The lasting plains part 2

"Please make yourself at home inside our campsite. I hope they get to learn a lot from you" Asato took in the decor of the chief's room. There were not a lot of personal belongings that marked the room as someone of higher rank at all.

In fact, the room was as ordinary as a common soldier room which gave Asato good feelings about this person. He looked to be sensible and clearly had a good head on his shoulder.

He was clearly the best choice for the chief then.

"The honour is mine in coming here. I've heard you are going through a rough time in the camp right now. I was asked to help out" If the person was surprised at the help being offered, he hid it perfectly behind the mask of gratitude.

"Thank god the higher-ups responded. The discord in the camp is getting worse day by day and we're not sure what to do" that gave Asato a stop in his thoughts.

He did not think that both of them were on the same wavelength of thoughts there.

In fact, it felt like they were talking about two very different things in very different contexts.

There was a feeling of the wrong which was present in the atmosphere at the present time which made Asato grit his teeth before he took in a deep breath and let it out slowly.

"Can you brief me about the situation? I think we have very different ideas about the current situation” Asato observed the chief’s face which had a feeling of giving up on his face. That just solidified Asato’s feeling about the whole situation.

“As you can see, there is a divide in the camp which has put some of the people’s lives in danger. We reported it to the higher-ups but as usual, they just brushed off the situation" of course they did. If this person was thinking that they would stick out their neck for a small camp like this then this person was way too optimistic to stay here.

Perhaps it was downright immoral of Asato to not care about it at all while his focus was on something else but he could not make himself forcefully care about this situation at all. Not when he had so much more to take care of.

“To be frank, I’m not here for that. I just needed to get into Ester city fast and I was told you had information” there was a flash of darkness and perhaps even hate that flashed in the expression of the man sitting opposite to him.

It made something inside Asato feel unsafe and in trouble. But as soon as that expression came, it left that face too. There were split seconds of difference between the whole interaction which made Asato wonder if the whole thing had even happened at all or not.

“Ah, the Easter dungeon you say? Yes, there have been concerning reports being made about that place too but they sound too far fetched to actually be true through” the chief made light of the situation. Clearly, the chief has his priorities set already and he was not willing to compromise.

This might actually work out for the better of everyone since it meant that Asato would not be faced with the problem of looking after rookies and could actually do this whole thing without support.

“I’m aware, that’s why I need a rain check before I go in” by the look on the chief’s face it was clear that he would prefer if Asato did not go anywhere at all and stayed inside the camp to help out.

But that was no longer an option, it never was an option. Finally, the chief seemed to understand that Asato was determined to go through.

“I don't know why you would want to go to a place with such danger? But since you want to go so bad, I’ll tell you what my team had gathered till now” there was a flash of a moment and then a drawer opened on the other side.

Some papers were dropped on the table in a hurry and more followed as the chief looked around for more of those papers he could find.

“Did your people go into the dungeon before?” Asato asked as he moved his hands to collect the papers nearest to him. They were rough to touch and thick to feel.

Clearly, these papers were no ordinary paper that was used for report writing but actual preservation paper being used. It clearly indicated that the situation was serious. And yet this person was basing the camp situation over everything.

Either the situation at camp was that bad or there were orders from higher-ups to not make fuzz of this situation. Both options seemed as likely as the other one.

“Till two months ago it was a normal dungeon with the divinity at the centre. People travelled there to ask for things like longer life and wealth. But one day one of our teams did not return. We sent another one but the same thing happened. Then the rabbits left the cave and began attacking the surrounding part camps”

If you looked at the words individually then there really was nothing out of the ordinary in them during the first half. Teams often lost their way or fell into dangerous situations while out in the field.

It might even be a common occurrence.

However, the monsters leaving the dungeon were not something that was normal on any given day. Not to mention this was the second time already Asato had faced this situation. And the timing of two months ago was not a coincidence.

“I’m assuming that not every guardian left the dungeon?” Asato asked and at the node, it became clear that the situation was very similar to the day less city he had visited before.

There was no way this situation was a normal one at all. Not with everything that was surrounding the mystery. However, Asato would like to leave it to the higher-ups here while he did his part in this equation.

His paycheck only covered so much in the situation after all.

“I understand. I will be heading into the Easter dungeon then. Keep everyone out here and safe” the chief panicked at his words, Asato could see him even open his mouth to protest.

“I have the permission and frankly - this is why I’m here. I’ll look for the missing teams down there too” the chief closed his mouth with effort, visible effort as he swallowed whatever he wanted to say.

As much as Asato wanted to hear him say anything else, he felt it was more important to actually take a look at the things that were happening.

“Alright, do as you wish” by the words it was clear that the person was not happy but frankly even he knew that Asato outranked him for now due to all the orders associated with Asato’s post and position.

Hence, the person did not protest at all at the decision being made. But Asato would have to be careful.

Something about this situation did not feel good at all. Not to mention this chief had some weird priorities toward his team, despite his fair and just attitude. Asato would have to file for an investigation in these parts.

He made his way back through the camp where someone pointed him toward the general vicinity of the ester city. The forest he had to take in was dense and he could feel many shadows following him.

However, after a while, the tailing did stop. It stopped as soon as he arrived right in front of the entrance to the local cave, the entrance to the ester city.

Asato took deep breaths to steady his nerves as he took his first step in the dark. Despite the light shining outside, the inside was pitch black, not a single drop of light spilt inside.

This was because of the fissure in dimension which separated the places in reality. It was much more prominent inside than it was on the outside which made Asato frown.

There was no moment all around him which made him question if there actually was something inside or not.

Then his steps began echoing all around him and the sound progressively got louder the more he walked inside. The light which was behind him disappeared all of a sudden and a green glow lit up the place.

He had stepped inside the cave and yet what welcomed him was an eerie forest and its creepy modalities. The steps were echoing inside which distracted Asato a lot from the green trees which seemed to melt into the backdrop of the place. It was spooky in all honesty and yet beautiful.

then there was a sound of cutting inside the forest which made him curious. It came from just a few feet away and Asato hid behind the tree to observe the one making this sound.

the first thing that came into his vision was the fire followed by swift and precise moments of something cutting down the shadows around themselves. Asato gasped as the feeling of the power reached him.

He recognised that feeling from the fire. It was the entity from the fire that had helped him.

Asato took a step back to escape but his foot, unfortunately, made a noise and the next second there was a sword headed for his face.