Chapter 904: Battle Alert (First Half)
Vader went out on patrol every evening at dusk.
Most nights he took two or three officers with him and made a circuit of Neverwinter. Sometimes, though, he went alone—in theory, the chief of the police department and the third-ranking man in the Security Bureau had no business patrolling the streets himself. But he preferred the feel of the city under his feet to the feel of paper under his hands, so he kept going.
He had been in Neverwinter for a year and a half. Two things here had made the deepest impression on him. The first was the pace of the city’s expansion: when he’d arrived, he could walk Border Town’s perimeter in half an hour. Now that same walk took at least three times as long, and that was without counting the harbor to the south and the farmlands spreading eastward.
The second was the peace.
The most common crimes in Neverwinter were theft and brawl, and those were also the worst of it. Homicide, robbery, kidnapping—events that in any city he’d known could be expected weekly—happened here so rarely they still startled him when they did. The security had deteriorated, briefly, during the worst of the refugee influx, but the police department and the Witch Union together had dealt with the troublemakers quickly. His Majesty’s promise to solve every crime had not been an empty one: in the face of Summer’s retrospective ability and Vanilla’s tracking ability, there was nowhere for a criminal to go. The risk was too high and the cost was absolute. The Black Street Rats had been cleared away entirely.
He did the patrols because he wanted to feel it—this peace—with his whole body. There was a particular satisfaction in seeing a citizen strolling carelessly through the city after dark, seeing the nod of recognition they gave him as he passed. The trust in that nod was something he had never expected to earn.
He had come to Neverwinter expecting to become a street thug again. Not this.
Both jobs—patrol guard and police chief—were built on the same skeleton. The same procedures, nearly the same tasks. But the outcomes were entirely different people. The difference, he thought, was most likely the capabilities of whoever stood at the top.
“Chief—going without me?” Whistle fell into step beside him just outside the City Hall, where he’d been dispersing his troops for the evening.
“Aren’t you going to spend time with that girl of yours tonight?”
Whistle’s face colored immediately. “You—how do you know about that. It’s not—it isn’t necessary to be together every single evening.”
Several passing citizens laughed at this.
Vader kept his face neutral. “You’d better be careful, or someone will take her from you.”
“Shut—shut up!”
Vader shook his head, smiling despite himself. “Go on. I’ll handle the patrol tonight. Head home.”
“Well—in that case, thank you, Chief!”
He watched Whistle’s back as the man went off practically at a trot, and felt something settle in his chest—fond, and a little wistful. When he’d left Valencia all those years ago, he’d been alone and had assumed he would stay that way. He hadn’t imagined this: a career that meant something, a house purchased adjoining his father Cacusim’s, and—slowly, in the back of his mind—the beginnings of a thought about finding someone himself.
He turned and walked toward the City Hall gates.
The alarm hit him before he was through them.
“Woo—woo—”
A long, rising shriek, cutting upward in a loop that repeated and repeated without break or rest.
Vader stopped moving.
He knew every alarm sound this city used. This one he had heard only in drills—never in the city, never under a real sky. It was the highest-level alert, the one not sounded even during the Months of Demons, the one that meant something qualitatively different from anything that had come before. It lodged in the chest rather than just the ears.
Under this alarm, Neverwinter went to martial law. All city gates closed. The police cleared the streets. The First Army formed a defensive perimeter.
“Chief!” Whistle burst back out of the office with the rest of the team on his heels.
Vader turned. The entire City Hall courtyard had frozen—clerks, officials, guards—everyone standing perfectly still with the same expression of stunned incomprehension, as if they’d collectively forgotten how to move.
His Majesty is with the troops recovering Graycastle. This is not a drill.
Whatever has happened, it happened now—when Neverwinter is most exposed.
“Stop standing there!” His voice came out like a crack of timber. “Move! Whistle, recall everyone on leave. Firehead—the rest of you, with me to the wall. Do exactly what you practiced in the exercise. Is that understood?”
The snap of it woke them up. Officers, clerks, officials—everyone broke into motion at once.
“Yes, understood!”
Vader was already moving, leading a group of police at a run through the castle quarter.
