"We don't need to answer your questions!" the girl snapped at Vir with a face that was not friendly at all.
Vir winced. "You're so rude, girl!"
"Watch your eyes!" The man who threatened Vir pressed the machete in his hand against Vir's neck.
"Hey, hey, hey!" Vir was quite shuddering. "What's wrong with you, man? Don't you see, huh? I've got my hands up! Look!"
"That's enough!" said the other man and he was holding a small tube about a meter long.
Vir guessed that it was a weapon like poisoned blowpipes, a traditional weapon that had long been extinct.
Who are these people anyway? Vir wondered to himself.
"We'd better kick him out of this forest!" the second man continued.
"I don't like him," the girl snorted with her arms folded across her chest as she looked at Vir with disgust. "He's definitely not a good guy!"
"It's so easy to judge someone's character by their outward appearance!" Vir grinned.
"No!" said the first man who threatened Vir with a machete. "I think if we let him go, then our presence in this forest will be known to others."
I was right, Vir thought. These are not ordinary people. There must be something they are keeping secret from the public.
They must not be natives of the Eastern Country!
"You've been talking as if I'm a criminal," Vir said. "I'm not allowed to enter the forest, threatening your existence? You must be joking, right? This is a jungle, and anyone can hunt here. Who do you think you are, the owner of this forest?"
Slap!
Vir's face turned to the right. The girl seemed to really dislike Vir and slapped him very hard.
Vir moved his head in such a way as to feel dizzy at the same time as his ears were ringing, and the heat on his cheeks.
"You can only talk when we ask you to," the girl said, pointing a finger right at Vir's face. "Do you understand?"
"God, you're really rude," Vir retorted. "I ask you, what did I do wrong, huh?"
"You—"
"Stop it!" The second man caught the girl's hand.
The girl grumbled as her second slap at Vir was stopped by her own friend.
"Tell me," the second man said to Vir. "What is your purpose in entering this forest?"
"Is it still not clear to you?" With both hands raised to shoulder height, Vir moved his head to point at a rabbit and two partridges hanging from his waist.
"So, you're just hunting here?" the second man said to make sure.
"Hey, don't take his word for it!" said the first man. "He could have done that on purpose to hide his ultimate goal."
"Right!" said the girl. "He must be a spy who is working for the people of the Central Empire!"
Vir frowned. "Something's not right with you guys here!"
"Did you hear that?" the girl said to the second man. "He must be an asshole who makes money by selling information!"
"Don't jump to conclusions," said the second man. "We don't know that yet."
"Nonsense!" the girl snorted loudly. "You're being too soft on strangers. Sooner or later, that attitude of yours will ruin us!"
"We'd better finish him off!" the first man raised his machete, about to slash Vir's neck.
"Hey, hey, hey!" Vir shuddered at the glittering blade, it seemed to be very well-sharpened, he thought. "What are you doing, man?"
"Stop that!" snapped the second man.
"Why are you always trying to stop me?" asked the first man with an annoyed look at his friend.
"I just don't want us to do anything rash!" replied the second man.
"Rash?" repeated the first man.
"I don't see anything more to talk about here," said the girl.
Vir frowned at the girl. Although the girl was younger than the two men beside her, her demeanor was as if she was of a higher rank than the men.
Is she the daughter of a leader in their group? Vir asked inwardly.
"If we do that to him," said the second man. "Then, what's the difference between us and those assholes? With the people of the Central Empire? Huh?"
The other two were grumbling more and more. They still suspected Vir of being a spy, but they also confirmed the second man's words.
"Tell you what," the second man said. "Let's take him to our leader. There, we can decide what to do with him!"
"Hey!" said Vir. "I'm not going with anyone. I haven't done anything wrong here. I don't know you and you don't know me. End of story!"
"Once again you speak without us asking," said the first man, "then my cleaver will speak for you!"
The second man then grabbed the crossbow and also the black dagger on Vir's right thigh.
"Hey, don't you take my stuff!" said Vir.
"Don't say anything else," said the second man. "Or I will no longer be able to withstand the anger of my friends!"
Vir gulped. Still, with two hands raised to shoulder height, he was forced to stand by the first man under the threat of a machete.
"Move!" said the first man as he pushed Vir's back.
Although Vir was actually capable of doing a thing or two in his condition, he preferred to act like a helpless person.
His goal was only one: to find out the truth from these unusual people.
After all, he had heard earlier, the three people watching him now all hated the Central Empire and everyone under the emperor's auspices.
That meant Vir might have a chance or two to join them regardless of who they were. Well, to destroy the Central Empire and its power, of course.
Vir was taken deeper into the Southeast Forest, towards the south of the forest area.
At some point, Vir saw a person or two who seemed to be a watcher of everything around them. Some were hiding in the water, the swamp, and in the trees with excellent disguises, blending in with nature, and with the same weapons that the first man was holding.
Vir was increasingly convinced that it was a poisonous and extremely deadly blowpipe.
The further he entered the central area of the forest, Vir realized one thing. These people—whoever they were, had taken very good care of the Southeast Forest.
Going deeper, Vir found many large animals grazing. Not only White-backed Deer, but various large animals are usually targeted by hunters to harvest their meat, antlers, bones, fur, skins, and so on.
Is this the reason why I have a hard time finding big animals at the edge of the forest? Yeah, Vir was pretty sure of that.
And to his even greater surprise, Vir found a wyvern the size of an elephant there. Perhaps that very unique and completely unknown wyvern was the guardian of all the animals in that vast fertile land.
Well, like a sheepdog guarding and watching over farm animals.
Who are they exactly? Vir asked himself, over and over again. And that creature, what kind of wyvern?
"Move!" The first man pushed Vir's back again.
Vir grunted, looking back with a frown at the first man.
"Can't you be a little kind to me?" said Vir. "After all, I'm innocent, and you can't prove otherwise!"
"Move!" the girl snapped at Vir. "Rotten spy!"
"Oh my!" Vir gave a subtle grin. "You're very pretty, but you're also very fierce!"
"I don't need your judgment!" The girl pushed Vir's ass with her foot.
Vir was brought to face a man who was sitting casually on a large rock, under a large, shady old banyan tree.
The man seemed to be watching the unique wyvern on guard, a few meters in front of him.
Then Vir spotted some children running towards him, or perhaps it was more appropriate to approach the girl and her two male friends.
Vir frowned again. The children looked so cheerful and happy. And the look on the girl's face changed one hundred and eighty degrees.
What the hell was going on here? Vir became even more curious.
The girl now looked very, very sweet, friendly, and very gentle toward the children.
Whereas just a moment ago, she looked like a starving lioness to Vir.
"Master Raemon," the second man said respectfully and politely to the man on the boulder.
Vir frowned again. "Wait a minute!" he said when he noticed the middle-aged figure named Raemon. "Don't tell me that you guys are riders?!"