Once they had killed all the massed monsters, Arthur allowed everyone to rest. Especially Cate, whose mana pool was actually quite impressive for someone at level zero, but it was still a drop compared to even Ben’s as a warrior. Thanks to his Alchemist class, Arthur knew how to prepare various potions, especially how to dilute his invaluable mana potions. They would be useless for him that way, but they would drastically help Cate in her recovery. In a pinch, they would also be useful for Ben and Silfa. He only wasn't sure whether Val'narii would benefit from the mana recovery they would provide at her level. He grabbed one of his precious mana potions and, after watering it down with purified water, received fifty mana recovery potions. Arthur gave one to Catherine, who drank it without question.

  "Once you rest, we will resume the clearing." He said, and his head snapped towards the way they had come from.

  One of the groups of ten soldiers had joined them and their commander was heading straight toward Arthur. He snapped to the Saftian version of attention and bowed slightly. It looked like the soldiers weren't quite sure what his status was. Truth be told, he’d never specified it, so they had no idea if he was just a noble they had to accommodate, or their actual superior. Arthur felt it was better to leave it that way.

  "It seems that your warning came in time, Lord Ives." The man said with a slightly awed expression while Arthur tried to figure out what warning he’d issued. "Captain Amos gave us the order to move the camp. We brought all the carts and carriages closer to the cave's entrance and used them to create makeshift fortifications. Our tents, supplies, and draft animals are safely hidden in the caves. We had finished everything just an hour before the Gnolls that had previously left the cave returned with backup."

  "You managed to hold them?" Arthur asked.

  "Yes, Sir! Thanks to you, most of the company was guarding the entrance. If more of the soldiers had gone after the Gnolls inside, we might have been overrun, but we set up guards like you instructed and we were warned early!" The soldier was visibly proud. "We killed most of the Gnolls attacking us. During the monsters’ attack, a dust storm moved in unexpectedly and most of the remaining Gnolls had nowhere to run. The dust storm is intensifying as we speak but we are safe in the caves."

  "How bad was it?"

  "A few wounded, most from arrows, but everyone will live. One guy was bad, but we managed to stabilise him with a potion." The soldier lowered his head and clenched his fists.

  "Stay with my party and look out for Gnolls trying to attack. I will return in a moment." Arthur looked at the tunnel behind.

  It took the Inquisitor twenty minutes to return to the cave's entrance, heal the wounded soldiers, and check out the situation. About twenty soldiers needed healing, and he used his Lay on Hands without other special treatments. Their wounds were cleaned and nothing was suspicious. After a brief discussion with Amos, they decided that Arthur's party would continue with the extermination for now. As he returned, his party looked far better.

  "We will clear a few more chambers before we return to the entrance for a longer rest," Arthur said and looked closer at them.

  Their faces were smiling, even Catherine's despite her previous fears. Even she was eager to continue.

  "I have almost mastered the Wind Bullet spell, Sir!" She said in excitement, partially guessing what was on his mind.

  In a situation like this, he wished he had a Poker Face skill. He glanced at her in shock, mixed with the happy pride of her achievement. "Already?! You are extremely talented!"

  "Thank you, Sir." She smiled widely, her eyes sparkling with joy.

  "All right, let's go." He nodded and brought out his tower shield.

  For the next three hours, they slowly crawled their way through the caves. However, the further they went in, the more unnatural it seemed to Arthur. He had seen many caves in his life during his training and work as an Inquisitor, but he’d never seen a cave like this one. It was almost a single path, without any forks or side chambers. There weren't enough nooks or narrow gaps leading anywhere into the darkness and the air was dry. He shared his observations, but Val’narii just shrugged. For him, it was almost a sightseeing trip, while for Catherine, Ben, Silfa, and Val'narii, each room seemed extremely dangerous. And each fight was so absorbing, they didn't even notice that the Gnolls attacked only Arthur. With his Provoke nearly constantly active, Arthur only paid attention to the arrows so as not to let any slip by and wound Cate or Silfa. They had defeated over fifty Kobolds when Arthur decided to let the soldiers proceed. However, mindful of how weak they were in comparison, he asked them to wait for reinforcements.

  "It's your turn, Amos," Arthur said jovially to the Captain who was sitting on a crate when they returned.

  "How was the hunt, Lord Ives?" The man asked with a slightly nervous smile.

  "Uneventful, but I prefer it that way." Arthur nodded. "Something wrong?"

  "I think we should move the camp a bit deeper inside the cave." Amos sighed. "The dust storm is still roaring outside and the first room is slowly filling with sand."

  "Take two-thirds of your men and continue quelling the monsters. If you find anything that seems too dangerous, come find me. Be mindful that anything that is dangerous for you is enough to raise an alarm. Inform me, and we will plan accordingly. The rest of the soldiers will move the camp a bit deeper inside."

  "Of course, Sir Ives!" Amos brightened and began issuing orders.

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  "Check where our belongings are and bring them to us, Ben, Silfa." Arthur nodded at the siblings, before returning his attention to Val'narii and Cate.

  "Yes, Sir!" Ben eagerly went toward the closest soldiers with his sister in tow.

  "Can you explain to me why Amos was so nervous?" Arthur asked once he sat between the Nekomi and the Dark Elf.

  "If the dust storm lasts long enough, it could bury us alive in this cave," Val'narii said and shuddered.

  "Well, that sounds like a pain in the ass..." Arthur sighed. "Once Ben and Silfa find our stuff and we can set up something in the general shape of the camp, I will go and see how bad it is near the entrance."

