When she opened her eyes, another black hobgoblin was sitting beside Clung.

Compared to the latter's teenage appearance, the former looked like a young boy. His singular horn attached to the top of his head and his sharp teeth were the only difference compared to a human, that and the pitch-black skin that covered his body. His clothing was crude and tattered, and the only weapon he carried was a bone dagger strapped to his leg. There was not much difference with the impression that Clung gave off, still. Both of them looked to be survivors instead of fighters.

She could tell they were discussing something important, but she couldn't hear it clearly from afar. Although curiosity was still the first thing on her mind, the weight of Erina on her shoulder and Thom on her lap impeded Suu from getting any closer.

Then she looked up. It was already dawn.

Nobody came chasing us after all...?

Suu's first thought was that Miel had probably determined it was a waste of resources to chase after them and expected the group to die in the forest. The girl didn't have a way to know that in reality, the general had just given up on the idea of chasing after more trouble. The fact that they were still alive was due to Miel's current fragile mental state, and not because the gods had lent them their hand.

Regardless, Suu still silently prayed to whoever wanted to attend to her prayer.

"Ah, you're awake."

Clung called for her in a guttural and strange language, but he promptly covered his mouth and apologized in Kuulkiam. Suu shook her head and smiled, returning a few words in that same tongue.

"It's okay. You don't have to worry about language around me, I think."

"Oh, my." Clung put on a surprised expression, which the boy by his side replicated. "A human who can speak the language of the goblins... Although I must admit, you sound rather archaic, haha." The hobgoblin let out of a chuckle.

"Who is our new friend?" Suu looked at the smaller goblin with questioning eyes.

"He's Kulung. My right hand. One of the eight hobgoblins named by the Master."

"Although I guess we're just seven now." Kulung whispered. Different from Clung, he spoke only in goblin.

"Well, that doesn't matter now." Clung pressed his hands on his knees and slowly stood up from the ground. He supported himself on his staff as if using a cane. "We've prepared a space for you to stay. Wake your mate and carry the king, we'll escort you there."

"My mate...?"

She looked at Erina's close face on her shoulder as she wrapped her arms around her body. The misconception on Clung's mind was reasonable, and it didn't particularly bother her either. She simply smiled as she patted Erina awake. The brawny girl put on a drowsy expression as she parted her eyelids, receiving several soft slaps on her cheeks from Suu's hand.

As the sun kept rising over the horizon, their trails kept distancing further from Pontya.

They walked down slopes and cliffs covered with trees to the brim, searching for something that Suu wasn't aware of. Both of the girls were alert and still suspicious of the hobgoblin duo, but their need to get away from Pontya and take Thom to a safer place kept pushing them forward. The lack of weapons on their bodies was also a cause for concern, but after seeing Erina push a horse down a slump, she was confident in their advantage over two teenagers with a staff and a dagger.

After close to an hour of walking, Clung signaled to the girls that they had arrived while standing on the border of an elevated cliff. Clung and Kulung jumped down without trouble, but Erina seemed hesitant. Suu jumped down first and laid Thom on the floor, then waited for Erina to jump. The girl landed on Suu's arms with a plop.

"You'll stay here until we make the necessary arrangements. It's not comfortable or desirable, but there is little place to take shelter in this forest. Kulung was the one to discover it."

The black hobgoblin signaled to a spot under the cliff, showing that there was plenty of space to reside. It seemed like a cave, but it wasn't deep enough to be called as such. It was enough to protect from rain and hide in case the army looked for them. At least, it would be good enough to keep Thom alive.

"That's good." Suu sighed. "You said the boy looked for it? How long have you been planning to meet up with us?"

"Oh." Clung chuckled. "Ever since I felt the strands of your king's aura as he fought the king of the city. So one dusk, or close."

"By the king of the city, you mean Miel?" Erina said with clear disgust on her face. "I mean, he wouldn't disagree, but that just makes it worse."

"So, Miel." Clung nodded. "I will remember that name for the future. I cannot wait for the king to wake up so I can tell you all about your part of the conquest." The young hobgoblin said between cheerful smiles, something that had begun to make Suu pretty uncomfortable.

