"Catch up, everyone. Let's go!" The card artisan in the lead kept reminding his comrades while cursing to himself about that damned team they were targeting. Their current situation was pretty messed up, with one of their comrades already breaking out into a low-grade fever. Another had been pricked by some unknown thorns, and now his entire arm was swelling up like a pig's foot. But what calmed him somewhat was that the time for the newly dispatched card artisans to arrive was getting closer and closer.
In his walking until then, he'd felt some unspeakable hunch that was becoming more intense. If the orders from above hadn't been on pain of death, he would have turned around earlier. He knew what it meant to disobey a mortal order, which was something he would never allow. If he were to die on the job, his family would get a secure placement and spend a pretty good life. His children would also get a proper education.
