I gestured for my cousins to be quiet and hide behind any one of the trees which were all about as thick as two adult men standing shoulder-to-shoulder.

As I listened out for the sound again from behind a tree I shared with Zoe as we were both pretty slender in size, I kept scanning the horizon in the direction I heard the sound but I didn't see anything other than some swaying grass and a few birds which flew in random directions. I thought I was just hearing things until I heard the familiar sound once again from the direction we were walking in originally.

*crack*

This time I snapped my head towards the source of the sound and then focused my eyes as best I could to see what could be making this noise. I was disrupted by the person I was sharing the tree with, Zoe, as she tapped my shoulder with one of her hands while using the other to point toward the direction of the noise.

"Right there. I do not know how far away they are but there are at least two guys and one female. One of the guys has a strange weapon that looks like a rope."

She said as I looked toward where she was pointing.

I could make out two figures in the distance but they were so blurry that it made my head hurt just trying to focus on them. I nodded at Zoe before sighing in my mind. It seems that I would need to wear glasses in this world as well. I doubt a thing even exists hear, but I will just create some if that is the case when I get a chance.

The thing that I didn't have to or want to create for that matter was the whip it seems. I don't know any other "rope-looking" devices that could make a sound like that.

I would need to move closer to get a grasp on the situation though as I don't want to lose the only family I got left in this world or my own life.

After gesturing for my cousins to gather around me I told them my thoughts and asked who wanted to join me. Kai and Luca immediately said that they would join while Ash and Bell did the exact opposite, opting to stay with the bags that we had dropped by the tree. Zoe surprised everyone when she said that she would go with us. The guys tried to dissuade her but I overruled them while saying we would have strength in numbers. Plus since she wanted to go who's to say that she wouldn't just follow us anyways if we left her here?

Once we settled that, the group of us who decided to go forward slowly stalked toward the figures in the distance. The whip continuously cracked through the air.

*crack* "-ahh!"

I heard a voice that spoke in the same language as us but was clearly accented. We continue forward with the now visible people, two of which were bounded by ropes on their feet and had there had hands tied around two smaller trees that were pretty close together.

*crack* "AHH!" the woman who was bounded to one of the trees screamed out.

"You can scream all you want, no one will hear you out here." said the guy with the whip.

*CRACK* "you.. bastard..." said the other guy who was tied up, clearly worn out by the more fierce strikes the guy gave him.

"I what!? If you keep running your mouth I will make you watch as I take your wife. Be glad that you will die before I show her what a true man is." said the whip guy.

"yo.. you-- *CRACK* oof--" said the husband barely able to stay conscious through the pain.

"I can't hear you. Haha, I knew this would feel great. Do not worry, your pitiful existence will be ending soon enough." the whip guy said with an evil grin on his face.

The whole scene disgusted me and my cousins who came with me as we now had a clear view of the scene from about ten feet away in some high grass from behind the group. This body's instinct allowed me to sneak around just as well as my cousins who were used to stalking prey so we were able to get pretty close without alerting the guy with the whip. Or maybe he was just having too much fun to notice us.

Now that we had closed the distance between us and the people ahead I noticed that the guys had tunics and trousers on that seemed to be made of some kind of wool, while the woman had on a full-body dress that was also made of the same material mentioned previously. These two captives' clothes were in terrible shape because of the beating they were currently enduring of course, but the damage was mostly concentrated on their backs.

The guy with the whip also had on bracers that were made of hardened leather as well as greaves which were made of the same material, but what stood out the most to me at least was the armor he had on his torso and the leather scabbard with what I presume was a sword, hanging around his waist. The armor looks almost exactly like a jack-of-plate type of armor that was widely used back in medieval times back on Earth albeit much thinner than any of the examples I could remember. It was in poor shape as well as I could clearly see the dark metal plates that were sewn into the piece. I was a bit more curious while looking at the scabbard though as I thought the people of this world had primarily used spears when fighting, however, it seems that was just isolated to the village I came from.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

After striking the man for the third time, the whip guy walked over to the man who had almost fainted from the pain at this point and began to wrap the whip around the guy's neck before proceeding to strangle the husband.

*choking*

"NO!! PLEASE!!" cried the wife

I had decided that now was a good time to stop the whole ordeal and gestured for my cousins to prepare to attack. I don't know if I am ready to kill a human but if we don't stop this guy then it would be a disservice to all of mankind, in this world, and back on Earth. However, that didn't stop me from having any uneasy feelings in my gut.

Once everyone nodded their heads at me indicating that they were ready, I looked forward and prepared myself for what was likely the inevitable before dashing forward with my cousins in tow.

