The cold wind whips the night air giving the wagon party a shiver. They slowed down to a walk when the bandits didn't show any sign of pursuit, resting for a bit and mending their wounds before continuing. Phanide just in the distance, the light of the full moon guiding them in the dark.

Thilo had woken up minutes ago and now he's walking along with the rest, casting his ward of warning if the bandits ever comes back after them.

''You should stay in the wagon and rest Lo, don't tax yourself" Volkhard told the witch.

-Palm on breast, finger tap on forehead- *I'm fine now, let me help.*

Realizing his friend wouldn't budge, Volkhard let the matter go "You do you Lo, just don't force yourself, if it wasn't for you we'll be all dead by now lest of all me."

*Don't worry about it, you would have done the same thing* Thilo gestured.

After checking on Thilo, Volkhard goes to Hagen. The short man gives him his iconic smile, "How's the wound Hag?"

"Could be worse, yours?"

"Could be better"

"Mine hurts like shit" Rocco slipped in, the two didn't even feel the dwarf's presence. "So what's now chief, I mean what we gonna do when we're in Phanide?"

"Why bother about it?" Hagen replied, "We survived that mess didn't we? And finally to Phanide, let's worry 'bout what to do next there."

"I'm just saying, with the third of the caravan gone and the bandits still around planning ahead of time would do us much good" Rocco eyed Volkhard "We have to be realistic chief, yes we came out that mess alive but what if they attack us again when we go back to Salia? If it wasn't for Thilo we would have died back on that hill but now they knew about him and would be ready next time we face again. So what should we do Volk?" Rocco's question came out as disparate, almost scared even.

Volkhard looked at his friend for a long time without saying anything, picking the right words to say to the dwarf, "Rocco, do you know what happens if a clan attacks another clan?" Volkhard finally said.

"You mean on Agrug?" Rocco asked, curious and confused.

"Yes, on Agrug"

"Well, the clan that was attacked usually fights back... wait, you're not meaning to... but why?" Rocco said astonished "Their's only six of us and who knows how many of them, we can't possibly fight all of the bandits... unless" he looks up at Volkhard again, comprehending what his plan is and the dwarf grinned, "Unless we find where those fuckers nest are and pay their chief a visit."

"A clan without a chief is sure to fall to infighting" Hagen added, a wolf's grin starting to form on his lips.

"With how much mayhem they're causing it's bound that someones would try and stops 'em and maybe they know where those bastards lived" Volkhard said, "When we reach Phanide we'll rest and heal, after that we'll ask some questions."

"I like it!" Hagen howled smelling bloodshed, a feral smile now on his face more uglier than usual, "We'll show those sons of pigfuckers what it's like to mess with the lone host, ey Volk!"

Volkhard nods, "So where did you get that scratch from Roc?" he said, turning the conversation.

"Got it from a gunner, he shot me with one 'o those matchlocks, similar to the one Arnulf have."

"Really, and you avoid it?"

"Barely, as the scar would suggest."

"By the way, where's that kid anyway?" Hagen interrupts. Now that he thought about it, Volkhard hasn't seen Arnulf along with the wagon after their short rest.

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"He's with lady Lia" Till answered from behind while approaching them, "Their just over there" a sausage size finger pointed to the front, ahead of the wagon are the two youths deep in conversation.

"Huh, never thought that Arf's got it going with the boss lady. How's your wounds big guy, all healed up?" Hagen said still bemused about Arnulf.

"I'm fine now, just hungry, maybe when we're in Phanide we can eat at one 'o those fancy restaurants" Till said while grinning.

"Aye, with what we've been through we deserve it" Volkhard replied, gently patting the big lad on his massive shoulder. Till pat's back none too gently, Volkhard stumbled and would have fallen on Rocco, the dwarf shrieks and raises his hands to shield himself from the bigger guy, but Till catches Volkhard and slowly got him back on his legs. The four of them laughed, it was ridiculous but Volkhard felt that they needed it after so long. It's good to laugh with your friends.

