Overall situation

Naturally the captain himself wouldn't come down but sent a lackey to check up on his tower badge.

The badge of the Octarine tower depicted five crystal pillars standing side by side, pointing to the sky.

Since he belonged to the Crimson tower it was put in the center and the only one colored the others were not, and since he was an apprentice the background was yellow.

As he moved up in rankings the colors would change to blue and then to the Crimson if he advanced again, if he were to become a Master mage then they wouldn't change the color.

They would have to add another pillar to the badge.

The five pillars represented the five Master mages of the Octarine tower, each one of them was the pinnacle of knowledge and power in all the land.

Each of the current Masters was older than three hundred years! Older than some kingdoms entirely.

"He's telling the truth!"

The soldier shouted to the captain on the ramparts.

"… let him in, open the gates!"

The captain sounded reluctant and Esdras heard some snickers from the soldiers above.

'The moral seems pretty high, not very tense at all.'

This something that played well into his prediction regarding the current situation. So his guess about the intentions of the higher-ups should not be wrong either.

Esdras walked in through the gate and found a middle aged man waiting for him with a forced smile.

"Hahah, lord mage, please forgive me for my earlier transgression… please let me guid you to your quarters. I shall have the slaves prepare a bath and the servants to cook a hot meal for you at once."

Esdras had a cold expression as he walked in front and the captain two steps back.

"Did any of the teams get here before me?" Esdras asked.

"Eh, oh yes, two days ago three apprentices came over claiming they were the first to clear all the monsters in their designated area."

Esdras smirked.

"Oh, that's good. Also about what happened earlier, it's not a big deal, rather I would be disappointed if you allowed any random guy passage. You were doing your duty, captain, what's your name?"

The captain looked pleasantly surprised and even taken aback as he expected to at least get reprimanded, this is why he walked away with Esdras, so his subordinates wouldn't see that.

"I… Thank you for the kind words, lord mage. I am just following orders, my duty is my first priority… thank you for your understanding… they call me Rolf."

"Rolf, good man. I am Esdras, and there's no need to be formal with me. You must have a smithy here, yes? Can you get me a weapon suitable for a Vigor knight?"

"Oh? Eh, yes?" Rolf looked confused but then his expression reverted to normal, "I will, I will definitely do that for you."

"Good, I'm counting on you. We're on short notice, am I right?"

Rolf eyes widened, "I can't say anything but… if you figured out this much then…" with that he just nodded his head.

Good, with this he confirmed that they were going to be sent out again to clear the monsters in the forest. At that time he was going to have a very good chance to deal with the troublemakers.

After taking a long relaxing bath and scrubbing himself with soap until he glistened, he finally got rid of that awful smell. Next, he ate a hearty lunch of roasted duck and mashed potatoes.

Esdras figured out that they would be sent again to the forest because he saw that other monsters, like the goblins took over the place of the kobolds.

And when he saw that the fort was not under any immediate threat he suspected that the reinforcements they needed was basically keeping the monsters in the supply route suppressed.

Also he remembered that conversation with the two unfortunate soldiers, this place was so peaceful that three villages could survive here normally, so what happened?

There was a reason why the forest changed and monsters appeared in endless numbers, it was a guess for now but Esdras suspected that it had something do with the dungeon.

So piecing these clues together he figured out what was required of them.

In fact, he suspected that senior Ron figured it out before them and sent them ahead of even learning the situation of the fort himself, just by observing the situation in the forest.

The reason why he told them to come back in four days was because he wasn't sure yet at the time.

What Bran and the others didn't realize what that he ordered them to keep quelling the monsters for four days not to exterminate the monsters and get back, and it certainly wasn't some kind of race.

Which is why Esdras was now reporting to senior Ron in a luxurious room in the fort.

"You seem to have changed a bit, apprentice Varthos." Senior Ron stated.

Esdras's family name in this world was Varthos.

"Yes, I saw some meager success in vigor training." Esdras respectfully replied.

The changes were too obvious, it was hard to hide growing from 1.5 m to 1.7 m in a matter of days, and his scrawny figure turned broad and muscular.

"A lowly path," Ron sneered, in clear disdain but not for Esdras in particular but vigor knights in general, "no matter, I received word of your death, interestingly enough you seem to be doing very well instead."

"I fear the rumors of my death may have been exaggerated, senior. I also heard that they claimed to have cleared the monsters in the area? Please have a look at this."

Esdras handed senior Ron a goblin ear, freshly cut yesterday.

"I could understand why they would think I was dead but…" Esdras had a truly confused look on his face, "Why would they claim to have killed all the monsters?"

Senior Ron's hand that held the goblin ear clenched.

"Let them in."

He ordered, and the door behind him open, three confused looking-kids entered.