Chapter 85 - Forward, Always

"... The only path is forward."

Once again, Drake shook. Such a simple sentence, but it impacted his entire being. You couldn't go back in time, all you could do was make amends. He had the feeling rangers understood this better than anyone. It was because they had failed before that they now pressed forward unrellently.

Determination flashed across his eyes, and Drake nodded to Satre. She smirked, the solenety from before replaced by... Pride? He didn't have time to confirm that before the ranger made him chug down his beer. Starting now, Drake had a feeling he was already a ranger. Maybe not oficially, but he knew Satre had been testing him before, and that he had passed the test.

"All right. Okay... Yeah, Satre, I need something stronger than this sh*t."

"Same. It's not easy talking with you newbies. But it's worth it. Bar's downstairs, let's go."

The ranger nodded cheerfully at him, and Drake could only follow her. He still hadn't gotten past the somber mood, but the conversation had cleared his mind of a lot of doubts, and helped steel his resolve. Since he had already decided to walk this path, there was no need to think too much about it.

Soon enough, the two of them found themselves sitting at a table, and drinking something a lot stronger than lukewarm beer. However, while Drake could already feel the alcohol taking effect after a mere two glasses, Satre was downing hers one after another, as if it was water. Still, she didn't show even a hint of drunkness. Drake thought this was unfair.

"Are all rangers impervious, or just you?"

"Cough! Cough! You little bastard, you almost made me choke!"

Satre snorted, and Drake had to give her a few taps in the back before she could breath normally again. Her face flushed red, she cursed at him. He grinned cheeckily.

"Take it as payback for the times you called me a kid."

"Petty!"

Both of them laughed and bantered, and Drake felt his heavy mindset fading away. He had known Satre for less than a day, and yet, it felt like they had been friends for years. He hadn't felt this carefree in months. It was only a long, long time later that he figured why. From this very moment, Satre had already begun treating him like a ranger. Like family.

"Oh, right, Satre! You were going to tell me about the Rangers of the Confederation, weren't you? I want to know what the hell I've signed up to."

"Uhmm... How can I say it? You basically joined a group of troublemakers. Yep! That pretty muuch covers it."

"Imma gonna need more than that."

Drake sighed, exasperated, at the ranger in front of him. Satre, on the other hand, chuckled, dragging out the moment as much as possible to annoy him. Finally, after he showed her a certain finger, she reclined back on her chair, a slightly more serious expression on her face.

"Well, I'm not kidding when I say we are troublemakers. But, first of all, let me let you into a little something. It's not exactly a secret, but not many know about it."

That got Drake's interest, and he stopped patting Kniivar to focus more on the conversation. Absently-minded, Satre took a sip of her drink.

"The Rangers of the Confederation... Are not actually a thing."

"What?"

"Uhum. The rangers... We are an unnoficial organization. Always has been, but after so many years, not many know or remember that."

"Elaborate, please."

Now, Drake was feeling more confused than when they started. Luckily for him, this seemed to be a topic Satre liked to talk about, because her eyes were shining as she looked at him.

"A long time ago, and I mean a really long-a*s time, like thousands of years, a group of like-minded individuals got together. I'm not too sure on the hows or whys of it, but what I do know is that they were the first rangers, although they weren't called that at the time."

Smilling, she filled hers and Drake's cups again.

"To be completely honest, we should probably call them vigilantes. A bunch of people who were tired of the endless conflicts and the incompetence of the nobles and rulers of that period, and decided to take matters on their own hands. And they were very sucesseful at it."

"I bet they caused a lot of trouble."

"Sure did. And we still do, hehe... The group persisted, and somewhere along the way, they gained the name 'rangers'. That was several hundred years after the foundation of it. But as you can imagine, many people, from incompetent officers to unscrupulous merchants and corrupt nobles didn't see us in a good light. Maybe that's why we weren't recognized as a law enforcement group at the time."

Drake nodded slowly. Be it Anderson, the boss of the Association of Riverplate, or Major Erinster, and even that general whose's wrist he broke, none of them liked rangers. And, bad as they may be, they are - were - all people with considerable power. For those even more powerful than them, it would be easy to make the rangers appear as criminals, whatsoever stop them from becoming an official organization.

"But the rangers had the support of the masses. The rich and powerful may hate us, but when we saved a city from a stampede of wild Iferes, or destroyed opressing gangs, they couldn't argue with us. As time went by and the rangers got bigger and more renowned, common folk started treating us like some kind of... Special cops. Then, even our enemies forgot we have zero legal rights to do what we do. And now we are here."

Sure, Satre may have skipped a few details - and a couple thousand years of intense conflicts when rangers were considered no better than the criminals they hunted. However, Drake got the gist of it, and he couldn't help but laugh. In school he had been taught that the rangers were one of the most powerful law enforcement groups in the world, but now it turns out that they were, at least legally, just a bunch of thugs. Goes to show how powerful misinformation can be.

"That's not that important, though. Official or not, nothing changes for us. If we see something we don't like, we make it right. Rangers don't act based on any regulations or rules, apart from those we set for ourselves. Besides..."

"Uhmm? Besides what?"

"Besides, we can't be a law enforcement organization when many of us are criminals, right? Those two don't exactly go along well."

"What? Criminals?"

Drake was utterly stunned now. He could understand what Satre had told him before, but as to rangers being criminals... He couldn't help but scrutinize her face, thinking that she was cracking a joke. Didn't seem like it.

