7 No Brooms Were Harmed In Their Making

Lionheart was sent into guard duty. Err... not quite but close enough. Avery gave the large fox his collar, two pats on the back, and a letter before she sent him to run errands for the Sweepers. And by "run errands" it meant be a hitman for the Sweepers. Sort of... Lionheart is a beast, not a man.

"Sweepers" is the nickname given to the members of the Aegis Sentinel Regiment. The Aegis Sentinel Regiment is one of the regiments under the Haven Lief Corps. This regiment is stationed just outside of Forest Valley Fort's protective barrier. The Sweepers are essentially the Fort's first line of defense.

Among the members of the Sweepers, the most abundant are those with Porcelain rank certifications. Next to them are Copper ranks that usually fill in as platoon leaders or company commanders.

Then there are those who have achieved a Silver rank certification who serve as commanders for the five battalions stationed outside. The current Aegis Sentinel Regiment Commander himself is an advanced Silver ranked powerhouse.

The Sweepers' main job is to keep external threats as external threats. Or kill them. Those external threats would naturally include wild beasts that come within twenty kilometers of the Fort.

The twenty kilometer radius of the outer circle might seem like a wide expanse of land but it's really not. In contrast to the area that Forest Valley Fort occupies, it's like comparing a newborn's pinky finger to a hardcore bodybuilder's thighs -- both thighs.

Forest Valley Fort housed a population of more than a few million adventurers and almost as many civilians. Safety of Forest Valley's millions of residents was one of the many reasons why Guild Master Ruth had decided to consign the Mage Association to cast a permanent barrier over the medium sized outpost.

Aside from protection against elementary Gold ranked threats, Forest Valley Fort's barrier naturally has multiple gates. If people couldn't move around as needed, what would be the point in calling the fort as the planet's frontier outpost? The Aegis Sentinels and the Aegis Defenders would take turns in protecting and managing those gates.

The barrier also regulates the sunlight that would enter the city as Eclipse is a planet that doesn't rotate on its own axis. One side of the planet experiences perpetual day and the other near complete darkness regardless of the time.

Within the dome, the light cycle was set to follow along with the intergalactic standard time. Because of this, in the past three years, it became a usual sight for those outside to see a large, dim lit area under the sun at certain times of the day.

Not including the outer perimeter that the Sweepers keept clear, the magic barrier is what separates the outpost city from the wilderness.

For the past few weeks, the Western perimeter saw an increase of wild beast attacks. Avery had been undecided whether to take Bolt to train in that area or not. With her two familiars causing trouble the day prior, it gave her an excuse to send Lionheart off to the front lines.

Avery didn't let Bolt follow the fox to the battlefield. Although Lionheart was a fellow who knew when pulling a few pranks were still forgivable and when it was time to really buckle down, it didn't mean that he was a good babysitter. Only a bit under two years old, Bolt was still too young and too willful to be separated from Avery over long periods of time.

Avery wasn't worried that something bad might happen to Lionheart while he was away. The outer perimeter was only frequented by Wood and Porcelain ranked wild beasts. Only on rare occasions would a few Copper ranked wild beasts appear. At worst, Lionheart might find the battles to be tiresome and a bit annoying.

As the oldest among her four familiars, Avery had full confidence that Lionheart wouldn't suffer any mishaps even if a group of elementary Silver ranked beasts showed up and surrounded her familiar.

Nevermind his battle prowess, as a Shadow Fox, Lionheart had the ability to take advantage of even the lightest shade or shadow. Shadow Foxes have the innate ability [Shadow Walk]. With that ability, Lionheart could jump in and tread within darkness as if he was a fish in water.

Moving around through the shadows was as easy as eating and breathing for Lionheart. Of course, there are drawbacks to this ability. The shadow would have to be big enough for him to jump into. And how far he could move around would have to depend on how far the unbroken shade would reach. A break in between shades would force him to jump out before jumping back into the shadows if he wanted to move further. Most importantly, there has to be a shadow that didn't belong to him.

The presence of the Aegis Sentinels is another thing to consider. It didn't matter that Lionheart was stronger than the Sweepers, they would never dare allow him to go off and face danger alone. If anything were to happen to Lionheart under their watch, they wouldn't know whether to laugh or cry.

Even if something untoward really were to happen to the large fox, Lionheart could always send his tamer an s.o.s. through their [Beast Link]. Once he does, Avery would immediately rush to his location and deal with the problem herself.

Chances of the last one happening was as slim as a gold ranked wild beast making an appearance. Eclipse was classified as a B-grade wilderness planet. Gold ranked wild beasts were its known overlords. Those overlords were incredibly territorial and would almost never leave their own turf without reason.

The territories of those Gold ranked wild beasts were too far away from where the Fort was established. Avery truly didn't have to worry about a random visit from those overlords.

As for Cobalt, Avery gave the mouse a special storage collar just before sending him on a reconnaissance mission.