I would say that what we are about to do now is the riskiest part of the journey. After all, the strikeforce has brute force. The fight with the minotaur has proven that quite well enough.

  I don't know if they have the diplomacy or the acting skills to prevent a fight from happening. Normally, I would be able to leave tasks like this to the folks from the guard corps. This is supposed to be their specialty, after all.

  Well, you have already seen how volatile the man is. There is no way that I can leave something this vital in Anthony's hands. I had assumed that he would try to fight me for this role. After all, the man has been in such a bad mood because he wasn't getting any good work. At least he has enough self-awareness to know not to poke into important matters like this.

  I guess I should explain what is happening first. The forces in the town have taken control of my ship and are forcefully landing us on the ground right now. We have to be very careful with them. After all, we don't know what all the vampires have already done in the town.

  A few stories in the town about how we are the allies of the folks in the fort, and we will be screwed. A random whisper of how our heads would send a very good message to the folks in the bone fort will get us killed.

  That is why we are presently pretending to be someone else. It is not like we are not used to pretending anyway. We sentinels have to act as anybody but the people from the legion to do our job.

  Normally, we would pretend to be adventurers who are looking for work. You would be surprised how such a basic story can be this effective. It is a win-win situation for us all. Since the folks in the villages that we go to are anyway likely to give the jobs of hunting beasts to adventurers. (It also means that we can earn extra commission from our hunts.) Now that doesn't work in this place. After all, no adventurer would be foolish enough to enter the bone pits. That too during a wave.

  All of this means that we are going to need a different story. We will have to act as someone with enough strength to survive here. It also has to be somebody weak enough that we won't be gotten rid of just to be safe. (Well, it is wise to be careful, and they are in the death wave.)

  That means that we had to make use different story to get entry into the place. I think that I have a pretty good one ready already. (Well, I was the one who prepared the stories for when we went on the hunt anyway. This is just an extension of that.)

  We should be able to get into the town quite easily. That is as long as everybody in the place remembers their story and blurts out nothing wrong. Whoever we are going to meet is going to be very suspicious of us. They will be looking for even the smallest slip on our side. We can't give them that.

  Just as I am thinking this, we finally land. (My ship has such good suspension formations that I barely feel the landing of the ship.) As the door to our ship opens, I quickly pick up the box in front of me in my hands. After all, I am playing the role of a servant right now.

  At the same time, I am also suppressing my vital mana as much as possible. No need to give the other party an idea of how strong I am. Showing off our strength will only make things harder for us.

  Holding the box in my hand, I begin to walk out. As I get out, I quickly study all the people that we might end up fighting today. We are in a massive landing port. There is a group of twenty soldiers with spears at the entrance of our ship. These people are waiting for us.

  A glance tells me that a group of about a hundred soldiers is standing at the back. They will come here the moment we try to pull something. There are no other ships in this place as well. (This is a bit of a surprise. We had thought there would be a couple of ships at least.)

  We could fight them, but we won't be able to enter the town with those numbers. We might be able to retreat, but then we will have to give up on entering the place ever again. Things really should not go wrong today.

  None of the people talk to me as one of the soldiers points a spear in my near vicinity. (That is how you know our disguises work.) The threat is clear enough, though. I try my best to pretend to be scared.

  I study the leader of the group, an interesting man with a sword on his back. The man is not wearing a shirt. He has a massive scar on his chest that goes from his left shoulder to his hip. It almost looks like somebody has tried to split the man in two with a giant axe. There is also a sharpness to the man's eyes which makes me very wary of him.

  Thankfully, He doesn't pay attention to me as he looks beyond me. Seriously, just how much do people ignore servants?

  I don't need to look back to tell that he is looking at John, who has stepped out right now. Right now, John is dressed as fancily as he can manage to right now. He uses the clothes with him once every few years, so they are pretty fancy. I don't even know why he brought it with him on this trip. (I am thankful he did, though.)

  This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

  Even then, I would say that his clothing is not fancy enough. I just have to hope that these people will think that John has been forced to wear something simple. After all, who would wear fancy clothes after having spent so long in the bone pits? I am sure that what I am saying must seem a bit pessimistic. That is because you have never seen young masters from the south. They wear clothes that would be worth a few mountains at least.

  "I wonder from where you hail?" the officer suddenly spoke. This completely breaks my train of thought.

  He has a harsh voice, with a hint of teasing in his tone. The man doesn't believe John's performance. Well, I knew that clothing was going to be an issue. Let's just hope that it is going to be the only issue.

  "Why would I be telling that to you?" is John's reply. The man has put all of his arrogance in his tone. "We have wasted enough time here. Why are you holding us up here?"

