"We should be coming up on a bridge shortly, milord. The vilge of Strahnbrad is on the other side." Eh said, walking beside John.

  They had been walking for nearly an hour now, and the sun was already beginning to set. It reminded John of any time his family had visited the tropics while on vacation, the transition between day and night was faster than it was up at higher titudes. It wouldn't be long before they were plunged into darkness.

  I wonder. Does this world have a moon?

  "Good. Do you know-" John started to ask him something about the vilge, but was cut off by a scream coming from further down the road.

  "HELP!!! Bandits are stealing our belongings!" Someone shouted.

  "Pick up the pace, but be wary. The st time I tried to help someone calling for help, it was the bandits themselves." John said, speeding up a little bit. His body might be fixed now, but jogging in pte mail for more than a few moments just forced him to stop and heal himself.

  "Yes, Milord!" The alphabets responded, drawing their swords. He still hadn't asked why they were welding the weapons left-handed while holding their shields on the right side. The shield should be on the left side to guard your heart, unless everyone's dominant hand is their left in this world, then it would make sense.

  Note Two - Why are you holding your shield on the wrong side?

  They rushed down the path, and when they made it past the bend, the trees ended, revealing a rge wooden-and-stone bridge that crossed a nearby river. Beside the bridge was a broken down cart and two groups of people, a handful of terrified men and women being held at sword point by five bandits, some of whom were rifling through the captives' belongings.

  "Boss, soldiers are coming!" One of the bandits said to the much rger man beside him. The rger man looked down the road towards the footmen and began to ugh.

  "Heh! We will take their coin like everyone else's. Get them!" He shouted, sending his men towards John's.

  The footmen outpaced John, and in moments, were on top of the bandits. Swords cshed, the soldiers clearly the superiors to the bandits, both in numbers and experience. Still, unlike the prisoners, these men didn't drop like flies and were exchanging blows with the Alphabet squad.

  John stayed behind the line for a moment, assessing the situation. Some of his men were getting banged up, but he would heal them shortly. He focused on the rger bandit, who looked like he was about to take Cee's head off with an axe, the footman barely raising his shield in time to block the strike.

  "Mud," He called out, casting the simple Earth spell. He wanted to use it before, but it usually just made a mess of water and dirt when he practised it on the Phoenix Hawk. Underneath the bandit leader, a circle of mud, five feet in diameter and around two inches deep, formed.

  The unexpected poor footing caused the man to slip and crash face-first into the mud with a yelp. Cee didn't waste the opportunity and stabbed the bandit in the neck, severing his unprotected spine.

  After that, it was just mopping up the remaining bandits, the footmen giving no quarter to the criminals.

  "Thank you, milord. You saved us and my family's farm. Please, take this as a reward!" The middle-aged man whom they rescued said, while the women beside him bowed their heads towards John. The man was holding a red book out to him.

  "Thank you. Be careful, the orcs are coming to Strahnbrad, you should get to safety." John said, accepting the book. He had no clue why people kept giving him stuff today, for doing his job as their prince and defender, but he wasn't going to question it further. When he took it, it burst into golden light and was absorbed into his hand. He felt slightly stronger all of a sudden.

  "The hell was that?" He asked the farmer, confused at what had just happened.

  "A Tome of Strength, Milord. I had thought to give it to one of my sons when they got older, but as you can see, my wife and I were blessed with only two daughters. I would gdly offer one of them as well, if it so pleases you, Milord." The man said, still bowing his head.

  "That... won't be necessary, my good man," John said. Both the younger women, girls really, looked to be somewhere in their mid-teens at best.

  "You cur! How dare you insinuate that the Crown Prince would be interested in a common-" Eh started to admonish the man, but John pced a hand on the man's shoulder, halting his barrage of insults.

  "Easy, Eh. They don't know who I am; I could just be a random knight from the countryside for all he knows." John said, then leaned in close to the man's ear. "You don't need to defend me so vehemently when it is with normal commonfolk, okay?"

  "Ahh... Yes, milord." The man said, obviously not liking the order, but willing to obey his prince.

  John took a few minutes to heal up the farmer's family and his troops, who had some scrapes and cuts from the fight, then proceeded across the bridge, waving goodbye to the family. Night had fallen in the meantime, and the light from the stars was barely enough to see by.

  "Milord! The vilge!" Frank called out, pointing towards the other side of the bridge. "It is on fire!"

  What John had thought was just the glow of the setting sun now almost looked like a bonfire with the nd darkening around the vilge.

  "Crap, let's move!" John said, casting his barrier spell again.

  The seven of them charged across the long bridge and headed towards the broken-down gate. An obviously injured man was rushing out, heading towards them. As they closed the distance, two massive shapes, backlit by the town's fires, were bearing down on the man from behind. John could see the silhouette of axes and horned helmets, his memories telling him that these were indeed orcs.

