By some miracle, things remained relatively calm at the camp, if you didn't count doctor Nielson trying to get access to an iDroid to contact someone about the knight they had encountered, until the supplies arrived.

As soon as the food and water, previously destined for some enemy outpost, had been unloaded, Snake made a point to extract the trucks.

While a couple of jeeps could be hidden from the road with relative ease, the convoy was a bit harder to hide.

The squad responsible for the collection returned to Mother Base as well, the additional forces unnecessary for the moment.

The Mother Base side of things, on the other hand, wasn't going so well.

Ocelot had gone through three of the prisoners, two of the men and the woman, but discovered nothing from them, except that they came from the general area of Czechoslovakia and were reduced to only speaking their native tongue by the process of interrogation.

And unfortunately Afghanistan, being more a part of the Asian continent than European, didn't precisely have many Czech translators available.

As such the questioning hadn't exactly got very far.

Ocelot had finished his report by stating he was leaving the last member of the group to someone else, out of the hope that this would avoid the same outcome.

That left the matter of the archaeologists.

At some point they had set up a dark room in one of the tents, and produced large scale copies of the murals from the passage to examine in greater detail.

They were still pouring over the pictures when Snake checked in on them, the amulet set aside for now.

"Come to any conclusions about the knight," he asked, something about the matter still bothering him.

"Examining it more closely, we came to the conclusion the amulet must be quite modern," Nielson dismissed. "There's no sign of the toolwork a legitimate artifact would bear, you may be right that he came by much more recently. Keep it if you like."

"Besides, I'm not convinced that they were a knight proper, even if they were from medieval times," Mitchell cut in. "The lack of any kind of coat of arms would make them a freelancer at best."

"One of the early mercenaries," Snake muttered to himself, "kind of like us….a freelancer…"

He picked up the amulet, looking at it more closely, then dropped it in his pocket with a shrug.

If it was some kind of lucky charm for a freelancer, it was only fitting for one of their modern counterparts to hold on to it.

"Did they adjust the lights or something?"

Snake glanced up at Mitchell. "Sorry?"

"The lighting changed, helped me pick out something I missed. Professor, does that look like he's holding something up, between him and the Mara and Asura?"

"Hmm? Yes, I think you're right. Some kind of charm or amulet? I wonder what it means…"

"Fascinating I'm sure. Are you ready to head back in, when the specialists are ready?"

"Of course, we've learned about all we can from what we've already retrieved. Are you planning to join us this time?"

"I have to cover my shift on watch," Snake responded.

It had been something of a spur of the moment decision last time, due to boredom from having watch duties and nothing else.

But coming so close to a trap somewhere that should have been safe, when he had been unprepared for something like that to happen, was a different matter.

Better to leave this in the hands of people with the appropriate expertise.

It wasn't as though he was too interested in history anyway.

]

There was another incident while the archaeologists were on their expedition.

A few more jeeps full of suits turned off the road to approach the plateau, halting their advance as they saw Snake at the head of a group of his men.

It probably wasn't Snake that made them hesitate, so much as the rocket launchers being aimed at them.

One of them stood, hands in the air in a placating manner, the others all keeping their hands in full view.

"Don't shoot, surely we can talk this out?"

His accent was unfamiliar to Snake, but what marked him as the leader was his clothes.

Rather than wearing the same suit and sunglasses as all the others, he was wearing a longcoat, not quite long enough to be considered a duster, and a wide-brimmed hat.

"I'm willing to talk," Snake allowed.

If they were intending to outflank him, the pair on watch would see.

Besides, they had already called in Pequod for overwatch, should it be needed.

"Excellent," the man responded, moving to get out of the jeep and approach.

"Stay there," Snake snapped. "I'd prefer the fewer targets should things go hot."

Several of the suits bristled at this, a few reaching into their pockets.

"Peace," the man reassured his men. "Very well. Now, I hear you are mercenaries? Would you be willing to meet with my employer about a contract? After you are finished here of course, the professor has no need for men who leave a job unfinished."

"Not interested," Snake answered without hesitation, something off about hos offer. "What are you after here?"

"Much the same as you I imagine, the only reason to visit this prison… reliquary, I mean."

