Fate Online: Shadow

Chapter 525: Pipe Down!

"It's fine, no harm done. Just do not talk about them in any public space. It's for your own good!"

Not long after, Bedivere and the other two are now standing before the row of soldiers looking at them attentively and with curiosity, especially towards the two women standing beside their commanding officer.

"Let's keep it short, I'm sure most of you have probably heard about her before. This person standing on my right is Sir Ripley, The Knight of Wolfsbane!"

"..."

The moment his introduction for Ripley ended, it was only met with silence, but the expressions on their faces couldn't be hidden. Some were delighted, while some eyebrows were raised, but there were also some who looked like they wanted to devour Ripley whole!

And Ripley hated those kinds of eyes since she felt like she was being undressed in their eyes!

"Name's Ripley, it's nice to finally meet all of you. I hope everyone is ready for the upcoming subjugation. Just promise yourself one thing, don't die"

In the end, she didn't do anything but to glare at those soldiers who were giving her that look while she was giving a short speech to the soldiers.

On the other hand, Storm Moonlint didn't get to say anything before they moved on. Which made her wonder why they even bothered bringing her with them to the front.

"Everyone is dismissed! We'll meet back here after lunch at the cafeteria is over!"

Bedivere immediately dismissed the soldiers while his officers, the other knights of the Blue Order quickly made their way over towards them.

"Greetings Wolfsbane, it has been a while" said one of the knights with a tattoo that's only seen in tribesmen, like the Barbarians.

Which was followed by an amiable looking old man, "Have you been eating well since the last time sir Knight?"

"Berk, Vitan, it's been a while and it's fortunate that you two weren't sent to support the recent Undead Expedition"

Ripley laughed as three knights exchanged a fist bump with exceptional familiarity, like they had been doing it for a long time.

"Fortunate indeed. We're already too old for that kind of sh*t, we two old men are already worn out from battles of that scale" Berk, the one who looks too "slim" to be a Barbarian laughed heartily.

"Exactly, and I still have a family to feed" Vitan on the other hand just shrugged his shoulders in agreement.

Clap! Clap!

"Enough chit chat. Now that Ripley and her friend is here, let's go over to our plans again and see if we've missed something"

With a clap of his hands, Bedivere immediately interrupted the short reunion between the friends.

With that said, the five people quickly made their way towards Bedivere's personal quarters as Ripley and the other two continued their chatter while Storm Moonlight was relegated to the side and she just quietly listened to them, her expression hard to read.

Over an hour later, the 300-man army led by a couple of knights marched out from one of the town gates under the cheers of the townspeople who sent them off!

"Goodluck lads! Make sure to come back alive! I'll give you free drinks at my tavern!"

"Don't die son!"

"Lark, if you come back, let's get married!"

"Darling, don't die out there now! I still want to pop your cherry, okay~?!"

The townspeople encouraged them, some worried about their sons going into battle again, a few girls came to send off their lovers with a promise of marriage, and there were even women wearing revealing outfits who flirted with them, all the while a group of children followed them as they sent off their brothers and friends with smiles on their faces!

Such a spectacle shows how respected the soldiers of this town are. Storm Moonlight and Ripley were just slightly amused at this scene as they had seen grander send offs before.

"I need to go back alive so I can make love with Ms. Autumn. Oh how I've always dreamed of swimming on those mountain peaks~!"

"Don't worry, I'll make sure you don't die, my friend"

"Thanks, likewise brother"

The merchants and ordinary people on the road all made their way to the side while the soldiers chatted softly at the back, already talking about their future after they make it back alive.

'That's a lot of death flags,' as a fan of reading light novels, those kinds of conversations made Storm Moonlight think about the trope where characters tend to die, like some kind of ominous foreboding.

'Don't worry, I'll make sure you all come back and enjoy the glory! Especially you, my virgin comrade. I won't allow you to die a virgin!' she thought while patting the small pouch tied to her waist.

'The heck is she doing?' Ripley side eyed her friend and watched her actions. It's those things someone does when they are talking to themselves in their minds and do certain actions.

'Living like a prisoner in that village must have been suffocating" she suddenly thought to the times they were living in the village they called home before Michael found them, and she's now realizing that Storm Moonlight's real personality has been coming out of its cocoon lately.

Cheerful, annoying, stubborn, as opposed to her cold and aloof personality when they exiled themselves to that village.

'Right, we're not prisoners of our lives anymore. Our debt to that kid would just keep adding on if it's always like this.' Ripley smiled faintly as she suddenly felt her body become lighter, like she was liberated from something that has been weighing her soul down.

'Anyway, I wonder how those two are doing now?'

Ratatata~!

Shatter! Shatter! Shatter!

"Goddammit, you two are really going to be the death of me! Oh forgive me Heavenly Father for my words!"

Monk and Benny are currently pinned down behind a huge boulder by machine gunfire coming from the huge mansion on the other side.

It's another mansion built in the middle of the mountain, a couple of miles away from the nearest town.

"And why do these bastards always hold their meetings in the middle of nowhere?! Wouldn't it be better if they do it in metropolitan areas?!" Benny kept cursing and even started questioning how the minds of the people hiding inside the mansion worked.

"Benny, calm down!" Monk yelled, he was growing a little frustrated at this whiny friend of Genesis. He even questioned himself if the man beside him is really the infamous Red Baron.

He says that but he's also worried since he had seen armed gunmen sneakily making their way over towards them under the cover of that machine gun.

"Shut up! It's been years since I've last seen action! I thought I could still do it, but it seems I have grown accustomed to living a peaceful life" Benny argued.

Monk sneered and replied, "Says the guy who has an underground black market. Anyway, just hold tight, Genesis will take care of that annoying machine gunner"

Bang!

Not even moments later of him saying those words, a resounding bang in the distance sounded and it became obvious that it was Genesis' doing like Monk had said since one of the two machine guns firing at them had stopped.

"I told you he'd take care of it. Come on, get ready, those guys are near!"