Chapter 36
The fortress gates opened only after the captain gave three separate orders.
The first order brought the wounded soldiers inside.
The second sent scouts into the valley after the retreating redcaps.
The third allowed Mai, Okama, Miss Aiko, and Puss to enter.
Even then, the guards watched them closely.
Mai could not blame them. Their clothes were covered in dirt and ash, their crests glowed faintly beneath their clothing, and the title Unregistered Class still flickered occasionally at the edge of her vision.
They looked suspicious.
They probably were suspicious.
The captain led them through the western gate into a crowded courtyard. Soldiers rushed in every direction, carrying wounded comrades toward a stone building marked with a blue cross. Civilians huddled beneath covered walkways. Mages repaired damaged sections of the wall while others extinguished fires with sweeping bursts of water.
The town had survived, but barely.
“Where are we?” Miss Aiko asked.
“Fortified town of Cindervale,” the captain replied. “Western border of the Eastern Lands.”
Mai looked toward the burning valley behind them.
“And the redcaps?”
“Retreating for now. They’ll regroup.”
“Then they’ll attack again,” Okama said.
The captain gave him a sharp look. “You sound certain.”
“They tested the walls, crossed the river, and pushed hardest where the barrier was weakest. That wasn’t a random raid.”
The captain’s expression hardened.
“No,” he said. “It wasn’t.”
He led them toward a command building at the centre of the fortress. The structure had once been a small keep, but new walls and wooden extensions had been built around it. Maps covered the outer corridors. Officers moved between rooms carrying reports and messages.
Mai tried not to stare.
After the forest, the fortress felt impossibly busy. There were people everywhere. More voices than she could follow. More lights, more weapons, more movement.
It reminded her of the Academy before the attack.
That thought made her chest tighten.
Okama noticed.
“You all right?” he asked quietly.
Mai looked at him.
The question was gentle this time.
“Yes,” she said.
He raised an eyebrow.
She sighed. “I’m not falling apart.”
“That wasn’t what I asked.”
Mai looked away.
The truth was that the fortress made her feel like she had stepped into another version of the Academy. A place where people were supposed to be protected by walls, wards, teachers, and rules.
But the Academy had fallen apart.
Nothing felt safe anymore.
“I’m remembering school,” she admitted.
Okama’s expression softened.
“Me too.”
For a moment, neither of them spoke.
Then Puss stepped between them.
“You’re doing that thing again.”
Mai blinked. “What thing?”
“Walking too close and pretending you aren’t.”
“We are walking through a crowded fortress.”
“There’s enough room for an entire wyvern between you.”
Okama looked down at the catgirl. “Why are you paying attention?”
“Because you’re both obvious.”
Mai’s face warmed.
Miss Aiko, walking ahead of them, spoke without turning around.
“Puss, if you continue commenting on their relationship, I will assign you extra history lessons.”
Puss froze.
“You wouldn’t.”
“I’m a teacher. I absolutely would.”
Puss immediately moved several steps ahead.
Mai tried not to smile.
The captain glanced back at them.
“You have an unusual group.”
“That has been established,” Okama replied.
They entered the command room.
A large table filled most of the space. Maps of the surrounding region had been spread across it, weighted down by metal markers. Red stones represented enemy positions. Blue markers showed Cindervale’s forces. Several black pieces marked unknown groups.
The captain placed both hands on the table.
“I’m Captain Renald. This is my command staff.”
An older woman with short grey hair stood near the far side of the map. Her uniform was dark blue, and a silver crest-shaped insignia rested over her heart.
She studied the four newcomers.
“I saw the barrier,” she said. “Your group created it?”
Mai hesitated.
“It was a group skill,” she said. “We think.”
The woman’s eyes narrowed. “You think?”
“We don’t understand it yet,” Miss Aiko answered. “The skill appeared after the pre-awakening event and activated when our crests resonated.”
The command staff exchanged uneasy looks.
Renald pulled out a chair.
“Sit. All of you.”
Puss looked at the chair suspiciously before sitting.
Mai and Okama took places beside one another. Miss Aiko remained standing until Renald gestured toward another chair.
The grey-haired woman leaned over the map.
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“I am Commander Elira. Cindervale has been attacked three times in the last month. Each attack involved redcap forces, but today was different. Their numbers were greater, and their coordination was better.”
“The Blood Crown,” Okama said.
Elira’s eyes sharpened.
“You know that name?”
“We saw their banner in the forest. We also fought a redcap warband earlier.”
Okama briefly explained what they had learned from the captured redcap: the warlord gathering tribes in the western cliffs, the black crown, and the larger creature seen behind the camp.
Elira listened without interrupting.
When he finished, she looked at the map.
“Then the attacks are connected.”
Mai leaned forward. “What is the Blood Crown trying to do?”
“Expand,” Elira said. “The redcap tribes have always fought among themselves, but someone has united them. The Blood Crown has taken control of several settlements and forced others to provide soldiers.”
