Back at the camp, the scholars of Byrgenwerth were quick to reunite and share their spoils amongst themselves; pouring over and admiring various pieces of stoneware, gold and metal work, the crafted theories and narratives about their origins. This had been their first major discovery in the expedition thus far, which seemed to have raised their spirits substantially.

As Lady Maria watched this scene unfold, she turned her eyes back to her own company, who by comparison, looked completely and utterly spent. Almost the moment they had returned, they had all but collapsed to their knees and left their weapons by the wayside, desperate as they were for a chance to so much as catch their breath. This was all to be expected; after all, not only did they have to trek through the suffocating, humid air, but they had also been forced to battle exceedingly dangerous foes, all to ensure the scholars could have their little celebration.

"You have all done well. Your reprieve is well-deserved." Lady Maria commended her men, causing them to look up at her.

"I'd like to see someone claim otherwise. After that last beast we encountered, I think I've had enough of these forsaken halls for one day." Said Emil.

"Yes, I'm sure it must've been daunting." Matthias replied more than a little sarcastically, something his comrade immediately picked up on.

"You haven't seen the creature. It was…unsightly, even by the standards of this place." There was no lie in his words. Maria herself had not laid eyes on the beast, but Emil and the others who claim to have encountered it appeared both exhausted and disturbed.

"Then we can only hope that we do not run into anything like it again." Maria said to end the discussion before it escalated further. "For now, take the time to regain your strength. There're still more battles to be fought."

"Perhaps we can help you with that?"

Maria turned around to find Professor Laurence standing not far behind her, a welcoming smile on his face. "As you can see, my companions are just about to have their supper. Would you care to join us?" sure enough, she could see the scholars lined up and waiting to be served by Lobsang, who was pouring some sort of soup into their bowls; the smell of it being prepared had filled the halls even before they returned, which had ignited Maria's hunger even further.

Yet despite this, Maria couldn't bring herself to accept. "Thank you, but we have our own provisions prepared. You focus on ensuring your scholars are provided for."

"Then won't you at least join us for tea? I'm sure your provisions don't include that."

"He's right, they don't." It was Matthias who spoke this time, causing her to give him a glare to ensure his silence.

"We appreciate your offer, professor – really, we do – but it isn't necessary." Said Maria.

"Nonsense. With the stalwart protection you've provided thus far, this is the least we can do in return." Laurence paused for a moment before speaking again. "Besides, we mustn't allow a gulf to form between us just because our duties are adjourned."

Maria was left to contemplate her response. Turning back to her men, she found that none of them were willing to offer their thoughts, but also that none of them outright rejected the offer either. In particular, she noted that Matthias's expression was an eager one, which was accompanied by a faint nod. Turning back to Laurence, she finally gave her reply.

"No, I suppose not."

The professor smiled. "My thoughts exactly. Please, come with me."

With some hesitation, Maria and the rest of her knights followed him to the fire, bringing along their belongings. As they got closer, the scholars looked up from their bowls in surprise, watching as their leader led them towards the fire, where their apparent chef – Lobsang – was tending to a cauldron hanging over the fire.

"Has everyone been served?" Laurence asked him.

"They have. But not to worry, there's still plenty…" He looked up and spotted her standing next to the professor, followed by the rest of her company behind her. "Left…" Lobsang concluded, clearly having not expected them to turn up.

"Fret not. We weren't expecting a share; we're just here to…observe." Maria assured him.

"Oh, I see. Well, in that case, welcome." Lobsang said, gesturing for them to sit down around the fire, which they did. As they settled down, the chef poured some more soup into a bowl, which he handed to Laurence.

"Thank you, Lobsang." He said as he received it, after which he peeked inside the cauldron. "Hmm, looks like you really outdid yourself." This made Lobsang chuckle.

"I merely wanted to ensure everyone got their fill. Still, that's quite a lot to leave to waste."

Initially, Maria was going to remain silent, but then found herself reconsidering. Looking at her men, it was clear they were hungry and it was unlikely their meager rations would be enough to satiate them.

"How much is there?" She asked, drawing the attention of both scholars, who quickly picked up on what she was insinuating.

"I believe there's just enough for your company, assuming you each receive a limited portion, that is." Lobsang told her, prompting Laurence to turn his gaze firmly towards her.

