Among the enemy

Still hidden in the forest, Ryu changed his robes to the characteristic gray robes of the highvale he had taken from the dead man. In addition to the gray robes with a red armband on his left arm, Ryu left separate the hexagonal insignia he'd gained from people he'd defeated before, though he didn't know if the object was really for identification.

Infiltrating a small base was a risk, as people might suspect an unknown person hanging around. However, the disinterested attitude of the soldiers was an important factor to be considered, as none of the soldiers seemed willing to engage in any activity that involved unnecessary work.

Then, disguised as a soldier from the high valley, Ryu left the forest towards the mine. Ryu walked slowly to hide his anxiety under the facade of naturalness, so he covered the distance to the mines without anyone noticing his approach, as the one who was supposed to watch him remained dead in the forest.

A soldier patrolling was passing near the entrance when Ryu entered the base. So, Ryu's accelerated into his chest, fearing that his plan might have failed at the very beginning, but he turned his back to pretend that he was the appointed watcher to guard that place.

As the man approached their location, an urge to abandon the plan and flee began to surface in Ryu's mind. In an attempt to play a highvale soldier, Ryu ended up turning his back on the enemy, putting himself in an extremely unfavorable position.

If the passing man suspected Ryu, he could easily attack him from behind. So with every step Ryu heard behind his back, an overwhelming urge to pick up his staff and turn around and swing it as hard as he could at the man's head on his back rose in his heart, but Ryu fought the feeling and resisted because he knew it would be the stupidest thing to do.

Eventually, the steps changed direction as the man passed on his way, indicating that he was going away and that he didn't suspect Ryu. The man walked by a few steps from Ryu and didn't notice anything strange about him.

After the man passed, Ryu stood guard for a few minutes in that position as he calmed down, then turned and walked towards the center of the mine. On the way o the center, another man came in towards him, but this time, turning his back on him was not an option.

Using all his poker face, Ryu continued on his way as if he were just another soldier patrolling, though inside, he was desperate. When Ryu passed this other man, he looked directly into the man's eyes and nodded slightly, greeting the man.

Amazingly this strategy of pretending calm worked again, as the man returned the silent greeting by nodding his head back. With each successful encounter, Ryu's confidence in his disguise increased, so he continued to walk around the base until, after some time, he came across almost every soldier.

Instead of rushing straight to his objective, the food storage, Ryu took some time to walk around to get the highvale soldiers to get used to with his face, so he would have more safety later on when he approached the store or entered the mines.

However, Ryu knew that time was also an issue, as someone might notice the disappearance of the man who lay dead in the forest. But this was a factor beyond Ryu's control, a problem every spy had to face; the luck factor.

So, for the whole morning, Ryu walked around without destine, sometimes he stopped to eavesdrop on a conversation, another time, he poked his head into a hut when nobody was looking. This way, Ryu was learning the interaction between the highvales to reproduce it later if necessary.

By the end of the morning, Ryu started feeling totally comfortable walking around the base and passing by a soldier no longer bothered him. However, Ryu had yet to the mines to check on the slaves.

As he walked freely among the enemy, Ryu counted thirty-seven soldiers at the base, but there may be more within the few barracks that he couldn't verify. It remained for the afternoon to make a more precise evaluation of the slaves and find out how many of them would be able to fight or if there were any.

*Plim, Plim, Plim*

An alarm sounded at the base, and Ryu turned pale as the only thought in his mind was: 'They found the corpse.' It happened sooner than expected, but it happened anyway, so he started walking towards the base exit to escape.

Although the soldiers might not immediately link the man's death to Ryu, sooner or later, someone would make the connection, so he decided to flee when he had a chance. But when Ryu started walking towards the exit, someone called him.

"Hey! Didn't you hear the bell?" a young man asked Ryu.

"Huh? The doorbell, right. I was just going to... check something." Ryu tried to dismiss the question, but he couldn't think of a good excuse in the heat of the moment.

"Are you serious? Now? You're new here, am I right? So let me explain to you, when the bell rings, you better go right away, okay?" the young man said, frowning.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know it was like that. I'm kind of new here." Ryu said. If Ryu tried to deny that he was, in fact, new to the base, the young man would surely find it strange.

"It's okay. Let's see what we have for today." the young man said, taking two steps towards the center of the base, then paused and turned to look at Ryu as if inviting him to walk together.

In the first interaction with a soldier, Ryu found himself in a trap. If Ryu refused to follow the man, he would automatically arouse suspicion, but running away was also a risky option because the moment he started running, the young man would be alerted. Taking the man down wasn't an option either, as Ryu wasn't confident to end the fight with a single blow.

Left with no options, Ryu decided to follow the man for now. And just as Ryu followed the young man towards the center of the base, most of the other soldiers also headed towards the same destination, leaving Ryu even more worried.

"What is happening in the city?" the young man asked.

"I'm not sure..." Ryu replied, but this question Ryu had already prepared to answer evasively, he tried to add some lies to give more credibility, "When they sent me, it was a mess, run to that place, then run to that other place, but they never said us what was going on. ".

"It's always like this. They don't bother to give details." the young man said irritably, then added, "By the way, my name is Cory.".

"I'm Ryu, nice to meet you." said Ryu, noticing several eyes fixed on him since Cory asked about the city. However, his evasive answer seemed to please, as most of them nodded in agreement. After all, all these people were unsatisfied with the highvale to make them stay at this base.

As soon as Ryu finished introducing himself, he reached the center of the base. And the soldiers were gathered in front of a large tent, waiting for something.