The tent fell silent after Commander Evans’ words. The only sound came from the faint crackle of the brazier in the corner and the rustle of parchment under his hand.

  Rayne’s breath caught in his throat. Nate stiffened next to him, glancing at him, probably thinking the same thing.

  “Dead?” Rayne asked, his voice quieter than he intended.

  The commander nodded slowly, turning another page of the report. His voice sounded almost casual as he spoke, “That’s what we think happened. Squads dying in a dungeon aren’t uncommon. It’s just strange because Edran sent enough soldiers and a mage, and their task was to clear the first level of it and return. None of them did.”

  His eyes returned to the report, and Rayne turned to Edran, who looked back with a weary expression. He’d hardly ever seen the captain like that.

  “Who was in the dungeon dive, captain?” he whispered.

  “Axel led it with Hobbs. Casper went with them,” Edran said, and each word sounded like he didn’t want to believe them. “A lot of auxiliary soldiers joined them. Most of your squad actually, including Bran and Fredrick. We had no idea what happened because the mages were sure that the dungeon wouldn’t have high-level monsters.”

  Rayne stilled. He didn’t care about Fredrick, and Axel had tried to fuck him over. But Bran and Hobbs—they had always been good to him. Casper had gone out of her way to help him out. And now they were dead.

  He didn’t even believe the news for a second.

  But before he could ask more, the older woman spoke, her voice low. “We both know what happened, Edran. Your squad leader got greedy and ventured deeper into the dungeon, and cost everyone’s life.”

  Captain Edran shook his head. “I don’t think so, Verella. Protocol dictates that they should send back soldiers to inform the army before venturing deeper into the levels, and Axel might have caused trouble in the past, but he knows how to follow rules. Casper is reliable too, you know that.”

  Verella shook her head, and the man beside her opened his mouth. He had bright blue hair that looked odd among the other captains and the commander. “Just accept it, Edran. You’ll get more soldiers once they’re out of training. Just take the loss and support the other warbands with what you have left. Dungeons aren’t like killing goblins.”

  Captain Edran frowned. “That’s not what happened, Clark.”

  For a second, it looked like an argument was going to ensue among them, but Commander Evans tapped the table to quieten them down. He folded the report and set it down on the table.

  “You can explain what happened to your men later, Edran,” he said before his eyes turned towards Rayne. “I read the report. How did you know a mana sniffer was around?”

  Rayne replied quickly. “The position of a nest was located on the map. And Captain Baker confirmed that just three months back, a pair of hunters had seen such a creature and reported it to the garrison. I had other monsters in mind if the sniffer wasn’t there, but it was the most suitable for a spellsword.”

  All the captains looked confused at the interaction, and Clark even eyed the report but didn’t dare reach out to take it.

  Commander Evans nodded slowly. “You did well. You and your whole party. Marcus and the other deserters had bounties on them. All of you will receive it, but only after we confirm the events with Captain Baker personally. He will be investigated too.” Rayne nodded, but Evans wasn’t finished. “You are the Frayser bastard, right?”

  Rayne nodded slowly as he felt the sting of the gazes. “Yes, I am, commander.”

  For a second, the old man didn’t speak, simply eyeing him. Rayne thought he saw a flicker pass by his eyes as if he was evaluating him. Even Nate shifted beside him.

  “If the report is true, you have the same zeal as your father,” he said, surprising Rayne, and even the other captains. “You may take your leave. Just leave the supply wagon to the men outside. They will take care of it. And I’m sure your captain will explain the situation with your squad once we are done.”

  He turned at once with Nate. Clark muttered behind his back about not letting him receive the bounty because of who he was. But his mind wasn’t on the bounty.

  Honestly, Rayne didn’t even care about it with the news he had just received. When he looked at Nate, he seemed to be in a similar state of shock despite how much he loved money.

  The man glanced at him when they got out of the tent. “What are we going to do, Rayne? Bran is dead. Can you believe it?”

  Rayne gulped, not knowing how to reply. He didn’t want to believe that was true. “They only said that the squad didn’t return from the dungeon. They might just be trapped inside. You heard Captain Edran. He said it was strange for Axel to not follow orders.”