"You're not telling me anything and I'm not liking that." She grunted at the hobgoblin, who recoiled back in fear.

"Do not worry, lady Suu. It's simply that... The idea of having a strong leader when things have turned so mad is just too tempting. I'll explain it in greater detail once I can, but for now, I need to return or the horde will be less cooperative later. I beg your pardon and ask for permission to leave."

The hobgoblin bowed slightly with a smile, and Kulung nervously imitated him. The both of them turned around to leave, their images fusing with the shape of the trees as they walked further into the forest.

The two girls looked at each other with worry before walking under the cliff. They placed Thom's body against the inner rock and sat beside him.

"Very well. You know what we need to do right now, don't you, Erina?"

"Eh? Me?" The poor girl pointed at herself.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

"That's right. We can't do anything to help Thom at the moment. We are both unarmed and lacking food, water, and this thing barely counts for shelter. Unless you have a place to go right now and you can take me there, we're gonna need to stick together, alright?"

"Right... I agree. I got you guys into this mess, anyway. I'm not gonna back out now! I'm pretty strong myself, ya know?"

The girl flexed her bicep and showed the bulging muscles on her arms, which looked out of place in comparison to her small waist and chubby face. It made Suu smile and cleared her mind slightly.

"Then, let's begin with the essentials."

Berries were a source of nutrition that was easy to find in a forest and contained a high amount of water. While the river would be the preferred place from where to obtain water, Suu would rather get something to eat along with something to drink. She searched throughout the area and reaped several berries from the bushes, putting them on her shirt, occasionally putting one inside her mouth.

She returned one hour with close to a pound of berries and took off her shirt with the food inside of it, accommodating it on the ground. Erina stared at her for longer than what she should have, but Suu didn't mind. Her mind was occupied with her current task. She rolled up her shirt and pressed it against the wall, turning the fruit into juice. The liquid leaked slightly from the shirt, making Erina swallow in anticipation. It had been over a day since she had last eaten or drunk anything.

When she was done, she told Erina to open her mouth. The girl shyly did as instructed, letting Suu carefully pour the juice down her throat. She swallowed with a refreshed look, letting go of a hearty and pleased sigh. Suu seemed content to have helped Erina, but her priority was Thom.

She directed herself toward the man, and carefully pulled from his jaw. She poured a small content of juice inside his mouth, and patiently waited for several minutes for his throat to swallow.

"You really take care of him a lot..." Erina smiled as she saw the other girl patiently waiting beside Thom. Suu simply replied with a smile and a nod. It seemed like her thoughts had been absorbed by Thom's sleeping face.

Erina decided not to stand idly and searched for the biggest rock she could find. After she had found a sizeable chunk, she searched for a stick next. She split the rock by bashing it against the wall of their shelter, and hit the center-bottom of the stone repeatedly with the stick until she had managed to cave out a small part of it. Last, she placed the stone between her feet, put the stick in the middle, and spun it with inhuman strength until the stick was two inches inside the stone's bottom portion.

She removed the stick, ripped a piece of her pants, placed it inside the small holes, and spun the stick back in place until it was tightly stuck to the stone. She pressed it against the wall and scraped it with enough force to make the cliff rumble slightly, making the end of it sharp as an actual axe.

"Du-dun! A hatchet!"

She proudly showed Suu her new tool. Although it looked shabby and easy to break, it seemed like it could be enough for now.

"Oho! You're quite crafty!" The black-haired girl returned a beaming smile that made Erina feel even prouder than before.

"Having to survive in the forest for a few months made me learn a few things." Erina walked towards a tree with a smile. "I resent my family for a lot of things, but the knowledge I got ever since they kicked me out of the clan is something I can be grateful for."

Crack!

She swung the hatchet once, and the bark of the tree was completely shattered into splinters. The head of the hatchet flew away from the stick and stuck itself to another tree, shaking the leaves at the canopy. The tree she had originally hacked at began to creek and bend backwards.

The trunk hit the floor after a few seconds, lifting leaves and dirt on impact. Erina looked down at the broken stick on her hand with a bitter smile. "I guess I've gotten a little stronger since I was a child, tho..."

