Reincarnated as the Only Human

Silently making our way around the wall and towards the mountain, we made sure to keep an eye on the drowsy guards lest they somehow spot us and alert everyone else, though the worries we had were unfounded when we eventually found one of the many entrances to the mountain.

A small, hidden entrance to the cave system was exactly where the map said it would be, and although I prided myself on being a deceptively built warrior with most of my strength ’hiding’ in my compact muscle, this was quite the squeeze.

Though I imagine the gear we had didn’t really ’help’ that much either in this scenario, so I was definitely placing everything on that and promising that there was no way the issue was me, even if I knew and this damnable tunnel knew that. 1

Being sufficiently humbled by a not Deerkin friendly tunnel and emerging into the tunnel system itself made me take a moment to pause and just collect myself, and seeing that my daughter was just as miffed as I was made me feel better.

Pulling the map back out and looking at the routes crudely copied down onto the paper, I oriented myself and beckoned for Aethisia to follow as I began to creep down the dark tunnel, welcoming the lack of light like an old friend.

I rather enjoyed being wrapped up in darkness like this, be it in these claustrophobic tunnels or out in the wide open forest, and in situations like this I really liked it since it made my job all the easier~!

I also was really enjoying the fact that there was little to no noise at all coming from either of us as we walked through like ghosts, meaning that my white haired idiot had really mastered one of the skills I had drilled into that thick skull of hers...

Our destination was a little further, but long strides and understanding which route was the quickest had us there in what felt like no time at all; we heard them before we saw them, and to a degree we also smelt them before we saw who was responsible for the orange glow in the tunnels.

The indistinct chatter of a few people filtered through the tunnels followed by the acrid scent of woodsmoke that lingered in the depths, meaning we were well within range of these mercenaries already... which was definitely ahead of schedule.

I couldn’t see the sky so I couldn’t be completely accurate with this but I was sure the sun hadn’t risen yet, so the fact that they were chatting meant they were either on guard in the tunnels or they were just waking up now, both of which were a little troublesome.

The winding path leading towards the entrances within the town itself was laden with chunks of rock littering the ground, making the silent walk there a little harder and requiring far more focus than I would have liked, but it being a winding path was also beneficial.

With the orange glow getting brighter slowly but surely, I was able to gauge just how far we were to them and adjust our pace accordingly, with our emergence into the main cave carved out of the mountain not that far from the town being an eventless one.

A nice sized clearing that once acted as a hub for the miners was now filled with cages, with some of the tunnels being turned into prisons to hold the citizens while the captors just roamed freely, patrolling around to keep watching over their captives.

The tunnel we were in was a long winding one, so the transformation into a prison wasn’t utilized thanks to the various offshoots that would have needed to be guarded; as such, we were able to creep up to the edge and peek out into the clearing, where we got to see the - presumably - main group of mercenaries sitting around a bonfire in the center.

Immediately my eyes fell on the large, ripped, white haired Leopardkin that was lounging on a makeshift throne, one half of her face marred by a severe burn while the other was covered with murky red paint that mimicked the spots from the apex predator her race took its name from.

Thick plates of metal were ’haphazardly’ dangling from her body, giving her the look of some idiotic bandit while also coincidentally protecting every single important spot of her body with no weak points immediately visible, in either her or the armor.

A gigantic axe leaned against her throne, the jagged blade reddened with blood and definitely nowhere near as ’improvised’ as her armor; the metal itself was far too fine and high quality for a bandit to have access to, let alone for something that large.

It’s blade alone was nearly the size of my torso, while the haft was as tall as I was and almost as thick as my forearm; that was a WEAPON, and that made me far more wary since there was no way that was just a prop.

To wield something that big... the Leopardkin had to be seriously strong, and she definitely wasn’t just a beefcake; if she wasn’t the leader, then the woman lounging just opposite her was, and that was another reason to take this even more seriously. 1

Where the Leopardkin was all strength this woman seemed to be all speed, her lithe frame loosely covered by leather strips that barely gave her a sense of decency, let alone protection; her breasts were squished against her chest by the leather, and a pleated skirt of leather strips was the most ’civilized’ part of her outfit, though even then it barely covered anything.

The most telling part of her though was the lack of scarring on her body, meaning she was either a coward or she was just that fast... and if she was that fast... and the Leopardkin was that strong...

What the hell had the Duchess sent just us here for... or did she not know about them..?

Though, as I just stared at them from the shadows I was relieved to notice immediately that the rest of the mercenaries were just... the usual; geared with some decent things but overall rather unimpressive and definitely too sloppy to make it in the military.