Uncle Ben

In a way, Vincent discovered that the ten young men he just fought against were weak soldiers. Vincent felt he was lucky. As Koss said, new or veteran recruits become soldiers after gaining a lot of malicious intent resistance or a Blood Tempered Body.

"Half of you, go and call for backup now. Also, don't let the archers shoot arrows for now. The fight is too difficult to tell who the victor will be. " The vice captain ordered before announcing, "I, vice captain of the South Gate, will defend the gate."

Five soldiers ran towards the gate to deliver the order. It seemed strange for many to go at once, but they had to deliver the message to different divisions promptly.

The gate, or more precisely, the gate defense inner working wasn't as simple as it looked. Inside were the scouting division, archer division, artillery division, messenger division, and finally, the ground defense division.

However, the vice captain made an error in his judgment. Vincent was now free from the worries that a rain of arrows would arrive at a moment's notice.

Kazumi didn't need to pay attention to the archers and use Soul Visit to slow down time and help Vincent dodge incoming arrows.

"Thanks for making it easy for me." Vincent coldly said with a smirk, extruding more potent intent similar to how Koss did in their first spar to weaken his opponent.

The people responsible for scouting held a one-eye telescope at the South Gate. They announced what was happening, and a team leader would evaluate the information the scouts said.

The scout team leader then directed scout messengers to the messenger's division, where the high ranking officers commanded in a clear minded manner. It was similar to a strategy division where it could lead the soldiers at any time.

After sorting and deciding what information to send, multiple messengers would rush to inform the other divisions on what information the messenger division decided.

Wait, assist, attack, hold... well, many different types of orders, but currently, they were circulating the hold fire and wait for further instructions orders. This is why the secret name of the messager division was the strategic division.

Furthermore, the messenger division sent information to multiple people during the commotion. It happened before the vice captain decided to ask for reinforcements.

Some messengers sent messages when Tula was discovered. Others sent messages when Vincent showed the two identifications, a few sent messages when the fight started, and the soldiers requested aid.

An old man was fishing in a pond. The pond was human-made, and it was in the city. More accurately, it is a privately owned large property with a small villa in the middle of all the water, similar to a small island.

The old man was picking up a drink when a blue bird flew over. Its size was about the same as an owl. The bird gently landed on a thick branch stuck in a wide portable dirt pot next to the old man.

The old man took the message, and a frown appeared on his face. He took out a pen from a Bag Of Holding, wrote something, gave the large bird a treat, and then signaled it to leave bearing his message with urgent haste.

Another old man received a message that Tula returned. She was with two other women and a man. As he finished collecting and calling soldiers, a new message arrived.

It stated that an unknown man was currently engaged in combat against the South Gate's vice captain. The message reported that the unidentified man possessed strange and never before seen powers.

The old man showed the message to the others beside him and told them to hurry. Then, the old man quickly left for the stables to get his horse, hoping to be quicker than on foot.

Vincent and the vice captain were locked in a stalemate since Vincent didn't want to injure a high ranked soldier of the Lusterfall Kingdom.

Vincent was fighting with this handicap while his Overheat timer decreased. It was a horrible dilemma. He parried blows and quickly got used to the same repeating moves the vice captain made.

'Did I become strong? or is this vice captain weaker than Koss?' Vincent thought when he had the chance.

[Hey Vincent. Should we leave? I don't think we will ever get inside the city without getting imprisoned at this rate.]

-...-

-I understand. Then let's leave and try another entrance.-

"Prepare to leave!" Vincent announced before he clenched his fist and tried using mana rejection to increase his next strike's power.

"Let's leave." Ester helped the frightened Tula to stand up.

"I want to help Vincent leave." Lupa felt bad watching Vincent fight alone. She felt more useless after receiving the order to escape without helping Vincent.

"Don't you know how humans hunt a pack of wolves in large groups? That many people and more are about to exit from the gate. Let's hurry and leave. " Ester grabbed Lupa's hand, intending to pull the hardheaded wolf girl away from this predicament.

However, the plan to escape was too late. The intimidating iron door opened. Three vice captains wearing a blue cape followed by a few dozen soldiers appeared marching quickly out from the gate.

After the newly appeared soldiers saw the commotion ahead of them, they started running at full speed, intending to quickly arrive at Vincent's location.

The soldiers were a bit winded from all the running they made to arrive. However, only a bit more distance was required, so they rushed as quickly as possible with the three blue-caped vice captains in the front.

