Bang woke up when the sun was already in full view. The stressful night took a lot out of him and he slept later than usual. Ligi was already out of his tent when he walked out.
Littered outside was a pile of bodies that were disgusting to look at. He almost again threw up at the sight. In most novels after a fight, they never talk about the clean up after it. And how disgusting the piled up bodies with bloodstains on them looked like.
They were stripped off their armor and clothes, well those that could be salvaged anyway. Bang was surprised at the ruthlessness of the farmers and the sword group at stripping off their comrades' dead bodies. They must have done this a ton of times that they are now numb to these kinds of situations.
What's worse is that they were eating food nonchalantly. Although they were far from the bodies, they could still see the lump of bodies in their view. The sword group and the farmers cooked and ate separately because there was tension between them.
Bang saw Lobo gesture to go to him. Without Tab commanding the farmers, there was no way in hell they would share their food to him. If he wants to eat, he had no choice but to join Lobo.
Bang and Ligi sat down with the sword guards.
"Soup and bread?"
Lobo first offered him food. He first hesitated to eat near the pile of bodies but he did not have the luxury to not eat the food he was given. Ligi also sat down and chowed down on the food, ignoring the dead.
They just silently ate the food and nobody spoke. It was a quiet morning.
"Don't think we forgot that you let those bandits get away!"
The silent morning was suddenly broken by a loud shout. It was the farmer from before who complained at Lobo and his group.
"Like I said, we would have lost more men."
Lobo replied nonchalantly and without any pressure. What he said was just the matter of fact.
"Hmph....excuses. You're just a bunch of cowards!"
When the word 'coward' was uttered, the sword group suddenly stopped what they were doing. In Lobo's forehead grew a vein of anger.
"Huh?!?! What about you guys? You had guards who were supposed to guard the night. How could you let the bandits get here?!"
Now, it looked like Lobo was truly angry. Even his fellow comrades nodded their head in agreement. The spokesperson of the farmers flinched a little but kept his composure.
"We were drugged! And they had a silencer in their midst. How about you guys? You also had guards for the night!"
At the remark, Lobo went silent. He had his lips tightly sealed and he didn't continue speaking. With him not speaking, the farmer took this chance to berate them once again.
"How did you guys even survive that night?! You were the one closest to the goods, they would have attacked you first!"
The sword group were silent. They only stole glances at each other but they didn't speak. Seeing this, the farmer continued.
"Wait..are you in cahoots with those bandits?! Did you guys know each other?!"
At the sudden accusation, Lobo finally spoke up with confidence.
"No!!! We did not collude with the bandits........"
It seemed like he wanted to say something more but hesitated. Finally making up his mind, he continued.
"We knew there were bandits. The drugs don't work on us."
Everyone was surprised at the revelation. Bang took a step back away from the sword group, feeling betrayed. That's why they were able to defend and ambush the bandits. What's worse was that they could have saved him from the bandits. Without Ligi there, he would have died.
"See?! I knew you were cowards."
Lobo tsked at the word. He had to defend the honor of his group.
"No, our only duty was to fight against bandits that would pop up. If we had shown that we weren't drugged, we couldn't have ambushed them and chipped off their numbers."
"Then how could you let them get away!"
"Our duty was nulled as soon as Tab died."
There was a bit of silence between all of them until finally the farmer spoke.
"Hmph.. you're still cowards for not finishing the job."
"Tab would only pay us after this journey was over. Now that he's dead, no one would pay us!"
Not even bothering listening to Lobo, the farmer turned around and led his comrades back in their tent. Bang just looked at Lobo and their group warily.
"Hey, come with us."
Bang was surprised that he asked him this after all that happened.
"No."
Lobo expected that answer. He had to shoot his shot because Ligi's power would have helped them in their other mission.
As Bang was leaving their camp, he heard Lobo speak.
"Hey, word of advice. Don't trust the Nutritionists"
"Nutritionists? Who's that?"
Bang turned around again because he couldn't satiate his curiosity if he didn't ask.
"What?? You don't know who you're traveling with?"
"No.....was that what they are called?"
Bang pointed at the farmers.
"Yeah.....are you not from around here?!"
Bang only nodded his head in affirmation.
Lobo was in deep thought after receiving that information. There was even a slight head shake as he thought of the possibilities that could happen.
"When you get to Suno town. Look for us, the Defending Tip. We'll go our separate ways now."
Bang only nodded his head and left the camp. He didn't trust anyone right now. His only course of action was to go to Suno town and it looked like the Defending Tip were going elsewhere.
Bang went back to his tent and prepared for the journey ahead. He took rucksacks that were taken from the dead body for him and Ligi. The Nutritionists didn't take it because had holes and bloodstains on it. He filled the rucksacks with food and jugs that was on the caravan. Now that Tab's dead, he wouldn't mind Bang taking some food with him. He wanted to take a weapon but they all took it as it could be recycled by a blacksmith.
As he looked at the Defending Tip's camp, they were already gone. Now that their job was over, they had no need to go to Suno town and they went off somewhere Bang didn't know.
He looked at the Nutritionists and they were done setting up the horses and the caravan for the journey. He and Ligi went near them and they were greeted by a smiling farmer.
"Hey, looks like we'll all be traveling together. We don't need those cowards, right? What's your name?"
Bang felt it was weird that the night before, this guy was blaming him for the death of Tab but now it was all smiles. Bang felt like there was nothing wrong giving his name so he spoke.
"Bang. This guy's Ligi."
"Great! Bang, Ligi, it's nice to meet you! Sorry for my behavior last night. My adrenaline was all over the place and Tab just died, you must understand."
Bang didn't say anything and just looked at the farmer.
"Oh right, I'm Sak."
Sak reached out his hand for Bang to shake it. Bang felt it was awkward if he didn't reciprocate so he shook it. Bang had to get along with Sak because Sak was the only way they could go to Suno town. Or else he would walk all the way there.
"Let's go on our way! If we're lucky we may reach Suno town before sundown."
It was already late in the morning and the sun was almost at it's zenith. If they were to reach Suno town at sundown, that meant they were close.
Bang went inside the caravan while the horses carried their way to the stone road. As they traveled the stone road to Suno town, he noticed that the stone road became more and more polished. There were less and less imperfections in the road.
A little more ways and the road had a brick layering of stone that acted as decoration. The road became more and more luxurious as they went to Suno town.
Throughout the journey, Bang and Ligi never spoke. There was a lingering tension between them. Bang still blamed Ligi for not following his rules that led to the mission failing. Ligi still struggled with himself as one part of him felt guilty and that he should have followed Bang's words while the other part felt that what he did was right.
Unknown to him, the black veins in his chest kept growing and growing. It was pulsating in joy as if it was eating it's favorite food. Ligi didn't know this, but the unknown voice laughed.
"Ha...ha.....ha........soon..."