Chapter 369 Wayward Thoughts

Chapter 369 Wayward Thoughts

Tessa quickly changed the topic away from Doug's prodigious copse of chest hair, and motioned for Rae to make more hammocks in the empty room. Everyone was gathered in the living room, with everyone but the clerics and Karl sitting in the swinging chairs, so there was no need to move as Rae got to work, making the expanded sleeping arrangements.

Karl couldn't help but notice that there were black fuzzy blankets on all three hammocks, but he didn't say anything as they all prepared for bed. The fort had a night light, but it was better not to stay up too much past dark, in case there was an attack first thing in the morning. Tessa gestured to the back, where the shower bag was set up in its own curtained room. "Men can shower first. Karl, who is on watch tonight?"

Karl gestured upwards. "Hawk is in a nest in the tree, pondering the mysteries of the universe. He's trying to understand something about the advancement to Royal Rank, and thought it was better to be outdoors."

"Alright, say goodnight to everyone for me."

Thor made a happy noise in his spot, knowing that she was talking about him, and then settled back into his pond to sleep.

Karl meditated in his hammock for most of the evening, taking in all the new knowledge about his companions, as well as the newfound understanding that half of the conflict between the Mackenzie brothers and Morgana was actually just embarrassment. It might have been sexual tension, but Karl was fairly certain that should have faded by now. It had been two years, after all.

First thing the next morning, they were all headed for the mess hall for breakfast, and Karl noticed that Morgana was sneaking looks at Doug, who had the laces at the neck of his robes a bit looser than usual to show off just a bit of chest.

If this was flirting, perhaps Karl was doing it all wrong. Or maybe they were somehow worse at it than he was.

The students in the mess hall all looked exhausted, though Karl didn't recall most of them having gone to the line yesterday.

Today was supposed to be Karl's team's off day anyhow, as they had the afternoon shift the day before, so they all ate slowly and chatted with the teams who were coming through to eat.

There were no signs of the Hill Giants coming back yet, but that wasn't too surprising given their recent patterns.

An hour after breakfast ended, they were still sitting around the camp, using an empty teaching tent as a meeting room. That was when the ten red robed Spellblades came in, clearly looking for them.

"Ah, good. We were hoping to see you all before we left. Thank you for the assistance in dealing with the traitor forces. I'm sure you all know already, that this issue is confidential and shouldn't make it into your official reports. At the very least, not the nature of the Titan Clerics that were defeated. If the public thinks that they were Hill Giants, that is fine." The leader of the group informed them.

Karl nodded. "I suspected that might be the case. None of us have started our reports yet, so there won't be any issues when we do turn them in."

"Don't worry too much about the reports. Keep them simple and the Defence Department will take care of the rest." The leader of the Spellblades shrugged.

That made sense. All these reports were most likely going to vanish anyhow, in case someone let slip a detail that insinuated that someone from the Church had changed patrons and gone over to the Hill Giants to hunt their own people.

"We might as well write those now. Did you all still need to write? There is paper on the shelf." Morgana offered.

The Spellblade shrugged. "We might as well. We talked to the others about the situation already, and they've all turned in their reports on the mission. They used Clerics of the Titan Gods as the code for the special team we encountered. That should be clear enough for everyone to understand."

Simple, safe and efficient. There were plenty of Titan God clerics among the Giants. Oddly, they didn't seem to specialize in healing, but in physical power enhancement and regeneration, as Karl understood it. But the Giants regenerated more like beasts than humans, so enhancing their natural abilities might be more effective.

There was far too much that he didn't actually understand about the Giants, even if he was getting pretty good at killing them.