The wounds on Suzy’s body were nasty. She lost lots of blood and if not for the quick help of the whole team, potions, bandages, and healing magic of the priestess she would have died. Still, even though her life was not threatened at this moment she needed a good few days worth of rest, if not weeks, to get back in shape. Fighting in this condition was out of the question. Poor lass couldn’t even stand on her own.

After evaluating our current situation, Natasha spoke up:

“The good thing is that we are close to the last outpost that we were supposed to check. Seeing how many undead we just fought, we can risk a statement that meeting more of them in the nearest area is highly unlikely… Still, Lucy, scout the area ahead and see if there are any undead remaining.” “On it, lieutenant-commander…” The girl in a camouflage cloak, after hearing her order, quickly vanished in the forest carrying nothing but her bow. “Now, we need to find a way to transport Suzy back to the camp… We may put her on the cart, but then we would be forced to leave some of our equipment and supplies… As we are heading back via an already secured path, I would say that we might leave some food behind and…” only now I noticed that despite her strong and confident posture, Natasha was greatly stressed. Commanding while taking into consideration every possible ambush, accident, change of weather, and any other unexpected event must be truly exhausting…

… and the center of command probably settled accounts for every piece of equipment that she used as well…

“Commander, if I may suggest something…” I started, drawing her attention “... I may carry Suzy to the camp, this way we will not have to leave anything behind.” “Don’t be ridiculous! That’s around three hours of walking! And we have just finished fighting, you must be exhausted, don’t try to act so…” “Brigitte. That’s the third time you are questioning me. Let me repeat myself for the, hopefully, last time. When I say I am capable of doing something, then I-fucking-am. And lieutenant-commander should be aware of my… endurance.”

Eyes of blonde-haired knight sparkled for a split of a second with joy, as she understood that she overlooked the simplest solution.

“In that case, we will be counting on you.” Natasha ended, letting out a sigh of relief. “I must protest! We need to take into consideration Suzy’s comfort! She can’t be…” “Briggie…” it was the wounded who much to Charlotte’s protests raised her head and joined our conversation “...thank you for your concerns, but I will be fine. Just, take off some of my armor and…”

I didn’t let her finish. Approaching her quickly I put my hands beneath her raising her from the ground.

[Warrning!] Max carrying capacity reached.

To carry more raise your [STR] Attribute The penalty will be issued:

- While moving faster than [6 km/h - running] the [User] will suffer constant damage over time “No need for that either. I am good to go whenever you are all ready.”

After around thirty minutes Lucy returned and informed us about her findings. No other undead had been spotted. The camp was cleaned and everything was loaded back on the cart. Natasha ordered to cut off ghoul's heads (of those, whose heads had remained untouched), also harvested their livers and hearts and put them in a bloody bag, before letting us finally depart.

“My-my. I was offered to be carried like this a few times, though as a little rebel I broke the hands of everyone that tried to do so…” Suzy giggled “... as a knight and member of Betrix House I couldn’t allow anyone to patronize me.” she said while wrapping one of her hands around my neck for support. “Don’t be childish…” I scolded her “... there is no shame in using offered help after you suffered wounds in battle.” “That’s why your hands are still not broken…” I looked down on her, her eyes were filled with amusement and playful sparkle “... I still didn’t thank you properly for saving me back then.” “What do you mean?” “You tackled that ghoul off me… and beat him into a pulp later with your bare hands, putting my gratefulness aside, what are you made off?!” “Thanking me? I should be the one apologizing for letting that creature walk past me!” “No. You did everything you could, and even more. Later on, I will buy you a drink or two…” “No need for that…” I tried to decline her offer, mostly because drinking together was quite a problem. “Quite the opposite. I can’t leave someone who helped me unrewarded. Family code.” “Nobles… How much I hate them…” I just groaned under my breath.

All this time as we walked toward our camp, Agnes looked at us with a pouty expression.

