“Erving? What’s wrong with you? Why did you stop?” The first one to notice the abnormality in the group was Brewster, and he made his concerns vocally clear to the rest of the party.

A silence quickly settled over the group, a certain professionalism showing in the way they all reacted. Their hands instinctively moved towards their weapons, their eyes narrowed, and their postures subtly shifted, as if preparing for a fight.

“Halt. Block the carriage off from the forest and prepare for battle.” An order was issued from Johnathan to his two subordinate men, to which they immediately complied.

The two silent warriors urged their horses toward the forest wall, creating a blockade of sorts made of flesh and steel. One of the warriors drew his weapon and gave his attention to the creature in the cage, seemingly ready for any sudden action.

“Spread out slightly, everybody. Mirabel, stay close to Erving and guard him carefully. Leigh, stay behind me, and keep a watchful eye on the sky.”

Pointing and speaking out commands, Brewster quickly set up a four-man formation to ready his party members.

“Mister Brewster, what is happening? Does your man sense something? Neither I nor my knights noticed anything strange.”

While prepared out of caution, the blonde-haired man clearly still had doubts about the situation, seemingly skeptical of the prowess of the man named Erving.

“Sir, I would dare say Erving is one of the best rangers in the region in terms of skill, even if his rank isn’t that high. There’s a reason I chose him for this mission out of the rest of the Brave Heart members. His tracking skills are second to none in this region’s C+ class parties.”

Unhooking the war-hammer from his belt, Brewster gave a straightforward reply to his employer, trusting in the prowess of his teammate.

“Erving, what do you notice?”

“There’s definitely something out there Brewie. My nose caught the scent of blood, and it still has a bit of a metallic tint to it… it’s fresh. Looking closer, the branches on some of these short trees and bushes are cracked, as if something has been through here recently.”

Giving a concise response, the young man jumped off the jail wagon to inspect the forest closer. The woman, Mirabel, stayed a foot apart from him the entire time, following him like a shadow.

“Haaahaaahaaa!” A deep, disgusting laughter sounded out from the jail wagon, tightening up the muscles of the members of the group, and increasing the tension in the air.

“My old friend Paridus, they already know you are there, the ambush has failed so come out already.” The demon’s spoke out with his head facing towards the forest, and an eerie grin was on its face.

Brewster looked towards Erving, and the latter nodded back at him. Signaling the other two members, the four-man party drew their weapons and posed battle-ready towards the forest.

The seconds passed by, turning into minutes, but the squad did not let down their guard. Just as Brewster raised his hand towards Leigh, as if to signal something, the rustle of leaves sounded out through the trees in the forest.

A few moments later, a figure could be seen making its way through the foliage, shrugging off leaves and twigs. As the figure stepped into the clearing, all seven members of the group clenched their weapons tighter as they had a closer look.

The figure was covered in partially dried blood, staining a large portion of his upper body and his face. He had black hair and black eyes, and lean muscles were visible through the outline of his shirt that clung to his body.

“Listen, I know this doesn’t look good, but this is a misunderstanding.” Mican raised his hands in the air slowly and spoke calmly with a clear voice.

The members of the convoy gave no ground, and held their positions firmly, with only slight glances being thrown towards their two leaders.

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Another sickening chuckle rang out from the jail wagon.

“That thing in the wagon, whatever it is, is tricking you. My name isn’t Paridus, it’s Mican Aster, and I don’t know it at all, I swear.” Shrinking his shoulders in, he tried to make himself appear less intimidating as he attempted to convince them.

A few long seconds passed by in, and Mican felt humidity grow on his forehead as his nervousness increased.

“Brewster, the demon has lied before, we cannot take its words at face value.” The scholar Leigh finally spoke out, breaking the silence. He seemed to stick by Mican, giving a convincing argument.

“Leigh come on, this guy appeared here as if waiting for us, at this timing? He’s covered in blood! Nobody should have known our path, not even the other party members. You can’t seriously expect this to be a coincidence, right?” The young archer, nocking an arrow, gave an even more convincing counter-argument, and stared Mican down as if intimidating him.

