Chương 55: The Pond

"Interesting?" I asked.

"Is that good or bad?"

"Neither," she said.

"It just is. But I detect no lie, and…" She lifted her chin up, looking directly at the Subtle Man guarding the door. He shook his head.

"Neither does he." I got the sense that there was more to that exchange than just Frythlid looking for confirmation, but it would've been foolish to question it. Perhaps, though, she wasn't in as much control of the situation as I had initially thought.

"I'm sorry to waste your time, then," I said.

"But I promise you, I'm not willing to let the orcs overrun us without a fight."" That, I do believe," she said.

"Can I ask…who gave you the tip?"

"It wouldn't be much of an anonymous tip if I immediately gave away my source. No, Three-Thirty-Three, you are dismissed for now, but I will be keeping my eyes on you. On everyone. I must ensure utmost compliance with the Warlord's will."

"I understand, ma'am—sorry, my lady," I said. She twitched, unamused. She could probably detect that I hadn't slipped up by accident, but I had plausible deniability still. She clearly couldn't read every single thought I had, or I would already be dead.

"Leave us," she said.

"I hope not to see you ever again." I gave her a quick salute.

"You as well."

"What is that gesture?"

"A salute—uh, nevermind."

"Just go. And don't do it again." The Subtle Man opened the door for me and allowed me to step out. I left the keep and rushed back to the training grounds outside the castle, only to find Anchor and Brawl staring at me. At the moment, the group currently had a few minutes of break before it was time for our next strength training activity. Brawl patted me down when I returned and said, "Brother! You survived."

"You weren't expecting me to?" I glanced cautiously at Anchor.

"It wasn't me who gave them the tip," he said.

"You may be an Atoning, but you're also my sergeant, and you've been nothing but kind to me. Gate was built on honour, and I'll not forsake mine." He lowered his voice.

"But keep your opinions on the Warlord to yourself, no matter what they are. I want no part in it."

"I'll…yeah." I wasn't on Earth anymore. Here, there weren't the same protections. I'd grown up with the ability to say whatever I wanted, offend whoever I wanted and face almost zero consequences, but I couldn't get complacent here.

"I am simply happy to see you still alive and in one piece," Brawl said.

"And in a functional mental state. I have heard many things about the Subtle Men's interrogations."

"I'm more concerned about who ratted me out," I said.

"If it wasn't Anchor…" No one else knew anything about what I thought of the Warlord—except Romance and Elf, but they were far from here, and there was no way that they could send in a tip like that. Nor did I believe either of them would. So that meant it was someone who didn't actually know anything about what I believed and was just trying to make life miserable for me. I already had a few guesses, and Pallor was the prime suspect, but I wanted a little bit more information before I acted on it.

"Alright, you lot!" Lieutenant Owl said.

"Up on your feet! We're heading to the pond!" The pond was as it sounded—a relatively clear pond on the castle estate that they'd dredged deeper. We'd used it to train in swimming and other strength activities. Judging by the day, it was a water-walking day. That entailed carrying weighted backpacks underwater. They held us down near the bottom.

We had to walk across the bottom of the pond while holding our breath and without dropping the weighted pack, our feet scrambling through the mud, the water fighting against us. A normal mortal wouldn't have survived it, but we'd been training ourselves for this. With higher Vitality, we could stay underwater for longer without breathing, and with higher Strength, the strain on our bodies wasn't that bad. Plus, the murky water helped us train our Perception by forcing us to peer through it and use our senses.

The worst part was the cold. It hadn't snowed yet, but it was firmly in the middle of fall, and the water wasn't warm by any definition I knew. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

"You ready, Levi?" Anchor asked.

"No. I hate the water walk."

"Yeah," he said.

"You're no good at it. Only slightly better than me, and I'm an archer, so you should be much better than me."

"You don't have to rub it in," I replied.

"It is easy, brothers," Brawl said.

"If it's so easy, they should make Sage do it," I grumbled.

"She has her own training."

"Yeah…" I sighed.

"I'm just being bitchy. I need to get better at this. And I have a bit of a plan."

"A plan?" Brawl narrowed his eyes.

"A plan that doesn't involve cheating, correct?"

