Chapter 19: An Old Flame
Marcus casually strode through the town, humming a soft tune. He kept his pace slightly slower than normal, engrossed as he was in his own thoughts. Still, to any outside observer, he would appear just as affable and approachable as his usual persona demanded.
As he walked, he scanned the populace of Habersville with an attentive eye. Villagers bustled about their work or aided with construction efforts right alongside the Legionnaires. He even heard an occasional greeting called out to the passing patrols. Compared to even a few days before, the level of respect and deference that the Legionnaires enjoyed had once again risen. They seemed to be held in higher favor than even the town's previous guardsmen.
The reason why was clear. After a bit of asking around, Marcus quickly realized that he'd underestimated how much of a threat the shade slingers had posed to the town. Evidently, the threat of the shadow panthers had been dire enough that they had been petitioning the mayor to call in adventurers—for months. No one had even known about the spiders nesting deeper within. If they had… well, evacuating the town wouldn't have been out of the question.
And now, within a mere week of arriving, the Legion had already dealt with both problems. Without any harm coming to the locals, no less. That alone had gained the summoned soldiers more goodwill than any other constructions or improvements they'd accomplished so far.
And yet, after all that, the soldiers were still level one. Even Quintus, who Marcus knew for a fact had visited the class stone by now. Something was very clearly wrong here, to the point of ridiculousness, and he suspected that Tiberius knew exactly what it was. The next time they met, he'd utilize every trick in the book until the man yielded some answers.
He continued humming as he meandered toward the town's front gate. He passed by Margaret's house and tipped his hat to the old washerwoman as she merrily joined in. Smiling, he opened his mouth and began to sing one of the verses.
"On the mountain, high and broken,
Stood a wizard, robes of blue,
Casting runes and speaking omens,