  Now the only question is if it will be enough to fool these people.

  "Well, you certainly talk big, my young friend. I wonder if you will be leaving here today." the man says. The man crosses his arms as he looks at the man.

  It is an easy manner, but one that shows a readiness to fight. I can feel sweat forming on my back as I look at John's posture. John must not react to such an obvious provocation.

  You could say that the young masters from here lack a certain sense of self-preservation. They think themselves so strong that they can ignore anybody weaker than them.

  If John were to take a defensive posture, he would confirm the officer's doubts. I want to scream at the man to calm down, but I naturally can't do that. I can already see that John has begun to stiffen up. His hand is reaching for his sword.

  "You bastard, how long are you going to waste down there?" Anthony's voice echoes as he also leaves the ship. "The lady is already getting bored while you are chatting with this fool."

  John almost grabs his sword, but he manages to discipline himself. He is not able to suppress his rage, though, as he clenches his hand. He turns to face Anthony as he speaks. I wonder how he managed that. The man speaking to us is throwing quite a heavy killing intent at John. Right now, all of my instincts are screaming at me to focus on this man. (It is not really a problem for me since people tend to ignore us anyway.)

  "Then why don't you get the lady out?" He speaks while smiling at the man. "Are you just going to stand here like a rock to see me talk to this man?"

  With that, the man turns to the officer.

  "My friend, what is your name?" John says to the officer. There is an obvious arrogance in his voice.

  "I am known as Enrique Navok. You can call me Captain Navok." the man replies. "I lead the guards of the shipyard here."

  The man has begun to tap his sword as if he cannot wait to draw it. He still looks thoughtful, though, as if he is thinking about the pros and cons of attacking us.

  "Then, Enrique, how long are we going to be wasting time like this?" he speaks. "Now, a beautiful damsel will be coming here in a bit, and I would rather not leave her among you brutes. Let's get any formality that we need to complete already."

  Thank God, with that reply, Enrique is trying to suppress his irritation now. He gestures for the man to follow him out of my vision. I guess that I have to explain what the two men mean by the lady while they complete their work.

  Right now, John, Anthony and Searcher Amelia are playing the role of nobles. All three of them are from some unknown but powerful family from somewhere south of us. They had gone into the bone pits in a boasting session gone wrong. Both John and Anthony were fighting for the attention of Lady Amelia.

  That is why they constantly snipe at each other. Well, I did not plan to add anything like this to my story, but these two bastards have been fighting so much nowadays. I just had to add it. Speaking of Anthony, the man has finally appeared outside the ship. Along with him, we have all the ladies on the ship.

  The most prominent among them is Lady Amelia. (Who is Searcher Amelia, by the way.) Lauren, Emilia and Amelia Mayfire are all playing the role of maids under Lady Amelia. As Anthony escorts them, he suddenly looks at me.

  "You, go and find your master." he commands me. "My servants are going to be escorting the ladies into the town. Tell the fool not to waste too much time."

  As he says so, I can feel the ripple of irritation rise in the troop. Well, Anthony is enjoying his role a bit too much, if you ask me.

  Still, I do what the man has commanded me to. At least the man had the presence of mind to inform me what he planned to do. His soldiers are playing as his servants, by the way. (Right now, my troop and the remaining sentinels are acting as John's servants.)

  I quickly leave the group as I go to the place where the two men had separated themselves. Right now the both of them are standing on either side of a book of some kind. I have to assume that it is some kind of an entry log.

  "....ou have come at the wrong time, young master. The death wave is a bad time for all of us.", Enrique speaks. "Be careful of the streets during the night. We can't help if you disappear in the night."

  He speaks the word with a mockery that would have boiled the blood of any actual young master. John naturally doesn't react to it at all. Well, I think the man took this indifference to him acting stoic.

  "Could you suggest an inn for us then. Someplace clean." John speaks to the man.

  "You can go to the Whitestag Inn. The place is run by a lady from a noble family. It should be to your standards," the man speaks. "I wonder if you can afford it, though."

  "Fine, I will be taking my leave then", John replies. He speaks a bit gruffly as he suddenly remembers that he was supposed to feel insulted

  "Well, young master, I would suggest that you be careful. Such pretty clothes would attract quite a few bandits." he says.

  The threat in the man's voice is clear. It is clear enough that John's hand goes to his sword. He doesn't draw it, though, as he takes a couple of deep breaths and just walks away, gesturing for me to follow him. Naturally, I don't say anything as we leave Enrique behind. A servant would never have spoken up here.