The walk to the large black tent felt like a march to the executioner.
The freezing wind bit at Ilya's face, but he did not feel the cold. His mind was spinning perfectly, running a hundred different risk calculations.
'This is a high-level performance review,' Ilya thought. 'Captain Bracing saw me humiliate a veteran soldier. In a normal army, fighting a senior soldier means jail or death. But the Fatui do not care about rules. They care about power. They care about results. I need to prove my results are worth more than Grigori's broken nose.'
He stopped in front of the heavy black tent. The giant Electro Vanguard stood by the door, his purple hammer resting on his shoulder. The big man did not say a word. He just pulled the heavy tent flap open.
Ilya took a deep breath of the freezing air, fixed his posture to look perfectly calm, and stepped inside.
The heat inside the tent hit him like a physical punch. There were three large metal heaters burning bright orange in the corners. The air smelled strongly of fire oil, hot metal, and old paper.
The tent was huge. It was not a sleeping tent; it was a mobile office. There were large wooden tables covered in maps of Dragonspine. Weapons were hung neatly on the walls.
Captain Bracing sat behind a large wooden desk.
The Captain was cleaning his long, red sword with a thick cloth. He did not look up when Ilya walked in. The silence stretched on for a long time. The only sound was the soft scraping of the cloth against the metal blade.
'He is using silence to build pressure,' Ilya analyzed. 'It is a classic negotiation trick. The first person to speak loses power. I will wait.'
Ilya stood perfectly still. He did not fidget. He kept his hands at his sides and stared straight ahead.
Finally, Captain Bracing stopped cleaning his sword. He placed it gently on the desk and looked up. His cold, scarred face was impossible to read.
"You broke Grigori's nose," Captain Bracing said. His voice was quiet and flat.
"Yes, sir," Ilya answered. He did not make excuses. Excuses made you look weak.
"Grigori is a Geochanter. He has been in this army for five years," the Captain continued. He leaned back in his heavy wooden chair. "You are an eighteen-year-old recruit. You have been here for two weeks. How did you beat him?"
'He is testing my honesty,' Ilya thought. 'He wants to know if I am hiding some dangerous secret. I need to give him an answer that makes sense but does not reveal my true value.'
"Grigori was slow, sir," Ilya said simply. "He relies on his friends to scare people. When I stepped into his personal space, he panicked. I used a short burst of wind magic to pull him off balance, and I tripped him. It was simple physics."
Captain Bracing's eyes narrowed. He looked closely at the green Anemo Delusion strapped to Ilya's chest.
"A short burst of wind magic," the Captain repeated slowly. "Those cheap green stones overheat if you push them too hard. They burn the skin right off your chest. But you are not burned. You are perfectly healthy. Why?"
Ilya kept his face completely blank. His heart beat a little faster. The Captain was incredibly sharp.
'I cannot tell him about the secret Whopperflower Nectar,' Ilya thought. 'If he knows I can upgrade the cheap equipment, he will take it away. I must protect my private assets.'
"I pack snow inside my coat, right against the metal casing, sir," Ilya lied smoothly. "It acts as a coolant. It melts quickly, but it stops the stone from burning me for a few seconds. It was just a desperate trick."
Captain Bracing stared at him for a long, heavy minute. Ilya did not blink. He held the scary man's gaze.
Then, unexpectedly, Captain Bracing let out a short, rough laugh.
"Snow in your coat. A desperate trick," the Captain said, shaking his head. "You are either a genius, recruit, or the luckiest rat on this mountain."
The Captain stood up from his desk. He walked over to a large map pinned to the wall.
"Grigori is a lazy pig," Captain Bracing said, his voice turning cold again. "He eats too much and produces nothing. I do not care that you broke his nose. In fact, you did me a favor. You showed the camp that weakness gets punished."
The Captain turned around and pointed a finger at Ilya.
"But you have created a problem for me," the Captain said softly. "You are a new recruit, but your squad is the most efficient unit in my camp. You bring in food. You complete patrols fast. You do not die. You are making my veteran soldiers look bad."
'Here is the pitch,' Ilya thought. 'He is setting up the contract.'