“Why attack towns?” Miss Aiko asked.
“To seize resources. Food. Weapons. Mana crystals. People.”
Mai’s hands tightened on the table.
“People?”
Elira nodded grimly. “The redcaps have been taking prisoners. Some are used for labour. Others are traded to outside groups.”
Puss’s tail lashed.
“The collector,” she said.
Everyone looked at her.
She folded her arms. “The masked group we told you about. They collect awakened people. They may be working with the redcaps.”
Elira’s face became serious.
“Explain.”
Miss Aiko did.
She described the collector, the black crest, the metal disc, and the attempt to connect to their crests. When she mentioned foreign system interference, several officers exchanged worried glances.
Elira stared at the four students.
“How many groups like that have you encountered?”
“Only one,” Miss Aiko replied.
“That you know of.”
“No,” Okama said. “But the collector found us quickly. He either had information about our location or some method of tracking awakened individuals.”
Elira touched the silver insignia over her heart.
“Since the Red Dawn, every major power has been trying to identify unusual crests. Some want to recruit them. Some want to study them. Others want to eliminate potential threats before they grow.”
Mai felt cold.
“Then why let us inside?”
Elira gave her a tired look.
“Because you saved hundreds of civilians and prevented the western quarter from collapsing.”
“That doesn’t mean you trust us.”
“No.”
The answer was so direct that Mai did not know how to respond.
Elira continued.
“But trust is not required for cooperation. The redcaps are an immediate threat. The collector may become one. If you are connected to both, I need to know why.”
“We don’t know,” Mai said.
“I believe you.”
Okama looked at her sharply.
Elira noticed.
“I’ve been a commander for twenty years,” she said. “People who lie usually explain too much. People who are hiding something choose their words carefully. You four look mostly confused.”
Puss raised a hand.
“I am extremely confused.”
“That supports my assessment.”
The door opened.
A young soldier entered carrying a sealed scroll.
“Commander, the scouts have returned.”
Elira broke the seal and read quickly.
Her expression darkened.
“What happened?” Renald asked.
“The redcaps withdrew toward the eastern ravine. They left behind several prisoners and damaged wagons.”
“How many prisoners?”
“Twenty-three. Mostly civilians. A few soldiers.”
Mai stood immediately.
“Where are they?”
Elira looked at her.
“In the lower holding yard.”
“Then we should help them.”
Okama stood as well.
“We can examine their injuries and ask what they saw.”
Elira studied them.
“You have been fighting for hours.”
“So have your soldiers,” Mai replied.
The commander’s expression shifted slightly.
Then she nodded.
“Take a healer with you. Do not interrogate anyone. These people may be traumatized.”
“We understand,” Miss Aiko said.
Puss raised her hand again.
“Will there be food after?”
Renald looked at her as if he had only just noticed she existed.
“Does she always do that?”
“Yes,” Mai, Okama, and Miss Aiko answered together.
The lower holding yard was beneath the western barracks. It had originally been used for storage, but the fortress had converted it into a temporary medical area. The prisoners sat or lay beneath blankets while healers moved between them.
Some were goblins.
Others were humans.
One elderly dwarf had a bandaged leg. A young woman clutched a child against her chest. Two soldiers sat with their backs against the wall, their armour torn and faces pale.
Mai felt her throat tighten.
These people looked like the refugees they had helped earlier.
Only more exhausted.
A healer approached them.
“Are you the group from the western quarter?”
“Yes,” Mai said.
“You saved several of these people.”
“I didn’t do it alone.”
The healer looked at the glowing crests beneath their clothes.
“No. Apparently not.”
Okama moved toward the wounded soldiers.
“What happened near the ravine?”
One soldier looked up.
“They were transporting prisoners,” he said. “The redcaps were taking them west.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. We attacked the convoy when we saw them. The redcaps were trying to move quickly, like they had somewhere important to be.”
The second soldier coughed.
“They kept talking about a gate.”
Mai crouched beside them.
“What kind of gate?”
The soldier shook his head.
“Stone. Old. Buried beneath the ravine. They said the Blood Crown needed sacrifices.”
Puss’s ears flattened.
“Sacrifices for what?”
The soldier looked toward the dark ceiling.
“For opening something.”
Okama’s face hardened.
“Did they say what?”
“No.”
A goblin prisoner nearby suddenly spoke.
“They called it the First Door.”
Everyone turned.
The goblin was young, perhaps only a few years older than Mai. One arm was wrapped in bloodstained cloth, and dirt covered his face.
“What do you know about it?” Okama asked.
The goblin glanced nervously at the guards.
“My tribe lived near the ravine. We knew there were ruins under the hills. The redcaps came three weeks ago and forced us to guide them there.”
“What did they find?”
“A door.”
“What was behind it?”
The goblin swallowed.
“Nothing. Not yet.”
Mai felt the crest beneath her clothes begin to warm.
