New Identity

In the mice field, Caspian's eyes have developed dark circles from keeping watch all night. 

The Reapers did not come. It's not just not coming, there wasn't even a hint of them having plans to come in future. 

How does he know ? 

Because there was not a single Reaper spy in the dungeon clearing team. The hunters from 89th base came, they cleared the corn field four times already, and not a single one separated from the group. 

Usually, Reaper spies are arranged in a pair, one, an ordinary person, who is a hawker, porter or just menial worker cleaning or doing some sort of duty outside the dungeon. 

The second is inside. They will mix with low level hunters to keep track of the hunting progress. At an appropriate time, they will throw a beacon, something as simple as colored paper, or a pebble which the ordinary person sees, then informs the Reaper team. The team teleports in at that time. 

There is always something recognizable on the low level hunter, so that the Reaper team will not kill him by mistake. But … Caspian made sure to check all their faces, bodies, and limbs .. there were no recognizable items on their bodies at all. That means the spy did not even register with the hunters.

After the fifth harvesting of the corn, even a desperate Caspian could not delude himself. The Reaper team is not coming. 

As he watched in despair, the team faced their first problem. The rabid rats, despite being only ten in number, are far stronger than the rabid rats they faced before. In no time, few of the men are injured. The blood made the mad rats to be injected with chicken blood ! 

One of the men ran away from the field, leaving his comrades behind. 

" You ! " The captain sneered at the man, fired a gun to kill the man. 

It's as if the entire group had their sanity come back. 

They fought with regained ferocity. 

Only, the rabid rats jumped right up, slicing throats of two of the men. The others took the opportunity to skewer those rats. 

With that, they commenced the boss monster fight. 

On the return, the team paused at the dead bodies. 

" Should we take the bodies back, sir ? " one of the soldiers asked the captain. 

" What for ? Trash should be just discarded. We will be going through a lot of them in the coming days. Are you going to bury each individually ? Just leave them here. " 

With that inhumane remark, the soldiers left the dungeon. 

Caspian came out of his hiding spot, checked the bodies of the hunters. One of them is tall enough to be Zayne. 

He checked their bodies. All of them had identity documents on them, as well as some sort of keys. As he looked at those men, an idea flashed in Caspian's head. 

❧❧❧

Claire arrived in the slime dungeon for her usual rendezvous with Caspian. It's already evening on the second day. Today, the kids have literally used their energy to max, both their mana and physical energy. So all of them have wilted. They are currently obediently watching cartoons on the tv, dozing against each other. 

" Do you want to step out for a bit to freshen up ? " she asked him. 

Caspian shook his head. 

" Is Zayne here with you ? " he asked her. 

" Yes. " 

" In that case, call him too. We have an opportunity to infiltrate the 89th base, but we will lose it soon if we take too much time. " Caspian urged her. 

" What opportunity ? Caspian ! Explain in detail ! " she asked, but he was in too much of a hurry. 

" Run, do not walk. Bring him here fast. If he does not want to go, then come by yourself … fast ! fast ! " Caspian urged them. 

" Alright. " Claire agreed and went to call Zayne. 

Once again, Brea was given the task of putting children to sleep. Claire and Zayne both promised to return soon, also, dinner was sitting on the table, so they were able to leave for the time being. 

As soon as she arrived with Zayne in tow, Caspian teleported them to the mice field. 

" There ! Wear those clothes. We need to get out of the dungeon soon. I will give you masks once you put on the clothes. Once we are out, do not speak. Let me do the speaking. " he ordered both of them. 

Zayne looked miffed, while Claire took it in a stride. 

Even so, they could not have prepared themselves for the fact that what Caspian gave them were human masks. 

Looking at their horrified faces, Caspian looked exasperated. 

" I did not kill them. They died already, I just made masks ! Gods ! stop being such prudes. " he scolded them, as he gave them masks. 

" Now listen to me. There is a certain technique to making the mask seem like your own face. It comes with practice and muscle memory. So, do not speak. We will establish our identity, then we can return through any other dungeon. " He told them. 

