Kim had a headache.
Not only had she, Jonas, Elin, and Elmo not advertised the fact that they were going to leave when they did, but she was quite sure that even Elin hadn't mentioned it to anyone outside of their group.
Yet, somehow, the young men that Kim had led into the fight against those who were trying to kill the king, and iikely as many of the young nobles as they could, were ready to go as well. Not only ready to go, but they were currently traveling with them. Though, she had a feeling the number had grown since then as well.
Kim had heard them more than once refer to themselves as Kim's army. Almost like they looked at Kim as their captain, or general, or whatever.
Among everything that could have happened, this was not one of the things Kim was happy about. Technically she probably could use them, if nothing else, as a meat shield to keep Elin safe, but she really didn't feel like going that route. Not only was the very idea sickening to her, but while she didn't like men, she wasn't one who necessarily wanted them all dead.
She'd have preferred them to keep their distance from her, but she couldn't think of how to get them to go away. She'd tried ordering them to leave, but they still remained. Almost like they thought her order for them to leave was merely her joiking around.
There were a few faces that she had recognized, but not because she was looking for familiar faces. Instead, she recognized them despite wanting to do so. She'd have rather forgotten all their faces and have left them behind.
Among everything else, she really didn't want to have essentially gone on to find the fire dragon with just Jonas, Elmo, and Elin. No one else.
Not that it appeared they would leave willingly. Or easily.
"Did you have any idea they were going to do something like this?" Jonas asked when they stopped to camp for the first night.
Kim shook her head as they sat on the ground, leaning against a couple trees that grew in the area. "I didn't even know they were aware we were leaving."
"Yeah, I think I might have heard something about them being ready to leave at a moment's notice once you were ready to go," Jonas remarked thoughtfully. "Not sure when I heard that though."
"Guess your 'Keen Ears' skill isn't always so useful," Kim said, closing her eyes for a minute. "You probably hear a lot of things that you don't find important at the time, so don't bother looking for more information about it then."
Jonas nodded. "It can be difficult sometimes. However, even if I can't go back and get more information, at least I can still remember what I heard. Mostly," Jonas replied. "Sometimes I just have to piece together bits of what I heard to get some idea of what I probably had missed."
Kim sighed. She wasn't really concerned about what Jonas hd said, as it didn't really help her out any in regards to her new 'army.'
"Where'd Elmo and Elin go?" she asked after a minute.
When they'd stopped, Elmo and Elin had sort of diappeared. At first she hadn't thought much about it, but now she couldn't help but wonder what the reason might be.
"Oh, they left to look for some wood for a fire," Jonas answered. "Though I think some of your army left to accompany them."
Kim groaned at the mention of 'her' army. "Wish I could get them to leave," she complained.
Jonas shrugged. "Who knows, they might prove to be useful in ways you're not thinking about now," he said calmly, clearly trying to act as a mediator between her and her 'army.'
Kim just shook her head in annoyance at that statement. "I'd rather not have them place their lives in my hands," she merely said. "I have enough to deal with than to take responsibility for their lives."
Jonas sighed. "They've made their decision. Whether you accept that or not is up to you, but if you don't respect their decision, and refuse to give them orders, what do you think will happen?" he asked.
"That's part of the problem," Kim answered, annoyed but honestly. "If I don't give them orders and they do their own thing and get killed, then I would have to ask myself that if I had given them some kind of direction, would they have lived?"
Jonas nodded approvingly. "Sounds like that's something you're fully aware of, and also that might be one of the reasons they're willing to follow you," he concluded.
Kim groaned again. "Yeah, I really don't need that kind of pressure anyway. It's not like I was in charge of other people before I came here. What am I supposed to really do with them?" she asked.
"My guess is that you should learn as you go with them," Jonas answered. "I have a feeling they're probably not as used to taking orders as much as you're not used to giving them. There might be some things you can do to start getting that problem resolved."
Kim shook her head, but before she could say anything more, she heard two of her 'army' approach.
When she turned to look at the two approach, she recognized them: Lance and Guy. Both seemed to have made themselves as 'officers' in her 'army' without her having been able to have a say in the matter. Not that she really cared at the moment about anything like that.
"Need something?" Jonas asked as they approached.
"We came to give a report for the day," Lance said.
Kim put a hand to her head as she felt her headache intensify. Another headache on top of the one she already had wasn't something she really wanted to deal with. Especially when she was tired from the day's traveling.
Yet, it wasn't like she could just tell them to forget about it. Regardless of what she thought of men, they still have feelings and by dismissing them like that, she would likely hurt those feelings, even if they wouldn't admit that had happened, and then probably would do something stupid in order to get her favor or something idiotic like that, with it ending in their deaths or something.
Sighing, she waved her hand for them to continue. "Go ahead," she said, resigned.
"Supplies are being managed and we should have enough for three months before we'll need to resupply," Guy reported, sounding like he'd been rehearsing it for a while. "No injures have occurred today and all are in high spirits."
"Anything more?" Kim asked, hoping he'd say 'no.'
"We were wondering what your objective of this trip is," Lance said, sounding like Guy had been during his 'report.'
Kim looked at Jonas who merely shrugged. She was about to try to get them to leave without answering their question, but then she thought better of it. As it wasn't like they wouldn't find out soon enough if they actually found the fire dragon.
"We're hunting a fire dragon," Kim replied, hoping that they'd just leave with their question answered.
However, their reaction surprised Kim more than anything had so far since they left the city. Their faces paled and they shared an uneasy glance before Guy asked, "Are you sure?"
Kim couldn't help but feel like she was missing something here. Was there more to the dragon being a 'fire dragon' than she had originally thought?
"Yes, I'm sure," she answered slowly, trying to figure out what it was that they found so disconcerting.
"Well, it's just that fire dragons are so rare, but so very dangerous," Lance answered, sounding like he might be regretting coming out himself.
Kim couldn't help but let a smirk form on her face. While Elmo had tried finding information about them, it was clear he hadn't thought to ask the local population about them. Although, Kim had to admit that she wouldn't have looked much farther past the books herself if she had been the one looking for the information.
"Kim, we should wait for Elmo and Elin before we hear this," Jonas said, apparently thinking the same thing that Kim had started to think about.
"One of you, go get Elmo and Elin," Kim said. "Then when they get here, we'll want to hear everything you have to say about fire dragons."
Lance nodded, then turned to Guy. "Get someone to retrieve Master mage Elmo and Lady Elin. Let them know that General Kim wants them back here as soon as they can get here," he directed.
Guy nodded and quickly ran off.
Kim wasn't sure if that was the best way to have phrased it, but she wasn't going to say anything about that. If she did, she had a feeling that Lance would merely get confused. She couldn't say why exactly, just that he didn't seem to think like she did, so she suspected that if she tried to get him to talk more like she was used to people from her world talking, that it might create more problems than it would solve.
Which meant that she'd just have to deal with the way they spoke and everything. Regardless of how it sounded to her. Or how much she cared to hear things put in those ways or not.
"Feel free to sit down while we wait," Jonas offered Lance.
Lance looked around for a minute before he sat down. He looked rather uncomfortable doing so, but since they didn't have any idea how long it's take to get Elmo and Elin back there, they couldn't really expect Lance to remain standing that entire time. For one thing, he still had been raveling with them all day, and so was probably a little tired himself as well.
So, Kim merely settled in to wait for Elmo and Elin to arrive back.