“Close your mouth kid, before I close it for you.” A frown grew on Mican’s face as he stared at the archer, his temper acting up slightly. Despite being nervous, he did not want to appear as a pushover to the team.

The archer stared back at Mican, but shut his mouth nonetheless, glancing at Brewster from time to time as if waiting for orders.

“Sir Johnathan, are you able to perform a purification ritual on this man?” The middle-aged man directed a question towards the priest on the horse.

“No, Mister Brewster. All of the divine power in my body has already been sourced into the jail wagon’s formation, to keep this accursed demon from healing his wounds.”

“Leigh, do you have any ideas?” Not getting a satisfactory response, he directed a question at the scholar.

“The godcraft I know isn’t suitable for detection Brewster, you know that. Though… I do know that Mirabel has a potion of lesser healing in her possession.” Leigh replied back slowly, a certain hesitation in his voice.

A short pause came over the stone path and a bad feeling grew inside of Mican as he silently watched them converse.

“You had said your name was Mican Aster? Mister Aster, I’m going to ask you some questions, alright.” A question was directed at Mican from the middle-aged man, but his tone sounded more demanding than curious.

“Alright, speak.”

“Where did you come from?”

“I don’t know.” A bead of sweat grew.

“Why were you waiting in those bushes?”

“I wanted to avoid you.” Another grew.

“Why are you in these woods in the first place?”

“I don’t remember.” Yet another.

“Why are you covered in blood?”

“I killed a creature in the woods and got its blood all over me.” A bead dropped off his face.

“What is your profession?”

“I don’t have one.”

With each answer, the frowns on the party member’s faces grew further and further. Mican knew he was doing very poorly, his answers seeming completely fake, despite being the truth.

He didn’t know what else to say. Knowing nothing about the world or its rules, he couldn’t risk stepping on an obvious red flag by giving a transparent lie.

“Mister Brewster, we have no time to waste here. There could be enemies closing in on us as we speak, and this man could even be purposely stalling.” The blonde-haired horseman raised the reins on his horse, growing visibly impatient, and urged the party leader to quicken.

“I suppose we’ll have to do this the rough way.” Raising his right arm, the middle-aged man sighed and signaled his hand forward.

The twang of string sounded out in the clearing as an arrow whistled through the air, piercing towards Mican’s side.

The young man only had the time to clench his muscles, not expecting it. The arrow hit his ribs with pin-point accuracy, creating a loud thud as it struck his side.

Wait a second… a thud? Confused, the archer narrowed his eyes, staring at the arrow that clattered to the ground uselessly, the arrowhead slightly blunted.

Dumbfounded, Mican stared at the arrow on the ground, feeling a slight aching bruise forming on his ribs.

“What did you just do? Did you just shoot me?” Mican asked the question despite knowing the answer, his face losing all signed of emotion as his eyes narrowed.

“It was the fastest way to check whether or not you were dangerous or not. If you really were harmless, then we would have given you the potion and left on our way, but this clearly means that this is no coincidence.” Brewster shook his head, adjusting his hammer and taking a battle stance.

“Don’t make me do this.”

Veins slightly protruded from the young man’s arms and his muscles tightened as he clenched his fists.

Could he make a break for it? He believed that with his newfound stamina and vitality he could, but they had the supposed ‘best tracker in the province’ on their side, and he refused to believe that they would simply let him go free.

They were on a secret path towards their destination, and they considered him an enemy. Keeping their path a secret from other prying eyes and enemies was enough reason for them to track him down through the forest.

He could take them on individually in the forest, but the young man knew his place. In an unfamiliar land with no essential survival skills, food, or weapons, he was basically asking for death if he were to head back into the endless forest. There were endless amounts of ways he could die in there, and besides, he had just found a path to civilization, and he was not about to just give it up so easily.

After quickly deliberating between the forest and the group in front of him, he made his decision.

Mican shot a quick glance at the wagon in the middle of the group, towards the bone demon. It was still grinning, watching the situation unfold, not making a single sound.

The young man took a step closer to the group, mentally preparing himself for his death, and their slaughter.