Liam was lost in his thoughts, pondering over the implications of what he learned. His understanding of the continent was lacking, so he couldn't guess its military strength.

He did know no matter how strong Onterrath was, it couldn't resist the Rift. Surviving inside that place for 10 years gave him an understanding of its power.

The random appearance of a temporary portal was harmless. A lot of people would lose lives, but it was a minor event on the continental scale. Only a limited number of corrupted could make their way out of a temporary portal.

The situation would be a bit tricky if an overlord opened the portal. The corrupted under its command were more troublesome to deal with.

A permanent one had an entirely different meaning. There was no limit to the strength or number of the corrupted it could let out. A small fraction of them were more than enough to drown Onterrath through sheer numbers.

He understood the futility of resisting the Rift.

They could only delay the inevitable destruction and pray it didn't happen during their time.

The issue bothering him was the Rift war. If it happened periodically, then the world would never have true peace. A systematic cycle of conflict would continually threaten the world.

If progress stalled, or if the previous war caused an unrecoverable loss, the world was doomed.

There was no way the strength behind the Rift's attack didn't increase between the first and second war. If it stayed the same, the subsequent developments in magic would make it easy to resist the eventual wars. In that scenario, hiding the truth didn't make any sense.

The possibility of defeating the Rift never occurred to him. Only fools would believe that.

"When is the next war expected to happen?" Liam hoped for it to happen after his time. He did not want anything to do with that place.

"No idea," Dunn said. "I told you everything I know."

Liam put the thoughts out of his head. There was nothing he could do about the war anyway. It was better to focus on his current predicament.

"Three questions. Where are we? What's happening? Why does everyone seem to hate you?"

"Let's start with another geography lesson." Dunn marked a location close to the sea. It was above the territory of the orcs.

"We are currently located in my homeland, the Heleon Theocracy. The camp is set up outside the borders of the Blackwood forest, which surrounds the Grithar river. Originating in the land of dwarves, it is a major water transportation channel."

Liam frowned when he noticed the location.

"If I want to reach Shurin, I have to cross the entirety of Theocracy, don't I?" His voice was tinged with annoyance.

"Not necessarily."

Liam waited for Dunn to explain what he meant, but Dunn stared back at him in silence.

"What are you doing?"

"Waiting for you to ask."

Liam controlled the impulse to beat Dunn. "What do you mean?"

"We have more important things to discuss," Dunn said with a triumphant smile on his face. "I'll explain it to you later."

He always wanted to do that. Inside the Rift, Liam was usually the one with the answers. Whenever someone asked him a question, his standard answer was 'Don't worry about unnecessary things. We have got too much on our plate.'

Now he was getting a taste of his medicine.

The urge to beat Dunn was overpowering, but Liam held it in. Instead, he threw a smile at Dunn, giving him the creeps.

Shifting uncomfortably in his seat, Dunn wondered if he was going to get a beating. When Liam didn't act, he relaxed and sank back into his chair.

Jade sighed in disappointment. "No fight?"

Dunn threw a filthy look at her. "Why don't the two of us have a go? You'll get a taste of how strong I am."

Liam put his hand on Dunn's shoulder. "I thought we had more important things to discuss?"

Clearing his throat, Dunn continued.

"Where was I? Ah, yes. Since the geography lesson is complete, let's move to the more important topics." Dunn's eyes never left the hand present on his shoulder. "I am sure you guessed it already, but let me reconfirm it. A Rift portal opened inside the forest. I don't know the exact details, but I know for a fact that they are fighting an overlord."

Hearing Dunn's explanation made Liam speechless. "How the hell did we get entangled with an overlord immediately after escaping from the Rift? Back then, the only reason we escaped from one was because it did not deign to pay us any attention."

"Also, they rarely create portals. The price of creating one even for a small amount of time is too much to bear. How long has it been active for?"

"6 months."

"Are you sure?" Liam's voice rose in pitch.

Jade nodded in confirmation.

The overlords consumed their territory to create portals. It meant a drastic decrease in their power. They hesitate to open it for short periods, and one of them kept it open for 6 months?

