As Rex focusing on his ravens, tracking the wherebouts of the fleeing duo, he heard a barely audible voice, begging

"Please." it sounded barely above whisper "Please forgive us." this time it was just a little bit louder, yet still desperate and pleading.

Rex looked to the side where the voice was coming from, and not suprisingly, the soiled youngster was the source of it. It was not that dificult to understand his position. Lad seemed barely old enough to join the men in both hunting and war, and probaly has had no chance to look for a partner yet. Said youngster could even be called a child still, and, unlike the Echlisiarchy, these people were not an enemy to be humiliated and, or exterminated on sight.

Rex pulled a chair out of one of his storage rings, sat down and looked at the group. Then, since his ravens were doing the work regardless, he had a chance to consider a few options. Thus, he proceeded to do just that, and a few minutes later, he asked a question, coming to a few possible paths of action in front of him.

"Lets see" he started, this time his voice sounding more relaxed, almost friendly even, yet it stil contained the absolute authority he commanded in the situation.

"While I dont expect you to be smart and of much use, lets start with the simplest questions, and work our way towards the complicated stuff." Rex pulled out a bottle of sorts and took a few large gulps from it. 'Haaa' He exhaled with satisfaction, once again praising the great sabertooth tiger milk for its magnificent taste in his mind.

"What is the structure of your society? How do you divide yourselves? How does one change the leadership?" Rex asked and then waited for a few minutes in silence, dumbfounded looks of confusion staring at him from multiple angles. Then he facepalmed himself.

"Right, barbarians, not the virtuosos of refined speech. Do you live in villages, or camps?" With a question that the simple low level grunts could understand he quickly recieved an answer

"Tribe village, Each have their own."

"Good, next. Tribe villages fight each other? Often?" Rex asked teh next question, trying to be as smiple as possible, and recieved another answer quickly after.

"Sometimes, when hard seasons come. Need food, but cant get, so we fight others to survive."

"Who rules the tribe, and how one can become the ruler?" Rex asked again, praising himself for his caveman speech saracastickally. 'Rex. Home. Good. Friends. Found. Happy.' Sometimes self depreciating humor was all a genocidal hypoctrice needed to keep on going, and shaping the world in a form that was more safe for his family and future people. Then he recieved the next answer.

"Chief rules. Can challenge for postion of chief through combat. Winner is new chief."

"How about merging tribes? Chief challenges chief? Or tribes fight, winner takes all?" Rex asked another question.

"Can be both. Depends on tribes." answered one of the older scouts.

"Anyone can challenge chief, even outsiders like me?" Rex asked, his question causing understanding withing the svergi men on the ground. None of the men here would mind following such a stong chief. The man could destroy them with his aura alone, just what could he do if he were to actually fight? The question ran through the heads of all svergi present. Once again the oldest answered

"Different, but possible. Need ask wise women, They know customs better."

"Nice, next question then." Rex started and then stopped. His ravens had found his target, plus one. "All righty then, up we go. Chop chop." Rex clapped his hands.

"Time is money, and I am more than interested in seeing the fleeing pair you were chasing. So get up. Might as well learn more about those customs of yours, sicne th former wife of a chief should be well learned in those, right?" Then Rex walked up to a hunter, lightly poked him with his leg, stirring the man from teh ground, then repeated the same untill they all were back on their feet.

"Cant ignore the opprtunity in front of me, can i now?" Rex rethorickally asked, then to ensure no one tried to answer, he spoke further" Forward march! To the damsels!" And seeing questioning looks, he sighed, pointed in a direction towards the two fleeing women. "That way, we chase."

This time his order was understood clearly, and the group started to run in a paced manner. 'Well trained, but quite stupid. Complex orders might be a bust. Annoying, but nothing that can not be fixed.' Rex thought as he shouted course corrections every few minutes. he had to admit though, they were innitial A class for a reason, as well as well trained and disciplined. 'Could make solid raiding parties from them.' Rex liked the idea of making svergi his personal warrior caste more and more. He could always get his hands on specialised guards like Reigen and other elites, but such high quality foot solders were rarely seen. Still, hewonered why no rulers had claimed them.

A few dozen minutes later they came upon a cave in a mound that was heavily covered in snow. Had Rex not seen the energy signature he was looking for seeping out of said place, he would probably run past it, asuming he would not be interested in the two humanoids he could sense in the cave through his mana senses. They had rushed here with only one small, few minute break early in their run. Rex was kind enough to let the youngster to clean himself up and change his pants, with them being soiled and all. Not one of his compatriots would ever mention the fact, since they all were well aware that they too were only moments away from the same, and the kid was still so green many in their tribe would joke that he had just barely stopped sucking his mamas teat. This was the boys first real experience ouside their ussual hunting grounds, so the fact that he only pissed himself in face of the monster they were now folowing orders of, was a mirracle in by itself.