The wagon lurches to its side, wheels buried in a depression on the ground. The laborers, tired as they were, try and fail to make the wagon right up again. Seeing this dilemma Till looks down on Volkhard questioning with his eyes, "Alright you big softy go help them, but don't come complaining if they ask you for help repeatedly."

Arnulf watches as Till stride purposefully to the wagon and the grunting laborers trying to lift it back on the road. With a single pull of his powerful arms he hoisted it up, laborers thanking him for the help and the wagon continued back on the road.

"His very strong isn't he" Lia observed, "I even saw him holding back the army of bandits when mr. Hagen came and rescued me."

"Yeah that's our lad Till, he's as big as house but kind. Anyway you were about to tell me about what happened to you in that wagon."

Lia told Arnulf everything including the bandit. He was taken aback by that "That's brutal... and traumatizing"

"It is, I even picked up his sword and I don't know why I'm still holding on to it" Lia brandished the sword in front of Arnulf, it looked cheap.

"You should keep it then, it's a trophy weapon you got in battle."

`Well I don't really feel like keeping trophies of people I've killed so here you can have it" Arnulf tentatively took the sword, it might be cheap but coming from Lia it could have been treasure instead. "So what also happens to you in the fight back their?" she asked.

Arnulf told her everything about the bandit gunmen and the pyromancer, "Shit, that's also brutal and traumatizing."

"It is" he replied and both of them laughs.

"I don't get it" Lia suddenly said after they finish laughing

"What's it you don't get?"

"In the stories I've read when you killed someone you usually feel bad about it but after I've killed that bandit I don't feel... anything"

"Don't worry too much, it's normal" Arnulf explained, "When you kill someone for the first time the first thing you'll feel most is the shock of killing them then after that nothing."

"It's just that... I killed someone" Lia continues, voice anxious "I never thought I could have done something like that before."

"If it helps to stop bothering you just remember the shit you killed tried to rape you" Arnulf said.

"Maybe I'm just not made for violence like the rest of you" Lia replied and Arnulf can't help but wonder what she meant by "rest of you." The two slowed down their walk until the others catch up with them, Volkhard explaining his plan to Arnulf but the kid barely listens, his thoughts filled by Lia.

Reaching the gates of Phanide, the arrival of the wagon party caused a stir to the town's guard. Volkhard and Lia face the guard's captain, an old veteran in Volkhard's eye judging from the way he moves. "You manage to escape them?" he asked sounding impress and shock.

"Not all of us, some of the laborers lost their lives from the bandit's ambush and even three of the four wagons my crew's supposed to defend were lost" Volkhard answered.

"But you fought the bandits and won, with all their numbers, firearms and even a pyromancer on their side you manage to survive an engagement against the them!'' The guard captain said the words almost like a prayer, his eyes full of reverie.

"Well we have a witch on our side to thank for," Volkhard said lamely.

"The lone host, the sellsword of my caravan they are Agrug that's why they beat all those bandits" Lia added so casually, so suddenly that the guard captain and his guards stiffen in surprise.

"They're Agrug?" the old man repeated, his reverie replaced by fright. Looking back at Volkhard and his crew in the dark like he had seen specters of death. "Son would you take down that hood of yours and come stand in the torchlight" he ordered. Anxiously Volkhard lifted his hand to his head, pulling the old hood down, he steps forward to the light of the torches. The guard captain's retinue gasp in shock at seeing Volkhard burned face while the old man inspected his unburn left undisturbed.

"I'll be damn, you are Agrug and no doubt the rest of your men too ey, but what is your kind doing here in Osmela?" the guard captain asked.

"Me and my crew went here to find a new life" Volkhard replied.

''Has it worked out?"

"We're still figuring things out"

"Then I hope you do," the guard captain said earnestly to Volkhard's surprise, "And welcome everyone to Phanide'' with that he pulled a lever down and the giant steel gates opened.