After the battle all the team members collapsed on the ground, breathing heavily, trying to calm down and rest as much as possible. Robert passed out as he had kept on casting magic past his limits ‘borrowing’ mana from the environment - something that every mage tried avoiding if they could for this very reason.

One of the shield bearers had fallen asleep, one of the scavengers was weeping as the rest of the archers walked through the piles of corpses, trying to find and collect every undamaged arrow. This situation lasted for thirty or so minutes before the party commander gathered us back, ordering a march out.

Soldiers, especially the “new guys” greatly disliked the idea. This whole expedition so far had been one great failure - they were armored too lightly as they didn’t expect to be dragged into a combat situation THAT big! On top of that, constant moving, collecting things, and fighting did leave its toll. Now more than ever the party required a strong leader. Fortunately, the delegated sergeant did his work marvelously.

We didn’t bother securing the monster bodies or harvesting their parts because we had bigger problems on our minds than to slightly repair the House’s foundations. Walking carefully, watching each and every corner and shadow of the dungeon, we slowly progressed deeper into never-ending darkness, ready to fight or run (especially ready to run) in case of meeting danger of any kind.

Eventually, we reached the next chamber. It was quite spacious, with part of it shielded by columns and calcified walls - that was the place we chose as our temporary camp, dropping bags off our backs, we started unrolling simple sleeping bags and taking out our food rations.

Tha! Another problem - knowing that we have logistic support at the dungeon's entrance we didn’t take much - because, why? To slow us down? After clearing paths and double-checking for other possible dangers - depending on the situation - a new smaller camp would be raised within a dungeon - supply nodes - which would provide the attack force with places to rest and replenish their supplies or even take care of the wounded.

And yet, here we were, cut off from the main attack group and supplies, tired, sweaty, dirty, with limited rations of food.

“Go eat and rest…” I told the rest of the squad “... I will take the night shift watching the camp… Also…” I hesitated, still, the lives of other people were more important than me becoming a bit less discrete about my condition “...Feel free to share my food rations between yourself. I… already had my fill.”

I turned around and watched to the only side of the camp through which monsters could enter - as the rest of it was shielded by dungeon walls and rock formations of various shapes and sizes.

Sitting in the shadow provided by one of the columns, I moved my gaze deeper into the depth of the dungeon, trying to look for any possible threat.

I wasn’t allowed to “enjoy” my solitude for long, as Robert the mage and Sergeant Adam sat on my sides.

“I told you that I would take the first shift…” I tried playing dumb. “And not the only one, right? You planned to stay up the entire night, didn’t you?” the mage quickly answered, but in an extremely soft tone. “Such possibility was indeed taken into consideration…” by now, there was no point in lying. “Alabaster...what are you?” the sergeant asked, but that word was the very case - he asked, not ordered “... Alabaster, before entering the dungeon you took a whole night shift at the camp, before then we were marching for the entire day… and you weren’t seen at night before that, during one night-stop. You see, most of us wanted to share a drink, we have a small ritual for new joiners where we celebrate your first dive. We share a few glasses, tell jokes, and party… But, you weren’t at your tent… Out in the forest perhaps?” the party leader continued in a calm tone. “Not only that. During your baptism you defeated all other cadets - and most of them are quite experienced! The tale that you defeated nearly the entire nest of goblins completely alone already started spreading throughout the House… and soon spread through the entire Boltward and much, much, further into the land, in the end, that’s how bards earn their coin… If we would add to that the fact, that you are always first on the training ground… and we could presume that you aren’t just an early bird, but someone who doesn't sleep at all...” “... and one that doesn’t need to eat - as we have never seen you in the dining hall, and now refusing to eat after a day of exhausting battles…” “...As well as someone that never revealed his face or real name, shielding himself with a so-called pledge of honor…” “...It becomes easy to presume that all of that does not hold together. Oh, did we add that after the battle in the tunnel, when knights of the Order were nearly puking because of exhaustion you…” “... you didn’t even have a ragged breath. Your breath wasn’t shortened, you weren’t shaking on your legs, and you were the one who finished the last batch of monsters on your own…”

They were talking in turns, apparently, they did talk about it for quite some time before confronting me.

“... Does it matter?” I turned my head towards them “... Captains are fully aware of this situation and decided to let me stay. They are training me, providing benefits for the House’s members, and in return, I offer my services to them. They trusted me. Can you do that as well?”

Commander opened and closed his mouth a couple of times, taken aback by my rather bold and not necessarily friendly statement.

“Alabaster. We do trust you. You held a line with us, you fought with us, you let us sleep while watching our backs. You did try to save Joseph till the very end. We just wanted to know whether YOU needed something. I doubt you are running alone on friendship and fairy dust… so…” “That’s… very nice of you, but I didn’t lie. I did have my share already.” “Are you sure? Because…” “Adam. Robert. Thank you. And know, that if it was only up to me, I would tell all of you who I am. But, I no longer belong to myself alone. From the very moment general-commander Nicolai took me into the cadet’s corps, he vouched for me. My existence is problematic, and keeping it a secret is, right now, for me, a top priority, otherwise, Nicolai - the man who held out his hand to me in the time I needed it, could end up in a difficult situation. If you want to, inform the captains about your ‘discovery’ and then they will decide whether or not to share the truth with you… Would you be willing to accept this explanation?”

They remained motionless for about half of a minute before finally getting up and nodding their heads.

“Very well. Alabaster, we just want you to know that, to us, you already are our brother in arms, you did earn our respect and more than that… We will respect your decisions and secrets. Oh, and despite saying that you don’t need anything, in case you did, just ask. We will try providing it to you.” “Thank you. For understanding.” “No. Thank YOU. Alabaster. Duty and honor, brother!” I was patted on my shoulder as the two once again returned to the camp to rest before another day of struggles.

Once I confirmed they were a decent distance away I returned to watching the area around me, activating my life detection senses.

I noticed it some time ago - this skill had a ‘minor’ backlash. When I was using it, I was seeing life - my only source of nutrition, and by that, I did increase my cravings, making the hunger come faster and stronger than usual. It was like a sense of smell, which you used to find all the delicious dishes around you - you couldn’t help but to salivate sensing its aroma.

Still, this one time, I should be fine - even more than fine. The reason for that was my massive feast from an hour ago. Even now I felt overstuffed - my bones were delightfully heavy and my mind was slightly clouded - in a very pleasant way. It resembles drinking a few beers after a long and hard day - it was enough to make you a bit tipsy, lazy even, but you maintained absolute control over your body. With that, I should be safe from my undead cravings - I did check it by turning my vision towards my comrades. I watched the fire of their lives burn lazily, and for the first time I didn’t feel anything while looking at it. Nothing at all! I wasn’t wondering how they tasted. I didn’t want to drop everything I was doing just to bask in the presence of their warm lives. Nothing!

I waited fifteen minutes, then another, then another thirty or so. Checking on them a couple more times. I did this to ensure myself that they were sleeping, then, I ran a full scan over the room more than once before checking entrances to the other corridors.

Once I was fully convinced that no one and nothing was creeping towards us, I stood up, unsheathed my sword, raised it above my head, and cut the air from above my head.

I tried not ‘losing’ myself in a trance-like before - in the end, I was the camp guardian. Lives of my comrades lay in my palm. And so, fully focused on the area around me, I cut the air.

“One… Two… Three…” I started.

Funny, people would count sheeps hoping to fall back to bed sooner, I was counting my strikes to keep my mind busy, constantly working, not letting it become rusty and lazy.

Slash, look to the left. Pierce, look to the right. Pirouette, checking the walls and ceiling.

And like this my training and watch lasted till the morning of the next day.