The whip guy heard the noises we made while coming out of the grass behind him and turned his head toward the source of the sound with that terrible smile on his face, yet he continued to strangle the husband who was struggling but to no avail.

We had gotten within four feet of the guys before the whip guy noticed our presence, but he reacted too late as we quickly surrounded him on three sides and entrapped him between our spears and the tree the husband was bound to.

"Who- WAIT!! STOP!!" the whip guy said as he quickly dropped the whip and waved his hands around at us with panic written all over his face.

Kai and Luca move forward to strike the man but I called for them to stop as it would be better to question the bastard before sending him off to hell. I mean we were still lost in a forest after all and these people had to come from somewhere. He can do one last good deed before journeying into the great beyond.

They glanced at me before doing as instructed and I took the chance to speak to our new captive while keeping my spear pointed toward his throat.

"You won't be asking any more questions for the time being. Only answering them. Understand?" I asked as the guy nodded while staring at the tip of my spear which was only a few inches away from the only unprotected part of his body besides his head.

"Good. But first, take off the weapon. However you had better move slowly, I wouldn't want anyone to get hurt." I inched the spear closer as I finished my commands.

The whip guy understood what I was hinting at and gulped his quickly drying throat while slowly untying the knot that kept the sheathe around his waist before dropping it on the ground beside him.

I brought my spear down to my side before reaching back and slugging the man with as much power as I could generate. The blow cause the man to stumble back a bit but that was about it as I was still a pretty lanky teen. Honestly, it probably hurt me more than him however it got the job done.

"Take him down! Don't kill him yet though. He can still be of some use." I said right after I sucker punched the asshole to Kai and Luca who immediately reacted with their own punches and kicks to the man who was now getting a small taste of his own medicine.

Zoe wanted to join in on the beating but I told her to go back and bring Ash and Bell so that they could help the couple here with their injuries. I also asked her to bring our backpacks with them as it only made sense to do so. She reluctantly agreed and rushed back the girls while I went over to Kai and Luca, who had thoroughly whooped the whip guy and had him pinned against the ground. Although bloody and clearly out of energy he still continued to violently twist and turn in an attempt to escape their grasp, all of which failed and only gained a few more punches from the two teens.

I went over to the wife who was still bound to the tree crouched beside her in a place where she could see my face without straining her neck. She was looking trying her hardest to free her hands when my smiling face appeared causing her to recoil in shock.

Her reaction caused me to frown, which she obviously took as a sign of anger, and quickly began pleading for her life.

"PLEASE!! Do not kill us! We do not have much but--"

"It's fine.. You're gonna be alright. I was-- It was just a misunderstanding."

I said while quickly waving my hands with a wry smile trying to calm the woman. I wanted to explain my reaction but how could I say that I thought she found me ugly and reacted purely off ego? I just shook my head and continued trying to untie her hands. She clearly heard my words but I guess the trauma of her earlier situation prevented her from trusting them as she kept yanking her hands away from mine every time I reached for the knots around her wrists.

This repeated a few times before I gave up on the idea and decided to try another method. I stood up and walked towards the sword that the whip guy had surrendered earlier before picking it up. After drawing the sword I was met with the clearest image of my face that I have seen so far in this world, which only caused the situation from earlier to resurface in my mind making me shake my head once again in shame. The sword though was about three inches wide and maybe twenty inches long with no ornaments or any bling of any kind really. My best guess on the material side was that it was likely made of iron but I had no way of verifying that so I could only assume for now. It seemed to be the most well-kept item of whip guy as the blade was in decent shape.

After giving the sword a couple of swings, I heard shuffling from the direction Zoe left in and looked over to see her returning with the twins and our bags with them.

After explaining what happened to the shocked twins, I told the two of them to follow me and walked over to the husband as his injuries were significantly worse than his wife's. I then cut the rope that was tied around the tree allowing the twins to lay him on his side to begin what little they could do to help.

I then asked Zoe to help me with the wife at the other tree. We walked over to her and this time she more relaxed as it was Zoe who talked to her while I dealt with the ropes.

After noticing her hands were now free she immediately jumped up and ran over to her husband, who had sat up against Ash and Bell wishes, both sobbing the entire time. Their reunion brought smiles to the girls' faces as they tried their best to treat the injuries present on both of their backs.

I walked back over to Kai and Luca who had finally subdued the whip guy before crouching before him with his sword about a foot away from his chin that was placed firmly in the dirt.

I had many questions that I hope could answer before sending him to his grave, that way maybe a god will have some sort of mercy for him.

As I certainly have none.