Hours passed as they walked, Casmere leading the way in silence as he effortlessly lugged the bleeding sack on his back. They walked past tons of withered, crooked trees at this point, bounding over sizable gaps in the path and dispatching more Gania Dogs on the way. Thankfully, there were no more pack leaders, so the battles were easily fought and won.
The sly became overcast as the black lines in it squirmed, slowly consuming the cloudy grey and threatening to envelop it in full black. Casmere's eyes gleamed as they started to glow in the dark, while Bie's eyes did so as well.
"It's getting dark, we should stop for now. It'd be dangerous to walk underneath the covered moon, encumbered." Casmere spoke up, breaking his long silence, and the three readily agree. They settled a short way off from the Path, Casmere placing the sack down as he ripped out a withered tree from the ground. He quickly broke it into sticks, bringing them back as he settled them i the center of the group.
From his tattered cloth, he produced a sack with an ashen string sealing it by tying the cloth together. He undid the string, pouring out a fine dust on the tinder as he gestured to his floating wheel, the wheel floating over and rotating above the dusted sticks. With a snap, flame crackled into life, and he withdrew his wheel back to his side.
Casmere stood over the flame, before pointing to the bleeding sack. "Would you like to eat it now? It's already been treated."
Lulac pursed his lips, sure that the meat was potent enough in strength to work as a tonic for them. However, they hadn't Grafted anything from this Path, so they would gain near nothing stat-wise if they consumed it now. Perhaps, they would be able to gain its energy...?
Though, he wasn't the one who killed it, so he could only look to Bie who mulled it over silently. Three seconds passed before he agreed, waving at Casmere to continue what he was doing and instead considered entering his Inner World.
He staved off the urge, though, noting the fact that they were currently in open territory and could easily be harmed if he wasn't paying attention. He only slightly trusted Casmere, sure that the man wouldn't try anything as long as he felt guilty or indebted, but who knew how long that would last?
As far as he could tell, Lulac and Gyuho wouldn't be able to handle the Demon Hunter if he really wanted to kill the two. And Bie was right on the money, the man himself considering it because of their odd familiarity with the newly arisen (in his perspective) Bie.
Casmere took a large piece of meat, impaling it on one of the heftier remaining sticks as he hung it over the flame. Soon, a pleasant smell entered the nostrils of the four, carrying a faint hint of magnolia along with its meaty goodness. He proceeded to rotate it as he held it, doing so until the originally dark green flesh revealed a hint of black on the outmost layer.
"Alright. What is your name, by the way?" He said this as he carefully placed it in Bie's hands, not caring whether or not he decided to share it. He was the one to have actually killed it, after all, and he wasn't in such a desperate state that he would ask for a portion of someone else's kill as recompense. It was hunter tradition to leave the spoils to the one who had actually felled the demon in the first place.
"It's Bie. Thank you for the meal, you can have some if you want?" He ripped off about a fourth of the massive haunch, placing it on top of the bag as he made his way over and then returned where he sat. Casmere nodded, gracefully taking the meat and reservedly pulling down the tattered cloth on the bottom half of his face...
"Hm. Like zombie...interesting." From below his straight nose, there was no flesh to be seen. His bones were exposed, revealing the sharpened teeth of a skeleton locked into an eternal smile, the bones continuing until the midline of his neck, where sickly colored skin resumed. He bit into the green Gania meat; his eyes gleaming as a dark green haze danced down his bodice.
"I hope you'll forgive me, haha. This is simply the mutation I had to endure to become a Demon Hunter...though I understand it is unsettling. At least, you and your two friends seem better off..."
"Ah, about that! That's Lulac," Bie pointed to the periwinkle boy with white polka dots intermittently placed on his skin, handing him a chunk of meat as he did so, while the Guide in turn flashed an awkward smile in thanks. Bie then pointed to Gyuho, who had already received his portion as Bie let him take what he needed, "That's Gyuho."
"Right, so you are familiar with them. I should ask this of you, then...where have you came from? You shouldn't be from the Rotted Freeland, nor any of those small villages. I can only assume you're from up north, judged on your clothing."
Bie took some time to look at what he was currently wearing, noticing that his clothes were similar to a vagabond, in shades of red that looked like dried blood and greying black. There was paper-thin silver armor adorning the ragged clothing, coupled with a hoodless cloak wrapped around his shoulders. From his chest, four rectangular strips that ended in tidy triangles hung down, and the shirt peeking through the cuts in the armor was black and similarly torn. These tears gave way to a system of tight black bandages, kind of similar to the ones on Ekulech.
His lower body was bound in similarly paper-thin armor that wrapped around his waist and adorned his black cloth pant legs, and he wore grieves that ended into heavy hob-nailed military boots reminiscent of ancient times.
He liked the clothing for its rugged vibe as well as the vaguely intricate patterns on it. Though, looking at Lulac's clothing and Gyuho's, they barrely seemed to fit with his. With an unknowable smile shining in his mind and a glint in his eyes, he looked back at Casmere.
"How did you know?"
"It's because of the fact that your clothing does not do anything to hide your mutations. Northern folk don't care about that sort of thing, because the only people that can survive there are those that have liberally partook in the flesh of demons."
"The Autumn Parish is only in the center, and sometimes sends expeditions to the south, but since the north are "heretics irredeemable by any lord", they avoid that Gantria like the plague. Probably why we haven't been able to hunt down any notable children of Gant, though...they might be heading down south, from what I hear."
Lulac spoke up, noticing what Bie was doing and saying things to attempt to consolidate their position in Casmere's eyes.
"Yes, we wanted to hunt them down, so we moved here. We aren't used to group fights, though..."
"Right," Casmere nodded, "I had heard that although the demons in Gantria were numerous, they didn't take kindly to teaming up, so to speak."
Gyuho took his turn to nod along, polishing off his portion along with Bie, who took small bites. Despite this, the amount of meat left disappeared deceivingly fast, as if the young Guides mouth was secretly a black hole.
"I will make more, maybe we'll be able to finish this before the morrow. I have preserved the head, though, since you can use it to trade later. I think our customs are a bit different. Unless you disagree, I will hold onto it for now."
Bie gave a simple small smile, and Casmere nodded in turn. He then impaled another chunk of meat, roasting it long into the hours of the night...