Chapter 188 - Alone (Thank you for your support, T!)

Fifteen minutes later, the ship had anchored and the fleet following them soon got ready to do the same. Right in front of the ship, Rayner, Lizzie, and Linnet found Ulric and Remi waiting for them.

“Thank you for coming so fast, Commander.”

Ulric saluted and then said that. He looked as serious as ever, but Remi looked pretty relaxed. His confidence was already high, but it looked like he got even more confident thanks to this war.

Rayner nodded and then went silent for a moment wondering what he should do. He wanted to ask about Regulus first and foremost, but he was the new commander of the area, so he had to put his family’s matters away for now.

“Where is your current field commander?”

“He asked us to wait for you here and guide you when you are ready to meet him.”

“We are ready.”

“Are you sure about that? The shorties should be pretty tired from being on a ship for so long. They don’t have beds like the one’s back home, after all.”

The twins glared at Remi and stuck their tongue at him, since Rayner couldn’t see them doing that. Regardless, Rayner didn’t have to say anything and soon they began to move while the reinforcement army would follow them later. It looked like they wouldn’t have to fight, so there was no need to hurry.

“Report.”

Once they all got in the carriage, Rayner asked for that. The vehicle hadn’t even begun to move yet. He was direct as ever. In the end, Ulric began to give the details about the battle and how they managed to gain terrain on the first week, but then as if he had brought them a wave of really bad luck, they began to lose the battles after Regulus showed up once and then showed up again and then sniped their commander.

“Describe the attack and the wound.”

Ulric flinched for a moment when he heard about it… even now, he wasn’t certain if it was true. But that was the port that all the other armies received from the remaining commanders.

“According to what we have heard, the arrow created a hole after passing through the body of the commander. The armor and the wound had a wound in the shape of a perfect circle. Almost like…”

“Almost like the arrow had ignored all the defenses of the target.”

Ulric nodded. Everyone looked surprised since they never heard of something like that, but it was clear that Rayner had vast amounts of experience, so it wasn’t surprising.

“Do you know what was the reason for the wound to be like that, Father?”

Remi’s smile finally vanished, and then he asked that. It wasn’t long after Regulus attacked him that he had killed their commander. Rumors said that he had come out from a labyrinth, but even if he had gained a powerful skill, it wouldn’t have come that powerful at level one.

“... I can’t say for sure yet. More importantly, this report is missing a lot of details. Regulus wounded Remi and then disappeared, only to attack the commander and then disappear again. Once and for all, this time?”

“Yes… we found no signs of him and that is what we know about his involvement. After that, we were backed away to the port towns and fought for a while without making any progress, but eventually, after killing some of the chieftains, we were able to turn the tables on them. We kept pushing the tribelands further into their territory until we conquered pretty much all of their towns. A few tens of thousands of them escaped by boat with their pirate ships.”

Rayner studied Ulric for a while until beads of sweat began to show up on his son’s face… It seemed a very short report that he was told to give it to his father for whatever reason, but that didn’t matter. He could always ask for the real report directly from the source… his son was following orders, orders that forced him to tell half-truths.

Rayner reached the same conclusion as his kids… Regulus has been traveling around the world exploring dungeons and labyrinths to gain power. He heard a few things about him before, some suspicious sightings, but in all of them, Regulus was using a disguise. It was the first time now that he showed up without trying to hide anything. That was confusing… it wasn’t like he dropped his guard to be found. He acted in a way to make sure that everyone would understand that he was no longer planning to hide who he was.

“There is one more piece of information that we received recently.”

“What is it? Few people found signs of an ice phoenix flying to the sky and that was supposed to be the final guardian of the hardest labyrinth in this land. When the area was explored by our soldiers, they found signs of a battle taking place outside. Some giant ice pillars smashed the bodies of some… beings that we couldn’t pinpoint what they exactly were, but there are signs that they could be vampires… although the type that would be considered failures by some vampires.”

