As the visibility decreased further, Xue gave the order to camp. The resting time was 6 hours, the group was divided into two groups again. One guarded for 3 hours. While the other rested, ate and slept, and then the teams would switch.
Aile and the others got the first shift to guard.
Hazel knew that Aile could manipulate his senses and keep an eye on the whole camp, let alone just a small portion of it. Therefore, she sat behind him on the tree branch and placed her head on his shoulder. Her hands were around his waist, as he was leaning back on her soft body, Aile found this guard duty very pleasing.
"Is everything ok?"
Hazel rubbed her body and face on Aile's shoulder and back, as she said, "I do not want to leave you?"
Aile turned his head, lifted her face cover a bit, and kissed her cheek.
Soon one and half hours passed and Aile's dark side of the soul that had been calm recently started to expand again. This was due to the curvaceous body of Hazel being pressed against his. It seemed that even when the light side of his soul was strengthened, it could not create a permanent balance. He ran the light element with restoration attribute to his lust-filled soul. It was calmed down.
Then the next group arrived freeing them of their duty. Aile and the others left and found a suitable place at the corner away from the others. They got the same porridge-like food. Aile, One and Two ate it, and the girls did not.
At their level, going hungry for many days will not be a problem. So it was not a problem for them to miss one meal. Nonetheless, Aile offered them the meals stored in his ring again, bringing joyous smiles to their faces.
After the meal, Violet and Ellie pitched their tents close to each other, One and Two set up their tent, that they shared opposite to theirs. In the middle, One set up Aile's tent. Hazel said that she liked to be hugged by Aile to sleep and would share the one with him. This caused Violet and Ellie to blush as they remembered when Aile hugged them, and at the same time, they became more annoyed at Hazel.
Aile nodded and was the first to enter and lie down in the tent, and soon Hazel entered. She closed the entrance and shyly nestled into Aile's bosom.
Outside Violet left the dazed Ellie and came to where one was.
"Hello, Mistress," said One.
Violet's mouth curved just a bit for a second before asking, "Who is that burden?" She said as she pointed at Aile's tent. "She tires his mount, does not participate in the scouting and now will annoy him so that he can not rest. I-I-I thought you were all professionals. How do you have such a useless team member? I liked the other two from our last mission." She was referring to Three and Four.
One did not know how to respond, he was not sure about Hazel's identity, as she was masked, but he knew that she was very close to Aile. Hazel was not excluded from any of their discussions either. She was also going to go with him after the trade. So he said, "I do not know her, she and Boss are only going with us for half of the journey. Maybe Boss brought her as a pillow. He is always leaning on her."
Violet giggled listening to One.
"Maybe you, mistress, should also volunteer to be close to him. He seemed happy that morning..." One was referring to the time, after their return from the Sacred Mountain.
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Violet blushed and with a snort left.
Two who was not far away came next to one and said, "You should not interfere, there is no benefit from doing so. You will end up pissing one of the sides. The person who is with Boss seems very close to him better not to intervene."
One smiled at two and nodded, "I will not interfere any more."
Two shook his head and went to the tent to rest.
Violet and Ellie too soon went to their tents to rest, although they were unhappy they could not do anything about Hazel.
Three hours soon passed, and everyone got ready for the rest of the journey. The mounts and people started to move slowly and as the visibility increased so did their speed.
Hazel was once again on Aile's mount.
The journey was a peaceful one, and soon many hours passed, and it was time to rest again. Aile took out three more meals from his spatial storage, leaving him 4 at his ring. Violet, Ellie and Hazel had one each.
Xue arrived and asked when Aile and Hazel will leave as they had a strict policy to identify each individual. So that no one could infiltrate their ranks as everyone wore a mask. However, when she saw Aile masked liked that, her gaze lingered on him. She knew she had seen him before. After hearing him talk and act for a few minutes, she was more confident of her conjecture.
However, she did not remember him, so she left with the thought of Aile's identity at the back of her mind. Ellie and Violet asked about where he was going, and they volunteered to follow him. Especially, Violet, she claimed that he will need someone to keep an eye on the surrounding when he is resting and eating. Therefore she was necessary as there was no one else.
Aile, of course, rejected her offer.
Hazel was annoyed as Violet was indirectly saying that she was useless. She just sat closer to Aile and wrapped her hands around Aile to piss off Violet. She knew that Aile would not be convinced by such a reason, but nonetheless, she wanted to retaliate, and this was the best way.
Violet was angered at the behaviour of Hazel and with an irritated expression said, "Humph go ahead and get robbed, I do not care. I just wanted to return the favour to you..." She then mumbled, "Ungrateful bastard" as she walked away.
Aile could hear Hazel giggle after the little tantrum of Violet. Soon, as the ride continued, Aile got bored. He noticed that One and Two, along with Ellie and Violet, were laughing from time to time. When Aile's mount would go near them, they would quiet down. So he started to listen to them and figure out what they were doing.
They were mainly mocking Hazel and her close behaviour to Aile.
Violet and Ellie had gotten a rally going, ridiculing Aile's choice once and Violet 2 times.
Had Aile not heard more, he would have thought that they were singing poetry. He had noticed the conflicting behaviour between Hazel and Violet, but he was surprised that Ellie joined in too. Two would occasionally laugh, but One was an active participant, egging them on.
It was just some childish insults but entertaining. The taunts aimed at Aile were directed at his choice of being with Hazel. The ones for Hazel was regarding her uselessness. He then noticed Hazel's movement in front of him, right after a joke. He knew that she heard it. He was not sure if she was going to laugh or be angry.
Hazel soon asked him to switch places. She was sitting behind Aile and acted affectionately. Her moves were more animated clearly a show for Violet and Ellie.
Soon she accomplished her goal, as Ellie and Violet made an angry comment about Aile's lack of intelligence. For the first time, they took a jab at him. Aile could swear that this time Hazel was laughing too as she was holding him very closely. Soon they arrived at a river.
Following the river, they reached a small bridge. On the other side was a wolf pack. They were heavily concentrated on the left side of the bridge at the exit. Seeing this, everyone became despondent. The next large bridge that could allow the caravan to pass was a day away, and that would make them late for the trade. That was not an option. In front of them was one of the most dangerous groups of wolf beast in this area, they were called lunar wolfs. They had a matriarchal social order. The pack only had one female, the queen. The queen is the strongest. However, the males have two reasons to live, protect the queen and mate with the queen. The stronger the queen, the more follower she will have. The one in front of them would be called a centennial queen as she had around 100 followers.
So if they notice any threat close to them, they would do everything to kill them, and if the wolves could not kill, they would try to injure the enemy and their force.
If they survive, the wolves achieve both of their goals, and if they die, they would consider it an honour as the queen would devour the brave ones. They were hard to deal with, as they would not act in their self-preservation in front of the queen.