"You can't escape now, hehe." The black-caped vice captain triumphantly chuckled while trying to land a hit on Vincent secretly. He wanted to personally capture the four and try to get achievement out of it. The greed to become noticed by a noble blinded him.

-Kazumi, do your thing!-

As Vincent ordered, Kazumi used Soul Visit and then kicked Vincent immediately out of his Soul Domain. Such a short duration didn't drain Kazumi's mana reserves that much.

Vincent used the time slow opportunity to swing his leg at the vice captain's knee, knocking the soldier on the ground. The kick to the back of the knee was so sudden that the vice captain could do nothing but fall. It was a critical hit as he couldn't feel his leg from numbness.

Vincent took the opportunity of the fallen soldier to run next to the cart quickly and say, "Hurry, let's leave now while the arrows should be on hold and the five soldiers are helping the vice captain stand up."

"Stop! Don't go! Tula, are you there?" A man riding a horse shouted from the top of his lungs while pushing the horse to run faster.

The fourth vice captain wearing a blue cape appeared. It seemed he didn't want Tula to leave.

[How famous was adult Tula? Many people seem to know her, and now, a vice captain is specifically looking for her. Not only that, but this one is on a horse! We can't escape without a good fight.]

-But... why is he smiling?-

Vincent and Kazumi couldn't feel a speck of hostility from the approaching vice captain. On his face was an enthusiastic smile, and a small tear glistened under the sun. Something was strange.

Tula was trembling, but when a familiar voice reached her ears, she curiously poked her head from behind the flipped cart and noticed an older but familiar face.

"Uncle Ben!" Happily shouted Tula.

Ben rode a horse to arrive faster than his friends. He donned an armor similar to what Koss and Kass wore but without a helmet. A blue cape was fluttering in the wind behind his back, and based on the wrinkles on his face; Ben seemed to be as old as Koss.

Ben urged the horse to stop next to the five soldiers and black-caped vice captain. He jumped from the horse, forced the leash on one of the soldiers, and then tried to understand why the people with Tula started a commotion.

Why was Tula hiding behind a red headed petite looking female instead of the other way around? In the past few years of Tula being a soldier, Ben considered her as a good classless soldier.

"Uncle Ben!" Tula ran forward, ignoring Ester's wish to stay and the soldiers trying to detain her. As if the world revolved around her, the young-minded Tula hugged Ben without any care in the world. She was happy, and it was all that mattered.

Ben didn't mind the hug at first. He simply thought the hug was for show since Tula wasn't a hugger in her adult personality.

Ben thought Tula wanted him to bully the recently promoted black-caped vice captain for giving her trouble. But Ben was wrong, and he soon noticed Tula acting strange while keeping her hug locked tight.

Tula behaved like a child, unlike her usual self. As the person that was a childhood friend of her father and saw Tula grow, Ben's instinct arose terrible assumptions. He needed some time to process and understand if it was an act or something was wrong with Tula.

"Is something wrong, Tula? Where are your father, uncle, and uncle's fiancee? Are you... are you going to cry?" As Ben asked multiple questions, he could hear Tula sniff as if she was about to cry and felt her face rubbing on his armor.

[I think we are safe now. The black-caped vice captain is acting differently now that Ben has arrived. He doesn't look as arrogant as before.]

Vincent decided to take the risk and deactivated Overheat.

.

[Overheat deactivated.]

[Host Race returning to human.]

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Vincent turned his head and nodded at Ester and Lupa. The signal meant for them to trust Vincent and the plan he and Kazumi were secretly plotting together, if they had one, that is.

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[1x Wood wheel cart (Damaged) (Common Quality) gained.]

[5x Arrows (Common Quality) gained.]

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As Vincent stored the cart and the arrows stuck in it, Ben stared with a curious gaze at the glowing green cart dematerializing into data mana particles. It was his first time witnessing such a mysterious sight.

'What a strange Bag Of Holding this man has. The object lights green and then enters his palm. The bag might be hiding in his bandages.' Ben thought it was a smart move to hide a precious storage bag underneath bandages.

"What exactly happened here? All I know is that Tula returned, and then a fight started." Ben asked the black-caped vice captain with an angry expression.

"And you three. What happened here? Did you torture Tula for her to act this strange? How can a strong and hardheaded woman... Ahem, I mean, hard-willed soldier cry?" Ben glared at Vincent, Ester, and Lupa. But it was more like a parent protecting their child than anger.