I knew the two men would return. This wasn't a one off incident, the question was when would they return? 'In the meantime, I can search the area and perhaps gather some herbs', I thought. The mountains were a great stop to find a few rarer herbs that only grew in such an environment.
After one day of scouting, I found loads of herbs for medicine and poison making. "Heh, to think this place was so rich in herbs. I can make loads of medicine and a few useful poisons", I said to myself. Moreover, I found an interesting area further away from the mountains. 'I will check it out tomorrow. Today, I should focus on the poison for our two future guests', I thought before we returned to our hideout. Since the cave where we found the disfigured furry deer wasn't used, I decided to live there. We buried the furry deer before moving in of course.
The furry deer felt really safe around me. They came to the cave whenever me and Shelly were inside. Although they were wild animals, they acted like docile pets most of the time. I could pet them and even play around with them. I always like animals, they wouldn't betray you, so long they were treated well. Humans were different. No matter how well you treated them, there was a chance they could backstab you any moment.
The next day, Axion Poison was ready. I didn't plan on killing those two immediately, I had to figure out who did all those things. They worked for someone, that someone was twisted and deserved death as well. "Shelly, let's go visit the marsh area I found yesterday. We might be able to get a few unique herbs there", I said. There was no need for me to sit in one place and wait for them. It took them one day of travel to arrive at the mountain. They would also do it during the night, since that was easier. Hence, we could explore the surroundings during the day without much of a worry.
The marsh area was quite large with a thin layer of fog floating in a few places. There was a problem though, because something lived in that marsh. A sort of black caterpillar creature, but two-thirds the size of a wolf. 'Just what the hell is that thing?', I asked myself. There were only three I could see, but the problem was their attributes. 'Such colour would suggest poison. I might have to sacrifice one or two of my daggers, but that should be fine. I doubt those things are friendly', I thought.
Still, before attacking any of those creatures, I tried collecting the herbs away from them. "We are in luck, Shelly. These are Haze Flowers, quite rare and I will be able to make the Cloud Haze Poison with their use", I said. The day before, I was able to find a few Cloud Mushrooms. That meant I had all the ingredients necessary, since the Poison Grass was quite easy to find. Just as I grabbed a few of the flowers, we felt a tremble coming from below. I grabbed Shelly before distancing myself. "Crumble...crumble..", one of the black caterpillar-like creatures emerged from the underground.
The creature didn't seem to have eyes, but it was able to locate and rush at us. I threw a few daggers at it, but they bounced off the creature. 'What a hard shell!', I exclaimed in my mind. Before I could retreat any further, Shelly rushed at the creature. "No, Shelly!", I exclaimed, but it was too late. "BAM", Shelly smashed into the creature, flinging it backwards. I quickly ran towards Shelly and grabbed it. 'That thing is so tough, even Shelly's shell was damaged a bit', I thought.
The creature tried chasing us, but it was too slow and gave up in the end. "Maah...", Shelly moaned in pain. "I told you to stop. That thing is as hard as stone", I said before taking out some medicine. "Next time, don't rush in like an idiot. There's no need to fight, if we can run away", I added while smearing the medicine on its shell. 'I got a few flowers, but it's not worth going there for more. I can make two or three bottles of poison with what I have', I thought while carrying Shelly back to the cave.
"You rest here, I will take care of food", I said while dropping Shelly off. Of course the turtle wanted to go with me, but I was adamant. Shelly reluctantly stayed inside the cave, while I left to hunt our dinner. I didn't hunt any of the furry deer, since I was supposed to help them not kill them. Besides, we usually hunted creatures that were aggressive, and when we had to eat. Neither me nor shelly enjoyed killing animals for fun.
It took me a while to find a small pack of wolves, but with that much meat, we were sorted for at least a few days. 'I'll just focus on making medicine and poison for now. Hopefully they come back soon, I don't want to sit here for ages', I thought.
A week went by since we arrived at the mountain. The duo was nowhere to be found, but at least Shelly's shell healed itself. "You have to learn how to attack differently. Slamming into things has its disadvantages, as you no doubt found out already. We will work on that in the future", I said after checking Shelly up. The furry deer grew attached to us, they even brought plants for Shelly to eat during its resting period. Their kindness awakened a sort of deeper anger for Humans inside me. I would understand hunting, since we had to eat something. What they did wasn't hunting, it was simply cruel.
