Monarch Chapter 173 (Patreon)

Chapter 173

"Hey! What in the world are you doing?"

Weskins' voice exploded through the workshop with enough force to make everyone pause.

"What the heck are you dropping it into that container like it's water?" the old alchemist barked, glaring at Eric from across the room. "Do you want to kill us all? Do it gently, you muscle-brained idiot!"

Eric visibly flinched.

The young soldier immediately lowered his head in embarrassment before carefully setting the bowl of crushed ingredients onto the table as though it might explode if he breathed too hard.

"Sorry..."

Weskins either didn't hear the apology or simply chose to ignore it.

He had already spun around toward another table.

"You!" he snapped, pointing directly at Kesh. "How many times do I have to tell you? If you grind the leaves and the stem together, the entire mixture loses potency. Separate them first! Do you people have eyes for decoration?"

Kesh muttered something under his breath before quietly doing exactly as instructed.

Watching the entire scene unfold, Rayne couldn't help wondering whether volunteering members of his squad to assist Weskins had truly been a good decision.

The old alchemist was, without question, the worst kind of teacher.

He had absolutely no restraint.

Every mistake, no matter how minor, was met with shouting, complaints or another lecture about how incompetent everyone else was compared to him.

It was as though the possibility that someone might need time to learn had never once crossed his mind.

Fortunately, this arrangement was only temporary. Rayne hadn't sent his soldiers here to become full-fledged alchemists.

His goal had always been much simpler.

He wanted a handful of them to develop useful auxiliary skills that could benefit the squad in the future.

It wasn't every day soldiers received the opportunity to learn directly from a professional alchemist, and considering how often their quests took them into forests or monster-infested regions, even basic knowledge of herbs, poisons and medicinal ingredients could someday save lives.

Especially for the newer recruits who were still inexperienced.

A little knowledge could easily become the difference between surviving an expedition and dying on one.

As he continued observing the workshop, Casper stepped beside him with her usual relaxed expression.

"Weskins is going to keep your men working until he's satisfied," she said with an amused smile. "I know his type."

Rayne glanced toward her.

When he had gathered volunteers from his squad earlier that morning, Casper had simply wandered over and joined them after learning where they were headed.

She wasn't helping with the preparations herself.

Instead, she had spent most of the day leaning against a shelf or watching the chaos unfold with quiet amusement.

Oddly enough, Rayne found her presence calming. She never felt the need to fill every silence with conversation, making it surprisingly easy to simply stand beside her.

"You should probably talk to him," Casper continued. "Otherwise they'll be yawning by the time we head into the ruins."

Rayne nodded. "I will." His gaze returned to the workshop. "I don't mind helping him myself while the others rest. That should shorten their workload." Then his eyes settled on Bran. "Though... I think it'll be alright."

Bran was calmly standing beside one of the larger tables, methodically sorting herbs before grinding them into an even powder with practiced, almost effortless movements.

Unlike everyone else in the room, he hadn't been scolded even once.

If anything, Weskins had walked past him several times, given a small approving nod and continued on without a word.

It turned out Bran already possessed a surprising amount of experience handling medicinal herbs, and that quiet competence showed in everything he did.

He and Kesh were the only members of Rayne's core party assisting in the workshop.

Yet despite standing only a few steps apart, their treatment at the hands of the old alchemist couldn't have been more different.

He guessed in the end, it was simply the first day.

No one became an alchemist after a few hours of crushing herbs and measuring powders.

Given enough time, they would naturally improve.

Rayne doubted any of them were suddenly going to awaken an alchemy-related skill in their status anytime soon. Skills simply didn't work like that. Still, prolonged practice often resulted in useful general skills appearing, and that alone made the effort worthwhile.

Even if his soldiers only learned how to properly identify medicinal herbs, preserve monster materials or brew a handful of simple mixtures, the experience would eventually pay dividends.

That had been Rayne's objective from the very beginning.

As he watched Eric carefully do another task with Bran moving over to guide him, Casper spoke again.

"By the way," she said, her eyes drifting across the countless shelves packed with monster materials, "there's an awful lot of supplies here for people who are supposedly only exploring the outer edges of the ruins."

She pointed toward several bundles stacked against the far wall.

"Some of those are from monsters we hunted during the march here, aren't they?"

Rayne did his best not to let anything show on his face. He had completely forgotten that Casper knew nothing about the true purpose of Prince Caelan's expedition.

Unlike Lyra or Weskins, she believed they had come here for a relatively ordinary expedition into the Godless Ruins.

The problem was that Casper was unusually observant. She noticed details most people ignored.

Fortunately, after months of hiding his own secrets, Rayne had become fairly adept at offering believable explanations.

"I believe Prince Caelan intends to remain in the ruins for quite some time," he replied calmly. "It makes sense to prepare as much as possible beforehand."

Casper hummed thoughtfully but didn't appear entirely convinced.

"I still don't understand why a prince would want to come here," she admitted with a small shake of her head. "Honestly, it sounds stupid to me."

A faint smile tugged at her lips. "Then again, I understand how nobles can be. So royalty is probably much worse."

Rayne let out a quiet chuckle before glancing sideways at her. "You've interacted with quite a few nobles before, haven't you?”

Casper gave a small nod.

"Yes. Astra Academy was full of them. You couldn't escape nobles even if you wanted to." She let out a quiet breath before continuing. "Actually, if the Fraysers hadn't sponsored me back then, I would've definitely been bullied. They were pretty harsh toward commoners who didn't have influential families backing them. Kids who grow up getting everything they ask for tend to become unreasonable. They don't think about the price of their actions because they've never had to pay it themselves. As long as they want something, someone eventually gives it to them."

