Leaving Tessa's tent, Ray rubbed his neck contentedly and put on his hood. The girl this time was much more "open", not worth comparing with yesterday's behavior, more reminiscent of a frightened kitten. Of course, even now she did not behave like a wild cat, but nevertheless.
Glancing to the side, he stumbled upon the green eyes of a panther, which, waving its tail measuredly, mowed the tall grass with a bone tip.
- Go.
Having received permission, Cess roared contentedly and went on a daily hunt in the forest. Even though Rey fed him with souls, this beast was much more voracious than its owner and, if fed only with energy, could devastate an already steadily thinning supply in less than a week. Remembering a small problem, the guy once again looked into his inner space, counting a little less than a hundred souls this time, which were only consumables. Ninety-six, to be exact.
Glancing once more with a satisfied grin in the direction of the tent left behind, he went to the edge of the camp. Walking up to a small wooden pole with a torch tied to the top, Rey woke up the mercenary who was leaning back against it—a sentry, if you can call it that.
- Go. I'll see. - in this, a little awkward way, he was able to explain his desire to stand guard over the camp. Tessa's lessons, coupled with the phenomenal memory gifted by the system, gave him that opportunity.
The man, opening his eyes, only pressed himself closer to the pillar, immediately pulling his hand to the sword hanging on his belt. A strangely shaped gray hood that hides the face and green eyes shining in the uneven light of the torch, coupled with the surrounding darkness of the night, seriously frightened the poor fellow. Only tightly squeezing the hilt of the sword, he finally came to his senses and exhaled loudly. As he was about to swear in displeasure, he pulled himself back. Even though the Pharos were not the most aggressive people, he knew the strength of this particular guy well, and since he was not only a friend, but even an acquaintance, he decided not to play with fire once again. Nodding, he kept his hand close to the hilt and trudged deeper into the camp, now and then throwing a wary glance over his shoulder.
Ray didn't even turn his head in his direction, peering into the darkness of the night. The green eyes of the forest saw better than the human, but even he could not properly see the boundless expanse of the plain surrounding him.
He stood motionless, enjoying the howling of the wind that reigned supreme in this green sea. The guy once again noted how unusual and fresh this sound seems to him after a long stay in the forest. There, too, the wind blew, but it was too different from that.
After standing like that for almost a dozen minutes, Rei looked around carefully, listening to every rustle of grass, trying to pick out sounds that could not be caused by gusts of the elements.
Satisfied, he took a green dagger from the Inventory and, moving away from the pillar for a dozen steps, threw it at an impromptu target. The weapon slammed unerringly into the very center. Instead of making another throw, Rey used Retrieve and backed away from the post for another ten steps. Swinging and with a sharp sound, cutting through the air, the weapon hit almost the same place as the previous one, deviating less than half a centimeter. A meager distance, but the guy clicked displeasedly. Taking out another dagger from the Inventory, he threw again...
So he decided to while away the time, being in the company of mercenaries. He simply could not go hunting with Cess. The cat would have to run too fast to get deep enough into the woods, but he couldn't keep up at such speeds and the appearance of the saddle didn't change anything. In order to save the remaining souls, the panther was forced to eat food provided by the squad. Ray didn't like to swindle like that, so he paid for food for Cess with the carcasses of animals that he brought after the hunt, or with rare animals that live on the plain, but did not have time to escape from the column of mercenaries.
He also once decided to eat with the others. But, having swallowed a spoonful of a strange gruel, he returned the wooden plate without thanks. After the "taste" of the energy of souls, what the mercenaries ate, he, with all his desire, could not call it food. But, judging by his estimates, the showers were enough to get to the capital, so this problem did not really bother the guy.
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Two hours have passed. Pulling out five blades from the pillar, all he had left from his journey through the forest, Rey decided to end it there. Firstly, he was a little tired, and secondly, he noticed a small fire in the center of the camp.
The guy, hiding among a scattering of tents of various sizes, came a little closer. Enough that the sensitive ear could make out the speech of four people sitting next to the fire, but not so close that they could even hope to find it.
In just one day, he had become remarkably proficient in their language, but many of the words were still unfamiliar to him.
Here is one of the sitting men, of whom there was simply an overwhelming majority in the detachment, said something indistinct. Of the whole phrase, Rey could only understand "cat" and "forest", but that was enough to guess what was said about his pet.
The next one said something about Tessa, constantly repeating a strange word, which, judging by the intonation with which the man actually spat it out, did not carry the most pleasant meaning, most likely being the name of not the most worthy female profession. Another often used “non-human”, but the colorful epithets that accompanied this term were not familiar to the guy, but, obviously, they did not describe Ray from the best side.
Even without really understanding the meaning of some phrases, only by menacing looks and sly chuckles, he could understand that the situation was not the most pleasant. The mercenaries were plotting quite a full-fledged rebellion.
There were quite enough reasons: a strange Faroese who crippled one of the strongest warriors of the detachment and on the same evening had their leader, who, it seems, also did not have much respect. It is understandable, a young girl, who was suitable for some of them as a daughter, was considered the strongest. Although perhaps in this world a gender problem did not exist, Rei did not yet know about it.
He understood them and at the same time did not. Cohesion must have been in the blood of these people, after several years spent in battles shoulder to shoulder. In addition, the post of leader of the detachment was in fact only for show. All that Tessa stood out against the general background was the dominant place in the column and a slightly larger tent than the rest. During the trip, he did not have time to notice that the girl ordered something to someone, although this should have been taken for granted, because her position was backed up by personal strength. So the position of the leader should not have been particularly attractive to anyone, but after a few seconds, Ray heard the reason, which for these men, it seems, was decisive.
They needed not the place of the leader of the detachment itself, but the girl. To some extent, the guy understood them, Tessa really was a beauty, and given that before that the mercenary had not warmed the bed to any of the mercenaries, forcing them only to drool lustfully, then it could be confidently said that all the other “reasons” to raise a riot were only excuses that the mercenaries tried to explain themselves to the remnants of their conscience. Perhaps there was also a bit of envy mixed in here, because the newcomer on the very first day of his stay in the camp, albeit in a slightly roundabout way, received Tessa's attention, unlike the warriors with whom she had spent many years.
And now, with such thoughts in their heads, the four got up and looked at each other and dispersed, most likely to gather like-minded people, who naturally had. In addition, with only four of them, they would hardly have been able to defeat Tessa, because in addition to her own skill, she also had a tiger. Rhea should not be forgotten either, but lust hit the men in the head so hard that they did not think the presence of the Faroese was too dangerous, because his panther was now far away, and he himself, perhaps, would not have stopped them, due to numerical superiority .
The guy who was watching everything that was happening was carefully moving towards the girl's tent. He did not even begin to call Tsessa from the hunt, because, as Tessa had said earlier, he was completely sure that he could kill this entire detachment alone. Walking soundlessly, Rei involuntarily noticed how his palms trembled finely. Someone else could write it off as fear, but one look into the guy's eyes would be enough for him to realize his mistake. Now the guy was a little scared and surprised only by the state of his mind, because his whole being was filled with such a strong anticipation of the imminent battle that he could hardly restrain himself from laughing.
Taking a few more steps towards the already slightly familiar tent, Rey stopped and frowned slightly. It was in one detail that he had not thought about before. He could certainly kill the mercenaries, but not in the form of a forest, which meant that Tessa, whom he was not going to kill, would know his secret.
Deep in thought, Rey nevertheless continued to move towards the tent of the mercenary. Time was running out, and it was becoming increasingly difficult for him to hold back his hands, which reached for the daggers at his belt.