“What is it Agnes, does your stomach hurt?” the priestess asked her companion. “I also want to be carried by Ast… Alabaster. Suzy is a vixen-thief!” “Don’t be ridiculous! I bet that he would do the same thing for all of us if we suffered such injuries! For you as well…” Charlotte said with a nagging tone. “Oh!? Is that true?!” the skirmisher asked loudly. “Of course? That’s only natural…” I tried to ease down her anxiety… though... “Yey! In that case, I will make sure to get hurt plenty during the next mission!” … what I said might have had a bit different of an effect than I intended. “DON’T YOU FUCKING DARE!” It was Natasha that lost her cool. “I-I-I mean.. I was joking! Yeah! Totally joking! I-I definitely didn’t mean to get myself hurt on purpose… fall into an obvious trap or something…” I think that I don’t need to add how fakely her reassuring sounded. “Agnes, if you would get yourself hurt during the next three missions, all your porcelain cat figures will be confiscated and given away at the nearest orphanage…” “YOU CAN’T DO THAT! THEY ARE MY MOST TREASURED PROPERTIES! I will not hand over Meowsep Meowingtton! Over my dead body!”

I… was at a complete loss. I had no idea what was happening around me. All these girls were far too crazy for me. I decided to no longer participate in this conversation and just focus on the journey ahead.

Eventually, we managed to return to the camp in the late afternoon, some of the teams that marched out before us also had returned. After we left Suzy down in the healers-ward our group was given free time for the rest of the day. I decided to report to Captain Godrick. The reason for that was…

“Alabaster. You were wearing that armor for two days. Two. How did you manage to bring it to such a state while hunting the lowest undead!”

Exactly. In quite a few places my armor was marked with long, deep scratches. If ghouls cut a few millimeters deeper, they would pierce the outer layer through, thus exposing my rib cage, spine, and other marks of my undead-ness. Because of that, I decided to request for repairs as fast as possible.

“In my defense, I just want to say that ghouls are not considered the lowest undead!” I raised my hands in a protective gesture. “Aye, Natasha already reported what happened during your quest. That’s greatly troubling. First, an Undead Lord that dominated two sapient undead, later ghouls which were not part of the group emerging much faster than they should…” “If I may add… I wouldn’t think too much about these ghouls. They were Alexis' servants and just ran amok after her master’s death…”

The older knight squinted his eyes.

“Who the hell is Alexis? And how do you know they were her servants.”

Once again I acted without thinking. I joined the threads some time ago, and now seeing the old man all panicked, I wanted to calm him down. He is a good man and deserves some peace.

“Alexis was the lich you… encountered the other night. I didn’t talk with her alot, but I know she was a master of a tower located in the Black Swamp…” “We have no knowledge regarding undead activity around Black Swamp…”

Godric noticed, yet let me continue regardless.

“Alexis must have left the Swamps looking for materials for her experiments… or to feed, when she was subdued by the Undead Lord. Her servants must have become crazy once their connection with her was severed and chased after signatures of her existence. If you would take into consideration the distance between the swamp and special area, and speed of ghouls, then indeed they should have arrived around today…” “How do you know that they came from Black Swamps?” another question.

Fuck. The information provided to me by the System granted to me by an Evil God who I now worship… is not a thing I want to say… But then again, I don’t want to lie…

I massaged my temple, pretending that I was about to say the most obvious thing, as I am surprised that I even need to say that.

“Captain, let me answer you with a question. If you saw a person in the Arthuria's capital, with a much darker skin tone than everyone else, dressed in weird, bright clothing, selling exotic goods in the middle of a bazaar… who would that person be?” “Probably a trader from Congregation of Free Cities, or Sen’Terra…” “And how can you tell? Have you ever been there?” “N-no. But, just one look is enough and…” “That’s the same thing. Just as you can presume someone’s origin after first glance - one look was all I needed to know that. It’s just a general knowledge that somehow becomes obvious once you look at someone… I really won’t give you a better explanation than this.”

I wasn’t sure if he believed that. But, then again, he had no reason not to, and, if he would check me with a lie-detection crystal, it would find nothing.

He opened and shut his mouth a couple of times as if trying to say something. I know what he meant - such speculations can’t land in a report that he would later have to write… but then again, he wouldn’t be able to get anything more than that from me. Resigned, he just waved his hand angrily.

“Whatever. Wait till late night and go to the armory, I will send someone to you to give you some spare clothing that would hide your pretty face. Do you have anything more to report?” “Sir, no, sir.” “You're dismissed.”

