Chapter 155
As it turned out, Rayne barely had any time to think about his decision before everything became busy again.
That very evening, Captain Edran called together all the newly appointed squad leaders for their first meeting. Rayne found himself sitting alongside Hobbs, Ardan, several other newly promoted leaders and a number of veteran squad leaders who had survived the campaign.
Unsurprisingly, quite a few eyes drifted toward him after he entered the room. Some were curious and wary while others seemed openly doubtful about him becoming a squad leader due to his blood.
The attention, however, didn't last very long. Hobbs loudly congratulated him on defeating Atticus and earning his promotion, immediately pulling everyone's attention away from the awkward silence and making the atmosphere far less tense.
Not long afterward, Captain Edran entered the room alongside Casper.
The noble offered Rayne a brief look before immediately getting down to business. Most of the meeting revolved around the Godless Ruins as he expected.
Captain Edran officially informed everyone that the warband had been assigned to escort Prince Caelan and serve under his command during the expedition.
After that, Casper spent nearly an hour explaining everything she knew about the ruins. She spoke about the freezing fog, the dangers lurking inside, the monsters that had made the place their home over the centuries and the expeditions that had vanished without leaving behind a single survivor.
Before the meeting ended, every squad leader also received a patched-together map of the outer regions of the ruins.
It was obvious from a glance that the map was incomplete. Large sections remained blank while many locations had little more than rough estimates marked upon them, giving only the faintest idea of what actually waited inside.
Naturally, more than a few squad leaders voiced their dissatisfaction. Nobody liked the idea of marching toward a place infamous across the kingdom for swallowing entire expeditions, but Captain Edran quickly reminded everyone that this wasn't a request.
It was a royal order.
Complaining wouldn't change anything. Even so, he softened the mood by informing them that Prince Caelan had personally arranged for the warband to receive new equipment before the expedition.
Every soldier would receive better armour, while squad leaders would be issued equipment forged from argan iron, a material Rayne had never even heard of before.
But whatever it was, judging by the reactions around the room, it was valuable enough to improve everyone's opinion of the mission, even if only slightly.
The rest of the meeting focused on preparations. Every squad leader was ordered to train both their veterans and newly assigned soldiers, report their progress every three days and make sure their squads were ready before the march began.
Once the instructions had been given, the meeting gradually came to an end.
As everyone began leaving, Rayne found himself half expecting Captain Edran to stop him and ask what Prince Caelan had wanted.
Instead, the captain simply exchanged a brief nod with him before turning his attention toward another squad leader. Casper was much the same.
The fire mage congratulated Rayne on becoming a squad leader, then mentioned that she still had far too much reading to do regarding the Godless Ruins and hurried away.
Afterward, Rayne simply returned to his room, ate dinner alone and found himself thinking once again about the prince's proposal.
On paper, accepting seemed like the obvious decision. The backing of a prince, the possibility of reaching the Lost Sanctum and the rewards promised to both him and his squad were difficult to ignore.
Even so, the decision no longer belonged solely to him. If he accepted, he would also be asking the men under his command to risk their lives, and at the very least he wanted the stronger members of the squad to agree before making such a choice.
Somewhere in the middle of those thoughts, he longed for some peace and quiet, and just then a face unexpectedly entered his mind.
One of Mona.
She had promised to come visit him at the longhouse, yet days had already passed without any sign of her. For a brief moment, Rayne wondered if something had happened, but after thinking about it a little longer, he simply let out a quiet sigh.
Maybe she had just lost interest.
Then another thought unexpectedly entered Rayne's mind.
The tournament had been one of the biggest events in the capital. There was no way Mona hadn't at least heard about it. There was even a chance she had been among the thousands of spectators watching from the stands when he fought Atticus.
If that had happened, then she also knew that he was a Frayser.
Rayne had never actually told her that part of his past. Maybe discovering it like that had scared her away. Maybe she had simply decided it wasn't worth getting involved with someone carrying that blood. Or perhaps there was another reason entirely.
There were too many possibilities.
After thinking about it for a while, Rayne simply shook his head. There was little point chasing after answers he didn't have. If something was meant to happen between the two of them, then it would happen eventually. If not, forcing the issue wouldn't change anything.
So, his thoughts naturally drifted back toward Prince Caelan's offer.
For the rest of the night, only one question continued repeating inside his mind.
Was it worth risking his life for the chance to obtain something greater?
The question stayed with him even after he woke the following morning.
And as his party or squad he should call them now gathered around the breakfast table, Rayne looked at everyone before asking the same question.
Every conversation around the table immediately stopped. A few pairs of eyes turned toward him before Kesh raised an eyebrow.
“What is that something more?” he asked with a grin. “A princess?”
Nate snorted. “No princess is going to look at you,” he said. “It's probably gold.”
A faint smile appeared on Rayne's face.
“It is that,” he admitted. “And much more.” He paused for a brief moment before adding quietly. “It is freedom from being a forsaken.”
As soon as those words left Rayne's mouth, the atmosphere around the table changed completely.
Every pair of eyes settled on him. Even Jason stopped chewing halfway through his breakfast while Nate simply stared, as though trying to decide whether he had heard correctly. Bran, who had been in an unusually good mood ever since selecting his class the previous day, lost the smile on his face as well.
The old ranger let out a quiet scoff before shaking his head.
“You shouldn't joke about something like that, Rayne,” he said. “Being a forsaken isn't something people laugh about. Don't hand someone a boat when it's full of holes.”
A faint smile appeared on Rayne's face. “What if the boat doesn't have any holes?” he asked.
That only made everyone look at him even harder.
