90: Camp

We rode hard the next day, only stopping briefly for the horses to rest and have a drink of water. We were following the coastline, so there was a saltiness in the air the entire time.

I was surprised at how much the coast changed as we travelled. Near the city, the shoreline had been mostly sand. There were occasional rocks, especially surrounding the town itself, but overall it was smooth. Now, the land dropped into sheer cliffs that led down to the water.

While riding, I used Arcane Foraging once—curious about what might be near the ocean—and immediately discovered a major flaw.

The whole ocean glowed blue.

This was where I discovered a feature of the skill I hadn’t known existed until now. I was able to essentially tone down the glow of the ocean—or so I thought. It turned out that all the really abundant items were now toned down as well.

I still needed to test it with something rarer, but if I could dull the glow of the common items and highlight only the rare ones, it would make the skill a lot more useful.

As the sun dipped below the horizon and the sky began to darken, we finally saw the first sign of the army’s location. In the distance, several smoke columns rose into the sky, along with a steady glow near the horizon.

“Are we going to go straight there?” I asked, watching the lights in the distance.

“It’s best you don’t sneak up on a camp at night,” Hari said, stepping up beside me.

“Would they attack us?” I asked, confused. This was the army—I didn’t think they’d just lash out randomly.

“No, but Liane is going to scout out what we’re walking into. We’ll intercept them in the morning. In general, it’s best to avoid approaching any camp at night if they don’t know you. It puts everyone on edge,” Hari explained.

“That makes sense. I just… I really want to go straight there. We’re so close,” I said honestly.

“I get that. But another few hours won’t hurt too much. Now—training time,” Hari said, turning to me.

I just groaned.

I ended up putting four points into Endurance, mostly because I wanted more stamina. This training was leaving me drained every night—but I was seeing improvement. I still couldn’t land a hit on Hari, but at least I wasn’t leaving myself wide open every time I swung.

Slow and steady.

For dinner, it was Buvul steaks with mashed tubers, and I made a creamy garlic sauce to go with it. I’d wanted to make some pastries, but I was far too tired. Despite that, I still couldn’t sleep. I was too nervous about tomorrow.

I pulled out Char’s book and started flipping through it.

“You okay?” Micca asked, sitting down next to me.

“Yeah, I think so. Just nervous,” I said, eyes still on the book—though I wasn’t really reading. My mind was elsewhere, wondering how tomorrow’s encounter would go. Would George even want to talk to me?

“You’ll be fine. Your friend will be fine. You’ll see,” she said softly, patting me on the back.

Nothing much was said after that. I just watched as Crisplet continued building what looked like a tower. It was fascinating to see, because unlike Milo’s smooth, single-piece structures, Crisplet was forming individual pieces of coal like bricks—raising the tower layer by layer.

***

I had a restless sleep that night. When I finally gave up and got up in the morning, I saw that Crisplet’s tower had reached all the way to the roof. All the little bricks of coal he’d used were now fused together into what looked almost like a pillar of molten lava and ash. It even appeared bone-like?.

“Morning, Crisplet. Your tower looks really badass—I like it,” I said, getting a burst of embers in reply as Crisplet emerged from the entrance hole at the base.

I waved to Milo and Jen, who were on watch this morning. I knew we wanted to get on the road early so we could catch the group before they started moving. Keeping breakfast simple, I pulled out some dough to make fresh rolls and followed that up with scrambled eggs from the supplies Jen and Micca had bought.

As I was cooking the rolls, I couldn’t help but wonder—would I eventually be able to put them on a pre-made rune and just add the final magic word at the end? Could I have runes on the bread?

Something to consider later.

Breakfast was a success. Everyone enjoyed it, and while packing down camp, we got to see Crisplet’s full creation as Milo’s stone faded away. What was left looked almost like a skeleton made of coal, intertwined through the entire structure Milo had built.

“Wow, Crisplet. You went all out,” I said, staring at the framework he’d left behind—just before it all collapsed into ash and was carried away on the breeze.

“Right, let’s get moving. Remember, let me do the talking. Micca, you’re the merchant. Once we know who George is, you’ll need to ask for him,” Hari explained.

Micca just nodded as we all mounted our horses.

***

In under an hour, we had the camp in sight. It was much larger than I expected—there had to be hundreds of people. From here, they all looked to be moving slowly, and it seemed like they were packing down.

As we got closer, I began to notice more and more details that concerned me. The group was moving very slowly. It looked like a large proportion of them were injured.

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“What’s wrong with them?” I asked as we rode.

“They sometimes force them to march day after day, without rest, until they reach the town. This breaks a lot of people—mentally and physically,” Milo said, and there was a clear hint of disgust in his voice.

We started making our way along the outer edge of the camp. I was on the lookout for George, hoping we might spot him early. So far, I hadn’t seen him. To a lesser extent, I was also looking for Darren or Brandon, since they had been with him when he left.

It took a couple of minutes of weaving through the camp before we found our way to where the leaders seemed to be stationed.

It was easy to spot—they were the only ones with horses, besides the wagons.

“Greetings,” Hari called, dismounting from his horse.

“State your business,” the older man said in a stern manner.

“We’re the adventurer’s party, The Polite Company. We’re currently on a job for a merchant,” Hari said, gesturing to Micca.

“We’re hoping to come to an arrangement to acquire someone in particular—perhaps have a more private conversation?” He added, looking around as Micca and Milo dismounted as well.

The man looked over us all, his eyes lingering on Crisplet for a moment before he gestured toward the tent behind him for Hari, Milo, and Micca to follow.

“Would it be alright for my party to seek out the individual while we work out the details?” Hari asked, putting on a giant smile.

“Aye, that’s fine. Just don’t interfere with anything,” the man said, walking into the tent with the others close behind.

Liane and Jen both looked troubled as they glanced around, but aside from exhausted faces and limping soldiers, I couldn’t see what was bothering them. Taking our chance, we started making our way through the camp.

It took a while before I spotted anyone I recognised—and the moment I did, I couldn’t help but yell out.