AN: If you like what you are reading, you can help by giving my novel Rating.
As I once again crawled up into the hidden cave entrance, I turned back and reached out my hands to help Dave and Sam up.
This time, we were traveling light. Before we climbed up here, we emptied all our bags and buried all our morning's work at the foot of a tree, if what the boys say turns out to be true, we are going to need the space to haul all our loot.
As Dave and Sam looked around the dark cave beyond the illusion, Sam said, "Did either of you being a tor-" only to have Dave clamp his hand over his mouth and shush him.
"Stay quiet, remember what I said, sometimes this place is used to lay low, there may be someone in here. If there is someone, we are out of here." Dave whispered.
Damn, kid's got some street smarts, that did not come to mind for me. Speaking of which, if there was anyone in there, would they have heard my hand punching a hole in the wall when I first climbed up? I sure hope not.
In place of the torch Sam asked about before being shushed, I conjured a dim light which I pointed at the floor as we walked forward as silently as we could, and I helped by using air instinctive magic to form a dome of still air just above our waists.
With the air in the dome being forcefully stilled, means no transfer of vibrations, in turn, means no sound. I could tapdance on this hard stone and not make so much of an ant's fart of noise.
After a few steps, the boys noticed the unnatural silence of our steps and gave me questioning looks, to which I waved them forward and signed to them 'later', or at least I think I did.
After walking for what felt like 50 meters or so, the path started to get windy as it began to decline. It was around this time that I started noticing something.
I stopped, and the boys stopped behind me while giving me the 'What's going on?' look. I then went to the wall and ran my hand against it, and it was smooth… too smooth. I turned my conjured light palm side up and increased the brightness just enough that we could see the section of the tunnel we were standing in.
It was too smooth to be natural, I gestured for the guys to follow me as I backtracked a bit to the point where the path began to decline and noticed the change from the natural rough cave walls to the smooth, most likely magic-made, tunnel.
Chances are, that the cave ended where the natural wall did, and the occupants did more than a little renovation. With my curiosity sated, we traveled further down the tunnel.
Around a hundred meters or so in, I noticed something and stopped, signaled the boys to get low as I did so myself, and released my hold on the conjured light.
Doing so, I think I startled one or both of the boys as one of them reached out to grab my arm. It was when then that they noticed what I noticed, it was dim, but there was light ahead of us.
I know that they said that we are out of here the moment we know someone is home, but come on, secret hideout under a small hill, I got to at least take a peek.
As I slowly walked forward, now I could feel two sets of hands urgently tapping and tugging at me. After turning around and having a mime argument with the boys, I somehow convinced them to at least have a peek.
We crept forward to where the light was coming from and saw that the light was coming from around a bend. Going forward, I peeked around and saw that there was no one around in the room that was lit by a hand-held lantern hanging in the middle of the room.
As I looked some more, this room was barely furnished, there were a bunch of small crates in a corner, and there were doorways that led to the front, left, and right, but when I saw doorways, there were not really any doors, it was just some patched leather that was used as a curtain covering them.
Soon, the boys were looking over my shoulder at the room and I had to wave them back for what I was about to do. I closed my eyes and sent forth air instinctive magic like feelers to see if I could pick up any sounds, be it talking, footsteps, or even breathing.
As my mana feelers swept through the rooms I sensed that the left and right rooms were small and full of stuff, I am not sure what it was, but it was stuff. As for the doorway ahead, the only thing I could tell as far as my mana feelers could perceive, was that it was a corridor, beyond that, I would have to see for myself.
When I was confident that there was nobody around as far as the corridor was concerned, me and the boys checked inside the left and right rooms to see what was there.
While Dave and Sam went to check out the right room, I went to the left to see what they were storing. When I entered, there was barely any walking space, I once again conjured light and looked around.
The first thing that caught my attention was an already opened box, and when I looked inside, they were full of swords. Upon picking one up and examining it, I noticed that these swords were totally unmarked. Just to be sure, I dismantled the hilt and checked the tang of the blade in case there was any marking to tell who made the blade, there was none. I then used the sword I dismantled and pried open a few other boxes.
What I found were more swords, shields, spearheads, crossbows, and bolts for said crossbows. All of them are unmarked and unremarkable in design.
As I looked at the crates stacked in the room up to the ceiling, I could only assume all these crates were also unmarked weapons. And if I can draw any patterns from my old world and the history of my current world, unmarked weapons in such quantities, it is almost always bad news.
This could be explained by it being just a smuggling operation, or it could be as serious as someone preparing for a rebellion or insurrection, but for it to be so close to the capital… that is unlikely… unless it is some high nobles pulling something big.
As I thought of more reasons someone would stockpile so many unmarked weapons, the mana feeler I left in the corridor picked up the sound of someone approaching.
I immediately exited my room and looked at the center doorway that led to the corridor and thanked god that the interior decorator liked to put leather curtains at the doorways. Before whoever was approaching us reached the leather curtain, I rushed into the right room where Dave and Sam were, clamped their surprised mouths, and raised a sound barrier against the entrance of the room.
I raised a finger to my lips, then pointed at the entrance of the room and their eyes opened wide at what I was trying to get across to them.
When I knew the boys would be quiet, I dropped the sound barrier to listen in case whoever was approaching decided to divulge any information, what I heard instead was just footsteps. But something was weird, they sounded… they sounded similar to the sounds I make when I walk around barefooted at home.
As I heard the leather flap pushed aside and the footsteps came from just outside the entrance we were facing, I slowly got to the ground and peeked from under the leather curtain, only to see green feet, and not just any green feet… green hobgoblin feet.