It turned out, we wouldn't have to wait long for some answers. The duo returned that night, and their plan was pretty much the same as before. Grab one furry deer at night, and leave. This time though, they wouldn't be leaving. Just as they made their move, I made my own. "Tsuk, tsuk... Argh!", both men exclaimed when my daggers stabbed their legs. "Who's there! Show yourself!", one of them exclaimed, not caring about the furry deer waking up.
"Would you mind answering some of my questions?", I appeared in front of them with the mask Nick left for me. "Who are you? What do you want?", one of them asked. "How about some truth? Who ordered you to grab those animals?", I asked. "Huh, is it against the law to hunt?", one of them replied. "No, if you were here to hunt. You are not, right?". "Tsuk", I threw one more dagger at the guy who replied. "Argh... You will regret this, bastard", he said. "Oh, I don't think so. Now, we can go the easy or the hard way. It's your choice", I replied. "I will kill you, bastard", one of them launched at me with his sword. "Tsuk... Argh!", I pierced his leg making him fall down.
"Other than telling me what I want to know, you can die. I know about the Limestone Village, and I know that you deliver those creatures there. I want to know who orders you to do that", I explained. "Stfu.. You can go and die, bastard", one of them replied. "Sure, sure. In that case, the hard way", I said before grabbing both of them and dragging them back to the cave.
"Tonight, I have a special course fo you guys. Who wants to be first?", I asked while waving my dagger. "You are crazy, someone will find out about this. People will search for us when we don't return", one of them began to crack. "Search for you? This is the Great Forest, I can easily feed you to bears or wolves. No one will find as much as a piece of your clothing", I replied with a laugh. "You seem overly quiet, how about we start from you", I added and grabbed the other man.
"You will pay for this. I'm telling you, you will die", he threatened, but I broke his arm. "ARRGGHH", the man screamed loudly. "By all means, scream as much as you want. I doubt there will be anyone who can hear you. Do you prefer your leg next or your second arm?", I asked. "Huff... You fucking bastard... You will die...", he said with difficulty, but that wasn't an answer to my question. "Crack", "ARGhhh...", once I broke his second arm, the man fainted. "Already over? Well, you are quite weak. Don't worry, I have a way to wake you up", I said while pressing on his neck.
"...Ughhh... Aaaghh...", the man moaned in pain, unable to spur any more profanities my way. "How about I take care of your friend next? Have a rest, a whole night is in front of us", I said while lightly slapping his face. "No... No, go away. Leave me alone!", the other man exclaimed. "I will, if you answer my questions", I replied. "Alright, alright. Promise me you will not kill us, in return I will answer anything you like", he said. "Sure, I promise. Now, how about you tell me about your employer?", I replied.
"He pays us good money to get some animals for him. He especially likes those furry creatures, since he spends most of his time on them. We... We are not exactly sure what he...", before he could finish, a dagger appeared in my hand. "Now, now. You know exactly what he does with those creatures. Try lying to me once more, and I'll start by cutting off your fingers", I reminded him. The man was shocked, but nodded his head and apologised.
"He experiments on them. We don't know why, that is the truth! We think he is trying to make something, but he doesn't share his findings with us. We are only responsible for delivery and disposal... He... He has loads of weird shit in his house. Some of those creatures have it even worse", the man said. "Who is it? Which house does he live in?", I asked. "He.. He's the Village Chief... or at least the real Chief. There is a certain old woman, she is posing as a Village Chief, but in reality that guy has all the power. We deliver all the animals and creatures to the Village Chief's house. You can easily find it", he replied.
"What about that woman, and that man? I want to know more, their strength, skills and anything you know", I said. The man told me all he knew about the pair. Apparently the woman was a warrior, but they didn't know how strong that man was. I assumed he was a warrior too, since that was the safest thing to do. The woman had a whip with her, but they never saw her use it. A whip as a weapon was rather unheard of, but he didn't lie. "I told you everything I know. You promised not to kill us, so let us go", the man said. "Of course, I promised not to kill you, but my friend made no such promises", I replied and called Shelly over.
"You... You... You are the guy with...", the man stammered. "Yes, that's me. You see, that's where you made a mistake. Have you not followed me, I'd never learn about this. You'd still be well and working. I guess this was fate. Shelly, you can finish this off", I said before leaving the cave. The two men died from being slammed to death, but we had to act quickly. 'They will be expecting them soon. Which means, I have to go there tonight and deal with them... I have some poison and medicine, this should be enough', I thought.