Rayne slowly nodded.

It wasn't as though there were no good nobles. Captain Edran was proof enough of that. But Edran was also a middle-aged man who had spent decades serving in the army, fought on countless battlefields and watched enough people die to understand what responsibility truly meant.

A teenager raised inside a noble estate was different.

Someone constantly reminded of their own importance while servants obeyed every command could easily begin believing everyone else existed beneath them. Pride came naturally when no one ever challenged it.

As those thoughts crossed his mind, Casper looked toward the busy workshop before speaking again.

"I really hope Prince Caelan isn't like that."

Rayne instinctively turned toward her. For a brief moment he almost asked what she meant, but the answer came to him before the words left his mouth.

Tomorrow they would be entering the Godless Ruins.

For the first time since leaving the capital, they would be stepping into genuine danger, and Prince Caelan would be the one leading the expedition.

If the prince proved reckless, ignored advice or insisted on making foolish decisions simply because of his status, people would die.

Captain Edran might be there to advise him, but in the end, the older man didn't possess the authority to overrule a prince.

Rayne quietly let out a slow breath.

"I hope that doesn't happen."

"So do I," Casper replied in little more than a whisper. "Prince Caelan has seemed pleasant enough to work with despite who he is, but we haven't really faced anything dangerous yet. It's easy to appear reasonable while everything is going smoothly. Once lives are actually on the line..." She trailed off before giving a small shrug. "We'll find out what kind of person he really is."

Rayne couldn't help smiling faintly. "Did you come here just to make me prepare for every possible disaster that might happen?"

A soft chuckle escaped Casper.

"Maybe." She folded her arms before looking directly at him. "You're a squad leader now, Rayne. Not just a party leader with a handful of people following you. There's a difference."

Her expression gradually lost its humor.

"I remember leading a larger party for the first time. We lost two people." She was quiet for a moment before continuing. "I felt responsible enough that I personally wrote letters to both of their families and sent them money as well. I never got a single reply."

A bitter smile crossed her face. "I'm pretty sure they still hate me."

Rayne remained silent as he studied her expression. The guilt was still there, buried beneath time but far from gone. He understood that fear. Ever since becoming a squad leader, he had worried about losing the people under his command.

Until now, however, that fear had always remained distant, something that lingered at the back of his mind whenever they entered battle.

He had lost John before, but now he had far more people under his command. The risk was way more.

Listening to Casper speak made it feel real. Maybe in a few days, he might have to write those same letters himself.

Rayne's gaze drifted across the workshop until it settled on Eric.

The young soldier was carefully measuring out powdered herbs, his expression tense as he tried not to earn another lecture from Weskins.

Without meaning to, Rayne imagined him lying lifeless somewhere among the ruins instead.

The thought struck him like a blow.

He could just as easily picture Kesh, Nate, Jason or any of the others in the same position.

He had known from the very beginning that people would die. They were marching into one of the most dangerous places on the continent. Casualties weren't merely possible—they were inevitable.

Knowing that and accepting it, however, were two entirely different things.

Rayne wasn't sure his heart had hardened enough for what tomorrow might bring.

In the end, there was nothing else he could do.

He could train his squad, prepare them, guide them and make the best decisions he was capable of, but beyond that, fate would decide the rest.

Letting out a slow breath, he quietly said, "I really hope everything goes well tomorrow."

Casper simply hummed in agreement.

For a while, the two of them stood in comfortable silence, watching the controlled chaos unfolding throughout the workshop until Weskins finally fixed his attention on them.

"What are you two standing around for?" the old alchemist shouted. "If you've got enough time to stare into space, you've got enough time to work!"

Casper laughed under her breath while Rayne could only shake his head before both of them stepped forward to help.

***

By the time they finally left Weskins' workshop, the sun had already begun sinking toward the horizon.

Rayne made sure his squad got several uninterrupted hours of sleep before waking them early the following morning for a hearty breakfast. Nobody complained about the early start. Every soldier understood what awaited them.

Soon afterward, the warband departed from Blackstone City.

Since the Godless Ruins were only a few hours away and horses would become more of a burden than an advantage there, the entire expedition advanced on foot.

With every step they took toward the ancient city, Rayne could feel the tension spreading through the ranks.

No one needed reminding where they were going.

The Godless Ruins were infamous throughout the continent, a place where countless adventurers, mercenaries and soldiers had disappeared without ever returning.

The previous evening, Nate had quietly mentioned that more than a few soldiers had written letters home before going to sleep, leaving them behind in case they never made it back from the expedition.

The thought lingered in Rayne's mind as they marched.

Their fears were genuine. Still, fear alone would do nothing to improve their chances of survival.

The squad leaders did what they could, exchanging a few encouraging words whenever an opportunity presented itself, but courage could only be shared to a certain extent. Eventually, every soldier had to confront their own fears alone.

As a result, the march remained unusually quiet.

The conversations that had once drifted through the column had all but disappeared, replaced by little more than the sound of boots striking the road.

Then the ruined city finally came into view. Even from a distance, the towering walls dominated the horizon like the remains of some sleeping giant.

Several younger recruits visibly froze before letting out quiet gasps.

Walking beside Rayne, Jason stared ahead for a long moment before forcing out a nervous smile.

"If we survive today, let's have a drink together."

Rayne looked toward him before giving a small nod.

"I'd like that.”