The rest day passed by in an instant, he got promoted, had a hearty dinner, played some cards and before he knew it, they were on the march again.

They had lost too many skirmishers though, and although they were reinforced by companies worth of light infantry, they were unfortunately only substitutes.

So now here he was, walking through the forest with four infantrymen following his lead. They may not have been as well trained at scouting as him but they all still had to have undergone basic scouting training in order to become infantrymen.

With Bertrand in the lead they slowly scoured the woodlands, always making sure at least one of them was watching the treetops. After a few hours of this, morning turned to afternoon and they had completed their objective.

Their segment of the forest was clear so they decided to take a rest before heading forwards and clearing the rest of the forest.

However while stopping to take a quick break and eat a few pieces of jerky, they found some scattered blood on one of the bushes.

Bertrand spent a few minutes inspecting it and looking around the area to see if there were any signs of a battle but he couldn't find anything. So after calling out to the infantrymen who had taken up defensive positions to follow him, he continued onwards.

And another few tense and boring hours flew by. At this point the afternoon had started to turn into the evening. So they turned back and headed over to where the new forward base was constructed.

The wagon circle had been broken apart and taken forwards alongside a few of the wagons that made up the wall, they were arranged in a semicircle across the road and had guards standing on top of their roofs.

Compared to their previous progress they had advanced at a snail's pace. They were only three miles ahead of the rest of the legion.

Bertrand guessed the mountains were a pain to get over though and at this point, it would be incredibly unwise to separate their forces.

He even caught a glimpse of a mage as he made his way through a small gap in the wall alongside his new team.

Bidding his temporary teammates farewell, he walked over to the cooking area and grabbed a bowl before helping himself to the soup.

Soup and jerky seemed to be all he was eating as of late, normally bread was the go to meal but due to the strange disease that was targeting wheat crops, bread had become too expensive to supply the legions with.

So soup was the primary meal now. It was far more nutritious but the lack of solid foods was a pain in the arse, literally.

Today it was onion and leek soup, with a mixture of some meat. Bertrand thought tasted like lamb.

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Then with his meal finished and exhaustion settling firmly in, Bertrand wandered off to ask one of the people on guard duty where his tent was.

After asking the third person he finally got an answer that wasn't.“I don’t know.”

Walking over to his tent, he unbuttoned the flaps and leaned inside, sitting down on the groundsheet, before taking off his boots and knocking them together a few times to get rid of any dirt.

Then he crawled further inside, chucking them into the corner of the tent as he slithered inside his bedroll.

He dreamt of horrific melting creatures, that looked like a cross between a horse and a sheep chasing after him, trampling everyone who tried to stop them in their pursuit of him.

He knew it was a nightmare, but no matter how hard he tried he simply couldnt wake up. Until finally, he did.’

Waking up covered in sweat and with an irrational fear that something was behind him, when he hurriedly looked over his shoulder though he saw nothing, just the walls of the tent.

So letting out a sigh of relief he slowly got out of his bedroll, taking care not to make any overly loud sounds as both Césaire and Francois seemed to still be sleeping.

Eixcting the tent he breathed in the fresh morning air. A small ray of golden light was shining out from across the horizon. In around half an hour his fellow soldiers would probably wake up.

Dawn acted as a compass for their sleep cycle. Well at least for those he could sleep, there seemed to be quite a few other people walking around carefully.

Most of the ones he could see seemed to be heading to the campfire, Bertrand figured he might as well join them. A hotter meal was always nice to have.

Walking over, he once again grabbed a bowl and took his place in the small line that had formed.

Once he got his serving of soup he headed off to the wagons, there were no makeshift benches so he would have to sit on a wagon instead.

Or he could sit on the ground but he would prefer not to sit down on the cold hard dirt and rocks.

Not when he had enough spare time to waste that he could justify walking over to the wagons.

The short three minute stroll was rather peaceful, the sounds of bird song and barely audible chatter helping relax him.

The sun also hadn't fully risen so he didn't have to deal with its obnoxious rays.

Coming up to one of the supply wagons, he clambered his way up onto its roof, being careful to not spill his soup.

Then for the next few minutes he sat up there, watching the sun rise and slurping his soup.

He burned his tongue a few times but it was a cost he was willing to pay. He would much rather have overly hot soup than have it be lukewarm.

Only hopping down from the wagon when his bowl was empty and the sun had fully risen.

Making his way back to the campfire, he dropped his bowl off there. Then he headed over to his tent to grab his beamer.

Entering it he notices that both his squadmates were gone. He hadn't noticed them at the campfire so maybe the two of them had skipped breakfast or had woken up early like he had.

After getting his beamer he rebuttoned the tent, then got up and headed off to meet up with his temporary team at the gates.

Today should be the last day they had to scout that Seer forsaken forest, afterwards it was just clear road till they reached Willstona.