Nate was the first to lean forward. His voice dropped into a whisper as he glanced around the mess hall before saying, “Are you planning to run away from the kingdom? If that's it, then listen... I actually have a—”
Rayne immediately raised a hand and interrupted him before whatever questionable plan Nate had been hiding could leave his mouth.
“No,” he said. “Even if we managed to escape, we'd spend the rest of our lives looking over our shoulders. We'd be hunted down sooner or later, and I don't want to live like that. It would be even worse for me because the kingdom will get an even better excuse to kill me.”
Kesh frowned. “Then what is it?” he asked. “If there really was a way to stop being a forsaken, Jason, Nate and you would've taken it years ago.”
Both of the forsaken soldiers nodded without hesitation.
Meanwhile, Heins quietly continued eating his breakfast, though every now and then his eyes drifted back toward Rayne, making it obvious he was listening just as carefully as everyone else.
Rayne slowly put down his spoon. “It's... not the usual way,” he admitted.
Bran narrowed his eyes. “The more you talk,” the old ranger said, “the more suspicious you're becoming. Someone promised you something, didn't they? This isn't some random hypothetical question you've decided to ask over breakfast.”
Rayne found himself staring back at Bran.
After choosing his class, the old ranger somehow looked years younger. The deep wrinkles around his face had lessened, his posture had straightened, and even his eyes carried more life than before.
Then, for a brief moment, Rayne wondered whether he had really been that obvious. Unfortunately, he also knew there was no point trying to lie his way out of it.
At the same time, he wasn't about to reveal Prince Caelan's name after giving his word.
“I can't tell you that,” Rayne finally said.
Jason immediately leaned forward. “But you do have a way for us to stop being forsaken?”
Rayne gave a slow nod. “Yes,” he answered. “But it won't be easy. In fact, there's a very good chance that—”
“I'm in.”
The interruption came so quickly that Rayne blinked. He stared at Jason before saying, “At least let me finish explaining.”
The large man simply shook his head, putting down the bread in his hand.
“It doesn't matter,” Jason replied without the slightest hesitation. “If there's even a chance I can finally get the kingdom's collar off my neck, I'll take it.”
Rayne opened his mouth, intending to tell him that there was a very real possibility he would die before ever seeing that freedom.
Before he could utter a single word, however, a loud commotion suddenly erupted just outside the mess hall.
All of them turned their heads toward the entrance of the mess hall, wondering what had caused the commotion outside. Chairs scraped against the floor as a few soldiers nearby also glanced toward the doorway, but before Rayne could get up to check for himself, Dean hurried inside.
Compared to the first time Rayne had seen him during the soldier duels back at Fort Algar, the man had changed considerably.
Back then, Dean had been arrogant enough to think he could take on anyone. Now, every time he looked at Rayne, he almost resembled a loyal puppy staring at its master.
The moment he spotted him, Dean approached, straightened his back and gave a crisp salute.
“Squad Leader,” he said. “You need to come outside.”
Rayne raised an eyebrow. “For what?”
“The new recruits,” Dean replied immediately. “The carriages just arrived. One of them is for our squad, and they're asking for the squad leader.”
Rayne instinctively met Bran's eyes before giving a small nod. Whatever discussion they had been having could wait.
Without another word, he grabbed the last piece of bread from his plate, stuffed the entire thing into his mouth and chewed as he rose to his feet, absentmindedly brushing the crumbs from his trousers.
Bran, Kesh, Nate, Jason and Heins followed behind him out of curiosity while Dean led the way through the longhouse.
After passing through one of the side hallways, they stepped outside into the morning air.
Three large military carriages stood lined up in front of the longhouse, each surrounded by soldiers carrying packs and equipment. Hobbs had already arrived and was laughing loudly while greeting the men assigned to him. A little farther away stood Trapper, another newly promoted squad leader, speaking with a much smaller group.
Rayne's attention, however, quickly shifted elsewhere.
On his squad.
He had spent hours memorizing the files Captain Edran had handed him, and now the descriptions finally had faces attached to them.
And as he looked at them, he realised they had already split into two distinct groups.
Standing near the front were the ordinary recruits. Most looked nervous enough to jump at every loud sound, their shoulders stiff while their eyes wandered around the camp. A couple of them were tall enough to appear imposing at first glance, but after reading their evaluations, Rayne knew appearances could be deceiving.
They weren't exceptional soldiers. If anything, they were the type who would think twice about charging a grown rat if it happened to growl loudly enough.
Behind them stood an entirely different crowd.
The forsaken.
Unlike the recruits, these men looked perfectly relaxed. A few carried old scars across their faces and arms, while others openly ignored the soldiers around them. Their records had been filled with theft, assault, drunken violence and enough disciplinary punishments to make him sigh just reading through them.
Out of all of them, one figure immediately caught Rayne's attention.
Sakar—The largest man in the group.
He was even broader than Jason, his shoulders resembling a pair of stone walls beneath worn leather armour. Thick, jagged scars ran from the side of his forehead, across one cheek and disappeared beneath the collar of his shirt, while another stretched down his neck like the mark of an old execution attempt.
Even standing still, he carried the sort of presence that made people instinctively step aside.
As Rayne watched, Sakar suddenly shoved one of the recruits aside hard enough to send the younger man stumbling onto the ground.
“Are any of you my squad leader?” the giant asked loudly.
Rayne stepped forward without hesitation. “Yes,” he answered, his voice carrying across the courtyard. “Rayne Frayser. Your new squad leader.”
At once, a wide smile spread across Sakar's scarred face. “Well then,” he said as he strode forward, “Sakar Balkar, reporting for duty.”
Before Rayne could react, the giant put a hand over his shoulder in what looked like a friendly greeting.
Then he squeezed as hard as he possibly could.