My large blade cut through the air with rigid uniformity. Aside from the occasional birdsong, and the sound of the cutting air, my surroundings were entirely silent. I continued to practice my swings in this silence until my body was sweating profusely, and it became difficult to even lift my sword. I thrust it in to the dirt and leaned upon it, satisfied with my training.

I’ve been doing this type of training since even before I had met Selena, and it was still as calming as ever. It had been decided that our strongest members would be investigating the odd formation in the forest. I had my ideas as to what it was, but even so, it wasn’t quite normal. I had my reservations, but considering that the four of us were going, I’m sure the investigation will go smoothly.

Probably.

“Yo, Cap! Didja hear the report?”

One of my subordinates had come to fetch me. He’s one of the few I bother to let know where I train, because he’s not the kind of idiot who’d come to interrupt meaninglessly. I appreciate that.

“Did they find the entrance already?”

We had sent out a couple guys to check around the wall of trees. It was clear that they were almost indestructible, and that trying to chop them down would just break our axes. The trees also possessed bark that was smooth to the point of being slippery, and no low hanging branches. And although it was not airtight, the trees grew close enough together that nothing larger than a small rodent would be able to squeeze through. I just had a feeling that it was going to have an entrance somewhere.

I picked up my sword, rested it lightly on my shoulder, grabbed my shirt and walked back down to base camp.

As I neared, the buzz of conversation slowly grew in volume. The camp was a large conglomerate of tents and campfires, and most of the footmen were partying and laughing. Even with this odd phenomenon, they knew for the most part that they were ‘safe’ here. The guards weren’t going to chase them, there weren’t any particularly scary species in this forest. With just a few guys watching out for wolves or groups of gobs were enough.

Besides, all the thinking was to be done by the higher ups. They didn’t even need to prepare to explore.

I separated from my underling and moved towards the largest tent in the center of camp. It was quite large, with four walls and even a roof shaped like an umbrella. As I pulled the flaps apart and ducked to enter, I saw the various squad leaders, our resident crazy, and our leader discussing the plan around the table.

“I’m back.”

Selena gave me a sidelong glance before muttering, “put on your shirt, idiot, were in the middle of meetings here.” Her sighed seemed quite heavy.

“Ah, right.” I had forgotten about that on my way back; I was still cooling off. I scrambled to put my shirt on as the others in the room giggled to themselves. I hope they realized I could annihilate them if I wanted to. I shot a quick glare to shut them up.

“We were planning on leaving tomorrow morning, Alex, we were just deciding who to send,” Selena filled me in.

“Hm? Wouldn’t it just be me, Gordan, and the crazy guy?” I responded.

“I am not crazy, muscle-brain!”

“Well,” Selena interrupted before we could begin our shouting match in earnest, “I was planning on joining you three.”

I frowned. It wasn’t that she couldn’t handle it. She most definitely had the ability but...

“I don’t like it,” Gordan, the oldest of all the captains stated, voicing my concerns. “We need you here. You are our most important leader after all. We can manage if something happens to me or Alex, but with you, it’s not quite the same.”

I silently nodded. She was just too valuable. There is no way this group could function without the beacon that was Selena. The captains are always infighting, the foot soldiers are unreliable, and nobody here is the type to risk their skin for another.

The sole exception to this rule was Selena herself. Not only was she ready to die for us, similarly, we were prepared to do the same for her.

But unfortunately, she stated, “Like I care about that. I’m going.” It was final. There was nothing we could say to sway her. Truly unfortunate. I let out a heavy sigh and began to leave the tent. “Begin gathering your gear, we leave first thing tomorrow morning. Let’s do some adventuring, fools.” I waved my hand without turning back to signal my understanding, but I could tell there was a very dumb grin on Selena’s face right now.

The next morning, having gathered our belongings, we started our daylong march towards the entrance. In my opinion, it was inconveniently far away, but because we needed to be close by the river for washing clothes, bathing, drinking, and such, it couldn’t be helped. Selena was at the front leading the party as if it was natural. As far as battle tactics go, she does best as a mid-guard with her rapier and quick footwork, but she is currently too ecstatic and is walking too fast for those with heavier weapons to walk at a prudent pace. Her eyes were shining as she glanced every which direction like a kid at a festival.

We’re not even close to there yet, can’t you be a little more patient? I thought while grinning.

To my left was Gordan, a reliable old man at an age of 53. He was quite muscular and was only slightly taller than I was, but he eclipsed most people with his giant figure. He wore heavy armor most of the time. He donned plate mail on every part of his body that wasn’t a joint, up to his neck. Chain mail covered everything else. Instead of a helmet, though, he proudly bore a tattered bandana that at some point was probably a shade of blue, but over the years, was browned with dried blood and mud. Gordan apparently received it from his late wife and chuckled with a grin, ‘The love she put into this headband is more effective than any steel. I’m still here, now aren’t I?’

