After about an hour of strolling through the forest, Leone was starting to get antsy. He was drumming his knees and was shuffling a restless leg.
Finally, the young man asked Riva if the group could stop, saying he was bored and wanted to look around. Riva reminded him that they were on their way to some sort of coliseum that they expected to be filled with fighters, which would be excitement plenty if they could only reach their destination. The young man turned to the now-one-armed robot to see what he thought. “Azim, come on, you have to want to go exploring, right?” Leone asked. “We’re adventurers now, after all. It’s in our nature!”
“Yeah, it’s in your nature… for the past two days!” Riva mocked jokingly.
“Hey, that’s not fair, I’ve been an adventurer for a while now,” Leone shot back. “Just because I went into hiding in Welstom doesn’t mean I wasn’t doing interesting stuff before that. I was out on my own, exploring the world. ‘Course, I didn’t get really far before I got into some trouble, but that’s beside the point!”
Riva softened to a more sincere note, “You never really told us… just what kind of trouble did you get into? Why were you so scared you had to go and change your appearance?”
“It’s… it’s a long story,” replied Leone, who was softening as well, but with a more somber tone. “I got a little in over my head, and it got me caught. Left me a little scared, only time I’ve ever really been, I think. At least for a long time. Anyway, that’s all you need to know, it's not important.”
Riva noticed the young man’s shift in body language, his shoulders slumping and his neck hiding into his folded arms. She looked up at Azim.
“If it is not important then we will not pry,” the robot stated, still standing. “However, if at any point in time you consider the matter to be of importance, Riva and myself will be available to lend a listening ear. Correction, she will be able to offer an ear, for I do not have any. However, I will offer my auditory receptors.”
Leone chuckled lightly. It was odd. The android’s words, as unnatural-sounding and awkward as they were, delivered themselves with a surprisingly comfortable tone. Something about the earnest way in which Azim spoke, and how he could never say something different from what he intended, even if you couldn’t quite understand it, left you comforted to an extent beyond what you thought you would be. Leone appreciated it. “Thanks, buddy,” he responded without looking up. “Thank you.”
“We are traveling companions. It is as you said. We are fellow adventurers, and we shall stand by each other’s side. Regardless of the trifles that concern us, we shall face them—“
Azim cut his words short and looked around rapidly. Riva looked up at him, as did Leone, curious why he had stopped talking. “Everything alright, hun’?” asked Riva.
The robot was still looking around concerned. He was trying to focus on what had caught his attention. There had been rustling. Loud, oblivious rustling that did not match the usual innocuous sounds of the forest. Normally, isolating where the sound had come from would not be difficult for Azim, but the random scurrying and shuffling of the creatures around them blended together and camouflaged any other noise, hence why the other two had not even heard it. “There is something nearby,” Azim finally uttered. “Something I believe is not a resident of Milkwood Forest.”
The metal man asked Riva to park the carriage somewhere off the main road winding between the trees. He asked his companions if they thought the commotion was worth investigating. Riva acknowledged that plenty of people traveled through these woods on a regular basis, and another group of adventurers making their way to or from Milkwood wasn’t really much concern to them. Leone offered a counter opinion, reminding the group that Ki’tk had warned them of hunters frequenting the forest. If the noise happened to be coming from a hunter or two, Leone argued it could have been worth it to at least make sure they were a threat. The truth was, the young man was still bored and was just looking for a good fight, so he hoped there was a possible threat waiting for them.
Riva begrudgingly agreed, thinking back to the raiders she and Azim had encountered. If the disturbance was coming from anybody like them, she agreed it would be better to have the drop on them before they did. The three slowly got out of the carriage and looked around. Azim, getting a better sense of where the sound was coming from, led the way. His companions crept slowly behind him, not wanting to ruffle any branches or otherwise make any alarming noise. Azim, however, did not think to do so. The metal man walked forward without worry, fixated solely on the source of the noise, oblivious to any noise he might have created as he stomped along the forest floor. Luckily, Riva and Leone quickly noticed the problematic situation and rushed to either side of the robot, holding any stray branches or tall grass out of the way of this path.
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A minute later the robot stopped and crouched, prompting his companions to do the same.
“Why are we stopping, dear?” inquired Riva.
“Because,” the android began. “The source of the commotion is directly ahead of us.”
The metal man’s companions peeked through shrubs in front of them, making sure to not be too conspicuous, and noticed a small campsite up ahead of them. In the campsite were 5 large men with maroon red skin. They all wore matching fur-lined trousers and raggedy, brown shirts. Some had piercings in their eyebrows or ears. They were all bald and bore no facial hair, except for one who sported a black goatee. Two of the large men were setting up logs for a campfire, while two others unpacked some supplies and set up the surrounding area of their camp. The one with the goatee just sat on a fallen log and watched.
