I usually wake up to the aroma of hot soup, or smoked rations, so it feels odd lately that we have to subsist on these dry and stale breads.

I can’t help but frown as I pull the bread apart with my teeth, chewing the ‘food’.

If only we met another group and exchanged some more dry rations with them earlier…

Of course, what happened last night was on my mind. We are in a precarious situation in any case.

However, stopping to think about it again… are we really?

Sure there’s a death.

But it seems that the intentions of the perpetrator were simply to rob the potions, and not our lives along with it. Even if I choose to not take any action, we’ll still be safe.

Guan Tong just wouldn’t be very happy about the trip.

Thinking this, I feel more positive about our situation.

The evidence does line up for the Ogre man to the perpetrator; he wanted to steal the valuable potions, hence he made a plan to kill the servant and steal the goods.

However, what he failed to anticipate was the servant surviving the initial twist of his neck to activate the medallion. As a result, he had to strike him in the chest, ending his life to make sure he wasn’t exposed and run away hurriedly back to his tent.

That does make sense.

But the pieces just connect too well. If the Ogre man did do it, he should have known that the chest strike would have exposed his actions for sure. There is the chance that he did it in a hurry, and didn’t notice, but he seemed fairly composed last night.

I’ll be more confident in the possibility that someone else is trying to frame the Ogre man for the deed.

It could be Silvia, but there’s quite a low chance she would opt to go for a twist to the neck with her stature. She would have had to jump just to do it afterall.

It seems too apparent that the Ogre man is our only suspect.

Zhe Yun and Wind might not be able to deal such a strike, but I can’t rule out the use of magical items.

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They seem more suspicious to me than the Ogre man, but there’s not much chance of figuring out who’s the one with what we have currently.

I don’t have to anyway.

And thus, I begin to make my preparations.

“...right after finishing my scrumptious breakfast of course.”, I mutter sarcastically.

We set off earlier than usual, since no one wanted to be in this part of the forest any longer than we had to.

Facing another pack of wolves, this time the mercenaries battle whilst spread out in a smaller range than usual.

Shaking my head, I think to myself, “It can’t be helped that they’re more wary of each other now…”

They have to guard against a possible ambush afterall.

Injuring or killing 2 of the other mercenaries could very well mean that the perpetrator would have control over this caravan.

And what better place to do it than in the midst of battle.

They avoid going out of their way to kill the wolves, and only kill a few, scaring them off soon enough.

However, Sylvia shows some fatigue at this point, sweating quite a bit.

Noticing this, the merchant quickly orders the servants to take her to our carriage for treatment, before signalling me with his eyes with urgency.

I nod in response, as he leaves the carriage to sit outside, giving space for us.

Sylvia now sits in the carriage with me as the caravan continues on, trying to move forward as fast as possible.

After passing her a towel and a recovery pill from the servant, she begins to relax for a bit.

“Huff… ah, finally some rest, even Berserkers don’t have unlimited stamina…”, she says in relief.

I laugh at her leisurely words, replying seriously, “Yes, milady, here’s your towel. I await your command.”

Imitating a butler’s bow with the upper half of my body.

“HAHAHAHAHA!”, she laughs uncontrollably.

After a while, she tries to hold back the laughter, using her finger to wipe off the tear in her eye.

I didn’t expect such a huge response, I smile wryly.

She points at me, saying, “I can’t believe you said that with a straight face…”

“Anyway, I should get going back to the mercenaries caravan, it’s almost my turn to be the lookout.”, she says, preparing to exit.

“Hold on, I have something serious to discuss…”, I call out.

She raises her eyebrows.

“...about last night.”

Her eyes turn more serious, as she returns to sit back down.

“I have talked with the merchant, and one of his servants noticed that there was a chest blow which caused internal bleeding on him.” I say slowly and softly.

Her eyes widen in shock, but she says nothing.

“With your *ahem* stature, there’s a low chance of you doing it, so it’s almost certainly him.”, I continue.

Her eyebrows crease, seemingly unsatisfied at my comment on her stature.

“So? What do you want me to do?”, she asks snappily.

“I need you to inform Zhe Yun and Wind of this as well, while you are on lookout duty. We’ll act 2 nights later, and we’ll do it at night. We have to at least subdue him and if we can’t do that…”

She puts on a more serious face, nodding, “I got it. I’ll let you know.”

She then leaves the carriage, jumping off it, to reach the neighbouring caravan.

I guess that’s the merchant’s request fulfilled.

“Silvia and Zhe Yun have duty tonight, so she’ll inform him then… and Wind is in the same tent as her, so there’s no trouble there. I guess it’ll have to be tonight.”, I mutter to myself.

The merchant comes back in at this point, flashing me a questioning look.

I simply nod in affirmation, raising two fingers up at him.

He nods, seeming more relieved.

“Now that that’s done, don’t you think you should at least tell me what you know about the mercenaries you hired? At this point, I have some right to know, don’t I?”, I say lightly.

“Of course, of course.”, he agrees cheerfully, happy that he'll be rid of the danger soon.