Bowing my head down one last time I left the tend and did as I was instructed. I hid in my tent and waited a couple of hours before heading toward the armory.

After entering, I checked if there was anyone around before going to the chest in the corner and stripping down the pieces of my equipment. As I was ‘pelvis-naked’ I heard a voice behind me.

“Are you done yet?”

It was nearly whispered in my ‘ear’. Led by instinct, I turned around while throwing a punch, yet the only thing I hit was the air.

Five meters away from me a cloaked person was standing, his whole silhouette was hidden under a cloak. I couldn’t fully focus my sight on him, as his shape appeared to be “floating”, merging with darkness around him. He was quite like a…

“Ghost… Oh, I beg your pardon, Captain Ghost. How can I serve you?” I quickly corrected myself, hoping that it didn’t offend him. “Good reaction… Can still be improved though.” As always, his words were whispers that appeared to come from all directions at once.

He threw me a cloak and a bandana similar to his. I had no idea where he got it from, as I could have sworn he wasn’t holding anything seconds ago.

“You damaged your armor.” he stated. I had no idea how I was supposed to react. “C-Capitan Godric told you?” “He didn’t need to, I was in the tent when you were talking.”

… There is no way that could be the case. The tent was small and had close to none furniture in it. Just a table, a few chairs and a few small stands for documents. There was literally nothing to hide behind!

“You damaged your armor…” he repeated “... so, you can’t train your swordsmanship or help mages without risking giving up your identity. Perfect opportunity… for stealth training. Dress up, we are leaving the camp.”

He said turning around and heading toward the exit without waiting for me. I bolted after him while dressing on my way, I knew that the moment I took my eyes off him, he would vanish into thin air.

He was walking with fast, steady steps, yet, instead of walking through the middle of the path, he always stayed on the side, always managing to find a shadow. He would walk between talking people without them noticing, almost as if he was a creature without existence. I didn’t have this much luck nor skill. Even when I was walking through the exact same path he did, everyone looked toward me. Occasionally, I bumped into a barrel or crate, making people even leave their tent to see what kind of drunkard managed to walk into the cargo put as far from the main path as possible.

Eventually, we left the camp and headed toward the small hill from which we could observe the lights of the make-shift fort.

“Look.” he said pointing with his finger on the camp “... Guards. How many?”

I quickly scanned the area, counted moving torches and such.

“Four at each gate, two on the walls directly above them. Two patrolling each main path and one on some side alleys.” “Good enough… for a beginner.”

My pride was hurt.

“Observe. See a pattern. Guarding is a boring duty. They do that day after day after day. The guard is focused the most at the beginning on their duty and at the end, around twenty minutes, forty in total. Their shift lasts for around four hours, that leaves three hours and twenty minutes when they are bored, not paying attention. Bored minds need distractions. They make up games in their heads to pass time. They create a pattern, path to follow, repeated over and over again, sometimes traveling with their mind wandering. They have a system they follow. For example, walk a hundred meters forward, turn right, hundred meters forward, turn right, and so on… look at them. Memorize. Learn. You need to know where guards are at each and every moment of infiltration… while taking in consideration anomalies…” “Anomalies?” I asked, not understanding what he meant. “Sometimes they need to take a break to relieve themselves, sometimes one of the sleeping guards will get up in the middle of the night to get something to drink. Anomaly in patterns.” “I… I think I understand.” “Did you memorize the patterns?” “Wait, what!? Of all of them!? In less than a minute?! Impossible!” “Scouts, infiltrators, assassins… They rarely have all the time they need. Sometimes opportunity appears for a split second. Then, they need to act. Without all the information, getting most of it during the mission. Alabaster. Undress. Hand over the bandana and cloak.”

Still confused, I did as I was told. The night breeze “tickled” my naked bones.

“Meet me in your tent. You have time till dawn.” he said as he started departing. “What do you mean… I am naked… everyone will see I am a skeleton! They will attack me on sight!” “That’s the point. Don’t be spotted. Sun will rise in four hours. Start.”

His voice echoed and then faded away. I looked across the camp and took in all the guards, fires, and more I would have to avoid in order to make it back to my tent.

“Well, shit…”