In the early morning, the wind carried the clouds and mist wreathing the Golden Pansy Mountain Range toward Mondo Pass, which stood on the plain before the mountains.
Two sentries stood lazily in front of the pass gates, yawning.
Up on the walls, the soldiers guarding the pass slept back to back.
A frontier pass near the border, yet its defenses were this lax!
One reason was that, in the eyes of the world, the Lin Clan was a merchant clan that dealt peaceably with others, doing business rather than taking part in wars.
Another was that there had been no fighting here for years, unlike the frontier in the Northwest, where the Flowing Wind Army launched raids across the border at the drop of a hat.
Here, war was a word from a distant world.
And so the soldiers guarding this place never thought they could be in danger.
The Lin Clan's army could never come to attack them.
All that passed through here were the Lin Clan's merchant caravans!
"Achoo! Ugh, when will these days ever end? Guard duty, guard duty, every single day. I'm bored to death!"
"Yeah, bored to death. The officers hole up in camp playing cards all day, while us grunts stand guard outside every day. What's even worth guarding here?"
"Ah, back in the day, guard duty at least gave us a chance to collect some tolls from the caravans. Now, who knows why, but fewer and fewer caravans are coming through!"
"Heh, you don't know, do you? My eldest uncle serves in the Northwest. I heard the Flowing Wind Army has attacked over there. People are dying every day!"
"Heh, what do those deaths have to do with us? This place hasn't seen a war in centuries. By the time the fighting