Aefrine went running in panic ,thinking he is the one who getting a hole in his chest . He hid behind a big rock and pulled Larry to his side putting a finger on his lips indicating to not make a sound. Then heard a second voice replying :
" I rather have ten holes in my chest before meeting those monsters alone !"
"Really , is that so . Then why did you agree in the first place huh?! You agreed you will be the one to tell them our demands. What happened now?!"
"You did not say that I will be going alone . They will eat me alive if they knew I am involved in this . At least one of you come with me to back me ."
Aefrine wasn't sure what was going on . He thought that they were talking about dinosaurs when they said 'monsters' but the context got him off coarse. He decided to listen to their souls, so he closed his eyes and focused.
There were several little souls that contained only natural instinct. They were obviously insects and other small creatures. But what matter more was the four people present in the cave apart from him and Larry. Three were filled with equal amounts of anxiety and anger . Yet , one had also fear whilst the second had pride and finally the third had contempt .
The fear one and pride one were the ones talking. The contempt one was laying on the wall next to the fourth. The particular thing about the fourth that it was in 'hibernation' , which meant that it either sleeping or unconscious .
With this amount of information, Aefrine decided to continue to listen to the conversation , so he doesn't make an awkward mistake.
"You're an archer , you can send a letter with your arrows . If we all go they will be able to track us . We need to split up and someone needs to mislead them ."
"And he is not going to be me !"
"If you two stopped chatting, may I ask you what will guarantee to the orcs that we have the princesse if we are not going to show her?" The third person finally spoke.
"Well . ."
An awkward silence fell . Aefrine did not know what the term 'orc' meant but he definitely had a bad feeling about the princesse part . He only knew princesses in fairytales .He had always seen them as the beautiful rich girls that often fell into misfortune.He was going to ask Larry some questions about this but didn't want to risk blowing his cover. So ,he waited for someone to break silence .
"As I expected. May I purpose then that we deliver her to the Hiroheans . I am sure that they will be more than happy to pay a good amount for the King's daughter. I heard that there is an army nearby not far from here . Let 's-"
"ARE YOU EVEN HEARING YOURSELF! Are you going to help those barbaric invaders?! Don't you feel even a bit of anger for they have done to our home cities?!" Said the first man
"I don't know about your city Fred,but mine presented nothing to me but poverty and suffering. If you ask me those puny nobles finally got what they deserve and a bigger fish have eaten them. "
"Thomas ,you son of a bitch!"
Fred went forward and almost drew out his sword before Thomas stood up and yelled:
"Listen here you T.rex , I know you promised your friends in Canne some aid but we have before us an opportunity of a lifetime. We can change ours lives forever . If we sell the girl for a good price we can all get nice coastal houses and we won't need to worry about our future ever again . I am sure that Louis here agrees that we better live our own lives . This war is fruitless. "
Louis gave a small nod indicating his approval. Fred stared at the both of them almost like he was going to pounce on one of them . Aefrine at that moment choose to risk showing his face and take a look at the group's members.
Fred did indeed had a long brand sword which carried on his back. He was also the only one who seemed to have some sort of armor. Meanwhile Louis had a wooden bow and quiver full of sharp arrows. However Thomas didn't appear to have a weapon. More importantly, next to Thomas was a tied teenager green-skinned girl wearing some sort of leather armor. She was tied with a cyan chain that had some gems on it . Her mouth was also covered with an scarf.
Everything was clear now . Aefrine concluded that this was a kidnapping from their conversation but he still wanted to check . With his doubts gone, he whispered to Larry :
"Listen I will distract them and lead them away from the cave and you try you best to get the girl far firm here ,OK. "
Larry nodded.
Aefrine got out of his hiding spot and entered the cave as normal as possible . He was going to tell the group that his cart got struck near-by and he needs some help .
"Hello ,could you help me . I have a-"
An arrow went right next to his ear . He barely dodged it .
"Who are you ?!"
Fred had fully pulled out his sword while and Louis was already preparing a second arrow to shot. Faced with an unfriendly response, he choose to lead them out of the cave anyway. He ran away hoping the others will follow.
"Fred stay here and keep an eye on the girl . We can't let him alive . " Said Thomas
Aefrine was sprinting in the forest leaving as much trail as he could for his chasers . Meanwhile, Larry sat there in the same place waiting. Thanks to his small physique both Thomas and Louis did not notice him as they were rushing to catch up to the boy . Once he no longer sensed their presence, Larry entered the cave .
Aefrine waited a bit ,worried nobody was actually following him until an another arrow surprised him. Using his rope-arrow he got away the spot . The offenser 's arrow exploded upon impact with the ground releasing a pink dust of perfume. Aefrine didn't have much time to examine the sight as a dark-haired man jumped high targeting his neck with a dagger . Aefrine who already had his glowing bow in his hand managed to block the attack with almost no difficulty. Despite that, the surprise attack still forced him to jump off the tree .
"What magic is he using?" Thought Thomas. "I don't see a quiver on him, maybe material magic ? Why is the bow glowing, could it be light magic ?"
Aefrine was about to continue running before he realised that he dropped one of the Keys. This was not the time for this.
An another arrow came out of nowhere. Aefrine still lost on his thoughts barely missed it . And some of the pink perfume got to his nose . He felt quite dissy.
"Watch it you idiot! You almost hit me!"
"Sorry !" Said a distance voice.
Aefrine used this opportunity to try tie up Thomas with his rope . He shot an arrow that split into two but both were still connected to each other forming a flying rope . However ,Thomas managed to jump high away from the attack. Luckily, just as Louis came into sight , he got wrapped I the rope ,making him fall on the ground swiftly.
Meanwhile, Thomas noticed a golden key in moonlight right where he landed. Aefrine also did . After getting rid of the perfume 's affect, he shot this time a barrage of arrow hoping to force his opponent to back away since he was too fast . Thomas dodged again without picking up the key. His priority was to kill the unwanted witness after all.
Back to his senses,Aefrine noticed that both Thomas's legs had strange blood-red auras coming out of them . He didn't know what that meant.
Thomas closed the distance again preparing for an another strike. Aefrine blocked the dagger before realising that his opponent had two . Thomas swang his other arm . The red aura started to appear on it. His second attempt on Aefrine's neck was faster and stronger yet unsuccessful for Aefrine blocked the second dagger with the other tip of his bow .
Sure it was a fast attack but compared to Ryuji it seemed normal . However ,it had enough force to push him away . Aefrine utilised this moment to again shoot as many arrows as possible knowing that the enemy will most likely avoid them .
In that time , he went straight for the key picking it up and preparing his bow again just in case . Thomas knew his assaults weren't working . So he decided to aim for the legs forcing his opponent to fall down , where he will vulnerable. But just as the two prepared for an another clash, a body came flying and crashed into the nearby trees. The man spitted blood but he didn't look badly injured except for a circular mark on his chest armour precisely in the guts . It was Fred .
"Ther-re's a skeleton in there , he was too stron-g"
Under normal circumstances , Thomas would thought Fred's drunk but with everything that happened to him today , he got worried. Aefrine using this chance, shot an another rope-arrow and wrapped up Thomas who was absent minded. Not wasting any time he dashed to the cave to check on Larry.
Is he strong? Though Aefrine trying to imagine a 4.8 long skeleton defeating an armoured swordman .
Fred tried to chase after him but his wounds and the fall impact barely allowed him to stand ...