"Now, should we fool around a bit and give the ladies a scare, or should we just proceed without any games?" Rex asked himself, musing about the entertainment level of such actions, and in the end decided to have a bit of fun, because why not. He was well aware that he would depart on his campaign once he was done here, if everything falls into place as he desires, and said campaign would be quite savage and ruthless, so he needed to stock up on positive emotions. He reasoned that even if he manages to fully embrace his tyrant mode, there would still be things he would not particularily enjoy, most of them in fact, but it was his belief that exacting the same metods upon the echlisiarchy would be only fair. After all they have done the same to others for a few centuries at the very least.

So, he gave a few simple commands to the svergi party, then concealed himself to blend in the darkness of the cave as the hybrid party took lead. Rex already knew that this cave was a dead end, so he was not pushing his impromptu front line to rush in, and they slowly and with great caution advanced forward, ever deeper into the cave. Soon, they exited the tunnel in a small cavern, and saw two people huddled together near a campfire.

From what Rex could estimate, the larger figure was slightly over two meters tall, and the smaller one was around one point eight meters tall. The mother could not hide her curves even with the somewhat puffy fur coat and cloak. 'Thats some bust right there' Rex thought, then continiued his neutral observations. Then, intentionally the leader of the trackers kicked a small stone near his feet, an easy feat, seeing as the inside of the cave had no snow, and upon the noise generated, the mother jumped to her feet, blocking her daughter from her possible adversary, and drew a sword she was keeping close by.

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"Show yourself!" she sternly spoke, focusing more adn more on the darkness of teh cavern exit. Then she heard footsteps, and more than one pair. Then slowly from the darkness in her campfires light stepped a few men, and unfortunately for the mother, she recognized the man at the forefront, causing her to exhale in a defeated manner.

"So this is as far as we get?" she asked herself the question "We were so close. Just a bit more and Mary would be free." She then looked at her daughter for just a brief moment, a lone tear rolling down her cheek and spoke.

"Sorry sweeetie, I guess mom will not be able to keep her word, but promise me you will do your best." She gripped her blade harder in her hand, her resolve reflecting in her eyes. "The women of our line have always been fighters, dont forget it." then she looked at the hunters, taking a deep breath and lowering her center of balance, to create a stronger propelling force once she would charge. She needed every ounce of strenght and skill to make enough of a space to give her daughter a chance. Regret and sadness briefly flashed across her face, as her daughters sobs were heard by everyone present, but before she could launch her desperate charge, a loud and dissapointed sigh came from outside of the lights radious.

"Tch. Here I was hoping for comedy or something. And all I get is a tragedy. Sure, the premise is dark enough, but really? Not a single sentence to lighten the mood. Dissapointing." The voice was clear enough to indicate the owner was quite displeased, annoyed even, but there was no actual negative emotions targeted against anyone in particular. Then the almost two meter tall stranger came into the bonefires light, his black sclera and yellow retinas a dreadfull yet enchanting sight in the light of flickering flames.

"I can see why the new chief sent people to track you down." The man said "Thats one milf no sane dude would pass up on." he added, not even slightly vary of her stance or the weapon she had in her hands.

"Sheathe your blade, it serves no one if I had to hurt you because of your recklesness. With me here there is absolutely zero chance of anyone escaping, not you, not your daughter, and none of the hunters either." His last sentense caused the mother to frown. Indeed, the man was definetly not a svergi. An adventurer? Of course, they were close to the gate, so it was only natural to encounter them, but if his words were true , he was the most dangerous person here, and why would such powerfull person be here, along with a party from their tribe? Adventurers had a very strained relationship with svergi people, with barely any tribes engaging in trade among them and humans. The usual kidnapping and ransoming of adventurers was also not helping their interactions.

Not sheathing her blade, she suspiciously glared at Rex "Who are you and what do you want? What is your relation to the group by your side?" She asked as he got more and more worried. She sensed nothing from the man, but her sixth sense was screaming danger signals about the man without stop. The next second, Rex was right in front of her, his one hand holding the weapon in a vice like grip. No matter how hard she was trying to pull the blade, it stayed lodged in the mans hand.

"Why dont you calm your mother down Mary? I dont want to hurt your mom, but she is being naughty. We cant have that, so try your very best." The light smile on his face gave off even more scary and oppressive feeling, buts since the girl was trully scared gor her mother, she quickly got up, and grabbed one of her mothers arms with both of hers.