His hair is cut short in a military style and has started to become gray, but still retains some of his original brown color. His eyes were constantly sharp and vigilant with a muted brown like his hair. The places where his skin peeked through his armor, numerous scars marred his white skin. He always tried to keep shaven, but he was often seen with a 5 o’clock shadow.

He carried two tower shields with him. They were both looming rectangles of metal that, when placed on the ground would reach his shoulder. The one that he carried in his right hand was noticeably more dented, as he often used that shield to bash his enemies to death. It was also much browner than the shield he kept draped on his back.

Gordan was once a famous adventurer before Selena and I had him join our ranks, but as he usually says, “That’s just history.”

Walking behind us was our group’s only career mage, Zayl. Zayl was a thin man, bordering on lanky. He was around my age, but he looked much older due to how haggard he usually was. He had a permanent set of eyebags, and many were convinced he either got only 2 hours of sleep a night, or just worked constantly for 3 or 4 days before his body forcefully collapsed. He had wiry black hair pulled back into a small ponytail, and he was at a short 5’5”, or 165 cm. His eyes were a dark black color and permanently squinting, probably because he was constantly about to fall asleep. Zayl wore an old brown robe that had many stains on it and he carried a simple iron staff that went up to his shoulder. The staff curved at the top like a shepherd’s crook, and in the center of the curve was a large, red gem that had a slight ominous glow to it. The bottom of his staff was also sharpened to a point so that he could use it as a makeshift spear. And although I thought it was strange, according to Zayl, most mages had a pointed-end staff so they could more easily shift the earth to create magic circles for complicated spells. He’s stated that he like the simple spells, and he tries to avoid making spells that require such preparation.

As logical as the design of his staff was, Zayl was not what one would call reasonable. He put his studies and research above absolutely everything else. When he wasn’t field testing his research, he was practicing in his own secluded quarters. We had to make sure that someone delivered food to his hut because otherwise Zayl would go without eating at all. Everyone was sure that he would die from starvation or a lack of sleep far before he died in battle. He used to live a life of comfort as a noble, but he cut himself off from his family for the sake of freedom for his testing. “I’d rather live in squalor and be free to research than never hunger but be constantly tied down by other obligations. The choice is beyond obvious,” he told me. As someone who grew up hungry, I’d have to disagree.

He was most talented at water magic. He knew a few spells from each of the main four elements, air, water, fire, and earth, but beyond that he only knew his self-created, specialized magic. When we gained fresh recruits, he would test them to see if they had magic abilities, and then would teach them the spells that were a part of their element. If they mastered those spells he would either teach them the others to keep them busy, or if he thought they may be talented he would tell them to ‘make their own.’ I asked Zayl if it was really as easy as he made it seem, but he replied with, “Of course it isn’t easy, you dolt. Magic is about a fight of wills. Those that want their skill to increase must temper their will against the elements. I could tell them the easy paths others have already paved, but they won’t grow. They get enough to feel what it’s like to handle magic, but after that, it is their own fight.” Unfortunately, he had literally just collapsed into the dirt from overwork, so he didn’t look as cool as he sounded.

I told him, “I bet you just don’t feel like taking time away from your research to teach them.” And he had just shrugged in response before falling asleep.

As for his past, I know very little. Zayl went to schooling to be a mage, which means he was probably rich and had a bright future, but that’s it.

He was in a chipper mood today, as he finally could test his magic as much as he wants. If this really was a dungeon he would have a steady supply of monsters to “test” on, so he was similarly excited. If his body wasn’t in such a bad state, I’m sure he would show it much more.

Gordon gave a large slap to the back of Zayl to speed him up a bit. “Hurry up, Zayl! If ya don’t pick up the pace Boss’ll have finished the investigation by the time the rest of us show up!”

Zayl shot Gordon a glare while snipping with, “Well, unlike Boss, I don’t have infinite energy, and unlike you musclebrains, I don’t have a giant’s stride!”

Gordon laughed loudly. “You probably should have listened to ye mum and drank ye milk, you know? Maybe then the rest of us wouldn’t ‘ave to be taking these baby steps!” He continued to guffaw for another 30 seconds before suddenly whispering, “But you lads can feel it, right? That gaze?”

“Yeah.”

“What do you take me for?”

I shot a glance towards the wall of foliage that loomed towards my right. “It’s probably a dungeon, right? With this kind of feeling.” It is often told by adventurers that dungeons give off a very unsettling feeling when you’re inside them, like you constantly have a pair of eyes on you. The bookish types just say it’s because of the differences in the outside mana and the mana within dungeons, but most adventurers are convinced that the dungeons are alive.

Zayl agreed with a grin, “Hehe, I hope so, because if so...”

“”” We will make quite the profit, eh?”””

We grinned to each other as we picked up the pace behind Selena. It seems that life is going to turn around for us, I thought, as a flock of birds flew from the trees around us.