"That's a penis!!" Rika shamelessly stared at Thyra's flaccid one before nodding, "Yes! That's a penis."
Although Rika repeated the exact words twice, Thyra could feel different emotions perfectly. Thyra, however, cared very little about it. She ignored the stare at her crotch and moved towards the dead body of Karson.
The dress wasn't her size. Thyra pulled out a rope, warped the fur coat on her body, and tightened the knot.
"What is the situation?" Thyra asked.
Selda quickly returned with his bloody sword and shield. He answered, "We have taken care of them. The deputy chief is caught."
"Did anyone escape?"
"No, my lady."
As Thyra was talking, the rest of the squad came with about six men. However, not many would be able to recognise their original faces after they had beaten them out of shape.
"Report the casualties?"
"5 are slight injury, 2 of us are heavily injured, and one…" Selda didn't need to end his sentence.
Thyra took a deep breath and turned towards the six captives. She moved closer to the men, saying, "Where is your hideout?"
The man was afraid of Thyra, but from his stubborn expression, she was sure he wouldn't answer. And that was what Thyra wanted. Thyra swung her sword.
The sword she had grabbed from the ground wasn't as heavy as the longswords she used. The result wasn't as clean as she had expected, but it did the job.
She sliced off three-quarters of his throat before he could say a word. Blood splattered all over the other captives next to him as the head hung awkwardly from some thick slab of meat.
As Thyra moved on to the next victim, the heavy body collapsed to the ground. The next one was shocked and frightened. He wanted to say something but…
*Slash*
This time it was a clean-cut. The head was sent flying, creating another blood fountain in the air. Thyra swung her sword, sending splatters of the remaining blood onto the living.
"I don't need all of you," Thyra said as she moved towards the next victim. "I just need one of you to volunteer to take us to the hideout. The rest of you…"
"I will. I will take you to the hideout." Seeing Thyra raise her sword above her head, one of the bandits shouted as he put his head on the ground, "Please let me guide you."
"No, I will. I am a better scout than him. I even know where the traps are." Another one started shouting, "Please spare my life. I will take you to the hideout."
"Oh! Good." And Thyra severed the head of the first person who spoke without hesitation.
Seeing Thyra move towards him, one of the captives tried to flee. Thyra threw her swords, stabbing him in the back. The rest of the soldiers took care of it.
"Is this the deputy chief you had talked about?" Thyra stopped in front of Piet, asking, "Who informed you about our arrival?"
Piet was afraid but didn't open his mouth. He continued to stare at Thyra, not saying a single word. To others' surprise, Thyra just smiled and didn't say anything.
She moved towards the first one, saying, "Lead the way."
His hand was tied behind his back. He struggled to stand up but did as he was ordered. Thyra signalled Selda to keep Piet in check as she led others.
By the time they had started to move through the forest, the sun was already coming down from its peak. They continued to follow the man. However, Rika's barbarian partner was still scouting the road ahead.
The road was winding, but the journey was without any problems. However, the person who was leading looked around in confusion before saying, "Something is not right."
"What is it?" Thyra noticed Piet's expression wasn't good either.
"There were supposed to be scout beasts around here and…" Thyra looked in the direction The man was pointing, only to find there was a shed perfectly camouflaged in the forest, or it was.
From its situation, it looked like something heavy had fallen on it and destroyed the carefully crafted structure. Still, it was hard to notice it at first sight.
"The camp…" Piet was the first to notice. Following his sight, Thyra saw the smoke in the dusky sky.
"About a kilometre or two away," Rika said as Selda and others approached Thyra for an order.
Thyra looked around. Although five weren't too injured, Thyra still didn't take the chance. "The injured stay behind. The rest of you make three groups of four, with one specialised shield bearer in each group."
Although Thyra had made them train in all the weapons, some were skilled in one over another.
"One group will stay behind, protect the injured, and guard the prisoner. Selda, lead them." Selda wasn't eager to do so, but he had no intention of disobeying the order.
Thyra looked at Piet, ordering, "Led the way."
Piet, who was visibly concerned about the camp's situation, moved quickly. His hand was tied behind his back, but that didn't slow him down. Thyra, Rika, and her two squads followed him without much problem.
The closer they came to the camp, the more restless Piet would become. From this distance, Thyra could smell it.
"They are burning humans." It was a smell Thyra was too fond of, but it made her realise the severity of the situation. Thyra signalled Rika as she moved through the tree.
"Those bastards," Piet cursed.
"Isn't that expected?" Thyra forced Piet onto his knees, with several soldiers around him. She had no intention of letting him run away and cautioned the attacker.
As Piet looked at her, Thyra said, "If they won't hesitate to kill me, do you think they would hesitate to cut off the loose tail?"
Piet glared at Thyra but didn't say anything. On the other hand, Tyra continued, "You still have your chance. Tell me who ordered you to…"
"They were knights."
"What?" Piet's voice was too low.
"All I know is they were knights."
"How do they look?"
"I don't know."
"What type of armour were they wearing?"
"They weren't wearing any armour at that time."
Thyra stared at Piet, not understanding if he was joking or not. "How do you know then?"
Piet glared at Thyra for a moment before answering, "This isn't the first time."
"First time of what?"
"First time we had a deal with them."
"Would you look at this?" Thyra couldn't help but believe how messed up things are. "The knights are paying the bandits to do the dirty work. Who was it? Is it the viscountess?"
"I don't know."
"Of course, you wouldn't know. If she wanted, she would only send out the knights."
"No."
"What? What no?" Thyra was a little confused.
"They weren't the guard knights of the Viscount."
"What? How can you be so sure?"
"I didn't know." Piet hesitated before adding, "But the chief said they were from different regions."
His words shocked her a little. Thyra knew that if it was true, then something far more dangerous was happening, and she had no idea what it was.
"Thyra…" This was the first time Thyra had seen Rika be so serious. "It's the offspring of the beast god."