I had a good night’s sleep without any interruptions. Having the soldiers provide security was very convenient. After a nice breakfast the soldiers left. Unlike us they were not on vacation and had a job to do. I said goodbye to Sarah and invited her to drop by the academy if she was in town.

After the soldiers were gone we continued our hunt. We spent a few hours inside the forest until we found a boar and took it down. We spent the evening celebrating our victory and eating our kill. Sadly, our success was not repeated the following day. We found nothing.

In the evening we were slightly disappointed as we prepared our dinner. It was going to be boar stew.

“I think we might need more training when it comes to hunting.” I said.

Helena sighed. “Yes. I should have hired a tracker.” She admitted. “I suppose we won’t get any mounts out of this.”

“It’s not like we really need them right now. I am sure Koyuki will find some suitable fearsome creatures for us in the future.” Skadi said.

“Yeah. Dragon mounts would be cool. Undead dragons.” Cassie suggested.

“That sounds really unlikely.” I said.

“But it would be cool.” Skadi said.

I had to agree there.

“We are going back to the academy tomorrow. And no real ambushes yet.” Helena said.

“Maybe our fight with those bandits scared them away?” I suggested. By now I had turned all my zombies into skeletons. I had also released the one I had sent with Greg’s family. So I had an army of 25 human skeletons, armed with the weapons from the bandits. Additionally I had the two goblin skeletons, my draugr and Nyx. It was quite the impressive sight, in my opinion.

“Who knows? Maybe we will get ambushed tomorrow.” Skadi suggested.

“Or tonight.” Cassie proposed.

“We need guards again. Skadi first, then Koyuki, myself and Cassie last.” Helena suggested. We all nodded. This time we would not get drunk before.

Despite our concerns the night was peaceful. The next morning we broke camp. We even remembered the traps we had placed and took them with us. Our cart was filled with loot and we had the pack mules as well. Overall it was a fun and productive trip.

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“You know, we might not have gotten any mounts or undead animals but we certainly made some money. And you have a few skeletons.” Helena observed.

“Yeah. It was a great trip, thank you for organising it!” I said.

“And we should still get a bounty, or compensation, for those seeds. I have a list of everything Captain Sarah took as evidence.” Skadi mentioned.

“I even got some alchemy supplies. I am looking forward to studying the potions they had.” Cassie said with a smile. “You know, I need to get a mobile lab. I could have done some research here.” She added.

“A mobile alchemy lab?” I asked.

“The military has some. They are pretty cool. It allows you to brew potions in the field. It can help with restocking supplies, or preparing something special.” She replied.

“Would it not be easier to brew them somewhere else and then ship the finished potions?” I asked.

“That is how it is done most of the time.” Cassie admitted. “But some things can be unstable and you would not want to ship them long distance.”

“I am going to spend some money on bone enhancements for the mage skeleton. I am really looking forward to experimenting with it.” I said.

While we talked we started our journey back to the academy. The sky was cloudy but it had not rained yet. In the worst case I could just train my water shield some more.

After about half an hour of walking it was beginning to rain. Soon afterwards we saw something on the road. A wagon was overturned and a bunch of people were moving around. They also had a surprising number of horses.

“What is going on there? Do you think it’s an ambush?” I asked.

“Clearly the ambush we have been waiting for!” Cassie said while grabbing a potion.

“Hm.” Skadi said. “It is a weird ambush. Usually you have someone harmless looking outside the wagon asking for help. And once you get close the actual bandits emerge. There are way too many people in the open.”

“Wait, are those soldiers?” Helena asked.

I squinted. We were still a bit far away. The rain certainly did not help with the visibility. Skadi, Helena and myself were now using a water shield to keep us dry. Cassie had an umbrella.

Nyx was stirring on my head. She had been lazily sleeping up there. But she did not jump down or grow, yet.

“I don’t see a great hiding spot, other than the wagon. Of course, they could be using magic.” I said.

“For now keep a ring of skeletons around us with Frank in the front. We can change the plan once we get closer.” Helena suggested.

We all readied ourselves for combat and started moving again. The closer we came the more questions I had.

“Those are definitely soldiers. And I think they have prisoners.” I observed.

“Someone could have stolen the uniforms.” Cassie cautioned.

“True. But why would they have prisoners?” Helena wondered.

The soldiers clearly noticed the approach of our group. They were surprisingly calm, considering the amount of undead we had. But the reason soon became clear as a woman approached us. She was using a water shield against the rain as well.

“Hello students.” Irene said. “Did you have a nice trip?”

“Yes, ma’am. But… What happened here?” Helena asked.

“Oh? This? Some people wanted to ambush you. Took them long enough. I have been waiting this entire week.” She responded. I think I saw some flames in her red eye…

“Ha! I said they would ambush us on the way back! That counts!” Skadi said.

“Who were they?” I asked.

“Oh, we are still working on that. Most likely Ilestrians.” Irene responded.

“Did you watch us during our trip?” Cassie asked.

“Not directly. We monitored movements of certain groups. Looked who left the city after you, the usual things. We did not want to intrude too much, but we could not let this opportunity pass.”

“We were totally bait.” Cassie concluded.

Irene just smiled.