"Please mother, dont! I dont wanna lose you. Its all right, Its fine, as long as we are together!" Mary was sobbing, and her mother was slowly giving in, and lowered her blade.

Clap! Rex clapped his hands and spoke "Good, now we can have a decent chat. Shcall we?" he asked as he sat near the campfire, signaling the duo to do the same.

"Up for a meal as we converse?" Rex suddenly asked as he pulled a few prepeared pieces of meat as well as a few metalic spikes. Then he masterfully skewered the pieces of meat and placed them over the campfire. He even pulled out a few wooden logs that he threw on the campfire.

"I have been lead to believe that as the wife of a former chief of your tribe, you should be quite knowledgeable regarding your laws as well as other valuable information. is that correct?" he then looked at the mother "I would prefer you cooperate. Its gonna be better for both of us that way. The way I see it, your fate has already been sealed, though the outcome right now is the best possible one for you and your daughter. That is if I maintain my interest in you. Your daughter would at best become someones servant if she managed to leave the dungeon, in worst case a slave thats shared around, or used as a prostitute, if she is even half as beautifull as you are." Rex sighed "Being that beautifull must be quite the pain, always being hounded by horny men, it it not so? After all, I am just as attracted to a strong beauty, even if I have plenty of girls of my own." Rex kept looing at the mother, and turned the sizzling meat around. The cavern was being filled with a mouth watering scent of high quality meat, that caused Mary to swallow a large gulp of saliva.

"And what is it that you would like to know? And what would our fate be in your hands?" mother asked, slight resignation and wariness in her voice. "If it is a bed warmer that you want, I am willing to do it for both of us, just allow her to live free. I am sure A willing woman could provide a much greater pleasure, dont you think so?"

"He he he." Rex chuckled "And you would deny your daughter the pinnacle of happiness?" He turned the meat around once more, and satisfied with the result, extended his hands towards the mother, daughter duo, a skewer in each hand. "Its safe to eat you know, if I wanted to force you, I could do it anytime. You have not done anything that deserves such punishment. Right, the first thing though, I know Mary here, but how do I call you?"

The girl, being the naive young woman and not sensing any malice from Rex, and swayed by her growling stomach and the enticing smell, grabbed one of the skewers and quickly bit down on one of the pieces of meat, scared she could lose it, if she was not quick.

"Hmmmmmm" An exhale of happiness was the best description one could use for the satisfied moan that escaped the girl as she tasted the meat. Due to the hunger, combined with the extraordinary taste, the girl wolfed down everything on the skewer in a few moments, and then her sight was glued to the second skewer, that her mother was hesitating to take.

"Just take it, I will prepeare another fot your mother." Rex moved his hand slighty closer to Mary, and the girl did not hesitate after his words, grabbing it and sinking her teeth into another piece of meat. This time however, she was savoring the rich taste the meat had, since her stomach was no longer growling in protest. Rex as he had said, prepeared another few skewers with meat that started to sizzle soon after.

"My name is Diana." the mother answered, one of her hands gently holding her daughters shoulder "What is it that you want to know?"

Rex smiled at her swift surrender "Why did you run? I believe its not something a lady of your people ussually do."

"My late husband was poisoned, then he was challenged in that weakened state. As such actions are not honorable, while once could claim the seat of the chief, the wives and daughters are set free upon such conditions."

"And with the new chief being so dishonorable and greedy, he would ignore such traditions to get what he desires. Am I guessing right?" Rex asked, understanding the most probable explanation. Hot babes did make men loose their marbles after all. That did not change, no matter the world.

"Correct." Diana replied, glancing at the hunters further back "as you can well see. With the old chiefs loss, we were free to go as we please, yet look at the people that were sent after us, all to satisfy one mans lust."

"Well, you are extraordinary beautifull." Rex replied as he took in her form once more. Two meter tall, toned and fit blonde, with a bust to kill for. Her ocean blue eyes gave her angelic face an extra charm. And it was elevated even more so due to her maternal aura. A certified milf, if he ever met one. Rex could not easily decide, whether her charm was greater, or equal with Rashuun and Leifia.

"So tell me, how would one court you now that you are unfethered and supposedly free? based on your customs?" Rex asked, casuing Dian to raise an eyebrow.

"You would try to court me?"

"I would like to know the customs first, then decide the course of my actions, since I am a greedy man and your daughter is is bound to reach your level of beauty." Rex replied, and gave her one of the freshly prepeared skewers, while giving another one to Mary, who happily took it. Seeing her daughter fully swayed by the apparently great food, she gave in and took the offered skewer. Then she bit in one piece and got lost in the divine taste of it. She had never in her life tasted anything this tasty and exceptional. No wonder Mary was charmed so thoroughly after a single bite.