Reincarnated as the favorite of an obsessive goddess: gave me a system-Chapter 47: Traitor.

They camped on an open plain, a place where the horizon offered no hiding spots for the mercenaries, forming a defensive circle with the wagons that resembled a war barricade.

Kai was sitting on the driver’s seat of the first wagon, hands interlaced and eyes lost in the embers, when Allice appeared at his side and sat down carefully.

Shortly after, Thorne approached, dragging his feet from exhaustion, and Mira sat across from them, cleaning and tending to her compound bow.

"It wasn’t a coincidence, Kai," Allice said, breaking the silence. "I’ve been thinking about the timing."

"The mercenaries started pushing the rocks exactly three seconds after the last wagon in the rear entered the blind spot of the curve. Not before, not after."

"They could have had a lookout at the entrance," Thorne commented, though his tone was skeptical as he massaged his shoulder, still sore from the effort of holding the wagon at the precipice.

"No," Mira intervened, looking up. "My eyes were fixed on the ridges since sunrise. There was no one up there until minutes before the attack. They appeared out of nowhere, as if they had received word that we were in the perfect position."

Kai nodded slowly.

"An external messenger would have been detected by Allice. The only way they knew the exact moment is if someone inside this circle sent them a signal. A visual or sound signal that we missed because of the tension."

Lyla, who had been listening while finishing the distribution of the last water rations, approached and sat next to Kai, seeking his hand. Her touch was warm, a necessary contrast to the coldness of the conversation.

"Are you saying one of them sold us out?" Lyla asked, a note of sadness in her voice. "We’ve shared our food, we’ve risked our lives... for a traitor?"

"Fear makes people do things they never thought possible," Kai replied with bitterness. "Tomorrow we’ll keep our eyes open.

Allice, tonight don’t watch the forest. If there’s a traitor, they’ll try to communicate again. They need to know if we’re stopping at the border or heading straight to the capital of Terminus."

The night passed between light sleep and hands that never strayed far from weapon haps. Kai barely slept, every time he closed his eyes, he saw the rocks falling and the faces of terrified children. He wondered at what point the mission to reach the sea had turned into a moral judgment on human nature.

At dawn, Allice approached Kai. She said nothing but showed him the palm of her hand. In it were small remnants of resin, a chemical substance that left a trail of colored smoke, nearly invisible in broad daylight, but a clear signal to anyone who knew what to look for from the heights.

"I found it on the back of the third wagon,"

Allice whispered.

Kai felt a pang of pain in his chest. It was real. Betrayal walked among them

.

"Gather everyone. Right now."

The camp hummed with electric tension. Everyone grouped in the center of the wagon circle, shivering not just from the morning cold, but from the coldness in Kai’s expression.

"Yesterday we almost died because of a betrayal," Kai began. "Someone in this group has been sending signals to the mercenaries. Someone who believes their own safety is more valuable than the lives of the rest."

Kai walked slowly around the group, observing Keram’s genuine fear, the confusion of the elders, and the rage of the younger men. But then, his eyes stopped on one man, Tomas.

Tomas was a carpenter in his forties. He had always been helpful, assisting Thorne with axle repairs, but at that moment, the man was sweating, and not from the heat. Furthermore, his hands were shaking violently.

"Tomas," Kai said softly, stopping in front of him. "You’ve worked hard these past few days. Thorne told me you’re a good carpenter."

"Y...yes, Kai... just trying to help..."

Kai stepped closer and grabbed his arm, inspecting it closely.

"Then why do you have traces of resin on your clothes? We haven’t worked with resin at any point," Kai asked, his voice rising a notch.

Tomas tried to take a step back, but Thorne was already there. Allice stepped forward and, with a swift flick of her dagger, ripped the inner lining of Tomas’s jacket. Three silver coins fell to the ground.

The silence that followed was absolute, broken only by the sound of Tomas collapsing to his knees on the hard earth. He broke into immediate sobs, a desperate weeping that filled the air.

"I’m sorry! Please, Kai, have mercy!" Tomas pleaded, striking his forehead against the ground. "They intercepted me in Akhan! When they raided at night, a man approached me and said they would burn the wagon where my wife and son sleep if I didn’t cooperate. He promised that if I gave them the signal at the pass, they would make sure my family crossed the Terminus border safely and with gold. I just wanted my son to live! This world is a nightmare and I only wanted to protect my own!"

