"mmmm…." from the sounds of laughter and clinking glass booze, Raian woke up from his nice nap.
After waking up he felt refreshed, his body felt full of strength and he had no crippling exhaustion that was sharply poking his brain, ramming it in there making sure it hurt as much as possible no longer existed.
Drowsiness may be there but a painless body that doesn't ache every time he tried to move made Raian happy and relaxed but his mind wasn't on the same wavelength as his body, roughly 2 seconds after waking up Raian started calculating, registering that there was no pain he started to create a plan in case he needed to escape.
In the end, he stopped making plans because escaping from a bunch of awakened was simply impossible for him.
All these thoughts happened while his body was staying perfectly still, as still as Raian could keep it, not a single movement from his basic sleeping posture, maybe in the first 2 seconds of waking up he made him move subconsciously but that didn't matter at the moment, it was done deal that he couldn't take back.
While he was just lying there thinking about what to do and how to act a sudden kick with
"Oi get up." landed on his rear interrupting the flow of thought.
Knowing that there was nothing he could do Raian turned around and got up, immediately bowed against Geralt greeting him.
Meeting the greeter upward, Raian was surprised to see the same guy that threw him earlier. Looking up at Geralt he had to greet but he didn't know the customs of the army around here, so he went with his most neutral one.
"Sir?" greeted Raian while looking up but the greeting was met with a raised eyebrow. Not knowing what to do he just stood there a little menacingly.
Geralt just kept staring towards him, not moving an inch for a few seconds Geralt's arm moved towards Raian but instead of attacking him it just rolled around his shoulders kind of hugging him. "Sorry lad for attacking you out of nothing." Greeting Raian whilst hugging him in the air Geralt just started lamenting about his earlier reckless offense and apologizing along the way.
Raian was flabbergasted by the man's sudden movement. Most people wouldn't even apologize when it's their fault and even though he could smell the booze from the broad man somehow affecting his mind he felt sincerity in his words and actions.
While the talk was happening more and more people joined the fray, whether it was the alcohol and festive atmosphere or the dreading fear of what's going to come at them in the next few days, people didn't give much attention to Raian each giving into their cherished memories whether it was enjoying the moment or reliving their past or thinking about the future but they joined the fray and spending time among them, all of them were cheerful people given their responsibilities they had to be tense and vigilant for a long time. The last time they had time to relax was many months ago when they started their expedition.
Most of them had to fake their death to get in this cohort while others went with the big old missing label on their reports to get in this elite squad. These were the best of the best in what the church could offer before they needed to send people to retrieve their bodies or find them to declare them dead. Most ascended were in those departments so they couldn't send many ascended in this squad, the secrets had to be kept at all costs after all they had to slay the Devil and win the war.
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After copious amounts of drinking the warriors were sleeping while Raian just sat there, the fire was still blazing while he was looking at a glass of alcohol hesitating whether to drink it or not, around him Geralt was there while Gemma and Luciel were around the memory table planning on a map that could fit in their pockets.
The church could create memory maps but during times of war the importance of information was immense, why create a map when the maps are being updated every week?
Finishing their planning they looked back to see Geralt and Raian.
Through the drinking Raian had gathered much information, the camp had 3 ascended and dozens of awakened and they were on a mission to assassinate a high-priority target, while he had done something akin to this a few times the scale of their mission seemed to be much much higher than he initially thought.
Seeing Captain and Luciel approach him Raian immediately tensed up preparing himself to answer their questions, after listening to Geralt lament about him being a spy he understood the reasons. The foot soldiers shouldn't be able to climb the mountain, originally his brigade was on a mission to clear out the area for further logistics they encountered 2 members of the Grey Legion instantly being annihilated, and their captain in a desperate attempt to escape ordered the soldiers to climb the great mountain. So, Raian being here was a complete coincidence on his part. Geralt was an old friend of their captain, so he got information about him once every few months.
Raian's original captain stepped back from the frontlines after surviving dozens of battles supposedly getting afflicted with trauma and led the current forces behind the frontlines but unfortunately encountered warriors of the Grey legion.
Captain Gemma and Luciel got to Raian while Geralt was cursing the Grey Legion and their actions throughout the war, counting many slaughters and battles against them. All of them served little use to Raian just making him dread meeting them more and more.
Slapping Geralt on the back of the head "Clear yourself, you smell disgusting" Gemma said whilst summoning a memory table and a chair for herself sat in front of Raian with a pinched nose and gestured to Luciel to sit beside her.
While Luciel was summoning his chair Gemma was looking towards Raian. She could visibly see him tense up as she looked at him. "At ease soldier, I 'm not going to kill you at least not yet, but depending on your answers I might have to." Mimicking a knife with her hand and a chopping motion on her neck. "Haha," laughing as she motioned with her hand it was clear that she was a little affected by alcohol as well. Leading a cohort of elite warriors on a 9-month-long journey was a taxing experience, they didn't sit still during those 9 months at all tasks such as gathering information, meeting certain spies the church planted deep within the Legion's territory or even assassinating a VIP individual fell on her lap while she led the cohort.
Over the months many people joined this squad while many left it on their journey, mostly warriors died because of wildlife or the creatures that lived in the wild. Corrupted creatures are especially annoying since only she Geralt or Luciel were able to deal with them.
Remembering the past Gemma inhaled a breath from the cigar she was holding in her hand. Before the pressure of the mission even though she failed to keep herself in check, the thought of facing a saint made her spine tingle, not in a good way.
Focusing on her current situation exhaling the smoke she sat up properly as Geralt finished glowing green purifying the impurities mainly alcohol from his body.
Pointing towards now standing Raian, she told him to stand behind Geralt since he neither had the qualification to sit at their table or the chair to sit on, weirdly warriors did not carry memory chairs with them, given their abundance of supply since it was created by beginner level artisans in the church.
"Now let's talk about our cute little visitor who somehow was able to climb one of the highest and relatively cold mountains for normal people in the Dunkial section. "
Raian gulped hearing that.