"Well, my lady? What say you?"

Maria spent only a few more moments in thought before she turned to her men, who were awaiting her call. "You may take what's left." She told them, much to their surprise.

"But captain, what about you?" Matthias asked.

"I'll be fine. Now, go on and don't be greedy."

With this assurance, her knights exchanged a few uncertain glances, but ultimately didn't protest her decision. Though even if they had, Maria wouldn't have changed her mind – she needed them strong and for that to happen, she needed to be sure they got something to eat, even if it meant she didn't.

Her men then lined up in front of the cauldron, allowing Lobsang to individually serve them; in time, and with some careful portioning on Lobsang's part, each of the knights managed to receive a serving of his dish, Maria included. Sitting back down beside the fire, Maria looked down at the food that had been served to her: an unfamiliar type of soup containing an assortment of vegetables, some pieces of meat and most prominently, something that resembled pasta, but much flatter in shape and cut into smaller pieces.

"Well, go on then. Eat while it's still warm." She heard Lobsang say, who was himself just starting to eat.

Maria noticed her men suspiciously eyeing the dish, regardless of the fact they'd seen numerous people eating it beforehand. Deciding to take the initiative, she took her wooden spoon and scooped up some of the soup, bringing the still steaming broth to her lips. The initial taste was promising, which motivated her to try the rest of it and as she chewed, it only improved. Despite its seeming simplicity, it was unlike anything she'd tasted before.

"I do hope it's to your liking, Lady Maria." She heard Lobsang say.

"Very much so. What is it?"

"Noodle soup – hand-pulled noodle soup to be more exact. It's a common dish where I hail from." He replied, which made her rather curious.

"And where do you hail from?" She asked, but for whatever reason, the scholar didn't answer; in fact, he appeared rather troubled as a result of her question.

"I'd…prefer not to say." Was how he eventually answered, after which he carried on eating without saying a word.

"As you wish." Maria replied before doing the same. She had to admit she was rather disappointed that he hadn't given her a straightforward answer, but at the same time, it appeared that wherever it was that Lobsang originated from, his memories of it must not have been fond ones.

Soon after this, Laurence reappeared, carrying a kettle over to the fire. "Here we are." He set it down and turned to his chef. "I assume you're finished here?"

"Yes, sir. Just set the cauldron off to the side and hang it up." Lobsang replied. With a nod, Laurence carefully took hold of the cauldron's handle and took it off, allowing him to put the kettle in its place.

As she watched him work, Maria smiled to herself. "You are planning on settling down sometime today, aren't you?" She asked, which made him look at her in surprise, only to smile a moment later.

"Come now, you worry too much." He replied.

Laurence soon finished setting up the kettle and took a seat next to Lobsang, after which he picked up his own bowl and began to eat, leaving Maria to likewise turn her attention back to her food. As she ate, she managed to catch him looking at her, causing his eyes to quickly dart away and for her to ever so slightly shake her head in amusement

The silence that ensued persisted for well over a minute, during which Maria and her knights ate up the food that had been given to them as the rest of the scholars looked on in uncertainty. Her men clearly wished to focus more on filling their empty stomachs rather than making small talk, but something told her that their counterparts had little interest in such a prospect either.

"Um, excuse me."

One of the scholars – Amelia – finally broke the silence when she said this to Matthias, who was seated not far from her.

"What is it?" Matthias said, looking up from his bowl, seeming more perplexed than irritated.

"Oh, I'm sorry. It's just I couldn't help but notice the ribbons you're all wearing; I was wondering why that is."

Matthias and the rest of them looked to Amelia in confusion, which she quickly took note of. "Don't get me wrong, they're really…elegant and all, but…" she started to say, but Matthias smiled before she could properly finish.

"Ah, no worries. If you must know, they're given to knights once they reach a certain rank – a manner of distinction, if you will." The knight explained.

"Oh, I see." Upon saying this, she looked behind Matthias's head at the ribbon or rather what was attached to it. "And what about the ponytail? It looks to be a different color from the rest of your hair." Amelia's observation was correct. While Matthias's hair was a chestnut brown, the ponytail appeared to be made up of silver locks.

