"Why are you hiding these things? Your past poses no threat to us." After a moment of reflection, Unas thought it was indeed a rather boring revenge story; there was absolutely no need for Troll to hide it.
Haikesi replied, "You trust me, Troll, because I have become a Priest of the Holy Light. If you knew I came to seek the Spider God, you would probably doubt my faith."
Unas quickly reassured him, "Don't worry, I'm not one of those old-fashioned people. As long as you don't betray me, it's fine whether you believe in the spider or the Holy Light."
"I have already embraced the Holy Light and will never convert to another faith, but finding the Spider God is my lifelong wish, and I want to fulfill it even in death."
Which spider resembles the Shadra? The Overlord Spider?
"No, I haven't found it yet. Maybe the intelligence was wrong at all. Maybe that kind of spider is hiding in the deepest part of the Canyon. I don't want to give up until I have a definite conclusion."
"Then our goals are aligned: eliminate all the troublesome spiders, take control of the entire Canyon, and then doing whatever we want will be very simple."
The Troll hadn't expected the Warden to have such ambitions, and poured cold water on it slightly. "Achieving all this won't be easy."
"That's why I need your and everyone's help," Unas rubbed his chin. "I've decided to set off for the Swamp first thing tomorrow morning, so you need to be prepared."
"I'm ready to set off at any time," the Troll, his enthusiasm for this opportunity to find Shadra was naturally high. "And I have a suggestion: now that we have the Overlord Spiders escorting us, we should focus on stealth and don't need much physical protection, which would reduce the number of people going to the Swamp."
How many people do you want to reduce to?
"All we need is Miss Nightmoon, you, and me. The three of us can ride on the Overlord Spider, saving us the need for horses."
This approach relies heavily on the intimidation of the Overlord Spider, which carries a high risk, but it may also be more covert and safer, making it a good method. Unas was quite tempted by it.
The Troll added fuel to the fire, "And with only three people, my spider-repelling Potions will be more than enough to completely mask our presence."
Unas hesitated, "I'll think about it and then decide. Just be prepared."
Night fell once again, Unas bid farewell to the Trolls and returned directly to the camp, missing dinner time. However, the food Raphael had prepared for him was still steaming hot; the kid was quite filial.
After dinner, Unas still didn't feel like informing the elite squad to set off the next day, even though he had already agreed with Haikesi's suggestion.
After sending Raphael to inform Nightmoon to prepare, Unas went to the Granary alone, emptied all three hundred-plus bags of coarse grain from his backpack, and then had the warehouse manager give him four hundred empty bags, which were to be used to store Black Soil.
He realized that once he arrived at the Swamp, he couldn't just scoop up Swamp Black Soil and put it directly into his Spatial Bag. He would have to put it in a bag first, and then store it in the compartment of his Spatial Bag.
He cleared out as much of the contents of his Spatial Bag as possible, except for essential items such as weapons, food, and water. After tidying up, he freed up more than fifty slots, which he estimated could hold more than three hundred bags of Black Soil, which should be enough for the time being.
Originally, there was a team of ten elite soldiers helping with the bagging, but now only Troll and Nightmoon are left. Neither of them seems capable of doing heavy work, so it looks like the bagging job will fall entirely on Unas's shoulders.
Unas returned to the camp, where his Dwarf brothers were already waiting for him at the entrance of the main tent. They were not there to invite the Warden for drinks, but to protest.
Raphael's mission to inform Nightmoon was not kept secret; the news spread quickly, and the Dwarf brothers, who were the first to learn of their elimination, came knocking on his door.
"My lord, we Dwarves value our promises above all else. Lord Redbrow ordered us to come and assist you, and we brothers would never dare to back down!"
Unas told them to be patient. After a while, the five human members of the elite squad arrived. They all expressed their dissatisfaction and wanted to go out and fight the enemy.
Unas rejected all of them. He knew the downsides of changing his mind frequently, but once he made up his mind, he didn't want to change it. He also didn't want the elite squad to be disbanded, so he appointed Marcus as captain and put them in charge of patrolling the Canyon outside the Red Stone Stele and keeping an eye on the logging team.
Unas offered a few words of encouragement, driving away all the unwilling fellows, before the belated Nightmoon and Pereira arrived next.
Perella wanted to stay and guard the elemental crystal mine, which was exactly what she wanted to do instead of going to the Swamp, so she didn't complain. She just came to say hello politely, Unas dismissed her with a few words.
Nightmoon was to be his adventure partner, so Unas was naturally very polite to her. Her previous actions had proven that she was a very reliable helper, and the two discussed the details of their journey until very late.
After seeing the female Elf off, Unas stretched lazily under the starry sky and was about to return to his Tent to rest when a soft cough came from behind him. Turning around, he saw Sally Whitemane standing gracefully not far behind him.
What could the silver-haired Priest want with him? It couldn't be anything good, Unas deliberately joked. "What a coincidence, Sally, are you out admiring the moon too? Beautiful people accentuate beautiful things; the double moon is indeed more beautiful than usual tonight."
"No," Whitemane ignored his warm address and praise, his face expressionless. "I have serious business with you. I don't know if you've noticed, but putting aside the foreigners, many of the humans in this base have questionable identities, and the risk of enemies lurking among them is extremely high..."
"This place was originally only for those who weren't accepted by the Monastery. Do you expect them all to be healthy and innocent?" Unas didn't let her continue. "As for the risk of spies and undercover agents, the Argent Dawn has a small Military Intelligence Office here that handles these matters. If you'd like to join, I can introduce you to Lieutenant Matar. Your experience in the Inquisition will definitely be helpful to them."
Unas also wanted to find her something to do, so she wouldn't be stuck in the Tent all day, which would be bad for her physical and mental health. Whitemane hesitated for a moment before saying, "I'll consider it, but I want to remind you that the identity of that female Priest who recently joined is very ambiguous, and she acts very mysteriously. I heard you're getting quite close to her, so I hope you'll be careful."
She could only be referring to Natasha. Unas cursed inwardly for her keen sense of smell; it wouldn't do for Natasha to be targeted. He quickly said, "Are you talking about Namelia? You don't need to worry at all. She's just a healing Priest, like me. Her identity may be unknown, but the Holy Light is enough to prove her innocence."
"Perhaps," Whitemane surprisingly didn't insist, remaining silent for a long time before saying, "I heard you're going away for a while. Could you take me with you? Perhaps I'll have a chance to learn Resurrection."
The implication was that going out was dangerous, and people might die. Was this her ultimate purpose in coming to find Unas?
Unas thought to himself, "My dear Sally, I understand your eagerness to learn the Resurrection, but you can't maliciously hope for someone else's death."