Tomas’s wife let out a cry of agony and fell to the ground, covering her face with her hands to avoid seeing her husband’s disgrace. Their young son, Leo, who had so admired Mira the day before, looked at his father with eyes full of a confusion that would break anyone’s heart.

"Curse you!" Keram shouted, stepping forward with his wooden spear. "Because of you, my children were almost crushed by those rocks! Kai, give us his head!"

"Death to the traitor!" other refugees began to shout, caught up in Keram’s fury. The panic from the mountain pass was transforming into a vengeful bloodlust.

Kai raised his hand, calling for silence. He was also furious, he remembered how everyone was put in danger, including Lyla. The temptation to pull his daggers from his inventory and end it right there was immense.

However, he looked at Lyla. She was watching him with a mixture of sadness and expectation. Kai turned to his teammates.

"What do you suggest?" he asked.

"He’s a risk," Allice stated.

"I don’t want his blood on my hands," Thorne said, though his gaze toward Tomas was one of pure contempt. "But I don’t want to sleep with one eye open thinking the man helping me with the wagon is going to drive a nail into my neck."

"Look at the child, please," Roshia intervened, pointing to little Leo. "If we kill his father, we will have destroyed his world."

Kai returned his attention to Tomas, who was still sobbing, clutching at Kai’s boots.

"Stand up, Tomas," he ordered.

The man did so, trembling so hard he could barely stay upright. Kai pulled out one of his daggers and pressed it against the traitor’s throat. The group held its breath.

"I could kill you right here, and no one would blame me," Kai said, his voice heavy with the solemnity of a judgment. "You have endangered the lives of everyone. You have betrayed the trust of those who shared their bread with you. You sold our position for a few coins that are now worthless."

Kai paused.

"But I’m not going to kill you. Nor am I going to exile you."

A murmur of disapproval rippled through the refugees, but Kai silenced them with a firm look.

"Tomas, from this moment until we finally reach Terminus territory, you cease to be a full member of this caravan. You will live on minimum rations, just enough so your legs don’t fail you. Your portion of food will go directly to your wife and son. They are not to blame for the fact that you are scum."

Tomas nodded frantically, tears of gratitude streaming down his cheeks, fully accepting the insult.

"I’m not finished," Kai continued. "You will work twice as hard as any other man. You will perform all heavy labor and be on every night watch, under Thorne’s direct supervision.

You will sleep without the right to a fire. If you try to move more than ten meters away from the group, or if Allice detects the slightest hint of another signal... Thorne has my express permission to slit your throat without warning. Do you accept these conditions, or do you prefer to take your chances alone?"

"I accept! I accept anything! Thank you, Kai, thank you!" Tomas exclaimed, falling to his knees once more.

"Don’t thank me," Kai cut him off with disgust. "Be thankful that I still consider your life to be of some use to this group. Now, get to work. There’s an axle on Lint’s wagon that needs reinforcing."

The caravan set off shortly after. The atmosphere was somber, almost funereal. Tomas walked at the end of the line, carrying a heavy load on his shoulders, guarded by Allice’s constant gaze.

The other refugees threw hateful looks his way, but Kai’s decision had established a new kind of order. It wasn’t the order of absolute fear, but one of implacable and functional justice.

Lyla approached Kai as they rode across the plateau leading toward the border.

"You did the right thing, sweetheart," she said, squeezing his arm.

"I wanted to kill him, I wanted to see his head roll on the ground," Kai admitted, staring ahead. "But I couldn’t leave a child orphaned and a woman widowed. In the end, he just wanted what was best for his family."

After several hours of absolute silence, Mira shouted.

"We’re close. Those towers you see there... that’s the Terminus border."

They had arrived. Against all odds, against mercenaries, stones, fire, and internal betrayals, the journey was almost at an end.

As night fell, they camped without directly entering Terminus territory. Tomas worked until his hands bled, reinforcing the camp’s defenses without a single complaint. His punishment had begun, but so had his path toward a redemption that only he could earn.

Kai lay down on his blanket, feeling Lyla’s warmth beside him, and closed his eyes.

He thought about how tomorrow they would finally enter the territory of the Kingdom of Terminus. They would have to continue for a couple more days to find a village and finally leave everyone there. Afterward, they would continue their way to the capital itself, Terminus, to finally see what was happening with the ships.

Inadvertently, he let out a small laugh in the middle of the night’s silence, it had always amused him that the capitals were named exactly the same as the kingdom itself. Finally, after so much thinking, Kai fell completely asleep.