Hello Scrolls and Followers of Justice, Mr.Bones, I bring chapter 14 of my fanfic.

In this part, Sebas and Tuare meet perhaps the two most... peculiar humans in the entire New World. Comments and corrections are welcome. Thanks.

With you

The One Who Came Back

Chapter 14: More Luck Than Judgment

The weeks that followed were full of activity. During the day, Sebas visited factories, shops and offices, since as an official agent of the Sorcerer Kingdom, he requested that the inspection of activities took place in loco. At night, the butler attended parties promoted by the nobles.

In the meantime, Tuare played the role of spy. Using the same excuse as Solution, she said she was looking for her lost brother in the most open way possible, in fact she even asked for permission to do so, because if she tried to cover up what she was doing, the escort would surely report such an attitude. She asked the servants and merchants, while Sebas tried to really analyze the infrastructure of the Dragon Kingdom.

After almost a month, it was possible to see that the inhabitants of the capital were probably in better condition than the neighboring cities and towns. With a well-organized structure and food stocks supplied by local production, the city could sustain itself for years. Its residents shared the view that the comfortable situation was thanks to the Queen's efforts to keep taxes low, provide food to the less fortunate, and use adventurers in battle.

The nobles, on the other hand, didn't like being taxed to pay for all this and maybe that was the biggest complaint against the royalty, besides the fact that they couldn't get rid of the beastmen's advance.

Time was running out, for even an official mission between the realms had a deadline to meet. The ambassador could not maintain himself indefinitely without establishing an official embassy, which would only be created after signing numerous treaties that would only be read after returning to the Sorcerer Kingdom, and there were almost no excuses left to remain in the Dragon Kingdom.

Everything had already been checked, but the nobles were still intent on keeping the ambassador entertained and satisfied. So, when Sebas announced that this would be his last week of stay, everyone prepared for one last opportunity to kiss the ambassador's ass as much as possible.

The mission was partly failing, and Sebas began to get worried. They had been unable to obtain any information about the traveler, as here he seemed to take a much more restrained attitude, and even the hanzos posted to scour the capital did not locate anyone with the description provided. It just meant he wasn't there anymore, but he could have been months ago.

One of the last parts to be seen by Sebas was the walls. This was also the best opportunity to obtain information about the traveler, as few people came to the capital, only well-protected traders or refugees arrived there, the latter in very small numbers, as the beastmen did not usually let victims escape.

Always during the visits, the ambassador was accompanied by nobles, but even they ended up getting tired after so many boring reports. So, for the last week, Sebas was going with only Tuare and a specific escort for that day.

As they made their way to the main entrance, Sebas was told by his escort that the garrisons on the walls worked in shifts, taking turns at the gates and walls. Of the four existing garrisons, only one was off duty, and if they couldn't get information from the remaining three, it would be difficult to get from the last one without raising suspicion.

When they arrived at the main gate, they were received by the Captain of the Guard, who gave a simple report on the functioning of the garrisons. While Sebas was busy, Tuare did the investigative part, showing the guards the portrait of her lost brother and asking simple questions, but no one recognized the traveler. The guards on the walls were still missing.

Continuing with the tour, they began to walk over the great walls, with the captain extolling how defensible they were. Tuare was still approaching the guards, who weren't many, so it would be quick if it weren't for the distance they would have to travel around the city. Halfway across, a plump guard recognized the portrait.

"Yes, I saw this fellow about seven months ago. I don't remember his name, though", then the guard turned and shouted to his companion almost a hundred meters away who was setting up a lookout at another spot.

"HEY, SKULL!"

No reply.

"HEEEYY! SKUUUULL!"

"WHAT DO YOU WANT, BULK!?", screamed the skinny guard.

"DO YOU REMEMBER A GUY WHO CAME HERE A FEW MONTHS AGO!?"

"WHAT?"

"DO YOU RE-MEM-BER A GUY WHO WAS HAN-GING OUT WITH US A FEW MONTHS A-GO!?"

"WHICH ONE?"

"THE TALKER!"

"WHO?"

"THE TAL-KER!"

"YEAH!"

"WHAT'S HIS NAME!?"

"HIS WHAT?"