“The forsaken? They wouldn’t come here without a reason… and it would be too soon for them to hear news about…”

Rayner began to connect the dots. He found it weird that he wasn’t called to join this war when he had more experience than most in fighting against orcs, goblins, and ogres. The empire was up to their underhanded tactics and if they had involved him, they wouldn’t have had the chance to use those.

Since he was a warrior through and through, he would rather fight the enemy directly, but it looked like some people who had the ears of the emperor decided to involve other factions to make their job a lot easier. His mood dropped instantly and his kids couldn’t help but flinch in response.

Rayner let out a sigh to calm himself down… Around six weeks had passed since Regulus had been spotted and if he was smart enough to be found until now, he should have left the land already. That was disappointing, but at least his two other sons were fine. Perhaps too fine, considering that they had to kill hundreds of enemies to survive.

‘I am getting old and sentimental. I don’t think that he was captured by the Forsaken. The involvement of the labyrinth guardian confirms it. Although I have no idea how he made such a creature leave the labyrinth…’

It was a bit perplexing that Regulus was able to clear labyrinths that had fifty floors at his age, but Rayner knew that even half vampires had some tricks up his sleeve… depending on how many labyrinths he had cleaned, perhaps he should have awakened some of his powers. Considering who his mother was, that should be quite the card in his hands.

‘If he has awakened too many of them, he will leave a trail of people that he will bite… I don’t think that he will kill them, but he has been too cautious as of late to take his chances. I need to keep an eye on Jacques.’

A few days later, Rayner had the chance to question the other commanders about the details of the battles that he wanted, but it was clear that they all were hiding something. The soldiers were also dead set in, keeping their mouths closed. 

Rayner knew that unless he had experienced some close to death situations, Regulus’ involvement should have ended when Remi challenged him. He only hurt Remi’s leg, and he gave a fair warning to all the others just because they were on his path to another labyrinth.

A few days later, Rayner went to check the labyrinth mentioned and his kids followed him… they found the holes left by the giant ice pillars, but aside from a few signs of battles here and there, nothing could be found.

“To which direction did the ships escaped?”

“Northwest, I believe… do you think that Regulus would have left with them, father?”

Ulric found that hard to believe, but he decided to ask, anyway.

“It would be too obvious… your mindset is probably similar to his. What would you think if you were in his position?”

“... Probably head to one of the most hard to expect places. Perhaps not back to the empire, though.”

“You are right. He wouldn’t.”

Rayner expected that his other kids would ask his opinion, but they looked a bit annoyed thanks to the extra focus that they had to endure, thanks to Regulus. He had some responsibility toward Regulus, but he had over them as well… If Regulus was determined to stay alone, Rayner wouldn’t be able to find him, so he had no other choice to change his focus.

“Let’s return… this area is too cold.”

The atmosphere shifted noticeably after Rayner’s words, as if a storm had passed, leaving behind a calm but much enjoyable peace. The tension that had gripped his children finally began to ease, their shoulders relaxing and their guarded expressions softening. It was as though the mention of Regulus could now be set aside, if only for a while. For the first time in days, they allowed themselves to breathe freely.

Rayner, however, couldn’t ignore the flicker of unease that lingered in the eyes of his two sons. He could tell they were still hiding something, their occasional glances at one another speaking volumes of a shared secret they weren’t ready to voice. But Rayner decided not to press them. He knew better than anyone the weight of things unsaid. After all, he had his own burdens to carry, his own truths tucked carefully away in the depths of his mind, hidden from his family.

Perhaps it was better this way, he thought. They all had their walls, their private spaces where they kept the things they weren’t ready to share. It wasn’t trust in the purest sense, but it was enough to hold them together, at least for now.

After he thought of that, Rayner looked over his shoulders and then saw pieces of ships floating in the cold ocean. They seemed to be masts and sails of ships. He was satisfied knowing that despite his situation, Regulus didn’t join the Forsaken. He found himself a lot of time alone back at home, and it looked like he was planning to stay that way.