Out on the main street, he found what he’d feared: confused residents standing in clusters, looking up at the sky as if the sound were coming from above them. The new alarm system had only been installed since the new year. There had been no citywide drill, no public rehearsal. His Majesty had not expected an emergency this soon—and if Vader were being honest with himself, it was a lapse. He would have sounded the regular bell at the same time and given the citizens a clearer prompt to move. But now was not the moment to weigh mistakes.
He stopped, clapped his hands once—sharp, carrying—and waited for heads to turn. “Everyone listen! Go home immediately and stay indoors. This is an enemy attack alarm. Go home now!”
“Go home—don’t stay on the street!” Firehead and the others took up the call around him.
Fortunately, the police still had the city’s trust. The administrative department had run multiple drills with the regular alarms, and people had some muscle memory for this. The street began to empty. One by one, then in groups, residents turned for the residential quarters.
They ran for the wall.
Soldiers covered every stretch of the parapet, flags snapping hard in the evening wind. The artillery platforms had their guns already laid across the grassland, muzzles aimed at nothing yet—waiting. Vader felt something in him quiet when he saw that. The First Army was already in place. Whatever was coming would have to come through this.
That had been proven, battle after battle. Nothing got through.
The police spread across the wall district and set to work securing the area, pulling order out of the crowd’s agitation. It wasn’t difficult—people were frightened but listening. Vader moved through the positions, checking, and gradually realized that the grassland below the wall was completely undisturbed. The treeline of the Misty Forest stood still to the west. The Impassable Mountain Range closed the horizon to the east. Between them, across the flat open ground where no army could move unseen for more than a mile—
Nothing.
Not a single shadow. Not a sound.
Where is the enemy?
In one of the meeting rooms inside the Lord’s castle, another kind of battle had already begun.
“Because of an unknown witch’s mumbling—” Barov turned from the table to fix Wendy with an expression of pure disbelief, “—you triggered the highest-level alarm?” He gestured toward the window, through which the alarm’s wail was still faintly audible. “Do you have any idea how much disruption and loss this will cause? We don’t even know whether this woman Lorgar can be trusted. And if I’m not mistaken, your only evidence is her sleep-talk!” His voice rose. “You’ve shut down half of Neverwinter on this—what am I supposed to tell His Majesty when we fall behind on every task he assigned us?”
Chapter 904: Battle Alert (First Half)
Translator: TransN Editor: TransN
Vader would go out and patrol every time dusk came.
Most of the time, he would circle Neverwinter with two or three of his subordinates. But sometimes, he would choose to head out alone—in theory, he was already the chief of the police department and the third most authoritative person within the kingdom’s Security Bureau, so he didn’t need to do any patrols personally. But he continued to do so as he preferred to get himself involved in the field rather than doing paperwork in the office.
He had already been in Neverwinter for a year and a half, and there were two things here that impressed him the most. The first was the exponential rate at which the city was expanding. It took him only half an hour to walk around Border Town when he first arrived, but now it would take him at least three times as long just to circle the city. That’s not even including the harbor to the South and the farmlands to the east.
Secondly, the law and order of Neverwinter could only be described as amazing. The most common crimes were theft and brawl, but they were also the most serious ones. Crimes such as homicide, robbery, kidnapping rarely happened. The security of Neverwinter had deteriorated before when there was a massive influx of refugees, but with the combined efforts of the police department and the Witch Union, the troublemakers were swiftly dealt with.
His Majesty’s promise on solving every single crime was not a bluff. In the face of Summer’s retrospective ability and Vanilla’s tracking ability, no criminal was able to escape the law. Due to the high risk and cost of crime, coupled with zero tolerance for Black Street Rats, Neverwinter’s public security was able to experience a visible improvement.
He insisted on his daily patrols as he wanted to feel this peace—he would feel an immense sense of pride and satisfaction whenever he saw the carefree passersby strolling around late at night and seeing the trusting look on their faces as they saluted to him.
He was surprised himself that he could turn out to become a law enforcer respected by all instead of ending up a street thug that was condemned by the public.
He had never experienced such a feeling when he was in the patrol team.
Both of these jobs were designed for the same purpose. Even the procedure and the tasks were similar, yet they lead to entirely different results.
The main difference would probably be the capabilities of the rulers.
“Chief, should I go with you?” he was greeted by Whistle who had just dispersed his troops outside the city hall.
“Oh? Are you not going to spend time with that lady today?”
“You… even know about that,” Whistle’s face suddenly began to turn red, “Well… it’s not necessary to stay together every night.”
