For the Glory of Rome: Chronicles of an Isekai'd Legion

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,

While the storm above him grew..."

It was one of the first songs he'd ever learned, from a rather gravelly-voiced man performing at a harvest festival, and one that made him want to be a bard. It was still one of his favorites to this day. He often sang it to close the night out in taverns, its melody a lullaby to the sleepy patrons who were just a little bit too deep in their cups.

As he went, he saw no small number of heads turn as they stopped their work and listened for a moment or two. A few of the village children even began to play and run alongside him for brief stretches. Marcus couldn't help but smile, basking in the attention. He briefly considered pulling out his lute from where it was slung over his shoulder, just to add some accompaniment. But that could become a bit disruptive. He had no desire to completely arrest the town's productivity, and the Legionnaires usually weren't fond of people clogging up their streets.

"Oh my darling, oh my darling,

Oh, my daring valiant knight..."

Marcus stepped through the open front gate and turned back to wave at the guards. They were a pair he recognized, though their names weren't known to him. Learning the names of six thousand individual men took time, after all.

"There you are."

Marcus's song abruptly cut off as a familiar voice sent ice down his spine. He spun to face its source—a previously unseen figure pushing off from the outer wall and stalking toward him.

The woman before him was no simple peasant girl like those he'd grown so accustomed to seeing amidst Habersville's populace. Rather, she was an immaculate lily, bursting forth proudly from among the grasses. While her beauty would have been only passable among the women of Novara's capital, even that much set her head and shoulders among the rest in a backwater like Habersville. Which was exactly why he could recall her face.

Marcus kept his eyes planted firmly ahead, not willing to help her one bit.

"You see," she continued, looking at the camp that seemed all too distant, "They have quite an interesting architectural style. All of this new construction is making that quite clear. I went and visited the beginning of what they claim is an aqueduct, and I can't help but think it looks... awfully familiar. In fact, it looks quite similar to those ruins we explored together. You remember that, don't you?"

Marcus flicked his eyes over to glance at her face. Despite his skills' attempts to neutralize her anger, Myra's delicate features remained accusatory—if less angry than he'd initially feared. Most of her wrath had been replaced with curiosity and suspicion at this point.

Hopefully, it would stay that way.

"I hadn't noticed the similarities," Marcus said honestly. Perhaps he should have, but there had been so many other things vying for his attention. Besides, he'd had better things to focus on during their little excursion.

"Well, I certainly have. Although I've yet to return to the ruins and confirm." Myra hummed thoughtfully. "It's strange, isn't it? A mysterious group appearing out of nowhere, just a single day after we explored those ruins. A group whose structures bear an uncanny resemblance to ones made thousands of years earlier. That is quite the coincidence, isn't it Marcus?"

"Perhaps," Marcus allowed, drawing out the word. "Stranger things have been known to happen."

He could tell that the woman was building to something, and quite frankly, Marcus wanted no part of it. Thankfully, the gate to the camp loomed only a short distance away. Cassius and Sextus stood among the Legionnaires guarding it, their shift having taken them to this post for the day.

Before they quite reached the camp, however, Myra quickly stepped in front of him. "I don't believe in coincidences, Marcus. Especially not like this. I seem to recall telling you not to touch anything in those ruins, especially if it could be of historical importance. You didn't happen to find anything like that did you? A relic, perhaps, or some sort of rune circle that you simply forgot to tell me about?"

"Of course not!" Marcus lied through his teeth.

"Mmm-hmm." Myra gave him a dubious look and crossed her arms. He did his best not to look down from her face to the ample cleavage she was showing off. He was pretty sure she did that on purpose. "You're certain? Because—"

"Marcus?"

He sent a silent prayer of thanks to the gods as Cassius's voice rang out. Leaning over to see past Myra, he saw the Legionnaire raise a hand in greeting as he called out again. "You're running late! They were just about to send a runner looking for you!"

Marcus leapt at the opening, quickly stepping past Myra as she looked back at the guard. "Ah, apologies for my tardiness! Myra, as much as I regret cutting our conversation short, duty calls. I'll talk to you some other time!"

By the time he finished speaking, he was already level with the pair of Legionnaires. He lowered his voice to a bare whisper. "Thank you, friend."

Cassius shot him a wink as he fell into step with Marcus as his escort. "You owe me one for this. Perhaps a round of drinks and another story or two."

Even as Marcus disappeared into the bustling camp, he felt Myra's dark eyes drilling holes into the back of his head.