Renwas-adjacent-to-him, staring up with starry eyes. Tycon had nearly leapt backward in surprise, but he managed to control himself.

That would have been embarra.s.sing.

She hadn't seemed to notice his distress, though. Tycon supposed that was fine.

The poor fool, Justus, was still staring in disbelief at what remained of the last Nemayan skeleton soldier.

"That's enough excitement for one evening," Tycon pat the young Deca.n.u.s on his metal shoulder guard.

Justus winced. Yes, the shoulder underneath was definitely bruised. Tycon hadn't patted the boy's injury on purpose, but he did not plan on apologizing for it.

He turned to the girls, catching their attention, "Let us return and get some rest."

Gianna nodded excitedly, "Mhm. Sounds good, Bronze-Rank Warrior Zehr."

Tycon smiled. That was good. It appeared he was doing an excellent job pretending to be a Bronze-Rank Warrior.

Rena was staring at Tycon's arm again. Odd.

Tycon offered her his elbow, which she embraced lovingly, nuzzling her cheek into his bicep.

She was fooled, as well. Most excellent.

Tycon began walking back towards the camp, flanked by two (probably) attractive women. The sounds of a still-confused Deca.n.u.s Justus' steps trudged along behind them.

...

The wagon creaked softly as it continued down the rocky trail. Modestus was driving the horses along... and interestingly enough, had been doing a remarkably better job than Deca.n.u.s Caelistis had done, before him.

It had been two suns since the kobold skirmishes, and Justus' muscles ached worse than they'd felt in years. His legs felt like jelly. He wanted to scream in frustration and stab a knife into his calves. Maybe whatever weird muscle-juice was inside that made him sore would drain along with his blood.

Instead, he crossed his arms, furrowing his brows. He tried to channel his inner Zehr.

The previous night, his bedroll was atop a rock. In the morning, he was nearly late to the officer's meeting.

Since then, he'd brus.h.i.+ng and polis.h.i.+ng his Deca.n.u.s armor. Optio Sixtus had been very particular that he paid attention to detail. He was tired of it!

And he was hungry!

Rena looked down the sights of her new crossbow into the surrounding trees, not paying Justus any attention.

She yawned and placed her weapon down, "What's got your panties in a bunch, Mister Deca.n.u.s?"

"The morning meeting... took two entire bells," Justus groaned.

"Mhm~♥" Gianna happily chimed in, "Miss Rena and I wanted to wait for you, but we were told the officers would be awhile."

"By the Flaaaame~ The morning breakfast was *amaaaazing.*" Rena deepened her voice to emphasize her love for Zehr's cooking.

Justus' annoyance boiled in his abdomen. He had literally carried Rena for over a mile, a few suns prior, and this was how she repaid him?

"You guys didn't even save me anything. I thought you were my friends!!" He complained.

"Nuh-uh! You're our boss, now!" Rena grinned. She cleared her voice and sat up rigidly with mock self-importance, "An officer does not eat with his crew! He's far too important for that!"

She was quoting one of Deca.n.u.s Caelistis' aphorisms-- one of his stupider ones, and there were many. Justus had inquired about it with the other Decani. There was no such rule. Cael didn't eat with the tent group because he didn't have any friends.

And apparently, neither did he.

Justus looked over to Duplicarius Zehr. He sat next to Rena, crossing his muscled arms and scanning the distant forests-- reticent, as usual. Justus had returned to him the modified Deca.n.u.s helm with the visor, while he had a new one issued to him with a heroic red crest.

Sensing his gaze, the silent warrior turned to him, "Two portions of venison sausages, eggs, and fried root vegetables were reserved for you."

"Two portions...?" Justus narrowed his eyes. He already knew who to blame, even without Gia and half of the tent group not-so-subtly turning to Rena.

The archer girl was twiddling her thumbs and whistling innocently.

Feeling everyone's eyes on her-- and especially Justus' very, angry stare, she shot back a sleazy grin, "Whaaat? You have to eat food when it's hot! It's *wayyyy* better that way."

Justus groaned, slumping back in his seat until his metal helmet tapped against the wood of the wagon rails, "Zehr, really? Could you please tell this girl she was wrong?"

The visored Duplicarius pursed his lips, "Her a.s.sessment of hot food is correct."

"That's not what I meant!"

"...Oh." What was revealed of Zehr's face conveyed no change in expression, "Rena, that was wrong."

"Okayyyy. I'm sorry, Justuuuusss. Love yooou!" Rena nuzzled her cheek into Zehr's shoulder.

Justus got the feeling that Rena wasn't feeling sorry, at all... He also got the feeling that Zehr had no idea what he was having her apologize for. He had a.s.sumed that he'd be easier to talk after getting to know him better but... it seemed he was naturally not very... talkative.

He looked to Gianna who was watching Zehr and Rena with a tender look.

She winked at Justus and looked to Zehr, "Weren't you invited to the meeting, Duplicarius?"

"I was." Zehr responded, "I didn't go."

Justus again took the scrub brush to his armor, "Ugh. Was this why you didn't want to be a Deca.n.u.s, Zehr?"

"Indeed."

Justus exhaled deeply, channeling his frustrations into cleaning, "At the time, I had no idea why you so vehemently refused the t.i.tle. Now, I'm the one who feels like a fool."

The entire tent group of ten chuckled at his remarks. The tent groups had been rearranged by the cohort, most groups now comprised of two or three groups' members. Justus' tent group was the only one that kept their original nine-- only losing Deca.n.u.s Caelistis.

Their "new" tenth was another veteran Immunes, an engineer who was well-familiar with Modestus and a few of the others. Everyone held a deep respect and camaraderie for each other as survivors.

It was altogether a pleasant group of individuals.

Justus' arm ached too-- but it felt like it was from the scrubbing, not from battle...

"This feels like a stupid waste of energy," He grumbled.

"Your armor's appearance is excellent," Zehr commented. "That is a symbol of your pride as a Deca.n.u.s."

Justus wasn't sure how to respond. It sounded like he was trying to be rea.s.suring but... Zehr had joined the company with a terrible-looking set of armor. Maybe because Zehr didn't care about something like pride? Was this some sort of lesson?

Gianna nodded, "It looks very handsome, Deca.n.u.s."

The s.h.i.+eld Maiden's praise raised Justus' spirits. Just looking into her blue eyes gave him the strength to carry onward.

"Uh huh," Rena nodded. "You actually look respectable, at first glance."

Justus knew better than to take Rena's comments seriously.