I closed my eyes and allowed my gaze to focus on my bird to the east. Through it, I could sense and see what it saw while it glided high above the only known proof of civilization to me. I had wondered what I'd find.

  I think I did faintly recall there used to be a small village here back in FLOW, when the servers had shutdown. It wasn't anything remarkable, instead just being something like an outlying settlement that was tied to a bigger city to the east. But given the scale of the big wall with the absence of even any settled land beyond, I found it hard to think they had remained the same.

  So I wasn't too surprised to see something that would've been the size of a small city back when I was Mikel. But what did take me back was just how...basic it looked in comparison too, or at first glance. I had to be sure and directed my scout to descend just a bit, hopefully skirting the edge of magical detection. Maybe I just couldn't see from so high up?

  No, I was more sure of it now and took it in, stunned. Impossible. FLOW's themes had always involved something like an epic of high fantasy, of dangerous yet exciting adventure lurking around every corner. A fantasy world, one that was even living and growing with a slow march of technological advancement. It had even been a focal point to an expansion to feature early firearms and experimental crystal technologies alongside!

  Okay, maybe that was probably driven by one of the developer's brief addiction to a squad shooter game or something. But with how even Eagle, Lighthouse's Elf, picked up a rifle proficiency to the side, it'd fit.

  It also did get abused later with the cash shop which pushed the definition of early firearms by having what was clearly an assault rifle for sale annnndddd I'm ranting on a tangent again. Right. So point was, while FLOW was a bit of a fantasy kitchen sink of a mess, it always stressed a bright adventuring tone that had players hooked on.

  The city below looked like it was instead taken straight out of a historical drama about the hardship of life in the medieval ages. The sort of thing I'd see in some war movie! In fact, there were an awful lot of soldiers about. The more I looked about, the more I noticed with rising concern that there seemed to be a lot of folks in what looked to be leather brigandine armor.

  Oh, please don't tell me that these people haven't metal works. I'd cry if this was actually a copper or bronze age.

  There was a lot of shouting I picked up on coming from the center of the city. Or rather, the castle that clearly dominated this entire settlement. It absolutely screamed 'where the big cheese lived' and my doll fluttered likely over, searching for the source of all that noise. There, in the courtyard- clearly soldiers going through a training exercise, overseen by a barking drill sergeant.

  Did they really need more soldiers?

  There was at least a variety of them. I could make out humans and dwarves, even a few demons with orcs among the mix. And that drill sergeant, they were pacing back and forth under shade without ever stepping out of it. Definitely a vampire with that behavior, one that apparently wasn't so powerful enough to resist the sun quite yet. Good luck, hope you get there soon!

  Then I noticed that there were watchers and observers that lined the walls surrounding the courtyard and frowned with my real body. All of them were using the shade and staying out of sunlight. Did the city upper class consist entirely of vampires? Could this settlement be their barony?

  I checked and considering there weren't any skulls on display or corpses strung up, this at least wasn't one of those evil vampire families that FLOW sometimes tossed at players. They had been always so silly, going on about ripping the blood out of everybody in their land. Then Cordelia would usually pull their own out their body with a twitch of the eye.

  She really hated it when her kind abused their unique blood traits.

  The doll bird, I directed to end its glide and perch on one of the castle towers to rest. The wind crystal needed a moment to recharge itself. In that time, I took in the sight of the settlement with its massive wall, considered the very present military force, and came to a conclusion that I had a pretty good gut feeling on.

  This was a fortress city, the sort of which that would take the thankless task of manning some great defense so that the lands behind it could live in peace. The amount of troops, the focus on militant matters, and of course the clear boundary between 'civilization' and 'wilderness.' If it was a noble house ruling, then those were all going to be a direct toll onto their personal finances, so no way they would keep such numbers on hand quite idly.

  They would be put to purpose, and if it was so great that they needed to continue training new recruits, them, it was an endless one indeed.

  I was about to considering trying to hop down to see if I could overhear anything to lend credence to my theory, only to freeze when I felt it. Somebody was casting [Detect]! Without hesitation, my doll bird immediately took off for the wider city, which would hopefully mask its presence.

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  "Is something wrong, sister?" the grizzled duke asked, hand already reaching for his helmet to don if need be. It hadn't even been a few seconds since she abruptly started and grabbed at her staff to cast a spell. "Did you sense something?"

  The woman frowned before shaking her head. "No. I was probably imagining things." She sighed, relaxing her grip, and returned to watching the newest trainees respond to her nephew's command. "I did use [Detect] to be sure, and I picked up nothing. It must simply be the nerves, waiting for the next tide."