They both nodded, placing the masks on their face, pushing down their revulsion. After that, Caspian wrapped bandages around their faces, neck, and hands, binding them randomly. 

As soon as they put on the masks, Caspian took them out of the dungeon. The check out officer was still waiting for them.

" Oh ! you guys ! Why are you so slow ? " he asked annoyedly. 

" Here.. sign under your names, and put a finger stamp. " he said roughly, pushing a book in front of them. 

" Brother ! We injured our hands .. ! " Caspian whined pitifully. 

The guard just looked down at them, wondering how and why that is my problem. 

" This .. we can not reach for the book from here. Can we please come in and do the stamping … Please, brother .. ! " Caspian begged. 

The guard looked even more pissed. This is against the rules, no matter in which country. However, if he wants to get off shift, it's better to get this over with. 

So, he reluctantly walked out of the booth, letting them move in. 

Caspian seemed to have made finger print stamps out of bone or whatever material. 

' he must have waited long for me, if he finished crafting these .. Claire mused.

He put all their fingers prints. Even Zayne helped in pretension, by moaning in pain when the bandages were removed from his fingers, and pressed roughly to the book. 

The guard who looked somewhat suspicious till then looked perfectly alright after that. 

With that, they only have their keys. Which are given to the guard, to receive their belongings back. 

The guard opened the respective compartments, gave them their belongings back. 

" go now. The last bus is in ten minutes. If you miss it, there are no more buses from here. " The guard told them, packing his stuff at express speed. 

The moment he got out of the office, the guard took off towards the bus station at sprint. 

It was Claire, who caught the meaning of this action. 

" Damn ! there may not be ten minutes to catch the bus. Run ! " she told them, as she started sprinting. 

The guard reached the bus a minute earlier than them, but they were still within time. 

As such, they were able to get on. 

" Tch. " The guard disdained them. It seems he really was going to leave them here with nothing for no reason. 

" the usual ? " The bus driver asked three of them. 

This time, Caspian was awake and ready. 

" Aye. " he answered, bringing up his ticket and showing it. 

Any trip to the dungeon is a round trip. So, one ticket means paying for the arrival and return - it seems the guard just wanted to make them spend more money. It's just petty revenge, like pre-apocalypse bosses choosing Friday overtime for no good reason. 

Claire and Zayne followed him in the action. Fortunately, their tickets have their destinations. Following the people's greetings they roughly found where they lived. He lived in an individual hanok house, situated in front of a valley, at the foot hill, on the slope, with its back facing mountain, side facing the valley. A sizable land is fenced off around either side with wooden stakes, and rough vine ropes tied to these fences. A four feet stone wall surrounded the house, and a smaller yard. The front gate is six feet high, with an eight foot wooden gate. 

It's a hunters lodge, she mused. Seems the parents died, and the child kept the house, owing to the sheer bad location of the house. In winter, the cold wind hits straight freezing even dry wood. In summer, the cold wind won't let anything grow. She was afraid the guy was too close to the villagers, now it seems, they were just greeting a fellow villager. They are probably not close enough to perceive change. 

 It seems Claire was the Orphan left over in the base, with only a house to her name. To make ends meet, he has opened a b&b. Today, he was fulfilling his monthly dungeon hunting trip, which applies to all males above twelve. At thirteen, they could get a hunter license, at fifteen, they are full fledged citizens. 

The current owner is fourteen years old, as opposed to Claire's sixteen, and has a hunter license. 

They investigated the house from top to bottom, finally, it was Caspian who had the bright idea to check under the bed. There, he found the diary of the boy. The boy owned a black market token. Usually, he stole one or two items from the dungeon drops, and sold them off in the black market, to collect UBO currency. This was the globally accepted cash. 

Then, Caspian came out, looking like a zombie, holding a token. 

" What is it ? " Claire asked him. 

" Reaper's spy token. The lowest one. " he answered, looking miffed. 

Zayne returned from his own room with the same token. 

" I think I am also being scouted, I think, " he said, holding a similar token. 

She stared at the tokens in shock. 

Did they find some incredible lead accidentally ? 

In this case, she knows exactly what to do.