Grahan sighed, “Damn shame. We can’t head back to Chilton either; it's too cold for some of us to survive the trip, and even if they do, there are few buildings left that can be used. We need at least two days before we can actually move back.”
“What about reinforcements? Have we received word from Shritonon yet?” Famner asked.
Shritonon was the name of another town nearby. It was situated a bit further away compared to Chilton, but they were the closest help they could feasibly get.
An armless robed mage nodded. He was Palter, the leader of the town guards. “They are sending help, but it won't be till later in the day that they arrive. Even with their reinforcements, I don’t think we will stand much of a chance.”
Sol sighed, “Then we can only hope Rex finds the entrance. If he doesn't, then we will have to move everyone back underground again and hope the orcs don't linger around for long. If their forces aren’t too strong, we can try fighting them.”
Famner shuddered at the thought of going back underground. “Let's hope it doesn’t come to that. By no means am I unthankful for you hiding us down there, but it was stressful wondering if you would ever come back. If by some misfortune you and your knights perish, we will all starve down there.”
The knights understood his reasonable fears. If the underground space Sol made wasn’t so deep in the ground, then the townsfolk would at least be able to dig themselves out. But if he did make it closer to the surface, there was a good chance they would be detected by the orcs.
Sol assured him to ease his worries. “It's only a last resort, and if they are too strong for us to handle, we won’t fight but instead work on making a tunnel that leads away from the fort.”
The tunnel was the initial plan when the squad was discussing how to save the people without risking their lives. It was feasible, but they chose not to do so because he would have to create the tunnel slowly to prevent tremors on the surface and possibly alert the bandits. At the time, they had a time limit and couldn't take their time to silently make a tunnel, but now it could be put into action if needed.
“That’s good to know, thank you.” Famner smiled, but in his eyes, one could still see he was slightly worried. Who could blame him? None of this was ideal.
The squad and Chilton’s leaders discussed a few more matters before adjourning the meeting. As everyone left, Sol stood up to leave, but someone walked towards him, causing him to pause his actions.
“Lapis?”
Lapis waited until the last person left the room to speak.
“What will we do about our real mission? Won't the other two squads beat us to it if we take too long?”
If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
Sol shrugged helplessly, “Our mission was to also eliminate the bandits, but the situation just developed in ways none of us could have expected. We can’t leave until we deal with the orcs.”
She didn’t argue back, but Sol could see she was hesitant about something given the slight signs of anxiety on her face.
“Alright, what’s the real issue? Knowing you, I doubt you really care about recovering the material, so just tell me. Maybe I can help.”
Lapis showed signs of hesitation as she couldn’t decide whether or not to speak of her problems. As she was deliberating, Sol felt a slight vibration from his pocket. Reaching in, he pulled out a communication gem, one that was linked to Rex.
Sol glanced at Lapis, who waited for him to answer. Seeing that she wouldn’t speak about it for now, he inserted a small amount of mana into the gem, activating it.
“Rex, please tell me you have good news. I really don’t want to bury over two thousand people underground.”
From the gem, Rex’s excited voice came out. “I found it! I’m on my way back now!”
Sol felt a wave of relief wash over him. “Thank the gods. I’ll meet you outside.”
He stopped inserting mana into the communication gem and put it away for now. He then turned to Lapis.
“Looks like this will all be over soon.” Sol paused for a moment as he remembered Lapis' issues. “Lapis, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, but if you do, I promise I’ll do my best to help you. It's nothing to be ashamed of to ask for help.”
After traveling with Lapis for a while, he had gained a good understanding of her personality. She was surprisingly similar to Amber in how they both usually kept to themselves and didn’t rely on others for help. But unlike Amber, where it stemmed from how she was manipulated and taught, Lapis’ felt like it originated from pride. As if her being unable to do it alone was something to be ashamed of.
Lapis didn’t respond as she stood there contemplating his words. Only after a brief moment of silence did she turn around and walk out of the room.
Sol could only shake his head helplessly. ‘If she won't tell me, there’s nothing I can do about it. I’ll worry about it later, I need to go meet up with Rex.’
Soon after arriving outside, Rex returned and led him and Duncan to the location of the tunnel while the rest of the squad stayed behind in case of an emergency.
After running through the snowy forest, they arrived at the foot of the mountain. It looked no different from any other mountain that was littered throughout the mountain range.
“We're here!” Rex said.
Both Duncan and Sol knew that he wouldn’t lead them here if there wasn’t something here, so they began to scan the area. It was not until Sol used [True Sight] that he noticed the abnormality.
“This is… an illusion?” Sol asked as he saw the two carriage-wide tunnel entrance that was three feet in front of him. He had no idea it was so close in front of him until he used the skill.
Sol took a few steps forward, and once he did, he disappeared from Duncan’s sight. Duncan felt a strong headache as he asked Rex.
“Where did the Captain go?”
Even though he saw Sol walk forward and disappear, he was unable to recall where he was.
Rex grabbed Duncan's hand and led him three feet forward, taking him into the tunnel. Once he was inside, Duncan’s headache went away and he could see the tunnel properly.
Rex explained what he knew. “I think it's an illusion, but also some kind of array or spell that makes one forget or subconsciously avoid it. I ran past this area three times before I noticed I kept running around this spot because of my footprints. But when you enter the tunnel once, you are immune to its effects.”
Duncan looked around the tunnel and commented, “I see no runes or enchantments. I don’t think the orcs were behind whatever magic did that.”
Sol hummed out loud, “Weird, but it doesn't matter. Let's collapse this tunnel and get out of here.”