Having finished her motherly tasks, Suu joined Erina in her endeavor and the two of them started chopping pieces of wood and crudely making them into other things. A piece of trunk split vertically in half served as a bed for Thom much better than the dirty ground.

They cleaned the surrounding area and each took guard around Thom. Suu hunted down a boar with her hands and returned, then Erina came back with dry twigs and stones to lit a fire. Erina carefully skinned the boar while Suu removed the parts they could use later for weapons, like fangs and tusks, and all the other bones.

By dusk, they had already obtained a sizeable amount of meat and bone to make both weapons and eat a good amount of food.

"There's a lot of boars in this forest." Suu muttered, twisting the meat above the fire.

"It's the reason why there are so many goblins here, too." Erina answered with a smile as she softly scraped a long bone on a stone.

"What's the relation?"

"Well, I don't really know much about religion and all that boring stuff, but it's said that the reason why humanoids and demihumans can breed with animals is because it's an atrocious act." The muscly girl said with a serious face. "And, since it is atrocious, it attracts the god of all the grotesque."

"W-Wait, animals and humans can do what?" Suu showed a horrified expression, her face going blue in disgust.

"It's common knowledge." Erina blinked. "It's one of the punishments given by Aguur-Nilaan, the Allfather of Decay and the birth-giver of Putrefaction, Father to all monsters, blah blah blah. He's always present in the stories one tells kids to sleep. Sleep, or Aguur-Nilaan will rip your bones from your skin!... It usually terrifies the kids so much that they can't sleep, though."

"So goblins are born from humans and... hogs?"

"No, no." Erina shook her head. "Surely, there are people who believe that. But the breeding of a human and a hog will almost always result in a hogfolk. The real reason why the number of hogs or whatever is correlated with the number of goblins, is because the breed between a porcine and a goblin is almost always a goblin."

Suu felt like she was about to puke to this new information. The boar she was roasting suddenly didn't seem as appetizing anymore.

Another hour passed as the beast slowly cooked above the fire. When it was ready, the two girls started eating their share of the meat. There was no point in leaving some for Thom, who hadn't woken up yet. However, his wounds had slowly begun to heal after Suu had poured some liquid down his throat, so she would keep doing it a few times a day from now on.

"Haah..." Erina suddenly sighed. It caught Suu's interest and made her look to her side.

"What is it?"

"Hmm..." The girl pouted and pressed her tongue against her teeth. "I just never expected to be in this situation again. I never really liked Miel, but the things he was doing under the order of the king seemed correct for a while. His sudden lack of control seems very strange to me... I always knew he was a short-tempered man, but I never expected him to throw this big of a fuss because of you and Thom." She moved her eyes down and sighed.

Suu looked at the girl that spoke with an unspirited tone. Her eyes traced a line around the girl's pale cheeks, her black hair dancing with the flames. Suu had felt an intense stockade of guilt pierce her stomach when she saw Erina's disheartened face. She knew, although she didn't want to, that she had been one of the causes for this girl's sudden change of spirit, compared to how cheerful she had been back at the headquarters every time they had met.

Suu twisted her mouth and slid her bottom across the half-trunk, heading towards Erina. The girl reacted to Suu's sudden proximity and turned to face her, her sight sitting on the grim face that Suu was wearing. Had she said anything that bothered her? Erina suddenly became a handful of nerves, thinking she had done something to upset her.

"I..." The girl nervously started to speak, but Suu shook her head.

"I'll take responsibility for the situation we've put you into." She grabbed the girl's hand and held it firmly. "I won't let our mistakes be your cause of suffering. If it's people I care for, I will never let my stupid, hollow head to harm them again. That includes you."

"Uwha..." Erina's face went immediately red, and her usually-narrow eyes opened wide like plates. Suu smiled at the girl's reaction and covered her mouth to chuckle. She thought that Erina looked just as cute as Thom when he made that same expression. It was a much better face to put on than her former saddened look.

"Let's just survive for now." Suu snickered.

"And... And then what?"

"Then..." Suu looked back to Thom. "Then we can think of a way of killing Miel and all his followers together."