Blue nodded at Mick's words. Although there were some things that were suspicious and didn't make sense, it wasn't in their assignment details to find out everything. They also weren't trained for that. Although they only had basic training, Mick and Blue were, in essence, Hunters. Sometimes, they hunted animals and monsters, and other times when the money was good, they hunted humans.
They were good at what they did, especially considering their rank. But they weren't the kinds of people who could figure out what had happened from a single clue. They were better at using those clues to track down their prey and leave the figuring out to others.
And to help them, Mick had naturally keen eyes and a spell. Blue had a sensitive nose and a suitable spell to match.
"Hold it, Blue. I think they stopped ahead again."
"Already? It seems they're getting tired. Maybe I didn't need to be suspicious about whether they really were kids or not."
"No… There's too much activity. If they took a break, they also did something else."
"Like what?"
Blue was curious since he had to get closer to see the same things Mick did.
Mick pointed at a suspiciously even and flat array of leaves that covered a relatively round patch on the ground. There were also signs of someone trying to wipe away muddy footprints from the ground around the patch. But there weren't any footprints on the leaves.
"Like that."
"A trap?"
"Yep. Seems pretty basic, though."
"Well, if we're dealing with kids…."
"And you don't sense the man's smell?"
Blue closed his eyes for a few moments to check.
"Nope. Not here, at least. I can sense a few traces further away. Hey, what if it's not an accomplice? What if it's someone from the town pursuing the kids for revenge or something? And that's why there were footprints on the ground and why he smells burnt? He's injured. Back there, the kids discovered him and forced him to come out of the forest."
Mick shrugged at Blue's sudden epiphany.
"I don't know. But he's not getting in the way of our bounty."
"Oh, for sure."
Blue looked at the obvious trap again.
"So, do we just ignore this?"
"Well, yeah."
Blue and Mick looked at the rug of branches and leaves.
Blue couldn't control his curiosity.
"So, do you think it's a pitfall or a net?"
Blue walked toward the tree closest to the rug of leaves, right at the edge of the animal trail. He looked on the ground between the tree and the leaves to try and see if there were any ropes that could connect a net laid out on the ground with a mechanism in the tree to capture the person who stepped on the leaves.
"It's probably a pitfall. I don't think they would carry around a net just for the sake of making a trap designed to capture."
"Maybe they don't like killing people. Like how they didn't kill the man."
"Like they killed the Baron's son?"
"Right."
Blue confirmed that there wasn't anything on the ground. In fact, when he got close to it, he noticed that there was hollowed-out ground below the leaves.
"Yep, pitfall–"
"Watch out!"
Blue's confirmation was interrupted by Mick shouting and throwing himself at Blue. Blue looked at Mick with confusion as he got tackled to the ground before he caught a glimpse of the swords hiding among the tree branches above them. And, now that he had accidentally stepped on a trap started raining down on them. Thanks to their rust, it was difficult to spot them among the leaves due to the dark rainclouds robbing the world of the majority of its light.
Mick and Blue scrambled to get away from the tree and the animal trail to avoid the rain of swords and the pitfall. They crawled on all fours toward the bushes.
In their adrenaline-fueled panic, they didn't notice the arrowheads hiding inside the brushes until it was too late. Since they had crawled on all fours and pushed their way through even the densest of bushes, Mick and Blue's arms, upper bodies, and legs were all decorated with gashes and cuts of various sizes due to brushing against the vegetation.
"Ah, fuck!"
"Damn! Don't move, Blue!"
Blue had already realized their situation and stopped moving. But the pain and panic made it hard to stay absolutely still.
"Shit. What kind of fucking brats are we dealing with here? What kind of trap was that? I didn't even notice it!"
"Be quiet. We need to get out of these bushes and wrap our wounds. If we bleed too much, we're going to freeze to death."
"I know, but I can't even see what cut us! Is it the bushes?!"
Mick concentrated on the bushes around them.
"Arrows. Arrowheads. They fastened a shitload of arrowheads to the bushes. The wet and glistening leaves hid the arrowheads perfectly. What the fuck."
Blue looked closely and noticed that there were indeed snapped arrows everywhere around them.
"Alright. Avoid the bushes. Got it. Any more traps?"
Mick sighed and stood up next to Blue.
"I don't think so but don't make any rash movements."
He looked at the path they had plowed through the bushes and what was on the other end of it. He looked at where Blue had stepped to activate the trap.
"I think we should be fine. There should be a limit to what they could have done in that time when considering what kind of equipment they could have been carrying."
Blue gently began finding his way through the bushes to a slightly more open space where he could inspect his wounds.
"So? What kind of fucking trap did I step on?"
Mick shrugged.
"I don't know."
He looked at the canopy, where a bunch of swords were still hiding.
"I think they used the dirt from digging the pit to hide some kind of device or string connected to the swords in the tree."
"Shit luck then. Nothing would have happened if we took the other side of the pitfall?"
"There's no way to be sure. Could be another trap."
"Fuck this man."
Mick looked at the blood dripping down his clothes. With the rain mixing and washing it away, it was difficult to tell how much they were bleeding.
"Yeah. If we continue like this, we might die. We maybe should have brought the first aid kit."
"Who's the one thinking about nonsense now?"
Mick helped Blue up before they retreated to a safe distance away from the traps. Mick was curious about the traps, but now wasn't the time for that. They had to deal with their injuries.
After using their undershirts to patch themselves up as much as possible, Mick and Blue headed back the path they came. Whatever payday they would get, it wasn't worth dying for.