(Soldier POV)

"Hey, Shen! We're on watch duty tonight!"

I looked up at my buddy who had his usual grin on his face while leaning lazily on his spear.

"Godamnit, why did they have to put me with you huh? You're just gonna fall asleep on me again, Jin."

Jin laughed, "Oh come now! It ain't so bad right? Those Beiyang idiots won't dare to come across here. We practically had to coerce their stupid envoy here, didn't we? Didn't you see his face?"

I made a face at him, "No, Chan was with you on gate duty that day remember? I was off shift."

"Oh, right. Well, let me tell ya, he looks like an idiot. I won't be surprised if he got locked up for saying something stupid to our King."

"That bad huh?"

"Yeah, looked like those typical young masters who hadn't seen the world outside of their own courtyards. Bet he never set foot here before this, or even worse, thinks we're inferior to them!"

"Hey! You two!"

The two of us turned to see captain Zhang standing a short distance away with a disapproving look on his face.

Both of us immediately stood at attention and saluted, "Captain!"

"And here I thought you two were eaten by Beiyang dogs for how late you are! Do I need to put you two on shit duty too?!"

"No, sir!"

"Then get your lazy, stinking asses to yer goddamn posts! If I catch either of you sleeping there tonight, I'll have both of you clearing the shit holes for the next two weeks!"

Jin and I scrambled for our post on top of the wall without question.

The wall was built out of sturdy stone, it was meant as a blockade in the event the tunneling operation uncovered something unsavoury and we needed a wall to defend against.

Now that the mountain had somehow disappeared, it was good that we had such a thing built in advance.

The gatehouse was supported with two towers on either sides, the walls several feet high and wide enough for at least two ranks of archers to stand on and fire on our enemies.

Not only that, we had ballistas, archery towers and catapults defending this pass. This was an impregnable fortress by itself.

Even if the Beiyang dogs dared to try and cross the pass, we'll have the vantage point to shoot them down before they could even get to our walls.

Both of us ran up the stairs and on to the top of the walls, pausing to catch our breath.

"Nice of you two to finally show up," Our friend, Chan, said sarcastically. "Thought you two couldn't bear to break me and my dear brother Fang apart!"

Fang did not seem amused, "Shaddup Chan… I'm already having a headache with your stupid talk throughout the day. Let me get out of here, please."

Chan acted offended, "Aww… Here I thought you were actually falling for me, Fang! Weren't you begging to listen to my stories during our shift?"

"I was not. Now shut up and move, I want to hit sack already. Couldn't even take a nap because this idiot kept yappin' away in my ear about his damned wife and son."

Fang trudged down the way we came, giving us a backhand wave as he went.

Chan grinned, "Welp, got the place to yourselves, you love birds. Make sure you two cleanup after you're done eh?"

I showed him the finger, "Fuck you Chan, go back and suck Hua'er's tits."

"Ey! I'll gladly go back to my wife and lay on her while you suck on Jin's tits up here!"

Jin joined me in showing him the finger, "Screw you man, get lost before I kick your ass down the stairs myself!"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm going, I'm going. You two try not to make a mess you hear?"

"Fuck you man," I yelled after him, the man giving me the finger before disappearing down the tower stairs.

Jin and I got to our post on top of the gatehouse overlooking the pass. There was a large crate with two small stools there, something the guards had snuck up so that we could have somewhere to sit during our guard duty.

In the event one of them comes up to check on us, we would push the crate to the side and hide the stools in a small crack in the ceiling.

It's all thanks to the fact that any footsteps within the tower would be amplified and carried to the top.

To hell with those officers expecting us to stand throughout our entire four six hour shifts, we're not statues.

They should be glad we had the sense to sit near the alarm bell that hung on the ceiling, not that I could see any need for it.

Jin immediately leaned his spear on the wall and took a seat on one of the stools, settling down with a loud sigh.

"Man… I can't wait to be out of here…" He sighed, pulling out his flask that no doubt contained alcohol. "Just two more weeks and we'll be rotated and hopefully getting some action."

I took my own seat opposite him, leaning my own spear right beside his, "Yeah well. If what you say about that envoy is right, we should be seeing something big soon."

"Heh, wanna bet if the Beiyang dog is getting hanged or chopped?"

"Man… Don't you think those bastards will strike at us for that?"

He slapped his knee with a bark of laughter, "Ha! Do you hear yourself, Shen? Those Beiyang cowards ain't worth shit! They're just going to be hiding in their damn holes waiting for us!"

I looked at the direction of where the Death Mountains used to be, "I dunno Jin… If they can do that to the mountains…"

"Oh, didn't you already hear? They said it was just a passing dragon that did it. If it weren't for that stupid lizard, we'd have won that battle! Besides, that was only a small expeditionary force. If we were serious, we'd have crushed them into the ground, no competition!"

"I guess. I'm just glad I ain't part of that team."

He clapped me on the shoulder, "Heh, you worry too much bro. Here! It's going to be a long night anyways so why not have a drink?"

I pushed his flask away, "No way, you always fall asleep when you drink. I swear I ain't gonna cover your ass this time if you get caught!"

"Oh you, whatever man. This means more for myself. Hey, you ever gonna confess to that girl or not?"

I sighed, "I don't know man… Qing'er just seems too good for me."

"Hell yeah she's too good for you. But man, I'd kill to have a girl look at me the way she looks at you. She's totally into you, man!"

"Oh, I don't know… Maybe in the next campaign I might be able to get some money to buy us a house. Then I'll ask her, alright?"

"Ha! You know what? I got some good stuff the last time, I can loan you some first, interest free!"

I smirked at him, "Yeah, sure. And you're just going to get me to pay you back in beer, right?"

"You know me so well! Godamnit, just get the girl already!"

"Ah well… You know I… Hmm? Did you hear that?"

I stood up, scanning my eyes towards the pass expecting to see something.

I peered into the darkness, keeping my eye out for any sign of movement but nothing happened.

"What is it?" Jin asked, standing up beside me, his bow in his hands.

"I thought I heard something… Something rumbling…"

"Wolves? Bears? Don't think there are any left in there…"

I shook my head, "No… More like… A group of people marching towards us…"

Jin scoffed before collapsing back onto his stool, "Don't be stupid. If the Beiyang idiots actually grew some balls to attack us, our scouts posted at the front would come riding back to tell us first."

"Hmm… I guess you're right," I admitted, sitting back down. "Well, let's hope there's no stupid officer coming up to check on us tonight."

"I'll drink to that!"

Still… I can't help but feel like I actually heard something… Must have been the wind, I suppose.

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