The ranger gave him a rueful grin, but instead of directly explaining, she fished out something from her pocket. It was the crown-shaped badge Drake had seen Higler use, with the now familiar words 'Confederation Ranger' carved on the center. The twelve miniscule gemstones which adorned the crown shone in the bar's light.

"Rangers piss off a lot of important people, I'm sure you've noticed that. From what I've seem, you also got a talent for it, hahaha... But sometimes we piss them off a little too much. See?"

Drake did. He hadn't noticed it at first, but he now discovered that two of the sockets of the stones were empty. Now, he was starting to understand what Satre meant. Considering their different but emblematic colors, he assumed each one represented one of the twelve kingdoms. If so...

"Mare Kingdom and Zellous Kingdom?"

"Yep."

"But... How could rangers be criminals? Isn't that... Illogical?"

"Not when you think about it. We live in a cruel world, Drake. You discovered that by yourself already. Here, the strong bully the weak, and they can do nothing about it. Sure, we have laws, but how much good do they actually do? Between a commoner and a noble, even when it's clear who is in the wrong, the noble will always come out on top. That's just how it is."

"... It shouldn't be like this. F*ck."

Hearing him, the ranger laughed grimly, and shook her head. She knew Drake was just venting, as there was no way he was this naive.

"It truly shouldn't. But it is. Still, that's why we must exist. Rangers aren't heroes, and we are too few to help everyone, but we do have one overwhelming advantage over other groups."

"Which is?"

"We do not give a f*ck."

There was a proud smirk on her face as she uttered that sentence. It was oozing arrogance, but deserving of it. Most importantly, Drake agreed.

He had long discovered that rangers didn't care about who their enemies were. They wouldn't make way for a noble just because of his title. In fact, if Satre and Higler were any indication, the more some higher-up tried to throw their weight around, the more likely they were to get beaten up by a ranger. At the moment, Drake remembered the general whose wrist he had broken.

Thinking of that, he couldn't help but smile. In the twelve kingdoms, probably only rangers were crazy enough to do what he did. It seemed like it was truly his destiny to join their ranks.

"What did you do to become a wanted criminal? If you don't mind sharing."

"Of course! Don't be so overly courteous, kid! You are one of us now! As for what I did... I killed a Duke's son in Mare. He r*ped several young ladies, and then killed them to hide his wrongdoings. I couldn't gather evidence on it, so his father pushed for my arrest. By that time, however, I was long gone! Hahaha!"

"And Zellous Kingdom?"

Mare Kingdom had Unda, the Mystic Ifere of Water as their main deity. Zellous Kingdom, on the other hand, worshipped mainly Aes, Mystic Ifere of Metal. Both kingdoms were fierce competitors, much like Menoraz Kingdom and Lapidum Kingdom, so Drake found it somewhat intriguing that Satre managed to become an outlaw in both of them.

"Zellous was a little more... Complicated. It involved many rangers, not only me. Due to the circumstances, we were forced to raise our hand against Zellous Army, and killed several of their soldiers and many officers."

She didn't elaborate on what happened, and Drake knew better than to ask. He was sure that for her, killing soldiers whose only fault was serving their country was a lot worse than killing a noble's son.

Not only that, he had also noticed how she touched her ear as she talked. The missing top of the ear gave her a valiant appearance, but it couldn't have been lost in pleasant circumstances.

"How many rangers are there in the Confederation?"

"As of now? Two thousand six hundred and twenty-three. I'm not counting you in just yet since you are missing the oath and the badge."

"Less than three thousand?!"

It was no wonder Drake was surprised at the small number. It had to be known that the twelve kingdoms were massive, with a population of well over ten billion. And yet, the rangers were able to rely on the insignificant number of two thousand something to become living legends.

"Err... This is already pretty high in comparison with the average number of rangers of the last few centuries."

"Still... Isn't that too few?"

"Certainly. However, what can we do? Not everyone has the skills and guts needed to be one of us. And those who do are usually criminals. Not criminals like me, but true scum. Also, you have to remember that rangers are never alone."

Saying that, she patted Selyes, who purred affectionately. Instinctively, Drake reached for his two companions.

"Living every day on a knife's edge tends to create powerful bonds, Drake. I don't think I know any ranger with less than two companions."

"Oh? Both you and Ben only had one with you. What about the others?"

"I dunno about Higler's, but my other friend is at headquarters, resting. We had a pretty rough time chasing a gang back in Lapidum before this war broke out. I would have left Selyes there too, but she insisted on coming."

"Where's the headquarters?"

Hearing his question, Satre smiled ruefully, and didn't answer immediately. This wasn't because she didn't trust him with the information, but because she was trying very hard not to laugh out loud. Newbies were always fun to guide.

"Now, that's a surprise I don't want to ruin. Seeing HQ for the first time is a once in a lifetime experience."

"Okay?"

"Don't be like that. All righty, any more questions?"

Drake stared at her with a deadpan expression. Them, he gestured for a nearby waiter to bring another bottle.

"Yeah. Just a couple hundred."

// AUTHOR'S NOTE //

I am so terribly sorry for the delay, everyone. Those last two weeks have been rough. My grandma came down with a severe case of pneumonia, and I spent pretty much the entire time with her, at the hospital. As you can imagine, it was hard to concentrate on writing.

Thankfully, she is better now, and already at home with us. It was huge scare, though.

That said, please enjoy the chapter! Next one will come out the day after tomorrow!