Dawn graced the forest with the sun's glittering rays, lighting up the campsite of the crew. It was dishonest to call it that- everyone had immediately slept after escaping from the tomb, picking out random patches of grass to nest on for the night.
Edol hopped to his feet and began performing stretches to drive away any lingering soreness from the night's rest. He'd gotten pretty good at sleeping on the ground over the past few months. It sounded quite stupid, but with the help of his earth legacy, the once solid ground was now reminiscent of a memory foam comfort mattress, able to be shifted into any position to facilitate maximum comfort.
It was a trick the brit would've probably figured out on his own eventually, but his learning was expedited by a previous comment from Ghost.
Edol still found his companion to be quite odd. The bird was flippant, overly confident, and just a general ass all around. Yet, even with these traits, he was still diligent in some ways. Back when the duo were trapped in hell, Ghost had stopped at regular intervals, later claiming that rest was important for survival and sanity.
The bird has also clearly paid close attention to the paths they'd took inside the tomb. To Edol, every tree looked the same, escaping would've taken the boy hours of randomly guessing which direction to walk in before he could return to the real world.
Even after butchering the ambushers and traumatizing Willow, Ghost had still managed to keep a grasp on the path they'd traveled, successfully leading them out from the tomb without a hitch after they decided to retreat.
Of course, this was only what Edol thought had happened.
"Arrg… My neck is so sore."
Edol glanced over at the noise, seeing Willow waking from her sleeping spot beside Pepper. A misunderstanding formed in the Brit's mind, and his guilty eyes shifted to the horse beside the girl.
'I should've finished off those ambushers and rushed to try and find her. If I could've made it in time, her dreams wouldn't be haunted by whatever she saw Ghost do to those poor men.'
Assuming the girl was sleeping beside Pepper in order to ease the terror of battle, Edol once again felt the need to repay Willow somehow.
Locating his feathered friend waking up underneath a nearby bush, Edol quickly scooped up the bird and walked to the edge of camp.
"You need to show more restraint in the future, the poor girl is traumatized."
"She was the one that killed-"
The still half-asleep bird looked at Edol in confusion, but the Brit interrupted him before he could finish his sentence.
"What's done is done. You just need to do better in the future. Speaking of, what's the plan? You said you wanted to be the one who plots out what we do, but I haven't heard anything from you yet. Aside from looking for more relic tombs to explore, what's the plan?"
Annoyed from being drug away from his sleeping space, Ghost covered his eyes with a wing.
"Arg, it's too early for this. I'll come up with a detailed plan later, but for now, let's just follow Willow back to town."
Remembering that the next few hours would be spent wandering back through the forest to a nearby town, Edol didn't press the issue and let Ghost go. They would have plenty of time to chat while walking.
On the other side of camp, Willow looked over and noticed Edol lifting and carrying Ghost almost like one would carry a baby, even despite the blood still caked on the bird's under-feathers.
She stretched her arms around an annoyed-looking Pepper, then proclaimed her love for the horse was equal to Edol's love for Nibbles. For the next two hours, Willow then proceeded to display her love by having Ghost once again hop back and forth between Edol and Pepper as they traveled.
Apparently, when Ghost took off to kill-steal from Edol in the tomb, his mad dash for the ambushers' faces had looked like he'd flown. The prospect of flight being possible soon for the bird only reinvigorated Willow's enthusiasm for 'Nibbles's' growth.
Even after an hour of walking, a smile still lingered on the girl's face as she watched Ghost's progress, and Edol felt a bit better. It seemed his friend had taken his words in the morning seriously, and was now working hard to cheer up the girl.
Soon the crew was nearing the northern town of Hearth, and a middle-aged woman walked out from the forest. She was wearing what looked to be a deer hide jacket and had a string of rabbits tied to her waist.
"Little Willow! It looks like the northern villagers are fine, you brought one back with you! Were you able to find your father in the villages?"
Willow shook her head, and Edol stepped forward to clear the misunderstanding.
"I'm not from the northern villages, I'm actually just a relic hunter that got lost up in the woods. I got lucky to run into Willow, or I might've ended up freezing to death come winter!"
The woman eyed the eagle sitting atop Edol's shoulder with doubt, but turned back to Willow.
Weiss's eyes narrowed as she noticed the makeshift bandage wrapped around the girl's arm, and her attitude toward Edol turned hostile.
"Willow, you need to be more careful about the people you encounter in the wild. This guy here was probably lying about being a relic hunter. If I had to guess… he's probably an escaped convict, hiding in the woods to escape from his crimes!"
Willow quickly jumped to Edol's defense while Ghost and Edol stood there, wondering when they'd become convicts. Only after multiple minutes of insisting Edol was innocent did Weiss turn back to Edol.
"You. If you try anything with this girl, I'll break your legs. All three of them."
A shiver ran through Edol's… legs. Willow was probably four or five years younger than the Brit, and she reminded him a bit of his younger sister, if his sister had been dropped a few times as a baby. Edol felt no attraction towards the girl, and he got the feeling she felt the same.
"Yes, mam. I never even considered it, you don't need to break anything."
Weiss's gaze lingered on Edol for a few moments before finally shifting back to the forest, and when she spoke, her voice seemed a tad bit less hostile.
"Alright then, I'll show you back to Hearth. I've already finished resetting all my traps in this area anyway, so I'll treat y'all to some hot food!"