"Were you able to gather any information?" he asked in a solemn tone.

Dunn released a frustrated breath. "Barely anything concrete. From what I know, the nearby villages weren't evacuated because of concern for their safety. At least, their safety was only a minor concern.

"There are two pieces of information I was able to gather. First, the army has closed the borders around this region and I believe you noticed the second one."

"The army right? There are barely any veterans here. None of the soldiers are too old."

"Yeah. Strange right?"

"Hmm," Liam didn't know what it meant but it should be important. "We will know more after we meet Alisha tomorrow. No point in trying to analyze it now."

Whatever they were involved in was much bigger than a fight against an overlord. The strange actions of the Theocracy only reinforced his belief.

"Why do the soldiers hate you guys so much? I could literally feel the heat in their glare."

Jade answered his question with another question. "What do you think we have been doing in the past month?"

"Either fighting the corrupted or sitting on your thumbs."

"Wrong to both. We have been busy killing soldiers."

Liam thought he misheard her. "Can you repeat that? I think you said you were killing soldiers."

"That's exactly what I said," Jade confirmed.

He glanced between the two of them. "Can someone elaborate?"

"Someone in the theocracy is supporting the overlord."

Just when Liam was starting to think he wouldn't be surprised by anything, they dropped another shocking matter in his lap. People's foolishness and greed knew no bounds.

"Some of their agents are present in the camp. Before we appeared, Alisha had a hard time identifying them and acting against them."

Jade froze all of a sudden as if she remembered something important.

"Wait a minute, I forgot to tell you a piece of information. The soldiers in the camp don't know that we came out of the Rift. They think we are part of the refugees. The only ones who know the truth are Caleb's squad members, who were present at the location. Alisha ordered them to play along with the story.

"Our arrival gave her the perfect opportunity. The information she directly passed to us had zero chances of being leaked and she could count on our loyalty."

"I don't think we should call it loyalty," Dunn interrupted her in a sour voice. "She had a hostage and she also knew our true situation. We were essentially blackmailed into working for her."

Liam wasn't going to complain about her behaviour. He had done the same thing many times.

"Your mission was to kill soldiers?"

Jade nodded. "Traitors, is the word she used."

"Do the other soldiers know?" Liam dreaded the answer.

She nodded again.

"We are acting as her personal executioners. Being the highest authority in the camp, she gives us every piece of information about the target. Even the planning is done by her. Our only job was to follow her instructions."

"She is part of the inquisition," Dunn added in a somber tone. "I am sure that word is self-explanatory. When she acts, she doesn't follow the army rules. Instead of punishing soldiers after collecting evidence and proving them guilty, she does the exact opposite.

"Her punishment is usually death, so the victim isn't there to defend himself."

"Does the army allow anyone to act with such impunity?"

"No."

"Then how is she getting away with her actions."

"It's because there is no proof.

"Let me clarify something. We didn't scream and charge at our targets. Each and every one of our attacks was meticulously planned. No one knows that we are the killers, but they suspect us. A lot of them have been trying to find any clues to no avail. Alisha's planning was perfect."

"The soldiers hate us based on speculation?" Liam asked.

"Rumors can be more dangerous than outright proof. They have a tendency to exaggerate things. Many people suspect Alisha and the two of us. They are waiting for us to make a single mistake."

"What happens then?"

"Alisha kept her hands clean," Jade said.

"So, if we get caught, she can brush her hands off us and we take the brunt of the blame?"

"Yeah."

Liam could feel a headache forming inside his head.

"Let's go to bed." There were too many things swirling inside Liam's mind for him to think straight.

"Hopefully, we will have more answers tomorrow."

**********

The next morning, Lady Alisha's aide, Nora greeted them at the breakfast camp. "If you are ready, commander Alisha asked me to guide you."

Liam, Dunn, and Jade readily followed her. When they were leaving, they noticed the soldiers in the camp glaring at their group. Ignoring them, they followed Nora.

They arrived outside a tent that was a little ways from the camp.