Harem Regressor: I'll Save Them This Time-Chapter 27: Ch : I Don’t Care.

"Lady Nair," August greeted, dismounting from his automaton horse. "It’s a pleasure to meet you."

"I imagine the pleasure is all yours," Nair said. "And call me Vera. We’re equals, are we not? You’re a Bastion, I hold a knighthood and am a sorceress."

Fei didn’t even try to hold in her displeasure and shot Vera a scowl. But August patted the beastkin on the shoulder and gave her a look before she said anything.

While the sorceress was clearly being disrespectful, August had nothing to gain by biting back. And she was technically correct.

In terms of nobility, a Bastion was one of the lowest ranks. Equal to a knight, but above an untitled and unlanded noble.

All nobles who had been granted land as part of their titles—known as landed nobles—were superior to a Bastion in rank. Baronets, barons, counts—it didn’t matter. Holding land made a noble superior to a Bastion.

"She’s so rude," Fei muttered as Vera led the two of them into the tower. "The purpose of a Bastion is to serve and defend," August explained. "She won’t be the first noble to try to remind us of that."

"But we’re the ones doing the fighting," Fei protested, her voice raising slightly. Vera didn’t respond, but August knew she heard Fei.

"So is the army. The nobles rule the land, and we help them keep the peace." August raised his voice to make sure Vera could hear him. "Bastions hold the same rank as knights for a reason. We’re all protectors of the Empire."

Vera paused in her step. Would she turn around? She didn’t.

The three of them ascended through several levels of Vera’s tower.

The tower was a simple construction, with a single open atrium rising all the way to the top.

Each level had a staircase at the opposite end and required them to walk around the circumference of the tower to get to the other side. The rooms of the tower were locked off behind windowless rooms and closed doors on each floor.

August glanced down and saw that it was a long drop. He could probably survive the fall. The natural enhancement from the binding stone made him physically sturdy.

Crossbow bolts snapped on his chest, and even long falls weren’t as lethal as they otherwise should be.

This tower hadn’t been built to be defended against a Bastion or his Champions.

"Is that what I think it is?" August asked when he spotted an archway placed against a solid wall. They were close to the top of the tower.

"And what do you think it is?" Vera replied.

"A gateway to another mage tower."

"It is. Well, almost. I can turn it into a gateway." Vera grimaced. "My predecessors have used it, so it is active on this end.

But the sheer expense in organizing a connection to somewhere else prevents me from using it."

August nodded. A gateway was convenient, but somebody needed to be constantly feed it with magical energy and catalysts to keep it active.

Even as a powerful Bastion, August had been sparing in his use of gateways. To say nothing of the downsides to gateways that he knew about from his knowledge of the future.

Eventually, Vera led them into a separate room in the second-highest room in the tower. This room was still windowless.

Wisps bumbled about near the ceiling, filling the room with soft light.

A single table dominated the room, and a map of the nearby region was spread out in plain view. The leylines were drawn over it, as were the region’s borders.

"I see you know why we’re here," August said. He walked up to the map.

"I know why Anna says you’re here. Whether you’re worth my time is something I’ll decide," Vera replied.

"Let me cut to the chase then," August said. "Why aren’t you dealing with the bandits? Anna says you had an agreement.

It sounds like it goes back quite a while, possibly to whoever held this tower before you. The two of you even seem to be friends.

So I’m surprised that you’re so keen to blow me off when I’m helping Anna with your job."

The temperature in the room dropped several degrees. Vera’s face darkened, and she only barely avoided glaring at August or baring her fangs at him.

The wisps sensed the anger building, and scattered to the corners of the room, casting shadows over the map.

August threw up a ball of light in the center of the room. Vera blinked at his casual use of sorcery.

"It’s rather impolite to use sorcery in another’s domain," Vera said.

"I’m a Bastion. I can’t say I care," August responded.

"I’m a Bastion. I can’t say I care," August responded.

Vera stared at the ball of light. She looked down at the map and kept her gaze fixed there. Her fingers crept out and ran over the leylines on the other side of the pass, close to Trantia and the Empire.

"I haven’t been able to talk with Anna as much as I’d like," Vera said. "The leylines have been disrupted and—"

"Bullshit. Anna is sending messengers on fast horses to you. It’s not even a day’s ride." August sighed. "Look, I’m not stupid. I’m a Bastion.

Part of what I can do is sense major movements of magic. And I know that the Federation’s Champions have been slinking around nearby. Have you seen them? Do they have a base of operations here?"

Vera seemed taken aback by the change of topic. She looked up at August with a blank face, her mouth opening and closing several times.

"What?" Vera eventually said. "The Federation has a fort just to the north, but it only has a Champion there. I don’t know if there’s even a binding stone there."

"There is, but it’s inactive," August interrupted. "There isn’t enough activity coming down the leylines."

"You can sense that?" Vera asked, surprised.

She leaned back, placing a hand over her chest. She was breathing deeply, and each breath drew August’s eyes to her substantial cleavage.

Vera was beautiful. Genuinely, strikingly beautiful.

August wondered why she was out here, living in a tower in the middle of nowhere, instead of working for a powerful noble deeper in the Empire. Pride? Politics? Some sort of secret? Was the tower and this land part of her family line?

Because Vera could easily have found success elsewhere.

Sorcerers were in high demand everywhere in the world right now. Her summons outside were proof that she was a highly competent sorceress, and her looks could easily win over some doddering fool of a noble.

"I don’t understand why you’re focused on the Federation," Vera said. "Their Champion is likely poking around, but isn’t that normal for you Bastions? You’re investigating the leylines as well."