"Well, that would be the real mark of distinction." Was his reply.

"So, it's a wig." Amelia concluded, which made the knight slightly blush. "Yes, I suppose it is." He replied.

Maria observed this brief interaction with a degree of amusement, but chose not to interject, continuing to eat in silence. That was until the female scholar's attention turned to her. "And how come you don't have one, Lady Maria?" She asked her.

Once again, Amelia proved perceptive. Whereas each of her men possessed their own wig and ribbon that clashed with their natural hair color, Maria only possessed the ribbon, which she used to tie back her light blonde hair. This wasn't because of a difference in rank or even a difference in gender – knights of all standings and backgrounds could receive the wig and did so gladly – but Maria differed from the knights in one key area, which formed the basis for her decision.

"Simple. I did not desire one." Was Maria's firm, but concise reply. Though she hoped this would be the end of her involvement in this discussion, it was not to be, as her words made Gehrman softly chuckle to himself.

"Yes. Someone of your standing is sure to receive whatever they desire and more." He said, briefly pausing before posing her a question. "Do tell me, my lady, what desire drove you to come here – to scour these age-old ruins with a band of ragged scholars?"

Nothing that he had said came across as judgmental or dismissive; rather, the old scholar seemed genuinely curious. And to be fair to him, it was something of a valid inquiry. As a noble, she could have just about anything she wanted; land, riches, servants and much, much more. But there were of course certain preconceived ideas as to how someone of her position should act and they certainly didn't include the task she was currently undertaking.

"I have my reasons, as I'm sure you do as well," Maria replied. "All that matters is that our 'desires' happen to align, at least for now. With any luck, they will each be fulfilled."

Far from discouraging Gehrman, her answer only made him smile. "But of course. Forgive me if I caused any offence; far be it for me to question your resolve." he said. "All I can do is hope that you reach your desired outcome; if not this time, then perhaps later down the road."

Maria had nothing to say in response to this and instead simply nodded her head before turning her attention back to her meal, which was slowly starting to grow cold. But before she could do any serious reflection on what Gehrman had said, the kettle started to boil, prompting Laurence to set aside his empty bowl and take it off its hanging place.

"So, any preferences?"

…..

As it turned out, just about everyone liked their tea a different way; thankfully, they had brought along a selection of various leaves and a few additional sweeteners like sugar and mint, allowing them to brew their cups as they desired. Perhaps this may've been unnecessary in the grand scheme of things – they could very easily survive without it – Laurence thought it best that his followers got the chance to relax and indulge themselves during this toilsome time, if only for a little while.

And looking around the camp, it looked like this idea had paid off somewhat. Though their supper had ended, Laurence and Maria both agreed to leave their followers to their own devices for a while longer. Most chose to simply remain by the fire and chatter among themselves: in particular, Norbert had brought along a chess set, which allowed them to set up something of a tournament, though they ultimately agreed to switch to draughts after they got tired of their pieces being knocked over by the wind.

"And…king me." Said Matthias as he managed to move one of his pieces to Laurence's end of the board, claiming one of his own pieces in the process.

"Damn it all..." Laurence uttered to himself, which made the knight chuckle in amusement.

"I'm surprised, professor – I thought you'd be a lot more attentive." He looked over to the smirking Matthias and smiled himself.

"And I thought you'd be a lot more courteous." Laurence countered as he pondered his next move.

"I can tell you where you went wrong. Do you consider that to be courteous?" The knight asked, surprising Laurence yet again. Were all of Cainhurst's knights so impudent?

"Thank you, but I'm not finished just yet." The professor replied.

"Whatever you say, professor." Matthias replied.

From there, the two of them continued their game, but it remained clear that the knight held the advantage, constantly managing to counter Laurence's attempts to regain control. Though after watching Matthias's previous game against one of his fellow knights – Harald, he believed his name was – it had quickly become clear that he was quite talented at the game, seeing as his comrade attempted to be matched against someone else before the game even started.

Very soon, the last of Laurence's pieces was claimed, marking Matthias's victory and his elimination from the tournament. "Well, well. Congratulations." The professor said once all is said and done.

"Why, thank you. You played quite well yourself."