"Yeah, no cheating. Just making life more difficult for myself and forcing myself to improve—or die. You know, all that stuff they say about there being nothing better than the fear of death to drive you to improve?"

"I have not heard much about that, brother."

"You'll learn what he means when you actually get in a fight with orcs," Anchor told him.

"He's right." He turned to me.

"At the risk of sounding like Sage, just don't do anything too dustbrained, alright?"

"I won't." When it was my turn, I cast aside my tunic, picked up my weighted backpack in my arms, and dropped down to the bottom of the pond. It was about twelve feet deep, the depth of the average dive tank at a public pool. As I dropped down, I pulled the backpack actually over my shoulders. We weren't supposed to wear it, only carry it, because if we ran out of breath, then we could still drop it and swim up to the surface easily. But if I had that way out, I knew I wouldn't be able to push myself as far.

Right now, I'd make it so I had to do it. I pulled on my backpack straps and tied a knot at the center, then opened my eyes to the murky water and trudged forward. The ground slipped beneath my boots, and something slimy brushed against my ankle. A gasp of bubbles escaped my mouth, but I kept it shut and forced myself forward. By my best estimate, the pond was about twenty meters across. It didn't seem far on land, but in the water it seemed like an eternity.

Halfway across, my lungs began burning, and three quarters of the way, darkness encroached on the edge of my vision. I would've bailed if I could have, my self-preservation instincts taking over, but I had given myself no choice. I had to push myself harder and stronger than ever before. When I thought I was about to accidentally gasp for breath and suck in a mouthful of water, my hand brushed against the steep slope of the other side, and I picked out a ladder amongst the murk.

As I climbed, I untied the backpack and swung it around back to my hands as if I hadn't done anything, then hauled my head above the surface and gasped for air. Brawl and Anchor rushed over, and they both knelt in front of me.

"What did you do?" Anchor demanded.

"I didn't see a difference. You must have cheated, brother," Brawl said.

"Nah," I panted.

"I just…wore…my backpack. And tied it up." Anchor shook his head.

"Well, whatever they say about me serving under an Atoning sergeant won't mean anything. You're going to get yourself killed in a matter of weeks."

"Or I'm gonna keep climbing the ranks," I said.

"Keep telling yourself that. You still have a duel to win tonight." ~ ~ ~ When we returned to the mess hall for dinner, I found Pallor staring at me the whole time. He didn't have too many remarkable features, save for a slightly paler skin tone than the rest of us, and that was probably how he earned his name. But with the sun setting earlier and earlier every day, it was dark by the time we ate, and it was hard to tell Pallor apart from the crowd. At first, his expression read of total disappointment.

And not disappointment at me. Disappointment that I was still here. I was almost certain that he had reported me to the Subtle Men now. He'd been trying to get out of his duel.

"How'd he get into the top three?" I asked the others in my squad.

"I mean, seriously. Dude's jumpy as hell, and if he's legitimately so scared to duel me that he has to delay it in order to make a report, with the hopes of taking me out before the fight even begins, how good can he truly be?"

"It's early," Sage said.

"The rankings are still settling out. He probably had one good Labyrinth run and it sent him up to the top." I nodded.

"I guess. Well, I've gotta start taking him down a few notches."

"Do not get cocky, brother," Brawl said.

"I won't." Anchor scratched his cheek, then said, "He's strong on his right side, weaker on his left, but he has a shield—and I bet he's been training with it longer than you. He has more experience in every way."

"I'll keep it in mind. But has he been to the front?"

"I doubt it," Anchor said.

"He doesn't have that look to him."

"Right. Well, there's one thing I have more experience in, for what good it'll do." I wasn't sure if there was any good it could do in a one-on-one duel.

"I'm not using a shield tonight." I had been training with one and getting better, but I still wasn't confident enough with it—it would just get in my way. When we finished dinner, I waited just outside the keep for Pallor. He tried avoiding my gaze and rushing off toward the barracks, but I reached out and grabbed his shoulder.

"You're the one who called the Subtle Men on me, weren't you?"

"So what if I did?"

"Coward," I said.

"We have a duel to attend, unless you forgot." Pallor hung his head.

"Fine, soulstealer. Scum. Let's make this quick."