21 Decision

A few hours after the team entered the Deadlands area. They were already 50 km south of the border.

The sun is still very intense and scorching, signaling the day is still at noon.

Fortunately, they found a rare green oasis that had a small lake inside of it amidst this barren desert. In the end, the team took a break in the oasis.

After a while, Melissa ordered Luccio to conduct a reconnaissance of the team's route to the south.

When Luccio was about to leave, Steven, the young holy knight, suddenly proposed himself to accompany Luccio.

Melissa, who heard Steven's proposal began to think that maybe it would be very dangerous to only send Luccio alone. Thus, she agreed to allow Steven to accompany him.

Steven does not speak much, but even so, he has a polite attitude and friendly manner. According to Rionne and Victor, Steven is a young holy knight who demonstrates good potential and is highly competent.

Ryson was the one who proposed to take Steven in this expedition, even though he was young and didn't have much experience.

From the story, Melissa could clearly see that Steven was being nurtured by the Church as a future radiant knight. Hence, it's extremely important for him to accumulate a lot of experience outside of the Church protection.

And it appears that he enjoys a good relationship with Alfred and Luccio even though they have just known each other. Maybe because all three of them are from the same generation.

Besides that, Alfred and Steven can be said to possess comparable strength, which is a Level 3 Super Warrior. And they have a similar fighting style.

Which mainly focus on defense while carrying heavy shields and swords. Their formidable defense is a valuable asset for the team.

Melissa thought again, the holy knights indeed also carried shields as their standard equipment. Their fighting style is more or less similar to the Astoria legion.

That's why Alfred and Steven can easily complement each other in terms of battles.

After getting approval from Melissa, Steven immediately began to step toward his horse while carrying his equipment.

He also did not forget to take a silver shield from an inventory ring on his finger and tie it up on his back.

Then, Luccio along with Steven quickly departed using their horses and heading straight towards the south direction. While the other team members continued their rest in the oasis.

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At first, they were terribly tired from the combination of the hot weather and the journey itself. This is only the first stage of the trip and they have just traveled no more than 100km from the border, but the condition of all team members has been to the point of being miserable. They can't imagine what will happen when they get deeper into the Deadlands.

All of them were affected by the rough climate of the Deadlands, including Victor who was a Saint rank and Alfred who got heat protection from Arno.

Only Arno, who seemed still very fit and fine.

Even when other members eat their lunch, he only drinks a little water and smokes his pipe while relaxing.

Melissa tried offering Arno food, but he refused politely. She was very confused as to why Arno refused her, but after Melissa saw Arno's appearance still fresh, she did not force him.

She just thought that Arno might not be hungry at all.

It is very clear Arno is currently not hungry or thirsty, and he will never be able to.

He eats only to enjoy delicacy not because of necessity. He refused because seeing the food served to the team looked very simple.

Just a barley bread and oatmeal that isn't appetizing at all.

But the other members were accustomed to eating the dish, even Melissa who was a lady from a large noble family was very eager in eating it. Even though they don't seem to enjoy it.

They tried to save space in the inventory ring and also they merely wanted to bring food that would not be stale and durable for a long time, which is why they did not carry complicated ingredients.

It seems they will eat nothing but barley bread and oatmeal throughout the duration of this mission.

Not long.

Melissa began rising from her sitting position and glanced at the other members.

"I think we have enough rest, let's continue shall we."

After hearing Melissa's words, the team members nodded and prepared to resume the journey.

"We will regroup with Luccio and Steven first right?" Rionne asked.

"Umm, right. I only ordered them to scout our route a few kilometers to the south. So they might not be far from here." Melissa nodded her head and answered.

"Okay, if you say so."

Afterward, the team members mounted their horses again and eventually leaving the oasis behind them.

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"That's the mountain gap, Lady Melissa ..." Luccio told seriously.

Melissa then placed her vision into a steep mountain range that stands in the distance. But her eyes were focused more on a small crack that large enough for people to pass.

After the team reunited with Luccio and Steven on the way here, they both began to inform about the existence of a mountain that completely blocked the team's route.

However, they also found a gap that seemed possible for the team to pass.

The other members also watched the mountains earnestly.

That unknown mountain range is actually not too tall, but its formation is quite steep and formidable, which makes it very difficult to climb to its top. Moreover, it can also be seen from afar that the mountains are spread very long and wide. From the west to the east with over hundreds of kilometers of distances.

Therefore, it will take a very long time for the team to circle around it. Which of course is impossible for them to do now, because of limited time and supply.

Their only hope now is to pass through the mountain gap.

"Are you familiar with it, Luccio?" Melissa asked Luccio.

She was actually very doubtful because they did not know anything about the mountains. According to the map provided to the team by the Astoria legion, the mountains in front of them right now did not exist.

They are also not sure whether the gap actually forms a path to the other side of the mountains or not. Because if it's not, then, they will just wasting their time.

"I can't say that I'm familiar with it. But if I'm not wrong, I think I've heard of it." Luccio answered while shrugging his shoulders. Though he did seem rather hesitate too.

"Hey bud, could it be about that?" Alfred, who was sitting on a horse with Arno, suddenly joined the conversation after he had remembered something.

