Secret Agent Chapter 066 - Trapped (Patreon)

Zack Adder was caught in the trap.

But so were hundreds, possibly even thousands of other people.

It was mid-afternoon, and most of the training areas were full, and of the three gates back into the city, only two narrow gates were open.

One was blocked by a cardinal, potentially [Appraising] anyone who might be Zack as they passed through.

The other just felt extremely dangerous.

And they were still letting in more people through the main gate.

He found his way to the sword training area and watched instructors teach people the proper way to hold, swing, and thrust wooden swords.

There was a flaw in this trap.

And it was fairly obvious.

Too many people had been lured in.

The training day event was clearly over capacity, and for some reason they were still letting more people in.

And they had baited the trap too hard.

Back when he had been part of the [Hero’s Party], what had anyone known about him?

His unique skill, [The Learn].

He could expect that was common knowledge after the [Appraisal] Ceremony in front of some three dozen witnesses.

He had feigned a bit of gluttony to get into the book room, which explained the food stalls, and his interest in the books had been noted, and he had spent that one evening in the Knight’s Lounge, sharing a drink with the knights and listening to their stories about monster slaying…

And there had been his question about secret magic spells.

He felt himself tempted in that moment, as he stared sightlessly at two young boys artlessly swing their wooden swords at one another.

There might be books about magic, in that one tent.

But Matthias was there, and priests would surely be watching.

He [Stifled] the urge to shake his head. No, now was the time to bail, not the time to try to snatch the bait.

He considered the OODA loop. Observe, Orient, Decide, Act.

It was less than helpful here.

He was trapped, and the decision was obvious: escape.

But how?

So he considered another paradigm.

Red team and Blue team.

In simulations, both in war games and in cybersecurity scenarios, the Red team was the attacking team, and the Blue team was the defending team. Specifically in information exfiltration operations, one of Zack’s specialties back on Earth, he as the Red team would sneak into a Blue team computer network, find the data he was looking for, and sneak it out without detection.

A lot of this was done using highly classified zero-day exploits, and later, as a double agent, by physically joining an adversary and gaining access to air-gapped computer networks.

Here, today, he was the Red team once again, and he was invading the Blue team’s honeypot.

Outgoing data streams were being scrutinized while access appeared to be wide open.

On a computer network, time was mostly a non-issue. Programs didn’t get tired, after all. But there was one infamous technique where programs could be overwhelmed and made to crash.

DDOS.

Distributed Denial Of Service.

When too many computers tried to connect to the same server at the same time, it could overwhelm the network at a hardware level and cause the software to crash.

This was Blue Team’s mistake today.

Their trap had been too effective.

Already normal people were getting frustrated when they tried to leave.

Eventually, but probably no later than sunset, everyone would try to leave at once as training opportunities officially closed.

Zack put himself in Blue Team’s shoes.

If he was hunting [The Learn], he’d try to identify him within the Campus Martialus. Catch him in the act—so to speak—black bag him and then reduce or remove the outgoing security checks.

That was probably the purpose of the tokens, the ale discount, the priests talking to trainers, and the book tent.

But they hadn’t caught him yet.

And they likely didn’t know for sure that he was here, that Jack the scarred adventurer was actually Zack Adder, the [Otherworlder].

For now, all Blue Team could do was wait for their trap to work and thoroughly check anyone leaving, in case their target figured out the trap and tried to leave.

But when the mass of people, tired from training and eager to go home, all tried to leave at once…

DDOS.

They could loosen security enough for people to leave, or keep security tight and risk a riot.

People were already mad about the monster incursion, anyway.

It wouldn’t take much to set off the mob.

That would be his chance to slip into the crowd and either sneak out through the loosened security, or as part of an angry mob.

In the meantime, he had to wait.

Zack eyed the sun. Still a few hours left until sunset.

He had two of the tokens, which felt reasonable.

He hadn’t avoided getting any tokens at all, but he hadn’t gone and collected them like trading cards, either.

But he didn’t want any more, and he couldn’t just toss these, either.

His name, well, Jack’s name, was on the lists of the training he’d done.

Being on record as having collected a valuable token and then not having it when searched would be a red flag.

At least, he would think so if he were on the Blue team.

He could also switch up his name; pretend to be someone else and ditch the tokens.

But he might be recognized, especially by Elizabeth the A Rank Adventurer who had gone out of her way to ensure he received a token for sling proficiency.

Elizabeth the likely member of the [Hero’s Party].

So, Zack resolved himself to wait, and keep his eyes open for any opportunities to escape early.

