Harem Regressor: I'll Save Them This Time-Chapter 37: Ch : Summer.

August watched the carriages roll up along the road toward his fortress.

There were three of them, all decorated in von Clair regalia.

A company of Anna’s soldiers accompanied the convoy.

This wasn’t a social visit.

Anna wouldn’t have brought so many horseless carriages if she only wanted to see August.

In fact, she probably would have requested that he visited her.

Several weeks had passed since they defeated the bandits and recruited Sen.

Summer had arrived.

Wildlife overran the nearby forests, and pollen filled the air.

August’s nose was constantly irritated whenever he was outside.

And the leylines had stabilized.

August descended from the wall.

It now extended farther than it had a few weeks ago and separated the fortress into two halves.

A massive wall protected the upper section of the fortress and ringed the keep.

The soldiers and clerks stayed here and practiced in the main courtyard.

An inner wall separated the upper section from the lower section, and it contained a single gatehouse for now.

As Kuda had predicted, merchants and peasants flocked to Gharrick Pass once news spread.

A Bastion was in the county, and his fortress promised protection.

Caravans began to stop here, and that meant there was money to be made.

Trade grew as people serviced the caravans, then shops opened up for the people living in the fortress, and soon families moved in because other people were here.

More people arrived each day.

August had constructed the lower section to protect them, given they had begun to build their own town outside the walls.

How many years had it been since he had commanded a fortress that needed to worry about and protect the general populace?

Too many.

The Far Reaches were practically uninhabitable, even if it had been an important chokepoint.

His last fortress had been an isolated one.

August sped up the arrival of people through his bandit purges.

Sen’s group had been the main one.

She had told him as such, and the leylines had begun to stabilize within days.

But smaller groups continued to operate with much weaker magic users.

Running around burning out bandit camps had spread the word of a new Bastion faster than normal.

Within a month, they’d be spilling outside of the walls again if he didn’t do something.

"Do you ever stop worrying about things?" Sen asked him, dragging him from his thoughts.

He looked over and saw her hovering by his side.

When had she gotten here?

He waved for her to follow him, then headed to the main courtyard in front of the keep.

"I’m a Bastion. If I don’t worry about what happens next, who will?" August replied.

"Somehow that feels too natural coming from you," Sen said.

"I’m still not used to this."

"Remembering one past, but feeling completely differently?"

"Yes. That." Sen nodded, her eyes distant.

"I get strange feelings of nostalgia sometimes, but I don’t know what I’m nostalgic about.

Other times I feel like there’s a hole in my heart, as if I should remember or associate something with what I’m seeing or remembering, but that thing is missing."

Sen suddenly smiled.

"You’re something of a constant, at least."

Good to know, he thought.

Kadria had carried out her end of the deal once again.

The carriages rolled through the gate.

Anna’s soldiers formed up in ranks along either side of the courtyard to greet her.

The officers wore their dress uniforms, their breastplates gleaming for the first time since they had arrived at the fortress.

The captain of the guard patrolled the line, chewing out some of his subordinates and reshuffling the formation.

He wanted the best-dressed guards at the front for his countess to see first.

August meditated while he waited.

He checked on the leylines, did rhythmic exercises to focus his sorcery, and monitored every presence in the fortress.

Beside him, Sen leaned on her sheathed greatsword and tried not to make eye contact with any of the guards.

Her profuse apologies had mended things enough that the guards didn’t glare at her when she passed.

At the same time, the fact she had to apologize so much meant there were things that couldn’t be so easily forgiven.

She was under his protection now, and supporting him.

That kept the guards happy.

Even if they weren’t happy, they had to live with it.

August could run his fortress without them.

"Sorry I’m late," Fei gasped out, running up to his side.

Her tail wagged behind her, batting against August’s legs once she took up her position to his right.

Sen smirked.

"Are you ever not late?" She paused.

"Huh. I get the feeling you’re supposed to be punctual."

Fei gave Sen an odd look, but shrugged the statement off.

Her eyes scanned the courtyard.

A sigh of relief escaped her lips when she saw the convoy only beginning to enter the inner section of the fortress.

"Where’s Kuda?" Fei asked.

"I saw him at breakfast, so I know he’s around."

"You have time to pay attention to other people while shoveling down all that food?" Sen asked.

Fei glared at Sen.

"Be nice," August murmured.

The two women glared at him instead.

With a sigh, August said, "Kuda is preparing the meeting room."

"Eh? Is this important?" Fei asked.

"It’s only Anna’s carriage."

Sen laughed, then tried to cover her mouth and pretend she was coughing.

Fei still glared at her.

August pushed both their heads down, causing both to wince and stop playing around.

"Anna wouldn’t bring three carriages if this was a social visit," August explained.

"I also doubt the soldiers would line up like this," Sen remarked.