Despite the way he seemed to play it off as a slip, Snake was sure that the wording was deliberate. Some kind of test.

"The doctor thought it was a temple," he said to himself, testing the mans response.

"Ah, you're working with an intellectual." The mans voice was almost musical on his final word. "I am sure what we are after will be of no concern to him, we can wait until you leave to start our own expedition."

Several of his men shifted at that.

"What are you so interested in, that you believe the doctor will dismiss?"

He shrugged eloquently. "Merely some small trifles. Easily overlooked, if you don't know what you're looking for. That reminds me, our compatriots had collected a few already, would it be possible to have them returned? We can pay you of course, whether in money or something more valuable."

"If they are worth so much, why shouldn't I find someone else to sell to?"

"Ah, the professor is a man with specific taste in collections. You could try looking elsewhere, but chances are you'd still end up selling to one of his agents. And without the generous terms I'm willing to offer!"

The last was almost laughed rather than spoken, putting Snake on edge.

"One final question. The trinkets you're after, would they happen to look like this?"

He held up the amulet from the freelancer, the sun glinting off the pearl.

"Seeker," he heard one of the suits call out, as the leaders face fell.

And then everything seemed to happen at once.

]

Nielson followed closely after the trap specialist, introduced to him as 'Nuclear Centipede', as they made their way down the passage towards the temple.

They weren't going especially fast, which didn't help with his eagerness to see exactly what was hidden down here.

"You're sure there's nothing in the murals to help?"

Centipede was proving very gruff and to the point.

It almost reminded Nielson of sone of his colleagues back home.

"No, it's just a sonewhat different version of the story of the Buddha and the Mara."

"That could be the clue. What is the Mara?"

"A… spirit, I think the right word is, even if some people translate it as 'demon'. I mean, demon sounds beyond redemption, while the point with Biddhist mythology is-"

"Doctor, get to the point."

Nielson swallowed.

It was his nerves, he was sure. Getting so close to somewhere he'd almost died, his mind was taking refuge in the safety of his field of expertise.

"Right, so the Mara was supposed to be a malevolent spirit, with powers over the senses. They tried to trick the Buddha with temptation, only for him to overcome them and achieve enlightenment."

"What differences did you spot here?"

"Mostly the presence of the Asura, to be honest. Another spirit who started as the Buddhas enemy, only to become his ally later."

Nielson frowned in thought.

"Thinking about it, the figure in the murals doesn't particularly look like the Buddha either, not how he's usually portrayed."

"So deceit, illusions, temptation and enemy turned friend. Those are the main elements?"

Nielson hesitated a moment, considering.

"I guess so. Not how I'd have put it, but… yes."

Centipede nodded.

"Keep clear of anything that looks especially valuable, until we can check it out properly. We already know there are traps, and that is the obvious temptation."

Nielson froze up for a moment, falling back for the first time since they entered the passage.

He hadn't put that together until Centipede spoke.

If this site was indeed connected to Buddhism, as the murals seemed to reinforce, failing to heed the Buddhas teachings would obviously be a mistake.

And with apparently lethal defences, no matter how badly that went against Buddhist principles, following the teachings would be a matter of life and death.

Unfortunately, much of Buddhism seemed to be about overcoming the natural failings of humanity.

He hurried after Centipede, almost walking into him as he stopped moving.

"This is the first trap, correct?"

Nielson glanced past him to see the rusted armour still lying there.

"Y-yes."

"How did you trigger it?"

"I stepped forward. My foot touched the ground, next to the… the body."

Centipede nodded, and unslung his rifle.

Holding it by the muzzle, he used the butt to press down on the floor, testing the area around the armour to no effect.

He frowned.

"Are you sure about how you triggered it?"

"Yes, I was simply stepping past, and it lot up as I put my foot down."

"Then maybe…"

Centipede crouched down, extending his leg out to step on the section of floor without exposing himself to the trap.

As his foot made contact the beams of light shot out from the walls above, constantly repeating until he removed his foot again.

"Most curious… Did you see that?"

"The lower beams further in," the other soldier asked for clarity, receiving a nod in answer.

"No crawling under. We could test a low cart, but I doubt it would work. We need to find a way round…"