August was not surprised when Diana informed him of a mission. Otherwise then why would Sorcerer Leader Diana take all this time to speak to him?
"Okay so now here are the mission details." Diana passed a medallion which had an eagle crest on it to August. "You have been assigned to Toledo Fort west of here. It is a resource outpost of our Brander clan. This is because of the underground low-grade spirit stone mine that can be found just near the fort. Although it cannot be compared with a high-grade spirit stone mine, it still contributes a lot to the Brander clan's spirit stone reserves."
"Recently, the two rank 0 intermediate sorcerers stationed there were ambushed and killed by some wandering rank 0 sorcerers who we believe are cooperating with our sworn enemy, the Cadogan clan." Diana's face was gloomy when she mentioned this and August could feel a slight change in the temperature of the room as chills began spreading in the office.
However, Diana took a deep breath as her breasts heaved up slightly before deflating once more after recovering her composure. "Due to our tower in Feronia town being the nearest to Toledo Fort, we have decided to send someone to stabilize the situation over there. The medallion I gave to you just now is a Brander medallion that gives whoever possesses it the right to enforce the orders on behalf of the clan. Your mission is to guard Toledo fort for 3 months and ensure that it doesn't fall into the hands of the enemy until the reinforcement that will be sent from the headquarters arrives. This is a compulsory mission. Any questions? "
August had a thoughtful look on his face before replying "I have got no questions." Diana nodded her head in satisfaction and added "Due to the nature of the situation, Great Sorcerer Phelan has approved of the idea of granting you free access to choose another wind sorcery. He expects a lot from you, so do not let him down, Storm."
"Okay, you are dismissed"
August was surprised in his heart. He had heard rumours but he didn't pay them any heed. But it would seem that the Great Sorcerer has taken notice of him. He felt honoured but didn't let that get into his head and took his leave from the office. This recognition was nothing if he ended up losing his life!
He went straight to the library and exchanged his available points for the float sorcery as well as using his special privilege to read the wind spiral barrier sorcery for free. After making his subsequent preparations and saying goodbye to his comrades, August went down from the Sorcerer's tower and to Feronia town and booked a carriage to take him to Toledo Fort.
Three days later,
An ordinary carriage stopped by the gates of a walled, dark fort that looked weathered and old. Some distance away from the fort was a barren mountain that had a large half-circle-shaped hole formed its base and continued underground. This was Toledo Fort.
The town was a mining area with mortals pulling carts of spirit stones and entering the fort while other labourers were heading out to the entrance of a mountain where the spirit stones were mined. This mining activity also led to the indirect creation of other jobs and establishments such as taverns, brothels, and markets. Also, apprentice sorcerers could be seen moving around the town and supervising the resource collection. From the carriage, a male who was about 6ft tall and had blond hair, with golden eyes and wearing a grey robe with an eagle insignia on his chest stepped out. He looked at his surroundings and said nothing as he headed he approached an apprentice sorcerer and showed him the Brander medallion.
The apprentice sorcerer was stunned at seeing the medallion in the hand of this young handsome man and if not for the subtle waves of strong spirit energy that made him know that he was an intermediate sorcerer, he would have thought he was dreaming. The sorcerer bowed respectfully and escorted him to the fort. Upon his arrival at the fort, he met a veteran apprentice sorcerer over there that looked to be in his fifties and have thin strands of grey hair. He came forward and gave a greeting.
"I believe you are the sorcerer we have been expecting, Sorcerer August, the Storm. You can call me Edgar. We had gotten a message of your arrival and since I was holding things down before you came, I could not welcome you, my apologies".
"No need to apologize, Sorcerer Edgar, thanks for your good work. I will handle things from here on out," August coolly replied, with no sign of arrogance in his tone.
Sorcerer Edgar had a doubtful look on his face. With the previous two intermediate sorcerers perishing here recently, he naturally wasn't confident that August would do any better and was expecting an elite rank 0 sorcerer to be sent here. Contrary to his expectations, the only support sent here was another intermediate sorcerer but he didn't dare say anything disrespectful.
August noticed Edgar's skepticism but did not feel anger towards him. If he was in Edgar's place, he would feel the same way. He could only dispel their doubts by proving his ability. Power and capability were all that mattered. Without it, no one would give a damn about you. This was a truth he recognized in his previous world, Earth and was even more accurate in a power-based hierarchy world like this. He then asked, "I would like you to brief me on the situation."
"Excluding myself, there are 500 miners and 7 apprentice sorcerers and the mortal population of the fort was five thousand. Five days ago the fort was attacked by some wandering sorcerers and Cadogan clan sorcerers and we managed to fight them off after a hard-fought battle. There were casualties on both sides and our two intermediate sorcerers perished to the enemy, Sorcerer August," Edgar couldn't help but feel helpless at this point.
"I understand. Can you show me my living quar----"
"ENEMY ATTACK!! Sorcerer Edgar, the enemy is at our gates at this moment and demands to see our leader or else they will kill us all!!!" An apprentice came running over to their side with a look of desperation on their face
August had a cold expression on his face, and his golden eyes radiated a killing intent that made the wind about 15 meters from him blow outwards wildly and said to everyone,
"Follow me!! The enemy will meet their end today!!"