"It must have been a tiring night for you. Why don't you head to sleep while we take care of things here? I am sure your escort would be back by the time you wake up."
The leader assured Fenrir before he sent the crippled man to sleep.
Fenrir made a protesting motion, but he did not fight too hard to stay with them either. There was no point in him panicking since he had made sure to clean the body up.
No matter how much these two tried to look around, he doubted they would be able to find anything significant.
"Alright! Since you say that everything will be fine, I will believe you. I will go to sleep now."
Fenrir kept up the role of a fragile young man who did not know the world up until the carriage door closed behind him. Once inside, he closed his eyes and waited for the others to carry their plan out.
He did not need to hurry and make things worse for himself. These people would find the evidence of what happened and draw their own conclusions.
...
"What a nightmare! We should not have sent out that man as an escort. We should have known that he was too timid to make a wise decision. He almost ended up costing us our sacrifice of this year-"
The leader complained as he rubbed his forehead to show how stressed he was. He was sincere in his complaint, but that did not sit well with the bolder escort. He grabbed their leader's collar and pulled him to face the angry man.
"Our comrade just died, and this is all you can say? Don't you feel any compassion for those who died? Ugh, you heartless bastard!"
The bolder escort spoke in an annoyed voice, but it was clear that grief was affecting him much more than he let on.
But how could the leader allow himself to be humiliated like this? There was no reason he should be facing this situaion.
"Tsk, then what do you want me to say? Did you want our comarad to come back and not the sacrifice? We would be in a worse situaion than we are right now. The nobles would have torn our family apart.
At least this way, at least some of us will get to survive this year."
The leader rubbed his forehead to get rid of the headache he was developing. He understood that his partner was aggitated and sad at the lose of their friend, but he needed to look at the bigger picture here.
Hearing what the leader had to say made the agitated man calm down. He knew in his heart that the other male was right. This was the only way to ensure everyone survived the noble's wrath.
But that did not mean he had to like it.
"Tsk, fuck it! It doesn't matter now, anyway. What happened cannot be changed, so there is no point in regretting what happened. I will head out and look for that fool while you stay here and look after our stuff."
The leader agreed to this deal, and he waited for the brave escort to come back. But the other escort never came back. Before anyone knew it, morning came, and it was time to head out.
"Hey, kid, did you have a nice night? If you are looking for someone else, then they are not here. Now, let's head out."
Fenrir was not curious about the additional absence he noticed. He was well aware of what happened last night and why there were only three people left at this party, just as Fenrir had intended to.
'Things are going well. My stomache is full, and what I planned last night came to fruition. Now, I just need things to continue like this.'
But knowing that bastard who sealed his power and left him stranded under the earth, it might be an impossible thing to ask for.
...
After another day's joruney, the walls of the adjurning territory finally came to an end and the leader finally breathed a sigh of relief.
He had made this journey a lot of times, but this was the first time things had gone this badly for him. Not only had he lost two people at his party, but he had also almost lost his life.
The only consolation he had was the fact that the kid he managed to grab was one of the prettiest ever seen. That was the only thing that made him consider this journey worthwhile.
"Halt! Tell us your name and show us your face. This is a restricted area, and we will not allow anyone to enter it without permission."
The guard spoke in a harsh voice and this was the barrier that made most people give up and turn back. But the leader was different and he had special permisison to enter this gate.
All he needed to do was show his face, and the gates would open for him.
He opened the carriage door to show his face, and the guard recognized him at first glance.
"You are…welcome back to the fort. Did you manage to get any good harvest this year? I heard that the village you were put incharge of did not have a huge population. Is it finally the end for you?"
The guard asked, trying to make small talk with the leader.
Fenrir pretended as if he was not paying attention, but this discussion made him curious to know more about the situaion. It was clear to him that this escort was not an ordinary man based on how he was being addressed by the guard.
"Well, I guess you could say that my journey was a mixed bag. Some tragic things happened to my party, but the end goal was more than satisfactory. Why don't you have a look yourself?"