  Not even considering how foolish an action it was, John brought the hammer behind his back, then whipped it forward with all his strength. The huge weapon spun through the air, then collided handle-first with the orc on the right side, stalling its advance for a moment but doing no actual damage.

  "ARGH! Firebolt!" He said and cast his fire spell at the other orc, aiming with his left hand as his right wasn't responding. The bolt shot off, and John dropped to the ground; his shoulder had come out of the joint again. He had gotten so used to the fact that the Auto-Doc in Infinite Frontiers had repaired this issue; now that he was in another world, he needed to learn to compensate for it again.

  The firebolt caught the orc in the chest, but only stalled him for a moment. The creature still took that final step forward and chopped the vilger in half; the man's death cry was cut short by the giant axe head. The orc stepped on top of the now-dead vilger, ripped the axe out with a sickening sound, then brandished the bloody implement at the incoming footmen while bellowing out a war cry.

  "Middle Heal!" John said, chanting as the footmen arrived at the gate. It took only about ten seconds for his arm to move back into pce, but a lot can happen in that amount of time.

  They had split into two teams, three footmen for each orc. Orcs are known for being very powerful fighters, and even the regur grunts like these could kill most humans with little issue. Being outnumbered, however, put them on their ‘backfoot’ in this engagement, the two fighting as singur fighters instead of as a pair. The humans, however, worked together, dividing the orcs and putting some distance between them. They worked in tandem, one taking a blow to their shield while the other two aimed their strikes at the orc's legs, trying to take out their vulnerable knees or hamstringing the much rger creatures. Since they were trained in the same tactics as John's original four footmen, Eli and Frank were working seamlessly with Eh, the three of them finishing their orc first. The other fell a moment ter.

  "Are you alright, Milord? I thought I heard something snap when you threw that hammer." Bee said, offering John a hand up.

  "Yeah. I just threw my shoulder out." John replied, accepting the offered hand. "Okay, who needs some healing?"

  After healing both Dee and Frank, John hit his shoulder again with another middle heal spell, trying to make sure it stayed in pce this time, then the crew started making their way into the vilge. John gnced at the dead vilger, then continued after his men, not wanting to dwell on yet another death he was not fast enough to prevent.

  The vilge had indeed been overrun, the light of the fires almost making it seem like daytime. John, cursing at the weight of that hammer, tossed it aside and drew his sword. The bde made a distinctive ringing noise when it was drawn, one he hadn't noticed before until today, when he heard the soldiers frequently drawing and sheathing their own weapons.

  They made their way to the vilge centre, where several survivors were gathered near a rge pool of water. Before they could call out to them, two mounted orcs charged into the square, one a raider riding a big wolf, and the other on a horse.

  "Darkness!" John called, pointing at the closer one mounted on the horse. His aim must have been off, as the ball of darkness enveloped the horse's head, not the riders. It seemed to have done the trick, as the mount charged into a nearby home at a gallop, its neck making a sickening crack as it broke on impact, sending its rider flying inside the building.

  The footmen encircled the raider and quickly brought the beast and rider down. John continued to cast basic healing spells, ensuring his men were in good shape. Another orc grunt came in from the north, chasing a vilger, but a quick darkness spell stopped his charge. John began to walk over to finish it, but the footmen pounced on it, leaving John nothing to do for a moment.

  John looked around the square, searching for any vilgers to heal or more orcs coming in for an attack, but it appeared the vilgers had all run and hid. That was probably for the best. Just as he turned back to the fight, he saw a red-skinned orc climb out of the hole in the building the horse charged into, its helmet and shield nowhere to be seen.

  It took one look at John, screamed, and then ran north, following the road around the corner of the building. At the same time, John heard fighting to the west, both men and orcs shouting out battle cries and the ring of metal on metal.

  "Sir, your orders?" Eh said, having seen what John saw. "Do we help those people or chase after the orc? There are not many red-skinned ones, nor ones who ride horses; he could be the leader." The man offered when John didn't immediately decide on what to do.

  "We do both. Eh, take two men with you to see what is in the west. The rest of you, follow me!" John ordered, handing Eh the Scroll of Healing just in case the worst happened. He knew these people had a good chance of dying, but he would try his best to make sure The Alphabets, as he had dubbed the footmen, got back home to their families.

  The thought of families made him think of Nanael and Shizuka. While he didn't know for sure if either was pregnant yet, he hoped one day to be able to return to them and continue building their retionships. He hadn't broached the subject with Tanya or Niki yet, and he wasn't even sure it would be possible with Xiaolin... at least in the traditional way. She could probably snap her fingers, and they would have a dozen children all of a sudden, but-

  GET YOUR MIND IN THE FIGHT YOU IDIOT!

  He snapped at himself, bringing him back to the present. Was this what Alec meant by DEN not supporting his mind as much anymore? He didn't know, and now he was growing even more concerned about that possibility. John tried to maintain his focus as his group ran, the four of them following after that red-skinned orc.

  It wasn't going well.

  Juia_Darkcrest