Abandoned fortress

The convoy advanced and crossed the fortress, the stationed soldiers looked curiously at the carriages passing by and Atlas at the same time observed the interior of the fortress.

From what he could sense, there were only a couple of mages near him. He didn't know if there were any more inside, but he guessed that there shouldn't be too many mages stationed in the fortress.

It had already been 10 years since the empire cut off communication and during that time, the Kingdom saw it unnecessary to establish so many forces stationed on the border.

Clearly, they still maintained a minimum requirement, but overall, there weren't many soldiers there.

As Atlas was in the front carriages, he was one of the first to enter the fortress and shortly after the first to cross it and pass the drawbridge to cross the river.

At that time, Atlas had now left the Elherud kingdom and entered the Skalhan empire.

The convoy continued as Atlas looked around. Now that they were much closer to the fortress in the middle of the field, Atlas could clearly tell that there were no soldiers looking over the wall.

'Is abandoned'

The normal thing to do when seeing a convoy of such size would be to send an emissary, but even after 30 minutes after the convoy had crossed the border, no empire soldier revealed themselves to them.

Not only that, but from what he had heard in the short time he spent crossing the kingdom's fortress, the empire's fortress had been abandoned for exactly 10 years.

At least half an hour later, they reached the entrance of the fortress. The doors were wide open, but no one was waiting for them. The convoy stopped outside the fortress and at that moment Atlas felt how his badge that indicated his membership in his clan resonated with his mana.

The plate not only displayed his rank, but also functioned as a communication device. Although it was quite simple and he only sent a mana signal.

Atlas got out of the carriage where he was riding and approached the carriage that was in front, there, the mages began to gather.

Basgran was at the front with the elf next to him as always with some other mages who Atlas assumed were the first ranks of the clan, he even saw Fauser, the man who was in charge of the clan's trials several weeks ago and even saw Mika next to the woman from the other day that he found them after defeating the cyclops.

When the majority had gathered, Basgran looked at everyone and said calmly: "Half of us will enter the fortress to check if it is safe"

The next thing Atlas knew after Basgran's statement, he was walking down one of the fortress's hallways.

Beside him, Mika looked around curiously while in front of them were two mages, one human and one elf, and behind them the woman who was with Mika.

According to what Atlas had heard, the woman's name was Veronica and she had a fairly high rank in the clan, although he did not know what rank exactly, while Mika had revealed her own rank, being the member with rank 22.

The five of them had ended up going in the same group to explore one part of the fortress while other groups explored other parts.

"It smells like dust" Mika said, scratching her nose lightly.

"It hasn't been cleaned in 10 years, that's normal" Atlas explained, looking out the window at the training field.

The two mages in front of them stood with their guard up while Veronica remained silent with the spear still on her back.

"I can't sense any beasts either, just some insects in the corners" Mika complained again.

Atlas remained silent contemplating his own thoughts.

'What happened in this place to make everyone disappear?'

There was no trace of absolutely anyone.

According to the information they had received, the disappearance of all the soldiers stationed inside the fortress happened overnight.

When the soldiers of the kingdom realized that something strange was happening, they entered the fortress only to not encounter a single soul. But except for all the people, all the horses, weapons and food were intact.

Of course, that was 10 years ago, so everything had been collected and taken to the kingdom's fortress.

"They said the only thing they saw was hundreds of footprints going deeper into the empire" Mika said, reviewing what Basgran had told them before.

"And although they sent explorers, they never returned" Atlas completed the rest.

The group continued exploring the fortress, but even after an hour they couldn't find anything so they decided to return.

The other groups had not found anything dangerous either, so the clan decided to spend the night inside the fortress.

They took advantage of the amenities inside the fortress to take a break from the convoy, so that night they decided to prepare more food than usual using the fortress's facilities.

"It does not scare you?" Faun asked as she took a spoonful of soup.

Atlas took his own bite and swallowed before speaking.

"Fear? Not much… it just makes me curious. Why did they all disappear overnight? Why has there been no communication in the last 10 years?"

Adoh, who was eating some vegetables prepared by Faun, looked around at all the other clan members who were eating in their own groups.

"Few seem to care about these strange disappearances"

"That's right! It's like everyone is used to seeing strange things" Faun responded and immediately continued eating.

Atlas also looked around.

'It's true that everyone seems very used to it... I'll ask Mika later about the clan's previous destinies'

Atlas focused on his food again and finished eating peacefully with Faun and Adoh.