“Borcs!” Riva exclaimed in a whisper.
“Bless you, Riva,” Azim replied.
“Wha— No, Azim, those are borcs!” The woman explained.
“I see. My apologies for the misunderstanding. I did not mean any offense by it.”
“It’s alright, hun’, don’t worry about it. Let’s just worry about these guys for now.”
The three watched the maroon men lumber about, trying to listen in on their conversation. One of the two throwing logs into the center of the campsite spoke up after a few seconds, asking the one with the goatee, “You sure wait until sundown? Why we not go now?”
“Why it concern you?” the borc with the goatee retorted.
“It not concern, I just no like waiting. We can go now, we wipe out town, we stronger. We no need wait.”
The goateed borc stood up and approached his companion. He was a good 4 inches taller, which left the curious borc looking up at him in superiority. He growled. “We wait… because I say we wait,” spoke the large man. “If it no concern, then no ask. We go when I say. Milk town is ours. Yes. But we no meet resistance. We go when we ready.”
The large, goateed man growled again. “You understand?” he asked in a deep voice, before barking at his companion.
The other borc flinched at his superior’s display of dominance.
“Good,” the leader said, not waiting for a reply.
The men resumed their work, with the borc that had spoken up walking away disgruntled. The goateed man simply sat back down on his log and started eating a chunk of meat on a bone.
“Oh man, they’re gonna’ attack Milkwood!” Leone yelled in a whisper similar to Riva’s. “We’ve got to do something, they’re gonna’ wipe that town out!”
Without another word, Azim stood up and walked forward, emerging from the bushes he and his companions were hiding in.
“Oh Vyona,” muttered Riva, putting her face in his hand. “Of course. Of course he would.”
She looked over at Leone, but the young man was no longer next to her. She looked forward, but he wasn’t standing beside the robot either. Where had he gone?
“Excuse me,” the android began. “I apologize for eavesdropping, but I overheard that you intend to attack the town of Milkwood. Is that correct?”
The group of large men froze in shock for a moment, though their goateed leader hid his surprise the best. “What the- Who you?” one of the borcs questioned roughly, before barking at the robot.
“My name is Azim. Your names are of no importance to me,” the metal man retorted. “However you did not answer my question. Is it correct that you intend to attack the town of Milkwood at sundown?”
Finally, the goateed borc stood up. He held his unfinished chop of meat still in his hand. “That correct. That problem to you?” he questioned from across the campsite.
“Unfortunately, I believe it would be. I, along with my companions, have recently met some fascinating people in that town. In fact, we only just left 1 hour and 13 minutes ago. They treated us kindly, giving us both goods for our travels and words for our journey. I do not see it fit for that town to face any threat, so if you intend to act as one, I will stand in your way.”
The borc in charge did not take a step closer. From where he stood, he simply barked orders for someone to grab ahold of the metal stranger. The borc closest to Azim began lumbering forward, clenching his fists as he did. Before he could get within even 4 meters of the android, he was dragged off. It was instantaneous. No one even registered what had occurred right before their eyes. No one… but Azim.
The robot maintained his stiff stance that opposed the rest of the red-toned men. They were unsure what to do. One of their men had just been swept off his feet and carried into the forest in a second, and they did not know how to react. The words of their leader broke their statue-like demeanors. Two of the borcs grabbed weapons, while one remained empty-handed. They slowly approached Azim, wary of any surprise figure that might come screaming by and drag them away. Assuring themselves that there would be no more similar accidents, the borcs regained a sense of confidence. Their nervous determination became cold intimidation. Not that either of them, or anyone else, could have intimated a robot, of course.
Noticing a sword lying on the ground, one that likely belonged to the man who had been ripped away from the scene at hand, the robot lifted his one hand and chanted, “Scrap Return.”
In an instant, the large blade flung toward Azim and rested into his grasp. The blade was rather heavy, though it was not the slightest bit encumbering to the robot. In fact, as he swung it around, testing its weight, he found it rather comfortable. The android did not even feel an imbalance in wight distribution from carrying a heavy sword in one arm while missing his other. stance remained unchanged.
The metal man’s enemies were not deterred. One growled before speaking up, groaning, “Puny magic. You think help you? We crush you, tiny knight. We crush you, then crush milk town.”
Azim lowered the large sword to his side, his cloak folding in on his right and flaring out on the left to make way for the weapon. Then he spoke. “I am still learning, and I will go farther. You, however, will not be going anywhere more, as I will put you down, right here and now.”