"I have a job," Captain Bracing said. "Three days ago, I sent a team of surveyors into the Entombed City. They were supposed to map out some old ruins. They never came back."
Ilya listened carefully. The Entombed City was one of the most dangerous places on Dragonspine. It was filled with ancient, deadly machines called Ruin Guards.
"I need to know what happened to them," the Captain continued. "More importantly, I need the metal lockbox they were carrying. It contains special orders from the Harbinger. I cannot send Grigori or the other veterans. If they die, I lose my main defense force. But if I send your squad..."
'If we die, you lose nothing,' Ilya finished the thought in his head. 'We are cheap labor. We are totally expendable. This is a suicide mission.'
"You want my squad to go into the Entombed City and bring back the lockbox," Ilya said out loud.
"Exactly," the Captain said. "If you refuse, I will let Grigori and his friends visit your tent tonight. I will not stop them."
'He is giving me an ultimatum,' Ilya analyzed. 'But a smart manager never accepts a bad deal without getting something in return. If I am taking the biggest risk, I demand the biggest payout.'
"We will do it, Captain," Ilya said firmly. "My squad will bring back your lockbox."
Captain Bracing raised an eyebrow. He looked surprised that Ilya agreed so quickly. "Good."
"But I have a condition," Ilya said.
The air in the tent suddenly felt ten degrees colder. Captain Bracing's hand slowly moved toward the red sword on his desk.
"A condition?" the Captain asked dangerously. "You are a recruit. You do not make demands."
'Hold your ground,' Ilya told himself. 'Show him your value.'
"I am not making a demand, sir. I am making a business proposal," Ilya said. He kept his voice perfectly calm and professional. "My squad is currently fighting with cheap, broken weapons. Pyotr is using a rusty sword. Ivan's spear is made of cracked wood. If you want us to fight Ruin Guards and survive to bring back your box, we need better tools. It is a simple investment."
Captain Bracing stopped moving. He stared at Ilya, his eyes searching the young boy's face.
"If we bring back the lockbox," Ilya continued, "my squad gets access to the camp's main armory. We get real weapons. Real armor. And we report directly to you, nobody else."
The tent was totally silent again. Captain Bracing looked at Ilya as if he were looking at a strange, dangerous alien.
Then, the Captain smiled. It was a terrifying, shark-like smile.
"You have a lot of nerve, recruit," Captain Bracing said. "Fine. It is a deal. You bring me that lockbox by tomorrow night. If you do, your squad gets full armory access. If you fail, I will leave your bodies in the snow."
"Thank you, sir," Ilya said. He gave a perfect military salute.
He turned around and walked out of the hot tent, back into the freezing blizzard.
His heart was pounding against his ribs, but a massive smile broke across his frozen face. He had just secured a massive contract. It was incredibly dangerous, but the potential profit was huge.
'Armory access,' Ilya thought, his mind racing with possibilities. 'Real weapons. Real armor. If we pull this off, we stop being basic recruits. We become a heavy combat unit.'
He walked quickly back to Tent Number Three.
Pyotr, Ivan, and Nikolai were waiting inside. They had already cut up the wild boar meat and were cooking it over a small fire in a metal bucket. They looked up when Ilya walked in. They looked worried.
"Are you in trouble?" Pyotr asked quickly. "Is the Captain going to punish us?"
Ilya looked at his three boys. They were young, dirty, and scared. But they were his team. He was going to build them from the ground up.
"No punishment," Ilya said, sitting down by the fire. He rubbed his cold hands together. "The Captain gave us a promotion. We have a new mission tomorrow."
"A mission?" Ivan asked, passing Ilya a piece of hot, cooked meat. "Where?"
"The Entombed City," Ilya said simply.
The three boys froze. The color drained from their faces. They all knew the stories about the giant, deadly machines in the old ruins.
"Do not panic," Ilya said. His calm, confident voice instantly broke through their fear. "It is high risk, but the payout is huge. If we do this, the Captain is going to give us real weapons. Real armor. No more rusty trash."
Ilya took a bite of the hot meat. It was tough, but it tasted like victory.
He looked at his squad. 'These boys are my portfolio,' he thought. 'And tomorrow, we are making our biggest investment yet. Time to see what this team is really made of.'