After the gate opened, Alex stepped through it.
Society!
Finally, he was back amongst humans!
"Did you get a good harvest?" the guard from earlier asked Alex with a smirk.
Alex immediately became nervous.
Would they confiscate his belongings?
When the guards saw Alex's reaction, they laughed. Obviously, after confirming the authenticity of Alex's document, they had all relaxed.
"You don't need to worry. If the Duke wanted us to inspect your belongings, he would have written it down on your document," one of the guards said. The guard walked closer and put his hand on Alex's shoulder.
At least, he tried to.
Alex stepped away from the hand out of reflex.
After living in the wilderness for such a long time, Alex became careful of any physical contact.
The guard blinked in confusion as he saw Alex step away, and he awkwardly lowered his hand.
"Man, you're a suspicious one," the guard said with a bitter smile.
Alex became a bit embarrassed. "Sorry. I've been in the wilderness for six whole months. I'm not used to talking with other humans."
The guard smiled and nodded. "That's understandable. We also have to live in the wilderness as part of our training, but we have our team with us. I can't imagine how lonely it must have been to be all alone in a forest."
The entire feeling and atmosphere the guards gave off had changed.
The guards had appeared stalwart, careful, and aggressive when Alex had come.
But now, the guards didn't feel any different than the police on Earth.
They simply talked to Alex casually.
"That's a nice sword," one of the guards said as he looked at Alex's sword. "Who made that?"
Alex subconsciously protected his sword. "I don't remember," he said.
Surprisingly, the guard nodded understandingly. Apparently, Duke Whirlwind had written about Alex's memory loss in the document he had handed Alex.
"Too bad. Hey, you really don't need to be that careful. Our equipment is good enough, and if it gets out that we are trying to steal from one of the Duke's guests, our heads will roll," the guard said.
Alex wasn't sure how he should respond to that.
He had already said sorry earlier, and saying sorry again would sound awkward.
Instead, an awkward silence came down on the camp of guards.
"Let me show you where you need to go," another guard said, pointing towards the mountains.
"Yes, thank you," Alex said, happy that the awkwardness vanished.
"Have fun outside, kid," one of the guards said with a wave.
"Thanks, you too," Alex answered.
He was really unused to talking to people.
Back on Earth, Alex had been a very extroverted person. He loved going out with his friends, and he had had no issues with crowds.
But after living in the wilderness for such a long time, Alex became a bit uncertain about his people skills.
Alex's eyes subconsciously darted to the guards' weaknesses and their weapons.
It was like Alex was ready to break out into a fight at any moment.
Alex and one of the guards left the camp behind as they followed a dirt road between the mountains.
However, after around two minutes, the guard in front of Alex stopped, and Alex took a step back.
Then, the guard turned around and threw Alex a concerned look. "You really need to stop looking at other people like this," he said.
"Like what?" Alex asked carefully.
The guard pointed at Alex.
"Like that!" he said. "You're following behind me in total silence. Your footsteps even copy my footsteps! Then, you constantly inspect my body all over. You don't act like a warrior, but like an assassin."
"Do you know how awkward it is to walk in front of you? Every five seconds, I need to turn around since I can't hear you, and I always think that you vanished or something. On top of that, whenever I turn around, I see how you're inspecting my body with narrowed eyes. It's like you're trying to find the best spot to kill me!" the guard said with annoyance.
Alex looked away from the guard with an uncomfortable expression.
That was exactly what he had been doing.
Of course, Alex hadn't truly planned on attacking the guard. It was simply a reflex born out of being around nothing but enemies.
When the guard saw Alex's expression, he relaxed a bit and sighed. "Listen, we warriors can deal with that. We know how it feels to be among normal humans again after a long period of fighting. However, normal humans can't deal with something like this."
"Any normal guy you can find in a village, town, or city will think that you are a shady creep. You give off this thief or bandit vibe. Honestly, I'm fairly sure that you will find plenty of women pushing their child away from you and plenty of men that will put a hand over their sacks of gold."
"Try to get acclimated to human society again," the guard said.
Alex didn't like what he was hearing, but he had to admit that the guard had a point.
Alex had to get used to being amongst humans again.
"Sorry, and thank you for the advice. I'll try to work on that," Alex said.
"Let's work on that right now," the guard said.
Alex lifted an eyebrow in uncertainty. "How?"
"Simple," the guard said as he walked to the side. "Walk in front of me for the remainder of the way."
Alex immediately became nervous.
This guard was probably a bit more powerful than Alex.
If the guard tried to attack Alex from behind, there was a high likelihood that Alex would die.
In Alex's mind, this was stupid.
The guard saw Alex's hesitation and silently shook his head.
"Shang, that is your name, right?" he asked.
Alex nodded.
"I've been walking in front of you this entire time. How do you think I feel?" he asked.
Alex was surprised by the guard's words.
"Imagine walking in front of a guy that copies your footsteps and constantly eyes your back like you're a piece of meat. You think that's fun?" the guard asked.
"Yet, did you see me have a problem with it? No! Not every human wants to kill you."
"Listen, I'm a guard employed by Duke Whirlwind, and my colleagues saw me leave with you. Do you honestly think I would even dare to do anything against you? If I did, chances are high that the Duke would find out very quickly. What then?"
"I would be executed."
"For what?"
pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ "For a sword and some scraps of fur?"
Silence.
Alex felt like he was being led into a trap.
Alex definitely didn't want to turn his back to the guard.
However, Alex's logical mind also realized that everything the guard had said was true.
So, in the end, even if Alex didn't want to, he still passed the guard and walked in front of him.
"Just continue down the road. As soon as we pass the mountains, I'll show you where to go," the guard said from behind Alex.
Clank. Clank. Clank.
Alex heard the guard's footsteps behind him. Without noticing it, Alex had started to walk as silently as possible to make it easier to hear the guard's footsteps behind him.
Alex's mind was going wild with possibilities.
This was far more stressful than he had thought.
Clank. Clank…
BANG!
Alex jumped forward and looked back.
He hadn't heard the latest step of the guard!
Alex saw the guard standing a couple of meters away from him, his arms crossed in front of his chest. He was looking at Alex with a concerned look.
"What's up?" he asked.
"You stopped walking," Alex said awkwardly.
"Yeah, humans stop from time to time," the guard said. "Guess what, sometimes, we also accidentally make shorter or longer steps. Don't try to attribute bad intentions to a mere habit."
Alex put his sword away again and continued walking.
'I might actually have a problem,' Alex thought.
Clank. Clank. Clank.
Clank. Clankclank.
Alex's hairs stood on end, and he turned his head back.
The guard had kicked a small pebble to the side.
Then, the guard gestured to the path ahead with his head.
Alex continued walking.
In total, they walked for nearly ten minutes.
This might have been the most stressful walk in Alex's life.
When Alex passed the last mountain, he walked to the side and looked at the guard.
The guard leisurely walked forward and stopped beside Alex.
"See? Was that so bad?" the guard asked.
Alex didn't answer.
He only grimaced.
Meanwhile, the guard pointed towards the distance, at the foot of another mountain.