In response to this claim, Laurence looked to the meager amount of pieces he'd managed to capture in comparison to his opponent. "Did I really?" he humorously asked, to which Matthias shrugged.

"Well, it's the effort that counts, right?" There were a few scattered chuckles among the crowd, mostly from Matthias's fellow knights, but also from Laurence himself.

"Right." The two of them then started resetting the board for the next pair of players. "Now, who's up next?"

"That would be…" Gehrman, who had been keeping track of the brackets, looked down at his notebook. "Norbert and Emil."

The two competitors went up to take their place by the board and as Laurence moved to make way for his fellow scholar, he put an encouraging hand. "Good luck, my friend." He said to Norbert, who gave him an affirming nod.

The professor then joined his fellows in watching the game. Though it hadn't been the initial intention, the tournament quickly spiraled into a competition between them and the knights, one that they were able to keep friendly…well, mostly. With him eliminated, Norbert was the only one of them who still remained in the running; whoever won this match would go on to face Matthias in the finals. But out of all them, Norbert was the most likely one to pull through, for his proficiency in both chess and draughts was unrivaled in Byrgenwerth.

His focus on the game was soon broken when someone tapped a finger on his shoulder, which he turned to find was no other than Lady Maria.

"Out of the running, are we?" She asked in a quiet voice.

"Your apprentice saw to that." Laurence replied while motioning to Matthias with his head, which made Maria smile.

"I expected nothing less." The only response the professor managed to muster up was a simple "hmm…", as the two of them looked at each-other. "Well then, seeing as you no longer have to wait your turn, do you have a few minutes to chat?"

Laurence raised an inquisitive brow. "Just to chat?"

"Just to chat," she confirmed. Somehow, Laurence doubted that official matters wouldn't seep into whatever she had in mind, but either way, he couldn't say that he would mind that.

"I don't see why not." He eventually said.

"Then we should find a more suitable location." Upon saying this, she started moving away from the crowd. "Come, professor. Walk with me."

After a moment's hesitation, Laurence accepted her invitation and followed Lady Maria away from the others, of which only Gehrman took notice of their departure. Taking note of his concerned expression, Laurence silently mouthed "official business," to assure him all was well; in response, Gehrman smiled and nodded his head before turning his attention back to the ongoing match, the status of which Laurence had unfortunately lost track of.

From there, Lady Maria led them back along the path that led deeper into the labyrinths. "How're you feeling?" she asked once they were out of earshot.

"What do you mean?"

"Have you repressed the memory already?" Maria's words were rather facetious in tone, but they nevertheless helped remind him of what she was referring to.

"Oh. I'm fine; just trying not to dwell on it too much, is all." He replied.

"That is for the best." Said Maria. "But do not block it out entirely. If nothing else, it should teach you a valuable lesson."

"Let me guess. You're never truly safe here?"

Maria nodded her head. "Precisely, and it is imperative that you understand this now."

At this point, the two of them had passed by the entrance to the path they'd taken before their hiatus and were fast approaching another opened doorway, one that he had not ventured past until now. Once they were inside, Laurence was quickly made aware of a corpse lying close to the center of the room, belonging to a beast far larger than anything they'd encountered so far.

"I take it that's your handiwork?" Laurence guessed, taking notice of the numerous deep cuts in the creature's flesh.

"Unfortunately." Maria walked right past the beast and stopped just before the end of the room. "It was a formidable foe, but I fear that we've only scratched the surface of what Loran has to offer."

Laurence walked up to join her and found a large, rectangular platform with a circular pressure pad in the center; looking further up, he spotted a number of chains that extended far up into the ceiling. This all seemed to suggest that what he was looking at was a lift of sorts, one that would no doubt take them even deeper into Loran.

"That is a rather worrying thought." Laurence said.

"Indeed, it is, but we must press on regardless."

A brief period of silence then followed, which ended when Maria asked him a rather unexpected question.

"May I see your dagger?"

Laurence looked over to her. "I'm sorry?" He said, unsure of whether he'd heard her correctly.

"Your dagger. May I see it?" Lady Maria held out her hand, indicating that this was more of a command than a request. A few seconds later, Laurence complied and handed her the dagger, allowing her to look it over in detail.

