Vir wasn't making any accusations. The middle-aged man's clothes clearly indicated that he was a rider. Also, with the presence of a unique wyvern around them.
And suddenly, Vir reclaimed the black dagger that the second man had taken from him earlier. All fueled by his grudge against the atrocities of the riders in the past.
"You must die!" Vir jumped up to stab Raemon.
"Hey!" The second man was knocked to the ground as he was struck by Vir who snatched the black dagger back from his hand.
But Vir couldn't get any closer to the middle-aged man because the same girl tripped his leg and he fell to the ground.
With agile movements, the girl pressed Vir's back with her knees and held his head with her hands.
"Bastard!" the girl said. "I knew it, you're the emperor's spy!"
"Curse you!" cried Vir. "You riders must be finished off! You devil!"
The first man holding the machete kicked Vir's hand holding the dagger until the dagger slipped out of Vir's grasp.
"Rider asshole!" Vir was still trying to break free from the girl's grip. "You must perish!"
Everyone looked at each other to hear Vir's words.
"Let him go!" Raemon said to the girl. "You may have caught the wrong person."
"Father!" said the girl. "He was just about to hurt you!"
"Leader!" said the first man. "We'd better finish him off right now!"
"No need!" replied Remon and came down from the boulder to Vir.
He squatted down and extended his hand to Vir. Inevitably, the girl who was his daughter moved away from Vir.
The man frowned. There's no way a rider would be this friendly, he thought. Something was not right here.
"Come on, get up!" said Raemon.
Vir finally accepted the middle-aged man's helping hand.
"You hate riders so much," Raemon continued. "I can understand that."
Vir still couldn't figure out what Raemon was really getting at.
"You have done much evil on this Earth," he told the middle-aged man. "Exterminating you is my duty!"
The girl grinned at Vir. "Who are you, huh? A messenger of heaven?"
"I'm nobody," Vir said. "But I assure you, once I get the chance, I will kill all of you!"
"You're so presumptuous!" the first man, who was already annoyed, then slashed his machete towards Vir's neck. "I won't regret killing you!" he shouted.
Swing!
Tap!
"What are you doing?" Raemon glared at the man. He had very appropriately managed to restrain the hands of his men.
"Leader," the first man said. "But he's threatening us!"
"Just stop it!" Raemon then looked at Vir. "You have a lot of grudge against the riders, don't you?"
But Vir just kept quiet while thinking of a way or two to finish off the people around him who were getting more and more crowded.
Goddamn, it! The more crowded it gets, the harder it will be for me to get away from them, he thought.
"Let me guess," Raemon said. He stood right in front of Vir with his arms folded across his chest. "You're the one who caused the disappearance of the riders, am I wrong?"
Vir was quite surprised to hear that, but he did a good job of hiding his surprise with a loud snort.
"What do you care?" Vir retorted.
Raemon chuckled. "Nothing at all," he said as he stepped over to grab the black dagger on the ground. "I'm just trying to round up people who want to overthrow the emperor's power if you ask me."
He blinked one eye, cradled the black dagger in his hand in such a way, then returned the black dagger to Vir.
Vir became a little confused. He was definitely a rider, but why would he defect to oppose the Central Empire?
"You don't need to be surprised or confused like that," Raemon said. "Take back your dagger!"
"You're not afraid?" Vir replied.
The middle-aged man chuckled again. "I don't think you'll do anything crazy a second time here."
"You're a wise man, I must admit." Vir received his black dagger back. He looked at it for a moment and then sheathed it on his right thigh. "Well... Can you tell me, what is the reason for all this?"
"You're right," Raemon replied, his hands behind his back as he looked at the lush meadow with the unique animals grazing there. "I'm a rider."
He turned and looked at Vir.
"Former rider."
"Former?" Vir frowned. "Is that possible? I've never heard of any riders getting out of their fun."
The middle-aged man chuckled again. He understood Vir's sarcasm well enough because that was the privilege of a rider: The pleasure that the Emperor had always protected.
"Well, you're looking at one right now."
"I don't understand!" Vir retorted.
Raemon did not immediately respond to Vir's confusion, instead, he had someone approach him, someone carrying a tray with a kettle and cups.
"Before you find out much about us," Raemon said as he poured water from the kettle into two cups. "I want to make sure of one thing from you."
Then he gave one cup to Vir and the other cup to himself.
"Come on, drink up!"
Vir frowned. The liquid in the cup was golden yellow in color. "What's this?"
Raemon grinned as he winked, "You'll find out!" And then gulped down the liquid in the cup.
Vir took a deep breath, and without hesitation, drank down the liquid in the cup.
The man's brow furrowed. "This sweet and bitter taste..."
The middle-aged man chuckled with a small nod. "Yeah, Aranea Mella, the Honey Spider. Our people found out that the rare arachnid actually nests in this forest."
"Or rather," said the girl as she approached her father. "Our people rescued the species from the Northwest Country and bred it here."
Vir was surprised to hear that. "Don't tell me..."
The middle-aged man chuckled again as he looked at Vir. "Before that, tell me, are you really just a hunter?"
Vir could not trust Raemon or his people for now. So, he just kept quiet.
"The rumored ghost," Raemon continued. "Is that you?"
"I'm not such a thing," Vir replied later. "I just happened to be looking for food supplies for a widow who lives on the other side of the great river."
"Father," the girl told Raemon. "He's deliberately keeping himself a secret. That means he means us no good."
I was right, Vir thought. That girl is the daughter of a leader, the leader of their pack.
I'm no longer surprised by her bossy, controlling attitude. How annoying!
"No," Raemon said with a big smile. "I like him. He's a man of firm principles. Good, that's good."
"Father!"
"Hey..." Raemon put his arm around his daughter's shoulders. "Come on, sweetheart. Don't judge someone by their outward appearance."
Vir smiled at that. Well, it was the same sentence he had said to the haughty girl moments before.
"But he's so suspicious, Dad!" the girl glared at Vir. "Why are you defending him?"
"Leader," the first man said. "Miss Aranea is right. I suspect this man too!"
Oh, God... Don't tell me the old man named his daughter after that eight-legged arthropod. How ridiculous! Vir stifled his laughter.
"That's enough, Sebastian!" said Raemon casually. "He's no threat to us. Trust me."
Vir only grinned when the middle-aged man's gaze fell on him.
"I don't want to repeat what I said before," Vir said. "But I can promise you one thing."
All eyes were on Vir.