What soldiers?

"Shhhh... That´s the barons men. You are in for a beating if they hear you." Alric looks at the soldiers with a worried glimpse before he bows his head and whispers more

"Because our dangerous location and how far we are from Westburg the baron has an unusual amount of soldiers and guards. That´s what my master says, she told me that they are needed to guard from us from the barbarian tribes in the north. This is supposed to be the only valley into the kingdom in the northern mountain range. Up north is only wilderness with savage tribes and local demon lords. Master says that´s why the soldiers can act as they want, prance around like they are the baron them self..." With the last part he clearly only repeating his masters words. His voice is so low that we can barley hear him.

"Master says that not even the baron can control them, that they only fear the guard captain. She also says that more than half of them is corrupt, taking bribes and just stand watching and laughing when monsters kill the poor farmers that can´t pay the protection money..."

Well it seems like Alric is a wellspring of information. And if I ever give the chance I would want to meet this master of his.

"Ah shit, forget I asked. I do not want to get us all into trouble." And I do not want to draw to much attention to my self, I already stick out coming in here alone this late.

"No problems Wolf, but keep your coins safe and do not go to far from camp to take a piss." This tome its clement who answer me. He seems to be a bit older than Alric, blond hair, fair face and a muscular body from a lot of physical work in his life. A real lady killer, especially if he gets a higher rank.

"Why? the wolves around here is that desperate that they go after humans? Or are there monster even outside?" I try to play along, knowing that the wolves mostly leaves them alone now when the camp have been here for a while. To hard to harass them without hurting them self.

"Nah, the solders have been accusing people of spying on them and going through their things. So far they have not dared do anything to us when we are together like this, but anyone alone stands the risk of getting beaten to a pulp and then robed under the pretence of taking back whats theirs."

Seems like things is worse than I thought, I wounder if anyone is spying on them and why? Well except for me that is. Or maybe they are suspecting that I infiltrated the adventurers earlier and are looking for me? I need to be extra careful.

"Okej, so piss in sight of camp, got it. Hey Alric whats this about a master? If you have a master why would you risk your life here?" I need to know more about the soldiers, but knowing more about Alric and hopefully using that to get to know more about magic would really help.

"Well I am a magician apprentice. I have learned some basic magic, but master says that I need to grow my magic power, dungeons is supposed to be a dangerous but effective way to do that." Alric lights up when talking about magic, it clear to see how much he loves to learn and grow his magic. I do not even need to keep him talking.

"Master says that humans can be born with magic power. But not everyone, dungeons is a way for anyone to get power. Learning spells is harder and usually means a lot of training and study. But some dungeons is supposed to have magic teachings written down deep inside them, they are related to the dungeons magic and if you train them their wile in the danger of losing your life it´s supposed to help facilitate your learning. Master also says that all dungeons have their own magic related to what kind of dungeon it is. So a Fire dungeon would have fire magic and a earth and metal dungeon have earth magic. You can learn what kind of dungeon it is from how it is made and what kind of monsters is in them. Traps and other gimmicks is also often related to the dungeons magic. "

He barely takes a breath between his words speaking so passionate about magic and the magic of dungeons. I am learning a lot to day, I just hope that Alric knows what she is talking about when teaching him.

"Eh Alric.. Slow down there, you going to choke on your own tongue, and Is master Cicilia okey with you telling people about this things?" Clement clearly worried that Alric said to much, but he only waves his words away.

"This is supposed to be basic knowledge, why do you think everyone is so interested in dungeons and why the baron is not just destroying this one outright when it was found? It´s because magic Clement. MAGIC..." Alric takes a big breath after almost getting blue in the face, now everyone in the camp is looking at us. Well at least it is not me that draws all that attention.

"Everyone wants to control a dungeon if it has a useful magic orientation. Even mundane items as stones or a waterskin can become magical if they are in a dungeon long enough. Nobody is completely sure what kind of dungeon we have here yet. So far it looks like one related to undeath, but the wolves do not fit into that definition, so it could be something else. If it was safer we all would be camping inside the dungeon instead. It suppressed me that the soldiers isn´t.

The whole group including me looks at the soldiers for a couple of seconds. They give us a glare when they notice before they go back to their drinks and ignoring us.

"Maybe they are afraid of the demon king. I heard that this dungeon is supposed to have particular vicious ruler." Wilking whispers the words out, giving even me a cold feeling hearing him.

But Alric seems to think differently.

"Nah man, I would be dead if that was true. I heard from master that the demon kings in the north kills everyone, they even kidnap and sacrifice people. I think it´s something else..."

"Shhh, dammit Alric. do not make them target you." Clement seems to worry a lot about his companions.

I now feel real sad that one of this innocent kids died trying to open that chest. But I can not be to nice in the face of their greed or I will not survive. They risk their life knowing that they can die trying to find that magic or what ever they are looking for. I will try to stay in this camp until I can figure out what the soldiers are up to I think. And during that time I should be able to learn more about, well everything really.