"Hmm. What an odd material – unlike any steel I've ever seen." She said as she inspected the dagger. Very soon, she looked back up at him. "Where did you get this?"

"It was a gift." Lady Maria appeared somewhat skeptical at his claim, but it was the truth; regardless, he was just as ignorant of its material as she was.

"And a fine gift it is." She eventually said. "Have you any experience with it?"

"Not until recently." Laurence admitted, which made her softly smile.

"That's what I thought. But in any case, a blade can be deadly in anyone's hands, assuming they know how to wield it."

Laurence could immediately tell where she was leading with this. "I'm listening," he told her.

"First, show me how you wield it." She instructed as she held out his dagger, prompting him to take it from her and firmly grasp its handle, as one would a hammer or most other tools, leaving the blade pointing forward.

"Not bad," said Maria after a brief inspection, just before she suddenly reached for one of her own sheathes and drew her own dagger. "But now the question is whether your grip will hold firm."

Laurence's eyes widened in shock at the sudden escalation, which judging from the soft laugh that escaped her lips, clearly amused her. "Calm yourself, professor. You're not in danger," she assured him. "But if you happen to be, it's best to know how to defend yourself and just having that blade in your hand grants you much greater odds of survival than if you were unarmed."

As Maria spoke, she placed her free hand on the handle of her sheathed sabre. "A traditional sword may grant greater range and power, but their size often makes it difficult to attack quickly and to defend yourself if your opponent manages to get close. The dagger is the inverse; it is light and nimble, but does not reach as far or inflict nearly as much harm: but it is by no means harmless. One good cut to a vital area will spell doom for whoever's on the receiving end."

"Should I be taking notes?" Laurence jested after his lengthy silence.

"It is difficult to consult notes on the battlefield, professor. What I need from you is undivided focus."

"Which I will gladly provide, my lady." He replied, softly smiling all the while.

With a smile of her own, Maria entered something of a fighting stance, putting both her blade and her free arm out in front of her. "Though it should go without saying, you should always keep your blade out in front of you and keep yourself in a defensive position, ensuring that you are ready to strike at a moment's notice."

Her explanation prompted Laurence to attempt to take up a similar stance, holding out his dagger, positioned one foot slightly in front of the other. A few moments later, Lady Maria exited her stance and walked over to him in order to correct a few aspects of his stance; straightening his posture somewhat, bringing his free arm slightly higher so that it covered his neck and chest and finally, tucking in his chin.

As she did all this, she continued her lecture. "In an encounter, your main focus should be on ensuring no major harm comes to you. As such, you must do your best to ensure vital areas – the chest, the throat and so on – are protected." Though he did his best to pay attention to what she was saying, Laurence couldn't help but be distracted by the frequent and almost casual nature of her touch; a part of him was certain there was another, less intrusive way to correct his stance, but at the same time, he wasn't about raise a rabble about it.

"However, the best way to do this isn't to stand guard as you're doing now, but to constantly be on the move: evading your opponent's attacks, tiring them out and capitalizing on whatever opening is afforded to you."

She came to stand just beside him, once again drawing her blade. "Of course, there is no one method of attack that applies for every situation, which is why you have to decide what you're going to do at a moment's notice. Let me show you just a few things you can do."

From the next few minutes, Lady Maria showed him a handful of different thrusts and slashes, as well as a few things he could do with his free hand if given the opportunity, primarily involving his fist and elbow. As she showed him these techniques, Laurence recreated them, though obviously nowhere near as graciously.

"My, my. You're much more eager than I was expecting." Lady Maria eventually said.

"Far be it for me to deny an opportunity to learn, especially from one so…well versed."

And it was clear that she was. Laurence recognized just how thoroughly and passionately she explained the intricacies of combat, which had made following along with her surprisingly enjoyable. But then again, passion for a subject was all but essential to teaching it effectively; he should know.

"Then you'll be happy to know that I still have a little more to show you." Laurence was fully prepared for another brief address, but instead what he received was an instruction.

"Turn around."

Understandably quite surprised, the professor stayed still and waited to see whether she would say something more, but no such thing occurred. Instead, she just stared right back at him, smiling in amusement.

"Well? Go on then," the way she spoke, it almost sounded like a dare - as if she was fully aware of his uncertainty and was even teasing him for it. And a few moments later, Laurence finally relented, turning away from her and awaiting whatever came next.