  They moved past the guarding soldiers as Nate fell silent, contemplating his words. The others stood by the mule, looking up at them with expectant eyes.

  Rayne had no idea how to break the news to them.

  “What happened?” Kesh asked. “Why do you look like the captain just told you that you were going to be executed?”

  The others nodded. John took a step forward and touched Nate’s shoulder. “What happened there? Did they not believe the report?”

  “No, they did and told us that we would be getting the bounty on the deserters’ heads,” Rayne replied, turning towards him. “It’s just we heard horrible news inside the tent.”

  “What news?” Jason asked.

  Rayne glanced at Nate, who frowned and shook his head. He decided he needed to be the one to break the news to all of them. “It’s about the squad. Apparently, a lot of them were in a dungeon dive six days ago…”

  ***

  A heavy atmosphere settled once Rayne explained everything. Nate quipped a few times but seemed to take their deaths far worse than him. He couldn’t blame him.

  Bran had taught them a lot, and Rayne was looking forward to joining with him again. He even wanted to find Casper for another lesson, if she was free.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  He might never get the chance again.

  They didn’t stay in front of the command tent for long. After giving the mule and supply wagon to Commander Evans’ guards and asking them to feed the mule well, they moved towards the area where their warband was located.

  Jason recognized some soldiers from his squad there, and they were able to get lodging and food. A lot of the tents assigned to Axel's squad were empty, and Rayne took one for himself, wanting to stay alone for a bit.

  He had seen the pyre burnings just a month back but had only felt slight sadness since no one he was friends with had died. But now, it felt much harder to accept the fact that Bran, Hobbs, and Casper might be dead.

  A part of him didn’t even want to accept it since there was a slight chance that they might be alive—just trapped in a dungeon.

  But he knew that dungeons were probably the most dangerous places in the kingdom.

  The journal Captain Baker had given him had chapters full of the dangers of diving in a dungeon. Monsters were the least of the worries sometimes. Traps and the dungeon climate were sometimes far worse. And the threat only increased the deeper one went.

  For that reason, it wasn’t advisable to stay in a dungeon for long. Even the army only cleared them one level at a time.

  In that case, finding Bran and the others alive had very low probabilities. But he still wanted to believe in it. Maybe he would take the deaths of his friends far better the longer he stayed in the army, but for now, Rayne wanted to believe in that possibility.

  Also, he was sure that the army would soon move to confirm what had happened with them.

  They might not care about an ordinary squad, but Fredrick was with them. A noble would surely make them send a rescue squad, and mages were not dime a dozen. Casper was valuable, going by the way she handled the troll warlord.

  Even if that wasn’t the case, Captain Edran seemed to care for the men under him. But he would only know for sure once the captain returned from the meeting.

  So, Rayne spent his time trying to busy himself with other things instead of mourning. He took out the journal and began to read through it. He would be diving into a dungeon either way and wanted to prepare for it.

  He had read through a quarter of it during the breaks they had taken, and he had to say the journal was terrifying. The nameless author had written it during his dungeon runs, and lots of paragraphs were broken as a result of it. Some lines were smudged and hard to read, while a lot of words were misspelled.

  But that only added to the tension.

  Day 2, first level of the Hollow Bone Dungeon: I had no idea what’s going on. It’s only my second dungeon, and the first was easy, but we are fighting skeletons here. They are scary, and their bones move even after we kill them. I don’t think being a soldier is for me.

  Day 4, second level of the Hollow Bone Dungeon: Lost two men already. No monsters seen, but the walls move when you’re not looking. A man lost his leg to a spiked trap, and we have no healers. We finally found a flesh monster to eat, but the dungeon absorbed the meat after a day.

  Day 8, second level of the Hollow Bone Dungeon: Our mage is dead, and we are going to go back. There was a skeleton knight we fought that killed him. The whole dungeon is filled with these necrotic creatures that could lay traps. I wonder if our mage will become one too.