  The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  Her brother frowned before relaxing, setting down the helm. "If you say so. I trust a graduate of Magia to know if we're in danger."

  "I would think so, even as a humble acolyte. Nothing should escape my gaze." She hoped, at least.

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  I dared not breath, even as a curious pigeon pecked at its wooden counterpart.

  Was I spotted? Maybe? I couldn't say for certain. [Detect] was a handy magical spell to sense anything radiating magic too in the field. It took form even in two elements: a passive sixth sense for vicinity magic, and an active search component that could mark the source to the mind. Many a buried or secret treasure in FLOW had been found with it, along with alerting to danger in the vicinity.

  So if it was such a useful spell, then why didn't everybody have it? Simple: like most things, it scaled off the caster's ability, for both range and potency. For characters who didn't specialize in magic, it'd probably be just whatever they saw in the local vicinity and be limited to blatant emanations. For those who did, it could maybe be a few rooms beyond and pick up on the more subtle.

  For Lighthouse, it could easily span an entire city of this size and could probably detect an enchanted ring locked in an underground safe. Kai probably could've even narrow it down to the exact pixel.

  Which was why I hid in it now, hoping that if it did span that distance with that much scrutiny, having multiple sources could confuse the pursuit. Because [Detect] didn't give any details on what was there, only that it was. For anything more informative, they'd have to pick up on a more specific and intense divination spell that couldn't have such a powerful passive.

  When there wasn't an alarm raised with soldiers charging the streets or a wizard flying after me with fury in their eyes, I let out a sigh of relief. Either they didn't notice, lost track, or didn't care, so I was safe. I had probably escaped just in time.

  I continued my investigation of the city and peered hesitantly over the side of the building roof I had hidden at. It was a tavern, a rather rundown one by my standards. But the patrons seemed to be thinking it was good enough with the way they scarfed down food and drink. They were also talking, so I tuned and listened in.

  "Guard duty was cold last night. I think it's time we started bringing some firewood from the stocks."

  "Ugh, damn blacksmith is still way too backed up. My sword's chipped, I need something more than just a sharpening."

  "Gods damn me. I dropped the bowl, it broke. I'll pay."

  "When's the next merchant caravan going to come through? We need fresh vegetables, I'm sick of just pickles with all my bread."

  Listening in really felt like those random NPC greetings you'd get while going through a settlement to turn in a quest or something. But given current circumstance, everything was so much more informative.

  "Woah, don't look that way. Mercenaries."

  Hm. That piqued my interest, especially in the way it was said. It was almost like how they had referred to adventurers, the player characters, in the day. I looked their way and could instantly see on why the title was so very much...different.

  Yet so appropriately and achingly nostalgic.

  Take an adventurer, then replace all that nice gear with something that no self-respecting crafter would ever make, unless it was for a cosplay commission. Smear on a layer of dirt, grime, and scars. Maybe even dull the light in their eyes.

  Then you had a mercenary.

  They looked exactly like the type that would pick trouble in an adventurer's guild back in the day. You know, the sort of rough crowd that was 'in' with the local criminal gang. The 'adventuring is my day job, stabbing is my second.' The sort that made for 'tragic' characters who claimed to only pick it up because of their dark and tragic backstory-

  Ah, I almost reached out to smack the back of Calico's head on instinct. He had been Lighthouse's Kit Rogue and loved to act like that downer even when clad head to toe in glitter.

  He probably would've loved this crowd and would brood in solidarity along with them. His feline ears might stand out though.

  Oh, they were chatting. I listened in, wondering what could pass for a quest in this version of Shin. Assuming it was the same world but well, I had no reason to believe otherwise.

  "The garrison's contract a nice payout, I'll admit. I don't hate it. But compared to monster hunting, it feels a bit lackluster."

  "It can't be helped, we're technically just hired help. The professional soldiery's paid more, so if you want, feel free to enlist."

  "And toss away the freedom to travel about the empire? Nah."

  An empire? Curious, I don't recall any nations in FLOW ever being one. Well, actually there had been one, and we did sort of help collapse it. That'd been fun.

  "Besides, you know we'll be getting bonus pay if the tide hits. And we help in breaking it."

  "Yeah. And it's tripled if we drown in it."

  Oh. That was an awkward silence. I could feel the tension from the simple mention.

  "...If that happens, do you-"

  "No, don't ask. It'll make me worry it'll happen. But we can't. The money's too good, and we're mercs. We won't turn down the chance."

  I decided I heard enough and directed my bird to ascend back into the clouds and out the city. I needed to gather my thoughts and reflect on what I'd just learned.

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