No More

Chapter 78: Clockwork Part 3

A day later...

"...In that time, that cloaked guy destroyed the rest of the villages under the command of the Clockwork Fortress." Explained Jesse as Petra finally woke up form her coma, trying to wrap her head around the situation. "Now the soldiers are preparing for his assault here at the actual fortress."

[Petra] Level 280

Class: Inferno Assassin

Title: The Song of Flames

Species: Human

Elemental Affinities: [High] Ignis (Fire), [High] Ordo (Order), [low] Perdito (Entropy)

"Wait, you said earlier that he destroyed twenty-four villages," Started Petra, sitting up from her bed. "Does that mean the one we were at was number twenty-four?"

"According to the other soldiers, that village we were at was Outpost 6B." Explained Jesse, shaking his head. "Remember Collin? He was in charge of that place before that cloaked guy killed him."

They're both in their large, stone room in one of the iron towers. Jesse pulled out a large map and placed it on the wall near her bed, revealing the snow-covered landscape, the cliffs to the north, and the flat ground all around the fortress.

"...Do you know why this is called the Clockwork Fortress?" Jesse asked, tapping the recently placed map. "There are twelve villages far away, equally surrounding this place, each one numbered in order as if it's a clock."

"But there are twenty-four villages." Petra pointed out.

Jesse tapped on a village. It had a number and a letter next to it. "These served as outposts for the soldiers here," He then traced his finger back to the fortress. "While the soldiers gave the villagers protection, they not only increased production, they take a small amount of materials back to the fortress in return."

"So they're basically tax collectors?" asked Petra before shaking her head in disappointment. "I can't really be surprised at how other kingdoms run, and yet they couldn't stop one cloaked psychopath from destroying them."

"I'm not even talking about the other twelve villages," Jesse revealed, tapping and tracing the outer ring of villages that are farther away, and are more spread out, but are in equal distance nonetheless. "This place was receiving resources from all twenty-four villages, it's no wonder that this place has so much supplies."

"It makes sense considering that this place has two walls," Agreed Petra. "And one of them is made out of obsidian, and the other is a like a smaller fortress made out of iron blocks."

"That's why this place is called the Clockwork Fortress: the villages surrounding it are arranged and labeled like a clock," Repeated Jesse, looking at the measurements on the map. "With this arrangement, you can easily keep track of how long it takes to move across the entire land under the fortress' control. Both supply lines and movement of enemies, despite having to cover a distance of a thousand blocks."

"But if this place has so much resources, why are so many people starving?" Asked Petra, still grasping the fact that the diameter of the territory of the Clockwork Fortress is a thousand blocks. "Why do we have to slave away just for basic necessities?"

"The woman in charge here says so," Explained Jesse. "I never met her, but already I hate her."

"I hate her too." Agreed Petra before cracking her knuckles. "No one hurts my friends."

After discussing a pointless conversation on who the commander is, why is she doing this, and what to do, Petra decided to change the subject.

"...So if we were at village number twenty-two, which was destroyed soon after we escaped," Asked Petra, remembering the black tornado screaming for Bailey to die, still not comfortable with their current situation as she changed the subject. "How long did it take for him to destroy the remaining villages?"