and looked down on Michael.
"Umm…" Michael gulped. "Sorry."
"You should watch where you're going."
Michael thought his voice sounded intimidating. "I'm supposed to be at the frontlines."
"You? To the frontline?"
Michael reluctantly nodded.
The man pointed in the direction where everybody was moving away from. That must have been where the main parties of adventurers were at.
Michael thanked him and ran to where he was pointing while trying not to bump into anyone else. The closer he got, the more familiar the buildings became. He was running to the entrance of Almore where the main roads connected to the town. But it was also where it became the quietest. He passed by a few parties of adventurers already in their assigned position like Ellis said.
The archers were strategically posted behind the tall roofs and the heavy fighters were stationed right at the entrance. Behind them were the mages to provide supporting spells or extra firepower. Either way, it didn't even look like Michael had belonged here.
"Everyone's here within minutes," someone said. "Looks like we're all itching for a fight."
A hand placed on Michael's shoulder. "You scared, boy?"
Michael faced the adventurer. It was the woman before that spoke out during their assembly. Now that she was closer, he could make out her features. Her skin was tan and her curly ebony dark hair was neatly braided. She wore steel armor but it was slimmed to her size. Though she wasn't as built as Mave like Michael imagined though she was just as scary.
She looked like she was trying to crack a joke, probably because of how unserious he looked.
Michael felt the sword hum on his back. He pushed away her hand from his shoulder.
"Where's your little leader?"
Michael decided not to answer.
Three more adventurers were behind her, all branding their own fashion of swords. It was hard to tell what they looked like under their helmet but their gaze was similar to hers. They all studied Michael like he was some kind of outsider.
A horse trotted up behind them. They all turned their attention to the rider.
Mave stopped her horse, scanning around and counted their heads. Then someone hopped off behind that was completely hidden behind her figure. Of course, that small person turned out to be Ellis Winslow.
"So?" the woman adventurer asked. "Was it a false alarm? Did you have to evacuate the town just for this?"
Ellis dusted off his pants. "The scouting shift wouldn't lie. I imagine any type of casualty on the Adventuring guild would have had us forsaken anyways. The people are much safer away from the fight."
"You're that scared of Falden soldiers?"
"I'm careful, not scared."
A few more adventurers showed up, following Mave and her horse. There were a total of four archers ready at the roofs, about ten swordsmen in cladded armor, and two mages on standby. Not to mention Michael's party and his magical sword.
"Incoming!" an archer yelled above.
"No!" Mave immediately cut the tension. "That's one of ours!"
It was the scout that Ellis had sent out during the evacuation, the same person that alerted him of the sudden attack.
Ellis moved in front as the scout stopped his horse at the entrance.
"Ellis, I don't know about this." he dropped from his horse. "It's really weird."
"What did you see?"
"Well, my eyes were right, there are Falden soldiers heading this way. But they're moving so slow…like it's not even an attack."
"How many?"
"Seven, and three in front with horses."
Ellis narrowed his eyes. "Seriously?"
"They think seven is enough to take over this town?" one adventurer said. "Are they trying to make a joke out of us?"
"Don't underestimate them." Ellis remarked. "They're trained completely different from us. Adventuring doesn't even exist in Falden."
"Either way," Mave moved her horse to the front. "A fight is what they're going to look for. Falden soldiers stepping in the territory of Wilmere, remember our treaty was abolished years ago."
"Right. Everyone return to your positions, and look alive, they could attack from anywhere."
The adventurers spread out to cover the town's front perimeter. Michael didn't really have a position to stand so he decided to just follow Ellis like a lost child. But for the other adventurers, they stood with their party, ready in arms, and looked forward to a fight. Michael was sitting comfortably on top of a slanted roof, watching the hill's horizon of grass and its patchy roads. Mave was somewhere down there in the frontlines as she was a warrior herself.
Michael didn't think anyone was scared. Was he scared? He didn't know either. He thought it was unexpected that an attack from Falden could be this silent. He expected a full-on assault with buildings burned on fire, the town's residents chased with swords in the air, and just destruction. But he was waiting on the roof as Ellis was silently contemplating beside him. There was another archer, taller and lean than both of them, holding a scope to his eye to watch for the wave of Falden soldiers.
Michael noticed Ellis's uneasiness. "Are we safe?"
Ellis continued to stare at the horizon. "That's a vague question, Michael."
"I mean, it's only seven of them versus like sixteen of us. Don't we outnumber them?"
"In terms of numbers, sure, I guess you could say that. But you have to remember adventurers work through quests, not through meaningless war. We exterminate beasts, explore abandoned systems in the uncharted, and help the locals find their missing cat. These soldiers were bred to fight, trained the very moment they were born, and solely follow their tyrant of a duke."
"So…we're not winning?"
"Don't say that." he grimaced. "That's already a bad omen to start with."
Michael frowned to himself.
"I'm going to try to talk to them. They sound reasonable enough."
"And if they don't want to talk?"
He sighed. "Then, we fight."