"Yeah." Luccio nodded.

It seems they know something about the mountains.

"So Alfred, what do you know?" Melissa asked while glancing at Alfred.

After receiving a glance from around him, Alfred began to remember hard before speaking.

"Well first, it must be known that the legion has never done an expedition so far and deep to here before..." Alfred starts to explained with a serious face.

But before he can finish, he is interrupted by someone.

"Huh! Wait a minute! Wasn't your Astoria legions sometimes doing cross-border operations against barbarians in the past? Why did you say they had never been this far? I mean, the distance from the border to here is only 50km, you know." Ryson who was always silent before opened his mouth.

"That's right, our Church also has knowledge of your legion activities, especially on the southern border. There is no way right, that they never conduct a raid in this area?" Victor supplemented Ryson words.

They both made a fuss not without cause. They both feel odd because Astoria's legions don't seem to know anything about this area.

They already felt this way somewhat when they were still at the 5th legion camp. Information about the northern region of the Deadlands they obtained from the 5th legion was very minimal.

The Astoria Legion possesses little information about this area, even though the area where the team is currently located is still extremely close to the border. For Victor and Ryson, that doesn't make sense.

Which also resulted in the team only being able to rely on gathering information from the refugees of the barbarians in Farach Pass.

"That's not what Alfred meant, my lords ... It is true that our legions often carried out military expeditions into the Deadlands, but we never pushed too deep. Moreover, the expeditions were carried out mostly on the western side of the southern border, which is close to the territory of Beastman Tribes and Western City-States. We rarely do it in the area around here. " Luccio quickly helped Alfred by explaining in more detail.

"Eihhh, you guys. Just let Alfred finish the explanation, please." Rionne rolled her eyes and berated the two old men.

Even Steven could only smile bitterly at his two superiors.

Victor laughed awkwardly while Ryson just shrugged, and they didn't speak anymore.

Other members feel astonished because of the behavior of Church members. Especially when they saw Rionne who seemed to have very much authority over those two exalted old men.

"Cough ... Yes, as Luccio said before, most legion operations are focused on the western side of the southern border. At least before the Mana Disruption event." Alfred continued his explanation.

"And why is that? If we may know..." it was Rionne's turn to ask now.

But she also asked carefully because this was a very sensitive topic concerning state affairs.

"The reason? Ehmm, that's because the western side of the Deadlands is very different from this side. The climate isn't as harsh and the landscape is not as barren as here. So the concentration of the Barbarian population is focused over there, and they often clash with the Beastman or City-States forces and of course with our empire. " Alfred paused before explaining further.

"While this side of the Deadlands as we have seen, is very quiet and sparsely inhabited. Our destination, the Sabre-Tooth village is probably just one of the few Barbarian communities on this side." Alfred finally finished his explanation.

"That makes the top brass reluctant to send legions or at least a small detachment just to attack several small villages. 'Not worth the time and resources' they say. Therefore, the information that the legions have about this side of the Deadlands is scarce" Luccio added an explanation too.

The other members began to digest the explanation from Alfred and Luccio. They also finally understood why the Astoria legion did not really know anything about this area.

"Then, what about the refugees we met at Farach? I mean... They have thousands of people, you know." Sasha asked. This still disturbs her mind.

"Some of those people might from the area around here, but most of them come from tribes that inhabit areas close to the innermost region." Luccio explained to Sasha.

"Right, you see there are orcs among them right? You can only find community of orcs scattered in those areas." Alfred followed too.

"I see... Make sense." Sasha nodded her head, satisfied.

"So, what about the mountain gap?" Melissa again asked the most important thing for now.

"Well, that is also related to the previous explanation, lady." Alfred said to Melissa.

"And that is?"

Alfred starts to narrating a story.

According to a report on the operation, he had read. About 10 years ago, the 13th legion, in fact, had sent a small detachment to this area. Their job is to perform surveillance and of course, a recon mission.

It was additionally noted that while in the middle of the mission, they encountered and fought against the Demon Beasts and Barbarians. Until finally they reached a vast unknown mountain south of the imperial border.

For a few days, they explore the mountains and map them. But one day, they discovered a gap within the mountain itself that penetrated from its north face to the south side.

Of course, the detachment decided to search and survey the gap.

There is no mention or explanation of what was encountered by the detachment inside.

However, the detachment suffered an accident which resulted in them losing many soldiers. Few survivors rushed back to their legion camp and reported the incident.

But because the survivors did not bring the results of their assignment reports that were lost at the time of the incident, together with the leaders of the detachment themselves who died and could not be held accountable. The 13th legion commander at that time decided to ignore the incident and the rest is history.

"Hmm... I guess, circling it seems impossible as we don't have much time, huh." Melissa is in the middle of a dilemma.

The mountain gap did seem mysterious and dangerous.

"So, what will we do, Melissa?" Arno, who was almost, never spoke along the way. Suddenly asked.

He also gave a smile full of mystery to Melissa.

Melissa, who saw that became silent. She also thought hard to decide something.

The other members also anticipated Melissa's decision.

After a few minutes.

She finally decided.