Mary looked around the camp and frowned. The sun had risen not too long ago, but the people within the camp were acting like it was still nighttime. She approached the nearest person and asked, “What are you doing?”

The man lowered his head, not daring to meet Mary’s gaze. “I’m waiting for orders from the boss.”

Mary’s brow furrowed. Technically, she was the boss, but she was the boss of these people’s boss. “Where is he?”

“I’m not sure,” the man said. “Maybe he’s sleeping in?”

Mary marched away from the man, heading towards Joseph’s tent. She yanked open the flap, not caring that part of the material tore. She poked her head inside and looked around, but the large man was nowhere to be found. She dropped the flap and took a few steps back, staring at the tent with a frown. Did he run away?

Mary went to the next nearest tent and yanked open the flap. Inside, the woman who had silenced Keith, was putting on her robes. The woman froze, and a second later, upon seeing who the intruder was, she finished getting dressed. “Yes, Madam Scathir? How can I help you?”

“Where’s Joseph?”

The woman who had silenced Keith blinked. “He was keeping watch last night,” she said. “Although his outward appearance is a bit boorish, he’s actually softhearted. He wanted to see if any of the scouts would return. He’s not outside?”

Mary furrowed her brow and took a step back. She walked through the camp, grabbing and asking people if they had seen Joseph, but all of them replied in the negative. After going through the whole camp and peering out from the outskirts, Mary returned to the robed woman’s tent. The woman was looking at the maps that the scouts had brought back with a frown on her face. Upon seeing Mary enter her tent, the woman who had silenced Keith raised her head. “Did you find him?”

“He’s not outside,” Mary said. “No one knows where he is. Do you have a way to contact him?”

The robed woman shook her head. “That’s very strange,” she said and rubbed her chin. “There are a few logical reasons why you can’t find him. Perhaps he’s constipated?”

A dark expression appeared on Mary’s face. “I checked the surroundings while I was searching for him,” she said. “I think he ran away.”

The robed woman raised an eyebrow. “Where would he run? The continent is dead. There isn’t any uncontaminated food to eat, and although there might be a few withered trees out there, the sources of water are all tainted. Heading deeper into the continent is a death sentence, and it’s not like he could go back the way we came. Aren’t the boats still there?”

Mary frowned and left the tent. The people within the camp were like zombies. They were standing around, not doing anything. None of them seemed to be capable of thinking on their own, but then again, that’s not what they were hired. They were being paid to follow instructions, and without any instructions, no one wanted to take the initiative; it wasn’t like there was a bonus, and in fact, acting without obeying orders could be seen as insubordination.

Mary snorted and went to the shore, the land shrinking beneath her feet with each step. Luckily, the shore wasn’t too far, and there were plenty of traces left behind in the dirt, preventing her from getting lost. However, why did it feel like she had still gotten lost? The boat wasn’t where it should’ve been. She went up and down the beach, searching for any traces of the boat, but it was definitely gone. There wasn’t anything blocking her view, and she could see the ocean for miles. The frown on her face only deepened as she made her way back to camp. If the hired mercenaries knew their method of returning home had vanished, and the one that had hired them had fled, it wouldn’t be so easy to control them.

“The boat’s gone,” Mary said upon entering the tent that the robed woman was in. “Your leader fled without you.”

The robed woman’s eyes widened, but after thinking for a bit, she shook her head. “That’s impossible,” she said. “It’s not possible to pilot a boat of that size with just one person. Unless….” A furrow appeared on the woman’s brow. “The scouts from yesterday were in on it? They secretly boarded the boat and got it ready for travel, and during the night, Joseph snuck away.” The woman slumped downwards in her seat with an expression of disbelief on her face. “What do we do?”

Mary shrugged. “Unless you can swim across the ocean, I’m the only one who can get back to civilization, and I’m not leaving until Grimmoldesser is dead. If you want to go home, you’ll help me kill him. Can you take charge of the mercenaries?”

“It’ll be difficult,” the robed woman mumbled. “I’m not a leader, but I suppose there’s no other option. Weren’t Keith and Danielle amongst the missing scouts? I can’t believe they abandoned me.”

***

Gloria and Ramon exhaled and lay on their backs. Behind them, there was a pile of supplies. Keith and Danielle stood next to the pile with unreadable expressions on their faces. They had gone with the two dragons to raid their own boat, and after taking all the food and drinks, the dragons dragged the boat far away from shore and tore apart its keel, letting it sink into the depths below.

“Are we traitors?” Danielle asked.

“No,” Keith said. “It couldn’t be helped. If we didn’t do this, we’d die.”

“That doesn’t mean we’re not traitors,” Danielle said. “Deserting from a battle to avoid death is treasonous.”

“I’m trying to make you feel better, alright?” Keith asked. “What do you want me to say? We’re selfish ingrates for cooperating with dragons to screw over half our party and the people we hired?”

Danielle glared at her companion. “You could’ve just kept your mouth shut.”

Keith sighed.