As soon as he was out of the dungeon Ajax began his preparations to return to his duchy. Despite how big a breakthrough the kitsune’s daggers had seemed to him Ajax was sure that while it might provide some new information to the royal enchanters they had already seen other similar weapons and enchantments brought back from the dungeons.
“Are you sure we should be leaving so soon, Ajax?” Jones asked him as the Collectors were busy packings. “It could be used against you that as soon as the elves left you jumped into a dungeon and left. “
Jones had improved his political acumen during his years in the capital but his lack of real experience dealing with the real powerful nobles showed. “No it won’t.” Ajax answered with confidence. “I have a new duchy, and I was the target of an assassination. All that on top of how young I am, nobody would claim anything of the sort considering the only reason they know that I came here now was because I made a promise and I wasn’t going to break it.”
“Still, why do you want to leave so badly?” Jones asked.
“Because if he doesn’t they’ll really do anything they can to get him to stay.” It was Duke Manashaper that answered his question.
“The boon…” Jones finally put it together. His boon was already enough to put a target on them if it got out, knowing what the most recent boon had been it was clear the nobles would want as many of their people having boons as possible.
“It was nice having you stay with us for a little while.” The Duke smiled as he gave Ajax a hug. “I do hope next time you’ll stay longer and that you’ll bring my granddaughter with you.”
“I will.” Ajax returned the hug.
“I also want you to promise me you’ll be careful when you delve in the Wild Lands.” Duke Manashaper’s voice became flinty and his grip tightened. “There is hardly enough for it to be called conclusive proof but I have gathered as much as I could. Every group with a boon that delves the dungeon seems to be getting harder floors. They are still within the level range but the variations of creatures or even humanoids on the floors seem to be of a higher quality. When you delve out there you won’t have a group of level one hundred and fifties watching your back.”
Ajax was very surprised to hear the warning. He hadn’t taken into account that having the Achievement, that it might somehow mark those who received it so that they would be forced to face harder challenges in the dungeon. It also made him question his plans about obtaining the boon for the rest of his family as well, especially considering his plan to have them delve so many dungeons in the future so that they could evolve their race as well.
“I will.” Ajax promised. “And I’ll let her know.”
As soon as the group was packed up they met up with Patrick and the rest of his squad who will be escorting them to Lessis before joining Ajax all the way to the border with the Wild Lands. Their journey back to Lessis started without much fanfare, their carriages not carrying any identifying marks outside of the usual noble grandeur to make it harder for anyone to track him.
“What’s your plan after we get you back to Lessis?” Quinn asked, Ajax sensed something odd in the woman’s voice.
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“Stay two, maybe three days. Make sure nothing that needs my attention happened while I was gone, see my family and leave for the Wild Lands.” Ajax answered. “Why?”
“Because you really kicked the rat’s nest this time.” Quinn explained. “If you don’t leave soon, you’ll have us as your permanent bodyguards for a while.”
“Did you catch an assassin?” Ajax was instantly alert.
“No, we caught spies.” Ajax relaxed at Quinn’s words.
“How many spies?” Jones asked.
“Nine.” Ajax got more relaxed hearing it was only nine spies. He suspected that whenever something even a little interesting happened spies were caught. “All of them deep undercover, twenty years at least. All of them in different ducal Houses and all of them trying to quickly get word of what you did to the beastkin.”
“Whatever is happening won’t take too much longer to actually happen.” Ajax was once again highly alert as he put the pieces together. “ Before I was a target of convenience, now that I present a bigger threat to their plans I will be targeted as a priority.”
“Shouldn’t you be going straight to the Wild Lands border then?” Jones asked.
“No, we’ve got time.” Ajax shook his head. “I know for sure they didn’t catch all the spies who were trying to leak information about what I’ve done but those they didn’t catch couldn't have sent word already, their message is still traveling. It might just get there by the time I reach Lessis.”
Ajax was glad this time that communication in this world wasn’t anywhere close to how convenient it had been back on Earth. By the time the news would reach those who might want to have him killed and their orders would reach any assassin in his general vicinity he would already be in the Wild Lands.
“You have orders to guard the border where I leave.” Quinn knew Ajax was making a statement and not asking a question.
“Yes.” Quinn responded to confirm what Ajax already knew.
“For how long?” Ajax asked.
“A month.” That was longer than Ajax had expected but given the very likely scenario that he would have assassins after him it sounded appropriate. A month head start would give him enough time to put some distance between himself and any pursuers.
Ajax spent the majority of his trip back to Lessis working on his alchemy. More specifically he was preparing as many reagents as he could. There were a number of alchemical ingredients that could only be prepared shortly before the brewing process but Ajax wanted to make sure that for everything else he had a solid stock just in case he found anything useful in the Wild Lands. More than that, the consistent muscle memory of preparing the ingredients made time pass faster as he waited for the carriage to bring him back to Lessis.
“I know you all went into the Wild Lands as a team.” Ajax said before they made it to Lessis. “Do you have any tips?”
“Get through the moat as quickly as you can.” Quinn answered quickly. “But don’t drop your guard.”
The moat of desolation, a fifty mile wide stretch of land that surrounds the humanoid region as a defence against the monsters of the Wild Lands. The lack of almost any forms of life is intentionally maintained by the humanoids to act as a barrier and an easy way to spot wayward powerful beasts that might want to invade.
The moat however was also the reason why slow expansion was so difficult. Extending the moat wasn’t easy but it was nowhere near as hard as getting anything to grow in the old place where the moat had been. This is why previous expansion attempts meant trying to secure a large area connected to the kingdom before restructuring the moat surrounding it and taking a few generations to reintroduce life to the place where the moat previously was that was now inland instead of border.
“Make sure you don’t leave tracks once you exit the moat.” Frank said. “Even with a month’s head start and very little to go off of there are people out there that would be able to track you if you are not careful.”
“When searching ruins, think like a human.” Patrick said. “There are a number of ruins that have been proven to be remains of humanoid races before a tragedy or another struck, many valuables have been recovered because people asked themselves ‘if I lived here where would I hide something valuable.’
“All of that is good but the most important thing is more important.” Ajax saw a small shiver pass through Quinn, as if she remembered something she’d much rather forget. “There might be some dangerous monsters that pop up in the kingdom here or there but they are the exception. Out there remember that you are not at the top of the food chain.”
Ajax very much agreed that it was good advice. Unfortunately it wasn;t advice that he would be following since he would intentionally be looking for Ascended races in hopes of finding an appropriate bond.
With a sigh Ajax put away his alchemy tools. It wouldn’t be long until they made it to Lessis and he looked to make the most of the next few days as he said goodbye to his family before he started his journey.