  The two women nodded and Catherine barely stifled a yawn. The siblings returned very quickly and began setting up the tents with the eager help of Val'narii. In the meantime, Arthur explained to Cate how to cast Water and Earth Bullets. While she was almost natural with Earth, she slightly struggled with a Water Bullet. However, as soon as she managed to manifest it once, she looked at the large droplet of water in awe.

  "You must be some kind of prodigy, Cate..." Arthur shook his head in disbelief.

  "A prodigy without a class is still no one, Sir..." She said sadly as she looked around. There were too many soldiers within earshot. However, she smiled with gratitude. "I'm far more self-confident thanks to you. Thank you, for everything..."

  "I know that tone." He patted her head. "I won't give up so easily, so you just have to keep training, Cate."

  She nodded and barely managed to cover her mouth as she yawned once more. "I'm sorry, Sir... I'm just so exhausted..."

  "Go to sleep, Cate." He smiled softly at her and went with her to the tent, where he filled a bathtub for her and, as usual, activated the privacy field. "Just leave the water. I will dispose of it later."

  He turned toward her and she hugged him with a slightly hazy stare.

  "Arthur..." She said with a sleepy voice. "I love you..."

  She slumped in his arms, her calm breathing betraying that she had fallen asleep standing there. He kissed the top of her head and gently put her to bed. He left their tent and looked at the equally tired Ben and Silfa. Val'narii wasn't around and, most probably, had already disappeared into her tent.

  "Catherine was so exhausted that she fell asleep as soon as she was inside. Are you two hungry?" He asked the siblings.

  "We still have sandwiches, Sir," Silfa said and rubbed her face. "I'm sorry..."

  "You all deserve rest. Go sleep as soon as you eat." He said with a proud smile. "You did well today."

  "Thank you, Sir!" Ben smiled happily.

  Arthur left them and approached a nearby soldier. "My companions need to rest, so I’ll leave camp security to you."

  "Yes, Sir! No one will disturb them!" The man shouted with eagerness. "Thank you, Sir!"

  Arthur looked at the man and it took him a moment to recognise the soldier as one of the more wounded soldiers he’d healed earlier.

  "Don't mention it." He smiled.

  "You saved me from losing my arm, Sir. I'm forever grateful!" He bowed with a smile. "Your people and you, Sir, can rest without worry. We will keep the camp safe no matter what!"

  "Thank you." Arthur smiled and headed towards the cave’s exit.

  The next chamber he entered was already different and he immediately could tell that something was going on outside. However, it was nothing compared to the spacious chamber where the draft animals were being kept. Various cows were nervous, but they had been herded near Arthur's ram. The big, woolly capricorn was pleased with this development and lay calmly on the stone floor lazily eating the hay the soldiers put into feeding crates. Four soldiers snapped to attention, seeing him. They were keeping watch over the three traitors who had been stripped of their uniforms and wore only short pants.

  "Calm down. I wanted to see the storm for myself." He waved his hand and they relaxed.

  "Watch it out there, Sir." One of the soldiers said with concern. "It's a fairly violent one."

  "Thank you." He said and entered the corridor that sharply turned toward the outside.

  At its end was the entrance chamber and, true to Amos' words, it was slowly filling with sand. The wind wasn't blowing directly into the cave, but rather across the entrance, sparing them from being quickly buried alive. Despite that, the right side of the cave was already filled with sand and dust. Arthur watched the orange haze outside that lacked the beauty of the storm he had seen when they were returning from killing the Lion. To his surprise, he noticed the same flickering presence on the edge of his radar skill as that night before they hunted the Lion.

  "What are you?" Arthur asked loudly.

  Whatever it was, it stayed away. Whether it spied on them or not was an open question, but it didn’t seem malicious or even harmful. It was simply... There. Arthur stared out into the distance but, once again, he wasn't going to do anything about the presence. Not yet, at least. He watched the storm instead. The wind wasn't blowing as hard as when he saw a dust storm for the first time and there was no lightning. However, this storm had already lasted longer than before, and there was no sign it would end anytime soon. The ring of carriages created a barrier that seemed to keep at least some portion of the sand away. Arthur slowly returned to his tent, where he discovered that Cate must have woken up, washed herself, and returned to sleep. He also washed himself and sat down on the bed to just look at her.

  Objectively speaking, she wasn't exactly beautiful. Arthur had seen beautiful women before whose charisma was in triple or, quite possibly quadruple, digits. Of course, he wasn't thinking about the Empresses of Arcadia, whose beauty was beyond comprehension. No, he was thinking about some of his female colleagues in the Inquisitorum. More specifically, the Interrogators. Some of them were even forced to wear special items that debuffed their charisma because even their status as the Inquisitors wasn't enough to stop all men around from asking them out. But they were more like him, with four or five subclasses and statistics over the roof with charisma as their main stat. Their specialisations were just different. They were skilled in gathering information and interrogations while Arthur was a combat specialist. Even regular women in Arcadia were far more beautiful than Catherine.

  However... She had grit and the power of spirit that made her special. He knew that she was ingenious, clever, and, apparently, absurdly talented. In fact, her talent eclipsed his in some areas. It was a true tragedy that she was born outside Arcadia. With her talent, she might have been one of the greatest mages of Arcadia, or someone even greater; one of the Generals, Admirals, or possibly even surpass Grand Inquisitor Dahlia. He didn't deserve her love.

  "If you were born in Arcadia, you wouldn't even look at someone like me..." He said sadly and reached with his hand to fix a strand of her black hair.

  Seemingly under his touch, Catherine opened her mesmerising blue eyes as she put her soft hand on his and smiled. She was still very tired.

  "But I was born in Saftia, so can I spend my entire life with you..." She said with a satisfied and possessive affection.

  Thank you all for reading.

  I wish you all a great day and as always I wait for your comments.

  A big thanks to and who edited the chapter!