  Day 10, first level of the Hollow Bone Dungeon: We were heading back when a soldier found a hidden room by accidentally stumbling on a wall and shifting a stone. We found weapons, but some men got killed by a chester, and I feel tired. Everyone is also getting angry and sad.

  Day 12, exit of the Hollow Bone Dungeon: We are out. But two men tried to kill the others. One of the mages that came to get us said that the weapons we carried have cursed us. They said we will heal, but I don’t want to go back into the dungeon again.

  That was just a few entries, detailing the delve into one dungeon, and Rayne could feel how the author got more and more scared of losing his life with each entry.

  He’d no idea dungeons could absorb the monsters back and needed to learn more before venturing into one.

  He turned a page and saw sketches of the monsters. The skeletons were as tall as an average soldier, holding weapons with black orbs for their eyes. They looked spooky even in the sketch, and as he turned the page, there was even a layout of the dungeon with notes on it.

  It had a cave-like structure, but the paths were far too smooth to be natural. Rayne memorized it and turned another page. Despite his unwillingness, the soldier had seemed to venture into a lot of dungeons.

  But as he read the first entry of the new dungeon, the flap of his tent suddenly swung open.

  His hand went for his sword, but he relaxed when he saw it was Kesh. “Rayne, Captain Edran is back in his tent. And he’s asking for all of us.”

  “Okay, I’ll be out in a bit. You go ahead,” he said, putting the journal down.

  Kesh nodded, and Rayne noticed that his eyes were a bit damp. Was he crying? He couldn’t tell as the man turned and left.

  He gave one last look at the journal and got up. It was just starting to get interesting, but he would have enough time to catch up on things after talking to Captain Edran.

  Rayne left his tent, taking only his sword with him. Captain Edran’s tent was the biggest one in the area and only a brief walk from his. A few soldiers loitered around the path, but none of them even glanced at him.

  When he reached, one of the guarding soldiers motioned him in, and all of his party was already standing there. He was the last one, and at once, Captain Edran looked towards him. He sat on a chair behind a table, and the tent was divided in two with a curtain.

  He saluted and noticed that Henry was nowhere to be seen. That was probably for the best.

  “Rayne, you are here,” he said, looking at him, then at the rest of his party. “I won’t take too much of your time since I know you have suffered a lot in the supply quest. I read the report after Commander Evans was done with it, and I must say—you all acted as befitting Valerian soldiers. The commander will surely put down a lot of merits to your names.”

  It was great news, and on another day, Rayne might have smiled. But he simply kept staring blankly at the captain. The others acted the same as him.

  All of them still hadn’t processed the potential deaths of their comrades.

  Captain Edran seemed to get the hint as he frowned. “I know it’s not easy news to take, the one about the squad. When the party didn’t return after two days, I knew something had gone wrong, but I expected some of them to come back. But they haven’t, and everyone is treating them as dead.”

  “Are they, captain?” Jason asked, his voice low.

  “I don’t know.” The captain shook his head. “But I hope not. I didn’t call all of you here only to talk about the supply quest or give you the bad news. Commander Evans is talking about sending in a small party to the dungeon to see if they could find out what happened. Captain Clark Dolaris has volunteered to send some of his men.”

  Rayne’s eyes shone. He glanced at Nate, who looked hopeful suddenly. He took a step forward and asked, “Does that mean Commander Evans thinks they might still be alive?”

  Captain Edran sighed. “There’s a possibility, but it’s low. What he’s hoping to find are bodies. Dungeons take time to absorb human bodies—ten days on average—so if we can send someone in soon, we can at least find corpses or figure out what exactly happened.”

  He paused for a breath, then looked around at each of them before his eyes locked onto Rayne. “I managed to get Commander Evans to agree to have a few members of our squad go in with Clark’s soldiers. But I didn’t have many left till today. So, if any of you want to head inside, I can talk to Clark.”

  Rayne didn’t have to be told more. He immediately nodded. If he didn’t head into the dungeon to look for what happened to his friends, then he wouldn’t be able to forgive himself.

  “I will go into the dungeon,” he said at once. Captain Edran smiled as if he was already expecting that.

  ***

  Note - I'm so sorry. I thought I posted this two days back.