"Until now, I've shown you what to do when faced with a fully aware foe, but that is a situation you should always strive to avoid. Before you choose to engage in battle, you must first try to find a way to eliminate your target before they get a chance to retaliate. And the best way to do that is to catch them when they are at their most vulnerable."

The more she said, the clearer it became as to why she had asked him to put himself in this position. Almost the instant she finished speaking, Lady Maria's hand covered his mouth and brought her blade mere inches away from his throat. Despite having anticipated her doing something like this, Laurence's body still jumped in shock; not so much from the action itself, but rather from how efficiently she had performed it.

"Surely, I need not explain what happens from here." Her voice was almost right by his ear - a soft, almost calming thing, like that of a mother lulling her child to sleep. Yet it was a rather unnerving thing to hear in such a situation, where if she so wished, she could easily slit his throat without anyone being the wiser.

Seeing as his mouth was still covered, Laurence shook his head, being mindful of her blade even if he now saw that she had taken care to point the edge away from his flesh. "Good," Shortly afterwards, Lady Maria released him, leaving him to take a deep breath as he tried to calm his racing heart.

All things considered, she'd been gentle or at least, as gentle as one could be when demonstrating an execution. There was no sudden pull and she had kept her dagger a fair distance away from his throat, with the edge pointing away. But even with all this, she managed to remind him of just how intimidating she could be if she put her mind to it.

"I trust that no further demonstrations are needed?" Lady Maria said from behind him, causing him to turn around to face her.

"No…no I'd say you got your point across." He replied.

"Then I suppose that concludes our little lesson. Though I do hope you don't take it as encouragement to try any of what I've shown you for yourself."

"I wasn't planning to." Laurence replied.

"Good. As I said, a blade can be deadly in any hands, but first, that blade needs to be honed and subsequently maintained to retain its edge. That is a process that takes a great deal of time and never truly ends. Perhaps one day you may choose to pursue that process yourself, but for now, continue to leave the bloody business to us."

The professor really didn't have all that much to say in reply, leading to him nodding his understanding. "Was this your idea of 'chatting'?" He eventually asked.

"Oh, are you not satisfied?" she asked him. "Very well. Perhaps we can find something else to talk about; shall we start with the bell you took?"

This took Laurence completely by surprise. "Whatever do you mean?" he said in as calm a tone as he could muster.

"Please don't take me for a fool, professor. Give it to me." Lady Maria said as she held out her hand.

"And…what if I don't want to?" Laurence somewhat brazenly said after a brief silence, with her only response being to raise her right brow in a way that told him that he should already know the answer to that question. And he did.

After staring her down for a few more seconds, Laurence sighed and reached into his satchel to take out the crushed bell, which he held aloft for her to see before he handed it to her.

"Thank you." She said as she took it from him, after which silence once again fell over the room.

"I'm not in any trouble, am I?" he asked only half-seriously.

"No. Not this time," was her reply. "But in the future, I hope you'll come to consider your actions more carefully; if not, then I fear it will make your gestures of goodwill ring hollow."

"I can't help but feel that's not all it'll do."

Upon him saying this, Lady Maria smiled. "All I will say is that I do not wish to see you harmed, as hard as that might be for you to believe." Despite the nature of her words, Laurence could tell right away that she meant them as a warning.

"I see." He said.

A few seconds of tense silence followed before Lady Maria hid the crushed bell inside her coat. "Now then, shall we return?" she proposed.

"By all means, my lady."

With that, the two of them turned to make their way back to the others, not saying a further word to each-other the rest of the way. If nothing else, the last few minutes had cemented one thing in Laurence's mind; though they were on the same side for now, it would be foolish to consider Lady Maria an ally…and just as foolish to make her his enemy.

...

Author's Note: I hope you all enjoyed this much shorter chapter; I thought that after all the dungeon crawling, giving the characters a chance to breathe was well overdue. Unfortunately, Uni is starting back up for me, so updates will be much less frequent as I try to balance things out, especially now that classes are moving back to in-person. And with how colossal this story is in comparison to my previous one, I can only imagine its going to keep me busy for a very, very long time. Thanks once again for reading!