The escort leaned back to allow the other man to look inside the cart. As soon as he did, Fenrir could see the guard's face clerly a well.
The guard flinched before his eyes widened. Fenrir's beautiful face was more than enough to make the man speechless for a moment before the escort put himself between the guard and Fenrir.
"He's a good-looking fella, right? But don't go having weird thoughts or anything. No matter how good this man looks and how much of a profit he can generate if he were to be sold, he is a gift to the countess. So don't go having any weird thoughts in your mind."
The escort was very specific about what the man in front of him could and could not do.
Each word made the guard flinch, and an almost guilty look came over the man's face as he was being scolded.
"Don't worry so much. I know that you are worried because about me trying to sneak this kid out for my own benefit, but what happened a few yeard ago would not happen again. I am sure we have all learned our lesson by now."
The guard flinched as he rubbed his shoulder as if the memory of what happened still pained him.
Fenrir pretended not to be curious about this place, but he was terribly curious about what happened.
If this place was going to be his new hunting ground, then he wanted to know more about this place.
"Tsk, don't remind me! It was a nightmare to get things under control. Not only did those people fuck this up, but they also alerted the temple about what happened. If it was not for that emergency happening at the same time, we would all have been branded as heretics and then executed by the temple."
The leader shuddered at the thought of being found out and then killed.
"Yeah, right! For all the yapping those people do about being benevolent and easy-going. At the end of the day, they are all killers who would do anything for their ideals. Just the thought of running into the makes me shudder."
The guard complained.
The more Fenrir heard them talk, the more certain he was that the disciples of the divine and those who followed them had not gotten any better.
With a belief that was cast and scattered in the fires of hell, the disciples of the divine were some of the most rigid people you could meet.
They could be your salvation or your nightmare, depending on how they saw your beliefs.
"Anyway, it is no longer our concern. Ever since that incident with the rumored 5th concubine years ago, the temple has been too busy. They constantly have to go around and prove that the devil has not risen.
Their devotion to the imperial blood is something. But it is a given because the imperial family is said to have the creator's blood running through their veins. Who would not want to be in their grace? Ah, I should stop talking, or I will get into trouble soon."
The guard finally gave way and let the party think. He seemed to have forgotten all he said up until now.
Fenrir did to hide his curious expression. Anyone who was in his situation would have been curious about what he had just heard being spoken about.
"Are you curious, kid? You should try to avoid topics even if anyone brings it up with you. Otherwise, you might not survive for long."
It was a warning for Fenrir to keep his head down and not give in to useless temptations. He understood that warning well, and he had no intention of going against it either.
His similar face made his escort doubt whether he was doing the right thing or not. He was also beginning to feel uncomfortable as he prepared the final few stretched toward his home.
Fenrir's innocent eyes made him feel guilty, and it also made him weigh down his sins to date.
He knew that it was useless to think like this after all he had done, but he could not help but feel worse by the second.
'I feel like I am doing something dangerous that I should not be doing. Fuck! My feelings are truly all over the place. Should I go to the doctor and have myself checked out?'
The escort asked, not knowing that he had already fallen under Fenrir's charms.
The human heart is a fragile and complex thing. It was easy to persuade and easy to sway. It could turn at anything, be it sympathy or beauty.
Even if his escort had the protective charm of the temple, his heart was free for Fenrir to manipulate.
"Where are we going? And how long will I have to work here before I am allowed to go free? What about my mother? When will you send her the medicine you promised me?"
Fenrir asked these questions, but he tried to hold himself back from letting out a smile.
The more his escort heard him speak, the harder he flinched. He began to realize that he had chewed more than he could swallow as his throat began to feel heavy with the crushing weight of the guilt he felt.
"About that…you will be allowed to head back once your work here is finished. As for what that work is, you will have to wait and find out. I cannot say anything for now, but just know that it is all for your own good."