Some of the passersby burst into laughter at his remark.
“Then you’d better be careful, or else she will get stolen by someone else.”
“Shut… shut up!”
Vader shook his head with a smile. ” I’ll be fine to patrol alone today. You should finish up and head home.”
“Well… in that case, thanks, Chief!”
Looking at Whistle’s back as he went away excitedly, Vader became a little emotional. When he had first left Valencia, he was alone and had thought that he would spend the rest of his life in solitude. He did not expect that he would be able to accomplish so much in his life. He started to consider
finding his significant other after buying an adjoining house for his father Cacusim and himself.
Just as Vader was about to walk out of City Hall, a shrilling alarm suddenly went off in the city.
“Woo—woo—”
His face froze.
The sound of this alarm was utterly different from the ones that were used before. It consisted of a crescendo that was in an endless repeat. It was the kind of sound that would not be forgotten when heard once—it represented the highest level of alert that was not heard even in the Months of Demons. In fact, he had only rehearsed it during a drill, so this was the first time he had actually heard the alarm blare across the city.
According to procedures, when the highest alarm sounded, Neverwinter would be placed under martial law. The city gates had to be all closed. The police would be responsible for clearing the streets, while the First Army would form a defensive perimeter.
“Cheif!” Whistle and the rest that were with him rushed out of the office.
Vader turned around and saw that the entire City Hall was at a standstill. Everyone was so overwhelmed and stunned that they were frozen stiff on the spot.
His Majesty is now leading the troops to recover the Kingdom of Graycastle, so this is definitely not a drill!
Just what exactly had happened that would make the Garrison sound this alarm?
Damn it, it just had to happen now when Neverwinter is at its most vulnerable!
He gritted his teeth and shouted, “Stop standing there! Hurry up and get into action! Whistle, recall everyone that’s on vacation! Firehead, take the rest
and follow me to the wall! Do what you did when we carried out the exercise. Do you understand?”
Vader’s thunderous voice not only awakened the police members from their daze, but it also shook the city hall officials into action.
“Yes, I understand!”
The City Hall became busy instantly, but Vader was in no mood to bother about those officials. He rushed out of the castle area with a group of police.
When he saw the confused residents on the street, Vader felt completely stressed out.
Since this alarm system was only put into practice after the new year, it had not even gone through a citywide drill. Perhaps His Majesty did not expect such an emergency to happen so soon. But now that it did, it can only be considered as a careless mistake by the Garrison. If the decision were up to him, he would have sounded the regular alarm bell at the same time, as to evacuate the people wandering on the streets.
But anyways, now was not the time to complain. Vader clapped his hands and made the surrounding residents focus their attention on him. “Everyone listen up! Go home right now and stay indoors! This is an alarm of an enemy attack. I repeat! Everyone go back home now!”
“Go home immediately and don’t stay here!” Firehead and the rest also started to follow his example and shouted out to warn everyone.
Fortunately, the police department had the trust of the residents. Coupled with the fact that the administrative department had also gone through multiple drills with the routine alarms, everyone started to move to the residential quarters after hearing the warnings.
In this manner, a group of people started to shout as they ran towards the city wall.
The soldiers were everywhere on top of the city wall, and flags were flapping widely against the setting sun. The artilleries on the platform were readied and aimed towards the vast grassland in front, waiting to fire as soon as they see any slight movement. Witnessing this scene, Vader was able to calm down a little.
As long as the First Army was around, no army can breach through this invincible defense line.
This was a point proven battle after battle.
The police quickly committed themselves to on-site security and ensured a minimal level of order… But Vader was puzzled as to why while the highest level of alarm was sounding, the grasslands and jungles of the Western Region remained motionless.
Where are the enemy?
In the meantime, another group of people started quarreling in one of the meeting rooms at the Lord’s castle.
“Because of an unknown witch’s mumbling, you triggered the alarm of the highest level?” Barov looked at Wendy with an expression of disbelief. “Do you know how much trouble and loss this will cause us? We don’t even know whether this woman named Lorgar can be trusted. And if I’m not mistaken, your only evidence is her sleep-talk! It’s ridiculous to shut down half of Neverwinter only based on this! How do you expect me to explain this to His Majesty if we end up not being able to accomplish our previously assigned tasks?”