That settled, he wandered with the crowd. The lines for weapon training were simply too long, and leaving a line partway through might be suspicious, so he mostly just watched and listened to the trainers. Swords, axes, clubs… A shield trainer was markedly unpopular, given he didn’t hold back on striking students when they let their guard slip, but even he still had a line, and Zack felt he was bruised enough already from the [Unarmored] training.

So, he might as well get the last of what he came here for today.

[First Aid].

There were easily over a hundred people filling this corner of the field, and thankfully someone had realized [First Aid] training would be popular. The instruction was lecture style, with a raised platform and a dedicated lecturer while assistants demonstrated on props and each other.

“Five lindra! Five lindra for the next lecture, starting soon!” A few assistants, young teens, were moving through the crowd, sorting out people who were just gawking and people who actually wanted to learn.

“If you’ve already listened, you can take the test for the token over yonder! Please make way for the next lecture!”

Zack wandered to the side and saw a line of people demonstrating how to clean and bandage wounds, how to administer potions and tonics, and even how to perform CPR. A few grey-robed priests, several nuns dressed like Sister Paula from the orphanage, and even Raiger, a Vice Guildmaster from the Adventurer’s Guild, were observing from the side.

“Last call for the next lecture!”

Zack turned and paid his fee, gave his false name, and joined the lecture.

He just needed to kill time without looking suspicious.

The lecture turned out to be surprisingly long, well over an hour and a half, and covered a wide variety of topics. How to deal with cuts, bruises, punctures, broken bones, and amputations; the kinds of wounds one could expect fighting monsters. But the lecture also covered choking, drowning, CPR, hypothermia, heat exhaustion, and other health emergencies.

And, towards the end, the lecture talked about potions and tonics.

“Please remember that potions are not miracles! They do not instantly restore one to good health via the Goddess’ grace; they merely accelerate the natural healing capacity the Goddess has blessed all humanity with, and this comes at a significant cost. Only take potions when you’re in a safe environment and no longer need to fight or flee, because if you take a potion and then need to fight, you will find your lost strength has left you most vulnerable.

“Tonics are similar, but more specialized. For example, Bloodrot, the disease that thurgenrats spread, can be treated with Bloodrot tonic, but the tonic will not heal bites or scratches. Only the disease will be cured! And even so, the tonic will still drain one’s stamina and sap one’s strength, so it should only be taken once safe to do so, after fighting or fleeing.

“If you suspect that you have been exposed to disease or poison, but you are not sure what kind, you should seek the advice of an apothecary if one is immediately present. Otherwise, go to the Church and pay for healing. Catching poisoning or infection early makes it easier to treat, and therefore less costly for a [Healer] to heal. The longer you wait, the more expensive treatment will become.”

There was some grumbling within the audience about the prices the Church charged for healing, but the lecturer continued on.

“Now, the Hunter’s and Adventurer’s Guilds, for their members, do provide pre-made [First Aid] kits for sale. I will quickly go over their contents…”

Quickly still took well over ten minutes. Bandages, disinfectants, single doses of various tonics and a low healing potion, and a tourniquet for dire emergencies.

Then the lecturer spent another fifteen minutes discussing home [First Aid] kits, how to decide which tonics to keep in stock, how to measure a dose of tonic for children based on their age and size, and where to buy pre-made kits and where to buy supplies to put a kit together for oneself.

The sun was dipping towards the horizon as the lecture wrapped up.

“Now, there’s not much time left for anyone who wishes to practice [First Aid] and get a token. Please line up to do that now, or go visit the [Running] trainers for advice on fleeing and hiding from local monsters.”

Zack stuck with the crowd and headed to the [Running] area, keeping an eye out for Barclay, but to his surprise the man wasn’t present. Nor were hardly any grey-robed priests. Instead, adventurers and hunters were providing small, shouted lectures of their own about how to run and hide from monsters if any got in the city.

There wasn’t much for him to learn. Thurgenrats were slow, and really only a threat if cornered by a swarm. Lupinoids were fast pack hunters that would surround most people while fleeing, and the only way to really outrun them was to be faster, which involved training [Running] and raising one’s level. Instead, if possible, climbing a tall tree was best if outside the city walls, and inside the city, barricading oneself inside a building.

Shadowshrikes were the local monster where any kind of technique came into play. Again, barricading oneself inside was the best way to flee, but between getting attacked and getting inside, one was supposed to zigzag as they ran, roughly every five to eight paces, to avoid their swooping strikes. There was a small area set up with markers indicating where to zig and zag, and several people were making use of it.

Zack listened while keeping one eye on the descending sun. Shadows grew long, and dusk arrived.

And with it, shouting from the gate back to the city. Shouting loud enough to reach all the way across the Campus Martialus.

The tide of people started to ebb.

The crowd was thinning.

This was Zack’s chance.