"No, that’s pretty normal," August said.

"How often do you think the officers get a chance to show off how well-trained their companies are?

Even a minor visit by the ruling noble is a big deal.

You weren’t on the wall, so you likely missed the crowds in the streets in the lower section."

Sen grimaced.

"No, I saw them. I thought there was a market on today."

"That’s at midday."

Sen and Fei continued to chatter while they waited for the carriages to pull up.

The soldiers accompanying Anna pulled away from the convoy.

They took up positions at the far end of the courtyard.

With so many in one place, August noticed that the guards in the fortress had adjusted their uniforms slightly.

While the guards that had arrived with Anna only wore her family symbol, as befitting a private army, those in the fortress were different.

They had added a small silver patch from the Imperial Army.

August’s historical knowledge of the Empire wasn’t complete enough to help him recognize what it was.

But he at least knew that the guards in the fortress now identified themselves as soldiers of the Empire, rather than mere hired swords under a noble.

For many of them, it was a large step up in status.

The carriages came to a stop.

Anna stepped out from the closest one, her dirty blonde hair almost brown in the summer sun.

She wore an elegant ruffled black dress covered with silver ribbons and bore a red sash.

Her heels were larger than her bust, and August doubted she had any plans to run about much today.

She was dressed to impress.

Vera joined her a moment later in the same sorceress robes from the other day.

Her white robe gleamed.

Clearly, she had cleaned them after the storm.

The lead carriage disgorged a handful of clerks, all dressed up in their puffery and carrying books and pens.

They clustered a short distance away from Anna and Vera, talking furtively to one another.

The officers called their soldiers to attention.

A clatter of boots and armor resounded across the courtyard.

Hundreds of mailed gloves slapped against breastplates.

Fei clapped her hands over her ears.

Gently, August pulled them down, ignoring her watery eyes.

A lean-muscled giant jumped down from the last carriage.

His gray hair was neatly cropped, and his sideburns ran low on his jawline.

He didn’t wear any armor, favoring a simple officer’s uniform that matched August’s.

A golden badge gleamed from his collar, however.

The badge of the royal family.

Bastion Leopold Tyrim, the oldest Bastion in the Anfang Empire, surveyed the courtyard with a gentle smile.

Slowly, he raised his hand to his chest in a salute.

He lowered it, then gestured for the assembled soldiers to be at ease.

"Is that him?" Sen mumbled.

Fei shot Sen a look of disbelief.

The beastkin’s eyes were wide as dinner plates, her ears and tail standing on end.

"How can you not recognize Bastion Leopold?" Fei hissed.

Sen stared at Fei, then looked up at August and shrugged.

"That’s a yes, then."

Another person descended from the carriage behind Leopold.

August stared at her.

He had expected to see her at some point, but not this soon.

Ciana.

She had served Leopold briefly before the fall of the Empire.

Her opinions of him had colored August’s view of him, causing him to take many of the negative views of Leopold with a grain of salt.

She looked so young.

Her single horn stuck out from her forehead.

Her platinum hair glowed in the sunlight.

She had tied it back in a ponytail, pulling back her bangs that August had always encouraged her to keep.

Her horse’s tail swayed behind her as she followed Leopold.

Anna and her entourage approached August.

He greeted Leopold with a salute, and the other Bastion returned it.

Ciana stared up at August with cautious eyes, then hid behind Leopold when August looked back at her.

"Forgive her," Leopold said with a chuckle.

"Unicorn beastkin are naturally skittish around men.

Especially those who are more..." His eyes lingered on Fei and Sen, who hovered close to August’s side.

"Active? Yes, let’s leave it at that." Leopold laughed.

"It’s fine." August shrugged, despite feeling the opposite.

"But why bring a unicorn here given they are rightfully wary of people?"

Leopold raised an eyebrow.

"She needs to learn how to handle others.

Men, women, ’active’ men, enemies, and eventually demons."

"You’re training her to be a Champion?" August asked.

"Blunt, aren’t we?" Leopold chuckled.

"Let’s head inside and continue this."

Anna coughed and gave Leopold a look.

He sighed, scratched a hairy cheek, and decided to stay put.

"Ah, yes, the formalities," he said.

"Well met, Bastion August. On behalf of His Majesty, I congratulate you on your early victories as Bastion, and for uncovering a plot against the Empire.

Suffice it to say that rewards are being prepared and will be doled out once the Federation is sufficiently cowed."

Leopold gave Anna a look.

"Good enough?"

"You sound like I’m torturing you," Anna whined.

"It can’t be that bad, can it? You live in the capital and deal with royal politics all day long."

"And here I am on a delightful holiday, but you’re making me carry out my duties as if I’m still in the stuffy halls of Aleich." Leopold winked at August.

"Now, shall we go inside?"