"THE NA-ME OF-…"

"BY THE BONES OF THE SUPREME, ASK HIM TO COME HERE!", shouted Tuare through her teeth as she completely lost patience with the two idiot guards. If there was anyone who didn't know she was asking questions before, now half the town was aware of that fact. She wanted to throw the two guards off the wall, hoping some beastman was waiting to catch them.

"Hi, what do you want Bulk?", said the skinny guard when he arrived.

"Do you remember the name of the chatterbox, I think he was a foreigner, Jor something?"

"Jorge, his name was Sam Jorge, weird name, weird guy".

"Interesting…", Sebas said as he approached after hearing the guards' screams. Luckily, the captain who accompanied them was quite old, had poor hearing, and had to return to the main gate.

"What a fright sir, where did you come from!?", They exclaimed almost together, the two guards hugging each other and soon after taking an almost… I said ALMOST defensive position.

"Excuse me, I'm Sebas Tian, I'm accompanying the lady. Did you say you had already seen this person?"

"Yeah, we did, it was about seven months ago, wasn't it, Skull? That's seven months ago".

"Would you mind telling me how it went?", asked Tuare more calmly.

"Why, miss, of course not!", said Bulk, who seemed to be the "brain" of the duo.

"Well, like I said, it was about seven months ago. We were on guard at the farthest gate, which is always locked, so we decided to go out and have a look around".

"Do a routine round", Skull added, "assessing the surroundings".

"That's when the door closed behind us, the wind must have pushed it. We tried to call our colleagues inside, but I think they had gone to do something".

"Internal perimeter check", Skull interrupted again.

'I think they were locked out by their colleagues. I've known them for less than five minutes and I already want to strangle them both, they're just telling us how incredibly incompetent they are!', Tuare thought while trying to maintain her smile.

"Oh! My, you must be very brave to stay outside the walls until someone opens it, with all these beastmen out there", Tuare said, strangely to her.

"Oh well! We try, right? So, we decided to go with the patrol to the other gate, in the middle of the way we saw that guy coming from the direction of the desert, like straight from the lands of the beastmen".

"Yes, it was strange. Even during the day no one goes or comes from there without a patrol. The guards on the walls always keep an eye on the perimeter, but no one noticed him, I think it was the clothes, all pale, as if he had camouflaged for the desert", clarified Skull, changing Tuare's opinion about who would be the "brain" of the two.

"So, we approached him. You know, there are lizard people, so why not chameleon people? If he was a beastman in disguise, we went to check it out".

'That's not exactly how mimicry works, at best it would be camouflage', thought Sebas, letting go of the idea of a doppelgänger lizard man.

"So, I said…"

"WE said…"

"WEEEE said: "Halt! Who goes there?"

"He replied, 'hello! I am a traveler and would like to rest in your city'.

'What is your name, where do you come from, and where are you going?', we asked".

"'My name is Jorge', he said".

"That's when we saw a beastman's tail hiding a hundred yards through a large pile of rocks".

"It was supposed to be one of their patrols, but we've never seen them this close".

'They were probably there all day observing the time of the guards round and how many there were, crucial information for an invasion. They must have been waiting for nightfall to leave, taking the frequency of the Dragon Kingdom's patrols on a silver platter', thought Sebas, analyzing the dangers that the people of the city were going through without knowing.

"So, we activated the alarm, blew the horns until someone on the wall also saw the beastmen on the rocks. Then a platoon came galloping from the nearest gate and finished them off, they were all lion-men, but different, maneless, brown, they looked like those lions that live in the mountains, I once saw one at the circus".

"Who sounded the alarm?", asked the captain at the time.

"It was Skull and Bulk here sir!", said Jorge.

"Then we were greeted by the captain of the guard who praised us for our, as he put it, 'sharpness in sensing a possible invasion'. We then got a bonus and a break, and before we knew it, we were in a bar drinking with Jorge!".

"Skull and Bulk are foreign names, aren't you from here?", Asked Tuare.

"Born and raised there the main Avenue. 'Skull' and 'Bulk' were the nicknames that Jorge gave us and it stuck.

"Did he give anything else to you two?", asked Sebas.

"Oh yes, he gave us this medal for good luck!"

Sebas looked closely at the gift. That wasn't a medal, it was a copper coin from Yggdrasil.