“Not yet?”
The goblin nodded.
“They said the door was waiting for the right blood. The Blood Crown brought soldiers, prisoners, and a black stone. They said when the door opened, their true master would wake.”
The holding yard seemed to grow colder.
Miss Aiko exchanged a glance with Okama.
“A black stone?” she asked.
The goblin nodded. “It looked like glass, but it moved like it was breathing.”
Mai remembered the collector’s black crest.
She remembered the foreign interface.
She remembered the voice whispering her name in the red space.
“Could it be connected to the collector?” she asked.
Okama looked at her.
“I don’t know,” he said.
For once, that answer did not feel like caution.
It felt like fear.
A loud bell rang above them.
The fortress alarm.
Every soldier in the holding yard stood.
Renald appeared at the stairwell.
“Commander Elira requests you immediately,” he said. “The eastern scouts have found something.”
They hurried back to the command room.
A scout stood beside the map, face pale.
“The redcaps aren’t retreating,” she said. “They’re moving around the town.”
“To the ravine?” Elira asked.
“Yes. But there’s more.”
She placed a black fragment on the table.
It was the size of a fingernail.
The surface moved faintly, as if something inside it was breathing.
Mai’s crest flared.
So did Okama’s.
The fragment cracked.
A thin voice emerged from it.
Not a redcap voice.
Not human.
Not anything Mai could identify.
“Four awakened signatures located.”
The fragment split open.
The command room lights went out.
A circle of black energy formed above the map.
Within it, a distorted image appeared: the collector standing in a dark chamber, surrounded by masked figures. Behind him rose a massive stone door covered in red markings.
The collector looked directly at Mai.
“This is your final invitation,” he said.
Okama stepped forward.
“You already gave us a choice.”
“No,” the collector replied. “I gave you an opportunity to cooperate. Now I am informing you that the world has begun moving around you.”
The image flickered.
Behind the collector, something struck the stone door.
Once.
Twice.
A deep sound rolled through the chamber.
The red markings brightened.
“The First Door is opening,” the collector said. “Your resonance is one of the keys. Come willingly, and I may be able to prevent the awakening from consuming you.”
Mai’s hands trembled.
“What happens if we refuse?”
The collector smiled.
“Then the door will open without you.”
The image vanished.
The command room lights returned.
No one spoke.
Then Okama drew his sword.
“We’re going there.”
Mai looked at him.
“We are?”
He met her eyes.
“If our crests are involved, we need to know why. If the redcaps are preparing something that could destroy the region, we need to stop it. And if that collector thinks he can claim us, we should make sure he regrets trying.”
Mai looked at Miss Aiko.
The teacher was already studying the map.
“Cindervale cannot spare enough soldiers for a full assault,” Elira said. “But we can provide a small strike team.”
Okama nodded.
“We don’t need an army.”
Mai looked at the black fragment on the table.
The surface had stopped moving.
For now.
Puss folded her arms.
“I would like everyone to understand that this is a terrible idea.”
Miss Aiko picked up her staff.
“Most of our ideas have been terrible.”
“And yet you keep choosing them.”
“Because the alternatives are worse.”
Mai looked at the map.
The eastern ravine lay beyond the town, surrounded by steep cliffs and old forest. Somewhere beneath it waited a door, a black stone, a redcap army, and a collector who believed their lives were pieces in a larger system.
She was afraid.
But beneath the fear was something else.
The same feeling she had experienced when the Fourfold Bastion activated.
Not certainty.
Connection.
Okama stood beside her.
Miss Aiko was behind them.
Puss tapped one claw against the table.
They were still confused. Still hunted. Still unregistered.
But they were no longer alone.
Mai placed her hand over her crest.
“All right,” she said. “We go to the ravine.”
Okama looked at her.
“Ready?”
“No.”
“Good.”
She frowned. “Why is that good?”
“Because people who think they’re ready usually do something reckless.”
Mai struck his arm.
He smiled.
It was small, but genuine.
For a few seconds, the fear became easier to bear.
Then the fortress bell rang again.
This time, the sound came from beneath the ground.
The map trembled.
Far beyond the walls, something answered from the eastern ravine.
A deep, ancient roar rolled across the valley.
The red markings on Mai’s crest flared silver.
Okama’s crest answered in red.
Miss Aiko’s shone blue.
Puss’s darkened like shadow.
The four marks connected for a single instant.
[[Destination identified]]
[[The First Door]]
[[Collective resonance required]]
[[Awakening progress: 1%]]
Mai stared at the message.
“Awakening progress?” she whispered.
Okama raised his sword.
“Then we’d better get there before it reaches one hundred.”
Outside, the fortress prepared for war.
Inside, the four members of the Unregistered Class gathered their weapons and followed the soldiers toward the eastern gate.
The road ahead led toward the ravine.
Toward the First Door.
Toward the collector.
And whatever waited behind the stone.